Twisted Wonderland Book 5: A Beauitful Tyrant

Chapter 52: Virtual Dice

After that, the group arrives in the Lecture Hall where the Board Game Club Booth is being held. Soon, they see a young man with pale face, yellow eyes, long blue fire-like hair, and wearing thick blue clothes with headphones. This young mane is Idia, Ortho's brother

Idia says, "Two hours to go until my research presentation. Uuugh. I've tried everything I can think of to calm my nerves, but I'm still an anxious wreck. Seriously, why do we have to do this in person again? Isn't that asking a lot? Wouldn't it be way easier to use video chat with avatars? My voice software setup is perfect and all, but how sure can I be that I can type in front of an audience without making any typos?"

Grim sees the guy and says, "Uh, there's some guy mumblin' to himself in the corner of this booth."

Riddle walks over to the man and asks, "Idia? What are you doing there?"

"WHOA! Instructor Riddle?! What are you doing here?!" Idia asks, feeling startled.

"Since when am I an instructor?" Riddle questions.

"Uh, n-never mind. Forget I said that," Idia replies.

Riddle asks, " Are you all set for your on-stage research presentation?"

"Y-yeah, I'm good, no worries. You'll see for yourself soon enough, hee hee..." Idia answers with a chuckle.

Riddle remains silent a bit and says, "...Um, all right. Your field of specialty, technomancy, is one of the most fascinating areas of study in modern magic. I'm looking forward to seeing you share your insights."

"U-uh, sure," Idia says, "Anyway, I've got last-minute prep to do, okay? If you want to get in some board gaming, talk with Ortho."

Soon, Ortho comes in to greet everyone, "Riddle Rosehearts. Trey Clover. Briar Hawthrone. Grim. Jasper. Tanzanite. Sereia. Trinket. Hello to you all! Welcome to the Board Game Club's booth! You can enjoy tabletop experiences from all over the world with our club members here. Oh, and you can also play the technomantic VR board game my brother developed!"

"The techno what, now?" Trey says, confused

"That sounds cool!" Grim says, excited.

"That sounds interesting," Tanzanite says, adjusting his glasses.

Then Ortho shows the VR Headset and headphones.

"You put on these technomantic goggles my brother developed... And immerse yourself in the world of virtual reality. Different things can happen to players in the virtual world based on what space the dice puts them on. Rolls are programmed to be completely random," Ortho explains, "There's no way to game the dice and make them land where you want. Sometimes you slay monsters in the jungle. Other times you dig for oil in the desert. You consign your fate to a game of chance and make your way toward the goal. That's VR Magical Dice—the latest in board gaming!"

"How is that a board game...?" Trey questions.

"It sounds like a computer game," Briar says.

But she also says, "But it sounds fun. I like to play video games too, but I never tried VR before."

Ortho smiles, "Ooh, did I pique your interest? By all means, give it a whirl."

"Thanks for the offer, but we're making our last rounds right now. Could we come by and spend more time trying it later?" Trey replies.

"Oh, that's a shame. But sure, you're welcome to come see us anytime!" Ortho says.

Just then, Azul walks in, "Well, well. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our Board Game Club exhibit."

"Hello, Azul. I'd almost forgotten you were in this club," Riddle says, "I thought you'd be throwing yourself into running the Mostro Lounge for an event like this."

"You wound me!" Azul says, "I'm a student here too, you know. As a member of a club, it's only natural I would take part in a culture fair. Besides, I've struck up an arrangement with some loafers—ah, I mean, a few of the sports clubs. They'll be running the shop and working the stands as drink vendors at each of the main stages. The center of attention at the festival will, of course, be the SDC on the Purple Stage."

"Wow, you've thought of everything. I should be taking notes," Trey says, impressed.

Then Azul says, "Jade and I are but two of the many Octavinelle students who belong to arts clubs. We would have been woefully understaffed to handle the expected flood of customers."

"Oh yes, that's right. Jade started his own club," Riddle replies, "The Mountain Lovers Club. I did receive a booth application for that. The name sounded more like a sports-affiliated club to me, but I suppose it does count as an art."

"What kind of activities do they do, anyway?" Trey asks.

"I haven't the faintest, personally," Azul answers.

Grim crosses his arms, "Considering how intimidating the guy founding it is, it's gotta be somethin' scary. I bet they dig up crazy stuff in the mountains, and bury even crazier stuff."

"I wouldn't put it past them, especially if Jade is going to be part of that club," Jasper says.

Riddle agrees, "I wouldn't put it past Jade. Perhaps we should go check on his booth. He applied to hold an exhibit, but there's no telling what sort of mischief he may be up to."

"By all means, pay him a visit. I'm sure he'd be delighted to have company. I assume he'd be all alone and bored out of his skull otherwise," Azul says.