Chapter – Earth’s Go Campaign

In the middle of the journey. While still in the woods.

『Kohon, Kohon… Mm, Kohon…』

Tre’ainar was next to me, coughing unnaturally.

And he’s glancing sideways at me.

『Oi, child… the Go board that was purchased in town earlier…. you did not forget it, did you?』

“Agh”

By the way, how many times have you asked this question?

I bought a portable, foldable and easy-to-carry Go board as a souvenir in the town of Honeyborough.

Tre’ainar seems to be very concerned about it.

No, I’m not bothered by it. It is likely he’s appealing to me. I’m not so shallow in my relationship with this guy that I don’t understand that.

“…… wanna take a break… to play a game?”

『Fah!』

At that moment, Tre’ainar’s eyes sparkled as the Majesty of the Great Demon King collapsed.

『I shall play you! Umm, it cannot be helped, child. Um, I will play you! Come on, let us play it! Let us play it right away!』

After playing a game of Go for the first time in over a dozen years, seems he’s been dying to play again.

Well, for someone who couldn’t interact with the world, his only form of entertainment was to see the scenery in front of him through me, read with me, chat with me, and guide me.

And he’s been like this since he realized that he could play Go with me.

“Jeez, I’m the only one who can do it…”

He’s so happy, and I can’t refuse to play with him like that.

I sat on the ground in the forest, opened the Go board, and lined up the pieces.

In the meantime, because I line up the stones for two people, I put the Go pieces on both sides, but I made Tre’ainar sit face-to-face in order to create the atmosphere of a game.

『Come on, child. You may place as many pieces as you will. I shall have you enjoy the Demon King’s move!』

Tre’ainar looked excited with his arms folded. It’s a little annoying.

I can place as many pieces as I want. In Go, if there is too much difference in ability, one is allowed to place extra pieces first as a handicap. Which means that there is that much difference in ability between Trainer and me.

However, it pissed me off when he said it so blatantly.

“I don’t want to. I can play a little, too, right?”

『Nu, is that so? Well…… in that case…』

“So, let’s go! Also, the first move is mine!”

To be honest, I’m not terribly good at Go, but having been trained by Sadiz for a long time, I think I’m a decent player.

Of course, I can’t say that I’m stronger than Shinobu from the other day, and I don’t think I can beat Tre’ainar, but I was so frustrated that I thought I should at least play the first game with no handicap.

“Come on, instruct me.”

『Well, then… Lower left, stars』

Well, I was hoping that since it’s Tre’ainar, he’d play me without a handicap and whip me into shape… I thought, but…

“Ora”

『Upper right, star』

“Hmm!”

『Lower left Kosumi───────』

It was only a few minutes from the start.

I’ve only played a few moves yet.

To be clear, Go is a game that uses dozens of moves to advance….

“—..re…der…”

『Hmm? Child ~ I can not hear you~? What was that~? If you do not speak clearly~, I cannot hear ♪.』

“Ha!”

A few minutes from the start, already Tre’ainar was grinning with a smug face after a few moves.

The next moment, I was yelling.

“I・SU・REN・DER you darn idiot! You, what are you playing without mercy!”

『Oh, good heavens, do not get so heated.』

“Usually, you would go easy on me! No, I’m the one who said no handicap! But there’s a limit!”

My thoughts were naive. After Shinobu, it’s his first time playing in a long time, so Tre’ainar ruthlessly cut me down.

“To invite me and kill me instantly… I don’t think I can win.”

『Well, now now, settle down, child. Why not continue playing this game a little longer?』

“Huh?”

When I hung my head with sulky feelings, Tre’ainar made a remark that sounded like whipping a corpse under these circumstances.

Moreover, that is……

“Wait a minute, continue this? What are you going to do with this play? No matter how much I can do to this point, even I can understand that winning is not possible anymore.”

『Even if you cannot, I can.』

“… ha? No way, how in the …”

『Let us exchange your pieces with mine. I shall accept this super-inferior situation as a handicap.』

“What’d you say?”

It was such a ridiculous suggestion but I thought I shouldn’t make fun of it either.

It’s true that I’m overwhelmingly weaker than Tre’ainar, but it’s impossible to reverse from such an already annihilated situation.

But……

“Ha? Y-you’re looking down on me! Don’t joke around, that is definitely impossible ─────”

I didn’t know yet.

That the opponent was the omnipotent and omniscient Great Demon King.

No matter how many hours, days, months, or years it took me, he would strike a string of unthinkable moves one after another.

And a few minutes later ────

“…… Never again…… I’m done…… I’ll never play you again…. Damn it….”

From the situation where I was cut off and surrendered, Tre’ainar turned it around and I was cut off again.

At this point, I felt ridiculous in many ways.

I shed tears.

I overturned the board and slept unfaithfully on the spot.

『Oh, dear! D, did I overdo it? Say, child, once again! Hear? One more time! I will adjust it just right this time, will I not? Once more.』

“…… No way…… I’m going to bed… I can’t play Go any more…”

『Nuah! Oh, tis quite cruel! T-tis so. I shall teach you. Huh? How about it? Huh?』

Thus, for a while, Go had become traumatic to me.

Woah! Okay, dude needs to learn restraint. Reminds me of when I would wreck my siblings at Tekken, while holding the controller with one hand. They never played me again. And also when I played Tekken online…. And got wrecked… I never tried that again.

Here’s some extra illustrations from the light novel

Also, for those who didn’t know, the first volume of the manga was released last month (though why is the hopeless Tsundere on the cover). And one of the lads at wehateisekai (not sure which one, probably the other lad) was kind enough to share some bonus images that came with it. Have a look see…

Next week, we start Part 4. With all the crazy women in his life (and a couple determined to intrude in his life) hot on his tail, how will Earth loose them and continue his life journey? Will Tre’ainar come clean about his past love? Will the princess finally get royally dumped? What was the reward Shinobu took? All these questions (well 1 at least) will be answered soon. See y’all then…