Card Apprentice Daily Log

“I don’t know Wyatt, you tell me… Luna is making some valid points here. Don’t you think what she is saying makes sense? I was planning to escape with you but after hearing you say that ‘each life is equal in value’ I changed my mind.” Anna responded playfully.

“…” I rolled my eyes at Anna. Her playful tone was enough assurance for me that she did not plan on exchanging me for the lives of millions. Clearly, Anna was the strongest and one in charge here. So with her on my side. The opinion of other people did not matter.

Was I being selfish here? It did not matter, as no matter how I answered this I would only come out as a bad person or a stupid person. So I decided to have the one in charge do my bidding.

“How about we greet them?” Old man Lorenzo responded.

“Sure…” Anna agreed and looking at my pale face she stated, ” do not worry, Wyatt. Luna and these two will be here to protect you.”

“Really, you are going to leave my protection to her and those two nobodies? And you ask me to not be worried?” It seems I was too hasty to trust Anna.

“Don’t be snarky. Earlier I was just pointing out how contributory your words were. Personally, I believe your brain is worth more than all the lives in this city combined.” Luna explained herself and added some of her disturbing opinions.

…

“Greetings your highness, I am Grinch and we were about to meet you.” The team leader of the 3rd team greeted Anna. Despite his fears, he maintained a sharp composure and demonstrated a calm front as he greeted the southern emperor and turned to the old man next to her and greeted him, “this must be the legendary Raining Alchemist, Greetings sir.”

“Don’t tell me your mother actually named you that and your father let her do that to you? ” Anna asked with both her eyebrows raised in shock.

“*Cough* Your highness, it’s just a code name, not my real name.” Grinch’s mouth twitched uncontrollably hearing Anna but he still did not dare to be disrespectful to Anna. Considering the distance separating him from the Southern emperor or the raining alchemist, they could snap his neck before he could even react. Grinch had no choice but to swallow his anger and frustration.

“Save it dirtbag, Old man do your thing.” Anna did not give the 5 card emperors any face and directly ordered Old man Lorenzo to lead the negotiation.

“Young man, how many of you are there in total?” Lorenzo did not wait for the other party to make their demands and began his questioning

“What the…” Grinch was confused seeing the response of the Southern emperor, the raining alchemist, and thought, ‘Why aren’t these people not playing according to the script?’

“It’s below 40 and above 26, right?” Lorenzo ignored the confused Grinch’s face and asked him weird questions.

“No” Grinch instinctively responded to Lorenzo’s question. But soon remembering the other reason Raining Alchemist was famous for other than killing hundreds of thousands is his ability to discern the truth Grinch regretted responding.

“It seems there are more people than we thought, about a dozen more or just one more extra” Lorenzo reported to Anna.

“At least a dozen card emperors… you sure you can handle them?” Anna asked old man Lorenzo.

“The City below will be a hindrance, it will be challenging. And you know how I feel about a good challenge.” Lorenzo was pumped up and a wild untamed glint flashed in his eyes.

“The adrenaline from the challenge makes you feel young again.” “The adrenaline from the challenge makes me feel young again.” Anna and Lorenzo yelled simultaneously.

Lorenzo seemed to be looking forward to the upcoming battle as he cracked his bone joints in expectation and he jubilantly said, “the last time I faced a dozen card emperors at once was in the previous war. I just hope these people do not disappoint me.”

Grinch and his team members who stood witness to this were in a daze, ‘fook! they are here to negotiate, no negotiation is just sugar-coating it. They were here to blackmail the southern emperor and the Raining alchemist into handing over their target. But nothing here made sense, it is as if these people did not care about the lives of millions of people that are at stake here. Rather they seemed to be confident that they could kill them all with near-zero or fewer casualties.

😉