“By the way, Kyle Galli, Kyle Galli…”
“Have you come up with a good idea?”
“…Yes, perhaps this could be a breakthrough. Get a Kyle Galli set and send it.”
“Where should I send it?”
“To the Duke of Everts’ household. If the Duke I know gets his hands on it, he’ll find it quite fun. And if we’re lucky… even the young lady might.”
“You mean the young lady of the house…? I’ve heard rumors that the Duke cherishes her so much that she’s never set foot outside the estate.”
“Yes; that sounds about right.”
“Huh?”
“Well, you don’t need to know. Thinking too much about it now would just be too early. By the way, Charles, am I imagining things, or is there a 100-point gap between our Yacht scores? You keep rolling high numbers.”
“It’s just your imagination, young master.”
“……….”
***
Now I’m free! The world is entering the grand age of board games!
…Well, maybe not quite yet, but I feel like I’ve become a board game king.
Though my life is practically mortgaged for it.
My little wordplay earlier was probably obvious, wasn’t it? There’s no way my father, who elevated our family from a barony to a viscounty, wouldn’t catch on.
The fact that he let it slide means he’s giving me a chance to try.
Of course, I wasn’t about to let such a golden opportunity go to waste.
What should I do? Which board game would be best?
Even with just a brief thought, dozens of board games come to mind.
From proven classics to mystery games with storylines, business games that thrive on fierce strategy, to psychological games where suspicion runs high.
Honestly, I’d love to spread the charm of strategy games, the true gem of board gaming.
But of course, that’s out of the question.
How many servants gave up on Yacht simply because they thought the rules were too complicated?
If even a game that only requires dice and a pen is too much, then there’s no hope for strategy board games that involve multiple types of tokens, numerous cards, thick rulebooks, and heavy mental engagement.
Even if I poured my passion into creating one now, the number of people who could actually enjoy it would be very small. And that wouldn’t align with the goal of spreading the joy of board games.
So, Kyle Galli it is.
“Because it’s already proven to be fun.”
Charles and Sally had both said they found it fun, and most notably, Sally had enjoyed playing Kyle Galli so much that she’d stayed up all night with the maids. To the point where they overslept the next day.
Simple and easy-to-learn rules, original fun, and excellent gameplay. It was the perfect introduction to board games.
The only drawback, if there was one, might have been… the name.
If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve chosen a proper name.
Kyle Galli? What even was that? It practically screamed that I had made it. I should’ve just used its original name. Regret washed over me, but there was no undoing it now.
Everyone already knew the game as Kyle Galli, and the thought of going to each person to correct the name felt ridiculous. All I could do was endure a little embarrassment.
Still… I couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of guilt. The game had definitely been created by a genius from the original world, and yet here I was, slapping on a new name after only tweaking the illustrations.
As I sat there, lost in these thoughts, I suddenly sensed someone nearby and turned my head.
“Y-Young Master…”
“Sally.”
“Well, um… I mean…”
I wondered where she had gone, but she was here cleaning.
It made sense. She was my personal maid and bodyguard, yet she’d overslept later than her master. A light punishment like this seemed fitting.
Though honestly, as the third son who rarely left the mansion, did I even need a bodyguard?
“I-I’m so sorry!!”
“Hmm? What for all of a sudden?”
“Well, because I overslept and couldn’t tend to you properly… and because I got scolded by the family head…”
“Oh.”
“Is… is Kyle Galli banned now?”
“Don’t worry, Sally. This actually turned into an opportunity.”
“Sniffle… What?”
“It’s true that I was summoned by Father because of you, but I managed to negotiate permission for board games. We can keep playing Kyle Galli.”
“Oh…!”
“So don’t cry. Are you done with the cleaning?”
“Y-Yes! They’ll handle the rest!”
Sally, who had been gloomy a moment ago, suddenly brightened. With a wave of her hand, the broom and mop floated into the air and began sweeping and mopping on their own.
