Four Split Personalities

In the third round, because the venue randomly turned out to be a naval battle, Richard preemptively opened a bottle of red wine worth at least eight hundred Gold Coins for celebration, and in ten minutes, sank Andre’s fleet to the bottom of the sea.

In the fourth round, Andre seized on a mistake by Richard, snowballed his advantage, and methodically eliminated all of Richard’s troops despite being able to win much earlier, leaving him with nothing but a bare headquarters. He even worked Richard’s counselor to exhaustion, then opened a bottle of red wine worth at least a thousand Gold Coins to celebrate.

At that moment, Richard finally realized, this is his own office!

In other words, those bottles of wine opened for celebration earlier were all his, for heaven’s sake!

Andre had been freeloading all this time, without stopping!

An enraged Richard pointed this out and threatened to fight Andre.

The latter cheerfully stated that if he lost the final round later, he would bring five bottles of wine with an average price of around a thousand Gold Coins next time, not a single bottle less. If Richard lost, then the two bottles he drank earlier were for free.

The latter immediately accepted his challenge, and thus, the two swiftly began the final round, gearing up to show each other what they were made of.

Then, just as the battle on the sand table was in full swing during the mid-game, a childish voice that almost startled both of them off their chairs suddenly sounded beside them.

"Mr. Richard, those pieces on the right aren’t really doing anything there, are they?"

Theresa Tarosa, awakened by their earlier noise and curiously slipped in, rested her chin on the edge of the sand table and carefully pointed to the right wing of the blue side, whispering, "If you want to take out those pieces of the grumpy-faced uncle, why not throw them over there?"

Under their stunned gaze, she reached out her small hand and pointed to a supply line at the front line of the red side. According to the simulation’s progress, that supply line was almost undefended for at least the next thirty seconds. If attacked from that position, Richard’s right wing could even directly threaten Andre’s real headquarters hidden among several decoys.

But at that moment, the two didn’t realize what Theresa said, and they both stood up in shock, a look of disbelief on their faces.

"Theresa... Theresa, you talked to me voluntarily!"

"Gru... grumpy-faced uncle...?"

The two old men were simultaneously moved to tears.

Theresa was startled by them, shrunk her neck in fear, then blinked her pretty grey eyes, and regretfully exclaimed, "Oh no, it’s too late."

"What do you mean too late!?"

Having long since forgotten about the simulation, the two squatted down simultaneously, looking at the girl with concern, afraid she would slip away to a corner without a word like before.

"That place won’t work anymore..."

Theresa looked disappointed at the sand table, which was continuously auto-playing according to the procedure because they forgot to pause, pointing to Andre’s supply line that had already been reinforced with an escort force, and muttered.

It was only at this time that the two suddenly realized what the girl meant.

However, neither Richard nor Andre believed Theresa could truly see anything. What interested them was only the fact that Theresa showed interest in the Magic Sand Table.

"Do you like it? Like this?"

Richard gave the sand table beside him a loud pat and declared, "No problem! Theresa, from now on, it’s yours. I’ll have someone deliver this toy to your room tomorrow, and you can play whenever you like!"

"Get lost, this broken thing of yours has been used so long!"

Andre expressionlessly pushed Richard aside and said to Theresa in a deep voice, "Child, come to... come to the grumpy-faced uncle’s school tomorrow. I have many of the latest Battle Four types there. I’ll get you a new one and even have it painted pink, how about that?"

"Andre Karinin! Have you no shame!"

Richard was furious.

"Not only that, if you like, the grumpy-faced uncle, the best strategist in Academy City, can play with you anytime and even teach you how to play."

Andre ignored Richard, continuing to offer goodwill to Theresa.

"Damn it, Theresa, don’t listen to him. I’m the best strategist in Academy City. Hmm, this one is a bit old, but no big deal. I’ll contact the Alchemist Association tomorrow and get you the latest Battle Five type!"

"I’ll get you a Six type!"

"Get lost, the Six type isn’t even out yet!"

"It’ll come out sooner or later, and when it does, I’ll buy it."

"You’d buy it and I wouldn’t?"

"You just told me yesterday the academy’s budget was seriously in the red lately..."

"Raise tuition! I’ll start a coaching class myself!"

"Richard, you’ve gone mad."

"Step aside, you vicious-looking man."

"I have a gentle heart."

"You have no heart at all!"

For some inexplicable reason, the two started arguing like this until—

"Pfft~"

Theresa, who had been tilting her head watching them, suddenly giggled.

At that instant, Richard and Andre, who were almost wrestling, froze, and soon their eyes began to redden, and their noses turned sour.

She laughed...

Nothing else mattered because Theresa Tarosa laughed...

It was an incredibly charming smile that would surely drive countless men crazy in the future...

"Don’t quarrel, Mr. Richard and grumpy-faced uncle."

Theresa walked up to the sand table, raised her little face, and said to the two of them, "I want to watch you play this, can you keep playing for Theresa?"

"Play!"

"Play it!"

"Prepare to die!"

"Just with you?"

Faced with the girl’s first request, the two almost teleported a comfortable chair in front of the sand table for Theresa, then quickly returned to their seats, determined to go all out and crush the other side in front of the girl!

Seriously, if Richard had this kind of motivation back then, the Tide Battle would have ended at least six months earlier.

"By the way, Theresa, what did you say just now? Which piece to where?"

Richard was inputting commands at high speed, while also distractedly looking at Theresa, and Andre sitting opposite him was doing the same.

"Those pieces over there... I think if they go there, they can take out the grumpy-faced uncle’s pieces, but it’s already too late."

The girl hugged a giant baozi cushion, pointing at Richard’s right wing and the additional supply line Andre had opened.

"Haha, but if they go there, my pieces will be taken out too."

Richard glanced at the escort formation beside that supply line, shook his head, and laughed, "But it’s okay, as long as you like it, I can slowly teach you how to play, little Theresa."

Andre unexpectedly threw in a line: "I teach better than him."

"Ha, just you with your..."

Richard was about to mock Andre when he was interrupted by Theresa, pouting her lips.

"It’s okay if they get taken out because..."

The girl instinctively grabbed her braid, lifted her little hand, and pointed toward Andre’s headquarters: "As long as you take out those pieces that grumpy-faced uncle put there, you win."

"Huh?"

Richard looked at the spot Theresa was pointing at, then slightly smiled, teasingly asked, "Why do you think that if you take out that piece, little Theresa, I’ll win?"

Theresa blinked, her little face full of confusion: "Because... um... because..."

"Because that’s my command headquarters."

Andre calmly said, but if you listened closely, you could actually notice his voice was trembling.

"Oh, because that’s your command headquar... what!?"

Richard instinctively said, then suddenly widened his eyes, looked up at Andre, and asked, "Say that again!?"

"That’s my command headquarters.."

Andre stiffly directed his gaze toward Richard’s right wing, saying in a deep voice, "I just realized it too, if you launch an all-out attack on that supply line regardless of casualties, and have your whole army press forward..."

"Just like Theresa said..."

"Take it out, and you win."

In a silence where one could hear a pin drop, the sound of the girl’s yawn was particularly noticeable.

Chapter 1280: The End

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