Diogenes took the survey more seriously than expected.
He seemed a bit flustered by my thorough preparation, but soon grabbed his fountain pen and slowly began to write down what he wanted.
Though it was too dark to read each other’s faces, let alone the writing, he kept staring at the survey like an Archmage, never stopping his hand.
While he was focused on the survey, I sat down on the floor with Sally and the Water Tiger.
“Young Master, the, the ground is dirty…”
“It’ll take some time anyway. Stop being on guard and relax.”
“But, Young Master, your knight guard…”
“If the Beggar Archmage wanted to harm me, they would’ve done it already.”
After all, bringing Sally and the Water Tiger was just to have them come along, not to protect me.
The Water Tiger, having shrunk back to its smaller size, was dozing off on my lap again.
So, I grabbed Sally, who was glaring at Diogenes with a dagger in hand, and pulled her down to sit beside me.
“If that’s what the Young Master wishes…”
“Take a nap. You look tired.”
“……”
Already asleep?
Sally’s breathing slowed as she quietly leaned her head on my shoulder.
Whether she was sleepy or just tired, I couldn’t tell.
With the Water Tiger on my lap and Sally on my shoulder, I watched Diogenes continue to move his fountain pen.
“Diogenes, you can take your time.”
“I already am. It’s just been a while since I’ve had to organize exactly what I want, so it feels refreshing.”
“Didn’t you say you’ve only played Kill the King as a board game?”
“Yes. If it was to soothe my loneliness, I sought out anything. Instruments, books, sculptures, puppet shows, paintings… and now, your board game.”
“Then, did you often appear before artists?”
“You could say that. Though I feel sorry for those who sought me out, I was the one searching for people like you.”
So, in the end, since I decided to spread board games, meeting Diogenes was inevitable.
Even as we chatted like flowing water, Diogenes never stopped his pen.
“………….”
“………”
A subtle silence followed the end of our conversation.
Even if I didn’t fall asleep, sitting still while maintaining my posture for Sally and the Water Tiger was harder than I thought.
So, I asked Diogenes.
“What kind of magic are you going to teach me? Do I have to wait to hear about that too?”
“Not exactly. I can’t teach you the magic in advance, but telling you what it is isn’t hard. After all, it’s a magic tied to your fate, so it must be on your mind.”
“Fate…”
“You already have a sense of it, don’t you? From the moment you first met that girl in the back alley when you were young.”
“…That’s true.”
For some reason, the scar on the back of my neck feels sore.
When I was reincarnated into this world and still young, filled with the pride of being born as a noble’s son, meeting Sally was quite shocking.
To be blunt, I almost died. It turned out well in the end, but if things had gone wrong, my second life could’ve ended right there.
“By the way, how do you know, Diogenes? I’ve met other Archmages, but aside from the one in the imperial capital, how…”
“No one knew that far.”
“Just because you’re an Archmage doesn’t mean you know everything. It’s more like a kind of curse, really.”
“Huh?”
“If you want to hear the details, just complete my request. But before that, let me show you what kind of magic I’ll teach you.”
Diogenes, who was filling out a survey with one hand, raised his other hand and created a small magic circle.
And then.
“……Trash?”
“That’s cleaning.”
“Wait, is it what I’m thinking…?”
“Yep. It’s Cleaning Magic.”
“But that’s……….”
Cleaning Magic. One of the most basic life magics, it’s literally the foundation of all magic.
Even someone like me, who has zero talent for magic, could at least attempt it—it’s one of the few magics I could try.
Of course, cleaning is relative. For some, picking up one piece of trash is cleaning, while for others, it’s mopping the floor. What determines that gap isn’t the Cleaning Magic itself, but the magician.
That’s why the higher the magician’s rank, the cleaner the Cleaning Magic becomes. Even if I suck down Mana Potions and somehow manage to use it, I’d only be able to toss a piece of trash into a bin. But someone like Adela could clean an entire room spotless with just one spell.
And most importantly.
“Sally already knows it too.”
It’s such a basic magic that, of course, Sally knows it too.
Even as an apprentice, she’s still a magician. Naturally, she knows Cleaning Magic. It’s just that doing it manually is cleaner and more effective, so she doesn’t use it.
To what seemed like an obvious question, Diogenes quietly nodded.
“Of course, she knows. But what I’m going to teach you is how to *utilize* Cleaning Magic.”
“Utilize…?”
“For example, cleaning… people.”
“…………….”
At those chilling words, I was momentarily speechless.
While explaining, Diogenes continued to scribble with his pen.
“Cleaning is relative, determined by the magician’s ability. So, once a magician reaches a certain level, they can clean… slightly different things.”
“Like… people?”
“That example was a bit extreme. Of course, other things are possible too. Dust, ruins, landslides, battlefields……… really, anything.”
“………….”
“That’s how I became an Archmage. By the way, you’re done filling it out.”
*Tap.*
Diogenes placed the meticulously filled-out survey in front of me, then stretched and yawned while scratching his head.
Like a beggar you’d find in any back alley.
‘Is the feeling of being dirty yet clean thanks to that Cleaning Magic?’
A truly contradictory beggar, someone whose very existence as a beggar is hard to understand.
Diogenes handed me the fountain pen with his grimy hand.
Despite the filth on his hand, the pen was spotless, as if it had never been touched by him.
