Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 484 - 483: The Outcome of Clown Chess

Chapter 484: Chapter 483: The Outcome of Clown Chess

About ten minutes later.

"Your Minister is blocked by my Soldier, your Knight is surrounded by my lion and elephant, your King is thirteen squares away, and your Clown is stuck right in the corner made by the monkey and Farmer. Now I just need to push my leopard forward..."

As he spoke, the Clown picked up Richard’s white Clown Chess piece and tossed it off the board, speaking softly, "Passerby, it looks like you’ve lost."

"Indeed." Richard nodded after hearing the Clown’s words, showing neither anger nor surprise. To be honest, it would have been problematic if he had won. After all, how could he not lose without fully grasping the rules?

However...

Richard looked up at the Clown and said, "Let’s play another round."

"Alright." The Clown happily agreed, swiftly setting up the pieces again and moving them.

"Clack, clack, clack..."

The pieces were picked up, the pieces were set down, and the sound of conversation sporadically rose.

"...My tiger has caught your chimpanzee, passerby..."

"...Mr. Clown, but my Knight has also arrived..."

"...It doesn’t matter, I still have my elephant..."

"...Then I have a lion..."

"...Passerby, just a reminder, your number of animal pieces in this area is about to exceed the limit. It’s going to trigger a Mini Beast Tide and you’ll suffer heavy losses. You lost last time because of this..."

"...Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Clown, but actually I did it on purpose."

The Clown was taken aback and looked up, "Huh? On purpose?"

"Yes, intentionally." Richard said and pushed the lion piece forward, "The Beast Tide is indiscriminate of friend or foe and will block off this area. That way, your troop advantage will be isolated from the main battlefield, and my small squad of human pieces can break through here and catch your Clown, who is down to his last life..."

"But my Clown can move this way."

"Your animal piece, the buffalo, blocks the path."

"I can move the buffalo away, place it here."

"Very good, in that case, your number of animal pieces is also over the limit, triggering a Mini Beast Tide, and your Clown Chess piece will be cornered. My Knight piece jumps here, and then you are...dead. Yes, you’re dead... Your own pieces, your own advantage, killed you—just like that, Mr. Clown."

As he spoke, Richard picked up the black Clown Chess piece and set it outside the board.

"This—"

The Clown was stunned.

After quite a while, the Clown finally spoke, his voice slow, "This is indeed a bit of a surprise. You managed to win a game so quickly and in such a way. Now, we’re even with one win each, a tie. If we want to determine the winner, we’ll need another round. What do you think, passerby?" At the end, the Clown looked at Richard.

Richard did not refuse and made a welcoming gesture.

"Alright." The Clown nodded and once again began to set up the pieces, putting the numerous black and white pieces back in their original positions and then moving them.

This time, the Clown appeared much more serious, his onslaught far more formidable. Right from the start, he frequently maneuvered pieces, splitting his forces into several groups that advanced towards Richard’s pieces.

Richard struggled to maintain his defense, but ultimately, he was no match and was broken through by the Clown’s exquisite maneuvers. Then the Clown began a merciless rampage of capturing pieces without leaving Richard any chance to counterattack.

"Your elephant is dead."

"Your tiger is dead."

"Your Minister is dead."

"Your Clown has died once and is about to die a second time."

As he spoke, the Clown continued throwing the captured pieces off the board. The board slowly cleared, and the number of pieces for both the Clown and Richard decreased, but the Clown’s pieces did so at a visibly slower pace.

So by the time the Clown was down to half of his black pieces, Richard had barely any left. When the Clown had only a third of his pieces remaining, Richard only had a lone Clown piece.

Richard maneuvered his last Clown piece continually, but it inevitably ended up surrounded.

"It’s over; this victory is guaranteed without any surprises." The Clown announced the result, "It’s two to one now, I win."

Richard shrugged and clapped politely, "Mr. Clown is truly formidable."

"Actually, you’re quite impressive too." The Clown looked over, his voice gentle, "To quickly familiarize yourself with the rules and win in the second game is quite rare, placing you among the intelligent of the intelligent. However..." At the end, the Clown paused slightly.

Richard’s eyebrows shot up, sensing the crux of the conversation coming, and he said, "Mr. Clown seems to have something to say?"

"Ah, there are some thoughts."

"What are they?"

The Clown looked seriously and said, "What I want to say is, you obviously possess Wisdom that far surpasses many. But the wiser one is, the more one should understand humility. After all, a person’s Wisdom is finite; it’s impossible to know everything and solve all problems with one’s own Wisdom alone. Just like the Clown Chess we just played, you may have won one round, but in the grand score, you’ve still lost—and that’s an example. In these circumstances, I think you need to maintain a more humble attitude towards everything around you. What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Richard chuckled lightly, "It sounds like something I’ve heard somewhere before. Hmm, let me think, perhaps in a library."

"Is that so." The Clown’s tone didn’t change much, "Then perhaps that’s a coincidence. Of course, it’s also possible that the words are inherently correct, which is why people keep advising you, passerby."

Richard smiled without saying a word.

The Clown, sensing something, asked, "Why, passerby, do you think that what I’m saying is incorrect, or that you disagree that people should be humble?"

"Of course not." Richard shook his head, "Humility is a virtue, and learning to be humble is progress. I don’t oppose it. However, I think it has a certain range of applicability, and the current situation doesn’t apply."

"Oh? The current situation doesn’t apply?" The Clown’s tone rose slightly as he looked at Richard, "Passerby, do you think that winning one game of Clown Chess without fully understanding the rules already proves your intelligence? And that losing the grand score to me is due to a short period of contact and some oversight, so given enough time, you could completely beat me, right?"

"If that’s really what you think, then I must tell you the truth." The Clown’s voice grew stern, "The reason you won the second game is because I let you. I had complete control over the situation on the board. If I wished, I could win in any way, or lose in any way; you could never beat me in Clown Chess."

Richard laughed and said, "Mr. Clown, actually... I knew that you let me win on purpose in the second game."

Huh?