Law of Space and Time

Chapter 25: Intense Chess Game

"Looks like I have no choice but to play a few games today then."

"Young man, you must be wondering why you weren't able to fool me, right?" the elderly man asked with an amused expression.

"Fool you? What do you mean by that? I have no intention of trying to fool you," Erwin denied.

"Hehe, let me tell you the reason," the elderly man said as a gleam flashed through his eyes. "You are too proud. Given your personality, it's very unlikely that you would've been willing to reveal the full extent of what you were thinking. Hence, even though you told me a very compelling story, I was certain you were hiding something from me. Hence, I could tell that you already knew everything."

A rather embarrassed smile appeared on Erwin's face upon hearing this. He had thought that his acting had been impeccable, but his facade had been seen through in the end.

The two women also realized that this was indeed the case, and they couldn't help but develop a sense of admiration toward the elderly man. Even though the two men had only met briefly, the elderly man had already developed a very thorough understanding of Erwin's character. The two of them were always by Erwin's side, so they were very well aware of his personality. They knew that even though he appeared to be quite easygoing on the outside, he was a very cautious and proud individual who never showed his entire hand to anyone.

"I thought I had you convinced, but it turns out you were the one fooling me this entire time," Erwin chuckled.

"Indeed," the elderly man also chuckled in response. "Now come, show me your skills on the chessboard."

Thus, a game commenced between the two.

In the opening, both of them moved their flank soldiers in preparation to deploy their cavaliers.

Erwin's playstyle was more aggressive and free-spirited, deploying his prime minister right away in conjunction with his cavaliers to apply early pressure, preparing to slaughter all of the elderly man's soldiers.

In contrast, the elderly man played a much more stable and conservative style, moving his magicians forward slowly and steadily.

After that, the center of the chessboard became a chaotic battlefield, and it felt as if an actual battle were taking place there, with countless soldiers charging toward their opposing ranks while spells rained down from the heavens like collective forces of nature.

At this point, Turan's game with his opponent had already concluded. Just as the elderly man had predicted, Turan had been setting a trap for his opponent the entire game, and ultimately, he was able to use the trap to turn the tables in the endgame to steal victory from the jaws of defeat. He was quite pleased with his win and wanted to boast to Erwin about it, only to discover that Erwin wasn't among the spectators anymore. He then noticed that Erwin was playing Sim in a game, and he was very intrigued to see this, turning down his opponent's offer for a rematch before making his way over to Erwin to watch his game.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to Turan, and upon casting their eyes toward his direction, they were surprised and elated to discover that Sim was also present on the second floor of the casino. As far back as two decades ago, Sim had already been an invincible legend in the entire casino. When it came to battle chess, Sim was truly a master. Thus, everyone immediately extended enthusiastic greetings toward him, and they weren't concerned in the slightest that Sim would be distracted and fall to a disadvantage in his game as a result. In contrast with other types of chess, battle chess was one where the ambient atmosphere was very important. The spectators were always loudly discussing the games that they were watching, and if any player were to make a bad move, they would immediately be met with mockery and ridicule, while those who played well would be afforded praise and approval. Hence, as long as the spectators didn't physically move the pieces on the board, they were free to do almost anything they pleased.

"When did you get back to Finklan, Sim?" Turan asked with a wide smile.

Erwin was considering the state of the game, but at the same time, he also made a mental note to himself that the elderly man's name was Sim.

"I only recently came back," Sim said with a smile as he took one of Erwin's cavaliers with his own cavalier, and it seemed that the game was entirely in his control. "As soon as I came back, I saw you getting up to your usual tricks. You must've won quite a bit of money from that last game, right?"

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this. At the same time, they were curious about who the young man that Sim was playing against was. Given Sim's mastery of the game, it was not easy to get him to play a game, and he wouldn't even take a second glance at a player he deemed to be too weak, let alone accept a challenge from someone else. If it were Sim who had challenged the young man instead, then that would be even more interesting. Just how strong a player did the young man have to be to lure Sim into a game.

