Pride Online

Chapter 401: The Real War Part III

“So, I can talk about none of my business now, right?”

The listener started blushing. She hurriedly let go of his sleeve, before turning her face away. Seeing that, he shook his head again, strangely feeling both tired and amused. However, he pretended to not notice her actions.

“Anyway, you probably know about that better than me, don’t you?” Sven spoke.

“About what?!” She snapped.

“Well, I could guess right when I saw how your force moved in the previous battle that there definitely is someone disliking your guild hiding among your army.”

Hearing that, Nuchjaree stopped short. Her round, rust-colored eyes stared at the man in front of them. There was a soft smile on his calm attractive face, and it was the best-looking smile she had ever seen on him.

It looked mysterious and dangerous, ...but somehow in that danger, there was a hint of charm that made her feel that he was way far from being ordinary.

“You knew?” She asked back carefully.

Sven did not answer. He just chose to smile knowingly in reply.

“War is like playing chess, you know.” He walked to the coffee table and put Nuchjaree’s unfinished meal in his inventory. “Each piece has different moves on the squares, and players can start moving with whichever piece they want. There are hundreds of strategies and patterns in attack, defense, trick, or surrounding. That’s what’s special about chess that other games don’t have.”

“And they’re supposed to be related?”

The dashing girl snapped. She was staring at the tall man who was bringing out her new set of a meal, which was a delicious-looking club sandwich and black tea with a nice scent.

“Yes, they are,” Sven replied as he poured the tea into a ceramic cup with rose patterns. “Would you believe me if I told you that my brain could memorize every chess strategy?”

“...”

The girl did not reply. She still did not understand how knowing chess strategies was related to knowing about an enemy so much from countering them just once!

“They’re similar, Nuchjaree. In war, there has to be a strategy in every battle to invade, capture the target, or even eliminate enemies. Everything we do, we need a plan for it, too. And if it’s not too much, I want you to know that I’ve never lost to anyone in chess.”

Nuchjaree let out a throaty laugh.

“Is this just you bragging? If you want someone who’s good at playing chess, there’re plenty of those in my guild.”

“Like Maysa for example?”

Hearing that, Nuchjaree paused, while Sven was smiling slightly before bringing the teacup to her on the bed. The nice scent of tea could not get her attention at all when right now, the one in front of her was having a strange spark in his eyes that made her unable to take her eyes away.

“Well, her moves weren’t so bad, dividing the force into two. One was to invade forward, while the other was to attack from range. That strategy was both attack and defense at the same time, and it shortened the distance for the force to retreat fast, too.”

He said, then let out a short sigh.

“But that wasn’t enough. What I’m telling you is that except for the pawns I use to trick the enemies, I’ve never lost other major pieces to anyone before.”

Nuchjaree paused by his words right away.

There was no lie or a playful look appearing in his eyes at all. The tone he used did not sound like he was bragging, but he was just telling a fact to her and that was all.

She kept her mouth shut after the thoughts.

If he was telling the truth, then Maysa was not a match for him at all. Nuchjaree had suspected since when she first met him that this guy could read others’ thoughts thoroughly by his wording and gestures, but with what she had just heard she was now completely certain.

This guy was,

A genius that was born every 100 years.

“You’re telling me that you knew that much about my guild’s insider from just countering with us once?”

Nuchjaree asked. She started to realize now that he did not need to force the information about the red pirates out of her at all. All he had to do was just talk, and without her realizing, he knew what he wanted to know, that she did not even have to tell him all the details.

“Everything has a meaning in it, Nuchjaree,” Sven said smilingly. “Yes, I knew from just the countering that there’s someone who isn’t fond of Vincent that much on your side. I think it’s because one, jealousy, or two, your friend getting hated to the guts. But no matter which, it’s been confirmed that it’s 100% true from my intelligence unit that the Nemesis is not going to participate in the battle in Tristan today.”

The owner of those rust-colored eyes found it hard to swallow right now.

And that was the first time that she found this man ...scary.

“That’s good news to our army as well. Honestly, the other army will be just like kids messing around without the Nemesis.”

“So, that’s why you’re chilling here carefreely instead of joining the frontline, huh?”

Sven did not say anything. He was just smiling, handing the plate of sandwiches to Nuchjaree.

“Are you underestimating the red army too much? Did you forget that Valentine is there, too?”

Listening to her, he slipped out laughing. He put the plate down on the bed after the girl in front of him was not taking it from his hand.

“I agree that Valentine’s good,” Sven said. “If it’s a defense game, no doubt that the Bunny Burner will be put in the first rank of the game. Valentine’s abilities are mostly fixed range attacks. They’re not suitable to invade or capture areas.”

“Well, at least she’s one of the four gods like you, and that doesn’t concern you at all?”

Sven smiled widely at her words.

“Yes, she’s one of the four gods like me, but did you forget about the other two gods? And those two are on the same side with me, so that’s why I don’t worry about Valentine.”

“Lavi and Marcus are joining this battle?”

“They’ll probably get strangely frustrated when they find out later that the Nemesis got kicked out of the battle.” Sven cracked out a laugh. “By the way, if the other army has Valentine alone, then there’s only a 13% chance for them to win.”

Nuchjaree did not say anything, because she started to feel that the words coming out of Sven’s mouth were more reliable than a computer!

“Even though it’s only 13%, that’s still a chance to win anyway.” she snapped, even though her mind was not convinced by her own words at all.

“That’s right.” Sven gave her a delightful smile.

“Stop laughing. You’ll regret that you’re being reckless like this. How accurate can your stupid calculations be anyway? Huh?”

After speaking annoyingly, she grabbed the sandwich on the bed and took a big bite of it. It was a delicious smoked salmon, but she could not quite taste it right now.

A small hopeless feeling came across her mind. The more she knew this guy, the fewer ideas she had to win against him. Even though her friend Wisana was strong like a monster, this was the first time that he had to fight against a monster as well.

While Sven was watching the girl putting her mood on the food in her hand, his brain was recalling the moment a couple of days ago right away. ‘How accurate could the calculation be?’ she asked. And Sven was confident that he had never been wrong on calculation once, except on that battle.