Saat semua orang tenggelam dalam keharuan, Arsil membuka mulut. Yi-Han sedikit kewalahan.
"Oh. Kakak ingin memberi hadiah untuk teman-temanku? Tidak perlu... Tidak, Kak. Tolong jangan tersinggung. Bukankah beberapa di antaranya agak berbahaya? Kakak bilang akan memberikan yang benar-benar aman? Terakhir kali Kakak juga bilang begitu padaku... Kakak bilang Kakak tahu itu sebenarnya berbahaya, tapi ingin memberi sesuatu yang bagus? Tidak, apa yang Kakak lakukan sekarang?"
Yi-Han merasa kesal.
Saat dia meminta sesuatu yang tidak berbahaya, kenapa dia terus menambahkan kasih sayang yang tak diminta!
"Yi-Han. Aku penasaran apa artinya dia bisa berbicara bahasa roh..."
Yonaire penasaran orang seperti apa kakak Yi-Han itu.
Dan tercampur dalam rasa penasaran itu ada sedikit harapan jahat.
Sebagaimana Yonaire pernah dipermalukan karena kakak perempuannya yang gila, dia ingin melihat Yi-Han dipermalukan karena saudaranya yang gila!
"Hadiah apa?"
"Tunggu. Gainando. Bahasa roh..."
"Apakah bahasa roh penting? Dia baru saja bilang hadiah! Dia memang bilang hadiah, kan?"
Kerabat yang tak peka itu bergegas menghampiri Yi-Han dan bertanya.
Dia tak bisa menahan diri untuk tidak tergoda ketika orang semisterius itu mengatakan akan memberi hadiah.
"Dia memang bilang hadiah, tapi kau perlu berhati-hati, Gainando. Kebanyakan hadiah yang diberikan kakakku semuanya aneh."
Arsil menjadi sedikit merajuk dan berdalih. Tentu saja, adiknya yang tak tahu terima kasih berpura-pura tidak mendengar.
"Dia bertanya apakah Gainando suka permainan kartu mage? Dia memang suka, tapi... Tidak. Kak. Jangan beri dia hadiah apa pun yang berhubungan dengan permainan kartu mage. Dia akan memainkannya sepanjang hari."
"Apa? Dia memberi kartu mage?!"
Gainando menangkap isi percakapan dengan luar biasa meski tidak bisa mendengar bahasa roh.
"Aku! Aku! Aku mau menerimanya! Kalau diberikan padaku, akan kupakai dengan penuh syukur seumur hidup!"
Arsil tersenyum hangat dan menyerahkan sebuah tempat pensil yang terbuat dari kulit kuat. Gainando menerimanya dengan tampang bingung.
"Eh, apa kau menyuruhku belajar?"
"Tidak. Dia bilang itu bukan tempat pensil, tapi tempat untuk menyimpan kartu mage?"
"Tempat dari kulit!"
Gainando tersenyum puas dan memasukkan kartu-kartunya ke dalam tempat itu. Lalu Arsil menjelaskan.
"Dia bilang itu bukan tempat biasa? Benda itu akan memberi nasihat saat bermain permainan kartu mage."
"...!"
Gainando terkejut.
Di antara artefak, yang memiliki kesadaran atau kecerdasan sangatlah langka.
Terlebih lagi, jika itu khusus untuk permainan kartu mage, maka lebih langka lagi.
Siapa yang mau menghabiskan sumber daya mahal untuk membuat artefak yang memberi nasihat tentang kartu mage?
"B-benarkah?!"
"Tapi dalam permainan yang sebagian besar ditentukan oleh keberuntungan, apakah nasihat itu bermakna?"
"Jangan bicara tentang hal yang tidak kau ketahui, Yi-Han! Keterampilan itu sangat penting dalam permainan kartu mage!"
Nillia kebingungan dengan seruan Gainando.
"Bukankah dia selalu kalah dari Wardanaz?"
"Biarkan saja dia. Aku jamin dia tidak akan menang bahkan dengan nasihat."