As these thoughts were going through everyone's mind, the state of the game on the chessboard was becoming more and more clear-cut. At the price of both of his cavaliers, Erwin had managed to exchange eight of his opponent's soldiers and one of the enemy cavaliers, while he still had four soldiers left. Furthermore, the magician that Sim had been slowly moving up the board was accurately slain by Erwin's assassin before it had a chance to make a significant impact.

However, overall, Erwin was still at a disadvantage as he had been forced to sacrifice his prime minister to protect his king.

With an extra cavalier up his sleeve, Sim was able to control the center of the board with unparalleled dominance, not allowing Erwin's pawns to advance up the board.

However, Erwin's utilization of his assassin was truly exceptional. With his precise calculations, he was able to slay Sim's remaining cavalier with his second assassin.

"Who is this young man? It's very impressive that he's managed to last this long against Sim," someone in the crowd remarked in amazement.

"He's definitely a very good player. Not many people are able to push Sim this far."

"Why does it seem to me like Sim is at a slight disadvantage here?"

"I think that's going a bit too far. Don't forget that Sim still has an extra prime minister over his opponent. It appears that the young man has turned the tables, but in reality, both of his assassins have already been deployed and won't be able to move until he accumulates more forbearance. How is he going to be able to deal with Sim's assassins in this situation?" This analysis had been provided by one of the stronger players among the spectators.

Turan could also tell that Erwin was struggling to contend with Sim, but the fact that he was able to last this long against Sim without falling to a disadvantage meant that he was already an exceptional master of the game. Even Turan himself had to admit that Erwin was a better player than he was, he couldn't help but be even more intrigued by Erwin. It seemed that he excelled in everything under the sun. He appeared to be quite lackadaisical and nonchalant, but in reality, he was a man who possessed brilliant talent in many fields. It was no wonder that Lia had placed so much trust in him. He was the perfect mix of a scoundrel and a gentleman, and he possessed talent and looks in equal measure, so it was also no wonder that he attracted all of these beautiful women.

"What's going on? Is he about to lose?" Theresa asked as she tugged on Onean's sleeve. Theresa was far from an expert in battle chess. She could assess basic positions, but when it came to complex positions like this one, her calculation abilities were found lacking, so she could only turn to Onean for her analysis.

"It looks like they're evenly matched, but he's actually at quite a severe disadvantage. Having said that, he hasn't given up yet," Onean said with slightly furrowed brows.

Sim was playing very casually, still able to converse with the surrounding spectators from time to time.

In contrast, Erwin still had a smile on his face, but one could tell from his demeanor that he was far from relaxed. Under normal circumstances, he excelled at multitasking, but in this situation, he was so focused that he was no longer even able to hear the sounds around him.

What also contributed to this was the fact that the room had become a lot quieter than before. After finishing their games, many of the players couldn't suppress their curiosity and began to gather around Sim and Erwin. However, as the atmosphere and position became tenser and tenser, the commotion gradually died down as everyone began to ponder the position.

The chessboard was like a brutal battlefield, and no one would know the outcome of the battle until the very end.

Seeing a brilliant business opportunity, the manager of the Pinnacle Casino was even beginning to take bets on the game.

Of course, most of the gamblers placed their money on Sim, but the odds offered for a victory for Erwin was 1:8. Spurred on by such favorable odds, some of the more opportunistic gamblers decided to place their bets on Erwin. However, the manager of the casino didn't know who Erwin was, so he was being slated down as the mystery man on the betting list.

Right at this moment, one of the more advanced players in the spectating crowd exclaimed, "Oh, that's a fantastic move!"

Erwin had made a move with his magician, which rescued his two assassins, both of which had been placed in severe peril, while also restricting the movement of Sim's remaining assassin.

However, gasps of surprise quickly rang out among the crowd, and the reason for this was that Sim was completely unfazed by Erwin's brilliant move, decisively using his own assassin to exchange for one of Erwin's assassins.

Sim's decision was a rather curious one in the eyes of all of the spectators. In fact, it could even be said that this was a blunder that made whittled down his winning advantage.

Erwin gobbled up the assassin with his magician without any hesitation, following which Sim took Erwin's magician with his prime minister before advancing a grid forward.

