Kays Translations

Chapter 28: Indoor Games

After I promised to make a stuffed animal for Lady Fabienne, the commotion finally settled down. At last, we could test the new games.

“First, I’ll explain sugoroku. Roll these dice, then move forward by the number shown.”

“So we move along these squares?”

“Exactly, and you must obey whatever instruction is written on the square where you stop.”

The rules weren’t difficult. Everyone seemed to understand the basics, so I decided to explain the rest as we played. Each person chose a card depicting the character they wanted to use as a game piece.

“Did you draw these pictures too, Lord Julius?”

“Yes.”

“You really can do almost anything, Lord Julius.”

Lady Fabienne looked genuinely impressed. The problem was that this wasn’t natural artistic talent; it came from my game-related skills. Praise like that made me feel a little guilty.

The cards depicted heroes, wizards, and other adventurers. I had made a ‘Defeat the Demon King’ sugoroku, using the familiar picture-book theme of a hero travelling to defeat a Demon King.

“The first person to reach the final destination—the Demon King’s Castle—wins.”

“I see. That’s brilliant. It’s precisely the sort of game I was hoping for.”

Edward sounded thoroughly pleased with himself. He could be theatrical, but he wasn’t a bad person.

And so we began. I rolled the dice. Three.

“One, two, three… What? Stay at the inn and miss one turn?!”

“How unfortunate, Lord Julius. I’ll move ahead while you wait.”

Gyre rolled next. He got a one.

“Oh no. I was defeated by a monster, so I have to return to the starting village.”

“Ah…”

“Cheer up, Gyre.”

Christopher, who was currently in the lead, patted Gyre sympathetically. For all his nerves earlier, he seemed to be enjoying himself now.

“Hm. The harshest part is the instruction that sends you all the way back to the starting village.”

“Yes. If that happens when you’re close to the finish, it could destroy your motivation.”

“That’s true. The game is very well designed. This is fun.”

Edward, you can just praise the game. There’s no need to sound so impressed with yourself. The girls were enjoying it too, and the competition became surprisingly intense.

After several rounds, Rosalia had the best results of all of us. Was that the triumph of innocence, or was she simply lucky?

Once we’d tested sugoroku enough, we moved on to karuta.

“For this game, one person reads aloud while everyone else tries to take the matching illustrated card. The character inside this circle is the first character of the line the reader recites.”

“Does the illustration have a meaning?”

“Good question, Lady Fabienne. The picture depicts the subject of the verse on that card.”

“Then the card showing roses matches a verse about roses.”

“Exactly.”

I was the first reader. Karuta’s rules were as simple as sugoroku’s, so I expected everyone to pick them up quickly.

“Here is the next clue: Aim for its core. Your opponent is a slime, and it moves slowly.”

“S-s-s-s-s…”

“Slime! There it is!”

Rosalia found the slime card first and triumphantly held it overhead. That single victory changed the look in everyone’s eyes.

“Lord Julius, read the next one!”

“Sorry, but I’m taking the next turn.”

“All right… The garden is filled with countless blooming roses.”

“Slap!”

Lady Fabienne practically dived for the card. She got it, but my carefully arranged cards went flying everywhere.

Despite incidents like that, the karuta match continued. It was another success.

After playing for a while, we took a break. Everyone gathered around the table, which the servants had prepared while we were busy playing.

“Big brother, that was fun! I want to play again.”

“I’m glad. Lady Fabienne and Edward are staying tonight, so we can play again.”

“Next time, let’s invite Father, Mother, and Brother Cain too!”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Would Lady Fabienne and Edward really be all right playing with that group? Judging by their expressions, their nerves were already hanging by a thread.

“Lord Julius, are you planning to sell these games?”

“Why do you ask, Gyre?”

“I would like to play them with my family.”

Come to think of it, Gyre had a younger brother and sister. He probably wanted to play with them. Both sugoroku and karuta had been designed to help children learn to read, so they should be useful educational toys too.

“All right. I’ll look into selling them as products.”

“So this is how you commercialised the Starry Sky magic tool. That’s impressive.”

“It was mostly luck.”

I hoped it was. Otherwise, I would feel a little guilty. I wondered whether every reincarnated person felt this way when they used knowledge from a previous life.

“Have you developed any other magic tools recently?”

“No, not lately. I haven’t had any good ideas.”

Edward was as interested in magic tools as ever. He told me that my earlier advice had worked: he’d managed to reproduce a lamp magic tool, although his version had turned out rather large.

He looked a little disappointed. A new magic tool, huh? What should I make next?

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