It didn’t take long on that first day for Hikari and Salazar to run out of topics. The elf stretched her arms in boredom. Knowing that this would be a long boring journey, she decided to pull out an item from her inventory that she hadn’t seen in a long ti.
Hikari pulled out a crystalline chess board. The thing was a thick crystal about the thickness of a thumb. And the spaces on each side of the board were alternating between a silver-white glow and purple. Purple beca the black pieces on the board, and the silver pieces were white.
She looked towards her dragon companion who regarded the board with a faint curiousity.
"What is this, Master?"
"This is a ga called chess. You’ve never played it?"
It was a bit odd that Kurayami had never seen a chess board. From Hikari’s mory she acquired the board during a quest inside of a crystal dungeon. After defeating the dungeon boss, the board and pieces were the only thing she got.
There was the option to trade the items to a guild, but Hikari found them to be far too valuable. It was an extrely rare drop, even among players who used luck boosting items. Many would use the horned rabbit’s foot or other such items to boost their chances. In the end, only a few players acquired it.
Kurayami wasn’t the only one looking at the board. Salazar had his eyes trained on it.
"I will explain the rules of the ga. Then we can play a few rounds."
Hikari began explaining the ga to Kurayami, and the dragon seed to understand the basics. It only took her about 5 minutes to morize how the pieces moved.
In the past life of the elf, she was not the strongest player. Hikari played mostly online against random people, but she had never even reached the level of an international master. She was always stuck at around 1400 elo.
However, it didn’t take the elf long to beat the dragon. Salazar looked longingly at the board, and Hikari smiled.
"Why don’t you two try a ga?"
"You really an it?"
"Go ahead."
Salazar nodded and moved closer. It seed that at this point even the ninja was intrigued by the ga. She was leaning in close.
Kurayami and Salazar ended up going head to head, but since Kurayami had seen my scholar’s mate, she didn’t fall for that trick two tis in a row. The ga ended up going to an end ga where Kurayami ended up winning.
Salazar sighed. "It’s my defeat. Still, this ga is quite amazing. And this crystal board. Miss Hikari, how much would you charge for to take this?"
Hikari chuckled dryly. "I don’t think there is enough money in your entire company."
Salazar was visibly disappointed, but he nodded in understanding.
"Well, the ga can be played without this special board. Usually, the pieces could be made out of wood. Then you can simply color in white and black spaces. If you color the pieces, just rember that white always goes first."
"You’re quite knowledgeable. Did you invent this ga?"
The elf shook her head. "Nobody holds the rights to this ga, but there are still ways to profit from it."
As the two conversed, the ninja and the dragon seed to be getting into the ga. It was the liveliest that Hikari had seen Kahleem since they’d t. She couldn’t see the girl’s expression, but she could tell the ninja was having fun.
Salazar placed a hand to his chin. "So this is sothing considered public domain? If my company was able to produce boards on our own, we could make a profit by simply putting our logo. I don’t think I have ever seen this ga played, so it could end up as a huge hit. By the way...This crystal board, have you been to Kamir?"
"Nope, this is my first ti traveling this far east."
"There is an underground dwarven settlent beneath Kamir, and it’s called the Crystalline Scar. Several purple crystals tower beneath the earth, and the dwarves make their ho around there. There’s also many ores, but their handling is not free to outsiders. I thought this board would have been the make of the crystal dwarves."
Hikari widened her eyes in surprise. "So, there’s even a place like that?"
"It’s a vast world. Where I co from there are many holes drilled beneath the soil by massive worms. There is even a legend passed down about a sand dragon. Say, Miss, do you think you could advise in this chess board? If I can recreate it on mass, then I can give you a big commission."
"It’s a simple process really," the elf said, taking out a block of wood at the sa ti. Hikari was much like those cheese wheel collectors, getting everything she could possibly get. If she beca encumbered, she would simply store her items at her base of operations. I wonder how that place is doing right now? There should be several NPC’s there at the mont.
She had wanted to call on another NPC that was a forr magic item examiner. In the ga there had been several magic items that needed soone with high appraisal skills. She wanted to call on that NPC so she could appraise so of the magic items here. Yet, she hadn’t. The reason was the realization that these beings were real.
The elf had left Senjo in Amalin’s capital to watch over the little sisters, and she could still feel the contract binding them. However, there was another place so distant—yet so close—that she could feel several contracts binding to her. It would only take a smallest drop from her well to teleport there, yet it had been sothing she’d been avoiding.
In her distraction, she hadn’t even realized she was already finished with the pieces. Before her lay a pristine wooden board. Since it was wooden materials, it only took a bit of nature magic from Hikari to shape them.
Salazar gasped as he inspected it over. "I didn’t even consider this a possibility! It seems I’ve t a truly spectacular person. Do you think it would be possible to make a few of these in the sa way?"
"Are you planning to extort for free labor?"
"Of course, it won’t be extortion! What do you take as? If you could make just 5 of these, I will pay you two platinum coins."
"I really have little interest in money."
"You must have an interest in sothing? Everyone has a price! Why else would you show this man such a tantalizing sight?"
A sudden exclamation ca from a certain ninja. "Hah! I win!"
Kurayami glared at the woman. "You only won because I went easy on you. How about we play best of three?"
"Deal! I will beat you again!"
Hikari felt blissful watching this scene. It was a certain kind of happiness that money could truly never buy. Even though the dragon seed angry, she could tell that Kurayami was having fun. A faint smile was seen on her lips through the glare.
Indeed, it was a scene that people from both royal families and common people would love to see. If this kind of joy could spread across every corner of the world, it could bring people together. It could move hearts, and at the sa ti, it would send a ssage if soone from her old world had made it over.
But what kind of price would the elf put on it? She was not lacking in money. She still had the funds that were given by Esalda. And, if it ca to it, she’d be willing to use the currency from [Gensuba], which carried other risks.
The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. Hikari gained a wealth of information, yet it was very limited in scope. There was so much not inside of that traveler’s journal. The crystal dwarves were never ntioned. It seed that the author was a resident of Amalin who didn’t venture very far. This also ant that their words couldn’t be trusted as much.
It was likely the scholars wrote these books for other like minded people, but when it ca to it, seeing it for yourself was the only sure answer. However, Hikari still had a deep fondness for books.
When she lived in an apartnt for several years, books had beco part of her main leisure purchases. It was either gas or books, and she was always transitioning between them. She rembered having a certain thought that all book enthusiasts get at so point. There is never enough ti to read everything. No matter how much I read, I can’t read it all. But that is also the beauty of this world.
The elf smiled and handed the board to Salazar. "There is only one thing I require. I want books. Give as many books as you think 5 of these things are worth."
"Really!? If it’s just books I know several people! For these 5 prototypes I could give you 100 books!"
"Then it’s a deal."
"What about the content of the books?"
"I will go for historical records, magic records, or even regular fiction. It would be interesting to read this world’s fantasies."
"This world?"
"Oh, don’t worry about it. That was just a slip of the tongue."
"Hah! I win again! I’m starting to think I have a real knack for this."
"You only won because…"
The ninja nodded. "Right, you were going easy on ."
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