No Game No Life - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 
CHALLENGER 
In the Kingdom of Elkia, the capital, Elkia—specifically, Block 3 of the Western District. The siblings had checked out of the inn, where they had more or less blackmailed the innkeeper into letting them stay several nights, without staying a single one. Now they greeted a new morn at Stephanie Dola’s house. Or to be more precise—at the bath. 
“…Brother, please, explain.” 
Shiro was naked, and her head was being washed. 
“Explain? If we’re pushing the envelope, we’ve gotta have a bath scene. What more explanation you need?” 
“…Brother… Bath scenes are…censored… Elementary schoolkids…are totally off-limits.” 
“Worry not, my sister, Mr. Steam is on the job, so we’ll just be pushing the envelope.” 
Thus declared Sora as he viewed the grand bath, unnaturally full of rising steam. 
“Could it be that this is the only reason you ordered me to boil the grand baths?” 
Steph washed Shiro’s hair, aghast. 
“What do you mean, the only reason? It’s important.” 
“Do you know how much firewood the staff wasted for that?” 
In addition, of course, it was impossible to get into a bath that was boiling. They had also wasted water to raise the steam… 
“If you want to go there, what about you, using this huge bath all by yourself?” 
“—Nggh…” 
This was perhaps what it meant to be part of the royal bloodline. Steph was even richer than Sora had imagined. Her mansion, built in a style vaguely reminiscent of Rome, was so big that the siblings, who had known only Japan, would have believed it if told it was a castle. Steph’s private bath, which they were using now, seemed spacious enough for ten people to use. The bath, also reminiscent of Rome in its furnishings, was steamed up to be appropriate for all ages and was so magnificent that it was impossible to think that humans were in decline after losing so many games. 
“Ah, excuse me. My sister hates baths—and she always fusses, ‘You can’t show naked eleven-year-olds even if it’s R-18!’ and won’t let me wash her, so she doesn’t get bathed much. After she suggested pushing the envelope yesterday, I thought I’d better take advantage of it.” 
“…Nggh… Brother, I hate you.” 
It was about pushing the envelope on Steph. That was Shiro’s subtext. 
“My sister, if you do things right, you’ll be a dazzling beauty, so do things right.” 
“…I don’t have to be…a beauty.” 
“Your brother likes the beautiful Shiro betterrr.” 
“…Ngghhh…” 
Shiro groaned as if that meant something, but didn’t end the discord. 
—That didn’t really matter. Well, it was a little annoying how close they were, but setting that aside, there was a more important question that couldn’t be ignored. 
This situation. The event that was currently transpiring. Why was she washing a naked Shiro’s hair, while a clothed Sora was behind her with his back turned? 
“—Sora…why do I have to be naked and washing Shiro’s hair?” 
—No, don’t all chime in. Why, then, had she not refused? She was well aware of her responsibility in this matter. 
“Weren’t you listening to me? Because this is the only way Shiro will take a bath.” 
“Wha—so, you don’t care about me?!” 
“Hm? You want me to look?” 
“Of—of course not! I’m asking you if this is harassment!” 
“Don’t worry, Steph. I intend to view your naked body carefully by other means.” 
“—Wha—” 
As soon as she heard this, she flushed red and hid her body. At the same time, at hearing Sora suggesting that he did have some interest in her, she felt relief. Steph looked around for a wall to bash her head against, but then Sora spoke up apologetically. 
“However, for now you must forgive me—I cannot rely too fully on Mr. Steam.” 
“……Excuse me?” 
“For instance, if I should join you in the bath only for my indolent member to suddenly regain motivation, or if Mr. Steam should fail to perform as hoped in preventing me from viewing my young sister directly, it won’t be R-18; it will be banned.” 
“—Uh, I see.” 
She didn’t, really, but Sora seemed to be saying that he didn’t need to look right now. 
The limits of Steph’s comprehension here were perhaps unavoidable. Set up in the bath were two phones and a tablet. Steph had no way of knowing the meaning of those little cameras. 
—Later Sora would have Director Shiro check the footage and show it to him if it seemed acceptable. Sora swore this in his heart and repressed his urge to turn around. 
 
“Hff… That hits the spot…” 
“Mngh… My hair’s all papery… It’s itchy…” 
Sora had waited for Shiro to get out of the bath and then taken a quick shower. Sora was refreshed, having finally gotten a chance to wash himself. Shiro spoke to him crossly. 
