A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 30. The Magic Tower, Time, and Chess (2)

“Were you from that place?”
“No. But someone I used to know was from there. I learned Northern Sea Chess because of that person.”
“You make it sound as though you were forced into it.”
“I was, actually.”
“Forced to learn something as difficult as Northern Sea Chess—that must have been rough.”
“It was.”
Jord’s tone had softened. It was no trick of Dezir’s perception.
The urgency that had marked his earlier manner had eased considerably. He must have been reaching back to traces of the Northern Sea, his old homeland, through Dezir as a bridge.
“Very well. We’ll play Northern Sea then.”
Jord flipped the chessboard and spread it outward on both sides. A new, wider board unfolded—longer in one direction than a standard chessboard.
Northern Sea Chess differed markedly from ordinary chess. The board was five squares wider, and the number of pieces increased accordingly. And true to the Northern Sea’s reputation for harbors, two battleships replaced the queen.
Moreover, it was characterized by the implementation of various strategic elements that mirrored actual warfare.
For example, if a pawn remained stationary for one turn, a supply line would form; pieces positioned on this supply line could move twice in a single turn.
Additionally, four bishops and four knights were given to each player.
An unusual chess variant—or rather, a board game that borrowed the form of chess.
“My pleasure.”
“I look forward to your guidance.”
Four o’clock sharp.
The match between the Magic Tower’s master, Jord, and Dezir had begun.

