"It's been a week since we've been traveling the ocean, And Our Ship has officially turned back to its normal size" Xialdre muttered to himself as he stared at the vast blue expanse. "Natalia cannot teleport from continent to continent due to the vast distances, though she can teleport to places she has been to before. Well, I guess that's interesting."
"Asabe, on the other hand, can fly and take us to our destination faster, but I don't want to ruin their experience of the clean ocean," Xialdre continued.
"Wait, am I worried about them?" Xialdre asked himself.
He then shifted his eyes back to the ship. "That can't be right, or maybe I'm just trying to protect myself. Well, whatever it is, I hope it has something to do with the first option."
Xialdre walked over to where Arisawa, Alixian, and Clementine were playing chess. Arisawa remained unbeaten by the two.
"*Fufu* Work smarter, not harder," Arisawa exclaimed.
"Don't get cocky since you haven't lost yet, sister," Alixian shot back.
"My my, are you mad because you cannot defeat me?" Arisawa mocked.
Clementine sighed and shook her head, unable to figure out what she lacked that caused her to keep losing. Strategy? Analysis? Perspective? Training? Experience? Or rather, brilliance? She still couldn't determine it.
Arisawa shifted her eyes to Xialdre. "My my, Xialdre, do you want to join?"
"Sure," Xialdre replied. Furina and Natalia overheard this, having also been unable to defeat Arisawa.
"*Fufu* May you be a challenge, Xialdre, And also the Lozer Does Everything the winner Wants" Arisawa responded.
As Xialdre took his seat, Arisawa allowed him to play as white first, planning to play two matches of chess: Xialdre as white in the first game and as black in the second.
Alisha came to watch their chess game, being royalty and required to know how to play chess in her family.
"Is there a timer?" Xialdre asked.
"Of course. How about one hour and thirty minutes of classical chess?" Arisawa replied.
Xialdre nodded slightly as Furina, Natalia, Alisha, Alixian, and Clementine awaited the match to start. As Xialdre and Arisawa shook hands, the chess game began.
Xialdre began with Pawn to d4. Arisawa responded with Pawn to d5. Xialdre then played Pawn to c4, initiating the Queen's Gambit.
Arisawa declined his gambit by playing pawn to e6. "My, my, I guess you're in for a gambit," Arisawa remarked.
Xialdre responded with knight to f3. "It's just a move. From what I can see, it's just indeed an opening," Xialdre replied.
Arisawa played the Tarrasch Defense with pawn to c5, a very aggressive move in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Xialdre captured on c5 with pawn to c4, and Arisawa recaptured with pawn to e6, maintaining tension. Xialdre developed his bishop to g5, signaling an aggressive approach. Arisawa countered with pawn to f6, defending against the potential attack on her queen, with the bishop protected by Xialdre's knight.
Xialdre repositioned his bishop to f4, avoiding the pawn. Arisawa then pushed pawn to g5, attacking the bishop again. Instead of capturing the knight on b8, Xialdre moved his bishop to e3. Arisawa advanced her Pawn to c4. "And with this, I've officially locked the center," Arisawa declared. Xialdre nodded silently.
Both players continued developing with knight to c3 and knight to c6. Then Xialdre played pawn to h4. "Arisawa, I don't know why you moved your pawns to f6 and g5. It seems like you're only weakening your kingside," Xialdre commented.
"You're right there," Arisawa admitted. With this, she played pawn to g4, charging forward. Xialdre moved his knight to d2, and Arisawa repositioned her knight to e7.
They continued their development with pawn to g3, bishop to g7, and bishop to g2. Arisawa activated another pawn, moving it to f5, setting up an intricate but seemingly weak light-square structure.
Xialdre once again placed his bishop on g5, prompting Arisawa to respond with pawn to h6, attacking Xialdre's bishop. Xialdre traded his bishop for Arisawa's knight on e7. Arisawa recaptured with her other knight on c6.
Xialdre played pawn to e3, and Arisawa replied with pawn to b5. "That bishop of yours, was that intended?" Arisawa asked.
"Yes," Xialdre responded.
"This is quite the game here," Alisha spoke. "Eh? Is that just a free pawn?" Clementine muttered to herself. "What is going on here with B5? What does that do?" Alixian asked herself.