—Sora had been right, after all, about how Shiro looked when her hair was washed and nicely combed. Her tresses made a gentle wave, looking soft to the touch and white as snow, and further brought out her porcelain-white skin—along with her round face, balanced features, and red eyes, she was like a doll made by a master of the craft. 
“If only you could be like that all the time; it’s such a waste.” 
“…It’s not like anyone but you…is gonna see.” 
Sora, too, had just finally shaved and despite his teasing was also looking sharper. How to put it? I—I blew it, thought Steph when she looked directly at him; she could hardly stop herself from getting a nosebleed, it was so… His initial scruffiness had been alleviated, and now he had the clean freshness of a “fine young man.” 
But—that wasn’t the problem. Steph desperately struggled to stop blood from dripping from her nose. 
“Y-y-you two—put on some clothes!” she shouted at the towel-clad, half-naked siblings as they looked on blankly. 
“…You’re the one who told us to send them for cleaning. Those are all we’ve got; are they dry already?” Sora asked, doubting that this world had dryers. 
To which Steph replied, “Th-th-th-that’s… Fine, then, I’ll get you something else—I-I wonder if I have any gentlemen’s clothes… Ng, nghh… Why do I have to be…” 
Steph turned, muttering to herself, to look for clothes. 
And ten minutes later. In the same location as before, Steph had fallen to her knees and hung her head, experiencing massive regret. 
I—I blew it……! 
“O-ho, so this is a butler’s outfit—what you call a tailcoat… It’s a bit formal, but it’s like cosplay, so it’s fun! Shiro, you look good in that, too.” 
“…Too many frills. Hard to move…” 
Shiro was clad in a dress that Steph had worn as a child. 

 

It was all very well that Steph had gone out to look for clothes to fit the half-naked pair. But she had no men’s clothes, so she had to use the staff’s—in other words, a butler’s outfit. Likewise, the only clothes she could find to fit an eleven-year-old girl were hers from her childhood. Now the siblings looked like a well-bred young lady and her faithful butler— 
Glance. Steph looked once more. Sora’s wide shoulders and thin body somehow fit all too well as a butler, which sent Steph’s heart racing. And with the way his sister looked in charge of him, Steph’s heart twinged for the third time. 
“I blew it…” 
“Huh? Blew what?” 
“Never mind!” 
Panicking at the sincerity that had slipped out of her mouth, Steph shook her head as she swept up her knees from the floor and got up. 
If Sora had been attuned to such maidenly subtleties, he wouldn’t have been a virgin for eighteen years. “Well, then,” he murmured. “Now that we’ve got our sleep and freshened up in the bath—Steph.” 
“Uh, um, yes? Wha-what is it?” 
“What are you so flustered about? Does this house…mansion—castle…?” 
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Sora couldn’t seem to find a category to fit Steph’s dwelling, so he came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter. 
“Does this place have a library or study or something, someplace we can do research?” 
“Uh, yes…it does…but why?” 
“Are you hard of hearing, Stephy-poo? Of course, for research?” 
“I-I heard that! I’m asking what you want to research!” 
“What… This world, of course.” 
“‘This world’…?” 
Steph stood bewildered at his suggestion that there was another world. 
“Brother, we haven’t…told her.” 
As if still dissatisfied with her dried-out hair, Shiro spoke sullenly. 
“—Hm? What? Is that so?” 
“Sorry, but…I’m not seeing what this is about.” 
“Ah, right. It’s tricky to find the words to explain when the subject gets brought up so formally.” 
It was that classic event in this kind of story where the protagonist was bottlenecked by others’ inability to believe them. Sora carefully searched for the right words to make her believe. 
—Scratching his head, sighing. Making a clearly bothered face. Awkwardly, casually, he let it out. 
“Basically, we’re people from another world. So we want to know more about this world.” 
 
The study—no. A library about the size of a high school’s. Steph had led them to her personal study, filled with neatly lined bookshelves, reams of books covering the walls. It did seem perfect for research, but— 
“Hey, Steph.” 
“Yes? What is it?” 
Sora had hit upon one large, unexpected obstacle. 
“—Is this country’s official language not Japanese?” 
Sora groaned with an illegible book in his hand, holding his head. 
“Ja-pa-nese? I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but, naturally Immanity uses the Immanity tongue.” 
