Chapter 236
2107-05-22
T07: 11:23
“Newcomer! Aren’t you going to move faster? Grab your weapon! Where did you leave your mind? How do you expect to protect the Schneider Family like that?”
The Team Leader yelled at me as I moved sluggishly. For my part, I felt a bit aggrieved.
I’ve never done this kind of thing in my life! In the first place, I don’t even want to protect the Schneider Family that much!
Just yesterday, I couldn’t have imagined that such a terrible day would be waiting for me today.
I expected a normal daily routine… going to work at the bar as usual, practicing mixing cocktails, chatting a bit with the political fanatics about the Dusk City mayoral Election as the vote counting drew near, and asking Tony about the open Plan and the End Pandemic conspiracy theories.
How did things end up like this?
There was only one direct cause that immediately came to mind.
Damn it, I really should have won that chess game back then!
* * *
A memory of the past.
I got completely destroyed. It felt like I was beaten up without a chance to breathe before I could process what was happening.
It definitely didn’t seem like an impossible game to play, but this Yangban’s playstyle was terrifying.
It felt as if he noticed the weakness in every single move I made and persistently exploited only those spots.
It seemed partly because it had been a long time since I properly faced the French Defense… Damn it. Why would a person of German descent use the French Defense for a chess opening?
“You don’t seem to know much about the French, do you?”
Eugene Schneider spoke up, as if reading my inner thoughts.
I flinched and replied. It would be ridiculous to make excuses or deny it after losing so miserably.
“Yes, it seems so.”
“I see. Let’s do a review.”
As Eugene Schneider said that, he snapped his fingers, the pieces on the chessboard levitated into the air on their own and clattered back to their original positions.
Then, the moves were played out automatically, following the notation of the game played by me and the Schneider Family Head.
I was White, Eugene Schneider was Black.
As I watched in fascination as the pieces slid and moved at a constant speed, Eugene Schneider stopped the chess pieces and spoke.
“Here, you retreated your bishop. You probably thought to open a path for the queen to overprotect the vulnerable d4 pawn… but thanks to that, I was able to force an exchange between my knight and your light bishop. Which side benefits from this exchange?”
A frosty voice that made me feel like I was being scolded by a teacher during my school days.
Tsk. Right. I did think something went wrong starting from here. I ended up speaking, unwittingly intimidated.
“Black benefits.”
“It is a characteristic of the French pawn structure. Black has a light-colored pawn chain, and White has a dark-colored pawn chain. Therefore, the bishop that is a different color from the pawn chain and has mobility becomes a powerful bishop, but you allowed the exchange of that powerful light bishop.”
Knights and bishops are pieces of equal value, so it isn’t an immediately visible loss of material, but strategically, it is a mistake. A White player who knows how to counter the French well would never have allowed this exchange.”
Ouch, the scathing evaluation hurt my heart. It hurt even more because the words were all correct, with no way to refute them.
Please go easy on me, Head of the Family. It’s really been a long time since I played…
“Moving the queen to b3 is the same, a move to induce a queen exchange… I understand the thought. Since it’s a game with a lot on the line, you probably thought it would be best to reduce variables and drag it to the endgame. It’s a method weak players often use when they meet strong players, but, well.”
It felt like he was reading and speaking the exact thoughts I had at the time.
Did this person learn Mind Reading or something? Is that why he’s good at chess?
“The moment you allow a queen exchange, it becomes a game advantageous for Black. Likewise, it is because of the French pawn structure. If White’s weakness is the weak d4 pawn acting as the root, the strength is that a kingside attack spearheaded by the e5 pawn extending from that root is easy. And to attack…”
“You need a queen.”
“Right. If we enter an endgame where neither side has a queen, the side with the vulnerable pawn structure becomes disadvantaged. White’s strengths disappear, and its weaknesses become even more stark. This, too, is a strategic mistake caused by not knowing the French well.”
Right. I made a lot of mistakes. I felt like my soul was being completely shaken out not just in the game, but in the review as well. Perhaps playing this betting chess in the first place was a mistake.
At first, I wondered, “Why chess all of a sudden?” and suspected Eugene Schneider’s ulterior motives, but looking at it now, it seems he’s just purely serious about chess.
Of course, apart from that, there must be a reason why that Iron-faced Family Head Eugene Schneider specifically chose me over other opponents to play chess and even do a review like this…
Still, perhaps because he was human, the harsh criticism of my skills didn’t continue endlessly.
I also heard a word of praise. Just one word.
“Still, your tactical judgment was decent. Using the fact that my rook had no protection to set a trap with a Pin Tactic was a good attempt.”
