Chương 9: The Evil Forces of Chess

Escort quests were commonly the worst in MMOs. The NPCs usually moved between a running and walking speed that made it annoying to follow them. GEO was a bit more advanced in that department, but Elise still didn't prefer them. She often had to listen to long sequences of dialogue that filled in the blanks while traveling place to place. Though, this situation is completely the opposite. Everyone had gone quiet right after their introductions. Elise followed Esmeralda's eyes towards the trees.

The nun woman offered a prayer a couple of times, whispering it to herself. It was always about Lady Dawn. The vampire queen sighed and placed a hand on her chin. She did have spells and items in her inventory to make the trip more exciting. But which one would be best? There were lots of role playing items in Green Emerald Online. As a collector, she'd gathered her own fair share, but she hardly ever role played with other characters if she wasn't killing them.

She'd tried to role play with her NPCs, but at the time they were much less lively. Even if she cared for them, the charm was lost when you tried to play games against them. Maybe I can do that now? She reached into her inventory and found it. I can at least explain to them the rules of chess while we wait. Elise pulled out the chess board and placed it on her lap. It was quite exotic and much different than those she played with on Earth.

This one had imps as the pawns, demon kangaroos as the knights, horned demons as the bishops, Inferno spires with a hell dog head on top as the rooks, and the royalty were a demon queen and king. She'd obtained it from a demonic dungeon from the demon king boss at the end. The layout of that dungeon was a chess arena where every space was a different room. In order to defeat the boss, you either had to overpower all of them or win at chess.

Though, that was practically impossible, since it was a computer engine with settings high enough to rival grand master chess players. There was only one recorded instance of a player beating it like that, and it was spoken about on the game's forums for weeks.

"You even have an inventory skill, Lady Emerald?" Kaila asked with a hint of awe.

"Something like that. Have any of you ever heard of chess?" Esmeralda narrowed her eyes towards the board.

"I have heard of the game once or twice, but why are these depictions of hell spawn? I find it a bit distasteful. Lady Dawn would not approve of such a board, and I can even sense the presence of dark magic." Elise shrugged.

"There is no need to be wary. I went through great lengths to acquire this. I can assure you that any residual foul magic will not be harmful. Though I did obtain it from a group of defeated demons, that..."

"You defeated demons!?" Kaila shouted, nearly falling out of her seat. Rela pressed her hand to her chest before gesturing towards Elise with a smug grin.

"Now you're starting to see the glory of My Lady. Even things like demons are a trifling matter when in her presence." Heinkel chuckled and smiled wryly.

"I am starting to see why the baron chose you as an escort. Perhaps he senses in you what others have already started speculating." Esmeralda nodded.

"Who are you really, Lady Emerald? Are you with the elven nobility?"

"Now, now, there is no need to press me on such things at the moment. If you levy me a bit of trust, then I might show you something interesting. Even if I was elven nobility, there is nothing you should be afraid of. That is, unless you're hiding some vampires or something." The nun's eyes widened.

"Please don't make such jokes, Lady Emerald. Lady Dawn despises all of those blood sucking parasites." Elise observed the way Rela's fist tightened, and her magic particles started to gather around her. The vampire queen reached over and pinched Rela's thigh through her maid skirt. Rela's magic dissipated and she looked at the sanguine queen with apologetic eyes. The queen used a telepathy spell to speak into Rela's mind.

"Don't get upset. We can't afford to have an outburst quite yet."

"Understood, My Lady. They keep offending your glorious self, but I will control my anger. I am not like Victoria, after all." Elise breathed a sigh. Is it going to make all of them mad every time someone offends me? I suppose I should hear all of their concerns properly later. After all, I do want to build a place for them in this world. What would make them the most happy? She looked over at Rela's smile and the way her purple eyes sparkled when she took in Elise.

I suppose it will likely be something to do with me. Kaila's tail waved in agitation behind her.

"I hope to never run into vampires. I've heard some stories about them being vicious and violent. Outside of Ambergrad, there was a family who was murdered by one, and the guards took long to subdue it." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Heinkel pressed a hand on his chin.

"I remember. Wasn't a member from the Order of Dawn dispatched?" He looked intentionally towards Esmeralda. The blonde-haired nun nodded.

"It was a member from the upper echelons, so I am not able to say much." She looks towards Kaila and gave a smile.

"You're right to fear vampires, but it is not those who simply murder for their thirst that are to be the most feared."

"Really?"

"Yes, killing them is no different from killing an animal. They operate off their base desires. In their case, it is the thirst for blood. What is to be more feared than that are those who possess nobility or live in vampiric societies. These are the scheming bunch. They would try to blend in and make a mockery of everything we do. They operate like vermin in the shadows." At least now I understand how they see me. The perception is even worse than I thought.

"I guess that makes sense," Kaila said with a groan.

