Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 286: Expanding Network (03)

--This Chapter is written in Erik’s POV--

Of the multiple factions that rose up when the conflict began, the only one that could measure up to the Army Of The Gifted was Maya’s Aegis.

Every day, without fail, she declared a city on her social media, and in a matter of hours, stopped all conflict, banishing troublemakers and even AOTG divisions.

On the first day, she fought alone.

On the second, she had help.

On the third, she had an army.

Devoted men and women, of all ages, who thought of her as an angel whose only intent was to help.

She was no angel, though.

The regions she chose were certainly some of the most affected by conflict, but there was a hidden reason for that...

In any city Maya interfered, another person or small faction was already resisting the AOTG, the government, and every other faction.

Meaning Maya deliberately sought after and took control of the most powerful and troublesome individuals, be it from an individual power or local influence perspective.

This bold move allowed her to gain ground quickly.

She had effectively raised an elite army of fools equally as stubborn as her.

Furthermore, her announcements.

What I thought was an obvious disadvantage turned out to give her an important edge.

Many challengers sought her and were convinced to join the Aegis after their defeat, granting her even more self-assured and strong men to work with.

People began to ask the Aegis for their protection, describing the situation in their area, which created for Maya a natural, messy, yet immense intelligence network.

When the Aegis and the government started working together, her movement gained almost as much legitimacy as ours.

It seemed like the Aegis would become a new branch, and then...

She attacked them, throwing away the culmination of her hard work.

Maya was smart enough to make moves even I couldn’t have thought of.

Maya was dumb enough to leave herself vulnerable in such a critical moment of the war.

These two didn’t equate. I was missing something.

And no one could help me.

Except, of course, her mother, Maria.

To my dismay.

Maria: "Oh, shit..."

Sitting across the table, she told me that it would be hard to explain her daughter’s actions with words, and forced me to bring her two decks of playing cards.

52 cards, jokers removed.

One deck for her, one deck for me.

The rules were simple.

We would be playing a variation of poker that used the hands and card values to determine a winner.

The game was divided into two sections: Turns and rounds, with a round containing multiple turns.

Each of us could hold a maximum of five cards at any time.

Every turn, we could each draw one card at the price of discarding one into a "discarded pile".

Whenever we were satisfied with our current hand, we could stop the game by revealing it, forcing the other to do the same.

Whoever had the best hand at that point would win the round.

Then, we’d return our "discarded pile" back into the deck and reshuffle to play another round.

With these rules in place, the first round ended in my victory.

I had started with three spades, and without thinking much, I drew for four turns, when I had enough to reveal a flush.

Maria’s hand had seemingly five random cards: One ace of hearts, one queen of hearts, a pair of threes of clubs and spades, and lastly, one seven of clubs.

When the second round began, my starting hand contained a 7, an 8, and a 9 of different suits, with a jack of hearts I could use for a straight.

Though before I could draw, I noticed something wrong with the way Maria was playing.

Erik: "What about the discards?"

Instead of shuffling them back into her deck, Maria had left her pile of discarded cards intact.

Maria: "Don’t worry, it’ll make sense later."

While this was a clear violation of the rules, I decided not to question it further.

The game, after all, was simply a way for me to understand Maya’s psychology.

The score itself didn’t matter.

Not to mention, even though she was cheating the rules, I won the second round as well.

It took me six turns, but considering the odds for drawing each specific card, I wouldn’t say that it took long.

Once again, Maria’s hand was abysmal.

She had again drawn the queen of hearts and a seven of hearts, but besides that, all other cards were of different ranks and suits.

Once again, before the next round, Maria refused to follow the rules and shuffle her discarded cards back into her deck.

Although I noticed that during our play, the cards she had discarded on the first round were in a different pile than the ones she discarded for the second, she had mixed the two discard piles into a single one when the third round began.

My hand for this round was slightly worse: A pair of twos of hearts and spades, a seven of spades, a ten of diamonds, and a queen of clubs.

I was in a bind.

The initial pair, even though it consisted of twos, was useful.

With it, I wouldn’t be far off from a two pair, though I’d have to gamble on which card I’d form the second pair with, by focusing on anything but the queen, I could guarantee a decent final hand.

However, if it took me too long, Maria might have an equally strong hand, which, at that point, meant I should focus on a full house.

Then again, with the seven of spades and the two of spades, I could potentially shift into a flush strategy depending on the cards I drew in the initial discards.

Whatever the case, the ten of diamonds had to go.

Maria: "Having trouble there?"

Erik: "...You are sure there’s a point to this?"

Maria: "We can stop if you want. You’re winning after all."

Erik: "Tch. Don’t make this more of a waste of my time than it already is."

We continued the game, and despite a bad initial hand, I drew another seven after the fourth turn.

Which meant I had a decision to make.

I could either reveal the cards I had and hope my hand was strong enough to beat hers, or I could try for the full house.

With 43 cards in the deck, and only four of them enabling the full house, the odds were too low, and I decided to stop right there.

This time, Maria’s hand wasn’t as incoherent.

Interestingly, she had the ace and queen of hearts from her first hand, completing a flush with three additional hearts of lower rank.

Erik: "I see..."

She beat me, unfairly, but squarely.

Maria: "Not yet. Let’s keep going."

Another round started, Maria had even fewer cards in her deck, and a smugger smile on her face.

With a nine, a ten, a jack, and a king of diamonds, all that I needed for a straight flush was a queen of diamonds.