“Whoa… This world is so simple.” 
The problem was that even though somehow Sora and Shiro were able to converse with the people of this world, the characters written in the book made no sense at all. 
“So, you really did come from another world.” 
“Yeah, well, I’m not really expecting you to believe us—” 
Sora knew they wouldn’t be believed right away, so he wasn’t even bothering to try. 
“Oh, no, it’s not all that surprising.” 
Steph’s nonchalant answer took Sora aback. “What? Why not?” 
Now Steph went blank. “Why not? I don’t know. Some of the advanced magic used by the Elves includes otherworldly summons. It’s not implausible that you might be like that. To begin with, I can see from your clothes and faces that you’re not from this country, but you’re you’re still Immanities no matter how you look at it…” 
—And this was, after all, the only human country left. 
“Ah…I see. This is a fantasy world… Hh.” 
Having had his expectations upturned, Sora sighed. He turned back to the illegible book and scratched his head. 
“Hmm, but it’s still quite inconvenient not to be able to gather information by ourselves. Can you learn it…Shiro?” 
“…Mm.” 
“Yeah?” 
“…Mm.” 
It seemed that the siblings were conducting some kind of communication that made sense only to them. They quietly cast their eyes on the book and fell silent. With this stillness in the corner of her eye, Steph sighed. 
“…And what do you want me to do?” 
She added sarcastically that she could fall at his feet as a home tutor, but Sora made a different request, his eyes never leaving the book. 
“No. There’s something else.” 
Sora’s words reminded Steph of last night, and this morning, and she braced herself, preparing not to be surprised at whatever perverted request was coming— 
“Can you just answer me a few questions for now?” 
“—Um…uh, sure. That’s…quite all right.” 
Steph felt the load come off her chest with this unexpectedly decent request. Sora asked with a perfectly serious face. 
“You know, yesterday, why was it that when I fondled your breasts, you didn’t resist, but when I tried to flip your skirt, you suddenly—all right, never mind, I’ll ask a serious question. I was just joking…” 
On the receiving end of Steph’s piercing glare, Sora looked back down at the book. 
“Hmm, okay, so, I keep hearing this word ‘Immanity,’ but what does it contrast to?” 
Steph queried back as if this was a totally unexpected question. “…Weren’t there any other races in your world?” 
“Well, humans were the only ones we could communicate with, at least—so.” 
“Uh, well… Yes…” 
Considering where she should begin if they really were from another world as they said, Steph began. 
“First—are you familiar with myth?” 
“You mean how the Ten Covenants came to be? I heard it from a minstrel who was playing by a fountain.” 
“Very well—in that case—” 
—Ahem. 
“‘Races’ refers to the intelligent Ixseeds, to whom the God’s Ten Covenants apply.” 
“‘Exceeds’…” 
“War ended in this world when the Ten Covenants came to prohibit all violation of rights, bodily injury, violence, and slaughter among the Ixseeds.” 
“…I see. I was wondering what you guys ate—but the Covenants only apply to intelligent life, huh?” 
Sora appeared to be reading the book but was still grasping her words clearly. While inwardly marveling at his dexterity, Steph continued. 
“However—perhaps I should call it war by games. Basically, struggle for territory—‘play for dominion’ still continues.” 
“Play for dominion”—Sora recognized the term. 
“—Is this the only Immanity nation?” 
“…As of now, yes… It’s not as if it’s a requirement that each race have only one nation—but Elkia is the last bastion of Immanity.” 
—Having heard that much, Sora went ahead and presented a question to which he already knew the answer. To compare basic assumptions between this world and their own, in other words. 
“Why do you still fight over domain when there are no more wars? Can’t you settle it by talking?” 
“Uh, well, that’s…” 
But, in place of the faltering Steph, the sister answered. 
“…Resources are finite… Living things can multiply infinitely…Dividing a finite quantity by an infinite quantity…destroys everything.” 
“…Y-yes. Exactly!” 
Steph jumped on the pronouncement of the sister, who had answered before her, and nodded hurriedly. 
“…Come on, I know you didn’t think of that…” 
Sora looked as Steph as if disgusted by her input, rendered useless by his sister’s prompter response. 
“Whawhawha-what are you saying; it’s so basic!” 
—Well, this was a world where that was how things were since birth. The question of why living things would play games to take from each other, while perhaps considered, might be difficult to answer. 
