Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 1 - Chapter 3.3

☖ GRAND ENTRANCE! SILVER KNIGHT

“Here. Drink up.”

“Yay! Yummy yummy thank y–♡”

I buy her a pack of orange juice out of the classroom vending machine. She plunges the straw straight in and starts glugging it down before saying thank you. Playing Shogi makes everyone thirsty.

“Gpppah! Master, you have a match today, right? What time does it start?”

“From 10.”

“It does?! Shouldn’t you hurry up?!”

“Hurry up …? It doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes.”

There’s really nothing to do to get ready before a match, so going in early would just mean I sit in front of the board in awkward silence.

Plus, this is a Throne League match with four hours of in-game waiting time. It’ll go well into the night.

I’ll run out of steam halfway through if I go in with too much zip.

“The arena is right upstairs. Showing up at the last minute is no problem.”

“Y-Yes it is! You should always start five minutes early!”

She pushes against my back, trying to get me to move. What doesn’t she understand about there being fifteen minutes left?

“Alright then, would you like to see the arena?”

“May I?!”

“As long as you’re with me.”

The arena above the fourth floor is kept off limits as a general rule … But the Kansai Shogi Association lets people who use the classroom watch regulated matches as a service, so they wouldn’t say no to a tour. And, for a fee, you can rent out the space for yourself too.

“This is the Match Board. These magnets with players’ names on them show who’s playing who in what arena each day.”

I start explaining lots of things as the two of us make it to the fifth-floor entrance at the top of the stairs.

“The loser comes out here and lowers their magnet after the match is over. That system lets everyone know the results.”

“Wow …”

Ai looked a bit shy at first, but her curiosity seems to have taken over. Those eyes are absolutely sparkling.

“So your match today is in … Gyouedan no Aida?”

“That’s Onjyoudan no Ma.”

“And you are facing … Kami, Kami … Umm, how do you read that?”

“Kannabe. Ayumu Kannabe 6-dan. He’s an up-and-coming pro from the Kanto area.”

I was halfway out of my shoes and about to lead her inside the arena when from out of nowhere!

“Ha! Ha! Ha! … That name is just a mask that allows me to blend in with the outside world. My true name is something else entirely …!”

“?! Y-You——.”

I turn around to see a man dressed in white standing there, hiding half of his princely, well-defined face by lifting his hand into a kind of pose, looking at me between his fingers with his right eye (color contact and all). Then he declares his “true name” with all seriousness: “Knight of the Shogi Realm! Silver Chevalier——Sir Ayumu God Cauldron!”

A passing staff member stopped to say hello. “Oh, Kannabe-sensei. Good morning.”

“It’s God Cauldron!!”

Apparently, God Cauldron 6-dan (18 years old) is not willing to give any ground on the matter and seems genuinely offended.

The staff member must be used to this because he doesn’t look bothered at all and ignores the retort. People who can’t deal with this level of strange characters could never work at he Shogi Association.

“My word … That’s the problem with Kansai people. Not a trace of refinement to be found ……”

Whispering to himself, Ayumu walks up to the board, removes the Kannabe magnet and replaces it with one that says God Cauldron without asking. Did he bring in his own homemade magnet? Crafty guy …

Ai (and only Ai) looked impressed at the sight of Sir Ayumu.

“Master! That, that man … he’s got a cape?!”

“… Yes. That’s a cape.”

“I’ve never seen one in real life before!”

Same for me. Wearing a cape to an official Shogi match …?

“Oh … Wee lass! You must possess great sense, spotting my cape as you have. I cordially invite you to join my Gate East Legion.”

Sir Ayumu God Cauldron extends his right arm with refined elegance, silver cape swishing behind him.

He looks——like royalty!

The Shogi world is divided into the Kanto area in the east where Ayumu is from and Kansai in the west where we live.

The Kanto Shogi Association is located in Harajuku of Tokyo, the city of youth, and is home to more than three times as many pro players as Kansai. Most titleholders are registered with Kanto, so a lot of new strategies and established ones originated there.

