“Has the Tower Master finally withdrawn his decision?”
“Frankly, it was too much… of a gamble. Everyone knows the maintenance cost of that board game, but still, isn’t it a symbol of our Magic Tower?”
“What nonsense. The finances of the Magic Tower are already at their limit. The Tower Master made a wise decision…”
“But, Master…”
“There’s no ‘but.’ He simply made a choice for everyone’s sake. I’m just worried that he might step down from his position for the sake of external appearances. But even that… who knows what will happen.”
The time Master Olfin had persuaded the elders and magicians of the Magic Tower to gather.
Given his sky-high reputation, whether they were negative or positive about selling the board game, everyone gathered in the large lecture hall.
Even though all the magicians of the Arkhé Magic Tower, over a hundred of them, were present, the topic was the same.
The giant board game and Master Olfin.
And about a young man named Kyle Byron.
“Kyle Byron… Is he from the Byron family I know? The one recently promoted to a baronetcy.”
“William Byron is said to be one of the Empire’s top talents, and I heard his eldest even topped the Academy.”
“But who is Kyle…? Never heard of him. Is he the second son? Or the third?”
“…If it’s a board game made by someone like that, it’s obvious without even looking.”
The public opinion wasn’t good. In fact, it couldn’t be.
The magicians of the Magic Tower only knew rumors that a young man had somehow persuaded Master Olfin, who was ready to sacrifice for everyone, to change his mind.
Some pointed out that Kyle was a nobody, while others frowned at the audacity of someone disrupting the respected Tower Master.
But in the end, most of them hadn’t even seen Kyle, let alone talked to him.
It was only natural that attention turned to Adela, sitting in the front row of the lecture hall.
“Adela, is it true? Did the Tower Master really play that Kyle’s board game for over 13 hours…?”
“It’s true, senior. But we don’t know the details yet.”
“Details?”
“We don’t even know if Kyle really made that board game. From what I saw, it was a highly sophisticated game.”
“Really…?”
“Adela, Adela. But he brought a letter from the Everts Duke’s House, right? If the Duke’s House acknowledged him, he must be quite capable, no?”
“Even that letter from the Everts Duke’s House is questionable. If they were really sending a representative from another family, wouldn’t it be normal to have a servant from the Duke’s House accompany him? Unless it was urgent, they would have cross-verified it first.”
“That could be.”
“What was that Kyle guy like when you saw him?”
“…I’m not sure, senior.”
Right.
Adela still didn’t know.
Kyle’s strangely confident attitude, even when threatened with illusions.
And the Tower Master’s decision to at least listen to his story, even after being persuaded again.
Adela was utterly confused. The wisest person she knew seemed to have fallen for what looked like an obvious scam.
So, behind her usual expressionless face, Adela was filled with determination.
Soon, when that scammer comes and starts spouting nonsense about his board game.
She would dismantle every word and tell him to leave the Magic Tower immediately.
Just as she clenched her teeth in resolve.
“He’s coming!”
“…!”
The door to the lecture hall opened, and the noisy room instantly fell silent.
Three people entered: Master Olfin, Kyle Byron, and his maid.
Master Olfin, leading the way, cleared his throat and looked at the magicians filling the hall.
“Everyone, thank you for coming despite the unreasonable request.”
“Not at all, Tower Master!”
“It’s for the Arkhé Magic Tower, isn’t it?”
“If the Tower Master says so, anything!!”
Though it was mostly for show, the magicians’ reactions were enthusiastic.
That’s just how much respect Master Olfin commanded within the Magic Tower.
It was a way to show the status they held, and it was even more of a pressure.
The pressure that if they dared to deceive our respected Master of the Tower, they wouldn’t be able to leave unscathed.
But Kyle Byron and his maid standing behind him were completely at ease.
Adela didn’t like that.
“You know why we’re gathered here. Our Magic Tower is facing an unprecedented crisis of succession.”
“…………….”
“……….”
“……………….”
“As a solution, we tried to sell the giant board game board that was once the symbol of the Magic Tower… but this young man, representing the Everts Duke’s House, suggested a different approach. Instead of the current board game, he proposed creating a new board game using illusions to recreate the popularity of the past.”
“That popularity from 100 years ago…?”
“Is there anyone here besides the Master who was around back then?”
“There are a few elders in the front row.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I understand everyone’s concerns. So, let’s just listen for now. Then… Kyle?”
“From now on, I’ll take over the explanation.”
The magicians buzzed, unaware of Kyle’s plan to revive the giant board game trend.
