Author's Note:

Are you guys happy? I hope you're happy because I'm never, ever, going to do something like this again.

Do you know how long this chapter is? 51 freaking pages. And do you know how many words are in 51 pages? 25,000 words. I'm never writing a chapter this long. Editor-chan was crying the whole time (and squealing because Tanaka was too cute, but still). I was at my wit's end.

What in the world happened? It was supposed to be 10 pages. Ten measly pages. How did everything evolve into 51 pages!?!

*coughs* Anyway, I'm almost certain this story is cursed. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡

Can you believe I got sick, again, while I was halfway through? It was another cold, turned into a sinus infection, and I still have the coughs left over. And no, I'm not going to die. I'm okay, seriously. Thank you all for sticking with me while I'm on hiatus because of my classes and family stuff. I was planning on giving you guys a bonus chapter because of your loyalty, but I think 51 pages worth 3-4 chapters of material is good enough for now. (￣ω￣)

But this is an information-heavy chapter and I understand if there were some parts that bore you. The game itself is convoluted and complex and though Editor-chan went over it with me and had told me that it's fairly easy and well-explained enough for her to grasp, I'm not sure if it was the same for anyone else, so please, if you have questions, I will try to answer them as best as possible! (Grammar might be worse than usual because of how long this chapter was, so please be kind!)

My creativity-power was completely exhausted because of this game, so please forgive me for any plotholes you might have seen >.<. 

The next few chapters should be fluff-filled and only fluff. I told Editor-chan that I'm done with world-building for a while, so everything should be nothing fluff for a while!!!

Also, I'm very sorry for the very, badly written Arabic featured in this chapter. I consulted with Google-sensei many times, but there might be plenty of things that are incorrect. I wanted to write in Najd Arabic and Gulf Arabic, but there's no convenient translator for those two dialects. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡ What can I do? OTL 

So some of you are just going to have to settle with Modern Standard Arabic, which I am assuming that Google-sensei is using. *squints*

...--------...

Tanaka could hear Nicole mumbling under his breath, probably reciting a spell that would activate the runes on the mat and the longer he spoke, the brighter the engraving become, but... It seemed that the activation spell was really long-winded. Just listening to it was too tiring...

Regardless, by the end of the incantation, an image started to rise up from the mat and Tanaka's brown eyes sparkled in amazement as a grid formed over the mat. Over on Nicole's end, four translucent cards of different colors appeared in front of the temperamental nobleman and though his green-eyes had swept through them as if he was reading whatever was written on the cards, Tanaka couldn't see words on his end.

With a smug grin, Nicole grabbed the red card as if it was a solid item, making Tanaka blink in astonishment. Then, with a wave of his hand, Nicole sent the remaining cards to the other players in the field. Edward was given a blue card, Xander had a green card, and the remaining brown one flew in front of Tanaka and Amir.

Written on the brown card that the young master and butler pair had obtained were the words 'Zafaran' and Tanaka quickly realized this was how the game distributed countries. With an expression full of wonder, Tanaka reached for the card and nearly jumped when his fingertips brushed against it.

Amir, who was observing the other's actions and expressions the entire time, coughed once in order to suppress his amusement. The little one had no talent in hiding any of his thoughts from his face and it entertained Amir to no end.

Once Tanaka grabbed onto their card, a platform protruded out from the grid. It was low enough for Tanaka to look over, but Amir might have to bend down a little touch it. As Tanaka looked over at the other players around the mat, whose platforms were actually much taller, the transmigrator concluded that the game can accommodate for height depending on who had the country's card.

Surprisingly, the game seemed rather high-tech despite the use of magic rather than electricity. Tanaka couldn't help but question why they seemed to be able to create something like this but still used horses and carriages for long-distance traveling. Regardless, it seemed that the game would only get more complicated from here and Tanaka couldn't help but wish that there was a convenient manual he could read... oh wait.