“Let’s meet here in a week.”
With those final words, he vanished in an instant.
As if he was never there to begin with.
Or perhaps… as if he had *cleaned* the spot.
“…………….”
A shiver ran down my spine.
Even though Diogenes had disappeared, I couldn’t help but stay seated in that spot.
Until Sally and Water Tiger woke up.
“…Diogenes? Is that really him?”
“Yes.”
“Why would that eccentric…?”
Hearing about last night’s events, Olfin clutched his throbbing head.
Olfin is a man who could easily be called the most well-connected among the Archmages. He’s on familiar or even friendly terms with most of the… let’s say, *unique* Archmages out there.
And for Olfin to outright call someone an eccentric…
That someone was Diogenes.
“I didn’t even know someone of his caliber had entered the Gias Territory. Creator, do you understand what that means?”
“…It means the Beggar Archmage is skilled enough to evade Master Olfin’s senses.”
“Exactly. That’s what makes him so peculiar. Just like his name suggests, the Beggar Archmage is the kind of guy you could find in the back alleys of any territory at any time, and it wouldn’t be strange. Creator, you got lucky this time.”
“Are you saying he’s a threat?”
“I don’t want to be prejudiced since I’ve never spoken to him myself, but do you know how he earned the title of Archmage from the Emperor?”
“Not… really.”
“He erased an entire island.”
“Excuse me?”
Well, uh. That’s impressive, sure.
But having recently witnessed Stella’s meteor, Shisha’s ice, and Olfin’s illusions, I couldn’t help but feel…
It didn’t seem *that* threatening…
“There was no warning whatsoever.”
“…What do you mean?”
“By the time anyone realized he had used magic, it was already too late. He just made a single gesture, and an island that had clearly existed was gone—as if it had been wiped away. Not destroyed, not moved, not frozen. It was as if the island had never existed in the first place…”
…Cleaning Magic.
Did he just… *clean* the island away?
“It’s no wonder the Imperial Court ranks him as the number one Archmage to watch out for. You could’ve easily been caught up in it.”
“I heard his magic is Cleaning Magic.”
“That’s what makes it even more baffling. Not me, nor any other Archmage, could do something like that with Cleaning Magic. Countless studies have been conducted on Cleaning Magic, but we still don’t understand how Diogenes uses it. Can we even call it Cleaning Magic at this point?”
The point was clear, though.
I could’ve disappeared just like that island.
‘He said he could clean humans too.’
From that perspective, Olfin’s concern made sense. Especially since even Olfin hadn’t noticed Diogenes’ visit. If Diogenes had decided to “clean” me back then, no one would’ve known who the culprit was.
From Olfin’s perspective, a guest of the Magic Tower could’ve vanished without a trace.
“That was a dangerous move. I’m sorry.”
“No… I’m not blaming you. It’s my fault for not noticing him. I only received a letter two minutes before meeting him, so there was no way to warn you. But.”
“But…?”
“…Never mind. I should stop indulging in this whining. More importantly, I heard you got a survey from that eccentric?”
It was obvious he was changing the subject, but I let it slide. I wanted to talk about it too.
Sure, it was dangerous, but right now, the board game was more important.
“Here it is.”
“That’s… quite a lot?”
“It’s not like he wrote it on something specific, but it’s incredibly…”
The handwriting was neat and easy to read. As you can see, it was very detailed and lengthy, but there are three main points.
First, it should be a game that can be played alone without any issues.
Second, the playtime should be at least an hour or more.
And third.
“Do not include any element of probability in the game.”
“…Wait, Creator. Did I hear that right? Are you saying not to include any element of probability in a board game?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“What the!”
It’s no wonder Olfin is shocked. Just the term ‘probability element’ alone bans countless things.
Dice are obviously out, and drawing cards is also determined by probability, so that’s a no-go. Beyond that, even distributing cards at the start based on roles is also probability-based, so that’s impossible too.
This condition negates everything I’ve made so far: Yacht, Kyle Galli, Spirit Poker, Abracadabra, Catan, and Bang.
Perhaps naturally, Olfin seemed to think this was Diogenes’ tyranny.
“What kind of board game can you even make like that? If there’s no element of probability, every playthrough will be the same. How is that fun?”
“Exactly as you said. Without probability, in Bang, you’d always get the same role and draw the same cards.”
“This must mean you never intended to commission a board game in the first place. For some reason, you just wanted to catch me off guard. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it right away…!!”
“Then all we need to do is make such a board game.”
“…Creator?”
“If the problem is always drawing the same cards and doing the same thing without probability.”
We just need to shift our perspective.
“What if there’s a board game that you only play once?”
“Once…? The board games you’ve made aren’t meant to be played just once.”
“True. So it has to be a completely different format.”
For example, like this.
“Instead of Magic Missile, the cards always have a specific story or problem written on them.”
“Story? Problem?”
“Then the players solve the problem on the card, receive the next card, and solve that problem too.”
It might sound monotonous and boring at first.
But what if we add background stories, props, and various illustrations?
And what if we give it the plausibility of ‘escape’?
“A board game where you have to solve all the problems and escape within a set time.”
“……”
“Literally, a game that can only be played once, with no meaning in replaying it.”
A game that shatters all the premises of a board game, where multiple people play relying on luck or strategy.
What I’m making this time.
Is an Escape Room Board Game.
