Chapter 9

Chapter Player.3 A Dropout Who Wants to Quit Games Gods’ Games We Play 1 It was the inky hour before dawn. There was a chill in the air, and a blanket of silence lay over the sleeping Sacrament City of Ruin. It was a moment of peace and tranquility everywhere… Everywhere except in the chief secretary’s room on the seventeenth floor. “Guess what, Miranda? I’ve decided to team up with Fay!” “That’s excellent news. I’m sure you’ll work hard on Clearing the gods’ games.” “I’m gonna go Dive into another game right now!” “No, you’re not.” “What?! Why not?” the former god Leshea shouted. Her lovely face was framed by her fiery red hair. “Fay and I can win—I’m sure of it!” “It’s true, I don’t doubt that you and Fay will form the most potent pairing our branch office has ever seen,” Miranda said. “Right! So I’m gonna—” “No, you’re not.” “What?! Why not?” Another yell. What was the crucial third person, Fay, up to while the exchange between Leshea and the chief secretary unfolded? He was calmly sipping the herbal tea Miranda had offered them and snacking on a cookie she’d put out with it. “I’m glad you’re enjoying the refreshments, Fay, but do you think you could help me explain this to Lady Leshea?” Miranda said. “I did, all last night. I told her the two of us alone couldn’t do it.” Fay and Leshea would form a team: that was all well and good, but two people couldn’t participate in the gods’ games by themselves. “I told her it was just like in Titan’s Divinitag—the gods’ games are based on the idea of a god versus a bunch of humans. In a lot of cases, the two of us alone won’t meet the minimum player count requirement. Right, Leshea?” Fay said. “How many people do we need, then?” Leshea asked. “…is the question she always comes back with,” Fay went on. “And I hoped that, as chief secretary, you might have a more concrete number than I could offer. You’re the one with all the data from the Arcane Court.” Which had brought them to this morning, when a very energetic and very invested Leshea had dragged Fay to the secretary’s office for a chat almost before the break of dawn. “I see. That’s fair enough. I ask my apostles for hard data, and it’s only right that I provide some of those numbers to you.” Past the thin lenses of her glasses, Miranda’s eyes suddenly smiled. “However, first I have a question for you, my dear Fay. Do you notice anything about my outfit?” “It’s a nightgown, ma’am.” “That’s right! It’s sleepwear.” Miranda was wearing a very demure burgundy nightgown, and she could barely keep her eyes open as she spoke. “I was on the night shift, and I thought maybe I could finally get some rest. I was juuust heading off to the bedroom. Lack of sleep is a girl’s worst enemy when it comes to skincare, you know.” “S-Sorry, ma’am…,” Fay apologized. “The last subordinate of mine to make this mistake spent the next month sweeping the garden in the central courtyard. If I found even one leaf on the ground, he had to do it all again.” “I thought the punishment was supposed to fit the crime!” “Disturbing a young lady’s rest is a very serious offense. I hope you’ll bear that in mind in the future.” The gown-clad secretary sighed and demonstratively swallowed her entire cup of coffee in one gulp. “Now, Lady Leshea, to your point. To date, the Arcane Court has never authorized the formation of a two-person team. Part of the problem is the participation issue Fay outlined, but to be blunt, it comes down to win percentage.” “Grr,” the former god huffed. “I suspect you have an idea what I mean. The gods’ games may be battles of wits, but the most effective strategy humanity has is strength in numbers.” Humans only ever faced one god at a time in the gods’ games, but any number of humans could participate. For the gods, more humans meant a livelier challenge, and therefore more fun. Humanity could take advantage of that. “The Arcane Court recommends teams be composed of ten people or more. In the last thirty years of data, teams with nine people or fewer have bested the gods less than four percent of the time. Contrastingly, ten people or more and the win ratio shoots up to nine percent. With twenty people, it’s eleven percent. The more people you have, the more likely you are to win,” Miranda explained. Leshea didn’t respond.