As Master Olfin stepped back, Kyle Byron stepped forward with his relaxed demeanor.
Ugh.
Adela gritted her teeth at his annoying calmness as Kyle began to speak.
“I am Kyle Byron, the third son of the Byron Viscount family and a representative of the Everts Duke’s House, here as a board game creator.”
“Board game creator…?”
“Come to think of it, I heard the Master was quite into that young man’s board games.”
“I’d love to introduce the game I made, which the Master enjoyed, to all of you… but since the matter is urgent, I’ll get straight to the point.”
The point.
As soon as he said that, Kyle turned his head and locked eyes with Master Olfin.
The Master nodded and cast a spell──
Whoosh.
“……What is this?”
“A… tower?”
“It’s Jenga.”
What the Master created with his illusion was a tower made of long wooden blocks.
Three long blocks were placed side by side to form one layer, and then three more long blocks were stacked crosswise on top.
The tower, built in this way, reached the ceiling of the lecture hall.
The magicians, who had been imagining a traditional board game where pieces are moved on a board, looked puzzled.
“The rules of Jenga are simple. You just pick one of these stacked wooden blocks and pull it out without making the tower collapse.”
“Without collapsing…? Wouldn’t it collapse if you pull it out?”
“……No, look at the structure. It’s simple, but the center of gravity is well-balanced. If you choose a block in the middle or one that’s firmly stacked, you can pull it out without any issues.”
“Then what do you do with the pulled-out block?”
“Each player takes turns pulling out blocks. The tower will gradually become more unstable. And here’s the key: you stack the pulled-out blocks back on top.”
“Stack them back? Seriously?”
“That’s… quite innovative, isn’t it? It’s not just about pulling out blocks, but the process of stacking them back adds another layer of tension. You could collapse the tower while stacking.”
“Hoh…?”
Not bad, actually.
The rules are so simple that it would be strange not to understand them, and as the game progresses, you’ll be agonizing over which block to pull out, adding a thrilling element.
Just hearing the rules and imagining it, you can already feel some of the fun.
But the core of Jenga that Kyle mentioned was something else.
“He said he’d stack that with illusions…? A tower even bigger than this?”
“……If the players point with their fingers, the magic could pull out the blocks. Pulling out a block much larger than a person would be quite satisfying.”
“Plus, imagine such a massive tower collapsing. It would be quite a spectacle, wouldn’t it? And since it’s an illusion, there’s no risk of injury.”
“……I have to admit. He’s a more capable creator than I thought.”
Favorable murmurs spread among the magicians. Some of them were already trying to create small Jenga towers with their magic.
Even those who doubted Kyle’s abilities, even the stubborn elders, were nodding in approval.
However, the atmosphere, which seemed to be going smoothly, was disrupted by an expressionless white-haired girl.
“I have a question.”
“By all means.”
“That Jenga game, isn’t it originally a small-sized game? One that can be played on a table.”
“…How did you know?”
For a moment, surprise flashed across Kyle’s face, but Adela didn’t react much.
‘It’s frustrating, but it’s a good game. It is, but…’
If you think about and dissect that Jenga game slowly,
There are points that need to be addressed.
“It seems the charm of that game lies in finding the right block and pulling it out yourself.”
“That’s correct.”
“But the Jenga implemented as an illusion can’t be touched. Players can only specify which block they want to pull out, but they can’t actually pull it out themselves.”
“…Hmm.”
“Of course, the thrill of pulling out the block yourself would be halved. And in the process of pulling out the block, the magician would manipulate the illusion, but how would you determine whether it was pulled out well or if it collapsed? If it were a small size and done directly, there would be variables like hand tremors, tension, and mistakes, but if you’re going to handle it with an illusion, manipulation would be inevitable.”
Adela fired off her words like a machine gun. Her eyes were blazing.
Jenga, she admits, is a good game. If it were the small size she mentioned, it would be a masterpiece with hardly any flaws.
But now, it has to be made as an illusion and also be huge. In such a special situation, you can’t just stick to the usual masterpiece; you have to research a board game that fits the situation.
From that perspective, Jenga was a failure.
“If it’s like existing games where players simply move pieces, it’s fine. But the Jenga you mentioned is a game where the tactile sensation of pulling out and stacking blocks is important. In that regard, it seems insufficient as an alternative for the Magic Tower.”
“…Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with what Adela said.”
“I also have a question. If you make the tower huge, even if you stack blocks on top of it, wouldn’t it be hard to see? Would that even make sense?”
