Chatper 27: Game for multiple players
“I think I am ready. Shall we depart?” Charlotte announced.
She had spent a lot of time on preparations in her chambers, despite the fact that the upcoming meeting lacked the usual political considerations. It was a small session with Erenit, who was supposed to teach her about the game called “treasure shumil.” Charlotte had learned about its existence a week ago, when her sister Rozemyne had unveiled another new game called chess.
“Very well.” Vanessa smiled and escorted Charlotte towards the exit.
The guard knights were already waiting on both sides of the door.
“Lady Charlotte, as this is a regular meeting, not the playroom, be aware of your status,” Vanessa bestowed one last reminder before their departure.
“I will be the utmost careful, as to not cause Erenit any problems,” Charlotte declared, inadvertently pinching the hem of her skirt.
The atmosphere in the playroom was always quite relaxed and friendly. The efforts of the archduke candidates made it so that the children interacted regardless of status, especially inside their mixed groups.
Though, Charlotte had already received reports about complaints from some nobles about how future lower-status nobles hadn’t acted properly according to their station. At least the complaints had mostly originated from their own parents. Thankfully, no serious incident had occurred so far, but Charlotte couldn’t say their fears were completely unfounded. If a remark had gotten interpreted as rude, it could have ruined a whole house. Those without backing were particularly vulnerable.
Erenit is always so eager and energetic in the playroom. Charlotte was worried about accidental rudeness. She was the one who had invited Mila’s younger sister despite their status difference. It would be completely unfair to Erenit if she says something that could be misinterpreted. After all, the mednobles weren’t as educated in etiquette as the archduke candidates, so any interaction possessed a certain risk.
However, once the meeting started, Erenit went through all the steps without any issue. There was no sign of her usual excited smile that she had displayed around other children. Instead, her manners were pretty much on par with an educated archnoble.
Even Mila’s younger sister has this much composure?
Charlotte was stunned, though she kept her own facade so her thoughts didn’t show.
Soon after, her guest began with the basics of treasure shumil, the game popular in the Ehrenfest’s dormitory. Her expression became a bit more relaxed.
“I can see there are quite a lot of pieces,” Charlotte remarked as Erenit was setting up the board for an introductory game.
“I guess there are,” Erenit mused, putting a finger on her cheek. “I am so used to the other expansions that the basic game just feels normal.”
“There is even more?” Charlotte was taken aback.
“I have brought all of the boxes. Do you want me to implement them as well?” Erenit asked with an unsure voice.
“No, the basic game should be fine for a beginner like me.” Charlotte smiled.
Erenit nodded, making a smile as well, though, she then fell into thought. “Would you like to include your retainers as players?”
“My retainers?” Charlotte was surprised once again.
“You can always play the game alone, of course, but unlike most other games, it can involve more than two players.” Erenit tried to explain how the bigger group usually made the game more fun.
“Interesting,” Charlotte remarked, trying to give herself some more time to decide.
Is this alright? She was used to formal political meetings, which didn’t allow leeway for spontaneous action. This whole year had been filled with them.
Even the more casual socializing meetings with the adult noblewomen had been quite strict on etiquette. Charlotte had mostly listened and observed, silently working on her embroidery and learning noble euphemisms.
In the playroom, this would be normal. But all those warnings about proper conduct had made her worried about consequences.
“Let’s start with the basics, and we can expand based on our progress,” Charlotte replied without any commitment. She planned to ask Vanessa during one of her tea refills.
Erenit nodded and began explaining the rules.
After getting through a simple dungeon, Charlotte managed to get the gist of the mechanics. The statistics of the various feybeasts felt a bit overwhelming, but her teacher wasn’t rushing. Erenit patiently waited during each step, even though her excited smile had resurfaced while leading the scenario. Charlotte could tell that Erenit really liked this game.
“All those descriptions of feybeasts are quite complex,” Charlotte remarked.
It was hard to picture any of them since she had never seen them in real life. What was fast? What was strong? And what was venomous? Charlotte could only rely on boards with numbers that all seemed completely random.
Thankfully, Erenit had added lively descriptions of many feybeasts, as if she had been present during a real fight against them. As such, Charlotte didn’t struggle too much.
“You are doing quite well. I remember struggling with math at the beginning, and playing only against one type of enemy,” Erenit praised her with a polite smile.
It would be nice to become proficient before my siblings. With every game so far, Charlotte had been introduced to them among the last, and it was always hard to show off in comparison. By the time her skill improved, a game was already an established trend.
