After sleeping for a few hours, I woke up. I checked my surroundings and took care of my needs. It was night time, but I quickly got ready and went outside to look around. I left the building swiftly. When I reached the building entrance, I saw Itsuki in front of me. Itsuki was out of breath, slightly bent forward, her hands placed on her knees. She seemed to be trying to calm down. It was the first time I had seen her face so pale.
"Itsuki, what the hell happened to you?"
"Rei..."
"What happened? Why are you in this state?"
"Rei, I wanted to check out the underground prison near the mountains. I saw on the news that it was interesting, so I got curious and went. I wanted to look at the prisoners, but something happened in one of the cells. Two people wanted to compete with me, so I accepted and played the game, but..."
"But what?"
"But I've never been crushed like this in my life. I feel terrible..."
"What did they look like? What kind of game did you play?"
"Rei, I don't have any energy to explain all that. But in return for the previous game, please help me. Because of my arrogance, I didn't realize what we were betting on. I have to commit suicide within three days. I want you to go, win the game, and erase my suicide obligation..."
"You idiot, how did you bet your own death?"
"I don't know. I was too arrogant. I'm sorry. Please help..."
"Alright. I'll go there."
"There's only one thing I can say. I have very little energy left..."
"What is it?"
"I've never lost so easily before. There's definitely some kind of magic involved. Be careful about that..."
"Alright. I will."
Itsuki looked like she was about to die from exhaustion. I carried her on my back, left her in her room, and laid her down on her bed. She was extremely tired. She fell asleep before she could even thank me. I left the room. The prison was supposed to be in the forested areas behind the area. I needed to head toward the underground prison. As I walked alone, I was thinking.
I wonder if these underground prisons have some kind of meaning. There's an underground prison in almost every region. There could be a connection. I should keep this in mind.
After asking the robots for directions, I learned where I needed to go. I had gotten permission from the robots. Getting permission was easy. As long as we had permission and didn't damage anything, we could go and inspect the place. I learned that the prisoners were generally people who had broken the academy's rules or used forbidden spells. The forbidden spell information had caught my attention. I kept walking.
After a while, at the entrance of a long mountain, there was an entrance that resembled a mine entrance. This had to be the place. Two guards were waiting at the entrance. After showing them my permit card, they allowed me to enter. I began walking around inside. The surroundings were dark. It felt more like we were inside the mountain rather than underground. Thanks to the torches, I could see the area a little. I looked at the people in the cells. Mostly there were people who had gone insane. Maybe they had gone mad because of the forbidden spells. They kept shouting. Others were just lying down, crying. I was in an area that could disturb one's psychology. I wondered who would want to see this place and why.
I continued moving forward while examining the cells. I turned my face to the cell at the far right corner. When I looked momentarily, I saw a young boy of average height, with dark green hair, wearing an attractive brown outfit, and black shoes. As I was looking, he was coming out of a hole in the wall of the cell. It was as if I had caught him trying to escape. I momentarily questioned how they had managed to dig this inside the mountain. As I continued looking at them, another man sitting in the cell turned his face toward me. He had slanted eyes, his hair was almost nonexistent. He was wearing a white outfit and black shorts. He had no shoes. Both of them began looking at me. The green-haired boy started speaking in a polite voice.
"Ah, you saw? Could you pretend you didn't? We're doing important work here, after all."
"Huh?"
Before I could answer, the green-haired boy pointed his hand toward the entrance of the dug area. His hand had taken on a magical form. When he clenched his hand for a few seconds, the entrance closed up with the normal cell wall. He had performed magic right in front of me as if it were nothing. The other man had been watching him perform the magic.
"Alright. There's no problem now. You can't prove this."
"What the hell did you just do? Did you use magic?"
With an expression as if nothing had happened, the green-haired boy answered me. This boy had shoes. I hadn't seen anyone else in here with shoes. He seemed like a more important person than the others.
"Yes, I used magic. So what?"
"By the way, I was waiting for you to come. I'm glad you came. I'm also aware of what you came for, Rei."
"How do you know my name?"
"I know a lot more about you than you think..."
"What the hell are you trying to say?"
