"Shall we begin the third round?"

Yuder's arm extended to spin the board effortlessly. Kishiar gracefully placed a white piece atop the now half-turned board.

It was the same move, at the same spot, as Kishiar had chosen to initiate the first game. Yuder's eyes flicked momentarily to the man's face.

'He isn't planning to concede this time around, obviously.'

Yuder had won both of the previous games, but to be accurate, it was more like Kishiar had willingly walked the path of defeat.

The fact that Kishiar had chosen the same initial move for the third game could only mean one thing.

'He wants to show his true style of gameplay now and compare it distinctly with what came before.'

Yuder took a short breath and rotated the board, picking up a black piece. He laid it down with a touch slower, yet more deliberate than in previous games. Kishiar's lips curled faintly at the corners, noticing the piece's position.

Then Kishiar spun the board again and made his next move. Yuder, too, looked intently at the board before placing his subsequent piece. The clattering sound of the stone pieces against the board echoed, mingling irregularly with the sound of the spinning board.

"..."

The tension that had been palpable at the start between the two players seemed to wane, but this time it was Yuder's black piece that was first to fall.

Yuder narrowed his eyes as he watched Kishiar pick up the black piece.

This meant it was time for Kishiar to ask his first question.

'What will he ask first?'

It was hard to guess just how far Kishiar's sharp mind had gone, now that he had the crucial answer in hand.

'The most likely question would be how I exist in this moment. That's what I would have asked too...'

"How old were you then?"

"...Excuse me?"

However, the question shattered Yuder's expectations.

"I have two dreams that I remember clearly. One where you were awkwardly practicing with a sword, and the other one... well, you know what it is."

Kishiar's eyes momentarily darkened as he referenced the moment when Yuder had been standing in front of a guillotine.

"While I can't be certain when the last dream took place, it definitely wasn't when you were practicing basic swordsmanship. If you were about the same age as you are now while practicing the sword, then during that moment... you definitely seemed more mature. Of course, you're an adult now, but you know what I'm trying to say."

The accuracy of his insight was eerie.

If Kishiar had deduced Yuder's identity from just a fleeting and blurry moment in a dream, how deep had he looked into it?

Faced with this unexpected first question, a blend of surprise and hesitation naturally arose. However, Yuder swallowed it all.

"As you said, Commander, I was the same age when practicing swordsmanship as I am now. And during that last moment... I was eleven years older."

"Thirty-one."

Kishiar mumbled, confirming the age.

"Yes."

"So, you're actually older than me now."

Technically... that would be correct.

The reason why Yuder, who had returned from death, did not regard Kishiar as a distant figure, was not only because he had once stood at the pinnacle of power where the status of an imperial family member or a Duke was not scary to him. His accrued wisdom with age played a significant role as well.

Even so, Yuder didn't feel about Kishiar as he had about the other members he'd encountered againa young junior Awakener he should guide and take care of. Rather, he was more struck by the robustness, youth, and warmth that flowed from Kishiar, a far cry from the dim memories of their previous lives.

As a result, the temporal distance Yuder felt between himself and Kishiar was in a peculiar state; it was simultaneously similar and dissimilar to their relationship in their previous life.

Caught in the uncertainty of how to describe this, Yuder remained silent until Kishiar abruptly broke the quiet.

"If you ever wish to be treated as older than me, just say the word. I'm fine either way."

"I've never wanted that. I've never felt you were younger than me, either. Treating me as you do now is sufficient."

"My assistant really is devoid of greed."

Even in this Cavalry, where Steiber, the oldest member, received no such seniority treatment, why would Kishiar say something like this? The intention was somewhat suspect, but Yuder had just acquired a new piece.

"Since it appears your question has concluded, I'll make my next move."

The board turned once more. The black pieces, exuding a momentum entirely different from the previous game, charged forcefully toward the white pieces. It was a familiar strategy that Yuder had always favored: a tile leading from the front to disturb the enemy while protecting the rest.

A knight piece with exceptional mobility, a general piece capable of unconventional moves to protect others, and common pieces lying in wait, ready to capitalize on opportunitiesthese were his instruments.

"Indeed, this is how you should place them."

Kishiar mumbled as he keenly observed Yuder's moves, not missing a single one.

"A strategy that reflects you. Utilizing a few capable pieces to protect the weaker ones and create a beautiful cooperative formation."

""

"It's ideal and excellent, but the pieces in the front are also more susceptible to danger. Especially against someone like me."

As he finished speaking, Kishiar took one of Yuder's pieces and knocked it down. The spinning board wobbled and came to a halt.