“You must have certainly improved a lot yourself if you can lead it by now,” Charlotte replied with the same praising tone.
She could see the various boards with statistics and the pile of notes that were all used by Mila’s little sister.
“As the youngest sibling, I tried my hardest,” Erenit remarked.
She kept her polite smile, but Charlotte felt as if her guest had wanted to sigh.
Does she maybe feel the same frustration? She wondered with a newfound interest.
The thought was quite peculiar. It was true that Erenit had been quite active in helping others in the playroom. In a way, she had mirrored the efforts of the archduke candidates, almost like her older sister.
Among the general pleasantries, Charlotte touched on the topic of the older sisters with a nonchalant facade, even though she was quite tense on the inside. She lacked experience in this kind of conversation. It was usually best not to share grievances that could be exploited by others.
“Yes, I often feel like I can never catch up.”
Erenit didn’t struggle to admit it publicly. Her genuine attitude eased Charlotte’s tension somewhat.
“Is it too bothersome?” she wondered.
“Sometimes.” Erenit nodded. “Especially when I think that I am close, and then my sister comes with something completely new out of nowhere, as if my previous efforts were put into an unimportant task.”
“I understand completely.” Charlotte nodded along.
It felt like she found a compatriot for a common struggle. They both shared a moment of frustration about their big sisters and sipped from their cups. The atmosphere became more relaxed.
“Still, I’m not giving up. I train hard to hone my skills as a knight,” Erenit declared. “Besides, Mila told me that the only pointless thing is to compare oneself to Lady Rozemyne,” she added with a shrug.
Does that mean I can never catch up? Charlotte tensed once again.
Mila had advised her against comparing herself to Rozemyne on multiple occasions, but that she would even warn her own sister? It sounded objectively like an impossible task which Charlotte had no hope of overcoming.
“Um, I guess you have it harder, Lady Charlotte,” Erenit added with an apologetic smile as she realized what she just said.
“Naturally, I’m not giving up either,” Charlotte replied in a joking manner, though hearing this assertion even from a third party stung a little. She refocused. “I think it would be more fun to add more players to treasure shumil.”
The problem was that Charlotte still needed an attendant to serve her and knights to guard her, so she couldn’t just ask those present to indulge her whims. Instead, Vanessa sent a message to the available personnel in Charlotte’s chambers. The game was about to become way bigger. The thought alone made Charlotte unusually excited.
However, when her other retainers arrived, they wore serious expressions on their faces. Charlotte’s previous childlike excitement was gone, replaced with worry. Did I go overboard with my request?
“Lady Charlotte, the aub wishes to ask whether you would allow more observers in your meeting,” one of her attendants relayed.
Apparently, on their way here, they crossed paths with her father and his retinue. Multiple retainers without their charge attracted too much attention.
Why would Father take interest in this meeting? Is he wondering about treasure shumil as a political trend? In Charlotte’s mind, if the aub had gone so far as to ask to be included in a personal meeting, it had to be for a good reason. She immediately gave permission.
One of her attendants left the room, though the door remained closed for a while. Charlotte had thought her father had been waiting behind the door, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Maybe I misunderstood the urgency?
After a few minutes, her attendant returned. Apparently, her father had continued to his office, not expecting an immediate response. As such, it had taken some time to adjust his schedule. The bigger problem was that there had been other visitors in his office at the time.
Charlotte watched helplessly as their room began to fill, not just with the aub’s retinue, but also with retinues of the other archduke candidates. Wilfried, Rozemyne and even Ferdinand had all shown interest as Sylvester had been called in.
Charlotte glanced at her guest and noticed how Erenit paled. The relaxed atmosphere they had shared just moments ago was completely gone.
Her family faced a threat of a purge, sounded in Charlotte's head as she admonished herself for giving this permission.
With so many retainers in the room, it soon became too crowded, so Charlotte decided to relieve her additional retainers and make the presentation with just herself as a single player.
“Maybe we could substitute your retainers?” Rozemyne suggested.
“Yeah, the set looks interesting.” Wilfried was already checking a map from Charlotte’s previous game.
Charlotte wanted to sigh. Her siblings weren’t actually the problem—they had participated in common activities in the playroom. But including her father and uncle would no doubt cause strong pressure on her guest, who was the one leading the game. Neither of the two adults seemed like they wanted to abstain after Rozemyne had made the suggestion.
“Erenit, do you wish to continue? I could try to lead the next one,” Charlotte tried to give her way out, even though the whole set-up felt quite daunting with all the pieces, boards and written notes that lay around Erenit. Charlotte pretty much expected to make a blunder and ask for her advice anyway. It was going to be embarrassing with so many nobles around, but it’s still better than pressuring a mednoble.
