kscans

Chapter 185 - Scenes from Childhood, 1. Menko

When Yuri and the others arrived at Adon's mansion, the sisters Saya and Sena were happy to see him after so long. ...But they were even happier about the dolls he brought as gifts. Saya, the older sister, was still only ten or so, an age where she would be in elementary school in Japan. ...Of course, Yuri himself was still of an age where he had not yet graduated elementary school. Still, as Yuri, who considered himself an old man on the inside, the reactions of Saya and Sena were within his expectations, and he did not feel particularly lonely or conflicted.

Where he thought he had failed was on another point.

He noticed that Eto, who had been smiling as he watched Saya and Sena looking happy with their dolls, had a fleeting look of envy in his eyes. Come to think of it, Eto was still only eleven. He was also in the same age group as an elementary school student.

(...I messed up. I completely forgot about Eto. The impression I had of him being so mature backfired...)

Since Eto himself was acting as if he did not mind, Yuri withdrew without saying anything at the time, but he came to the conclusion that leaving things as they were would not be good. After retiring to his room, the guest room Adon had given him, Yuri desperately searched his Storage for something...

(Ah... I have some cardboard left, but this is just paper. By itself, it’s nothing... wait!)

As if struck by an idea, Yuri layered two pieces of cardboard and bonded them together with magic, creating a fairly sturdy piece of cardboard. He quickly cut it up, creating several cards of the same size. Next, he took out different paper, the mid-grade paper he had bought last year, and a pair of scissors, and began to cut something out with a practiced hand.

In fact, paper cutting was one of Yuri's specialties. Yuri, who had spent a long time in the hospital, had learned various skills to relieve his boredom, and paper cutting was one of them. It had been popular with the other child patients in the same hospital, so he had often been asked by the nurses to make various paper cuttings. Thanks to that, he had become thoroughly familiar with child-friendly designs like giant robots, fighter jets, and princesses. ...Once, he was even made to create a curiosity called "a robot doing the loach-scooping dance."

What Yuri cut out now was the figure of a knight on horseback. He did not know what knights in this world were like, but if this world was similar to the Europe of old, their appearance shouldn't be too far off. He placed the paper cutting, which was just the right size for the cardboard card, on top of the card to check the composition. Judging it to be fine, he temporarily removed the paper cutting and then took out a magic dyeing tool. He had bought this on his trip to Laurenzen last year. It was originally a tool made for the very niche purpose of beautifully dyeing handkerchiefs. However, after purchasing it, Yuri had confirmed that it could be used to dye paper without any problems. Using that magic tool, Yuri dyed the surface of several of the cards. After confirming that they were dyed evenly and beautifully, and that the dye was properly dry, he placed the paper cutting on top and then dyed it again in a different color... Yes, Yuri had used the paper cutting as a mask. After waiting a short while, he removed the paper cutting...

"Alright, success!"

He had created a card with the silhouette of a knight against a colored background.

"I’ll keep making more at this rate. What should the next design be... how about a dragon? Ah, but I don’t know what dragons look like here... a wolf or a tiger might be safer. Or maybe a design of a sword and shield..."

Getting completely carried away, Yuri devoted himself to mass-producing cards to his heart's content.


"...Huh? This is for me?"

"Yeah. I was a little busy yesterday and didn't have the time."

The next morning, Yuri called Eto over and handed him the cards he had made the night before.

"These are some really pretty cards."

Eto examined the cards, turning them over and over as if inspecting each one. Perhaps he had the temperament of a collector.

"Yeah. But they're not just for looking at. Let me borrow them for a second."

Yuri scattered several of the cards on the floor, then forcefully slammed the card in his hand onto the floor. The card hit the floor with a sound, and the wind pressure from the impact flipped one of the other cards over.

"You compete to take the cards you flip over like this."

"Yuri-sama! Let me try next!"

Yes. What Yuri had made was Menko. It was a children’s toy, called "pachi" or "pacchin" in some regions.

"Have you never played before?"

"This is my first time! With something this fun. Is this a game from your country, Yuri-sama?"

"Yeah. It’s not much, but will you accept it?"

"Yes! Thank you very much!"

Yuri let out a secret sigh of relief, unaware... or perhaps unconcerned... that he may have just introduced a new form of entertainment to this world.