“Anyway, this is pretty much like our world in that respect, after all.” 
Sora sighed. Though combat had vanished, conflict remained. 
—So, perfect equality was impossible. Musical chairs, after all, was a game about fighting for limited seats. In this way, the majority would draw the lot of poverty for the minority to prosper—really, nothing had changed between this world and their own…… 
“…So, what kinds of races do the Ixseeds include?” 
Sora cut his thinking short and returned to the conversation. Steph counted with her fingers uncertainly as she recalled what she’d had to memorize. 
“Rank One is Old Deus, defeated by the One True God; Rank Two is Phantasma; Rank Three is Elemental—and there’s Dragonia and Gigant…and Elf and Werebeast—and so forth.” 
“…I see, so pretty much your typical fantasy world.” 
Sora mumbled his feedback to Steph’s “and so forth,” amused that she’d given up on remembering all sixteen races, when something suddenly occurred to him. 
“Hey, what do you mean…‘Rank’?” 
“Uh, well. I don’t know that much about it, either, but apparently there’s a ranking.” 
“—Ranking?” 
“Yes, basically it’s based on their magical aptitude scores, I hear.” 
“‘Apparently, basically, I hear’… You don’t really know what you’re talking about, do you? Steph, did you study up on this stuff properly?” 
As Sora put his loser self on a pedestal, Steph grimaced, muttered an irritated “Fine already,” and cleared her throat. 
“I’ll have you know, I graduated from the academy just fine! Human research still just hasn’t made much progress on the ranking—because Immanity is Rank Sixteen. That is, we have a magical aptitude score of zero. As much as we’d like to research it, we have no way of observing it.” 
“…Zero?” Sora asked, looking up from his book. 
“Hm—? Wait a sec, humans can’t use magic?” 
“That’s right. We can’t even detect magic.” 
“…What about if you, like…use an item or something?” 
“We can use games created with magic…but it’s just the game working by its magic—humans can’t use magic themselves.” 
“—And this principle is absolute?” 
Sora interrogated her persistently, but Steph didn’t seem to get offended. Rather— 
“It is. Spirit corridors—Immanity lacks these circuits to connect to the source of magic.” Steph lowered her face a bit. “That’s why we lose in the play for dominion, you see…” 
—Hmmm. Sora gave a dry smile and pressed on. 
“…So, in that case, who’s the best at magic? Rank One, right?” 
“Oh, no, actually. If you go that high, they’re gods—their very being is a kind of magic. If you speak of being good at magic in the common sense, the best would be Rank Seven, Elf.” 
Elf. The stereotypical image rose in his mind. 
“—Elf… By Elf, you mean the pale guys with the pointy ears?” 
You’re certainly knowledgeable for someone from another world, said Steph’s expression. “Yes, indeed. Currently, Elven Gard is the largest nation in the world. They’ve used their magic to climb their way to the top. If you say ‘magic,’ you think of Elves.” 
—“Hm,” puffed Sora. Placing his hand on his chin and thinking, looking into space with a gaze that could not be more serious. 
“—!” 
Her heart pounded at his serious profile and his tailcoat-clad aura of composure. It’s an illusion it’s an illusion it’s an illusion—it’s a planted emotion! Steph chanted to herself as if casting a spell. Meanwhile, Sora seemed to have got his thoughts together. Choosing his words as if probing for something, he queried. 
“…Are there any races that can’t use magic…but still have large nations?” 
“Uh, well, now that you mention it, Rank Fourteen, Werebeast, can’t use magic…” 
Stammering, Steph somehow managed to answer. 
“On the other hand, it’s said they have extraordinary senses, with which they can sense the presence of magic and read people’s minds. The Werebeasts have united their islands in the Great Ocean to the southeast into the Eastern Union, which has already become the third-largest nation in the world—” 
Steph continued painfully, unconsciously squeezing her arm with the hand she had on it. 
“…Indeed, that is a race and nation which, unable to use magic itself, has—not overcome, but at least come to rival Elven Gard with powers beyond the reach of Immanity. But the other side of it is that it was all accomplished using powers that, from the point of view of Immanity, are still supernatural or extrasensory.” 
“—Hmm. That’s interesting.” 
Humans couldn’t use magic, nor could they even tell if it had been used. There could be no victory when the other side was cheating in a way that was impossible to catch. 
—If that was what they thought, then, yeah, they would lose. 
“I see…I see how it is.” 