“I am ready to continue.” Erenit smiled, though her face was still a bit pale.
She is pushing through. Charlotte wanted to sigh again.
“Very well,” Ferdinand uttered. “Show us the game where one plays as a commoner.”
“As a commoner?” Erenit looked at him confused, her eyes betraying a bit of panic.
Being unable to comply made her feel as if she had failed an order.
“Uncle, so far I have played only against feybeasts. That is the domain of knights, is it not?” Charlotte remarked, trying to shield her guest.
“I see.” Ferdinand shook his head. “In that case, you can continue with a representative game you would play often.”
“Understood.” Erenit nodded and swiftly began arranging the set while explaining the rules to the newcomers.
“So this is treasure shumil,” Sylvester remarked, holding one of the many pieces between his fingers.
His look was quite serious, as if he had inspected the quality of the woodwork. Though, he was merely surprised by the sheer amount of shaped pieces.
Ferdinand was looking through the boards with descriptions of feybeasts, while occasionally glancing at the initial map in the middle of their table.
Rozemyne was reading materials that weren’t even part of their current game as she had finished with the main ones.
And Wilfried was practicing with his dice to get the highest possible number.
Erenit and Charlotte patiently waited for them to refocus.
“This is a nesting area of a Riesefalke, a large flying feybeast living in the south,” Erenit began. “Your goal is to reach its nest with a troublesome treasure through dangerous caverns, and extract its egg.”
“Troublesome, indeed,” Ferdinand remarked, now fully focused on the set.
Rozemyne glared at him, though he didn’t seem to notice.
“Is everyone ready?” Erenit asked with a polite tone.
“We do not have enough charms and rejuvenation potions for this kind of undertaking,” Ferdinand stated dryly.
“Yes, we are ready,” Rozemyne declared and threw her die.
To Charlotte’s surprise, her sister took the lead of their group, marching at the front.
“Eiderots can spit fire, so be careful,” Rozemyne warned her siblings unperturbed as she moved her piece toward an alternative path.
Does she already remember that from those boards? Or did she read that in her books? Charlotte wondered. Nothing in her own study materials touched on fighting the feybeasts.
“Why are you sidestepping them?” Wilfried asked in confusion, rolling his die for an attack.
“Don’t fight them if you don’t have to!” Ferdinand grabbed Wilfried’s piece.
“Lord Ferdinand, moving other players’ pieces is not encouraged,” Erenit uttered with a quiet voice.
Her noble facade was holding, but Charlotte could feel her tension.
“Uncle, we should respect the rules of the game,” she reiterated to keep his stare from her guest.
It made her tense as well, but Ferdinand merely released Wilfried’s piece without any complaints. Both Charlotte’s and Erenit’s faces filled with relief.
“There is a version for two players that plays similarly to gewinnen. My sister Estelle plays it with me often, but in this setting, it takes away from others’ choice and fun of the game,” Erenit explained with a tiny smile.
With no obstacle in Wilfried’s way, he finished a trio of eiderots in front of him.
“As you slay the feybeasts, you feel a slight tremor in the walls,” Erenit added a contextual clue.
“The whole place will explode if you kill too many feybeats,” Ferdinand grumbled.
“Really?” Wilfried widened his eyes.
“Lord Ferdinand, have you already played this particular scenario?” Erenit’s shoulders slumped.
She was trying to present a campaign she considered the most unique and worthy of the archducal family’s time, but it seemed like a failure on her part.
“I visited the real location, which must have served as an inspiration for this particular game,” Ferdinand replied, leaning against his backrest.
“I guess we will have to be more careful,” Charlotte mused.
She herself felt quite overwhelmed, constantly looking at the descriptions of the feybeasts, trying to memorize them. The math wasn’t hard—Charlotte was used to counting in her head from her work—but with so many people around, she was afraid to make a mistake.
Their whole group managed to successfully avoid other feybeasts on the floor and descended to the next level.
Erenit was slowly adding map after map, extending their chosen path, which was confusing to everyone who was used to the games with a single board like gewinnen.
“This is a maze.” Rozemyne grimaced after making a third left turn.
Ferdinand smirked. “There is no resemblance to the real place. I guess this is a limitation when one only reads about it.”
Erenit widened her smile a little. It seemed the game would be a challenge after all. The first floor had been a mere introduction where the players could familiarize themselves with the enemy and the concept of avoiding them.