However, the odds were even lower than the full house, and a simple flush should be plenty to win this round.

So, I discarded and drew.

Then, I discarded and drew again.

For twelve turns, not a single diamond showed up.

I wouldn’t blame it on bad luck. I already had four of the diamond suit cards in my hand.

Still, something strange started to happen.

The more I drew, the more the expectations grew.

I got closer to the straight flush with every card that passed by my hand.

Suddenly, it felt more like the correct choice.

With the queen of diamonds, I’d have a stronger hand, and by sacrificing the nine, I could aim at an unbeatable royal flush.

After so many turns, it felt like it was calling for me.

Like I deserved it.

Maria: "Fufufu..."

Erik: "What’s so funny?"

Maria: "Nothing? I’m just thinking I have this round in the bag."

Unfortunately for her, it was my turn to draw again, and after so long, I finally got what I needed.

Maria: "Stop. I’m revealing my hand~."

...The cards in Maria’s hands were an ace of hearts, a king of hearts, a queen of hearts, a jack of hearts, and lastly, a ten of hearts.

A royal flush.

For a second, I forgot that she was cheating.

Maria: "I don’t know what you were so focused on, but I’m assuming it didn’t matter?"

Erik: "...Correct."

Maria: "Great. We’re almost done then."

I didn’t win a single round after that.

Maria always had at least a flush of hearts, but almost every other round she would reveal a royal flush instead.

That continued until she only had the five cards in her deck.

Maria: "You asked me to explain what Maya was doing? Well, this is the trick."

...Except that Maya wasn’t cheating, so her explanation fell short.

Erik: "...I’d like the explanation with words now."

Maria: "Ugh. You’re so impatient. I was gonna get to that."

Of course she was.

It became quite noticeable when she, with only her five selected cards, made me play three more rounds to hammer home her point, as she said.

Maria: "Look, the thing is... You and Maya are playing two fundamentally different games. You set the rules for this war when you started it, but Maya doesn’t have to follow them, yes?"

I suppose.

Though instead of calling it a rule break, I’d qualify what Maya has done so far as a different method of playing.

Maria: "You’re playing the game to the best of your ability, and you’re playing well. But because the rules are different, you value resource management, and you strengthen your hand with every turn, and to keep open as many possibilities as you can, you never discard anything permanently."

Erik: "As for Maya?"

Maria: "She is doing the opposite. It might not make sense from your perspective, but it doesn’t matter to her that she’s just thrown away her king and ace of spades. She’s already decided the hand she wants to play every turn, and they aren’t needed for that."

The ace of spades and the king of spades, huh?

What an odd choice of cards.

They were high-value cards, and they were of the same suit, which only made it more illogical to discard them permanently.

That suited her point, but there was clearly something else she wanted to communicate with these specific cards...

Erik: "The government and... Her brother? Are you saying they are not needed for her final hand?"

Maria: "Who knows? Depends on how she has decided to play. And I can’t speak for that."

The most important...

Although I suppose knowing what she’s trying to accomplish is useful in itself.

Erik: "Well, if that’s the case, how do I win then? Surely not by cheating, too."

Maria and Maya started employing this strategy before me.

Which means they’d reach their final hand earlier, regardless of who won more rounds beforehand.

Once that happened, there’d be no more discards, and I could never match their hand.

Maria: "That’s difficult... But there is a way."

Surprisingly, she seemed to be carefully considering it.

Maria: "If Maya is building towards a final hand, an uncontestable victory that will nullify any that preceded it, she’ll need to throw almost everything away, to make sure nothing can get in the way. So... What if, after she’s thrown so much away, you snatch one of the cards she needs for her final hand?"

Erik: "...She wouldn’t be able to win anymore, as per her own rules."

Maria: "Yeah. But you’ll need to discover her victory condition. You know, what does victory look like to her in this war? Also, reality is not a deck of cards. Depending on what you take, she might have a substitute, so be careful. The same trick does not work twice on her."

From the exasperated sigh, I believed Maria spoke out of experience.

As for her strategy, it was adequate.

It introduced another question for me to answer, but with enough of them, I’d inevitably find an answer.

Then, one answer would lead to another, and once figured out, Maya would stop being such a concern.

Erik: "Then, lastly... Is that the only trick Maya uses?"

Maria: "Pwahaha! No way! Not by a long shot!"

A simple "No" would suffice.

Though I guess the honesty was unquestionable, if nothing else.

Erik: "I wonder..."

If she wanted to stop the AOTG, she should have aimed for the spade royal flush.

Her brother and the government, Adriarch’s family...

They were all cards she could use.

She was already close to a perfect final hand.

So why discard them?

If her victory is not about stopping me, then what is it?

The more I know about her, the less I understand.

Every question just seems to circle the same core issue.

She’s like a never-ending spiral, designed only to hypnotize an unsuspecting onlooker.

Yet, I don’t dare take my eyes away...

And I shouldn’t.

It’s obvious now more than ever.

For the AOTG to succeed, even further than I can imagine, I need someone like her.

Someone who can surpass my expectations...

Even if temporarily.

Erik: "Another alternative... Her brother. If she can only discard permanently, and I force the king of spades back into her hand... Make sure she can’t discard it anymore... She will never win."

Maria: "...! Eh? What are you-"

Erik: "Don’t mind me. I was speaking to myself."

Good thing we have that treaty.

Once I defeat her, she’ll become a permanent card in my unbeatable hand.