"Okay, let's just place our card on the platform and play--"

"Excuse me," Tanaka interrupted, stopping Nicole from mid-speech. Ignoring the irritable glower shot towards him by the temperamental noblemen, the young boy continued on as if there wasn't someone trying to glare a hole into his skull. "Is there a manual?"

"There is," Xander immediately answered, smiling at Tanaka kindly. "I'm not sure whether Sir Gallant has it with him, but if he does, you are free to read it for your own use."

In a timely manner, everyone turned their eyes toward Nicole, who had a sour look on his face. "Can't we just play already? It's already past five and I have to be home by dinner."

"So you do have it," Edward concluded on the spot, causing the fiery teen to glare at his cool classmate.

"What if I do? We don't have time to wait around for your younger brother to read through the whole thing and then play!"

"I'll just skim over it really quickly," Tanaka reassured. Though he generally hated doing extra work on anything, games are a different matter for him. As an introvert with little social interactions outside of family and friends (and even then, that was generally kept at a minimum), Tanaka either slept, ate, or kept himself entertained by books, experiments, or games. He had played mobile games, online games, console games, multiplayer games, and the likes. He was often pretty good with games as well; maybe it was because, with games, he could experience a lot of things without having to get out of bed or move around too much. To experience running, he could play Temple Run. To experience playing sports, he could just play sport-based video games. If he wanted to go camping, he could play games like Ark: Survival Evolved or The Forest. If he wanted a pet, a virtual pet would be the best thing for him.

Suffice to say, he really enjoyed playing games-- of course, in the laziest definition of 'playing' that could occur. But even if he didn't play them often (because 65% of his schedule consist of sleeping and eating), he was well known in gaming circles. Tanaka was quite skillful with his hands; whether it would be hacking, programming, performing chemical experiments, or even winning the international gaming tournament from the comforts of his own home, as long as it was done in the comfort of his own home, Tanaka had no restraints.

He would have been considered the end-game final BOSS if it wasn't for the fact that he was too lazy to become even a small-time mini-BOSS. After all, if he revealed himself as a powerful person to the public, the number of people bothering him would be endless. He was quite happy living in his small world.

Either way, Tanaka looked up at Nicole with imploring eyes and repeated, "Really quickly," as if it would convince the other more of his sincereness.

In response to Tanaka's earnest expression, Xander looked at his sour-faced classmate and gave him an imploring smile. Edward had also turned his gaze towards Nicole and gave the other nobleman a raised eyebrow.

Faced with the expecting expression from both the Prince and his rival, Nicole scowled and grit his teeth, barely able to hold his temper back. With a harsh shove, the green-eyed nobleman dug his hand into his spatial bag and brought out a large book almost as big as Tanaka's head. The size startled the transmigrator— rather than a manual, it looked to be a 300-page handbook instead.

With a sneer, Nicole literally threw the book across the mat with unnecessary strength and it would have knocked Tanaka on the head if it wasn't for Amir's quick reflexes, who caught the thick tome just centimeters from the youngest Rosetta's nose.

Tanaka's only reaction was a surprised blink before he looked up at his savior, who gave the young boy a perfect smile, though his eyes seemed darker than usual...

"Sir Gallant, you could have injured Young Thomas!" Xander instantly scolded, his expression full of shock and anger. Xander could forgive a lot of things, but he could not condone having people that he was fond of harmed.

"The Zafarian caught it anyway, didn't he?" Nicole protested, feeling slightly wronged by the Crown Prince's reprimand.

"Either way, you are in my household and I have been tolerant of your attitude, but I will have to ask you to restrain your temper, Gallant," Edward said coldly, his ice-blue eyes gleaming threateningly. Even if Thomas gave him more trouble than he would've liked, Edward is still his older brother. Not to mention that the youngest had a five-tier aptitude and was incapable of using magic himself— does Gallant intend to harm someone who was younger than him and unable to defend themselves?