The players struggled much more on the second floor, as every single path seemed like the wrong one and one had to think hard about their approach.
“This is tough.” Wilfried scratched the back of his head.
At the moment, they were stuck in the middle of the dungeon, with three paths forward, all of which contained enemies.
“Should we just run for it through the short part ahead of us? We have enough mana and health,” Rozemyne wondered.
On their current map, the short path was the only one that led directly to their goal. The two other corridors required attaching another map. As such, going straight was a tempting option.
Ferdinand tapped on the left part of the map. “This path doesn’t seem to head in our preferred direction at all. What’s even the point?”
It was only blocked by a single eiderot, but curved in the direction from which they had come.
“No player would take it,” he kept complaining.
Erenit tensed again. “Exploration?” she replied with a thin smile.
“Very well, let’s try it out,” Sylvester remarked with an indifferent voice.
He had kept mostly silent, maintaining a reserved expression as if he had been a mere observer.
Ferdinand glanced at him with a slight annoyance. “Alright.” He positioned his piece to block the single enemy with his shield so others could continue to yet another map.
“You reached a dead end. Pieces of clothing from previous explorers lie on the ground,” Erenit announced.
It caused a silent pause as the whole room quieted down.
“Well, let’s explore them.” Rozemyne shrugged. She had read something similar in multiple stories from her past life. This kind of place usually contained a skeleton and some treasure.
“You found two push-back charms and multiple rejuvenation potions.” Erenit handed her their tiny wooden representations.
“Neat.” Rozemyne smiled.
“With this, we could just run through the short part,” Wilfried mused out loud.
“As I am losing mana with every turn from holding this feybeast, it sounds like a necessity,” Ferdinand remarked.
He was stating that with a neutral expression, though it felt like a complaint to Rozemyne. She led the others back to his location, and as their pieces met, she gave him two wooden bottles. This way, he could continue holding his position without issue, and without killing any additional feybeasts. The rest of the group moved towards the short path.
With a push-back charm, it was a rather easy maneuver.
Erenit took out yet another map, which contained a large cavern with a pool. “You approached the Riesefalke’s nest.” She put a piece in front of them. “The Riesefalke noticed you and is about to attack.”
“I expected a couple of bataffes, not a giant bird,” Rozemyne muttered under her breath.
Her whole strategy completely backfired with the introduction of a boss fight. Ferdinand had been left behind, on the other side of the short path, to be used for easy flanking once the others would return. But now, with this turn of events, they were short one player.
Erenit was pleased by the general surprise around her. She suppressed an urge to grin.
“But we can’t fight.” Wilfried’ eyebrows furrowed a little.
“We can still delay it while one of us reaches the nest?” Charlotte remarked with a questioning tone.
They had played enough that she felt more comfortable to suggest taking risks—no longer fearing mistakes. Erenit was right—cooperating with multiple players is a completely different experience. She smiled.
It was oddly relaxing to her.
“Riesefalke is heading for Lady Charlotte, as she approached the nest,” Erenit said, as she threw her die and moved the enemy piece.
“Shields won’t work. We have to attack it to make us look like a threat,” Rozemyne proposed.
“Hold on. What about the place exploding?” Wilfried turned her way.
“Just avoid killing it.” Rozemyne shrugged.
With everyone adopting the new tactic, they managed to keep the enemy’s attention while Charlotte reached the pool.
Erenit added more pieces on the map. “You are about to be attacked by a group of bataffes.”
“They seem weak. I can keep evading,” Charlotte replied after reading the board with their statistics.
Her next throws of the dice proved her right. She retrieved the egg without receiving any damage despite multiple attacks. However, the moment Charlotte left the pool, Riesefalke focused on her once again.
“Since you took its egg, you are now the primary target,” Erenit announced.
“Well, we should leave anyway. The feybeast is already gravely injured.” Rozemyne moved her piece between Riesefalke and Charlotte and rolled for another attack.
Erenit rolled on behalf of Riesefalke and managed to land a hit with substantial damage. Rozemyne’s health was in shambles. Sylvester took her position.
Now, it was Wilfried’s turn. His throw was quite lucky.
“Oh, critical damage,” Erenit remarked before pausing for a moment. “Right, the Riesefalke faces the opposite way because of Lady Charlotte, so now it’s also flanking…” She wrote the numbers on her sheet, but then she paused again.
“Is there a problem?” Charlotte wondered.
“Um, that attack has killed the Riesefalke.” Erenit glanced once again at her calculations.
“Is that the end of the game?” Rozemyne asked with a slight grimace.
