Chapter 21: The Strip Game
"'Queen'," Eikou raised the stick in his hand, "is me."
Whoosh!
The moment Eikou drew the Queen stick, the two Knights of the Round Table immediately recognized their chance to strike back and pledged their loyalty on the spot.
"Please give us your command, Your Majesty!" said Gawain.
"Umu, let me think for a moment…"
Eikou held the Queen stick in his hand, pondering for a bit, then suddenly looked a little troubled.
Although he had the authority to give orders, he didn't possess any cheat skills like "Fairy Eyes" or "Appraisal Eye", so he couldn't see the numbers of the other players.
Which number was Baobhan Sith? Which number was Morgan?
He could only… guess at random.
"Number three, give me a piece of your clothing."
Eikou casually called out a number, then issued the order.
Anyway… he should start by getting back the clothes that had been taken from him.
It'd be best to draw Morgan's number, so she'd have to return the pile of clothes she snatched earlier.
If he accidentally drew her daughter instead… sorry, but your mom was the one who stripped someone else first, I was only acting in self-defense!
And he wasn't the rude type, so just in case he picked the wrong person, Eikou only asked for an outer coat or jacket, not for them to strip completely.
If he got Morgan, then he'd retrieve his clothes; if he got one of the other girls….... thanks for the meal.
Either way, he wouldn't lose.
Eikou glanced at Morgan.
Don't blame me for this, Morgan-san. You started it!
Whoosh!
A black men's suit jacket and shirt were suddenly thrown in his direction.
"…Huh?"
Eikou hesitated and caught the suit, then looked across at Tristan, who was now bare-chested.
Tristan said, "No need to thank me."
"..."
Fuck, I almost forgot that among teammate we've got this one dude who's cursed with shitty luck—a legit luck E bastard!
Still, Eikou quietly put on the jacket.
"It's fine, Tristan, I've figured out Morgan-san's cheating trick. Next round, I'll still be able to draw the Queen stick and get all our clothes back."
He winked at Tristan, full of implication.
"I believe in you!"
Tristan replied firmly without a trace of doubt.
[Another round of the Queen Game begins.]
[Morgan seems to realize that her trick has been seen through, so this time she deliberately makes a mess of the deck to throw you off. She keeps switching cards around, making it impossible to tell which is the real Queen stick.]
[You activate the skill "Instinct C".]
[Check successful. Using your instincts, you see through Morgan's trick.]
[Despite her attempt to mislead you, your intuition guides you to snatch the Queen stick just as she was about to take it.]
"Looks like it's me again."
Eikou calmly twirled the Queen stick in his hand.
Lately, he'd learned a whole bunch of skills—if he wanted to cheat, his performance wouldn't lose to Morgan's at all.
"Number 5, give me one article of clothing."
"As you command."
Tristan silently unfastened his belt and handed over his trousers.
"…You again."
Eikou looked a bit helpless.
The good news was—he finally had a full outfit on again!
The bad news was—Tristan was now down to just his underwear!
"...It's fine."
Thinking positively, at least the guys' clothes hadn't been handed over to the girls yet—they were just being passed around internally.
Then came yet another round of the Queen Game.
Once again, Eikou didn't disappoint—he drew the Queen stick.
"I command..."
He glanced at Tristan, who had already lost everything except his underwear—forcing him to strip further probably wouldn't get past any kind of censorship.
He sighed inwardly, then carefully said:
"Number one must hand over all their clothes to number two. If number one is already down to just underwear, then forget it."
That should be okay, right?
Poor Tristan didn't have anything left to take off anyway. Even if Eikou accidentally picked him again, he couldn't lose any more.
Tristan let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness I'm only in underwear."
"Thank goodness, my ass."
"Besides, this time I'm not even the one being called."
Eikou nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. We can't let you be the only one getting shafted—someone else needs to be unlucky too."
Half a minute later—
Gawain dutifully carried out the command, handing all of his clothing to Morgan.
"I present them to you, Mother-sama," he said solemnly.
Morgan replied, "What would I want with your clothes?"
Bang!
Eikou slammed the table hard.
Goddammit, why did it have to be Gawain who got stripped this time!?
It's over. The three guys combined barely had enough to piece together one full outfit.
"It's alright, Sir Eikou."
Gawain and Tristan said with serious expressions:
"If you manage to draw the Queen stick again, just give the command as usual. Don't worry about our condition."
"But…"
Eikou looked at the two, now down to nothing but underwear.
"You guys don't have anything left to take off. The only thing left is the final line of defense for your dignity as men. Are you seriously okay with exposing your 'Tower of Babylon' like that? No way! That scene would be bad in every possible meaning!"
"Says who? We still have backup gear we haven't used yet."
"Backup gear? Besides underwear, what else can you even take off?"
Gawain and Tristan suddenly flipped their bangs, revealing several hidden hair clips underneath.
"These are our trump cards!"
"…At this point, you two are seriously doing a Grand Blue parody? Has the author completely run out of ideas?"
Eikou couldn't help blurting it out.
Meanwhile, on the girls' side, quiet discussions were taking place. After a while, they passed along the conclusion of their discussion to Gareth—who had been standing off to the side—and she nodded and said:
"Here's the thing… after a thorough discussion among all us girls, we'd like to prohibit any more commands involving stripping. The reason is that Big Bro Gawain and Sir Tristan have nothing left to take off, and continuing like this wouldn't be good for either side. Most of the people present here are Knights of the Round Table—we must maintain our dignity and not shame our King."
Bang!
Gawain and Tristan collapsed onto the table in unison, their faces full of utter despair.
Eikou looked at the two slumped figures and thought, This final blow was way too brutal—not only did they lose in the game, it feels like they lost in life too. The honor of the Knights of the Round Table has been utterly obliterated.
This request was fair enough… but the guys really got the short end of the stick. At this point, even their underwear was barely hanging on.
"What a pity…"
Morgan said softly to Eikou from beside him:
"I was clearly wearing a very sexy lingerie set today. Isn't it a shame you didn't get to see it?"
"..."
Eikou thought to himself: That's not a shame at all. I'm already sick of seeing your daily selfies.
Wait a second—what did you mean by that? Even if I picked you and gave the command, you'd rather strip and flaunt your lingerie than return my damn clothes, wouldn't you!?