030: Fruit Juice Toast

I won my brackets in the Reversi tournament and managed to make it to the finals. I had assumed that my opponent would be Carla, the daughter of Celia, just like the previous tournament, but Yulina had defeated Carla in the second-to-last round and went to the final.

Based on what I saw of his match with Carla, he seemed to be the kind of player who tries to think 2 or 3 moves ahead of the other player and is averse to making risky moves. He might not be as skilled as Silvio, but he’s going to be a difficult opponent. I’m happy to say that Silvio can defeat me consistently in Shogi and Reversi, but I’m a little disappointed at the same time.

Those who have already lost in the tournament are crowding around the table Yulina and I are playing at. I can hear Roland and his friend Wester chatting in the background…

“Hey Roland, which one do you think will win?” Wester

“Ah? Wouldn’t it be Mr. Alfred? Last time, he managed to beat Carla in a decisive manner.” Roland

“Don’t be so loud when talking about that. Generally, since Alfred thought up Reversi, he’d be considered pretty strong.” Wester

“But that Mr. Yulina also decisively beat Carla, it could be a pretty even match?” Roland

“Can you not bring up my loss to Yulina!?” Wester

“It can’t be helped, we need that reference to attempt to judge relative strength.” Roland

“This should be easy” Wester

“So who did you bet on?” Roland

“Five deci’s for Alfred” Wester

“A bronze coin on Alfred” Villager A

“I’ll go for Yulina with two bronze coins” Villager B

The villagers are deep into discussion on who will win the match and who they’ll be betting on. From elsewhere, you can hear the various bets being made back and forth, it’s like an auction. I know it’s fun, but please stop being so distracting.

“Thank you for the match, Mr. Alfred” Yulina

“Thanks for the consideration, Mr. Yulina” Al

As we’re done with the greetings, Mr. Herman comes by to start the match.

“Then we’ll start the Reversi tournament final” Herman

“Go Go Go!” Villagers

After Mr. Herman started the match, the villagers did a weird response. Where did that come from?

“I’d like to take black” Yulina

“I’m fine with white” Al

I’m still wondering about that weird Go chant from the villager, but it’s time to focus on the game now. I’ll be playing as white. Yulina looks to think ahead, so I’ll have to throw out any simple traps. I wonder how many stones I should aim for as the difference, I’ll only need 33 of the 64 to win. I feel like this should be a good battle.

The Reversi tournament is serious, but it’s not silent like a golf tournament. The crowd is chatting in a quiet manner.

“Hmm? Why would he place it there when he can only get one other piece turned over?” Roland

“That’s why you’re a weak player.” Wester

“Wouldn’t you want to target that other place where more could be turned over.” Roland

“Oh, huh. I guess you could do that.” Wester

“Well, you’d see more if you think about it” Roland

As the match approaches the mid-game, the turns are taking longer as each player is taking more time to ponder on the next move. Yulina has a slight lead in stones at the moment, but Reversi is a game where that doesn’t mean anything. My white stones are well placed to take edges and corners. It can be said that I’m well placed to go on the attack.

Yulina picks up one of his pieces and looks around the board.

“This is…” Yulina

Yulina may have just noticed the situation I’ve led him into. The places I’ve allowed him to place make an X position that is easy for me to take back from. No matter where he places, I’ll take an edge from him. I’ve led him into my X Trap.

If you can only place in the X positions, I’ll immediately take back. If you can pull this off around the middle of the game, your opponent will be in a tough spot.

“The influential squares are being blocked off.” Yulina

Yulina squints his narrow eyes and stares at the board.

