Several minutes later.

"I don’t mind staying a bit longer for a strategy meeting..." Abigail looked at Aiden’s hand-drawn chessboard and the carved chess pieces on the table, "Why play chess?"

After forming an alliance, Aiden suggested they take the opportunity of being together to hold a strategy meeting to discuss future policies. As soon as the two witches agreed, they saw Aiden bring out a hand-drawn chessboard and carved chess pieces and place them on the table.

"Our alliance has just been formed, and we have very limited information at hand. I guess we can’t really discuss anything substantial," said Aiden as he arranged the pieces on his own, "I know how awkward it is when no one speaks during a discussion and how embarrassing it is when a few people just stare. So let’s play chess while we talk."

"What kind of chess is this?" Qiqimora asked curiously, picking up a chess piece.

"Horsey Chess. It’s a game I learned from an explorer. The chessboard was painted by a draftsperson specifically for this, and the pieces were made to order by a carving shop," Aiden explained with a straight face.

It was called Horsey Chess, but in reality, it had the same board and rules as the game of Ludo, except that the pieces were different - this was a modification by Aiden because there were no airplanes in this world. The only real manned flying vehicles were hot air balloons, and the witches’ enchanted brooms and magic carpets. So Aiden simply replaced them with horses, and the chess pieces were modelled after the knight pieces in international chess.

Melifilia could understand the concept of "planes" in Ludo. The conspiracy goddess seemed to have glimpsed some knowledge of another world when she yanked his soul into this one.

"If we have to play chess, why not play Tricky Law Chess?" Qiqimora suddenly suggested.

"That’s too niche," Aiden objected, "Only you wizards and lovers of dark magic among the common folk play that. Trust me, this game is quite interesting. It’s very popular in prison, and Daili likes it too."

There were some board games in this world, but they were not as rich and varied as those from Aiden’s original world. So Aiden had added some simple board games to the entertainment offerings in the prison’s activity room.

"Prisoners in your jail can play chess?" Qiqimora showed a somewhat surprised look.

"They have five working days a week, one day of study, and one rest day. There needs to be some form of entertainment on rest days to keep them in line. Not everyone likes to read, and the illiteracy rate among prisoners is rather high," Aiden explained calmly, "Too oppressive management breeds more problems and increases management costs."

"You’re quite lenient with your enemies," commented Abigail.

"Enemies? You seem to have a misunderstanding about jailers. To us, prisoners are not enemies, just objects of work," Aiden glanced back and forth between Abigail and Qiqimora, "Our job is to carry out the sentences, manage the prisoners, and rehabilitate them. If the prisoners cooperate, there will be no conflict between us. Where does the hostility come from? Only if prisoners actively break the rules of the prison is there a need to punish them additionally."

"Good philosophy. No wonder Daili and the others are so tamed by you," Qiqimora smiled, "Surely your jail isn’t more comfortable than the outside, is it?"

"If criminals were that comfortable, prisons would lose their purpose. Prison is a punitive facility, and life beyond the cell bars, even going to the toilet, requires reporting; it can’t be better than the life of a free person," Aiden said, "However, some criminals are also hunted down on the outside, so it’s indeed not necessarily more comfortable than in prison."

"To be honest, I don’t really like playing chess," Abigail said.

"It’s not that you don’t like it, you just live alone and have no one to play chess with," Qiqimora interjected, "The last time I saw you out and about was eight years ago, right?"

"It was twelve years ago," Abigail corrected, "Qiqimora, you live alone too, do you often play board games?"

"To tell the truth, I also find this kind of entertainment a bit of a waste of time," Qiqimora said, "But since it’s the host’s suggestion, the guest should follow the customs."

"Trying out a multiplayer game won’t cost you an arm," Aiden picked up some dice to persuade, "The rules are quite simple, shall I explain them first?"

"Well then, I’ll join you for a bit," Abigail sighed lightly, "Once the discussion’s pretty much over, I’ll take my leave."

...

Ten minutes later.

"Welcome home, Warden," Abigail said with a hint of a smile, capturing Aiden’s piece with her own before placing it back to Aiden’s "base."

"Seriously, what’s your problem, Abigail? You had three pieces to move, and one could have easily finished the whole route. Why would you go after my only piece that’s ventured out?" Aiden glared at Abigail and questioned.

"You should know, taking out someone else’s piece always gives a special kind of thrill, a feeling that can’t be replaced by anything else," Abigail replied.

"Look who’s seriously into the game," Aiden retorted.

That’s when Tony reached for the dice.

"It’s my turn," Qiqimora loudly reminded.

"Ah, sorry!" Tony withdrew his hand.

"You two might need to work on your presence, we often overlook your turns by accident," Abigail said.

"Give me a break, the pieces are clearly on the table!" Qiqimora countered, "This game is surprisingly fun; it’s been so many years since I played any game other than Tricky Law Chess. Abigail, can’t you set up a chess set in our gathering place so we can play together sometimes?"

"We normally use projections, which can’t touch the pieces," Abigail responded.

"But that’s not the only way. How about Vila makes some puppets and places them at your spot to move our pieces for us?" Qiqimora suggested.

"That’s even more trouble than just giving the pieces ’life’ and training them to move on command," Abigail said.

"That could work," Qiqimora agreed.

"Uh..." Tony timidly raised his hand, "Weren’t we supposed to have a meeting?"

The scene fell into silence for a moment.

It hadn’t been long since the game started, but for some reason, the two Great Witches had gotten inexplicably sucked in. From explaining the rules to now, their strategy meeting hadn’t even begun.

Then Aiden coughed to break the silence, "We should indeed talk about serious matters now, ladies. Indulgence leads to distraction."

"The person who led us to play this has no right to say that," Qiqimora commented coolly.

"Things need to be done step by step, for now, we must deal with Mister Redcoat to complete the Warden’s promotion ceremony," Abigail casually moved on to the main topic, to cover the earlier embarrassment. "But we really don’t have any latest information about this person; you with the seven heads, why don’t you tell us what you know?"