“The Spirit of Lightning, the Spirit of Water, the Spirit of Wind, the Spirit of Earth, and back to the Spirit of Water.”
“This is… the Spirit of Lightning.”
“No?”
“…I’ll place it in front of me.”
And now, even the Spirit of Lightning card.
Leisha has guessed the cards correctly six times in a row.
If it were just that, I could have thought she was really lucky.
“…Hmph.”
That confident attitude, and the answers without a hint of hesitation.
It’s so different from her earlier demeanor, where she seemed to just go with the flow and make random choices.
My instincts, honed from playing with countless players, whispered to me.
Princess Leisha is cheating.
‘…And if it’s cheating.’
It’s obvious.
[Grr…]
[Click?]
[Meow.]
[Ding… dong.]
The spirits surrounding the table where Leisha and I are sitting.
Perhaps she’s sharing her vision with the spirits or asking them what my cards are.
Of course, I can’t be sure yet. Maybe her attitude just changed for a moment, or maybe it’s just pure luck.
But.
If she really is playing the board game by cheating like that.
And judging by her confident attitude, if Leisha is enjoying it.
“………..”
…No, it’s still too early to conclude.
So let’s check a bit more.
“This is the Spirit of Wind.”
“Correct!”
“…This means my defeat.”
“Which is, of course, my victory.”
Now, 13 correct answers in a row.
Since she keeps getting it right, it’s still my turn, and in the end, Leisha has no cards in front of her.
In contrast, I have more than three of every type of card, and the Spirit of Wind has piled up to four.
Does she think I wouldn’t notice something strange? Leisha’s face is filled with the superiority and intoxication of victory.
As if she’s craving and desiring victory itself.
‘I’ve also played games knowing the opponent’s cards before.’
But that was only when the opponent made a mistake and I accidentally saw their cards, and I never used that in the game.
In fact, I mostly played in a way that was favorable to the opponent. My philosophy was that board games should be enjoyable regardless of winning or losing.
Well, I don’t intend to force my thoughts on others.
If I had lost due to luck or skill, I could have enjoyed it, but right now, I’m not enjoying it at all.
In a way, it’s fortunate that Leisha only played board games with spirits.
“You said one more game earlier? I don’t mind playing one more. I’ll win anyway.”
“…Then, Princess. How about we play with different rules?”
“Different rules, you say?”
“Yes.”
After all, I also enjoy playing board games and want to spread that joy. If it were just luck or skill, it would be fine, but losing one-sidedly due to cheating isn’t a pleasant experience.
Moreover, Leisha wouldn’t be able to truly enjoy the essence of board games that way.
Kyle Galli wouldn’t allow such cheating, so she must have enjoyed it purely, and Spirit Poker might have been forced into cheating because of the spirits around.
‘…Though, she didn’t seem to hesitate or anything.’
Anyway, if we play another game like this, it will just continue with cheating.
That’s why I suggested different rules.
Rules that block the spirits from peeking at the cards.
“We’ll play with the cards face down.”
“Huh? That’s…”
“Honestly, isn’t 27 cards a bit too much to hold in your hand? We’ll split the cards without holding them, place them all face down on the table, and play without looking at them from the start.”
“Without looking…?”
“Of course, there’s an additional losing condition. On top of the existing losing conditions, since it’s completely random, collecting one of each type of spirit will also result in a loss.”
“………..”
“How about it?”
This isn’t a rule I just made up. It’s not the original rule of Cockroach Poker either.
It’s just one of the house rules I often played with my friends.
Since you can’t check the cards, it’s truly a perfect random game, and as such…
If you just lie, you can usually guess the right card.
But after a few rounds, there’s an added rule where you have to randomly pick some of the flipped cards and leave them face-up. Since there are only 8 cards of each type, the charm of this house rule is that you can gradually increase your odds by keeping track of the number of revealed cards.
It’s a fun house rule, but it’s also exhausting after a few rounds because it relies too much on luck. It’s like forcing a luck element into Cockroach Poker, but it doesn’t really blend well.
Still, there was one reason why I thought Leisha suggested this house rule.
To lighten the mood.
“If you enjoy the board game itself, you won’t feel the need to cheat.”
This house rule was something we used occasionally when we were tired of complex strategy games or psychological battles.
Since it relies almost entirely on luck, it creates a lot of fun situations, and since it’s based on the masterpiece Cockroach Poker, the basic fun is guaranteed.
I’m not particularly tired or worn out right now, but in a game that relies on luck, cheating through spirits would be impossible.
