Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"In fact, your preemptive attack gave me a reason to act. These visitors from another world, who came with good intentions, were attacked but instead repaid evil with kindness. They even took the initiative to unite all the forces of this world to better repel the invaders from another world and continue to protect it. No one could find anything wrong with my actions, right?"

As he spoke, Hayato looked at Vera with a provocative gaze—or rather, at Vera, who appeared beside Heine in the form of a remnant consciousness within the magical mark, visible only to a few of them, including Hayato, and who was completely invisible to others. He was looking forward to seeing what interesting expression she would make.

Unexpectedly, Vera nodded and said, "It's a very reasonable process. As long as it doesn't affect the [Witchcraft] workshop, I won't object even if you conquer the magic trading city."

“Because it’s to stop invaders from outside the world, right? It’s definitely necessary to unite everyone’s power.” Heine gave Hayato a trusting smile. “If it’s Mr. Hayato, then there’s no problem.”

"That's not right. The main storyline shouldn't be like this. You should argue that you can't lose faith in all of humanity because of one thing, that everyone's will is free, and that I can't impose my thoughts on everyone. Then you should argue with me on the journey, make up with me, experience various events to unlock side quests that reveal your past identities and backgrounds, and finally, on a starry night, sit by a campfire to unlock a special CG."

Hayato raised his hand, "This isn't how it's supposed to be in the classic storyline, I can't accept it!"

"But, Mr. Hayato, do the invaders from outside the world you mentioned really exist?" Heine blinked and asked in a low voice. "There's nothing wrong with using special methods during special times. Besides, there are plenty of kings in this world who impose their will on their subordinates. If it's someone as gentle as Mr. Hayato, then there's even less of a problem."

Although it's another world, the story background of Alai's hometown—let's call it the "magic world" for now—is roughly similar to medieval Europe. In a world where "equality for all" has not yet been proposed, Hayato's behavior of "intending to conquer the world" is nothing special—after all, there are too many non-humans who do whatever they want because of their kingship. In comparison, Hayato is as kind as a saint.

Leaving aside distant examples, let's take Endymion, which has only appeared in the words of Vera and the [mages] so far and has not yet been directly encountered by Hayato. This magical city, named after the last of the "Three Great Sages"—the "Saintly Great Sage Endymion," who is both a great mage and a king—is an extremely prosperous magical kingdom.

The problem is that the prosperity of the Magic City Endymion is entirely based on the "Magic Stone" invented by Endymion himself—a classic design in Duel Monsters, the "Magic Counter"—and his way of governing the country is simply to distribute the "Magic Stone" to towns and villages within the country, without ever understanding the actual situation of the people.

They simply extended their will to the national territory, granting power without any regulation. This resulted in a situation where only the capital city of Endymion, where the king resided, was prosperous and peaceful. In the rest of the country, however, the "magic stones" were monopolized by various powers, and the people could not even get water from the river to irrigate their parched fields.

"Without something like the 'Philosopher's Stone,' the people might have had the chance to rebel and rise up against oppression, but Endymion went so far as to distribute Gatling guns to the oppressors so that they could oppress the people more efficiently?"

Hayato was also dumbfounded by the story behind these card spirits, which he had never heard of before. "I had imagined the worst possible world, but it turns out to be such a cesspool? You even say that Endymion is one of the safest places in the world with a high level of public order and a high happiness index for its people?"

"Although I don't know what public security management level and happiness index are, if I understand correctly, yes, Endymion has managed his country quite well."

Hayato shook his head when he heard Vera's words: "I'm starting to feel that it would be better to let Yubel come into this world and cause some trouble than to let you continue to struggle in this cesspool."

“Well, I think we shouldn’t do that. It’s not like we’re so radical as to blow up the cesspool,” Alai complained, and sighed. “The three of us risked our lives to stop Zoroah, and in the end, we still made this world so terrible. I even sacrificed my body for this world.”

While others may not know the past of the "Three Weis" (a group of three famous figures), Wei'er knows it all. As if responding to Alai's previous sarcastic remarks, she immediately retorted, "Don't make it sound so nice. You know exactly how you lost your body."

