Natasha the Halve

I laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, then equipped my armor and offered Lapia a hand, “Did you really think I wouldn't notice?”

She took my hand and shrugged it off, “Worth a try. I really don't like those mushrooms.”

We walked to the right, heading to the side of the palace we hadn't explored yet.

“Do you think the Queen or the servers noticed?” I turned to Lapia with a smile.

She shook her head, “I made sure to be extra sneaky.”

I hummed, “So people don't feel E'er shifting?”

She raised her eyebrows and looked up at me, “Feel what now?”

“Like, when someone casts a spell or uses a skill,” I explained, lifting a hand and touching my cheekbone. “Their eyes light up and E'er shifts.”

“Eyes light up?” her face turned serious, thinking for a second. “What else do you sense when people cast spells?”

“Wait a second,” I arched an eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that you don't see people's eyes light up when a spell or skill is used?”

“Nope,” she replied, shaking her head. “There is no indication other than the direct product of the spell. A fireball, a circle on the ground, a barrier, etc. Only that.”

“Huh...” I uttered with a nod. “I see people's eyes light up in different colors.”

She chuckled, “You're joking, right?”

“I don't see a reason to joke about it, Lapia,” I gave her a serious face.

Lapia's eyes flashed red and she waited.

“There,” I gestured at her eyes. “Your eyes flashed red.”

Her eyes widened a little, then nodded, “I see. So a Halve's sensitivity to E'er goes that far.”

I nodded, “Also, healers' hands glow a little when they cast healing spells.”

“Hoooh...” she breathed out in thought. “First time hearing about this.”

“Maybe I can see ultraviolet or infrared, too?” I wondered, looking around.

Lapia chuckled, “Infrared? Ultraviolet? Did you forget the names?”

“Hahaha...” I laughed, finding human creativity to be bankrupt. “No, that's how they were called.”

“I see,” she nodded.

We took a turn at the end of the hallway, coming onto another hallway.

I sniffed the air a couple of times. The smell of stone and food tickled my nose.

Lapia continued, “By the names, I assume infrared to be above the visible light spectrum, and ultraviolet below it?”

I nodded, “No clue.”

She laughed, “Then why do you nod?”

I shrugged, “I don't know. Maybe to not seem completely ignorant?”

“Understandable. And well... there's no real way to know if you can see beyond the light spectrum or not. Right now at least,” she concluded.

“That would be cool,” I offered.

“I agree,” Lapia nodded with a smile.

We continued walking and talking about small things like the possibility of seeing ultraviolet lights and what that would entail. It wasn't really that interesting. The conclusion was a grim world almost devoid of colors.

The amount of Royal Guards increased while we approached the eastern wing of the palace at the same rate that paintings became less common on the walls. Some were relaxing in wide rooms, talking to each other and playing card games on stone tables. They didn't pay too much attention to us and we didn't disturb their break.

We entered another room where a large group of people were playing cards. A few maids and guards were walking between the tables, checking on the players every few seconds.

“Your Excellency,” a voice called from behind.

I turned around and saw a Royal Guard smiling at me.

I raised my eyebrows, “Yeah? Something I can help you with?”

He bowed a little, making his feline ears shake slightly, “I was wondering if I could interest you in a game of Galeian Armory.”

Galeian what? I blinked a few times, then it came to me. Ah, the card game Nilenna wrote about.

I nodded, “Sure, I have the time. I don't have a deck, however.”

He smiled widely, “That's not a problem. I can lend you one.”

“That'd be nice. Thank you.” I replied, looking around the room.

“Not a problem. This way, please,” he turned around and approached an empty table.

I gave Lapia a glance, “Do you mind?”

“We could use a break,” she nodded with a smile.

We followed the man and sat down across him on the table.

“I didn't hear your name,” I offered a hand.

“Vival, Your Excellency,” he shook my hand, then coughed once. “I mean, Lady Natasha.”

I smiled, “Nice to meet you, Vival.”

“Alright,” he sniffed and cleared his throat, then retrieved two linen bags from his vest's inside pocket. He looked at me and placed a bag between us on the table, “That's your deck. Do you know the rules?”

I shook my head, “I don't.”

He chuckled, “It's very simple.” He pulled out the cards from his bag and gestured for me to do the same.

I did and placed the cards on the table, then waited for the man to continue.

“Galeian Armory is a turn-based card game where the objective is to kill the opponent's forces and destroy their figurative country,” he explained, shuffling his deck. “There are three factions: monsters, people, and Halves. Each deck can only have one Halven card.” He picked a card and showed it to me.

It had a drawing of a female silver Halve with long hair standing on top of a mountain of dead monsters on it. She wore white armored tights revealing the shape of her figure, and had a bow in her hands whith which she was aiming at the viewer. A flock of birds similar to the one that delivered my letters flew above her head. On top of the drawing it read: Nilenna Atarka, Halven Archer. On the top left corner, a golden circle held the number ten. On the top right corner, a silver sword held the number twenty. Right beneath the drawing, a small box with text had a few lines written. The first line read 'I will find you', and I felt myself cringe inside. Next was a bit of information about Nilenna, like her birthday and her assumed birthplace. Her face lacked the details to accurately make out her features.

“Your deck has His Excellency Miraztor,” he gestured at my deck.

I took the cards and looked for my kin.

The card was pretty neat, it had a golden Halve with medium-lenght hair sitting on top of a pile of rocks and meditating. The top had 'Miraztor Xipnak, Halven Cleric' written on it. The golden circle held a five, but there was no silver sword. Instead, a white eye held a ten. The little box beneath the drawing had 'Healing body, soul, and mind' and then his birthplace and birthday.

