Never Kneel No Matter What
Continue?
I have no moves left.
No matter what I do, it will end in defeat.
Smiling slightly, Arielle threw Kelsea’s insult back at her, “Kelsea, why don’t you say anything? I have
never seen anyone as unsporting as you in my entire life.”
Despite how refreshing Arielle’s smile was, it caused Kelsea to break out in cold sweat.
Biting her lip, Kelsea closed her eyes as she toppled her king, conceding defeat.
The surrounding crowd cheered in response.
“It’s amazing! The Lightspring Maneuver has finally been solved!”
Unlike checkers, chess originated from Ibica but wasn’t popular domestically. Therefore, there were
fewer skillful players locally compared to foreigners.
Therefore, when Arielle countered the Lightspring Maneuver, it wasn’t just a personal victory for her, but
a momentous leap for the domestic chess scene.
She had brought glory to the nation!
Even Everett expressed excitement over the momentous occasion.
Meanwhile, Vinson had ended his game and walked over.
When he saw Arielle solve the Lightspring Maneuver, he gazed at her intently.
Is there anything that she doesn’t know?
He couldn’t help but ask, “Have you seen the Lightspring Maneuver before? How did you solve it?”
The surrounding spectators quietened down and waited in anticipation for Arielle’s sophisticated answer.
With a puzzled expression, Arielle asked, “Doesn’t anyone know?”
Everyone shook their heads.
If they knew how to solve it, they would’ve done it long ago. After all, anyone who did it would become
famous.
Arielle glanced at the crowd in exasperation. Pointing at the chessboard, she explained, “It’s actually
elementary. Don’t read into the game, just look at how the pieces are arranged. What do they look like?”
Everyone tried to cast aside their knowledge of chess and looked at how the pieces were arranged.
Suddenly, everyone saw that it formed a single word in Chanaean.
One of them read it out by reflex. “Stupid…”
Snap! Arielle snapped her fingers and remarked, “That’s it! It just reads “stupid”. Once you can see it, the
answer is obvious.”
Boom!
Everyone’s mind was blown.
After all the time and effort they spent researching the move, they realized they had been looking at it in
the wrong direction. It simply boiled down to one word which was “stupid.”
Just when they were struck by the epiphany, they felt as if the word was describing them.
Stupid! Aren’t we all?
With awkward expressions, many of them were ashamed of themselves.
They had overcomplicated the matter when a child could have easily solved it.
Meanwhile, Kelsea was trembling in defeat.
Her ultimate gambit which she was so proud of ended up forming the word “stupid.”
At that moment, she just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
Arielle continued, “Sometimes, there’s just no need to overthink, just like life itself. Simplicity brings
happiness. Kelsea, aren’t you supposed to fulfill your promise now?”
The deal between them was that whoever that lost would have to kneel.
Given that Kelsea was the loser, she naturally had to kneel in front of everyone.
As her expression darkened, Kelsea gritted her teeth. “You have cheated! How can a word be
considered a chess tactic? You were just lucky. I don’t consider myself to have lost the game!”
Arielle raised her eyebrows. “Aren’t you being unsporting?”
Kelsea remained defiant. “I have already told you that I didn’t lose. Therefore, I won’t kneel. Even if I
died, I still won’t kneel to you!”
Just as Kelsea spoke, a white-haired old man with a walking stick approached them.
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