Arai, however, shamelessly ignored him, and Hayato sighed dramatically, "Alas, Arai, it wasn't anyone who ruined you, it was this chaotic world that ruined you!"

"Knowing how powerful your world is, I've actually lost interest in ruling it. Ultimately, my only goal is Yubel, and my only requirement of you is that you don't interfere with me." Hayato, who never intended to stay in the "magic" world, was joking when he mentioned "conquering the world." After explaining Yubel's existence and her constant usurpation of power from other worlds to complete the new world she desired, Hayato got to the point, "So, next, let's talk about how to deal with that Yubel guy."

"Mr. Hayato, you have already explained the other party's objectives and the harm it will cause to the world."

Heine obediently raised his hand and asked a question like a child actively answering a teacher's question in class, "For example, the world's power will be taken away, the power of the strong will become weak, and we who live here will also be forcibly transferred to another world, and so on."

"So what means did the other party rely on to achieve this, or what special abilities does the other party possess?"

Hayato started counting on his fingers: "Yubel can manipulate the darkness in people's hearts, possess others, regenerate itself, modify other people's bodies by giving them power, and even fuse with spirits. It can also open up large-scale spatial transfer."

"And now she has also acquired a body she really likes to move around in, and is using a card that has the power to connect to the world. In terms of combat power, she is probably equivalent to 700,000 Vera or 80,000 Alai."

"Wait a minute!" Upon hearing Hayato's analogy, Vera raised her hand and said, "Isn't that number a bit exaggerated? I'm not that weak! Even if I stretched out my neck and let that Yubel chop me down for days and nights, I could still manage to chop me down for seven hundred thousand!"

Alai, however, didn't mind at all: "I have no objection, because I'm at least better than you, Vera."

“A normal ‘Sandrion’ is certainly a useful fighting force, but let me tell you, Vera, you get sleepy as soon as you use magic, are you really a fighting force?” Hayato retorted, criticizing Vera, this amazing person who completely abandoned her fighting force in order to be young and beautiful. “You might as well say that if you replaced Alai with bread, 80,000 loaves of bread would be enough for Yubel to eat for half a month.”

"However, Yubel's problem now is not her ability to fight head-on. No matter how much she cheats, she is not qualified to challenge [Odin] and [Timaeus]. Her methods of usurping the power of the world have never relied on direct combat. In fact, most of the beings that have been transferred by her have undergone spatial transfer without her knowledge."

Alai said with some distress, "I'm quite good at techniques like spirit summoning and otherworldly summoning, but how to invade a world is a blind spot for me. Even a genius like me can't deduce the process from the result."

Upon seeing that Alai actually knew something, Vera instantly reverted to her arrogant, bratty self. This "old hag" stood with her hands on her hips in front of Hayato and Alai, suddenly shouting, "What? In the end, you still have to rely on the great Vera, huh? Hmph, listen up, you bunch of nobodies! I, Vera, happen to know what the other party might have relied on to achieve this, so quickly bow down and worship the greatness of Vera!"

"Huh?" Alai raised an eyebrow, his indignation rising instead. "I seem to remember learning teleportation magic much earlier than you, and I learned it after just a few glances, while you pestered me to teach you for ages before you finally learned it. How dare you say you're better than me in this area?"

"Hmph, it has nothing to do with that. It's because you know too much that you've fallen into a misconception, thinking that the other party must have used spatial magic or ability to cut and transfer the world, right? But the truth is quite the opposite."

Vera smugly placed her hand on Heine's body, releasing her magic from the mark on Heine's clothes and forcibly taking over one of Heine's arms: "Lend me one hand to do some demonstrations, Heine—because of those two bastards who are not gentlemen at all, I don't have enough magic left in this mark to create another body."

As Vera borrowed Heine's arm and, incidentally, also unscrupulously borrowed a bit of Heine's magic with her little hands, she manipulated magic to create an illustration in the air, depicting four creatures of different shapes.

Looking at Vera's abstract painting, Alai's lips twitched: "So many years have passed, and your painting skills are still so bad."

“Urusai! Understanding it is enough!” Pointing to the red dragon in the picture, Vera said, “Or do you not even recognize this guy?”