Meski difitnah teman-temannya, Gainando tidak peduli.
Dia berpikir bahwa meski kesialan adalah bagian dari penyebab rendahnya tingkat kemenangannya, kesalahan penilaian yang sesekali terjadi juga berperan besar.
Jika dia bisa menghilangkan kesalahan-kesalahan itu dengan nasihat, dia pasti bisa menang!
"Huhu. Sekarang tak ada yang bisa menghentikanku..."
"Kakakku bertanya apakah kau mau bermain cepat satu game, bagaimana menurutmu?"
"Tentu saja!"
Gainando mengeluarkan kartunya dari tempat itu dengan ekspresi cerah.
Arsil juga tersenyum dan mengeluarkan kartunya. Melihat kartu-kartu itu, Gainando tersenyum percaya diri.
Kartu-kartu itu tidak langka maupun mahal.
Dan 10 menit kemudian.
"..."
Gainando hanya bisa berkedip terkejut setelah kalah 5 game dari 5 game.
Dia tidak hanya kalah, tapi kalah jauh lebih telak daripada biasanya.
"Yi-Yi-Han, bukankah ini nasihat yang salah?!"
Yi-Han menjawab acuh tak acuh.
"Kakakku bisa mendengar suara para roh."
"Lalu kenapa?"
"Dia bilang para roh memberitahunya semua kartumu. Akan sulit untuk menang."
"!?"
Gainando menatap para roh dengan terkejut.
Sampai mengganggu permainan kartu yang suci!
"B-bagaimana bisa para roh melakukan ini...! Bagaimana!"
Para roh, tanpa peduli, cekikikan dan berbicara pada Arsil. Arsil juga tertawa dan menjawab para roh.
"K-kakak, apa Kakak mungkin sedang mengejekku?!"
"Dia hanya bilang sinar matahari hari ini bagus."
Gainando, yang pusing karena syok kekalahan, mengalihkan sasarannya.
"Yi-Han. Satu game saja!"
"Oke. Baiklah, baiklah."
Biasanya, dia akan langsung memukul belakang kepalanya dan menyuruhnya belajar, tapi hari ini dia merasa sedikit lebih lembut karena dia tamu yang datang dari jauh.
Terlebih lagi, kusirnya juga sudah menghilang...
'Dia akan senang kalau aku kalah secukupnya.'
Yi-Han berniat kalah secukupnya demi kebahagiaan Gainando.
Sebenarnya, itu pilihan yang wajar karena jika Yi-Han menang, mereka akan berakhir memainkan beberapa game lagi.
Untungnya, tempat dari kulit yang diberikan Arsil tampaknya artefak biasa tanpa efek samping tertentu (membosankan dan tidak menarik menurut standar Arsil).
"Jadi kau bilang aku harus memainkan ini di sini?"
Gainando bergumam sambil berbicara dengan tempat dari kulit itu.
"Tapi Yi-Han sudah memainkan tiga kartu di dataran? Kalau aku tidak memainkan kartu untuk melindungi diriku di sini, bukankah aku bisa mati di giliran berikutnya? Tidak apa-apa? Kau bilang dia tidak bisa membunuhku? ...Baiklah. Kalau begitu aku akan mempercayaimu dan memainkan ini!"
Gainando dengan percaya diri memainkan kartu ordo ksatria. Ordo ksatria itu bergerak di dalam kartu dengan cahaya cemerlang.
Lalu Yi-Han memerintahkan panggilannya untuk menghabisi sisa nyawa Gainando.
"...T-tidak!!! Kau bilang akan baik-baik saja!!!"
Gainando berteriak pada tempat dari kulit itu.
"Apa maksudmu itu hanya kesialan! Nasihat macam apa ini! Penilaianku benar, kan!"
"...Kita sudah main satu game, kan? Aku selesai."
Yi-Han dan teman-temannya cepat-cepat berpaling sementara Gainando bertengkar dengan tempat dari kulit itu.