If Leisha could enjoy board games like this──
“──No, thanks.”
“………Huh?”
“I don’t like that rule…… Let’s just do it the way we did before.”
At Leisha’s words, I couldn’t help but freeze.
Well, of course, because those words meant……
“Princess.”
“Why do we need to change the rule? There’s no need for that. Or at least, hold the cards in your hand or……….”
“………….”
……So it was intentional cheating.
It wasn’t the spirits forcing her to tell. She had peeked at the cards of her own will.
Why, though?
Why?
The moment I realized she had cheated of her own volition, I felt a chill run through my head.
“Did Leisha even really enjoy board games in the first place?”
She said she played Kyle Galli all night, so why was she only trying to play Spirit Poker in a way that allowed cheating? Kyle Galli doesn’t even allow such cheating.
Suddenly, the words of the tiger and the wind horse came to mind.
“They said Leisha was unusually obsessed with winning.”
I was so shocked when I heard she had achieved over 50 consecutive wins in Kyle Galli.
I even suspected it might have been a rigged game, but I didn’t ask.
What’s the truth?
“Princess.”
“Yes……?”
“Why do you play board games?”
“…………?”
Yeah, I know it’s a sudden question. It’s not the kind of question someone who randomly shows up and asks to play board games should ask.
But I wanted to hear it from Leisha herself.
Her thoughts on board games.
“To win, of course.”
“To win, huh.”
“Winning is fun, isn’t it? Isn’t that why we play?”
It’s not wrong. The thrill of victory is an essential part of the fun in board games.
However.
“Is that victory worth pursuing to the point of resorting to flattery or cheating?”
“……Huh?”
“I know you used spirits to look at my cards.”
“Wha, wha, what……!?”
As expected.
I only realized it now, but Leisha is bad at hiding or acting out her emotions.
She’s been like that since she first entered the room, and even when she kept guessing the cards unnaturally. It was so obvious during Spirit Poker that I even deliberately let her win sometimes.
I wondered if even that was an act………but thinking about it, it’s obvious. If you live with spirits, you wouldn’t need to hide or deceive your emotions often. Even if you did, it wouldn’t be a regular occurrence.
So Leisha was terrible at psychological battles. Her extreme panic right now was part of that.
“Maybe that’s why she liked Kyle Galli.”
But………her reaction actually reassured me.
If she were truly only pursuing victory, she would have been shameless even now.
Since the motive for her cheating was a pure(?) desire to win, it was still a relief.
I smiled slightly at the flustered Leisha.
“Princess, are you afraid of losing? This is just a board game.”
“…………….”
“Was winning that tempting?”
“……I just didn’t want to lose again.”
“……….”
“I just didn’t want to lose again.”
“…I see.”
──My daughter… Leisha has been hurt more than I thought. She gradually stopped trusting people and only talked to spirits.
I remember the Duke’s words.
I don’t know what happened to Leisha. She wouldn’t tell me.
But as a result, Leisha fears contact with people and fears defeat.
That’s why she cheated. She was clumsy at hiding it, but she knew it was wrong.
When it was pointed out to her face, she immediately bowed her head.
“Sorry.”
“…………….”
She apologized.
In a way, it was a natural apology, but that was only from my perspective.
Leisha, who avoided people and only lived with spirits, finds it difficult and awkward to interact with others. Especially when you consider her past, where she was hurt by many people.
So, that apology must have taken courage for Leisha.
…I had a similar experience when I was young.
Instead of getting angry about why she cheated or accepting her apology, I waited for Leisha.
“…I asked the spirits. To peek at the cards for me. I wanted to win.”
“You were way too obvious.”
“Was I? I didn’t know… But, thinking about it now.”
“Thinking about it…?”
“…In the end, it wasn’t much different from what those people did. How stupid.”
I didn’t ask who “those people” were.
I just quietly faced Leisha.
“Princess, this is just a board game. It doesn’t decide the fate of the world, nor does it conclude someone’s life or make important life choices. Board games exist just for fun.”
“………….”
“How was it? Was Kyle Galli, was Spirit Poker fun for you?”
“It was… fun.”
“Really?”
“………….”
“In the end, did you accept another round of Spirit Poker because you thought you could definitely win by peeking at the cards?”
*Sigh.*
Leisha’s face turned pale, as if I had hit the nail on the head. At the same time, I could feel the spirits’ gazes focusing on me.
I’m not just scolding her. I’m making sure of it this time.
Because I also wanted to keep playing board games with Princess Leisha.