Alai shrugged: "How could that be... After all, this guy is the 'Bahram' who bewitched Zoroya and merged with him."

Having recognized one of them, Alai quickly figured out what the other abstract paintings corresponded to: "The one that looks like glass is Ningaruru, the one with the pointed head is Aiwas, and the only one that looks somewhat human is Artemis? Aren't they all beings from another world?"

“That’s right, and you should be aware of what I’m talking about, Alai, about the changes that occurred in the other world where Ningaluru and the others live.” Vera’s tone was somewhat heavy. “Back then, in order to stop Bahram, Ningaluru and the others found us, offered their help, and gave us power, becoming our respective guardians.”

"But after defeating Zoroa and Bahram, it did not come to an end. The power of the other world eventually connected with this world. Although the magic became less aggressive, it still invaded the entire world and transformed everything. Even Ningaluru and the others, who were originally limited by the rules and could not interfere with the other world, came to this world in their original forms and interacted with us."

“After teaching you all of her alchemy, Ningalulu lost her existence. After Aiwass brought me enlightenment, she lost herself and became a wand.” Looking at the wand in his hand, Alai rarely showed a nostalgic expression, but then his face became playful. “That Endymion guy is the most outrageous. He actually married Artemis and had a son.”

"But why bring up these old stories all of a sudden?"

“That’s why I said knowing too much makes you dull. Back in the beginning, you were the one with the strongest ability to observe magic among us.” Vera sighed. “Although the manifestations are completely opposite, isn’t the process of Ningaluru and the others’ world merging into our world just the reversal of 'Yubel' seizing the power of other worlds?”

"I made many efforts to prevent Ning Aruru's disappearance, but unfortunately I failed in the end. I could only create a new body for her. But now, perhaps it can be of use in saving the world."

As she spoke, Vera manipulated Heine's hand to pull out a map and cast a small spell.

The sharp-eyed Alai recognized the familiar magical traces: "Is this spell a variant of the map I made before?"

"Similarly, but your map detects the intensity of magic, while my map detects the special magic in specific locations—the kind of special magic that flows in the invisible veins underground, like the blood of the world."

Pointing to three points on the map, Vera said, "【Magic Academy - Lamaison】, 【Magic City - Endymion】, and the magic trading city 'Pantamelon' - to be precise, the underground of the 【Witchcraft】workshop, which is the gathering point of special magic."

"When the magic from the other world flowed into this world, these three points were the easiest to accumulate magic. So, if I were to reverse the process, the one called 'Yubel' who wanted to invade this world and seize the world itself might have started from these three 'singularities'!"

Chapter 1846 Amon: I'll drink two bowls

Two flowers bloom, each representing a different branch.

While Hayato was preparing to ambush Yubel in the "Magic World," Hachiko's side was... cough cough, Jaden's side was in a terrible state.

Hayato's disappearance was unexpected. Although they were almost in a panic at first without an adult leader, they quickly recovered because they had Judai.

From the very beginning, Jaden was determined to rescue John. His action made him the leader of the group, allowing everyone to temporarily forget the pressure of being in another world and uniting them to move in the same direction.

While Hayato was communicating with the [Divine Dragon - Timaeus] and entrusting his students with his mission, Jaden had already led everyone to defeat the ruler of the area they had crossed over to—the [Birdman], and liberated the Bird-Beast race, who seemed to have originally been the inhabitants of the "Bird-Beast Great Forest" world.

Here, Jaden and his companions encountered Tania from the "Amazon" world, who had interacted with Misawa in the past. Considering that this new world was different from the Spirit World they had visited before, and that the various regions were not completely connected but linked by dimensional gates, Misawa chose to stay and learn more about dimensional transfer from Tania.

When Hayato first arrived in the "Magic World", Jaden and his companions encountered the human forces, represented by the "Wandering Hero - Freed" and the "Warrior - Raz", and the "Overlord Army", mainly composed of monsters from the "Dark World". However, the two sides were not evenly matched; on the contrary, the latter were overwhelmingly stronger than the former.

