“Columbina…”
Sandrone took a deep breath, the blush on her face showing no signs of fading.
She glanced around and saw that everyone was trying their best to hide the smiles on their faces.
Even the usually stern Capitano turned his face away, but her trembling shoulders betrayed her.
“You are not allowed to talk nonsense anymore,” Sandrone lowered his voice and said to Columbina.
“Mhm…
Yeah.”
Until Sandrone felt Columbina’s small chin gently nod twice under her palm, she released the hand covering Columbina, her fingertips still retaining the soft touch of the other’s lips.
She sat back in his original seat and took a large gulp of tea, trying to use the tea to suppress the temperature on her face.
“Let’s talk about the rules,” Sandrone looked at Columbina with a trace of shame and anger in her eyes, “If your game is boring, you don’t need to come to the next tea party.”
“It’s very interesting.”
After Sandrone tacitly joined, Columbina’s face regained its spirit, and he spread out the stack of cards with star and moon patterns printed on the back across the table.
“It is indeed a bit interesting,” Arlecchino’s fingertips gently brushed across a card face, feeling its strange texture, and she nodded slightly.
“Then, let me explain the rules,” Columbina slowly spoke, her voice not loud, yet clearly falling into everyone’s ears.
“The Moon Hunter game requires a total of five people to participate.”
“The deck includes one Moon card, one Guardian card, and three Hunter cards.
In addition, there are these functional cards.”
She pulled out several cards from them to show everyone.
“These functional cards can be divided into three categories.”
“Investigation class, such as [Eagle Eye] and [Prophecy].”
“Interference or defense class, such as [Fog], [Shield], and [Misdirection].”
“Attack class, such as [Bow and Arrow] and [Trap].”
Tartaglia leaned his body forward, revealing an interested expression.
“It sounds a bit like a hunting game?
How do you play specifically?”
“The game consists of three rounds,” Columbina explained, “Each round, everyone plays one functional card and executes its effect.”
“The Hunter’s goal is to find the person holding the Moon card, and within three rounds, use at least one ‘Attack class’ functional card to successfully hit the ‘Moon’.”
“The Guardian’s goal is to hide and protect the ‘Moon’ so that it is not captured after three rounds.”
Arlecchino grasped the key point from Columbina’s words and raised a question, “Identities are decided by drawing cards and kept secret?
That means not only do we have to play games with functional cards, but we also have to deduce each other’s identities through card-playing logic and expressions?”
“That’s right,” Columbina nodded, “The ‘Moon’ needs to hide itself, but can give hints to the Guardian through playing cards. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
The Guardian must identify the ‘Moon’ and cleverly cover for it, while also intentionally misleading the Hunters.
The Hunters need to cooperate in reasoning to find the target.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping across everyone, and finally lingering on Sandrone’s side profile for a moment: “Victory condition: After three rounds, if the ‘Moon’ has not been successfully designated and affected by a Hunter’s ‘Attack class’ card, the ‘Moon’ and the Guardian win.
Otherwise, the Hunters win.
The losing party…
must agree to a small request from the winning party, oh.”
“Request?”
After hearing these two words, Sandrone frowned slightly and cast a weird look at Columbina.
He let out a cold snort in his heart and quickly realized that this game was probably specially prepared for him by Columbina.
Columbina clearly knew him, she didn’t like being the center of attention (the Moon), and even less liked placing this kind of protection on others, especially on this non-standard-playing Columbina.
But under the gaze of everyone, especially just after being cornered by Columbina’s unprincipled coercion, she was already in a difficult position and could only place her hopes on not drawing the Moon card himself.
After listening to the explanation, Tartaglia grinned and rubbed his hands: Reasoning plus combat, this is much more interesting than drinking tea.
Deep in his heart, he had already begun calculating various combat combination skills and probing strategies.
Arlecchino, on the other hand, nodded slightly, falling into deep thought.
She was used to controlling the overall situation, and this game full of unknowns and strategies was just to her liking.
When Columbina was explaining, she had already started paying attention to the changes in everyone’s facial expressions.
At the same time, she also noticed that when Columbina talked about guardianship, her speech speed slowed down slightly, and her gaze would drift toward Sandrone.
Compared to the others, Capitano nodded steadily: “A game testing strategy and tactics is like a miniature battlefield.
Worth a try.”
“Everyone, let’s begin.”
After confirming that everyone understood the rules, Columbina began shuffling the cards.
Everyone drew their respective cards.
Sandrone quickly glanced at the card in her hand, and the silver crescent moon pattern made her breath catch.
“Whatever you fear the most happens.”
She immediately covered the card face tightly, trying hard to maintain her habitual coldness on her face, but her slightly tightening knuckles exposed her inner fluctuations.
She raised his eyes and quickly scanned the others.
Tartaglia touched his chin, his eyes scanning the audience sharply, like searching for prey.
Arlecchino had a calm expression, placing the card face down in front of him, showing no clues.
Capitano just glanced at the card and put it down, his posture remaining steady.
Finally, his gaze met Columbina’s.
“This smile…
what does it mean?”
Sandrone’s heart skipped a beat.
Is she hinting that she drew the Guardian?
Or is this guy playing tricks again?
She forced herself to look away, telling herself not to rely on this uncertain signal.
But deep in her heart, a trace of expectation that even he was unwilling to admit quietly poked its head out.
If she were to be this Guardian…
[First Round]
“Let’s start with me, clockwise,” Columbina played his card first, playing a [Mirror Reflection].
[Effect: Designate a player whose card effect played this round will be delayed by one round to take effect, and another target can be chosen.]
“I use it on Sandrone,” she said relaxed, his finger tapping in Sandrone’s direction.
Sandrone frowned: “Why target me first?”
Her heart immediately became alert: Is Columbina a Hunter, probing?
Or the Guardian, using this method to confuse vision and protect me?
“Intuition, ah,” Columbina showed an innocent expression.
It was Sandrone’s turn.
She had a few cards in her hand: One [Moon Shadow].
[Effect: Dedicated to the Moon, can invalidate an investigation against oneself once]
One [Silence].
[Effect: Prevents a player from playing attack or investigation cards in the next round]
One [Misleading Information].
[Effect: Can claim to have played a non-existent card, but invalid if exposed by a specific investigation card]
As the Moon, he needed to be concealed, and also needed to pass information to the possible Guardian.
Playing [Moon Shadow] directly was too obvious.
She hesitated for a moment, played [Silence], and looked at Tartaglia.
This combative guy was likely to use attack or investigation cards early on.
“Let her be quiet for a round,” he said coldly, trying to act like an ordinary Hunter taking the initiative or a Guardian trying to protect the Moon.