“That’s……….”
“I want you to enjoy the board game for what it is, Princess. Regardless of your past, your memories, or your trauma. I hope you can forget them, even if just for a moment, through the joy of board games.”
“…That’s not it.”
Leisha, who had been quietly listening, raised her head as if she couldn’t agree with that.
“In the end, you came here because of my father’s words, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“To take me out of this tower. To pull me away from the spirits. That’s why you came all the way here to play board games with me, isn’t it!?”
As if that was the last straw, Leisha became agitated.
The Duke had tried many methods to pull her out, she said.
From the Duke’s perspective, it was for his daughter’s sake, but how did it come across to Leisha, who had been hurt by people and shut herself in the tower with spirits?
I understood the attitude she showed me when I first entered the room.
“In the end, you’re just the same. Trying to deceive me with pretty words!”
“That’s not true.”
“Liar───”
“The fact that I’m not lying can be proven by the tiger and the wind spirit.”
“───Huh?”
So, even though Leisha didn’t want to believe me, I had a reliable support unit.
She must remember the tiger and the wind spirit.
[Growl.]
“You guys… really? Is what he said true?”
In the first place, the Duke had told me to just go home on the first day. If I had just left then, I could have taken a decent reward and returned to my family to focus on supplying Kyle Galli.
But instead, I spent days mingling with the spirits to meet Leisha.
[Clatter.]
“…Why? How? For what reason? Were you after more rewards, or perhaps my body? That’s it, right?”
Leisha’s distrust of people is at a considerable level. If it weren’t for the goodwill of the tiger and the wind spirit, I wouldn’t have even been able to enter the tower.
And after that, her distrust…
I don’t know how to cure distrust. I’m not a doctor or a counselor or anything like that.
I’m just…
“I came to play a board game.”
“……Huh?”
“Playing Kyle Galli with the spirits was more fun than I thought, and I wanted to play a board game with the princess who stayed up all night enjoying Kyle Galli. I’m the creator of Kyle Galli, right? I heard the princess is a big fan, so I really wanted to meet her.”
“Is that… it?”
“What else would I need?”
With that question thrown back at her.
Leisha stared at me with a look of utter confusion.
“It’s just… a board game.”
“What are spirits to you, Princess?”
“……They’re family.”
[Meow…]
[Jingle…]
[……Whoosh.]
It’s not like she doesn’t have biological family, but Leisha says the spirits are her real family.
How much history and emotion must be packed into that one statement calling the spirits family.
Just like how Leisha feels such special emotions toward the spirits.
“To me, board games are like that.”
“Board games… are family……?”
“It’s just a way of saying it, you know? Anyway, that’s what board games are to me.”
In high school, I played with friends, after school with strangers, and at home with family.
That’s how I lived, and board games were a part of my daily life.
Leisha stared at me intently, without a hint of hesitation in my answer.
As if she was determined to expose my lies.
Up until now, no words could erase Leisha’s doubts.
“Earlier, you said you’d play one more round of Spirit Poker, right? Is that offer still valid?”
“Ah……?”
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine.”
Even if you don’t trust people, can’t you trust board games?
Because board games were what comforted all my memories, recollections, and pain.
I had no choice but to talk to Leisha about board games.
Because that’s all I had.
“……Board games.”
I said everything I wanted to say. And all of it was sincere.
But no matter how sincere I am, it can feel different to others.
If Leisha refuses? Then that’s it.
I came here because I heard Leisha enjoyed board games enough to play them all night, and I wanted to have fun playing board games together, not to force them on someone who doesn’t want to.
“……Kyle Galli, Spirit Poker……”
Princess Leisha, with a complicated, confused, trembling, and utterly bewildered expression.
Still bowing her head, holding the spirits tightly in her arms.
“……You may leave now.”
I see.
Well, there’s nothing I can do about that.
“Understood, thank you for your time───
“Today! Just leave… for now.”
“……Huh?”
If it’s “today,” then…
Could it be?
“Come back… tomorrow. We’ll only play one round then, too.”
Leisha’s expression as she answered was unreadable.
She was still bowing her head, buried among the spirits.
But that was fine. I only had one answer to give.
“I’ll be waiting for tomorrow to come.”
“………….”
As long as Leisha doesn’t refuse.
Until she truly enjoys board games.
I’ll keep going.
*
“Then the spirits……”
“If they’re not participating in the game, let’s just have them watch quietly.”
“……Okay.”
Ah, of course, that’s not happening.
Trying to sneak that in, huh.