Although the humans were transferred to this new world along with their homes, the "Overlord Army," as outsiders, relentlessly attacked them, forcing them to leave their original homes and find other hidden locations to hide in. Even so, the human forces continued to dwindle, with fewer than a hundred people remaining, and only a handful of combat-capable individuals such as [Warrior-Raz] and [Wandering Hero-Freed] were left.

Even worse, the "Iron Knights" team, to which [Warrior-Raz] belonged, had all been captured by the "Overlord Army," and their fates were now unknown. Only [Wandering Warrior-Freed] was left to protect the villagers and struggle to survive.

Because a boy named Kyle from the village went out and returned to his original village to retrieve a photo of his father, the [Warrior-Raz], he was captured by the "Overlord Army" member, [Scout of the Dark World-Ska]. Jaden fought to save the boy, defeated [Scout of the Dark World-Ska], and caused him to die due to the rules of the world. Only then did they gain the trust of [Wandering Hero-Freed] and arrive at the villagers' hiding place.

The entrance there was extremely well hidden, almost perfectly concealed on a mountainside far from the town. If no one had led the way, Jaden and his group would never have been able to find this place, and presumably the same was true for the "Overlord Army".

"Finally, there's a place to rest for a while..." Marufuji Sho took a bowl of hot soup shared by a villager, first serving it to Judai before taking his own. "Those guys from the Dark World are terrifying. It's a good thing there's a place to hide."

"Compared to appearances, I think the most troublesome thing is not being able to defeat the monsters of the Dark Realm. Big Brother only defeated a Dark Realm Scout - Scar, yet he managed to summon a large force," Jian Shan complained. "And that Dark Realm Scout - Scar, who almost caused Big Brother to suffer a bitter defeat, actually really is a 'scout' in the literal sense. It's hard to imagine how strong the higher-level Dark Realms are."

"Speaking of this..." When Kenzan mentioned the previous duel, Manjoume looked at Judai with a serious expression. "The reason that duel almost ended in defeat was entirely due to your own fault, Judai. You recklessly attacked without any regard for your opponent's face-down card. Even if you had regressed to when you first entered the academy, you wouldn't have fought such a duel, Judai."

"And Judai, you've been looking distracted the whole time." Asuka asked with some concern as she watched Judai holding the hot soup but not taking a sip, just looking around as if he were staring at something. "Your anxious state is written all over your face."

"I just feel we can't rest here because John is still in danger." Judai stared at the bowl in his hand for a long time, but ultimately didn't take a sip. He pressed down on his leg, which was shaking unconsciously from anxiety, but still couldn't stop it. Restless, he simply stood up and was about to leave. "So much time has passed since John sent us away. I've rested long enough at school. It's not time for me to give up yet. I can continue—"

"Wait a minute, Judai!" Manjoume stood up and grabbed Judai's shoulder, stopping him from going any further. "Didn't [Fried] just say that because of the death of [Scar, the Scout of the Dark World], the outside is now full of 'Overlord Army' people? Even if you manage to break through now, how much strength will you have left to find John?"

Not only Wan Zhangmu, but O'Brien also objected: "Our mission is to find and rescue John Anderson. Although we don't have the luxury of meddling in the affairs of the Iron Knights who have been captured by the Overlord Army, we should not act blindly and expose this hideout to the Overlord Army."

“But are we just going to sit here doing nothing? I’ve asked everyone here, and nobody knows where John is.” Judai, whose shoulders were being pressed, uncomfortably broke free but didn’t leave. Instead, he voiced his thoughts, “This feeling of knowing someone is in danger, and being able to do something but being unable to do anything… it’s awful!”

“Actually, I’ve wanted to say this before, Judai, you don’t have to force yourself to shoulder all the responsibility.” Fubuki looked at Judai, who was clenching his fists tightly, and sighed. “It was the same during that duel not long ago. Everyone had the stamina, and you had experienced the battle with the Birdman before. You could have left it to us to deal with.”

“But the duels in this world are different!” Jaden couldn’t help but retort. “The most dangerous duels we’ve ever encountered in the past were nothing more than Professor Cobra’s ‘Expose Duel’ that would exhaust you to the point of unconsciousness, and the ‘Seven Star Key’ Guardian Duel where losing would seal your soul.”

