"Magic comes from elementals. They flow through channels called「spirit circuits」and perform some task determined by their shape. Humans don't have「spirit circuits」, so we can't interact with magic or see it in action. Races that can manipulate their own「spirit circuits」can cast spells. Supposedly the gods alone can speak to elementals and have their obeisance. Some races have「spirit circuits」they can't manipulate: sirens and vampires use magic to charm the senses, werebeasts use magic to enhance their bodies and minds… I don't know many details. My grandfather lost all of humanity's written lore in a wager fifty years ago."

"He what."

Stephanie shrugs. "An angel challenged him to a game. He wagered the royal library. He lost. It wasn't the worst thing that happened to us while he was king."

If that wasn't the worst thing to happen while he was king then his reign must've been a disaster.

"Did he happen to lose anything else in a bet with an angel? The armory, perhaps?"

At no point in its history has Elkia had an armory. Nor an army, for that matter. What it has is land: farms and mines that generations of men have poured their blood and sweat into, deepwater ports and acres of timber forest. It has rather fewer of those, these days.

"We lost all of our remaining territory north of the Alterac Mountains and east of Canossa Pass. Nearly all of it was lost over the course of ten years and eight separate games carried out between my grandfather's administration and various agents of the Eastern Union. I would love to say more, but the werebeasts won his silence on the matter as part of the deal. We don't know what games he played or why he lost. The Eastern Union was unified rather unexpectedly out of sixteen disparate werebeast nations between eighteen and fifteen years ago, so the leading public theory is that an unusually competitive administration took hold, consolidated power, and started expanding."

The new president of the Eastern Union is a fox woman that Elkia knows precious little about. There are conflicting reports on what her name is, to say nothing of her political aims or skill as a gamer. Stephanie would have said that the power behind the throne was an angel or a machine, but Summoned Hero has recently been promoted to her attention as a hypothesis. She's not going to mention that, since it's just a guess.

"There are huge swathes of territory across the continent that once belonged to Elkia and are now part of Elven Gard. They are no longer occupied. Elves reproduce slowly, and their population grows but slightly with each passing year. My grandfather's attempts to win them back were unsuccessful but cost us little. The historians have yet to publish the final tally, but posterity will record no great victories."

Shiro had a notion that the way people won and lost territory over time could be usefully modelled as a system of equations.

Using Sora's relayed example of an interloper challenging a mayor for control of a town, you could imagine that mayors would choose to defend their turf with games that advantaged them in some way. Perhaps they see the interlopers are on the short side and select basketball, drafting their team from the tallest and fastest villagers. Interlopers might preferentially challenge mayors they knew to be weaker basketball coaches, but on the whole this would lead to a world of slow transition, where hostile takeovers are uncommon.

If the ruler of an entire country can be induced to gamble with arbitrary segments of their dominion, this model goes right out the window. A single person's pique becomes a weakness in the regime. Rather than a predictable series of basketball games, with brackets and tournaments and careful statistical analyses, international conflicts of unlimited magnitude are settled at a single stroke on the basketball court.

Shiro mentally terms this the Space Jam Theory of Disboardian Geopolitics, and throws away her original theory in disgust. It's a wonder that Elkia survived the late king's reign at all.

Stephanie is fully aware that this is ridiculous. She'd planned to do things differently as queen, before that door was closed to her.

"There are sorcerers in Elkia who can answer your other questions about magic. They're always busy, as a rule, but right now they still work for me. I'll introduce you when we have time."

Sora returns bearing three of the sphere desserts.

"Good news: haggling is still an available action."

Shiro doesn't do the shopping. If Sora's happy, she's happy for him.

The dessert is chewy and tastes like elderflower jelly beans and hazelnuts. Eating it replenishes some vitality of a kind that Shiro hadn't noticed she was missing. Maybe Elkia doesn't have grocery stories with home delivery, but at least it has tasty desserts.

Stephanie didn't ask for one and would have said no if she'd been asked. It's not her favorite.