Magic never failed to amaze me, no matter how many times I saw it. It was no wonder people went crazy over magical performances.
With Sally chuckling happily beside me, I strolled down the hallway. I had some questions I wanted to ask.
“So, what did you think of Kyle Galli? I mean, how did the maids react?”
“Oh, it was incredible! At first, it was just me and a friend playing, but when she kept losing, she got so frustrated that things got intense… Eventually, three, four, and then more than ten people joined in!”
“Did you really stay up all night doing that?”
“T-To be honest… we all lost track of time while playing… By the time we realized it, we had overslept.”
Aha, I could relate to that.
I’d had my fair share of similar experiences. Going to board game cafés with friends, getting absorbed in a strategy or RPG game, and losing track of time. It wasn’t uncommon.
You would start at 1 PM, and before you knew it, it was 5 PM, and you’d awkwardly wrap up the game.
But then, that’s typically with strategy games that take hours per round. Kyle Galli, on the other hand, rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes.
There were two possible explanations.
Either the game stretched out because so many people were playing at once, or it was the kind of board game they found so exciting that they genuinely lost track of time.
Personally, I hoped it was the latter.
“Anyway, now that Father’s given his permission, I’m going to properly spread Kyle Galli around.”
“S-Spread it…?”
“Yeah. I’m going to start with the servants of the family and then move on to the territory.”
“B-But I think the people who want to play it already are.”
“What?”
“W-Well, Butler Charles thought it was pretty good and made a few extra sets. He said he distributed them to the knights and the servants…”
“When did that happen?”
“R-Right after we left your room yesterday.”
Wait… that old man did what?
How could he pull off such a brilliant move without me knowing?
Alright, then…!
It hadn’t even been a full day yet, so it was too soon to expect significant results.
But Charles wasn’t just any butler. Before assuming his current role, he had been captain of the family’s knights. When someone like him personally recommended a game, some of the knights were bound to try it. Especially since it was created by the third son of the family
I had to hear what they thought.
And play with them too!
Honestly, after constantly playing with Charles and Sally, I was desperate for fresh opponents. Some new reactions! New approaches! New faces to see!
Bring me some fresh newbies, some real newbies!
“Alright, let’s head to the training grounds!”
“Y-Yes!”
***
The Byron Viscounty might have been a barony just a few years ago, but its territory and mansion were anything but small.
I had heard that my great-grandfather was a knight who made great contributions during a war. Thanks to his personal relationship with the Emperor of the time, he was not only awarded the noble title of a baron instead of a baronet but was also granted fertile and valuable lands.
Although our territory didn’t have mines or dungeons, it was an important crossroads connecting the central regions with the west and south.
It was a land where all kinds of merchants, grains, and goods came and went, so even if we didn’t have much talent for business, we made a lot of money.
Even though my eldest brother showed talent in magic, he chose to study economics at the academy instead of joining the Magic Tower. This was part of a long-term strategy.
So, what’s the bottom line?
Even just the size of the training ground within the territory was enormous.
“Swordsmanship drills!”
“””””Aaaaaaaah!!!”””””
“Louder! Put some spirit into it!”
“””””AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”””””
“Still as intense as ever.”
“I-It looks really tough…”
Well, in a world where superhumans capable of using Aura existed, knights who could harness such power were forces beyond imagination.
They were beings who could sprint across lakes and leap over hills. While wars between nations were different, territorial disputes often ended with duels between knights.
Since the number and quality of knights directly reflected a family’s prestige, their daily routines were filled with grueling training.
No wonder gambling was allowed back then.
With relentless, high-intensity training every single day, they needed an outlet to let off steam.
Previously, that outlet had been gambling. But with Father banning it by decree, there was reportedly no clear substitute.
And that was where my opportunity lay.
Feels a bit like giving them both the disease and the cure, though.
Still, the fault lay with the knight who used Yacht for gambling, not me or the board games in general.
I made up my mind and made my way to the training grounds.
“You’re all working hard, I see?”
“Huh? Y-Youg master Kyle?! Everyone, attention!”
“No, no. Don’t do that…”
The knight commander, who had been about to line up the knights for inspection as soon as he saw me, stopped when I waved my hands in protest and approached me.
He looked curious, which was understandable since I hadn’t visited the training grounds since I was a child.
“Young master Kyle, it’s been quite a while since you’ve come to the training grounds. Is there a specific reason?”
“Nothing much. It’s about the board game.”
“The board game…? Do you mean Kyle Galli?”
Oh.
You know about that?
“Have you tried it, Commander?”
“Y-Yes, of course. Sir Charles strongly recommended it, so I gave it a try… though…”
Huh.
Contrary to my expectations, the commander’s tone as he spoke about Kyle Galli was strangely reserved.
He seemed hesitant as if he was contemplating whether to say it or not.
I had a slight sense of foreboding but still urged the knight commander.
“What is it? Speak freely.”
“…Then, if I may. To be honest… it’s not very… fun.”
“…Really?”
“Oh, I don’t mean that Kyle Galli itself is boring! The game itself is plenty fun, but…”
“Then?”
“Well, the rules… are a bit too inconvenient.”
The rules? Were the rules of Kyle Galli inconvenient?
I blinked in confusion at his words; I didn’t understand, and the knight commander sighed before continuing.
“I heard about the rules from Sir Charles. The basic rules of the game were simple enough to grasp, but… it seems the prohibition on Aura and magic is a bit much.”
…Prohibition on Aura and magic?
Was he talking about that time when I banned the old man’s Aura and Sally’s magic after the first round?
“Hmm, would you like to see for yourself?”
“…Please do.”
“Understood. Knights who’ve played Kyle Galli! Gather!”
“Gather!”
At the knight commander’s command, a short knight, an older-looking knight, and one with a shiny bald spot on the crown of his head rushed over to set up the game board.
They placed a table from the corner of the training grounds, added a bell and cards they’d fetched from somewhere, and that was it.
The knights who were now seated in a circle around the table turned their attention to the knight commander.
“Commander? Should we do it the way we usually do?”
“Yes. The Young Master needs to see.”
“Understood.”
“Then, let’s begin!”
—Crash!!!
“…Huh?”
It all happened in an instant.
In the same fleeting moment that I blinked, as the game began, the bell was flattened into a piece of useless scrap metal.
The knights’ nonchalant expressions seemed to suggest this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“This… is what I meant.”
“…………”
It wasn’t until I saw it with my own eyes that I realized the problem. It was something I had never even considered.
All the board games I knew were designed with the assumption that ordinary people, without any kind of supernatural powers, would be playing. After all, there was no such thing as Aura or magic in the world I came from.
But this was a world where extraordinary abilities and magic were part of daily life.
In a world like this, how effective could board games from the original world truly be?
For the household staff like the maids or the ordinary citizens of the territory, it’s fine. They’re just like me.
However, the story was entirely different for knights, mages, and others with unique abilities. Naturally, problems like the one I’d just witnessed were bound to arise.
…Honestly, the solution was simple. I could just dismiss it as unavoidable.
After all, knights and mages were only a small portion of the population. The majority of people in this world were ordinary individuals, just like in my original world.
I could simply ignore the minority and proceed to make board games in the same way as before. But…
If that was my intention from the start.
Then I wouldn’t have dreamed of creating a game that everyone could enjoy.
“Don’t worry, Commander.”
“Huh?”
“I’m the one who made the game. I can just create new rules.”
House Rules.
In board games or tabletop RPGs, these are rules added or modified by mutual agreement among players to suit their convenience or to account for variables.
Now was the time to create some.
But the house rules I know won’t work here.
Not the ordinary house rules from my original world, but something unique to this world.
To create a board game that everyone could enjoy with a smile.
It was time to invent entirely new rules.
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