Chess Game

Austria, December 2nd 1791

09:05 AM

Lukas was sleeping peacefully on his bed. He always slept like a log, but this time he was on a whole new level due to the assessment he'd had with Herman on the previous day.

Soon, Olivia entered Lukas's room, she approached his bed gently and started calling him. "Hey, Lukas, it's time to wake up," Olivia caringly called him.

Olivia always struggled to wake Lukas up, but she didn't mind it at all. She loved to watch Lukas sleeping. 'He truly looks like an angel when he sleeps,' Olivia thought as she watched the boy sleeping with a smile on her face.

Soon, Olivia managed to wake Lukas up. He slowly opened his big eyes and lazily sat up as he rubbed them.

"Good morning, Olivia," Lukas said with a deep, sleepy voice.

"Good morning, Lukas. Did you sleep well?" she asked with a smile.

Lukas shook his head. "Not much. I heard some weird sounds during the night," Lukas answered.

Olivia raised her brow. "What do you mean?" she asked, she seemed apprehensive.

"Even I don't know for sure. Reminded me of people screaming, somehow," Lukas answered, right before yawning.

'Oh God, he has been overdoing it,' Olivia thought. "I-It must have been a dream, Lukas. Come on, let me dress you, so you can have breakfast."

'It wasn't a dream, that's for sure... and I know you know something about that, look at your face,' Lukas thought.

Still, he slowly left his bed. "Fine, but I can get dressed myself, thank you," Lukas answered.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Okay, Lukas, get dressed by yourself then," she said.

Lukas nodded his head as he took off his pajama.

-----

Soon, the four nobles were sitting at the breakfast table. The servants were around them in case they needed something.

'Everyone's here. What a miracle,' Lukas thought.

He looked attentively at his parents and his uncle. They all seemed very focused on their dishes.

"What is it, Lukas?" Elias asked as he cut his food on the plate.

'Oh, he noticed,' Lukas thought. "Nothing, I'm just very happy that the whole family is here today," Lukas answered with a smile.

That wasn't a complete lie. For some reason, Lukas liked that everyone was sitting at the table together. The meal just tasted better if it was like that.

Frida smiled as she heard Lukas's answer. She looked better today even though Lukas still hadn't done anything about her issues. "I also like it when we are together, Lukas," Frida answered.

"Are you sure?" Karl asked sarcastically.

"Karl," Elias said as if to scold Karl.

Karl sighed and just kept eating.

'Well, I don't wanna spoil the pleasant environment, but I am really curious regarding the screams last night,' Lukas thought, he was pretty sure those sounds were people screaming.

"So..." Lukas started as he roamed his spoon on the plate. "...did any party occur last night?" he asked.

Frida seemed taken aback by Lukas's question, but it was Elias who answered. "What do you mean, Lukas?"

"I heard a lot of noise yesterday, so I thought it was some kind of celebration," Lukas innocently answered.

"No, nothing special happened last night, it must have been your imagination," Elias said.

"Really?" Lukas asked with a teasing tone. "It seemed so real, it somehow reminded me of..." he showed a serious expression "...people screaming in pain."

Right after that, Lukas heard Elias punching the table. "Nothing happened! Eat!" he said.

Lukas was very used to this kind of reactions coming from Elias and Karl, they were both very bad-tempered. 'You guys need to chill out... even though I kinda inherited that from the Hügel house too.'

Elias sighed and sat back down. "Changing the subject, today is your first training session with Herman," Elias said.

Lukas showed a disappointed expression. "What? Today? But it's so cold!" he said. And the boy was being serious, it truly was a cold day.

"So you'd better get used to it, because you will be training with Herman every day from now on," Elias said.

Lukas truly was starting to get pissed at this point "Why? Do I not have a choice?"

"Are you even aware of your age, Lukas?" Elias asked. "It's not because you are a bit smarter than most children your age that you can do whatever you want."

Lukas raised his brow. '"A bit smarter"?!' he wondered. After that, he sighed. "Fine... if I am just a bit smarter, why don't we play some chess after breakfast?" Lukas suggested.

Elias frowned. "Where are you coming from?" he asked.

"I mean, if I defeat you at chess, it means that I'm smart enough to make my own decisions, right?" he asked. "So, it's going to be like this: if I win, I will not go to the training, and if you want to make me do anything else, you will have to ask me." Lukas said.

Elias gritted his teeth. 'Cheeky brat!' "What if I win?" he asked.

"I will go to the training without complaining or slacking off, no funny tricks either. Besides, you can make me do whatever you want and whenever you want as well," Lukas asked.

'That actually is a good offer, Lukas can be very stubborn and spoiled sometimes,' Elias thought before sighing. "Fine!" He took a cup of coffee and started drinking. 'Well, Herman told me to do it, so this is good somehow.'

"But... y'know, you will have to teach me how to play first, okay?" Lukas asked.

As soon as Elias heard Lukas's sentence, he choked on his coffee.

After coughing for a while, Elias started speaking. "What?! You challenged me to play chess without even knowing how to do it?! On top of that, you ask me to teach you?! Do you even know what shamelessness is?!"

"Please, daddy!" Lukas asked with begging eyes.

Elias sighed. "Fine."

"Yay! Thank you! You are amazingly amazing!" Lukas said smiling brightly.