Just about as Sora was nodding deeply, as if everything made sense. 
“…Brother—I’ve learned it.” 
Shiro’s voice rang out. 
“Oh, that’s my sister.” 
“…Praise me, more…” 
“Of course, of course. That’s my sister; I’m so proud of you, you genius girl you! Wuzzawuzzawuzza.” 

Sora stood and messed up Shiro’s hair as she squinted with pleasure like a cat. 
—Steph looked on, uncomprehending. 
“…Huh? Learned what?” 
“Learned what? The Immanity tongue, of course.” 
Sora looked blankly at Steph and tossed his words off casually. 
“But, yeah, you’re so awesome. It’s still gonna take me a little while longer.” 
“…Brother, you’re slow.” 
“Heh-heh-heh, it’s better for a man to be slow than fast, you know?” 
“…Brother, you’re so small.” 
“Nn-n-n-n-n-no, I’m not!! H-how do you even?Steph, what’s up?” 
Steph was watching their banter agape. She spoke in a falsetto. 
“Excuse me…did I hear you correctly? Did you say—she learned a whole language?” 
“Um? Yeah, so?” 
Shiro nodded once in agreement. 
“—In—this short time? You’re kidding, right?” 
Steph checked again with a strained face. Sora answered carelessly. 
“It’s not that big a deal. As far as we’ve spoken, our grammar and vocabulary is exactly the same. All we need to learn is your writing system and we’re done.” 
“…And…you still haven’t learned it, Brother.” 
“I can’t learn it in fifteen minutes. That’s crazy. I’m not as smart as you; give me another hour. Anyway, what is this? I can’t figure out the pattern for how this symbol is used—” 
“Don’t, think of that, like Japanese… Think of it like a Romance language…” 
“No, I mean, I thought of that, but, then, look at the grammar; the predicate would be in the wrong position…” 
“…Classical Chinese…” 
“What? It’s inverted only in writing? What a pain in the ass—oh, but, yeah, that does work.” 
“…Brother, learn more languages…” 
“Come on, you’re the special one who can speak eighteen languages including their classical forms. Your brother’s a mundane who only knows six languages, but that’s enough for gaming.” 
Steph watched this banter incredulously. But the siblings didn’t seem to think anything of it, and tossed it around like it was all in a day’s work. But it was true that the words and speech were the same; all they had to do was learn the writing system. Ah, you might say, when you lay it out, it shouldn’t be that hard after all. But you have noticed that they were working with another important factor? That is—. 
To do that without being taught by anyone wasn’t learning, it was deciphering. 
And accomplishing that in such a short time wasn’t even something to brag about for them. (Was this normal in their world?) Two beings that had already completely overturned her understanding. Looking at the otherworldly siblings, Steph felt a chill run down her spine—but also a heat that built faintly in her heart. 
…Could it be? Perhaps she really had met people who were completely beyond this world. 
People—who could change this nation. 
“—Hm? What is it?” 
Steph’s heart jumped at Sora, who turned as if he’d noticed her eyes. 
“Ah, um, no, it’s—I’m gonna make some tea.” 
As Steph scuttled out of the library, her ears looked slightly reddish. Watching uncertainly, Sora wondered. 
“…What’s up with her?” 
While Shiro went on reading without so much as a glance. 
“…Brother, you don’t…understand…girls.” 
“—Yes, that’s why I’ve been a virgin for eighteen years. Wait, does that even have anything to do with it?” 
Here was an eighteen-year-old man being lectured about feminine psychology by his eleven-year-old sister. They do say that boys mature emotionally slower than girls… In this case, at least, that seemed to be a fact. 
“…Even though…you’re better than me at reading people…” 
In contrast to Shiro’s muttering, Sora spoke proudly. 
“Applying it to games is completely different from real-life socialization.” 
In a manner of speaking, girls—no, people…yes. Girls were like a visual novel where you had to make tens of thousands of timed choices every second. How could it be other than self-evident that such a game was ridiculous and impossible? 
—But that was beside the point right now. 
“Got it!…” 
Sora had finally learned to read Immanity with the help of his sister. He checked that he had managed to read the whole volume. And closed the hardcover book with a thud. Then his face went serious as he joined his hands in front of his face. 
“So—Shiro.” 
“…Mm.” 
“You’ve realized already, right?” 
“…Yeah.” 