Kalau ketahuan di sini, mereka harus memainkan beberapa game lagi.
Arsil menghadiahkan Nillia sebuah sisir giok.
"T-terima kasih! ...Tapi artefak macam apa ini?"
"Dia bilang kalau kau menyisir rambutmu, musuh tidak akan bisa menemukanmu untuk sementara... Tidak, Kak. Ini benda semacam itu!? Kalau begitu, seharusnya Kakak bilang saja...!"
Arsil melambaikan tangannya seolah itu benda yang tidak menarik. Lalu dia menghadiahkan Yonaire sebuah tempat tinta berisi tinta yang terus berubah warna.
"Dia bilang ini tinta yang menulis huruf-huruf yang hanya tidak bisa dilihat musuh pemiliknya. ...Kak. Tolong, tidak bisakah Kakak memberiku hadiah seperti ini mulai sekarang juga?"
Yonaire mengambil bulu pena dan menulis 'Gainando bodoh' di kertas.
"Gainando?"
"Apa?"
Gainando, yang masih mendidih setelah kalah berdebat dengan tempat dari kulit itu, menoleh.
"Bisa kau lihat ini?"
"Hah? Itu kertas."
Yonaire mengangguk puas.
"Terima kasih."
Arsil membungkuk ringan seolah itu bukan apa-apa.
***
Setelah menyelesaikan salam-salam, teman-teman melihat-lihat mansion seperti tamu pada umumnya dan berbincang dengan junior baru Yi-Han (
Chapter 639
While everyone was deeply moved, Arsil opened his mouth. Yi-Han was slightly flustered.
"Oh. You want to give gifts to my friends? You don't have to... No, brother. Please don't feel hurt. Aren't some of them a bit dangerous? You say you'll give truly safe ones? Last time you said that to me too... You say you knew it was actually dangerous, but you wanted to give something good? No, what are you doing now?"
Yi-Han felt upset.
When he asked for something not dangerous, why did he keep adding unsolicited affection!
"Yi-Han. I'm curious about what it means that he speaks spirit language..."
Yonaire was curious about what kind of person Yi-Han's brother was.
And mixed in that curiosity was a slightly wicked expectation.
Just as Yonaire had been embarrassed because of her crazy sister, she wanted to see Yi-Han embarrassed because of his crazy sibling!
"What gift?"
"Wait. Gainando. Spirit language..."
"Is spirit language important? He just said gift! He did say gift, right?"
The tactless relative rushed to Yi-Han and asked.
He couldn't help but be tempted when such a mysterious-looking person said they would give a gift.
"He did say gift, but you need to be careful, Gainando. Most of the gifts my brother gave were all strange."
Arsil became slightly sulky and made excuses. Of course, his ungrateful younger brother pretended not to hear.
"He's asking if Gainando likes mage card games? He does like them, but... No. Brother. Don't give him any gifts related to mage card games. He'll play them all day long." Ŕ
"What? He's giving mage cards?!"
Gainando caught the content of the conversation amazingly well despite not being able to hear the spirit language.
"Me! Me! I want to receive it! If you give it to me, I'll use it gratefully for life!"
Arsil smiled warmly and handed over a pencil case made of tough leather. Gainando received it with a puzzled look.
"Uh, are you telling me to study?"
"No. He says it's not a pencil case, but a case for storing mage cards?"
"A leather case!"
Gainando smiled contentedly and put his cards in the case. Then Arsil explained.
"He says it's not an ordinary case? It will give advice when playing mage card games."
"...!"
Gainando was surprised.
Among artifacts, those with consciousness or intelligence were extremely rare.
Moreover, if it was specifically for mage card games, it was even more so.
Who would spend expensive resources to make an artifact that gives advice on mage cards?
"R-really?!"
"But in a game that's mostly determined by luck anyway, is advice meaningful?"
"Don't talk about things you don't know, Yi-Han! Skill is so important in mage card games!"
Nillia was puzzled by Gainando's exclamation.
"Doesn't he always lose to Wardanaz?"
