No Game No Life Practical War Game - Yuu Kamiya

 An "in between" light novel collection of short stories of the No Game No Life series, this book came out between volume 9 and volume 10.

And it focusses again on the Great War in the first story, but from the point of view of Fiel Nirvalen, the Elven maid's, relatives: the two only octacasters ever known, Think Nirvalen and Nina Clyve.

While the siblings think it is the same person, in truth Think disappeared after she was defeated by a Dwarf.  But she reappeared in the dining room of Nina Clyve, and decided to make her the next Grand Magus to handle bureacratic duties, so she could focus on her goal: destroying the world and all on it to achieve ultimate victory.

As she reveals her plan to unleash the Aka Si Anse, a doomsday device bend on destroying the source of all magic, the spirits, the dwarves engage the elves.  She faces her nemesis, Loni Drauvnir, the artificer king, and realises she can't overpower him as easily as she thought.  But right as she wants to play her ultimate trump card, Jibril crashes into the battle...

Twenty four years later, as Think is recovering and putting her plans into motion once again, she is visited by Riku.  And suddenly the War is over.  With the new Ten Covenants in place, she is unable now to hurt Loni, but she vows she will find a way around the rules and destory every living thing on the planet.  But first, she and Nina need to form a nation in this renewed world they find themselves in.  And she starts with placing some wagers, including becoming married to Nina who reveals she is actually a man.

In the second short story, Sora is explaining to Steph the art and skill of reading microexpressions in a person's face, and how that helps in playing, and winning, games.  This leads Steph to sort of snap, thinking she has to become a pervert to beat Sora.  Unknowingly, she actually nearly did, but she is comforted by the siblings on how she is the only one capable of doing politics.

In the thirds story, we learn mora baout Clammy Zell and her relationship with Fiel Nirvalen, on how she grows from being just a slave, albiet one Fiel sees as a friend, to a partner.   In order to achieve this, Fiel is planning on overthrowing the whole system of Elven Gard itself, all to make Clammy, and as such herself, happy.

Rounding it out is a two part story, we get the famous tale of how Jibril became the only Flugel known to single-handily slay a Dragonia, a tale of trial and error and giving a look at the origins and abilities of the mighty dragonkin.  But also how the "Irregular Number" tries to please their creator, the god of war Artosh, and her relationship with her peers.

So it was a fun volume, that provides some good insights in the characters surroungind Sora and Shiro.  This due to the fact they barely play a role in the book, only appearing in one story.  So one might consider this a sort of lore volume, not only going deeper in some of their companions, but in events taking place in the Great War as well...