The siblings exchanged dialogue that only made sense to them. 
“—What do you think?” the brother asked with an uncharacteristic lack of conviction. But Shiro just closed her eyes. 
“I’ll…follow you.” 
Opening her eyes just a little, with her typical lack of expression, she spoke in a monotone. 
“…Just as I promised—anywhere.” 
—A promise. 
His dad’s new wife had brought him a sister—Shiro. The sister who was born too smart. And the brother who was born too dumb. Askew, they fit each other as siblings better than real siblings ever could. And when they came to be abandoned even by their parents, devoid of friends or allies, they exchanged a certain promise.—The sister who was too good and so couldn’t understand people.—The brother who was too bad and so read people’s expressions too deeply. Considering their complementary nature, the then-ten-year-old brother made a proposal. The three-year-old and already multilingual sister nodded and pinky-promised. 
He rubbed that sister’s head. It had been eight years since the sister had said that she would deign to follow him—Shiro. The brother who had never ended up taking her out of the room—Sora. If you asked if they had any regrets… 
“Well—maybe I can take you someplace more fun than that world?” 
Looking at the chess pieces visible beyond the distant horizon, Sora extracted his phone and started his task scheduler. 
 
Steph fixed her gaze on the bubbling, hot water. It was important to pay attention not only to the time to steep the leaves, but also to the temperature of the water to put them in. The pancakes she had made the previous day would accompany it. The pancakes didn’t really have the sugar they needed for tea, since humans had long since lost the land where it was grown. However, she compensated using cinnamon and other spices. She was quite proud of her work. 
—Putting the tea set and the dainty plates of cut pancakes on a tray. 
“…All right, I think this should be good.” 
Wiping her brow at the sense of accomplishment at a job well done. 
“Excuse me, Miss?” 
The maids interjected as if they had been waiting long for the right timing. 
“Oh, what is it?” 
“Ah, well… Please excuse my impertinence, but is something wrong, Miss?” 
“…Impertinent, indeed. What’s this all of a sudden?” 
“Well, it’s just… If you had asked, we, the staff, certainly would have prepared tea and sweets for you, yet you went ahead and steeped your own without a word… And with so much effort…” 
………Huh? Come to think of it, why should I have to steep my own tea? Faced with this question, Steph saw a certain image in her mind’s eye. 
“Oh! This is delicious. I didn’t know you were so good around the house, Steph.” 
It was Sora, with a smile on his face and a teacup in his hand. 
……Flush. The feeling of blood rising to her cheeks. 
“?Aaaaaaah, Goooooood!!” 
Steph screamed and bashed her head against the wall. 
“Why do I have to show off how good I am around the house with my homemade sweets! A man like that deserves nothing but water—with some rocks and grass as a side!” 
“M-Miss! Please compose yourself!! 
“M-Missus! M-Miss Stephanie has—Miss Stephanie has lost her—” 
The maids fell into chaos as they tried to stop Steph’s forehead’s resounding against the wall, the sound of the impacts loud and dull. 
 
“Hhh…” 
Sighing, Steph carried a silver tray down the hall. On the tray were a tea set and sweets for two—that is, the siblings. In the end, she couldn’t win against her emotions and ended up bringing what she had prepared, and that made her sigh again. She hated herself, and yet, when she imagined being told it was delicious— 
“…I can’t deny part of me is looking forward to it… Hh…” 
However. Steph froze in place. 
“Wait a minute, Stephanie. Is this a taste that will appeal to otherworlders?” 
Steph did have confidence in her own tea and baking skills. But her guests were from another world. 
“Oh—cra—” 
Another image crossed her mind. 
“Egh, sorry, I gotta pass on this.” 
Sora, with a face. 
“Aaahh… Th-that’s no good; then I won’t be able to get out by saying it was the maids—wait, why do I need an out? I don’t even care what—yes, I do! Aahh, God… This is a curse…” 
Already too frazzled to see straight. Steph breathed deeply and assembled an excuse in service of collecting her thoughts. 
“Th-that’s right. They’ve already belittled me to no end; should they now think I’m not capable of preparing some simple tea and sweets, it will bring shame upon the house of Dola. There is no mistaking that this is delicious; if it suits them not, it is a difference in culture—and certainly not—uh…” 
Muttering excuses with her hands full. Steph struggled to open the door of her library and came back in. 
“—What’s this?” 