"Anyway, let's drop these topics for now. Come inside. We're not allowed to harm you anyway, don't worry. I'm aware you're here because of the Itsuki situation. She lost to my apprentice here. If you want to protect her, you need to play a game with my apprentice and make a bet. My apprentice's name is Yuto."
"Nice to meet you, Rei. I'm Yuto."
I didn't respond to what Yuto said. I had no other choice. As I began to step forward, the green-haired boy extended his arm toward the iron door. The door opened on its own. He could literally use magic however he wanted. Maybe he was using forbidden magic. I wasn't sure. I entered the cell. The area was spacious. It resembled an ordinary cell. The green-haired boy, along with Yuto, kept looking at me. The green-haired boy's hair wasn't short, but it wasn't long either. It was medium length. His hair covered his forehead. I took a few more steps and stood in front of the two of them.
"What are we playing?"
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"Before that, just a minute. Let me call the system with my phone."
"Even prisoners can arrange games?"
"We can."
The green-haired boy performed a series of operations on his phone. A small robot suddenly appeared inside the cell and began waiting while flying in the air beside us. Yuto had a serious expression on his face. The green-haired boy, on the other hand, had an indifferent body language. He was scratching his hair.
"Before that, let's determine the bet. If my apprentice loses, Itsuki's punishment will be canceled. At the same time, you're probably wondering what connection people have to this place. So if you defeat my apprentice, I'll lend you a book containing information about the establishment of this place. After all, you've been through a lot. You want to understand some things, don't you?"
"You keep implying that you know me. Who are you?"
The green-haired boy chuckled lightly.
"Remember. Seven years ago. The battlefield."
"Huh?"
Seven Years Ago — The Battlefield
I was running toward the headquarters while holding a baby I had rescued during the war with both hands cradled in my arms. We had just come out of battle. I was still young too. Soldiers were shouting from behind me to leave the baby. These soldiers weren't enemy soldiers. I kept running.
"Rei, leave that baby! Let it go! We don't have the energy to deal with them! Are you stupid?"
"I'm not leaving it!"
The soldiers caught me while I was running and tried to take the baby from my hands. During the struggle, the baby fell to the ground. One of the soldiers, with a devilish grin on his face, began swinging his leg to kick the baby away.
Just as he was about to kick the crying baby, I got in front of the kick. Because of that, I took the kick to my stomach. I fell to the ground from the kick. I made sure not to fall on top of the baby. The soldiers got angry because I was protecting the baby. They decided to take their anger out on me. As I lay on the ground, the soldiers began kicking me while laughing. I was holding onto the baby so the kicks wouldn't hit it. Thanks to that, all the kicks were hitting me. The baby kept crying. After a while, they got bored and walked away from us.
I quickly got away and hid the baby in a place where I could keep it safe. For a year, I regularly fed and took care of the baby. At the end of the year, an opportunity came up where I could give the baby to an orphanage. I had earned a reward right due to my talent. I used my right here.
Together with the authorities, we brought the baby to the front of the orphanage. A kind-looking woman who resembled a mother figure greeted us. After talking and agreeing for a short while, I handed the baby to the woman. The woman took the baby into her arms and began to caress it.
"The baby's name is Ren. Please take good care of him. I'm not in a position to take care of him any longer."
"Thank you. We'll take good care of him here."
Present Day
"Ren..."
"You're Ren."
"So you remembered. Good..."
"You're alive."
"Yes, as you can see, I'm alive. And I remember all of those times. When they were kicking me, you trying to protect me. The times you raised me... I remember all of it."
Ren's face suddenly took on an indifferent expression again.
"Thank you. But I have no business with the weak. If you're the Rei I know, you must defeat my apprentice. That way, you'll capture my interest. Understood?"
"What?"
"Like I said, let's set up the game now."
Ren took a black board marker out of his pocket. With the black marker, he drew a rectangular shape on the flat ground. Then he drew eighteen squares inside this shape. There were three rows. Each row had six squares. In this way, there were three rows. It made a total of eighteen squares.