There is, however, a silver lining: Sora thinks she deserves treats. Strictly better than the alternative, in her opinion. She nibbles on it appreciatively.

"Sho Elkieh ushed to haf a library," Shiro tells her brother, still chewing on the dessert orb. "Losht it in a bet wi' a' angel."

"Mmm?"

"The rooms and the books haven't moved out of the castle. They're just… under alternative management." One that doesn't issue library cards to humans and enforces volume rules with magic.

"Add reclaiming the library to the agenda." If Elkia doesn't have an internet, the royal library is going to be essential for their future plans. None of the other towns in this country are large enough to have a library, and the concierge at the Railbird's Perch didn't think there were any public libraries in Elkia City. This library looks like the only repository of Disboard knowledge available to them, short of tracking down human experts and asking them questions.

"That's— I wouldn't—"

Stephanie grimaces. She needs to phrase this carefully if she wants to get her point across.

"The library belongs to an angel. Angels are a greater race: old, clever, and very magical. When challenged they exclusively play word games—"

"What type of word games? Semantic or orthographic?"

"Uh. Both? Either way, leaving aside the difficulty of winning, you two don't have anything equal in value to the entire library, and you don't speak—"

"Wrong and wrong."

What is with these two? Are they incapable of behaving like normal people, or are they doing this deliberately?

Incapable.

Deliberately.

With full bellies, they proceed to the gates of the castle. A line of people in single file snakes under the open portcullis and through the arcades on the street. It's moving quickly, but they'll be waiting for a few minutes nonetheless.

The humans here range from Shiro's age to elderly. Most have deep tans and the characteristic oversized hats that seem so common in Elkia City. Most are content to walk silently, although a few of them seem to be travelling in pairs or trios and have taken to whispering while they await their turn.

Stephanie deposits Sora and Shiro at the back of the queue and disappears into the castle for a moment, returning quickly with a rolled sheet of parchment in one hand. Rank hath its privileges.

None of the people in line comment on her presence, apart from a few respectful gestures. News of her loss to Chloe Zell hasn't hit the rumor mill yet, and won't be in the broadsheets until tomorrow morning. This may be her last public appearance where people associate her with the throne.

Or it may not. She's feeling lucky.

The parchment reads as follows:

Succession Tournament — Official Rules

1. The succession tournament is a no limit hold 'em poker event. The winner of the tournament will be crowned as ruler of Elkia. There are no other prizes.
2. The tournament will be played according to customary no limit hold 'em rules. Players are advised to use standard action terminology: "bet", "raise", "call", "check", "fold", "all in". Players are advised to leave their hole cards face-down when not being read at the beginning of the hand.
3. Entry is open to all humans at no cost. The initial chip stack is 5,000. Re-entry is not permitted.
4. The small blind begins at 25 and the big blind begins at 50. Blind raises will be structured based on the total attendance for the tournament.
5. Players are limited to a maximum of six per table.
6. New players arriving at a table must begin play in the big blind position. Players returning to a table must begin in the big blind position or pay the total amount from missed blinds into the pot as an ante to resume play.
7. Physical chip action takes precedence over verbal action. Players are entitled to an accurate count of the number of chips in the pot. In the event of disagreement, the floor will stop play and provide this information.
8. In the event of a misdeal, the hand will be declared dead and replayed. In the event of a four-card flop, one such card will be selected at random while face-down as a burn card, and the remaining three used as the flop. This method will also be used for two-card turns and rivers.
9. In the event of other irregularities, the floor will adjudicate.
10. Cheating will result in an immediate forfeit. Cheating includes the following: colluding with other players at the table, stealing chips, transferring chips not issued for the tournament into the tournament, card marking, card substitution, card manipulation, soft play, chip dumping, and acquiring information which is conventionally secret in poker through the use of magic, device, external communication, or other means.

Let's all have fun and play together!

Sora holds the parchment up to his face, giving it an exaggerated rotation. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yup, still can't read. Stephanie, would you do the honors?"