"Here's my second question. In the 'failed game,' did one of our king pieces ultimately pass away?"

Had Emperor Keilusa of their previous life met the same fate without encountering a miracle like this one? Was that why Yuder had so recklessly asserted that the Emperor must live, with a conviction that not even the Emperor himself was privy to?

It was a heavy question filled with various implications, and once again, Yuder found it difficult to answer. He looked down, maintaining his silence before finally shaking his head. To Kishiar, who raised an eyebrow as if surprised, Yuder replied with an even colder truth of an event that had never occurred.

"No, the king pieces we lost were not just one."

The king pieces, called Imum, came in pairs. Just as the imperial laws declared that the Emperor and Empress should govern with equal authority and titles, so too did the Imum. Though they were called king and queen depending on the pattern, there was no actual difference between the two pieces.

Losing one might make the game difficult, but there would still be a chance to turn it around. Losing both, however, meant irrevocable defeat.

And Kishiar would surely know this as well.

Yuder felt a heavy surge of strength in the arm that Kishiar had wrapped around him. The depths of Kishiar's reddened eyes seemed immeasurably dark and sad. Without a word, he turned the edge of the board.

Several white pieces fell in front of Yuder's pieces on the board. However, Yuder's pieces were not entirely intact either. Multiple black pieces had fallen off the board. Only after that did Kishiar finally speak again.

"Why stay here to begin anew, rather than starting a new game elsewhere? Is there something special that can only be achieved here?"

"No, I didn't necessarily think it had to restart here."

"So you mean to say that you came back to this board just before joining the Cavalry?"

"Yes."

"Every being seeks comfort in familiar surroundings. Is the Cavalry that place for you?"

"It could be."

"In that case, your previous self must have been"

Kishiar's hand slowly groped the board and picked up a piece. It was a general piece with red markings on white.

The general piece, known as 'Makas,' came in three different colors, each with its own unique ability. The red Makas that Kishiar had picked up was reputed to be the highest-ranking among the general pieces.

A noble person who could stand closest to the king's piece.

However, the general pieces also had the ability to switch places with pieces of equal or higher rank, often sacrificing themselves in place of a king in peril.

Kishiar stared at the red Makas for a moment before placing it in a new position. The piece landed with a thud, as if it would die at any moment in its precarious position.

Yuder understood what Kishiar left unsaid, what the red general piece meant. And through Yuder's silence, Kishiar must have found an answer as well.

""

"What more do you want, aside from not suffering the same defeat twice?"

"Nothing."

"Are you not interested in revenge against the one who defeated you?"

Kishiar's fingers hovered over the edge of the board, as if about to turn it. Yuder noticed the piece at the tip of Kishiar's fingernail was the king's piece. A strange feeling overwhelmed him, as if Kishiar would snatch that piece at any moment if he agreed.

'Revenge.'

He had entertained the thought while sorting out his mind, unable to sleep in the inn after his first death and resurrection. He knew all sorts of secret passages and mission routes; it wouldn't be impossible to storm into the palace and kill everyone, including Crown Prince Katchian, and then die in satisfaction.

If he survived that, he had even fantasized about escaping to some distant island in the far North and living out the rest of his life there.

But all those thoughts ended up as fleeting fantasies. The reason was simple.

"I don't think that could ever be a game. I've been given the opportunity to fulfill my true mission. Ruining that before it even starts would be no different from running away. So, it means nothing to me."

Yuder had a goal. He wanted to save Kishiar, rebuild the Cavalry, and protect the world this time.

If he could accomplish that, then nothing else mattered.

After that thought, Yuder had forgotten all the boiling emptiness that had left him lost.

Kishiar took some time, lost in thought, before speaking again. When he finally did, the question carried an emotion similar to before, yet somehow different.

"At the end of victory, what you gain is more important than mere revenge, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Kishiar had said something similar before. He was not one to deal with his enemies out of petty emotions; instead, he made his moves with an eye toward the distant future of the country and people he sought to protect.

It was unlikely that he would miss the underlying intent in Yuder's words.

A long, quivering breath tinged with suppressed pain escaped from between Kishiar's lips. He pulled Yuder into a deep embrace, resting his forehead on Yuder's shoulder.

"...If I taught you this game, I could have taught you anything else as well. No one knows the meaning of that as much as I do. And yet, while you were losing in the game, the fact that I did nothing..."

"... "

"I too was already absent there, wasn't I?"

Yuder closed his eyes.

"Yes."