Within the castle's banquet hall, golden, smoky words slowly formed over the chessboard.
--This is a grand meeting, an alliance between a young hero and an old mage.
--The old mage, possessing the wisdom brought by age, will guide the hero along the path of light.
Caught off guard, Mr. Vali was startled by the description. He instinctively looked toward the head chef of his castle. If he hadn't remembered wrong... no, if he hadn't miscalculated, Chef Nelson should have understood the meaning of his gaze and been about to face off against the master who had defected his pair of twin maids not long ago, shouldn't he?
But Mr. Vali had already made technical adjustments in preparation for any situation that might arise, so he appeared quite calm now—at least on the surface.
"Oh? It seems Mr. Nelson has found a new way to play?" Mr. Vali smiled faintly as he watched Chef Nelson, the castle's head chef, slowly join his new team.
This was Maid Miss's team.
"We hope to give you a tremendous surprise." Chef Nelson said solemnly, "Mr. Vali, this is still going to be a perfect day for you."
"I'm looking forward to it." Mr. Vali waved his hand, then looked toward You Ye and smiled again. "This is truly a game of chess filled with unknowns... It makes me wonder, if my Servant encounters your Servant, would we become a team as well?"
He emphasized the word "team" somewhat heavily. Mr. Vali smiled faintly, then rolled two action points.
His Servant had already entered the Roaring Forest from another direction. However, Mr. Vali did not use those two action points to approach the team consisting of Maid Miss, Tiff, and Chef Nelson. Instead, he moved two spaces to the left.
That happened to mark