"This game right here is a game of Grandmasters, a battle that requires extreme brilliance to accomplish," Alisha muttered to herself. "What is going on right now?" Natalia asked herself as she analyzed their game.
Xialdre played knight takes pawn B5 as Arisawa played rook to B8, pinning the knight to pawn B2. Immediately, the viewers, or rather the girls, were filled with fascination as they analyzed it.
Xialdre took pawn A7 with his knight as Arisawa played bishop to D7, trying to trap the knight. But Xialdre played pawn to A4. Instead of Arisawa playing rook takes B2, she castled short, fearing that by playing B2, her rook could get stuck in Xialdre's territory.
Knight to B5, queen to B5, Xialdre short castles, bishop takes B5, and pawn takes B5 was played, along with queen takes B5 after avoiding the rook and also taking a pawn.
At this position, Xialdre claimed his victory by playing complete mockery against Arisawa. He played rook to A2, and as it was in A1, Arisawa played rook to A8. Xialdre then played rook back to A1, back to its starting square.
"Eh, is he mocking her? That move is a complete mistake but also a mockery against her," Alisha muttered to herself as she shifted her eyes to Arisawa, who was now struggling to figure out her next move.
Arisawa played rook to B8, avoiding the trade as it would be a complete loss. Xialdre played rook back to A2. Arisawa shifted her eyes to the clock; her time was only ten minutes left, while Xialdre still had an hour.
Arisawa played rook to A8, hoping for a draw, but Xialdre took A8 with his rook as she took back immediately. Pawn to B3, Xialdre moved rook to A2, pawn takes C4, queen to B4, knight to B3, pawn takes C4, knight to C5, pawn to C3, queen to D3, and king to H7 was played.
At this position, Xialdre sacrificed the bishop by moving it to E4. Arisawa analyzed the sacrifice, realizing that by taking the bishop, Xialdre could take his pawn with a fork between her king and knight, leading to her defeat.
So instead of this, she played Queen to B2 as Xialdre took her pawn with his bishop, giving a check. King to h6, bishop to e4, rook to a3, rook to b1, rook to a1, rook b1 takes rook a1, and queen takes rook a1, then King to g2, making the white king completely safe.
Arisawa played Knight to g8, followed by Queen to e4. Black's queen moved to a7, then Knight to e6, Queen to e7, Queen to c8, followed by pawn to h5, and pawn to h4. Bishop moved to e5, Knight to f8, Queen to f6, and then Queen to d7 threatened checkmate on h7, so Arisawa played Knight to e7. Xialdre responded by playing Knight to h7, then Queen to f7, and Knight to g5.
Queen to f7 was Arisawa's move, but then Xialdre played Queen to c8, giving a check. Bishop to f7 blocked the check, then Knight to e6 took Bishop f8. King moved to g7, followed by Knight back to e6, then King to f6, and finally Knight to g5.
With the king at g7, moving the queen meant checkmate, so Xialdre took the queen at f7 with his knight, and the king took the knight at f7. At this position, Arisawa resigned.
"*Fufu* Xialdre, you got me there in full mockery. Good game," Arisawa remarked. But before they could start the next game, Xyrene yelled, "We're here."
All the girls rushed to the edge of the ship to stare at the Hassia Continent. Xialdre and Arisawa were left alone at the table. Xialdre shifted his eyes back to Arisawa.
"Looks like we can only play one game, and it looks like I'm the winner," Xialdre said.
"*Fufu* That's right," Arisawa replied as she took a sip of her now-cold tea.
"Didn't you say the loser does whatever the winner wants?" Xialdre reminded.
"Indeed," Arisawa remained calm.
"Then I want you to become my slave," Xialdre went straight to the point.
Arisawa placed her tea back on the table and replied, "I thought you'd never ask." She smiled at Xialdre, who then smiled back. This immediately made Arisawa fall silent, as Xialdre had always been emotionless and expressionless, even in their past life.
Blushing furiously, Arisawa dropped her tea, spilling it all over the board and her legs. The girls, returning to the ship, were confused by what had just happened, noting that Xialdre had already stopped smiling before they witnessed him smiling.
Xialdre joined the girls as they watched the Hassia Continent in the distance. Arisawa, coming back to her senses, was approached by Clementine, who asked, "What happened?"
Arisawa smiled and replied, "Nothing."