* * *

The game was still in its opening. Both armies held roughly equal positions.
Jord’s eyes swept carefully across the board. He analyzed the formation with measured deliberation.
His formation maintained perfect symmetry. Bishops at the center, flanked by knights protecting them; pawns forward; rooks supporting the line while defending the battleships’ flanks. It was an intricate defense with no apparent gaps.
Dezir’s formation lacked such structure. His battleships were pushed to the rear; pawns and knights tangled together; the rook positions jagged and uneven. The overall impression was ambiguous, almost formless.
So far, they were merely observing each other—a standoff.
It was Dezir who shattered the stalemate. He advanced a pawn to attack one of Jord’s pawns.
Dezir’s pawn struck without hesitation, severing the enemy piece. Seeing this move, Jord offered his praise.
“I commend you for not showing fear against me.”
With those words spoken, Jord’s knight obliterated Dezir’s pawn into fragments.
Refusing to yield, Dezir moved his rook to drive off Jord’s knight.
“Your haste, however, is a problem.”
As though Jord had foreseen everything, he concluded the first skirmish by using a bishop from the opposite end to repel Dezir’s rook.
For Dezir, the exchange ended in painful loss. He had sacrificed a knight right from the start.
……
And yet Dezir had not come away entirely empty-handed.
With the bishop withdrawn, Jord’s western flank had thinned somewhat.
Dezir boldly pushed a battleship through the gap, shattering Jord’s left flank. It was a sharp counter-strike indeed.
‘Quite capable,’ Jord thought.
Still, it changed nothing. Jord maintained the initiative and refused to release it. He ignored the loss of his left flank, kept his forces arrayed densely, and pressed Dezir with mounting pressure.
Dezir began to give ground. What had seemed evenly matched began to sway—his black pieces fell away one by one.
A disadvantage. One not easily overturned.
Dezir’s formation was neither attacking nor defending—it held an ambiguous shape.
By contrast, Jord’s formation was flawless. Built gradually, maintained with near-perfect precision.
Dezir’s initial aggression had been fierce, but that was all it had been.
Tick.
The minute hand of the clock sitting on the table moved.
Until now, Dezir had said nothing; now, at last, he broke his silence.
“How would you feel about a wager at this point?”
“A wager?”
“Yes. Don’t you think having some reward at stake would help us both focus more intently on the game?”
The proposal came without warning, but Jord showed no surprise—only a faint smile.
Now we arrive at the real matter, he thought.
It was a chess game proposed after refusing the considerable sum of 120 Gold. There had to be a purpose behind it.
Jord found himself curious about what this young boy could possibly want by going to such lengths.
“What wager did you have in mind?”
“How about the loser grants the winner a single favor?”
A simple wager. Yet the stakes were enormous.
Jord spoke with a voice brimming with amusement.
“What possible benefit could a mere student bring to me, the Master of the Magic Tower?”
“You could have me work at the Magic Tower, couldn’t you? I’m the top Single Ranker in my first year, after all. In any field related to magical studies, I have confidence I’m second to none.”
“I’ll grant you that. Then my request shall be this: once you graduate from the academy, you will join the Magic Tower’s Magical Engineering Division.”
Jord, who already possessed information about Dezir, decided on his request without hesitation.
“Begging your pardon, but isn’t that rather favorable terms for me?”
“Though you’re only in your first year, acquiring the top Single Ranker of Hebrion Academy is no small matter. Scouting such talent without expense is more than profitable for the Master of the Magic Tower, wouldn’t you say? Beyond that, I intend to put you to good use, so don’t worry yourself.”
The Magic Tower’s Magical Engineering Division boasted the highest salaries, but it was equally notorious for its grueling workload.
“Ah, one moment. Before I hear your request, I must say something…….”
As if preemptively cutting off Dezir’s intention.
As if forestalling any potential complications, Jord spoke.
“I will refuse any request related to admission.”
“How thorough of you.”
“Indeed. Rules are rules; there can be no exceptions. The promised application period has closed, and I cannot grant exceptions for you alone.”
“You need not concern yourself with that matter.”
“Then I find myself genuinely curious now—what is it you truly wish to ask of me?”
Jord’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“You obtained information that the Aouter would attack, repelled them, and then refused 120 Gold to propose a chess match with me instead. You chose Northern Sea Chess because you knew I hailed from the Northern Sea and wanted to capture my interest. Having gone to such lengths, what favor could you possibly be seeking? I confess, I can think of no other explanation.”
It was a kind of declaration—one that said he had seen through every move.
Yet Dezir remained unmoved.
“If you’re so curious, why not save my request for later enjoyment? I’ve heard that the gift most eagerly anticipated is always unwrapped last.”
“A fitting analogy.”
Having spoken those words, Jord pressed no further. It was his way of agreeing with Dezir.
The reason Jord refrained from pursuing Dezir’s request to the end was that he possessed absolute confidence he had already won at that very moment.
It was not mere arrogance. The board had genuinely tilted decisively in Jord’s favor.
What remained for Dezir was six pawns, two rooks, one bishop, and one king. His knights had been annihilated entirely—a position so desperate that an ordinary player might have resigned without hesitation.
Yet Dezir did not resign.
He simply moved his pieces. Both their gazes returned to the board.
Dezir no longer played with the bold aggression of before. Instead, he moved his pieces backward, evading confrontation.
The audacity that Jord had praised was absent now. As a result, he lost no further soldiers, but neither did he gain any advantage.
This pattern repeated several times.
Growing somewhat impatient, Jord glanced away from the board at the clock.
Little time remained before his meeting. His mind growing hurried, Jord moved his knight. It glided smoothly across the board, crushing a pawn.
On his next turn, Dezir swapped the placement of his rook and knight from the center. His pieces suddenly converged from three sides, blocking Jord’s knight.
The scattered formation transformed in an instant into an encirclement, completing a fortress of defense.
“Hmm?”
A single exclamation.
By the moment Jord realized Dezir had not moved as he anticipated, it was already too late.
In the span of a heartbeat, Jord’s knight shattered. And then Dezir, methodically and without mercy, consumed Jord’s forward pieces one by one.
With each move Dezir made, another of Jord’s pieces fell.
His play bore none of the clumsiness of an amateur. There was no boldness either. Only calculated, iron discipline. Jord spoke.
“……You’ve become a different person.”
“I have always been myself.”
A soft laugh.
At Dezir’s answer, Jord could not help but smile.
“Yes, you’re right. You have always been yourself.”
He had been concealing his strength all along.
Jord moved his piece, and now uncertainty lingered at his fingertips—something absent only moments before. He could no longer read Dezir’s thoughts as clearly as he had believed he would.
‘As if I’ve played chess against him countless times…….’
Jord’s intuition was not wrong. Dezir’s advantage over Jord was not mere skill.
It was experience.
Dezir had played chess against Jord numerous times before.
All the survivors of the Shadow Labyrinth shared a single hobby—a sort of psychological anchor to keep them sane amid the brutal wasteland.
And by strange coincidence, Dezir and Jord’s hobby was the same: chess.
They had carved pieces from stone and cut rocks to serve as a board.
Dezir always lost. The defeats were utterly inevitable. It was like watching a toddler taking his first steps race against a sprinter.
With such a gap in skill, most would have yielded once or twice out of encouragement, but Jord had never granted him a single victory.
He had endured this one-sided contest for nearly six years.
No matter how skilled one becomes, repeated encounters with an opponent leave you thoroughly familiar with their technique and bearing. Six years made that understanding absolute.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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