Pin Tactic.
When a lower-value piece and a higher-value piece are placed in a straight line on an attack path, the lower-value piece becomes unable to move. It has the same effect as pinning something to paper with a pin.
Because if it moves, the path opens and the higher-value piece is captured. This is especially true when the higher-value piece is not receiving separate protection.
It was a basic yet powerful tactic, but it didn’t work on the Schneider Family Head.
“Though it was blocked immediately.”
“Right. Because I noticed and attached a new guardian piece.”
As Eugene Schneider said those words, a piece moved. Black’s bishop, which hadn’t been playing much of a role until then, moved to take on the job of protecting the rook.
“Protecting a piece with an important role using a cumbersome piece that isn’t easy to use is not ideal. To do important work, one naturally needs protection fitting for it.”
He seemed to think for a moment before speaking.
“It just so happens I have such a piece as well. It is a piece that isn’t important right now, but will definitely become important… a piece like a promotable pawn. I tried to save it as much as possible, but an awl in a pocket is bound to poke through eventually.”
Eugene Schneider picked up the precious 2nd-rank passed pawn that was just about to become a queen from the chessboard, which was now recreating the final moments of the game, and spoke.
“I will have you do a job. Your Master has also permitted it, so know that refusal is impossible.”
My Master permitted it? What does that mean?
To my bewildered self, Eugene Schneider raised his index finger and said his final words.
“Just this once, I need you to become the guardian piece that I move.”
* * *
And that led to now.
The guardian piece referred to an escort of the Schneider Family.
That’s right. I ended up working as a one-day substitute in Security Team 4, which was in charge of the Schneider Family’s precious daughter, the youngest daughter Alexandra Amadeus Schneider, as the price for the bet Eugene Schneider demanded.
These days, Alexandra Schneider’s temper has improved at least a little, but until just recently, Security Team 4 was called the graveyard of escorts who only chased after and cleaned up the messes of an immature young lady - the hell - so it wasn’t a very good thing.
How do I know this kind of information?
Well, naturally I didn’t know it originally. My Senior (Mentor) told me.
They say people are the most important thing in any job, and in that aspect, it was a relief. For one, my Senior (Mentor) seemed like a good person.
Even though I was just a one-day substitute brought in to fill a vacancy, someone she would only see this one time, she meticulously taught me this and that and took good care of me.
You could say I was lucky, or that I benefited from my connections.
My Senior (Mentor)'s name was Kali Haywood (Carly Haywood).
Doesn’t it sound familiar? Especially the surname Haywood part.
She was a sibling of Ravin Haywood, one of the regular customers at Dragon’s Lair.
Mr. Rabin is a professional mercenary broker, and Ms. Kali is an escort for the Schneider Family. Seeing as both of them work in this industry, it seems the saying that siblings take after each other exists for a reason.
Ah, of course, they aren’t blood-related siblings.
Because just as Ravin Haywood is a Ladam, Kali Haywood is also an Ever.
Since machines cannot reproduce, having the same surname isn’t because they were born from the same parents, but because they graduated from the same Raver Training Center, Haywood School, at the same time.
They say all school alumni are relatives, and those who are close are truly like family, and Ravin and Kali Haywood were such a case.
So even though they are siblings - brother and sister, to be exact - their appearances are strictly speaking completely different.
If Mr. Rabin has the style of a quiet model student or a neat workplace unlike his line of work, what should I say about Ms. Kali, with a strong-willed and tough noo-nim style?
Her intense red hair, threateningly glowing Terminator-like Mechanical Eye, thick smoky makeup, and the tattoos carved on her artificial skin are intimidating, but the scariest thing is her body below the head.
This part wasn’t even covered by artificial skin; except for a few areas, it was entirely a sleek, matte black metal body.
Joint connections jutting out jaggedly as if advertising the fact that her flesh itself was a deadly steel lethal weapon and a drive system covered in various light-emitting modifications that looked extraordinary even at a glance spread wide open…
Honestly, just going by first impressions, I almost wet myself.
(In case anyone is curious… I am attaching an image of the French pawn structure to help with understanding.)
It has roughly this kind of feel.
A pawn chain refers to the formation of pawns stably linked together like a chain, as shown in the image above. Usually, the root of the pawn chain is the weakness, and the tip is the strength.
As mentioned in the text, in a pawn structure like the one above that frequently appears in the French Defense, Black can continuously attack White’s pawn chain root, the d4 pawn, to apply pressure to the center, while White has the advantage of easily launching a kingside attack spearheaded by the e5 pawn at the tip of the pawn chain.