A Misunderstood Mentor

Pattin, and the sound of the pawn being placed on the board sounded.

On my front, I have azatose sitting across the chessboard.

How is this happening?

I'm confused in my head and I haven't been able to sort it out yet.

"Tak, not good. Don't lose like this."

"Oh, yeah, you are"

In the meantime, focus on the game now.

He had a lot to ask.

Why did you come here?

Why, did you come with Nagisa?

You knew her from the beginning?

Why were you mumbling that melody I heard in my dream?

But before I heard it, Azatos said to me:

"... could you play the game?

At some point Azatos held two crates with chessboards and pawns in their hands.

No way, did you come all the way to this mountain back to do that?

"Uh, I'm cooking right now, so if it's after that,"

"Yes, I'll wait for you then"

It's like I don't know what he's thinking.

Instead of the expression, isn't that emotion even covered in deep darkness?

Until the dish is finished, just as if only the shadows were there, Azatose is waiting.

Meanwhile, Nagisa, who brought Azatose...

Nagisa, I need to talk to you.

"This is Master Sasha. Did you come out of it when you said you were in the middle of a five-continent conference? I'll take care of this place. Come home as soon as you can."

"No, you can't leave right away. Because this place is as important to me as it is to my country. That's why we need to be clear."

"... Really? Now, please be brief. Princess Salia Shana Lucia"

Something, this one is wrapped up in an unusual sense of urgency here.

And after a while, the dish is finished, stopping the fire and turning towards Azatose.

"Would you like to have a little?

"... no, let's make that another opportunity"

You know I can't cook for sure now that the food has been rejected.

That's not supposed to happen, but when I put him in front of me, I kind of feel like it's all been spotted out.

"Well, shall we start the game?"

With that said, Azatos, silently gives me one of the crates.

When I opened the lid, inside, the chess pawn was jammed with bissilli.

"Is that it?"

I notice a strange attempt to arrange the pawns.

"More than one? What, this? False?

I neck a pawn that says it's a mistake, not in normal chess.

"Yeah, that's right. False. If a king is taken, the rule of losing won't change, but there are usually no pawns in this chess."

Apparently, there are special rules added to the chess that Azatos brought.

"Ordinary chess is arranged by tabulating the letter king, but this chess is arranged backwards. And this mistake will be lined up behind us, just like the king. One in a fixed position, the other in an empty position, anywhere you want."

If both the king and the mistake are turned upside down, nothing is written and I don't know which is which.

"Could this be"

"That's right. Until the other person takes that pawn, you won't know which is the king and which is the wrong one. Naturally, taking a mistake doesn't determine winning or losing. The match will continue until the king is taken."

I see, is that an addition to the strategy of deception to normal chess?

They can desperately protect their mistakes and make them look like kings, or they can make their kings attack enemy lines and make them look like mistakes.

"Hey, that sounds funny"

Even this, as an adventurer, chess has been worked out scattered by Rick.

Though there are additional rules, that shouldn't be such an unusual result.

"Huh? Tak, you got the rules? I don't know about us, but the mistake is to stop pretending to be a king and trying to be a healthy pawn?

"Huh? Oh, yeah, like that. Mostly."

Place the mistake that the normal king has turned over to a certain position, and place the king who has turned over before it.

Now you don't know from the other person which is the king and which is wrong until you try to take it.

"Takun, I forgot which one.... Is that it? Which one did it?

"It's okay. I remember."

There was a lot I wanted to ask Azatos, but let's do it after this game.

At first, with such ease, the game with Azatos began.

"Now you're stuffed."

It's a chess term, and it's called packing that the king eliminates the escape and the game ends.

That's what Azatos said, even though he still doesn't know if the pawn is king or wrong.

This is the tenth time.

It is certainly not a king and a mistake to be packed.

Azatos strikes me in a straight line, never wrong my king.

"Takun, does this make you crazy? You got some kind of mark on the back or something?

That's what Karna told me, and I made sure of the pawn many times, but neither the king nor the error changed at all on the back.

"Hey, how do you know the difference between a king and a mistake? Do I have any habits or anything?

"No, that's not it. You're just too emotional by mistake."

"What?"

I don't think of that word, I speak out loud.

"In your battle with Rick in the prairie, you were mistaken for the strongest by the rest of the world. King of the world. But it's just a mistake."

Gosh, my heart jumps.

Did Azatos see me as the weakest miscellaneous fish since then?

"You have a strong idea who the real king is. Yet you always wonder if it can remain misunderstood as you. Every time you make a mistake, you project yourself there."

I can't say anything as a surprise, I just look at Azatose's face, but his expression is wrapped in darkness and I have no idea.

"But it's okay. Soon, you won't have to worry about that. Everything will be revealed."

What, what the hell?

Dunno, dunno, my heart rattles so loud.

"The fact that your disciple has somehow become the strongest of mankind and that you, the master with no talent whatsoever, are miscertified as the strongest in the universe beyond that, it will soon be resolved"

"Huh!!

Return to the table your king and your mistakes that Azatos was turning over.

"Like this king and the pawn of error, the truth will be revealed"

"Huh!? This world isn't chess! Azatos!

Azatose shook his head small in the words.

"It's something similar. Interpretation, we're just pawns on the board."

From the face of Azatos who said so, the darkness slowly disappears.

Its appearance hardens me with my eyes open.

Sasha and Nagisa were rubbing it, and the anger was flying.

Karna, too, is calling something out loud to me.

But all of them don't come to mind.

The darkness disappeared and I could only be stunned by Azatos' face, which I could see clearly now.