"Leave him be. I guarantee he won't win even with advice."
Despite his friends' slander, Gainando didn't care.
He thought that while bad luck was part of the reason for his low win rate, the occasional judgment errors also played a big role.
If he could eliminate those mistakes with advice, he could surely win!
"Huhu. Now no one can stop me..."
"My brother is asking if you'd like to play a quick game, what do you think?"
"Sure!"
Gainando took out his cards from the case with a bright expression.
Arsil also smiled and took out his cards. Seeing cards like or , Gainando smiled confidently.
They were neither rare nor expensive cards.
And 10 minutes later.
"..."
Gainando could only blink in shock after losing 5 games out of 5.
Not only did he lose, but he lost much more overwhelmingly than usual.
"Yi-Yi-Han, isn't this wrong advice?!"
Yi-Han answered indifferently.
"My brother can hear the voices of spirits."
"So what?"
"He says the spirits tell him all your cards. It'll be hard to win."
"!?"
Gainando looked at the spirits in shock.
To interfere with the sacred card game!
"H-how could the spirits do this...! How!"
The spirits, regardless, giggled and spoke to Arsil. Arsil also laughed and answered the spirits.
"Br-brother, are you perhaps mocking me?!"
"He's just saying the sunlight is nice today."
Gainando, who had been dizzy from the shock of defeat, changed his target.
"Yi-Han. Just one game!"
"Okay. Alright, alright."
Normally, he would have immediately hit the back of his head and told him to study, but today he felt a bit softer since he was a guest who had come from far away.
Moreover, the coachman had disappeared too...
'He'll be happy if I lose moderately.'
Yi-Han intended to lose moderately for Gainando's happiness.
In fact, it was a natural choice since if Yi-Han won, they would end up playing several more games.
Fortunately, the leather case Arsil gave seemed to be an ordinary artifact without any particular side effects (boring and uninteresting by Arsil's standards).
"So you're saying I should play this here?"
Gainando muttered as he conversed with the leather case.
"But Yi-Han has already played three cards on the plains? If I don't play a card to protect myself here, couldn't I die next turn? It's okay? You say he can't kill me? ...Alright. Then I'll trust you and play the !"
Gainando confidently played the knight order card. The knight order moved inside the card with a brilliant light.
Then Yi-Han commanded his s to finish off Gainando's remaining life.
"...N-no!!! You said it would be okay!!!"
Gainando shouted at the leather case.
"What do you mean it was just bad luck! What kind of advice is this! My judgment was right, wasn't it!"
"...We played one game, right? I'm done."
Yi-Han and his friends quickly turned away while Gainando was fighting with the leather case.
If they got caught here, they would have to play several more games.
Arsil gifted Nillia a jade comb.
"Th-thank you! ...But what kind of artifact is this?"
"He says if you comb your hair, enemies won't be able to find you for a while... No, brother. It was this kind of item!? If it's like that, you should have just told me...!"
Arsil waved his hand as if it was an uninteresting item. Then he gifted Yonaire an inkwell filled with ink that kept changing color.
"He says this is ink that writes letters only the owner's enemies can't see. ...Brother. Please, can't you give me gifts like this from now on too?"
Yonaire picked up the quill and wrote 'Gainando is stupid' on the paper.
"Gainando?"
"What?"
Gainando, who was fuming after losing an argument with the leather case, turned his head.
"Can you see this?"
"Huh? It's paper."
Yonaire nodded with satisfaction.
"Thank you."
Arsil lightly bowed as if it was nothing.
***
After finishing their greetings, the friends looked around the mansion as guests usually do and talked with Yi-Han's new junior (Gainando got his hand bitten).
Then they all sat in the library and started studying magic. Not because they particularly liked magic, but because there wasn't much else to do in the mansion.
After about three days like this, Gainando pleaded with an expression that made it hard to tell if this was Einroguard or outside.
"L-let's at least take a look around the territory. Yi-Han... I might die if I stay here any longer."
"Shut up. Just study quietly."