Going against the stylish and flashy pros of Kanto, Kansai pros who like to stray from the established norms and fight fire with fire to the bitter end seem vulgar by comparison. The Kanto pros treat us like outlaws.

“We Kanto professionals use a style of Shogi that is detailed yet vivid! Wee lass, study our ways and you too shall receive our Kanto Shogi spirit refined through years of training!”

“I-I am Kujyuryu-Ryuo’s apprentice! I will never join you!”

Said apprentice still can’t say my name.

“Hm Hm Hm … Ha-ha-ha-ha! That Dragkin shall meet its end this night! Enjoy your short apprenticeship while it lasts!”

“What was that?!”

God Cauldron-sensei demonstrates his skill with children by hitting it off with a nine-year-old in the blink of an eye. So it was you, the one who started this Dragkin business.

Separating myself both physically and mentally from the two, who were about to start dueling with each other, I pose a question.

“By the way, Ayumu. Where’d you buy that cape?”

“At Blue Mountain, if you must know.”

Just call it Aoyama like a normal person, would you? It’s not coffee. But seriously, you can find anything in Tokyo …

“They also carry a black version. Would you like one for yourself?”

“Master! They have black too?!”

“No thanks are necessary.”

The moment I give him a clear, “No thank you,” he answers with a somber, “If you insist …” Even Ai is slumping over. Did she want to see me wear it …?

“Humph … It matters not.”

Whoosh! Sir Ayumu needlessly swishes his cape, turns his back and says, “I await you in the Throne Room!”

“You mean the Onjyoudan no Ma.”

WHA-ha-ha-ha-ha … Once his unnecessarily loud laughter disappears, Ai looks up at me and says, “Master! Are you friends with that person?!”

“Not sure about friends but … Well, we’ve known each other for years.”

The Shogi world is small. Kids dreaming of turning pro run into each other at tournaments from a young age and eventually start crossing paths in either the East or West Shogi Associations once their serious training gets underway.

Then they’re fated to meet each other in battle for the rest of their lives once they turn pro. Well, as long as they keep playing professional Shogi anyway.

“Ayumu is two years ahead of me in school, but we’re like classmates because we started training at the same time.”

“Oh, I get it! He’s your rival?!”

“Rival, huh. I’d be honored if he thought of me that way …”

Even though Ayumu is in Kanto and I’m in Kansai, it’s true that we’ve been very aware of each other since we were kids. He’s even gone on and on about how we were fated to do battle because of something in our past lives.

He became much more intent on beating me when I became Ryuo.

You’d think it was because a rival player around his age surpassed him but … that’s not quite right.

For Ayumu, who’s always fancied himself a holy knight, the Dragon King symbolizes evil. He sees the title as a dark overlord that must be defeated. To put it another way——.

Ryuo (Dragon King) = Evil = Me

Knight = Holy = Himself → Must slay the dragon (`・ω・´)

Like that. It’s gotten to that point.

“He always had a thing for royalty and an attitude problem, but once he turned pro and started earning his own money, self-control went right out the window.”

“Is that why he bought the cape?”

“He’s got money coming in left and right because he’s winning left and right. He’s already secured this year’s award for consecutive wins and claimed the highest winning percentage. His path to a title match opens up with the win today … With my eleven-game losing streak I doubt he considers me to be much of a rival … The Dragon King is probably going down …”

“That’s not true! You’re the best, Master!!”

——The best, huh?

All pro players think that about themselves to some degree. They couldn’t keep fighting in this world if that weren’t true. Being on this skid, being ridiculed on the Internet, my confidence was showing some cracks.

But strangely, my confidence got one heck of a boost just from this little girl calling me “the best.” Shogi players are quite simple.

“Master! Best of luck in the field!!”

“Ha-ha … Well, I’ll do the best I can.”

Grimacing at my apprentice’s over-the-top battle cry, I turn toward the arena where the Silver Chevalier awaits.