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I discovered the staff members that were yelling that.

Among the three board games prepared for adults, chess was the first one I explained about. It had rules similar yet different from shogi, so I explained about Go in-between them so people wouldn’t confuse those rules with each other.

Setting that aside.

“Elize, Bard. Get back to work.”
“Okaay.”
“…Riiight.”

Bard, who was a sore loser, was acting totally sulky. I should add a ban on physical fights in the rules.

I moved to the second floor after properly telling them off, only to see it had turned quite chaotic up there.

On the second floor were children and people who weren’t good at thinking deeply. Of course, the latter were just self-proclaimed, but I had them gather there to show that even such people could easily play some games.

On the tables were reversi, jenga, and cards.

Reversi and jenga aside, there were too many ways you could play with cards, so this time I only focused on war and concentration. I thought poker and blackjack would work too, but they could develop Swindling skills due to their gambling nature, so I changed my mind. Unlike the Strategy skill that I was cultivating on the first floor, this one wouldn’t be a good idea.

“Big sis Illya, Haku is eating the cards.”
“Huh? Ah, Haku, stop!”
“Pii-pii…”

As I took the cards away, Haku hung its head in fear. The card it was eating now was the queen of hearts. It ended up filled with magic power since I drew them, so they probably looked delicious to it.

“You shouldn’t eat stuff even if they have my magic power, got it?”
“Pii.”

I patted its head after it obediently nodded and spread the cards once again.

“Are these new magic talismans or something?”

Cathy asked and I shook my head.

It should be fine since I drew them with the barrier up, but seeing how they were filled with magic power, there was a chance for things like knights and queens to come out due to the Wildlife Caricature skill which was a derivation of the Summoning skill. That said, they wouldn’t show up as long as I didn’t use the skill in question, so I decided to keep quiet about it.

“This is called cards, and it’s closer to tarot.”

Something akin to tarot existed in this world too, so those familiar with it nodded in understanding.

“Then for starters, I will teach you a game called concentration that uses these cards.”

After I demonstrated it while explaining the patterns, I moved on to explaining about war next. Having said that, it would’ve been insensitive to use the word war for a game in this world in present times, so I named it luck battle instead. I mean, it was completely dependent on luck, anyway.

Once I finished explaining about reversi and jenga too and had them actually give all of them a shot, cards ended up being the most popular one among the kids. Perhaps they found the patterns on them likable.

At any rate, they were quite well received.

All that was left was to have the Industrial Guild in the city reproduce them. As I was thinking about such things going down the stairs, I saw the vice-branch master who was scolding Elize.

“If you just want to play, you can quit the job whenever you want!”
“…”

Elize was just staring blankly at him in reaction to his threatening words. He wasn’t really persuasive there considering he didn’t appear to be doing anything even more than Frank.

That said, I didn’t plan to defend her if she still continued to play even after I told her not to, and it was no longer my working hours, so I decided to head to the people who would make these games for me.

…And yet.

When I tried to pass by with a slight bow.

“Wa—”
“Wait, Illya!”

The two called out to me.

“…Is something the matter?”

When I turned to them, I saw the bitter-faced vice-branch master and sulking Elize staring straight at me.

“Do you even need to ask?! She was neglecting her professional duties because of the games you brought here!”
“I have not been neglecting them. I simply interfered in it.”

Uhhh. I couldn’t really judge who was right here as I wasn’t present at the time.

Thus, I decided to ask a third party.

“Excuse me. Is there anyone who has seen these two…”
“You… What is the big idea…!”
“Illya, you don’t trust us?”

Vice-branch master’s glare got even harsher while Elize looked sad.

“Believing or not, I cannot make a judgment based on your own testimonies. And I am not in any position to give a personal opinion.”

The two held their mouths, perhaps understanding my point.

I turned toward the crowd once again and a few of them volunteered to offer explanations. Fortunately, there was a first-time customer from the Trading Guild among them.

If I just asked people who frequented us often, they might be holding bad impressions of the vice-branch master, after all.

“…I see. It seems that this was simply brought about by several coincidences.”

The truth wasn’t anything complex — when Elize was delivering the drinks, she was asked about the next move and the vice-branch master witnessed it as she was answering it.

“You plan to pass it off as a coincidence?”
“Yes. What Elize did was similar to teaching a customer how to eat an unfamiliar cuisine. If you wish to scold someone about the game’s existence itself, then I should be the one.”

He was about to say something in his anger, but voices of support for me came from everywhere. I gave them a wry smile and quietened them down, and then faced the silent vice-branch master once again.

Normally one would’ve been overpowered by being on the enemy field, but he instead gave a vulgar smile.

“Hmph. As expected of our branch’s goddess. You have tamed the people well it seems.”

His sarcasm full of spite was… not met with a threatening atmosphere. If I had to say, everyone was laughing as if what he said was common sense by now, and some even resumed their games.

…But it did quite the damage to me.

“—What are you aiming for this time?”

I never once thought for people to worship me. I never thought about it just like I never thought about destroying this world. And yet…

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Yeah, yeah. My aim, is it?

He asked me the same thing as the last time so I guess I should answer the same too. This time we went with the explanation that the commission and planning were done by the lord while leaving the process to me, so there were no problems.

“Oh yes. Regarding the aim of this event…”

I looked toward the hall and felt gazes on me among the many that were amusing themselves with games. I didn’t have anything to feel guilty about but I was scared to antagonize him by saying something poorly.

“It would be the same as the snow festival. If people don’t let out their frustration it would harm their health.”

He was about to say something in response but then closed his mouth and just headed out of the branch. Nothing else happened but I still felt the mood in the hall soften.

It felt like I was bullying the weak lately which made me feel a bit sorry for him. Though I was merely answering him when he was the one picking the fights.