—But, wherever she looked, the siblings had disappeared. She looked around and saw that on the second floor of the room, above the stairs, the door to the veranda had been opened, and the curtains swayed in the wind. 
Steph went out onto the veranda…and there they were. The brother, in his butler outfit, was leaning over the rail of the veranda, capturing the city with his phone. The sister, a white-haired vision of a young lady—was leaning against her brother’s legs, reading a book. 
They seemed so natural as two in one, as though they would perish if split apart. At the too-picturesque sight of their relationship, Steph felt a significant constriction in her chest, while telling herself it was just nerves. 
“…The town’s excited.” 
Sora spoke to her, watching the commotion outside. 
“—Yes…it is. After all, the gambling tournament to decide the monarch is still underway.” 
She placed the tray on the veranda table and poured tea into the cups. 
“…So…here’s tea.” 
“Oh, thanks.” 
“For the little sister as well.” 
“…Mm.” 
Sora took a swig of tea and looked back out on the city. 
His first impression—the town of a “typical fantasy world”—had been a little bit off. 
—Perhaps it was because the town had never been destroyed since war was forbidden. Several styles of architecture intermingled, reminiscent of Roman, classical, Baroque. The streets were paved, yet what traveled on them were carriages, and in the distant port floated three-masted sailing vessels. It appeared that not even the steam engine had been invented. The terraced fields built on the hills, visible in the distance, were being cultivated with methods even older than the mode of the city. 
—Here was the recoil from not waging war. War had the ironic effect of accelerating science, pushing technology for fertilizer and fuel forward. Thinking back, Sora realized the books he had viewed in Steph’s library were, almost without exception, handwritten and hand-copied. Printing either had not been invented or was not yet widely available. 
“The Europe of the mid-Renaissance. Before the sky was sullied by the Industrial Revolution… A beautiful town.” 
“…Nice…strategy game…quote.” 
—But then, Sora thought, according to myth, the Great War that had reduced the planet to scorched earth hadn’t happened only thousands of years ago. It was said that it had been thousands of years already by the time the Covenants were exchanged. Immanity couldn’t use magic at all. In other words, humans labored under conditions equivalent to those in the world where they used to be. After thousands of years, they were still at the level of their world in the early fifteenth century. 
—In that case, what about the races who could use cheats like magic? What in the world were their civilizations like? 
Then it occurred to Sora: 
“Hey, Steph—why did you wanna be queen?” 
“—Excuse me?” 
“Well, I heard a rumor you were desperate because you weren’t gonna be royalty anymore.” 
He recited what he’d heard outside the tavern-inn. But. 
“—I don’t really care about that.” 
—Rumors were rumors, after all. To be dismissed with a laugh. She came beside Sora, leaned from the veranda, and looked out at the town. 
“…This nation, Elkia—it used to actually be a pretty big country, you know?” 
She spoke with eyes that seemed to be looking into the distance—into the past. 
“Long ago, there were several Immanity nations in the world. It was the biggest.” 
With a hint of pride, but also irony, she continued. 
“Big enough to be the last nation of Immanity after it lost and lost, ever since the Ten Covenants…” 
“……” 
“It might look to you like we’re a happy, bustling place. But no…Elkia has declined.” 
Once more looking out at the commotion of the town, but this time with sad eyes. Following her gaze, Sora found that he could imagine. 
Territory lost. Surplus population on insufficient land. Shortages of resources and food leading to a deadlocked economy. Without land for food, there could be no production, and without production, there could be no jobs. The Ten Covenants may have secured peace— 
—but then he remembered. The bandits who had attacked them as soon as they arrivied in this world. The brother looked steadily in the direction of the cliff. His sister, who had been leaning on his legs reading a book, turned to Steph. 
“It’s true the old king—my grandfather—lost repeatedly in the play for dominion until we were backed into the capital with nothing else left. But Immanity had already been beaten to the ground, left poor as dirt…” 
Gripping the railing, Steph spoke as if grinding her teeth. 
“My grandfather was reviled as a fool king, yet he went on trying to save the country. He wasn’t wrong—” 
—If they didn’t take back their land, humans wouldn’t have long, anyway. Rather than sit and wait for destruction, he chose to charge forward for a chance at salvation—something like that. 
“I—wanted to save Elkia…” 
And then Steph seemed to be fighting back tears. 