+----+----+----+
| 1 | 7 | 13 |
+----+----+----+
| 2 | 8 | 14 |
+----+----+----+
| 3 | 9 | 15 |
+----+----+----+
| 4 | 10 | 16 |
+----+----+----+
| 5 | 11 | 17 |
+----+----+----+
| 6 | 12 | 18 |
+----+----+----+
I kept looking at what Ren had drawn. Yuto was also looking at the drawn shape along with me. Ren asked us to sit facing each other on the ground. As he said, we sat on the stone ground facing each other. The shape Ren had drawn was in front of us, drawn on the ground.
"I've set up the betting details. You'll both receive a notification. The moment you accept the notification, you'll accept the bets and agree to join the game."
"What happens if I lose?"
"Itsuki will already die. And the biggest thing, you'll lose my interest."
"Your interest? Whatever. I won't question why you have such an attitude after what you've been through for now."
"Good choice."
After checking the notification on our phones, the details were written clearly. I couldn't see any deception. I accepted the match. After accepting the match, the system voice began to speak. Ren moved behind Yuto and stepped a bit to the right. He seemed like he was going to sit on the ground and watch us.
"The rules have been sent to your phones. The name of the game is The Eighteen Square Game!"
"Eighteen Squares... understood."
"By the way, Rei, as you're aware, my apprentice played this game with Itsuki before. Just so you know."
"Yes, I'm aware."
I knew that Yuto had defeated Itsuki in this game. Itsuki's condition had come to my mind. She had said there was definitely magic involved in the game, that she couldn't be defeated so easily, that she had been completely crushed. The person in front of me had crushed Itsuki. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of person he would be. I looked at my phone again to read the rules and began reading.
RULES
Three vertical rows. Six squares in each row. Eighteen squares in total.
Each player has nine square marking rights. Markings will be done in the form of an X, from the digital screen.
Square placement is done in turns. The person who starts first is randomly determined by the system.
Each player has nine square guessing rights.
Each player will be given a board marker of a different color. Guesses are made by placing an X mark with this board marker on the squares thought to be marked by the opponent.
If you coincide with a square your opponent has chosen while selecting your own square, the system warns you and notifies you on the digital screen that you cannot mark this spot.
Guessing turns are done alternately. Passing is allowed. The person who starts the guessing turn first will be the person after the one who made the last square selection.
When all guessing rights are finished, the one who correctly guesses the most of the opponent's squares wins the game.
When a marked square is correctly guessed, it is announced by the system.
Instant Win Rule
A player who marks the ninth square three times wins the game directly.
Special Squares
A player who marks both the first and eighteenth squares learns the location of one of the opponent's marked squares.
Bonus Rules
If you can mark three of your squares side by side vertically, horizontally, or in a row, you earn one guessing right. This is repeatable for each triple. You can think of it like a game of X/O.
In the same way, if you make a diagonal triple, you earn the right to take back one of your marked squares and move it to another place. You can perform the operation from the digital screen.
For triples to be formed, three X's are required. They are not considered formed with two X's.
Special Guessing Right
Both sides have three special guessing rights each.
When you use this right, you must say out loud all nine of your opponent's marked squares.
If you guess nine out of nine correctly, you win the game directly.
If you can't, the system tells you how many are correct, but does not tell you which ones are correct.
After reading the rules and getting ready to play the game, I put my phone in my pocket. Ren was watching us from behind. Yuto was looking at the drawing. He had a serious expression on his face as well. He didn't speak much. He seemed like a quiet person. Ren supported him from behind.
"Come on, Yuto. Focus. If you win, I'll reward you."
"Alright, master."
The system voice spoke.
"The game will be watched by the elites. After all, it's an important match. Yuto himself is fourth class."
"Fourth class?"
My question wasn't answered. When I learned that the game would be watched, I straightened my posture a little. Ren would continue watching us from behind. I brought Itsuki's warnings to my mind. The system indicated that the game would start now. I was getting ready. I was trying to prepare myself to play the game. The system produced two board markers from its body. The markers fell to the ground. I picked up the blue colored marker. Yuto picked up the red colored board marker. The environment wasn't very bright. I could see the game thanks to the torches. The Eighteen Square Game was beginning.