Trump Rules
When lessons at the schoolhouse were over, I was summoned up to the meeting room on the second floor. Dad came to fetch me from the training hall once class ended.
It was the big meeting room this time, and waiting there were the Guildmaster, Vice-Guildmaster, Village Chief Harold, Teacher Paul, Teacher Elia, Teacher Ariana, and Teacher Edel too.
“Now then, everyone’s here. Since you all saw the lesson just now, I think you understand—this karuta toy that Vio came up with has too much potential to be kept only in this village. We should register the trademark with the Merchants' Guild as soon as possible.”
“The children’s scissors are finished too. Rounded tips on scissors are rare, so those should be registerable as well.”
“Yeah, and I also plan to announce at the guild meeting about these scissors, the herb-gathering experience for kids, the use of karuta in school lessons, and how monster-themed and material-themed sets could even be useful for active adventurers.”
The meeting had barely started, but the Vice-Guildmaster, Village Chief, and Guildmaster began speaking one after another. And me—I felt totally out of place. Why was I even sitting here? I thought this would only be about registering karuta, but suddenly there were talks of “guild meetings” and other things I didn’t understand.
Shrinking down on Dad’s lap, I must have looked uneasy, because Dad stroked my head gently.
“Pardon me for cuttin’ in while the meetin’s already rollin’, but why’d ya go and invite Vio to this here shindig? If it’s grown-up talk, I can swing by later. Right now, I’d reckon she oughta have her lunch and catch a little nap.”
Thank you, Dad! He picked up on how overwhelmed I was and asked the question for me.
“Ah, you’re right. My apologies. It’s just that Vio is so sharp—I thought it best to have her hear this directly, so nothing would get lost. Vio, when you were making karuta, you also checked about trump cards, didn’t you? I heard you were planning to use those at the schoolhouse too. Could you tell us how you intended to use them?”
“Ohh, I see. Like karuta, depending on how they’re used, they could also benefit schools in other guild towns.”
Okay, that made sense. If that’s what they wanted, then sure, it would help them to know.
So I explained how I planned to use trump cards during arithmetic lessons. Teacher Elia got so excited she practically leaned across the table. Then the Guildmaster offered to bring out his own deck.
I couldn’t help but wonder what trump cards looked like in this world.
“Dad, what kind of games do you play with trump cards?”
“Well, shoot… I ain’t never played ‘em myself, neither. Just seen folks in taverns chuckin’ cards at one another, gamblin’ away like there’s no tomorrow.”
“When nobles purchase trump decks, they come with an instruction sheet of rules. For commoners, to save on paper costs, they don’t include the instructions—but the shops should have explanations. Well, for beginners, ‘Demon King Out’ is probably the easiest. For gambling, there’s ‘Poker’ or ‘Grand Noble’.”
Dad had said before he hadn’t actually played. The Vice-Guildmaster’s Demon King Out—could that be Old Maid? Poker is obvious, but Grand Noble? Is that Rich Man, Poor Man?
Did the person who made trump cards here also come from another world? The names are so close it’s suspicious.
While I was thinking that, the Guildmaster came back with a deck. Not wood tiles but thick paper cards. The box was bigger than back home, but the cards inside looked almost the same. The only difference was the Joker card: pitch black, with a scary face and curling horns. So that must be the Demon King card.
“Well then, Vio, show us the card games you were planning to teach those little ones.”
Teacher Elia pushed the cards at me, all eager. Wasn’t this an expensive toy? But the Guildmaster gave me the “go ahead” look, so… okay.
“At first it’s just about learning numbers—counting the symbols and the digits—but since Len and Hatch have already learned their numbers, I thought we could start with addition.”
I set aside the Demon King card, flipped four cards face-up in a row, and laid out four rows like that. The table was too tall, so I stood between Dad’s knees (took my shoes off first!) and leaned against him to reach the cards.
“Like this—among the face-up cards, you pick ones of the same suit that add up to fifteen.”
From the spread, I chose the five, seven, and three of hearts.
“You can use two or three cards, as long as they’re the same suit. That way you practice addition while learning numbers. These picture cards don’t count as numbers—if you collect three of the same suit, you clear them out. Every time you remove cards, you replace the empty spots with new ones from the draw pile.”
I filled the empty slots with three fresh cards.
“When the pile and the spread are all used up, you’ve won. If you split the deck and play head-to-head, it trains you to add faster. Oh, and you can also tweak Demon King Out: instead of discarding pairs of the same number, you discard pairs that add up to ten.”
That was basically the rules of Number Ten I’d once learned.
When I couldn’t make any more fifteens, the game ended in failure. “Aww,” I muttered, and plopped back onto Dad’s lap. To my shock, the adults had all leaned in super close, watching the cards like hawks!
“Vio, do you know the rules of Demon King Out?”
“Um, I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same, but—you throw out pairs of the same number from your hand, then take one card from the person next to you. The one left holding the Demon King card at the end loses.”
“Right on! So Vio’s parents must’ve known about trump too.”
Well, maybe. But I certainly knew them.
So we tried a round: Vice-Guildmaster, Guildmaster, and Teacher Elia wanted to play, so the four of us sat down to Number Ten with the Demon King card and number cards only.
We formed a little circle, the others crowding behind us to watch.
“Let’s see… pairs that add to ten, right?”
“Oi, Zacks, the pair you just discarded adds up to eleven. Put it back.”
“What? Six and five… six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven—ah, you’re right.”
The Guildmaster actually counted on his fingers. Was that okay? Even Teacher Ariana was mouthing hints from behind him, pointing at cards he’d missed.
“Shall we go clockwise?”
“Yes. Then I draw from Vio first? Here we go.”
The Vice-Guildmaster took one card, then passed his turn.
“Waugh!”
The Guildmaster had drawn the Demon King card that had just left my hand. Honestly, he looked way too obvious. Wasn’t he supposed to be a top adventurer? Maybe cards weren’t his strength.
The Vice-Guildmaster smirked, casually discarding a ten-pair from his hand. Teacher Elia’s cards thinned down quickly.
I drew a seven of hearts from her, paired it with a three of clubs, and threw them out.
Bit by bit, the hands shrank. The Demon King stayed stuck with the Guildmaster the whole time.
Teacher Elia went out first, I placed second, Vice-Guildmaster third. The poor Guildmaster was left holding the Demon King.
“Why—why wouldn’t that blasted card leave my hand!?”
“You were holding it out so obviously, no one was gonna pick it. Only kids would fall for that.”
“Besides, you kept missing pairs that added to ten. There were so many you could’ve thrown away.”
“We could hardly stand it, biting our tongues all that time.”
As soon as the game ended, all the onlookers started scolding him, saying what a waste it had been. Yeah… watching from behind, I’d have felt the same way.
What do you think about this chapter?