"But in this world, losing a duel means certain death." Recalling the two opponents he had dueled since arriving in this elven world, both the [Birdman] and [Scout of the Dark Realm - Scar] were instantly "annihilated" after losing their duels, with no chance of being saved. "I... will not let any of my companions die!"

However, upon hearing Judai's words, Manjoume frowned in annoyance: "You... stop talking nonsense. Do you think we're the kind of useless trash who would die without you? There's a limit to arrogance!"

"You're just a student, what right do you have to bear the burden of other people's lives? Don't get it wrong! When we came here, everyone was prepared to die after Hayato-sensei confirmed it before we even took that step. Don't presumptuously take on the responsibility for our lives!"

Marufuji Sho also held Judai's hand and said, "Big brother, you said it before, right? If I can't believe in myself, then let me believe in you, my big brother. I believe in you, so please continue to believe in us."

“Sho…and everyone.” Looking at his friend who was sincerely holding his hand, and at his companions, Manjoume and the others, whose words, though stern, were actually meant to comfort him, Judai’s heart, which had been tormented by the uncertainty of John’s fate, found a moment of peace and warmth. He looked at everyone and finally picked up the soup he had put down. “I understand. We will go together and rescue John.”

"That's more like it." Kenzan saw that Jaden wasn't just giving them a perfunctory reply, but that he was visibly relaxed, and he smiled as well. "In any case, it was a dangerous duel that risked your life. You've already experienced two of them, so if you encounter a situation like this again, it will be my turn to take action. You should save your energy for the crucial moment of rescuing John-senpai."

"What nonsense are you spouting, you mere goldfish brat? Judai has already shown off twice, it's clearly my turn next. As Judai's underling, you should go to the back of the line." Manjoume said arrogantly, mocking Kenzan, whose headband resembled a goldfish.

"I can't agree with that. I think I also need to show off my real skills and let the ladies from another world witness my charm. Maybe I can even gain fans from another dimension~"

Hearing Fubuki's words, Asuka sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Now that we're in another world, you should just behave yourself, brother..."

Next to Jaden and the others, Jim took a bowl of hot soup from Edward and thanked him, saying, "Thanks, Edward."

"I thought you, who spend so much time on archaeological excavations, would have good stamina. Even Judai's underlings were only mentally exhausted without breaking a sweat. Are you this tired, Mr. Jim?"

Seeing Jim stroking the crocodile Karen and leaning back in his seat, Ed noticed a fine layer of sweat on Jim's forehead after he took off his hat. Instead of keeping his doubts to himself, he asked directly.

Jim paused in his stroking motion, instinctively reaching out to touch his right eye, but then stopped himself. After a moment of silence, he simply shook his head and said, "There are some reasons I can't explain in detail, but my body is actually fine. Hmm, probably."

“If you want to put people at ease, don’t add that last sentence.” Amon came over carrying two bowls of hot soup, glanced at Jim and Ed who each had a bowl of soup, and then looked at Caesar who had nothing in front of him.

Before he could speak, Caesar had already said, "For me, duels are a more effective source of sustenance; I don't need these things."

Upon hearing this, Amon showed no embarrassment at being rejected or appearing presumptuous. Instead, he placed a bowl of soup in front of himself and began drinking another: "I'll have two bowls."

"What is O'Brien doing?" Jim, who had been sitting for a while but had perked up again, asked curiously, looking at O'Brien who was asking [Wandering Hero - Fried] something not far away. "Didn't Judai just ask the villagers here? Didn't they all say they hadn't seen John?"

“But at least we can gather some maps of the surrounding area.” As he was speaking, O’Brien had finished asking questions and returned to them, replying as Jim spoke about his own affairs. “It’s uncertain when it will come in handy, but it’s better than knowing nothing about the area.”

“At least I know that the ‘Overlord Army’ has a camp at the foot of a cliff not far from the village, and the general composition of their forces,” O’Brien explained. “The Dark World Scout-Scar, who was defeated by Jaden before, was a scout for the ‘Overlord Army.’ Although there is a lower-ranking fighter, the Dark World Vanguard-Bege, his status is not much higher.”

"The 'Overlord Army' near the village is mainly composed of [Dark Realm Hunter - Brau], [Dark Realm Assassin - