rogue_5

Yet another loss, yet another sixty years.

As usual, Wang watches the old mandarin he had been playing weiqi with slowly get up and shuffle towards the brazier to warm his hands.

'The next game, I leave to the Grand Tutor who comes after me.'

'You are resigning?'

'Heh, duty and devotion until one's dying day. But after this cycle of sixty, I fear I will not have the strength to come to this temple to play this game with you, with every commoner of this land on the line. The court will select a suitable opponent for you.'

'And as for me...' The old mandarin tends to the fire for a moment before returning to the board.

'There are many grand affairs under Heaven. Matters pertaining to the bestial Sui require a careful touch. Naturally, other concerns will require observation as well. Yan is vast, and your family is not the only thing we must worry about.'

'But it's rare to have the time to chat. So, weiqi failure, anything you wish to speak of, outside of official business?'

Wang looks at the empty board in front of him. He reaches over to his opponent's bowl of stones, taking out a white stone and handing it to the mandarin.

'Why, you... Very well, a quick game.'

The Grand Tutor chooses white, Wang chooses black. Half an hour later, the Yanese minister places a white stone onto the board and departs the ancient temple that acts as Wang's prison, his face relaxed.

After the Grand Tutor leaves, Wang does not tidy the board, but rather sets it aside, stones and all. He takes an empty board and recreates the game of heaven and earth he just lost, move by move, until he validates his theory—

Some of the tactics that arose were completely different from the ones the Grand Tutor usually employed.

Weiqi has always been a game of two players, so where did these novel tactics spring from?

Besides, this game used Yan's domain as the board, and the land's every commoner as the pieces. Not as simple as a game of black and white stones within a square.

The Grand Tutor is certainly unaware of this. After having played against him for decades, Wang knows everything about the man. If he does not know, it is likely the court of Yan is not intervening either.

If the one behind this is the Grand Tutor's successor, then the result should be clear in the next game. If not... Wang deliberates, then begins to plot.

The black stones strike first, making their moves before settling into place. This cycle of sixty years, win or lose, a hundred-and-eighty-one black stones shall be laid out, with only one goal in mind.

He will force White out onto the board.