“Hey, did something just happen?” Roland

“Hmm, don’t you know, Roland?” Wester

“Tell me Wester” Roland

“Carla, can you tell Roland what he missed” Wester

“Wester, you don’t know either, stop acting so clever” Roland

“No… it’ll take to long for me to explain” Wester

“Really Wester, I’ve known you to talk about the simplest things for ages” Roland

“Hmm, Alfred led Yulina to take certain edges and corners that Alfred can counterattack easily.” Carla

“You can do that?” Roland

“…” Carla

“How many games of Reversi have you played? You should know if you play diagonally like that, it’ll likely lead to a loss.” Wester

“Well, uhh… maybe?” Roland

“I knew that” Wester

“No you didn’t Wester. What are you spouting off now? Use your head more.” Roland

“I feel, I listen to my intuition. That’s my Reversi” Wester

“How many times has your intuition won?” Roland

I’m waiting for Yulina to make a move while listening to the comedy trio of Roland, Wester, and Carla. They seem to have a good rapport, even if two are simpletons. Roland will introduce a topic, Wester makes stuff up about that topic, and Carla reacts to Wester’s made-up stories. How nice. Could you turn this into a comedy act? I’ll put up the money to book the theatres, wouldn’t this be an entertaining act?

“This is difficult” Yulina

Yulina frowns, and places stones outside of the X positions for now. But even with those alternate placements, I’ll still take the edges and extend my lead.

“Then I’ll place here in response…” Al

“I can’t see any moves that will allow me to win” Yulina

Yulina puts down his held piece with a bitter grin. He seems to be convinced he’s lost, but he’s somewhat happy as well. We were asked to play through to completion, so the final tally ended up at 51-13, Alfred victorious. As the villagers clapped, the two of us stood up and shook hands.

“Thank you very much” Al

“I thought I would have held you to a closer score at least.” Yulina

If you look at it, Yulina’s planning ability is probably the best out of any of the villagers, he has a good way of looking where to place pieces. He just hasn’t played against enough expert players, so he doesn’t know what to look out for yet. With more play against experts, he’d be on the same level as Silvio. When I had some free time, it’s be nice to get him a match with Silvio.

“My two bronze coins!” Villager B

“Hey, this will let me get some more drinks” Villager A

“Yeah! It’s a banquet now!” Villager C

“Oh! I’ll drink to that!” Villager A

“Celia, I’d like an ale and tamagoyaki, also an order of meat. No sugar on the tamagoyaki.” Melna

In the background, the villagers are ordering all sorts of items. Celia and Carla really busy taking and delivering orders.

“Hey, Mr. Winner. Want anything to eat?” Melna

The player I beat in the second-to-last round, Mr. Melna is sitting with a money bag in his hand.

“Can I join you two?” Yulina

“Oh, Yulina. Please do.” Melna

Yulina and I sat down with Melna. They feel like friends, are they previously acquainted?

Melna tried to order ales for the three of us, but my glass was changed to juice when Yulina objected. I’ve had plenty of ales in my past life, but it’s probably too early for my current body.

“Ok, so fruit juice for Alfred, do you want anything to eat?” Melna

“What about a spaghetti?” Celia

The food stall will be open late into the night during the festival, so I don’t want to eat too much now.

“That sounds great. Apparently spaghetti originated from this village, so I’d like to try the original.” Melna

“Well, you’re sitting with the person who came up with it.” Celia

“Alfred, that was your idea?” Yulina

Yulina seems surprised by that fact, I can’t tell it from his eyes, but other parts of face are conveying the emotion.

“Well…” Al

“Ok, I’ve got three servings of spaghetti, one fruit juice, two ales. One of those spaghetti’s is a large serving.” Celia

Celia confirms our order, then goes off to Carla to put it in.

When the fruit juice and ales arrived, we had a toast.

“Oh, you’re drinking that juice like an ale” Melna

“It’s really just fruit juice” Al

“Oh, want to try some of my ale then?” Melna

“No, no. Alfred is still to young.” Yulina

“Well, how old are you?” Melna

“I’m six years old.” Al

“You’re pretty calm for a six-year-old” Yulina

Yulina is surprised at me, again.

“Well, I had to toughen up” Al

Women, older sisters, maids, mothers… they’re all keeping me in check.

“Have you always had such tired looking eyes… it must be hard for you” Yulina

Melna pats me on the back.

“Here’s another fruit juice” Melna

Looks like Yulina asked for a set of refills on the drinks,

Melna and Yulina are real solid guys. Today’s fruit juice seemed to be a bit more tart than normal.

Translation

Good Job!

Do Better!

Chapter

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