'Is being unbearable in the Von Neumann blood?' Elias wondered.

Meanwhile, Frida and the servants watched Elias and Lukas arguing with amusement. 'They are getting along... more or less,' Frida thought.

On the other hand, Karl couldn't care less about Elias and Lukas's conversation.

----

"So, this is basically it," Elias said.

"Oh, I see," Lukas answered with a smile.

They were both sitting at a table in the living room. Since Lukas was too short, he was sitting on some thick books so he could reach the top of the table.

"...So... shall we get started?" Lukas asked.

Elias nodded his head. "Of course, I have wasted enough time already. Let's get this over with," he answered.

-----

Elias was sitting on his chair with an exhausted expression. He was resting his head on the back of the chair while massaging his temples.

Lukas was sitting across him with an innocent face. "Oh my, looks like I have lost! Good game, dad!" he said with a bright smile.

'You brat!' he thought. "Th-Thank you, good game you too," Elias answered.

'Of course it was! I almost kicked your ass more than once!'

Even though Elias had won, he was exhausted, he had spent a lot of time playing with Lukas, not to mention the several draws that happened before this one game he had won.

After sighing, Elias checked his watch and he truly was astounded by the time. "Th-three hours?!"

Elias said out loud, they had been there for almost four hours.

"Oh, really? Looks like it's lunch time already," Lukas said as he stood up from the chair. "Well, see ya! And don't worry, I'll honor my part of the deal!" Lukas said.

'You'd better! For your own sake!' Elias thought.

Soon, he laid his head on the table and let out a sounding sigh. 'This brat knew it was very unlikely for him to defeat me, so he just made sure that I noticed he can be very annoying. That's why he always asked for a draw everytime he had the chance to. It was his way of saying "I may not be able to overcome you yet, but I'll make sure I am going to be the biggest annoyance you ever had the displeasure to meet." What a troublesome brat.'

After that, Elias stood up and headed to the kitchen. When he got there, he saw Frida eating along with Lukas, who had a very satisfied expression for someone who had just lost.

"Hey, father! You are finally here! Come to eat! It tastes great!" Lukas said.

Elias sighed and went to sit at the table.

-----

'It is already time for the session, I'd better go let Lukas know,' Olivia thought as she headed to Lukas's room.

As soon as she opened the door, Olivia started speaking. "I am sorry to come in without knocking, Lukas, but-" When Olivia paid attention to the inside of the room, she noticed that Lukas was not there.

'W-Where is he?' she wondered.

She hurried to the garden, where she met Lukas, who was waiting for Herman as he sat on one of the benches there and read a book

Lukas looked at Olivia as he raised his brow. "Hi, Olivia. Need something?" he asked.

Olivia stayed silent for a while, but she quickly went back to normal. "N-No, Lukas, it's nothing. I just didn't expect you to be the first one here," she said.

"Well, I have lost the bet, so I need to take the responsibility," Lukas answered.

"Um... well, you are right. Very good, Lukas."

Lukas smiled. "Thank you, Olivia."

After a while, Herman arrived, and he truly was impressed to see that Lukas was already there. "H-Hello, brat."

"Good afternoon, Herman. How is it going?" he asked as he stretched his arm to shake Herman's hand.

Herman shook Lukas's hand and let go of it after a while. 'I knew it, he's so impressed that he forgot to squeeze my hand,' Lukas thought.

"Well, shall we get started?" Lukas asked.

Herman cleared his throat. "Yes, let's just wait for your father, he said he wanted to be here in the first training session too," he answered.

Lukas nodded his head. "Okay," he turned to Olivia. "Olivia, could you please call my father?" the blonde boy asked.

Olivia nodded his head. "Of course, young master. Excuse me," she answered as she left.

"Thank you," Lukas said.

Lukas turned back to Herman. "So... what are your plans for this session?"

"I don't wanna repeat it, so I'll wait for your father to tell you," Herman answered.

"How did you meet my father?" Lukas asked.

Herman raised his brow. "Why the sudden curiosity?" he asked.

"Just trying to spend time, it may be very hard to find the person you want inside that big mansion, y'know? It might take a while," Lukas said as he pointed at the huge house behind him.

Herman nodded his head. "Good point, but I only met him because he was looking for an instructor for you and he happened to find me," he said.

Lukas raised his brow. "Really? You two look very close though," the blonde boy answered.

"I'm very good at interacting with people. I will be teaching you a bit of that too by the way," Herman said.

"Why do you need to interact with people to be a good fighter?" Lukas asked.

Herman sighed. 'This boy asks so many questions,' he thought. "Forget it. I am talking too much already," the bulky man answered.

"I don't think so," Lukas said. "I mean, I only realized that my father didn't hire you just to keep me busy, but for something else. Does he want to protect me from something?"

'Crap! I can't be clumsy while talking to this brat!' Herman thought. "Whatever, Lukas, let's just wait for your father," he said.

"How did you get that scar on your face?" Lukas asked as he ignored Herman's request.

'That I can answer,' Herman thought. "You must imagine I got this in a battle or something, huh? But no. I used to play a lot by climbing trees when I was younger. Someday, I fell off a tree and I cut my cheek really deep on one of its branches as I fell."

"Wow, I did think it was in a battle," Lukas said.

Herman chuckled. "Yes, it's a common a mistake," he said as he nodded his head.