Michael found the stairs leading down and joined the collection of serious mages focused on the game.
He did not travel for four hours in a bumpy carriage ride to the waste-ridden Kingsbridge City just so that the mages would spend the whole day playing chess.
He wanted magic spells.
“Haha! Checkmate, I win!” one particular game ended, with the winner announcing his proud victory out loud. The loser quickly left the table, desolate and saddened.
Michael approached the winner.
“Excuse me, but aren’t you going to perform magic spells in front of the crowd?”
He pointed towards the crowd up on the second floor.
The man, having just been on a victory high, graciously answered Michael’s question.
“Ahh, there’s no need for that anymore,” answered the bespectacled mage. “Instead, we have daily chess tournaments to show our advanced intellect to the good people of Kingsbridge.”
“Normal people don’t really understand magic anyway. If they see something colorful, they clap—even if it’s just a 1-star spell. I perform a boring 5-star spell, and they barely react.
But with this chess tournament, even normal people could understand how the mages from the Guild of Arcana are superior in intellect to any other job. They also know how to play chess, so they recognize when one player is better than them.”
Michael was so disheartened that he had to sit down on the chair.
He was so excited to analyze every spell he saw from the mages, only to find out they no longer performed spells for the general public.
If he hadn’t invented chess…Michael sighed. He was his own worst enemy…
But he didn’t want to give up. He looked at the scattered chess pieces on the board and an idea formed in his mind.
He collected the chess pieces and arranged them into their correct spots.
The bespectacled mage shot a weird look at Michael.
“Kid, my next opponent is going to be here soon. You don’t even know what you’re doing…”
The mage thought Michael was just playing around with the pieces, but he was surprised to find out that the pieces were correctly placed with no mistakes. The Queen was even in the right place, which most rookies tend to forget.
Michael then took out a leather pouch from his pocket and plopped it onto the table, with the satisfying KACHING sound reaching the bespectacled mage.
“Gold coins,” he muttered, already tempted.
“How about we play a game of chess? If you win, I’ll give you 100 gold coins. If I win, you have to perform one magic spell in front of my eyes,” Michael said, with a devious grin on his face.
The mage looked at Michael with suspicion. It seemed…too easy. He only had to beat a five-year-old kid and he would win a prize equivalent to doing odd jobs through the City for an entire month.
And the consequences weren’t that bad either. He just had to perform a spell in front of a kid.
It was too good to be true. It sounded like a trap. But…
“…I could use more money to buy a new broomstick…,” the mage pondered.
Then, he looked at Michael with all seriousness.
“No takebacks,” he warned Michael.
“No takebacks,” Michael replied as he made the first move.
TAK!
…
…
…
A couple of minutes later, the bespectacled mage had his head in his hands as he watched Michael absolutely decimate his pieces with nothing but a knight and a rook.
“I can’t believe it…I lost—to a kid, no less!”
He was entirely outclassed. The mage was mad for a second since his pride was hurt, but after thinking about the game, he became intensely curious at the advanced tactics Michael showed that nobody had ever thought of before.
“Checkmate,” Michael said, knocking down his opponent’s king off the board.
The bespectacled mage went silent for a few seconds before bombarding Michael with tons of questions.
“During this part, why did you move your bishop to this place? Also, you could have taken my queen, but you didn’t. I realize that it led to my downfall, but how did you think of that? I thought I was winning, until I wasn’t.”
Michael saw pure curiosity coming out of the mage’s eyes. He could see why intellectual minds like him were so taken with this game.
“Sometimes, it’s better to sacrifice pieces to get a better position…” Michael answered.
He spilled out all the lessons he learned while playing chess in his previous world, and the man listened to him without ever uttering a single word.
He no longer treated Michael as just a five-year-old child.
“I see…thank you. That was very insightful. I feel like my game has improved so much.”
Michael appreciated it. “You’re welcome,” he said.
But of course, he couldn’t forget their agreement.
“Ahem…now, about my prize…”
The mage was so busy consolidating the lessons he learned that he almost completely forgot about their deal.
“Oh, right. I have to show you a spell, right?”
Michael nodded.
The mage thought long and hard about what spell he was going to show Michael. If it was before, he would have simply shown him a 1-star spell and been done with it.
But he couldn’t do that to Michael. Not after he taught him so much about chess.
“Look closely. This is a 3-star spell called Cloud of Daggers.”
The bespectacled mage raised his hand and gathered mana at the tip of his fingers.
Then, illusionary daggers made out of violet mystic aura appeared around the mage, circling him at fast speeds.
Michael reckoned that anyone who tried to get close to the guy would immediately be ripped to shreds by those daggers.
[Analyzing magic…]
[Magic theory acquired.]
[Cloud of Daggers]
— ★★★
— Fire and Dark element
— This magic creates a sea of daggers revolving around the user in a 1-meter outer radius from the body.
Michael read the magic’s description and was satisfied with its defensive abilities. It would be very useful to a guy like him who didn’t like to fight with his hands.
“Thanks,” Michael said.
Just then, another mage walked towards them and got curious as to what they were doing.
“I just won my match and we’re supposed to be fighting next round—wait, looks like you lost your game,” the scruffy man said as he observed the chess board.
The bespectacled man quickly explained.
“What happened was…”
…
A few minutes later, the scruffy man was all caught up with what happened in the match.
Then, he couldn’t help but look at Michael and ask,
“100 gold if I win, right?”
A devious smile appeared on Michael’s face.
And so, the grift began…