A few days passed since Subaru settled in the forbidden library.
So far, their main activity together was learning to read, but Beatrice taught so horribly that it always ended up turning into a self study session. But one could only learn so much from reading a new language alone.
Regardless how fruitless his reading endeavors were, it didn't change the fact that Subaru was bored. This was supposed to be a new world, right? As it stood now, everything just felt like his old introverted lifestyle but reflavored into a library setting.
Actually, wouldn't this be worse? He didn't even have video games or manga to occupy his time with anymore. He would've at least been satisfied with all the books, but not being able to read any of them meant that he had nothing to do.
At one point, Subaru looked at his phone, hoping that by some miracle he had cellular connection, but that went as well as making a call in the mountains. Eventually, the countless dead ends into boredom brought him to where he is now.
Beatrice glanced up from the book she was reading, finding Subaru trying to construct what looked to be a wooden tray with squares engraved into it. "What are you doing with that?"
"I'll show you in a minute. It's almost done," he hurriedly explained.
His focus on that wooden square was so intense that it made the great spirit wonder why he didn't put the same effort into reading.
"And done!" Subaru proudly announced, excitedly presenting his strange project to Beatrice.
Beatrice carefully examined the wooden tray. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it had a bunch of evenly carved squares etched across its surface.
"Betty can only conclude that you have a very bizarre obsession with squares, I suppose."
"What? No, it's not like that!" he exclaimed, gesturing to it as he explained properly. "This is called a shogi board. With this, we can play a game called shogi."
Beatrice lifted her brow inquisitively. "We? Betty has no recollection of ever agreeing to join this pointless game of yours."
"C'mon, Beatrice. I worked so hard to make this! The least you could do is give it a try!"
The great spirit let out an annoyed sigh before shutting her book. "If it will get you to quiet down, then Betty will choose to humor your request, I suppose."
Subaru smiled cheerfully. "Yeah, that's the spirit! Trust me when I say that you're going to love this! Once I set it up, I'll teach you how to play."
Not wanting this opportunity to go to waste, Subaru hurriedly set up the pieces for the game, all of which were made from blank sheets of paper. After setting up, the boy kept his word and went over the rules.
"First, I'll go over all the pieces. Each player will have one king, one rook, one bishop, two gold generals, two silver generals, two knights, two lances, and nine pawns. There's a specific way to set up each side but I already have that set up for you."
Before Subaru could continue, Beatrice pointed at the board. "Why are those two pieces separated like that?"
"Ah, the right one is the rook and the left one is the bishop. As for why, I have no idea. It's just how they made the game, I guess. If there was a hidden meaning behind it, then I never had the chance to find out."
Beatrice stared at the board for a moment longer, perhaps trying to figure out a reason herself before giving up. "Hurry up, Betty doesn't have all day, you know."
"Hey! You were the one who stopped me to begin with!" Subaru quickly let it go in order to keep explaining the rules. "Anyways, each piece moves a certain way. If you move any of your pieces to the side where your opponent's side is, you can promote your pieces."
"Promote? What exactly does it mean to promote a piece?"
"Think of it as leveling up and getting brand new abilities."
Beatrice squinted her eyes. "You're spouting nonsense again. Can you explain it using real words, I suppose?"
"Ah, sorry about that. Hmm… So, when a piece is promoted, it can make more kinds of moves, and makes it easier to put the enemy king in check. You're supposed to move your pieces over your opponent's pieces in order to capture them."
"Betty still doesn't understand what the goal of this game is. Are you supposed to capture all your opponents' pieces to win?"
"Oh no, the game would NEVER end if that was the goal. All you have to do is capture the king to win."
"Just the king? That sounds very simple, I suppose."
"Oh trust me, it isn't. At any point, you can place captured pieces on the board for sneak attacks."
Beatrice groaned as Subaru went on to explain how sneak attacks worked. After he finished his explanation, Beatrice asked, "Are you done explaining this game yet?"
"Yeah, that's the gist of it. Did you need me to go over how each piece moves again?"
Beatrice shook her head. "That won't be necessary, Betty has already memorized the function for each piece, in fact."
"Heheh, if you say so. But you better not cry when I beat you!"
"You really must be an idiot if you believe that Betty would cry over such a silly and pointless game."
…
…
…
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be what you call a checkmate, I suppose."
"H-How…?" Subaru whimpered. He was checkmated within seven turns. What was more embarrassing was the fact that this was Beatrice's first time playing.
"I would've thought that you'd be at least a little proficient with this game, especially considering that you were the one to recommend it, I suppose."
With his ego on the line, Subaru steeled himself. "I-I was just going easy on you! I'll get you this time for sure!"
The spirit perked her brow. "If you're that persistent to keep playing, Betty doesn't mind trying another round."
…
…
…
"That's checkmate again, I suppose."
Subaru was flabbergasted. He was completely demolished yet again. "You must've played Shogi before! There's no way you can be this good on your first try!"
"You're the one who suggested this. It's obvious that you're just awful at your own game, in fact."
"Ugh… Well, at least I can say that I'm a way better teacher than you."