"Lady Dawn protects this land, and that is what prevents many of those vampires from the north from gathering here. Not only that, but they'd have to cross the domains of other vicious creatures. They might be scheming, but that is also why they'd not risk their life. Intellect can also be an inhibitor." She paused and looked towards Elise.

"Speaking of intellect, maybe we should go back to the previous subject?"

"So you wanted to play after all?" Elise asked.

"No, but I would like to learn the rules and watch you play if that is okay."

"Alright, who wants to learn first?" Kaila nearly leapt from her seat again, the ears on her head twitching with her excitement.

"Me! I don't want to sit here bored anymore." Elise grinned and started teaching the cat girl the basics of the game. She taught how all of the pieces moved respective to each other while the feline listened with intensity at her explanation, her ears twitching on occasion. They all listened to her drone on about moves, until there were no more basics left to explain.

"For the first game, I will play with the white pieces."

"That means you get first move right?" Elise nodded and played a wayward queen opening. She spared no time with obliterating Kaila.

"Checkmate. That is the scholar's mate." Heinkel placed a hand on his chin as the cat girl started grumbling about how unfair Lady Emerald was.

"The scholar's mate? I see, I didn't even consider moving the queen so early. Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Against skilled opponents, it is. There are a collection of openings you can learn on your own, but chess at the highest levels is more about positional advantages and tactics. As a beginner, the only thing you need to learn about is controlling the center and developing your pieces to active squares."

"I see, do you mind if I try to play against Kaila?" Elise shook her head.

"I don't mind at all, but remember that this board is likely worth more than the carriage we are sitting in." Kaila gasped.

"Why would you show us something like that? You let me play with something so expensive?" The sanguine queen chuckled.

"It was only a joke."

"A joke my tail! Lady Emerald, you are so mean!" Elise saw Rela clinching her teeth and stopped fooling around. She handed the board to the both of them and let them play together.

"Are you sure you don't want to join in on the fun, Esmeralda?"

"Perhaps if the white pieces were those of angels, and I could defeat the evil demon forces. Then, I would consider it." Come to think of it, wasn't there also a heaven chess set? She thumbed through her inventory, the items gliding at thousands per second. There were so many things in her inventory and even more in the vault beneath her castle. I hope I didn't give it to Ava'Koz to sell. Only, after a few seconds she found it. The heaven arena set was earned from a different dungeon in the divine realm.

This dungeon had not been like the one in the demon realms at all. You could get it by simply arriving if your character was of high standing. Since Elise was evil aligned, she had to fight her way through an army of angels. The pieces of this set were angels as the pawns, angel knights, high angels as the bishops, white spires with golden trimming for the rooks, and the royalty were a god and goddess. Each of them were faceless and meant to represent the nameless gods that lorded over the game world at the top.

Elise only figured out towards the end game that they weren't actually nameless. Their names were added on a later patch inside of dungeon clues and the players would eventually fight them during a raid. If you didn't have a raid party, you could still fight them, but the odds of surviving were much worse. Part of Elise's fame was the fact that she did it with her NPCs. I wonder if those two exist somehow over here? She pulled out the pieces of the board only and handed them to Esmeralda.

"If you want to play."

"Huh? Are you telling me that you just had that lying around in your inventory somewhere. You're carrying items that are expensive enough to buy a house. I am sure nobles would pay a lot of money for this kind of thing, and you just show up and have them?"

"Hey!" Kaila groaned.

"It's not fair you were able to learn the game faster than me!" Heinkel smiled wryly and scratched his cheek.

"Were you even paying attention to the rules? Did you forget about castling?" The beastkin woman leaned against Esmeralda and grabbed her arm.

"You need to punish him, church lady. You're a nun, right? Can't you ask the goddess to smite him for trying hard against a new player?"

"I uh---""Don't listen to her, your holiness," Heinkel said.

"It's not like I had any experience with the game before this either."

"Come on," Kaila groaned, "can't you just beat him? You listened to the explanation, and you said you also heard of the game before. Beat him in my place and earn back my dignity."

"Earn back your own dignity!" Heinkel yelled. Esmeralda sighed and clutched the pieces in her hand tightly.

"Fine, I will give it one go, but I will only play with the white pieces." Yeah, after her questions before, I better not tell her that I also have the black pieces for that board. Esmeralda moved the white demon pieces out of the way, rubbing her hand on her dress afterwards. It was as if touching them had somehow defiled her. Then, she placed her heaven pieces on the other side. Elise's eyes widened as the board started to change. It shifted, and the subtle magic changed either side.

The demon pieces remained in their inferno realm, but somehow the spaces beneath them grew warmer. The black spaces turned into what looked like obsidian, and the white spaces became lava. On the heaven side of the board, the spaces shifted as well. The white spaces became like white marble, and the black spaces were grey clouds, etched with golden light. Elise was ready to start explaining, but to her relief, nobody asked her any questions about it.

Esmeralda's eyes locked into her opponent as if she was fighting forces of true evil.