“Come to think of it, there are more concerns. Ultimately, a board game needs a convincing win or loss. If the tower collapses while trying to pull out a block with an illusion, would they really accept it? As Adela said, since the players aren’t pulling it out directly, there needs to be a standard everyone can agree on for whether the tower collapses or not.”
“The elders are right. And if you set that standard, players would just choose blocks according to it, resulting in something ambiguous to call a board game.”
“Kyle Byron! Answer us!”
“…………….”
‘Good.’
Outwardly expressionless, Adela smiled inwardly.
She admits that he’s not just the scammer she expected. Kyle Byron was a more capable creator than she thought.
But it’s also true that the game he agonized over all night was unsuitable for the situation at Arkhé Magic Tower.
Now, Adela didn’t even need to speak. The magicians aren’t fools. Once Adela set the tone, they quickly found various problems and started asking questions.
It’s a dead end. In the end, Kyle Byron couldn’t prove it with results.
‘Now, all that’s left is to convince the Tower Lord…’
“──Indeed, magicians are different.”
‘…Huh?’
Clap. Clap. Clap.
He should be cornered. The problems with the board game he agonized over all night have been revealed, so he should be in trouble.
Yet, Kyle Byron just clapped with a smiling face, as if genuinely impressed.
That look seemed to mock the magicians of Arkhé, and Adela was about to jump up from her seat.
“Shall we move on to the next candidate?”
“…What?”
“The next board game is Kyle… Marble. You move across multiple squares using dice and buy land───”
Wait.
Wait a minute.
“Wait, hold on.”
“Adela? What’s the matter?”
“Did you… prepare more than one board game?”
No way.
He didn’t just prepare one…
Was it you?
And that too, a high-level game like the one I just saw?
“Huh? Well, of course. Jenga is just a candidate after all. It’s just that the magicians of Arkhé are so exceptional that they’ve already pointed out all the issues I was about to mention.”
“Hmm, hmm. You’re quite the golden-tongued young man, aren’t you?”
“Our Magic Tower does have a bit of insight, after all.”
“By the way, let’s keep talking! That Kyle Marvel thing, personally, it looks more fun than Jenga!”
“Yes! Then I’ll continue. Players move around the board, buy land, build buildings, and if we recreate this with illusions…”
‘Ah.’
Adela, who was about to get up from her seat, slumped back into her chair, feeling drained.
At that moment, only one thought crossed her mind.
…Just how much preparation did he do?
“Impressive. By the way… Kyle Byron? I have a personal question for you.”
“It’s an honor to have an elder of the Magic Tower ask me a question.”
“Good to hear. But how many board games have you prepared? If there are quite a few, I might need to take notes while you explain. Do you have any criteria for selecting the games?”
Number, and criteria.
If there’s any weakness in either of those, maybe I can corner this guy after all.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Adela’s eyes lit up again.
“There are 37 in total.”
“…You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying, Adela. And the criteria were quite strict. As you pointed out earlier, they had to meet special conditions befitting the Arkhé Magic Tower.”
In the end, Adela…
Even though the results weren’t out yet, she had no choice but to quietly close her mouth.
“First, the visual aspect. Anything possible with illusions and grand scale should overwhelm people with splendor to be most effective. From that perspective, I excluded physical games or card games. Instead, I prioritized board games like Jenga or the Kyle Marvel I mentioned earlier, which emphasize visual grandeur and scale.”
“…………”
“Next is the uniqueness of the illusion. As Adela said, players can’t directly interfere with illusions. So, I had to exclude games where players need to actively participate. Also, games that might cause delays in rules or victory conditions were left out. I realized that illusions should only be an additional element of the game and not directly interfere with it.”
“………”
“And the game’s turnover rate is also a factor to consider. Complex strategy games fit well with the uniqueness of illusions, but they often take hours to complete. We need to popularize large-scale board games, and to do that, we need as many participants as possible, so games that take too long are out. In that sense, Kyle Marvel also takes quite a bit of time, but I deliberately revised the rules to make the victory conditions much simpler───”
Kyle Byron, the self-proclaimed board game creator whom Adela had no doubt was a fraud…
Was proving his sincerity not through results, but through the ‘process.’
“………”
It was such a passionate display that even Adela, who considered the Magic Tower her home, couldn’t help but acknowledge it… She couldn’t say a word.
She just watched, dumbfounded, as he enthusiastically talked about the 37 board games.
“Then, the next board game! This time, I’ve brought a really fun strategy game, setting aside the turnover rate for now…!!”
“……………”
Kyle Byron…
…She just stared at him blankly.
