Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 1 - Chapter 3.7

☖ MISCALCULATION

“Chaaaa——————rge!!”

The first thing Ayumu did once the match started up again was to drive that pointy spear even deeper into my gut.

“And now, cha——nge! Evolve from Normal Lance to Golden Lance!!”

Narikyou, Promoted-Lance … Is that what he’s trying to say? He flipped the piece over, so that’s probably it.

The Lance has run me through, so now my King is vulnerable to an attack from behind. It’s a difficult position to be in so soon after restarting.

“Heh …… I have you now! Dragon King!!”

“Who has who?”

“Inconceivable?!”

I saw the attack coming by the slimmest of margins.

I leave the Promoted-Lance right where it is behind my King and take a Pawn from my captured pieces and place it on the board to attack a completely different piece. And that piece would be——.

“My … Rook?!”

“That’s right!”

His advancing Lance is just a diversion, a jab.

“Ayumu! You’re trying to get me to move my defenses with a jab and then unleash a straight punch! And your fist is none other than this Rook! In other words, with this Rook under control, your attack comes to an end!”

“Heh-heh … Now I see. You are a worthy opponent, Dragon King. I commend you for deducing my strategy! However! Do you honestly believe that your weak forces can contain my strongest piece?!”

“Have you forgotten, Ayumu? Forgotten the piece I took just before lunchtime——?”

“?! You … You couldn’t mean ……!!”

“Fly, Pegasus! I summon you from the captured ranks to take that Rook!”

I like how things are playing out on the board, so I don’t mind having a bit of fun. The record keeper’s cold gaze doesn’t bother me at all!

“What’s wrong, your highness? Your elegant visage is showing some cracks?”

“Kehhhh …!!”

It goes without saying that the Rook is the strongest piece and letting it be taken not only removes a big chunk of your firepower, but it’s also like giving your best weapon to your opponent.

Losing it in the late game is one thing, but losing it in the mid-game pretty much ends a Shogi match. Therefore Ayumu should move it out of the way.

At least he should have.

“Keh … Keh! Keh! … Keh-ha-ha-ha-ha!! At last … the moment I’ve been waiting for!”

“?! … Waiting … for …?”

Ayumu didn’t move the Rook, but another prominent piece——the Bishop.

“Bishop?!”

He’s abandoning the Rook?! Seriously?!

I couldn’t help but look up at Ayumu.

He seems … surprisingly calm. No explosions of emotion anywhere on his face. And he’s drinking tea again.

My gut’s telling me that I should take that Rook with this move.

Ayumu’s advance can’t go on without it. I should still be able to absorb this attack by the skin of my teeth. I’ve still got a captured Pawn and Silver on my piece stand. I can hold out!

I grab my right leg and squeeze as hard as I can, thoroughly reading the board to make sure my gut instincts are right.

Read. Read. Read …

“………… Okay!”

I had my answer after over an hour of internal deliberation: take the Rook with keima, Knight. How’s that, Ayumu!

“Just as I planned!!”

“What?!”

“Take a gander at your stunned stallion …!”

Ayumu strikes that same Vanguard pose, flips the Bishop over and smacks it back down on the board.

“The one riding on its back——is death!”

Ayumu’s ryuuma, Promoted-Bishop is headed right for my defensive front. However!

“How naïve, Ayumu! I’m one step ahead of your attack!”

I slide my King out of his Knight’s line of fire.

Shogi’s saying King’s early escape nets eight turns in action! So many of his attack options are now moot!!

“What now?! Can’t keep attacking without your Rook, no … can you?!”

This is when I thought we’d return to the mid-game and regroup, but——.

Ayumu doesn’t reach for the board, but for his own piece stand. It felt like a pillar of ice shot down my spine the moment I saw him make that move.

“Prepare thyself, for you shall be run through by yet another hidden Lance!!”

Lifting the Lance from his piece stand with the arched-finger dexterity of a pianist, he brought it straight down onto the board. Crap?!

“Dragon Slayer! Georgioooooo———os!!”

“Not good …!!”

That move sends a cold shiver down my spine.

Ayumu placed the Lance right behind the Pawn I put down to attack his Rook. Therefore, I can’t block it with my spare Pawn (two players having Pawns in the same column violates the rules)! There’s no way to guard against it …!

“Kannabe-sensei plays a surprising new move, Kannabe-Style 3 Six Lance.”

“I said, Dragon Slayer! Georgios! Weren’t you listening?!!”

Once Ayumu finished telling off the journalist, he points his fan directly at me and says, “What say you, your majesty Dragon King? How does my new tactic Dragon Slayer! Georgios taste?”

“Gh …!!”

I bite my lip and start searching the board.

I want information. What is Ayumu’s next target? Are my formations still intact? Can my King escape with a stronger defensive line? Is there any opening to counterattack——?

“And by the way, the name is derived from the great dragon-slaying martyr, the knight St. George. It is said that he thrust his lance into the mouth of the dragon that breathed poison before wrapping a girdle that he received from a princess around its neck and leading the beast around like a dog before delivering the final blow.”

I didn’t need that information …

“No! There needs to be an exclamation point after the Dragon Slayer!” Ayumu tells off the journalist, issuing an order. Maybe he’s going for a Swift! (Black Shogi Piece 3 Seven Climbing Silver kind of name?)

He clearly planned this combination. That lukewarm strategy name that some middle schooler would think up is obviously his doing.

Basically … Ayumu’s had this in mind since I put that Pawn down thirty moves ago?

No. Even further back … He’s had this in mind since I started making the yagura formation more than seventy moves ago. He saw this change coming and led me right to it.

If that’s true——Ayumu has researched all the way to checkmate.