Pretty handsome, I concluded, inspecting his drawn face. He had a strong chin and a sharp jaw. His eyes were closed to I couldn't see if our eyes were similarly crossed by a horizontal line.

The man continued his explanation, “Each deck has 60 cards with fifteen being currency in the form of gold coins. Some have special abilities like being worth double and such,” he took a card and showed me the drawing of a pile of gold coins on a table. “You can have a maximum of twety spells in your deck, and, however unrealistically it may sound, you cast them spending gold. It's a game, it can't be too realistic.”

I nodded in understanding.

He put the gold down and showed me another card. It was a person with their hands raised at a floating sun above, “Out of the available spells, only five can be tier three. Again, this is a game and balance is important. Tier three spells are rare and add to the overall power of your deck. New players don't have tier three spells for a while since the cards are quite expensive. You can have a wide variety of spells,” he tapped the card he was showing me, “This is Solar Epitaph, the strongest Pyromancer Spell.”

I turned to Lapia, who had a proud and smug expression.

He put the spell down and showed me another card which had a muscly Ork holding a large axe on it, “These are units you can place on the board. You can have a total of twenty units. They have various abilities based on different physical classes like Crusaders, Parriers, Lancers, Assassins, and more. In other words, strong classes. You can have three clerics in your deck for balance's sake. I will explain why when we come to combat.”

Holy shit, the game seems pretty complicated.

“Now, the units can be either people or monsters. It won't make much of a difference in the end. Once again, it's a game so liberties are taken when it comes to balance. For example, I'm sure Nilenna by herself could kill every unit in my deck in a matter of minutes. I bet you can kill them as easily, too.”

I chuckled. He was probably right.

He put the unit down and showed me another card, which had a horned helmet, “Now, the final set of cards are four wildcards. These can be either artifacts that strengthen your units or Halve, a location that changes the conditions of the encounter: for example a corrupt country that charges double and makes your enemies' units increase in price except for Halves, a place of power that increases your units' strengths, and more. These wildcards can only be interacted with by the opponent's Halve. We flip a coin to decide destruction or appropriation. Destruction removes the card from the game and appropriation means the opponent gains control of the wildcard for the rest of the game.”

I sighed, Why make these obtuse rules?

Vival smiled, “So, how about we play a game? I will walk you through the steps.”

I nodded, “Okay.”

“Right, so,” he shuffled his deck again.

I did the same.

He took the top half of my deck and cut it, placing the lower half on top of it.

I imitated him.

He took his deck and placed it in front of him, “Now, we draw eight cards.”

I did as suggested.

He retrieved a copper coin and placed in on top of his thumb, “Ship or pickax?”

“Pickax,” I replied.

He nodded and flipped the coin.

The coin fell down on the table and fell on one side. It was ship.

I clicked my tongue.

Lapia chuckled and pinched my left cheek.

“So, at the beginning of every turn we draw a card,” he took one from the top of his deck and smirked. “Oh, my.”

“Go easy on me,” I jokingly warned him.

He chuckled and we started the game.

In the end, I lost but it was a lot of fun. The rules were interesting and the variety of spells and units made for a very colorful experience. I had little knowledge of card games like these so it was fun to learn it. I hoped I could practice and beat the shit out of Nilenna when the time eventually comes.

The basics were pretty simple. Draw a card, place a gold card, cast a spell, attack, then if the player has any clerics, heal the units if they received damage. The 'country' he spoke of was a health pool each player had consisting of one hundred points each. The idea was to kill the units first so the health pool became vulnerable.

Vival's deck was definitely juiced up. He used Nilenna to absolutely decimate my units and health pool. I had no chance with Miraztor. The man could heal three times per turn, but that doesn't matter if she one-shots every single one of my unit.

After my absolute defeat, the man smiled widely, “How about a little bet?”

I shook my head, pushing the deck in his direction, “I'm not much of a gambler. Thank you for teaching me the rules. It was pretty fun.” I stood up and offered him a hand, “Besides, we've got business to attend to.”

He nodded and stood up, shaking my hand, “It was a pleasure teaching you, Lady Natasha. I wish you plentiful spoils of war.”

I gave him a nod and turned around, then left with Lapia.

As we passed the tables, I sniffed the air of the room.

Nobody had the smell of Demons so we kept on exploring the palace.

After a few minutes I noticed more and more staff like maids, servers, kitchen staff, and such individuals walking the hallways and relaxing in open rooms. The smell of sex increased as well.

Maybe we're approaching the living quarters or something? I wondered, sniffing the air every time someone walked past me.

“Have you played cards, Lapia?” I asked my girlfriend while we walked.

“Not that kind,” she shook her head. “I play the one Bonte usually plays. It's a bit more stimulating than cards with abilities and spells. And as Vival said, the cards are incredibly expensive.”

We took a turn at the end of a corridor, facing a set of stairs.

“Hooh?” I nodded, “How mu-”

The unfathomably delicious smell of Demonic blood made its way into my nose, interrupting my words. It reminded me of a long-forgotten hunger. The smell, however enticing, was pretty thin.

“Ahn!” a quiet moan escaped me, and my stomach rumbled like thunder.

Lapia's eyes widened in surprise and shock, “Was that your tummy?! Why did you moan?”

I swallowed the saliva gathering in my mouth, “It was. And I found the scent.”

The Elf winced, “Oh...”