Bonus Short Story and Column

A Knight’s Tale

“Quite busy, isn’t it...?”

The young man looked around in wonder. He had journeyed far from the Knight Kingdom of Lestia in order to see this newly-founded nation with his own two eyes, and what he found was quite interesting. The Duchy of Brunhild was a very small country. It had been founded almost overnight by an adventurer who appeared from nowhere. It was just a tiny piece of land situated along the border of Belfast and Regulus, but it was also undeniable that it had a considerable amount of influence on the global political landscape.

For one, they wielded the Frame Gears, a legacy left behind by an ancient kingdom. This power allowed their military to perform incredible feats, such as slaughtering a horde of Dragons with little to no effort. It was fair to say that the military output of this tiny nation was not proportional to its size. It was even mightier than Lestia, a kingdom that had built itself on its chivalric order. Interestingly enough, the grand duke who presided over this nation did not use this power for conquest or war. Instead, he used it to defend the entire continent from horrible monsters that invaded their world. He even went so far as to loan the feared weapons to other nations, so that they could defend themselves as well.

Lanz Tempest had heard the stories from his elder brother, and he’d been curious about Brunhild ever since. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Lestia. No, far from it, in fact. However, Lanz simply thought he might be able to find more purpose in an upstart nation, especially one so interesting. If he proved himself to be pure of heart and intention, then he’d surely reach further heights than he ever could in Lestia. The moment the rumors of Brunhild’s knight recruitment drive reached his ears, Lanz was up on his feet and on his way out of Lestia.

He’d managed to make it just in time to register, and then moved to an inn to rest before the day it all began. There were several inns in Brunhild, but Lanz didn’t exactly have enough money on him to live it up in the lap of luxury. The Tempest family wasn’t exactly one of high standing back in Lestia. At the end of the day, he wasn’t sure what kind of ranking he’d have after this exam, but he was certain he’d try his best regardless. He shrugged his shoulders and walked into a slightly smaller inn nearby. It was called the Silver Moon. As he entered, a man who resembled a merchant quickly rushed past him.

“Welcome!”

“...Are there any rooms available?”

A red-haired girl turned towards Lanz with a smile. He wondered if she was the proprietor and politely asked about reservations.

“It’s your lucky day! We were fully-booked, but a room in the house just got freed up. The gentleman who was supposed to stay there was called back home by his wife! It seems she’s going to give birth soon... You can stay here instead, if you like.”

Lanz surmised that the guest in question was probably the frantic merchant who had been running out the door as he arrived. Either way, the price wasn’t at all bad, so he graciously accepted.

“Are you here to try out for the knight order?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Well... you just look the type, you know? Anyway, it’ll be pretty tough, so good luck. I think there are a ton of applicants here, actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

The girl had picked up quite a bit of information from the stories she’d been told by travelers. To Lanz’s surprise, she even knew quite a bit about the knight order and the grand duke. As a small show of kindness, she told him a little bit more about how the current knights were recruited into the order.

“The knights like to come here to eat, so I overhear a lot of stuff. I think they heard good things about my menu. Oh, right. Would you like to eat something, too?”

“Sure... I’d love that.”

“Great!”

Lanz smiled at the girl as she brought a few dishes out to him. He’d ordered a course meal from the menu and was quite ready to tuck in. He decided to spend that time people-watching, but his gaze often fell upon her.

“This is amazing...”

The food was, to be blunt, sublime. Lanz was very curious about the cuisine that existed outside of Lestia, and he did not find himself disappointed by what this inn had to offer. He was more than satisfied by the end of his meal. After eating, he drank a small cup of tea, and the girl introduced herself as Micah. She was working hard, and actually reminded Lanz a little bit of his own mother. He found himself subconsciously watching her as she busied herself around the dining hall. Once he realized what he was doing, he very quickly shook his head back to sense.

He had to concentrate hard. He had the exam tomorrow, an exam that he was determined to take, despite the objections of both his father and his brother. He was sorry that he’d abandoned Lestia to seek new opportunities, but it was something he felt he had to do. If he passed, he’d live with the knights in Brunhild Castle. If he failed, he’d run home back to Lestia. He couldn’t get distracted by a beautiful girl in a very nice inn. He’d never visit the place again, after all...

Although... perhaps, if he did pass, he could come back and eat. Surely that wasn’t an issue, right? Micah had said that the knights of Brunhild came in to dine every now and then... It wouldn’t be a big deal, and it definitely wouldn’t be out of place. Lanz quietly decided that it might not be so bad if he frequented this place. As his mind settled on the idea, he failed to catch his glance returning to Micah, along with the gentle little smile on his face.

Tabletop Games

Recently, I started playing tabletop games. Since I started working with Hobby Japan, I grew more aware of their products, so I used the money that I earned from working with them to purchase some of the tabletop games produced by the very same company. When I was a student, I had a lot of opportunities to play TTRPGs and board games with my classmates, but as I grew older and took my place in society at large, those opportunities became few and far between. Not long ago, however, I took the time to go to a board game cafe, and I found myself really enjoying it. I’m super glad I gave it a go.

Tabletop games are pretty incredible, huh...? You can get teammates that are total morons, people that’ll negotiate and bargain their way through the game with you, or just classic parties that team up to fight the baddies... The variety in the storytelling is really something else. You can do whatever you like, and the games change on the daily, so it’s really neat. That being said, I think my favorite board games are tile-based. Anyway, I ended up going out of my comfort zone and trying out a bunch of new games. It was a little awkward because it kind of interfered with my work, but oh well.

I ended up playing a lot of games, but time just kept on going by without me even realizing it. They were all just so strange and funny, so I kept on wanting to try more and more. When I was younger, it was actually pretty hard to find a lot of board games and TTRPGs, since they weren’t as huge in Japan as the west. Right now, I’m still a novice, so I’d like to keep going back to that cafe, and maybe try some more complicated games at some point.

“Pandemic” was really cool for co-operating with other players, “Ticket to Ride” was amazing because you had to connect pieces together, and the deck-building aspect of “Dominion” was totally awesome! I also enjoyed “Splendor,” since it had me taking on the role of a Renaissance merchant and buying up different gems and resources, which was a really fun experience. I liked to buy up cheap jewelry and trade them off to slowly gain an advantage, so that’s my suggested tactic!

Tabletop stuff has been really fun, but in recent weeks I’ve been way too busy to actually play them. There are plenty of games that I ordered online, but I can’t actually play those right now...

This sorry situation has resulted in a pile of unopened game boxes, just sitting there in my house... Someday, I’ll conquer that mountain though, I’m sure!

I-I guess I should thank Hobby Japan for getting me back into them, huh?