The boy laughed and played with the crowd, reveling in their enjoyment, his glee obvious. As the game went on, even the most stoic of rational voices were quelled with the child’s joy and creativity. What had originally been an opportunity to test both the heir apparent’s suitability quickly turned into a chance for Korfus’s own son to leave his proverbial greenhouse he had previously been nurtured within, and to test himself in the real world against real opponents. Or whatever facsimile of ‘real’ was being portrayed, anyway.

Korfus looked to Blaine, whom was standing before him appearing uncomfortable with being so informal. Then he turned to Rue, whom tried his best to seem uninterested in the game going on before him, but could not best the discerning eyes of his father.

“Rue. Who will win?” Korfus posed, wishing to test his son.

“Based on the configuration of units and their publicly announced stat values, this one postulates that either Fiery Inferno Blaze will win with overwhelming quickness, or they will lose because they allow the fight to drag on too long. Without knowing the hidden abilities given to each player’s avatar, it is impossible to guess what the outcome will be with certainty.” Rue spoke like he was giving a book report in class.

“Offense is key, is that it?” Korfus mused, a somewhat cruel smile playing across his lips as he stared down at his child.

“Father has taught me that in martial arts, nothing is invincible before speed. With their range and power, it is possible for the overwhelming firepower strategy to completely obliterate the more defensive solo hero strategy before they have a chance to set up a proper defense. Even if they do manage to get their defenses in place, they still have to move across the field against an entrenched magical artillery and their lower H.P. avatars will still be susceptible to focus fire and a lucky critical.” Rue continued. He looked up at his father expectantly, as though he wanted praise, before he realized what he was doing and trained his expression to appear uninterested again.

“Blaine. What do you think of my son’s presentation?” Korfus asked of his retainer. Blaine stood straighter and refused to look at either Korfus or Rue while he answered crisply.

“The Young … ahem, Rue’s guestimates are well founded and entirely plausible.” Blaine began, pausing to take a mental break from his master’s stern gaze.

“But unfortunately, Rue’s presentation bears no mentioning of the players perhaps not moving in what would traditionally be considered ‘strategic’ ways. One group is of untrained and likely uneducated housewives. The other is of children far younger than… Rue… himself as well as almost certainly lacking an education. These facts are of the upmost importance when determining war strategies. It is imperative to not know only the soldiers, you must also understand their captains. I believe the children will likely lose due to their own inexperience and actions. In this humble one’s opinion, Housewives United team will win… but they will not necessarily earn it.” Blaine summarized the half an hour of lecturing he would have given on the subject. A boisterous cheer came from Team Fiery Inferno Blaze when they managed to take out one of the opposing healers. Rue smiled grandly at Blaine like he had already ‘won’ the debate that only he was participating in or even cared about.

Korfus looked across the room towards a woman sitting gracefully in the first row of the stands nearest to Housewives United. Even from here, he could feel the completely exposed and very legitimate threat she exuded towards him with only a casual glare.

Impertinent…

Korfus just held in his sigh and watched the remainder of the match. Blaine was correct in his assessment, of course. The children literally blew themselves up right at the moment when the other team committed the fatal mistake of overreaching. Everyone had seen the caster’s stats. It wasn’t like they could just bombard constantly. They would have run out of abilities long before they could have cracked the other team’s protector and healer combination. Though the abilities of the casters were quite powerful and held rather extreme range compared to the other units, they could not use them as many times and accuracy suffered with range. Nevermind the fact that the opposing team was heavily fortified by the stone slabs that dotted the arena.

The hottest flames burn the swiftest.

The match ended in only a few turns. Korfus gave the terrified peasant girl a glance, but continued to ignore her as that was the choice Rue had made. Convinced of his own superiority, Rue did not seem to think he needed help from his lesser. This coming match would likely end up being three versus four if his idiot son refused to use the pieces given to him. It would be quite disgraceful for someone of Korfus’s standing to lose a match of anything against a group of six-year old orphans, even if he later pretended it was to give them a chance at the prize.

“Rue. You are not allowed to lose this match. Think carefully about our roles before giving your orders. The peasant, Blaine, and I will follow whatever you decide.” Korfus told Rue, his voice starting rather harsh but softening by the end.

“Team Future Wardens and Team Royal Harbingers, come on out to the pitch. I’ll roll for the field once you are seated.” Syron called to the arena. Korfus sat down to the right of his son and looked over at the opposing team. Directly behind them was that woman again, staring pointedly directly into Korfus’s eyes.

Yes, yes. You are watching me. I get it, you damnable woman. Pay attention to something else before I make a big deal out of this.