“And I wanted to prove that my grandfather wasn’t wrong. I wanted to prove that for Immanity to live…we need to take back our territory, even if it means going on the offensive, or it won’t be long before we really are gone.” 
—At Steph’s words, wrung from her gloomy expression, Shiro asked a question with her usual look of indifference. 
“…Steph…this country, this world…do you like it?” 
“Yes—of course!” 
—With a smile mixed with tears, Steph answered without hesitation. But the siblings lowered their heads instead. 
“…Sounds nice…” 
“…Yeah, I really envy you being able to say that with conviction.” 
But—the brother continued in a quiet but implacable voice and cut down Stephanie Dola’s hope. 
“But your wish won’t come true.” 
“—Wha…” 
“I’m also sorry to say—” 
He rained a second blow upon the speechless Steph. 
“Your grandfather—ended his life as the worst fool king of all time, no matter how you look at it.” 
—……… 
Breaking a terribly long silence, Steph opened her mouth as if squeezing it out. 
“—What makes you…say that?” 
Biting her lip and feeling her nails stabbing her clenched fists… If violence were not forbidden in this world, her palm would likely have flown to Sora’s cheek, but instead she spun her certain anger into words. Because she loved him—no, because she had been made to love him, it was that much more difficult to tolerate this insult from him. However, in response to her question, Sora only sighed and scrolled through the photos he’d taken on his phone. A town reminiscent of fifteenth-century Europe. A beautiful town where new and old architecture intermingled thanks to a lack of war. But that was why it was so sad. 
“At this rate—this country will die. At the same time as the next monarch is chosen.” 
Words she hadn’t anticipated all sent Steph not into confusion, but almost into hysteria as she rebutted. 
“Wh-what do you mean! The very purpose of the tournament is—” 
With an air of disbelief, Sora and Shiro looked up above their heads. A sky that wasn’t gray like the one they knew, but blue as if primary-color ink had been spilled all over it. 
—And they thought back to when they came to this world. To what “God” said. Disboard, the world on a board, where everything was decided by simple games. The world— 
—We dreamed of. 
—In which we’ve been—reborn. 
“Steph, how long is this gambling tournament?” 
Steph looked dissatisfied that she’d still not received a proper answer, but she replied anyway. “—Today is the last day.” 
Turning her gaze east from the veranda, to the place that looked like a castle. 
“In the evening, the final match will be held in the royal hall. If no one raises any objections, the winner will become the new monarch…What of it?” 
—Whump. The sister closed her book and stood up. The brother stretched dramatically and slapped his cheeks. 
“—Hmp! Hey, little sister.” 
“…Mm.” 
“Will you follow your brother no matter what?” 
“Yeah.” 
“Wow, that was quick. I mean, I’ve got to prepare myself, too—” 
“…B.S.” 
“Hnh?” 
“…You look like you’re having…fun.” 
She was expressionless, as usual. But there was the hint of a smile only her brother could see. 
“—Ha-ha, I can’t fool you, eh?” 
At this, the two turned and walked back. 
“Wai—wh-where are you going?!” 
“The royal castle.” 
“—Hunh?” 
Unable to grasp the intent behind Sora’s prompt answer, Steph uttered a silly sound. But they took no notice and went on. 
“We’ll go prove your grandfather was right.” 
“?Wha?” 
Feeling the presence of Steph hurriedly catching up behind him. Sora checked what he’d put into the task scheduler on his phone. 
—Objective—Try being king, for now. Sora chuckled, put his phone back in his pocket, and spoke. 
“After we managed to get reborn into this world, it would suck if we ended up without a place to live.” 
Shiro nodded in agreement. 
“Think I’ll go become king and take back some territory.” 
—Had she heard him right? Stephanie Dola carefully reviewed the words she had heard. Once she was sure that she couldn’t have misheard him, she looked at his back. He had a bounce in his step as if he were just going down the street for some groceries. But it was full of brazen pride and confidence, like he was going to check something that was already settled—the back of the man who had declared he would reclaim the territory of the human race. 
“Oh, that’s right.” 
Sora grabbed the sweet that had been left on the table of the veranda and stuffed it in his mouth. 
“—Oh.” 
With Steph looking like she’d forgotten herself, Sora spoke. 
“Mm, this is good. The tea and the sweets were both really good. Thanks.” 
Sora turned to say these words with a smile. Was it, after all, the Covenants that made her heart race? Steph hardly knew anymore.