"...I understand," Nicole forced out with clenched teeth. Sure, the book was a little heavy for the kid to handle, but weren't they being a bit too overprotective? All the brat was going to have was a bruise and not much else. They act as if he was going to do something worse than that.

And Tanaka would also agree that both the Prince and Edward were being overly concerned, but he probably wouldn't say anything about it either since he was pretty much used to it. He had learned long ago that anything he said would be useless in these kinds of things; Nanami and Daichi were great examples of that when he worried them.

Regardless, as soon as Amir handed the large manual to him, he placed the book on the floor and sat down to read. Rather than flipping through the pages while carrying the book, it would cost less energy just to set it down and read it on the floor.

Feeling Nicole's prickling glare stabbing his entire body, Tanaka flipped through the pages quickly as if he was just skimming through the text of the manual. To anyone that didn't truly know him, they would've thought he was not reading through anything with his fast turning speed, but Tanaka was actually imprinting every single word inside of his mind.

Generally, he would like to take his time reading very slowly, allowing his lazy and sluggish brain to absorb the information in a snail-like pace, but Tanaka had the ability to take in a large amount of information in a short amount of time and never forget it. But to do so takes effort. And energy; so he didn't really like speed-reading unless he had to.

Since he didn't want to make the others have to wait for him to finish this unnecessary large book, Tanaka had no choice but to speed things along. More than halfway as he got through the manual, Tanaka discovered something very surprising about the game and how it actually plays. It seemed that the game developers had made the game board a lot more realistic than Tanaka had thought, which was strange because... wasn't this game made for propaganda against Zafaran?

He flipped through the pages once more to check on his conclusions and tilted his head in curiosity as he took a peek at the game mat.

From a distance, the runes looked to be fanciful and decorative. It was very pleasing to the eye and the way it shimmered when activated made the plain mat into a beautiful light show. Regardless of the aesthetics, Tanaka could see a pattern interwoven in between the engravings; rather than artwork, it looked more like a complex formula to his logical and scientific mind. Realistically, there was no way for Tanaka to figure out what these runes represent without some kind of key or convenient translator, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that the board was more complicated than it should be for a children's game.

First of all, there are too many runes for the simple set up Nicole had briefly described before. Second, Tanaka knew how precious magical items were considered to the magic community. Something this extensive would nowadays cost a kingdom or two, and yet its a common commodity between noble children?

There are very few rune masters in the entire continent and even less can use and translate more than 2,000 out of more than 200,000 discovered runes. It was also a very difficult task to combine the right runes in order to create the effects one desired. Whoever had created this game and the rune-filled mat along with it had to be a runemaster of some sort and at a glance, Tanaka could tell that there are 300 different runes inked on this piece alone. If he looked even closer, in between some of the larger runes, he could see more runes written minisculely probably to save up space.

To think that they would be using such an incredible piece of rune technology for some frivolous fun. Rather than a game for children to play... it was more like that this device was probably originally used to help create war strategies against other countries. How it eventually ended up as a children's toy was beyond Tanaka's comprehension...

Either way, after checking over a few more pages in the manual, Tanaka picked up the book and carefully stood up from where he sat. Immediately, he looked up at the butler next to his side, who was already staring back at him with incomprehensible eyes. As much as he could, the young boy lifted up the tome and pointed towards a certain description in the book. When Amir quickly read over the gestured text, he raised an intrigued eyebrow.

"Did you know?" Tanaka couldn't help but ask seeing the other's reaction.

In response, Amir bowed his head and said, "I did not, Young Master Thomas. This was the first time this servant had witnessed the 'Zafaran Edition'."

"Are you done or can we start playing?" Nicole impatiently spoke out, his expression full of aggravation just by the short wait.

Edward subtly glared towards the irritable noble, obviously wanting to make a comment about the other's rudeness, but Tanaka had closed the manual regardless and asked, "Can I keep this with me?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just play already!" Nicole was itching to show the Crown Prince all of his good points and, at the same time, humiliate Edward in 'Magic and War'. Because while the controls are generally simple and 'Magic and War' had been considered as children's game, intellectuals and teachers had used it before to measure children's strategic mind and IQs when they first started the academy and Nicole was graded one of the highest among his peers. He didn't think the game would last long and believed that he would end up being the winner by the end of it.