“Team Future Wardens… you guys are playing with a physical melee, a physical ranged, a magical melee, and a protector, huh? With a name like Future Wardens, I’m a little surprised no one chose a healer. I mean, when I think Wardens, I think of The Warden. Though I can’t claim to be an expert, I’m vaguely familiar with her, so I can say with limited certainty that she is a healer.” The boy claimed while rolling a die and showing the result to the arena below. It displayed a three. The arena warped into a grassy valley between two mountains with rocks everywhere. Some parts were flat, where others were slanted so harshly a real person would find it difficult to not slide down.

“Ah, it turns out it is bothering me. Little girl… yes, you. The one that chose which team you all were competing against. Why did no one choose a healer?” In truth, Syron was fine with their choice, but he was trying to get a little more of a participation out of the players and crowd instead of doing all the work himself.

“The Warden is the greatest lady ever! But we didn’t want to be mean and pretend to be her if she didn’t like it.” The girl said seriously. Syron grinned mischievously.

“Do you want to pretend to be her? I really doubt she would mind.” Syron asked seriously, preparing to switch out her class to healer if she asked. Choosing a class you didn’t like because you didn’t think the strategy would play out was one thing… but this was just a six year old girl that probably couldn’t care less about strategies and just wanted to have fun. Fun was all Syron cared about right now.

“I want to be just like her! Is it really okay?!” The girl called back with the excitement and wide smile only a child can pull off.

“What do you think Mother? Would you have been fine with this adorable little girl role playing you?” Syron then made a spotlight appear over his mother’s head. The whole room shuddered to a halt when they realized she was just casually sitting in the back row of the audience directly behind the girl’s team.

“Of course not, Syron. I am flattered to be her role model.” Lady Forrester smiled so warmly down at the girl as a pulse of positive energy rolled through the room, lightening everyone’s mood, though not enough to convince half of them to remember to breathe.

“You can switch to healer if you want?” Syron offered. The girl immediately consented while she stared whole heartedly at Lady Forrester with what could perhaps only be described as worshipping.

“Alright… new team line up is… you were the physical melee so… Healer, magic melee, archer, and protector. The lineup for Team Royal Harbingers is physical melee, magic melee, protector, and healer. Pretty close team make up here, though Royal Harbingers are notably lacking a ranged avatar. Alright, choose your starting positions!”

Korfus then spoke up, interrupting Syron with a rather commanding tone.

“Young man, only my son here will be playing. Myself, the gentleman with me, as well as this young woman will not be making any decisions in regard to movements or tactics.” Korfus decided rather one-sidedly. Syron appraised him, as well as the young woman sitting near him.

“The whole team agrees with this?” Syron asked seriously, though he was most notably staring at the young woman that was shying away from the two men.

“Ah… um… yes!” The woman claimed. Korfus, deciding everything was settled, then stood from his chair and began to move from the table.

“Denied.” Syron’s voice echoed through the room. Though most of the room was silent, one particular woman sitting in the back row was laughing beautifully.

“This isn’t a singles match. It’s a team match. You’re welcome to leave the table if you don’t wish to play, but someone else will take your spot. If there is no one available, I’ll make the decisions for the avatar as a non-player-character. If half of Team Royal Harbingers withdraws, Team Future Wardens will win by default.”

Shuuko looked terrified as she visibly shrunk into her chair. Clearly, she regretted ever agreeing to be player number thirty-two. Rue looked thunderstruck. He had never heard anyone tell his father no before, nor would he likely hear it again in his life. Certainly not in the idiot boy’s life. Blaine looked ready to attack Syron. He had stood rather aggressively and put his hand on the pommel of the sword he didn’t have strapped to his waist a few minutes ago but now seemed to be there. Korfus looked delighted. Patricia Forrester now had a companion in laughter.

“Very well. Since you say it so adamantly, the Royal Harbingers do not withdraw.” Korfus said shortly after he collected himself. He then sat down, quietly telling Blaine to do the same. While he did think what had happened was pretty funny, Korfus did not fail to notice that when Blaine was about to draw his weapon, Lady Forrester’s magic shifted from happy thoughts to existential dread. She was not exuding the aura anymore… but he could still tell from his feelings. Blaine would have died before he ever managed to cut down the Young Forrester up in the chair. In fact, there was a decent chance that the Royal Line may have ended with Prince Rue if Korfus failed to kill Patricia at that time. After all, Korfus may be King, but this was a Kingdom with a Royal Lineage, not a kratocracy. Some people just have more strength. Though… Korfus was plenty strong himself.

“Lovely. Let’s have a good, clean fight! No rabbit punches. Nothing below the belt. Now touch hands and get back to your corners!” Syron said with a smile to a confused crowd. He made the eight avatars shake hands and then run to their places on the map. They weren’t realistic avatars, just the vaguely out of place sixteen-bit ones for the arena map.

“Are you guys ready?” Syron playfully asked the eight avatars. They nodded and gave him the thumbs up.