In the rules of battle chess, this was a move known as "take thrice, advance one". If any three pieces that weren't soldiers were taken in direct succession of one another on a certain grid on the chessboard, the final surviving piece on that grid had to advance forward by a grid.

In the wake of that sequence of exchanges, it appeared that Erwin had lost the magician, but at the same time, Sim had also used up all of the forbearance that he had accumulated on his assassin. In addition to that, Sim had also lost a magician earlier in the game, so they each had only a single magician left.

At the moment, Sim had an assassin, a prime minister, a magician, two missionaries, and two soldiers, while Erwin had an assassin, a magician, two missionaries, and four soldiers.

At this point, Erwin's remaining assassin could only be used as a soldier, and it was going to take a few more moves before he could develop his magician and missionaries into the thick of the action.

During the time that Erwin spent to make those moves, Sim decimated all of Erwin's soldiers at the center of the board. Aside from the assassin that was essentially a soldier for the rest of the game, all of Erwin's other soldiers had perished.

After that, Sim began to put on a masterclass on how to utilize the prime minister. He used the prime minister's flexible "日"-shaped movement to successfully suppress Erwin's remaining magicians and missionaries, preventing them from being able to reach the front lines.

Even more importantly, Erwin could clearly tell that Sim was calculating his forbearances turns so that the prime minister was always roaming just outside the range of his assassin.

Everyone looked on in admiration at Sim's exceptional technique, and it seemed that the outcome of the game was already a foregone conclusion at this point.

While Erwin's magician and missionaries were being suppressed, Sim's magician and missionaries were firmly on the offensive.

Thus, Erwin had no choice but to begin defending for dear life. Due to the turns of forbearance that Sim was steadily racking up, Erwin's king was already under threat of being directly killed by the enemy assassin. Furthermore, he no longer had a prime minister to protect his king, so he had to constantly keep tabs on when the enemy assassin accumulated sufficient forbearance to be able to kill his king.

Meanwhile, Sim's two remaining soldiers crossed over the center of the board and prepared to infiltrate Erwin's territory.

However, Erwin's remaining magician and missionaries formed a strong fortress that supported one another very well, so he was able to ward off the attack from the two enemy soldiers for now.josei

Unfortunately, Sim wasn't about to give him a chance to regroup. His prime minister arrived in the blink of an eye, threatening Erwin's magician or his missionaries.

Hence, Erwin was facing the dilemma of preserving his magician or his missionary.

"It looks like this is the end." The spectators were beginning to sympathize with the young man at the chessboard. In their eyes, no matter what they did in the current position, there was no chance that he could turn the tables.

To everyone's surprise, Erwin picked up the missionary that was protecting the magician and retreated it by a single grid, looking as if he were going to preserve the missionary at the expense of the magician. However, in an endgame, missionaries were far less useful than magicians. For a player of Sim's caliber, it was very unlikely that he was going to be so careless as to allow his pieces to get so close to Erwin's missionaries that they were at risk of being converted. Hence, everyone was rather perplexed by this decision. They all thought that this was a last-ditch effort by Erwin to try and complicate an already lost game, and they shook their heads with wistful expressions, anticipating a swift end to the game.

However, prior to making his move, Sim hesitated momentarily, following which his eyes abruptly lit up as he praised, "What a vicious trap you've set for me! If I take your magician with my prime minister, you'll be able to take back with your assassin. I'll be forced to take your assassin in return, in which case the 'take thrice, advance one' rule would be activated, and that's where your missionaries are waiting for me! How truly eye-opening to see you prepare such a devious trap even in such a dire position."

Everyone was enlightened to hear this, and only then did they realize that Erwin's inexplicable move was designed to set up a vicious trap. If Sim were to take the magician carelessly and fall into the trap, then the tables would be instantly turned. It was truly incredible that he still retained such clarity of mind and resourcefulness in such a position.

"What a brilliant game this has been!" Turan was full of genuine praise for Erwin's brilliance, while also feeling a little forlorn for the fact that Erwin's last-ditch effort had been seen through in the end.

Even though the position looked hopeless, Erwin was still trying to win with single-minded determination, and this determination was very moving to all those who witnessed his brilliant play.