The girl gritted her teeth and their face reddened. "There is nothing wrong with Betty's teaching skills! Besides, you have no evidence that you're better than me when it comes to teaching."
"Oh really? Wasn't I the one who taught you how to play this game in the first place?" Subaru smirked rather smugly before continuing. "Since you easily beat me, that means I taught you well. Now, if we compare that to how my reading's going along, I can barely read five words. Therefore, that proves I'm a way better teacher than you!"
"You…!" Beatrice was at a loss for words. It was hard to tell if she couldn't argue with Subaru's solid facts or if she was too mad to speak at all. Regardless, she stood up and aimed her hand in Subaru's direction.
The boy immediately knew where this was going and quickly spoke up. "You can silence me but you can't silence the truth!"
With that, Beatrice blew Subaru across the room using wind magic. Just like every time, he crashed into a bookshelf which knocked several books to the floor. Subaru was left a bit winded but he was starting to get used to it.
"You really are a rude one!" Beatrice stammered out. "Have you already forgotten who's been providing you meals? You should show more respect to Betty."
Subaru slowly got back up and started to clean up the mess the girl caused. "Don't get me wrong, Beatrice. I am grateful for everything you've done for me. It's just… erm… a-actually, never mind."
Beatrice narrowed her eyes. "Something tells me that you were about to spout more nonsense."
"Anyways!" Subaru shouted out loud and clapped his hands together, doing what he could to steer the conversation into a different direction. "You're very good at Shogi. However, there are way more board games out there, and there's gotta be one I'm better than you at!"
Beatrice sighed. Knowing how long it will take for Subaru to make a new board, she pulled out a new book to read before waving him off. "Do what you want, I suppose."
--
The Roswaal Estate, for its size, didn't house all too many residents. In total, four people lived there. Six if they included the two great spirits.
As for the estate's activities, there hasn't been too much action as of late. One could only assume there were a lot of preparations occurring behind the scenes.
That didn't mean there were no activities at all behind those doors. The maids did their job splendidly, and kept the mansion in tip top shape. At this moment, one of those very maids was providing the lord of the estate with their daily report.
"Thank you, Ram." The lord thanked the maid before him. As the name of the estate would entail, the lord's name was Roswaal L. Mathers. He was the twelfth in line of his generation. "If that is all, you may return to your duties."
The maid who went by Ram bowed. "Thank you, Lord Roswaal." As the maid was about to leave, she stopped in her tracks as she just remembered something. "Actually, would you mind if Ram asked you something, my lord?"
Roswaal perked his brow curiously. "Of coooourse~ you can ask me anything."
Ram nodded her head. "It really isn't anything all too important, but is Lady Beatrice capable of using the toilet?"
For a moment, the lord was left speechless. Out of any question that he anticipated, that one was so out of left field that Roswaal was left speechless for a moment. "I'm sorry, Ram. Do you mind repeating that for me?"
It was pretty evident that the maid was getting flustered, especially seeing how even her lord was taken aback by such a question. "N-Nevermind. It really isn't that important, actually."
Being a bit curious, Roswaal inquired, "If you're comfortable with enlightening me, what brought about that question?"
Ram took a moment to recall an instance before sharing, "Well, this morning when Ram was doing her routine cleaning, I found myself unable to access the restroom. Anytime I tried entering, I would always find myself in a different part of the mansion. Since this looked to be similar to Lady Beatrice's door crossing, I assumed that she was using that ability so she wouldn't be disturbed."
"That's odd…" Roswaal assessed aloud. Both him and Ram knew that Beatrice was a spirit, thus she couldn't use the restroom in any conventional way. Not wanting to think about this instance too weirdly, Roswaal quickly thought of something to rationalize this odd behavior. "Now that I think about it, I know that Puck tends to visit Beatrice quite often. Maybe Miss Emilia was with Puck this morning, and eventually she needed to use the toilet."
Ram nodded. The maid got the idea already and she didn't want to hear her lord describe any more of this in detail. After all, even he looked uncomfortable trying to reason this. "I see, thank you for your bountiful wisdom, Lord Roswaal."
"If that is all, you may go now."
With that, Ram left.
After the maid's departure, Roswaal put a hand over his chin as he further tried to inquire about this odd situation. Now that he thought about it, she had been joining the residents during meal times. Even though that was odd in itself, the bizarre thing about it was that she'd take the meals, and leave with them.
He knew that spirits can eat if they wanted to, but the amount of mana it provided a spirit was hardly anything. Unless Beatrice was suddenly running that low on mana, there wouldn't be a reason for her to take food back to her library.
…
Whatever this was, he'll see if he can look into it later. It wasn't that important in all honesty, but it was weird enough to make the Lord at least a little curious.
--
Hello there.
So, I was going through my old documents not too long ago, and came across this unfinished piece I got bored with. I decided to post it since I thought it would be fair to share what other stuff I used to work on.
Be mindful though, I don't plan to make anymore of this. I have long since abandoned this work as it's a little over a year old now. So don't be surprised if you don't ever see an update for this one.
But, who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind one day. I do tend to do that from time to time.