There's a Trick to Gomoku

When they first started playing Gomoku, Lilia had actually won more often. After all, Rhode had taught her first.

But Gomoku was a very simple game, so Sally, being an adult, soon surpassed the little girl, and Lilia started losing more often.

Just as Rhode walked over, he saw Sally draw a circle on the board they had made by drawing lines on paper. Then she chuckled. "I won again."

Well, another person who enjoyed picking on little girls.

All right, who didn't enjoy picking on little girls?

"Again," Lilia said resentfully.

So they kept playing.

"I won again. You're terrible at this, Lilia."

"Again, again! I just made a mistake."

Sally was having a wonderful time, while Lilia, who had apparently lost several games already, puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

Rhode finally couldn't resist giving her a pointer. "Look, don't rush to extend your line horizontally here. Put a piece here first..."

"You're playing favorites, Lord Rhode," Sally said, looking up with a smile. "Didn't you tell us that a true gentleman watches without commenting?"

Rhode smiled too. "That doesn't mean you can pick on my Lilia. I'm the only one allowed to pick on her..."

"Nobody's allowed to pick on me," the little girl protested, making the other two laugh again.

Rhode looked at the "board."

The "black pieces" and "white pieces" were neatly arranged along the grid lines. Lilia's white pieces had nowhere left to go horizontally. She could only extend them vertically.

"I was going to put it here anyway. Rhode didn't tell me to." Lilia drew a circle on the board and winked at Sally.

"Hehe, you're so clever, Lilia. Of course you could see that." Sally smiled. "If one direction doesn't work, you just have to try another."

Huh?

If one direction doesn't work, you just have to try another?

For some reason, Sally's words seemed to strike a chord in Rhode.

He thought of the arcane golem research he had been racking his brains over.

Previously, I connected the spell models end to end, and the spell grew bigger and stronger. But what if I connected their beginnings instead?

It would be a little like changing a series circuit into a parallel circuit.

Well, it probably wasn't quite the same.

But at least it was an idea worth trying.

Of course, since I've never tried this method before and don't know what risks it might involve, I'd better go to the magic laboratory on the fifth floor.

So Rhode said to the two girls, "Thanks for the Gomoku! Keep it up!"

Then he left the two bewildered girls behind and headed downstairs.

As it turned out, there was no risk at all.

And the principle was very simple.

Connecting them in "series," meaning linking the spell models end to end, made it big;

connecting them in "parallel," meaning linking the beginnings of the spell models together, made it small.

As Rhode watched the fist-sized little arcane golem wobbling on the laboratory table, a deep sense of satisfaction filled him.

So those movies I used to watch, where the protagonist unlocked some peerless technique through a flashback, really were onto something!

Of course, coming up with the idea of connecting spell models in "parallel" just from watching a game of Gomoku took quite a leap of imagination.

Well, a code monkey without a good imagination couldn't be a good mage.

The next step was to optimize this miniature arcane golem further.

It needed to be a little smaller, have a better field of vision, and be more mobile.

Otherwise, if it fell into a little ditch and couldn't get out, it would be far too useless.

Of course, it would be nice if it could fly, like those reconnaissance bees in so many science fiction movies...

However, Rhode had yet to see any books about magical flight, so he had no starting point for researching it. For now, he could only fantasize.

Right, camouflage too.

No matter how small it is, if its color doesn't change and it keeps glowing blue like this, it'll be far too conspicuous.

I have to make it less noticeable.

White?

Black?

Anything but blue.

But that still didn't feel quite perfect.

If it could use Glamour like I do, and I could shrink it down to the size of a finger, it really could come and go without a trace.

Now that's how a scout ought to work.

Why couldn't it be even smaller?

The answer was simple: there was a limit to how many spell models could be connected in parallel.

Rhode guessed it was similar to a circuit model. The more components connected in parallel, the lower the resistance. As the resistance across the terminals approached zero, the current would approach the short-circuit current, creating problems instead.

Whatever the case, I'll first figure out how to give it built-in Glamour.

Once I sort things out step by step, I can send these little arcane golems out on missions.

He couldn't resist snapping his fingers, giving his own idea a thumbs-up. Just as he was about to start modifying the spell model along those lines, he heard a soft knock on the doorframe behind him.

It was Sally.

He had become so absorbed in his research that noon had arrived without him noticing.

Sally had brought him lunch.

Sally was both his work assistant and his personal assistant. Having her around really saved him a great deal of trouble.

"What, aren't you two playing anymore?" Rhode asked with a smile.

"Lilia said she wanted to study it on her own before playing me again," Sally replied, smiling too. "Was I taking it too seriously? Should I have let her win a little?"

Rhode burst out laughing. "No, it's fine. I pick on her all the time anyway."

"Oh, and there's this." As she spoke, Sally placed a few ledgers in front of Rhode.

"What's this?" Rhode asked.

"The Magic Tower's income and expenses from last month," Sally explained. "At the end of every month, they have to be given to the chairman for review. But he's away right now, and Hearthglen is away too, so I can only give them to you."

Rhode understood.

Financial statements, then.

This was indeed part of his duties.

There was no getting around it. After all, he was drawing a generous salary from the Magic Tower.

If you took the money, you had to do the work. It was that simple.

So he flipped through the account books while eating his lunch.

There weren't many entries. Apart from tax revenue, they mainly recorded which magic apprentice had visited which noble's home on a given day to help identify magical items, and how many silver coins they had earned;

or which magic apprentice had gone to which town on a given day to help eliminate some minor monster, and how much they had earned...

Since very few of the magic apprentices could cast damaging spells, even those who went out to help would, at most, fight small animals such as little wildcats.

Apprentice magic users like Alex fought somewhat stronger monsters and received more commissions of this kind.

According to the records, Alex had undertaken three such monster-slaying missions last month.

Grizzly bears at Eastpoint Tower.

Giant spiders at Tarren Mill.

Lesser yetis on Darrow Hill.

Huh?

Alex went to Darrow Hill last month too?

It seemed that, besides Yetius and the ten great yetis under its command in the yeti cave, some smaller yetis might also be roaming nearby.

Suddenly, Rhode stood up.

This gave Sally a fright.

"Vice chairman, what's wrong?"

Rhode himself didn't actually know why he had suddenly stood up.

He felt as though something had occurred to him, something that could connect the many tangled clues he currently had.

But exactly what it was remained hazy and indistinct.

What could it be?

Rhode couldn't be sure yet.

"Oh, nothing." Rhode took a sip of water. "The cheese was a little dry and got stuck in my throat. Standing up helped it go down."