Yonaire chided her relative while playing with her quill.
Although Einroguard didn't give assignments during vacations, considering the amount of learning, it was practically the same as having assignments.
If one didn't prepare in advance for the lacking parts from the first year, they would have to make up for it directly with their body when entering school in the second year.
'Hmm. Nillia seems to want to rest too.'
Yi-Han looked at Nillia. Nillia was frozen with an awkward posture, about to open her mouth.
She must have been about to agree with Gainando's words but stopped after seeing Yonaire's reaction.
"...Looking around wouldn't be bad. Is there anywhere you're curious about?"
Usually, the territories of great noble families weren't that boring even if they were far from the city.
To begin with, as numerous guests continuously visited and stayed, new balls, banquets, plays, or performances were steadily held.
New guests could spend a whole day just responding to these invitations.
But the Wardanaz family's territory was the most unusual and different place even among the territories of great noble families.
There wasn't much to do as not only guests but even people of the mansion were rarely seen.
The only thing possible was patrolling the territory.
A pleasant amusement that any family could do, looking around the family's territory while getting some fresh air...
"Mr. Yi-Han. You shouldn't approach the western garden of the mansion at present. The golems have rebelled, and it will take some time to subdue them."
Arlong said politely and walked down the corridor. Yi-Han spoke as if it couldn't be helped.
"Oh dear. The western garden is off-limits."
"..."
Gainando regretted speaking up, but he couldn't stop here.
The golem rebellion garden seemed better than continuing to study here.
"Then north! Let's go north!"
"There's a lake labyrinth in the north... Sir! Is it okay to enter the lake labyrinth now?"
"I don't recommend it, Mr. Yi-Han. The currents in the lake labyrinth are at their fiercest right now, so it would be dangerous if you enter carelessly."
"That's what he says."
The three wanted to ask 'What on earth is a lake labyrinth and why is it in the territory?', but they kept their mouths shut, afraid Yi-Han might take them if he explained.
Fortunately, Yi-Han wasn't the only one in the mansion. Arsil, who was passing by, heard the conversation and kindly said,
"My brother says he'll guide you to a nice place?"
"The lake labyrinth?!"
When Gainando shouted in surprise, Yi-Han spoke as if asking what nonsense he was talking about.
"I told you the lake labyrinth is dangerous. Gainando. Even if you want to go, hold back."
"N-no... I don't want to go to the lake labyrinth..."
Arsil gestured for them to just follow him.
He wanted to give his younger brother's friends who had come to the mansion like this an enjoyable experience.
"Hmm. I'm not sure if it'll be okay."
When Yi-Han worried, his friends asked curiously.
"Why?"
"The places my brother usually recommends were all a bit strange and dangerous."
"It'll be fine."
"That's right. Yi-Han. We've been to Einroguard too."
Yi-Han felt reassured by his friends' confident appearance.
He could feel how much they had all toughened up thanks to attending Einroguard together.
"Yeah. You're right."
Spirits appeared one by one around Arsil as he walked forward, clearing away stones on the dirt path and pushing back the undergrowth.
The spirits were clearing the way on their own lest Arsil get hurt.
He didn't understand well before, but now that he knew a bit about spirits, he could tell how amazing this was.
'...I shouldn't be envious.'
Yi-Han repeated to himself and tried not to look.
In fact, it was natural that Arsil didn't learn magic.
If he was loved by spirits like that, what need would he have for magic?
Only people who weren't loved by spirits, like Yi-Han, needed magic...
'Oh no. What am I thinking.'
Arsil's pace gradually quickened. Yi-Han's group following behind also sped up accordingly.
The spirits were pushing them from behind.
"Is it here?"
Yi-Han was puzzled at Arsil's words as he stopped. There wasn't anything particularly special around.
Rumble-
The earth spirits made a heavy sound as they created an entrance.
An ancient tomb so old that its age was indeterminable revealed itself before their eyes.
Seeing that, Gainando muttered without realizing,
"Isn't this much stranger and more dangerous than we thought?"
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