Herald of Steel

Once Alexander had recited the rules, the girls took a moment to summarize it, making sure they had not missed anything.

And to them, the most important three of these were,

I. Don't have more than 1,000 ropals.

II. Don't roll three doubles. And

III. Don't run out of money.

So with these pointers in their heads, they heard Alexander chime with a gesture, "Okay. Let's start. Pick your pieces and I will tell you your special powers."

At this invitation, each of the four players quickly took one of the eight figurines, with Princess Camelia being the last.

"Okay. So Cam, what piece did you take?" Deciding to start with his main wife, Alexander turned to inquire.

"I took the ship," Cambyses replied quickly while showing her piece. It was in the shape of a small cast iron boat, representing the battleship.

"Ahh the ship." Seeing the proof, Alexander quickly flipped his notebook to find that related entry, "You are a general in the king's army. Your special power is that carriage stations are free." Alexander said while pointing to the four squares.

And hearing this, Mean who was sitting beside her could not help but chime, "Oh, that's quite good."

To which everyone in the room seemed to agree.

Even Fabiyana, who was more busy looking and playing with the colorful paper currency that she had never seen before seemed to join.

"Yes… and your winning condition is … You've defected to the enemy state. Your final score is the money you have in your hand multiplied by the number of houses you own."

Cambyses gave a curt nod indicating she understood, and then commented, "So I do not have to stash any money in the Garden. Right?"

"Yes," Alexander confirmed.

Saying this, he then turned to face Princess Camelia.

He could see she had picked the car, which in this case was changed to be the carriage, made from cast iron and painted golden.

It felt heavy and solid in her hands, and currently, the young princess had brought it up close to her eyes for a better look, appearing quite impressed by just the artisan skill on display here, marveling at the immaculate craftsmanship.

She had never seen something quite so small yet so finely detailed and seemed quite lost in her own world.

"I can see that you have chosen the car… I mean carriage, princess." Camelia was so engrossed by her beautiful piece that she completely missed that little slight slip of the tongue by Alexander and instead quickly broke out of her trace to lift her head to gaze at the man reading from his notebook

She heard him say, "The carriage is quite suitable for you. It means you are part of the nobility. And your special power is that whenever you land on King's Chest, you get to choose any card of your liking."

Saying this Alexander pointed to the grids that had their names changed from Community Chest to King's Chest and then to the stack of cards on the board with the same words written on their back.

This made the novice princess quickly understand that she would get to draw a card when her piece landed on those squares, and she grew quite curious what those cut out pieces of paper would say.

"*Hisss*.. so strong." While sitting directly opposite of the princess, Mean hissed with an envious glare.

Learning from her previous experience of playing Monopoly, she knew there were a few cards in there that were quite advantageous to the player.

Although she did forget to take into account the fact that Alexander had changed all the cards so perhaps it would not be such an advantage after all.

Who knew?

"What! Like every time? Isn't that a bit excessive?" While Gelene from the side complained with a low cry, wishing it was a much more reasonable once per game.

"Of course not. She is a royal after all. It's not like she will lose the power of a royal after using it just once. That would be madness."

Alexander's answer here was dripping with subtle sarcasm, poking at the ridiculousness of the concept of royalty, or the thought that one family should have the power to rule for all eternity.

But none of the girls seemed to detect that.

Which was really normal given that was the only style of governance the girls experienced in their adult lives.

Thus they only assumed that Alexander was only poking fun at Gelene.

While Alexander in the meantime turned to Princess Camelia to continue retelling the rules,

"And your winning condition is, 'Your throne has been overthrown by rebels and you must flee. Your final score is the money in the Garden multiplied by your number of inns'."

Hotels had been changed to inns to better suit the times, and as Alexander said this, he noticed the princess suddenly pull a bit of a confused face.

And this reminded him that she did not what inns were.

So pointing at the board, Alexander elucidated, "Ahh… inns. You see all these different colored properties. If you can own all the properties of the same color, you can build inns on top of them. It's these things." Alexander showed a small small bunch of bungalow figurines carved out of wood,painted red, and finished by saying,

"With inns you can charge more rent on the piece that lands on them. More rent means the other pieces will become destitute quicker than you."

Princess Camelia was quite pleased by Alexander's eagerness here to engage and help her understand the various new things.

The man suddenly did not seem so scary to her.

"I see. Thank you, my lord." Thus this was probably the first time Princess Camelia spoke to Alexander from the bottom of her heart, and probably the first time that she flashed a genuine smile at him.

"No problem." And similarly, the girl now did not seem too vexing to him.

Finished with Princess Camelia, Alexander then turned his attention to Gelene, who quickly showed him the boot without requiring any prompt.

Thus he read from his notebook, "So… the boot. Excellent. You are a member of the royal court. It costs you half the usual money while in the dungeon. So others pay 100, you pay only 50 ropals." Alexander lifted his head to look at her, only to get a victorious grin from the black lady.

It felt nice to be part of the nobility.

And better yet, her powers were not over, as Alexander went on to list, "Also, when you are in the dungeon, you can sell one of your properties to re roll any one dice. You can even re roll a 1."

"Master is the best!" And hearing this Gelene could not help but clench her fists and cheer,

Gelene did not bother to argue that her powers were too overpowered.

She preferred them just as they were.

Although that victory lap proved to be a bit immature, as suddenly remembering Gelene's complaint, a crafty light shone in Alexander's eyes and he smirked,

"Ummm… you know what, that does sound a bit too powerful. Let's make it only once per stay in the dungeon."

"Ah.. hahaha hahaha." The instant he said this, the other five girls instantly burst into uproarious laughter, with some like Princess Camelia hiding her pearly whites elegantly using her fair palms while others like Mean felt no need to follow much decorum and slumped over the couch clutching her belly.

"No! No, no, master! You cannot do this." All the while Gelene shrieked in a low tone, her lips trembling.

"I can and I did. I'm the king." Alexander however shut down the girl with such an imperious claim, while also pursing his lips together to avoid breaking into laughter like the rest of the room.

Then, to prevent himself from breaking out of character, quickly looked at the notebook, stating,

"And your winning condition is- You've been usurped by your brother and ousted from the family. Your final score is the money in your hand multiplied by your number of properties, divided by 5."

"Why the fuck does every one of the pieces end up worse than they started." Gelene vulgarly commented after hearing her declared fate, still feeling salty at Alexander as well as cursing her own big mouth.

The latter of which Mean was more than happy to poke at, sniggering with spice, "Sometimes it is better to keep that large trap shut, isn't it sister, heh heh."

This peppery petite pipsqueak had always acted as Cambyses's missle, picking fights with Gelene whenever it was too uncouth for the lady of the house to attack herself.

And even the young princess was keen enough to notice this, the subtle currents of rivalry and dislike between the ebony woman next to her and the two ladies sitting opposite.

This had not been apparent to her till now, since Alexander's four wives worked hard to pose an outward display of unity and sisterhood.

But now that they were in their private quarters, many such old facades were being torn in front of her.

It made Princess Camelia realize people in their private lives were very much different from their public ones.

There was only Mean left.

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