This Is Nothing Like Shogi!!

Thanks to a concealment Magic Tool that used a generous amount of World Tree saplings, I could now properly pass myself off as an ordinary person.

That said, apparently three points were still necessary, so I had them on my neck and wrists.

"It'd be more efficient if you put one on your chest, though."

"In terms of completion, it'd be the chest, though."

"It'd be safer hidden under your clothes where it can't be seen, though."

"I wanna touch Kari-chan's boobs, though."

"I even made a drug that makes breast milk come out, though."

That's what they were saying, but it gets me a little riled up and might interfere with my studies. Not that I'm a serious student or anything.

Also, the last two had nothing to do with Magic Tools — save that for nighttime! Nighttime!

"By the way, could you actually pull it off with just a single bracelet?"

"""""… …"""""

"Ah, you looked away. So you can do it, can't you?"

I'd even told them they were free to keep using the materials however they liked once the concealment Magic Tool was finished.

"But I wanna play with Kari-chan more～"

"And we can do all sorts of stuff under the pretext of inspections～"

"Now that I can see the finish line, honestly it's just not that exciting anymore～"

"I wanna fuss over it and play around a bit more～"

"I'll pack in tons of other functions too, so let me play a little longer, 'kay～?"

Of course that's fine!! I'm a husband who's sweet to his wives.

* * *

Anyway, about a month passed amid all that. I'd gotten somewhat used to school life too.

Fletta-chan, whose spot in the seat to my right had become firmly established, suddenly said this:

"Come to think of it, Karina-sama, aren't you going to join a club?"

"Cl… C-LU-B?!"

A club. Yes, when you think of school, you think of club activities. There are athletic clubs where you enjoy sports, and culture clubs where you enjoy art or literature. Such things exist in school life!

For the record, at present we're the "go-home club" — which is to say, in club-roster terms, unemployed. Doesn't look like we'll be learning any club-related special techniques.

"Hoo, so those exist… What club are you in, Dea-kun?"

"I'm not in any club in particular."

"I belong to the Shogi Club."

Shogi? When I asked, it turned out to be a two-player board game.

A board game where the goal is to topple your opponent's king… just like shogi. No, it is shogi. There's a reincarnator's fingerprints even in a place like this.

That said, when I asked for details, the rules turned out to differ way too much from the shogi we had on Earth.

For starters, there's a wide variety of pieces, you can choose your combinations within a cost range, and apparently you even get to decide your own starting placement.

On top of that, you can prepare a deck of cards with special effects, start with a three-card hand, and do things like draw one card by skipping a turn.

And new pieces and cards are released in expansion packs from time to time, with stuff like "The new piece, 'Condemner of the Skies,' is pretty strong and a real balance-breaker. It'll probably be on the ban list soon."

… This is nothing like shogi!!

"I see, shogi… sounds deep, like a real bottomless swamp. I'd probably fail to keep up with the rules inflation and retire. Also the cost calculations sound like a pain."

"There's a Magic Tool called a Cost Scouter attached to the board that calculates the costs automatically! Incidentally, my strategy is the Gandolregio, built around the Wicked Dragon Gandorft, a piece that can sacrifice your own pieces to power up! It's the hottest regio right now!"

So-and-so "regio" is apparently like a so-and-so "deck." Short for "legion."

For the record, the rules have already gotten complicated enough that I have zero confidence I could ever play it.

The rules seem complicated at first glance, but they're really complicated!!!

… I'm sure it's a super fun game once you understand the rules and can play it.

The downside is that the bar for learning it is just way too high. At least make it cards OR a board, pick one.

"Lord Deasalt was renowned as a master of the orthodox Ancient White Elf — known as Dea, the Ahowel user."

"That's an old story. I retired ages ago."

Oh, so Dea-kun was a shogi player… Huh? Not a player, but a "regionist"? Is that the term? Huh. So it's not "shogist" or something… Where'd the shogi go?

"Professional regionists are called Piercers."

Whoa, I've got it. So it goes: professional shogi player (kishi) → proxy → skewer → pierce → piercing → Piercer.

I see? That's an excessive game of word association, dammit. And there are pros? Sounds super popular.

The reincarnator who came up with this was really something. And apologize to shogi.

Also, praise me for somehow being able to follow all that.

"If you'd like, I'll gift you one of my pre-built regios! I have a beginner-friendly one I used to use! If you go first and can develop a King Summit off of a Trans-Magic, it's a winning-confirmed Solitaire regio! There are several one-move opening development-route combos!"

"O-okay? That definitely doesn't sound beginner-friendly, though."

"Come, come, Karina-sama, let's play shogi together! And Lord Deasalt, why not use this chance to make a comeback?!"

"Hmm. If you're going to play, big sis, then I suppose I could play again for the first time in a while…"

"… Yeah, I've decided which club I'm going to join!"

Apparently there's a thing called the Gun Club, so I decided to join that.

(*Not the Way of the Gun Club.)