Regardless, as a response to Nicole's impatience, Tanaka placed his card onto the middle of the flat platform and both Edward and Xander followed suit. With a sneer, Nicole practically threw down his card onto his own platform, which caused the runes to brighten even further before they gradually dimmed. Then the largest rune in the center, along with the surrounding runes encircling it, projected a light that spread on top of the mat and Tanaka allowed his lips to part open as the light formed a thin sheet in mid-air just right above his knee. Once it settled, the sheet bloomed with color: sea blue on Edward's side, forest green in front of Prince Xander, and a mixture of red and stone-white for Nicole.

On their side, sparkling flecks of gold and sand-colored brown entered in his vision and Tanaka watched enraptured as a new and colorful world was created-- mountains were raised, surrounding a proud and jubilant kingdom on Nicole's side of the board. In front of Edward were the seas and rivers that flowed around a smaller kingdom built near the coast of a bay. Forests sprung to life, sometimes even towering Red Country's Kingdom's tallest spire, in Green Country and hid the camouflaged kingdom beneath its branches and leaves. Tanaka was not able to see how large the kingdom was due to the cover of the trees.

Zafaran, mostly due to its desert, took the largest space out of all the other countries. Dunes of golden, sparkling sands made up the majority of Zafaran, which made the gold, dome-topped palace and the surrounding city stand out. Though the design of Zafaran was created through the game, Tanaka couldn't help but wonder whether there were any real similarities between the real Zafaran and the one being projected on the rune mat.

"... Is Zafaran like this?" Tanaka couldn't help but ask as he looked up at his partner in playing, stretching his neck back as his eyes sparkled discreetly in wonder.

Of course, Amir had been watching the little one's expression since the beginning of the game and had witnessed the awe on the young master's face. It was as if this was the child's first time ever seeing how a rune mat worked, as unlikely as it seemed considering how popular the game was among noble children. Then again, the young master wasn't even aware of the game's mechanics until today, so his childish wonder was most likely genuine.

It amused the Zafarian butler as he observed how the little one's dark eyes would flit from one end of the mat to the other, his small mouth parting as the young child unconsciously lean closer as if he wanted to immerse himself into the projection.

"It's much more vast, Young Master Thomas," Amir answered indulgently, his lips curving ever so slightly.

The wonder on youngest Rosetta's face was now unmistakable. Even Edward from across the mat could see his little brother's curiosity very clearly on his young face while Xander had this fond expression displayed on his handsome features. "How vast?"

"So vast that there were still parts of the desert left unexplored."

Tanaka, of course, wanted to ask more about Zafarian from Amir's point of view since the internet didn't exist in this world and he couldn't reliably ask the majority of his professors, but he saw Nicole's deep scowl and piercing glare from the corner of his eyes and suppressed his curiosity. He could always continue his inquiries with Amir later.

Since Edward's little brother was finally done talking, Nicole mumbled a few incantations very briskly, obviously impatient to start the game, and several card-like items appeared from each platform. At the same time, tiny humanoid figures popped up into each of the kingdom, each of different design and numbers. Only Red Country's, Blue Country's, and Zafaran's 'army' could be seen out in the open while Green Country's numbers were hidden by their forests, but out of four of them, it was expected for Zafaran to have the smallest army and Tanaka wasn't surprised seeing that he had only 25 soldiers on hand while the others already had over 100.

Tanaka wasn't too concerned since, with each turn, he could add more soldiers to his army, but the transmigrator already knew Zafaran's growth would be much slower in comparison to the other countries. If any of the other players want to make trouble for him, all they would have to do was send half of their soldiers across the desert and to the Capital in order to suppress Zafaran, even though such a move would also be considered stupid