“Not yet. There is a short period of time before the mana overloads, it’s just…” Erenit looked at her prepared notes. “I don’t know if you have enough turns to escape the caves. When I played it, we only exceeded the limit on killed feybeasts close to the exit, after we got swarmed.”
“Oh, so we can expect to get swarmed.” Rozemyne widened her smile.
Erenit pressed her lips. On the inside, she was admonishing herself for revealing such a thing.
“So, what now?” Wilfried asked with a guilty look.
“We have to think about our next series of moves really hard,” Rozemyne mused. “Can I borrow that erasable paper for calculations?”
“Sure.” Erenit handed her a whole stack.
“We should list all our available resources so we know what to use.” Rozemyne began compiling everyone’s inventory, mana and health. “We have one push-back charm,” she muttered.
“I think we should keep that one for when we get swarmed,” Charlotte remarked.
“But we will already be swarmed as soon as we return to the previous map.” Wilfried pointed at the short path, full of enemy pieces.
“It’s not required for everyone to return alive; just the treasure with the egg will suffice,” Ferdinand replied nonchalantly.
“Easy to say for someone who’s only holding one feybeast on the other side of that path,” Rozemyne complained.
Erenit smiled at their exchange.
“Are we missing something?” Charlotte wondered as she noticed Erenit’s expression.
“No, not at all. It is just funny how everyone always notices that they don’t have to keep all the players alive only after they start losing.” Her smile widened even more.
“So we are on the right track.” Rozemyne continued with her writing.
After some deliberation, the whole group decided to push through the short path once again. Since Sylvester and Rozemyne were the most battered from the fight against Riesefalke, they attacked their respective sides, while Wilfried and Charlotte ran through the middle.
The outcome was obvious: only two players made it through.
The new, reduced group joined Ferdinand and continued to the next tunnel filled with enemies, where they repeated the tactic, moving all the contents of their inventory to Ferdinand.
He alone reached the exit, blocked by a horde of enraged feybeasts. He used the second push-back charm and claimed the victory.
“Interesting concept,” Ferdinand remarked while looking through Erenit’s notes. “You had to go through quite a lot of calculations in a speedy manner for us to proceed without waiting,” he praised her.
“I am grateful for your words.” Erenit nodded with a polite smile.
Both Charlotte and Wilfried were stunned. They didn’t know their uncle was able to praise other people.
“Though, this still doesn’t help with understanding of those reports,” Ferdinand grumbled under his breath.
Because of their busy schedule, both Sylvester and Ferdinand departed soon after. One game was the most they could manage at this time of the year.
“It was fun.” Wilfried smiled. “Will this be a new trend? I heard it’s played in our dormitory.”
“Mila said it wasn’t likely because it required quite a lot of setting up and preparation.” Erenit shrugged, before producing a small smile. “But I think it might. I hosted it myself, and my friends liked it a lot.”
Because it was hosted by you, Charlotte replied in her head. If one could continue leading an event despite the aub and multiple members of the archducal family showing up without prior scheduling, and not crumble under pressure, they were the type of person who could perform well in any setting. Charlotte was seriously impressed by Erenit’s competence.
She would no doubt make an excellent retainer.
They were both in the same year, and Charlotte would have been pleased to gain her for herself. But unlike other children, Erenit had never shown interest in becoming one. In the playroom, she had been keeping her distance.
Last year, Charlotte had thought that Mila’s little sister had been merely waiting for Rozemyne to wake up, but Erenit’s attitude hadn’t changed this winter either.
Maybe she is waiting for Mila to decide whom to serve? As Charlotte looked at Rozemyne, it was hard to shrug off such a thought. Even with this kind of complex game, Rozemyne had understood the gist of it almost immediately, despite Charlotte taking a substantial amount of time to learn the basics before everyone had showed up.
She played that scenario as if she had actual experience with dangerous feybeasts like Uncle. Charlotte sighed internally. The challenge in front of her seemed insurmountable.
“Next game?” Wilfried asked with an eager smile.
Right, to improve, I just have to continue trying.
“I do not mind.” Charlotte reinforced her smile, glancing at Erenit. I’m not giving up, either.
“Very well.” Rozemyne shrugged with a smile of her own, before adding silently so no one could hear her, “This will cut into my reading time.”
Though, Rozemyne was content. Her little sister seemed quite impressed with the way she had led this game. It was at least something to counterbalance her inept handling of Leisegang.
All Rozemyne had to do was achieve a higher placement in the upcoming chess tournament, maybe even win it, and her position as the competent big sister would be secured.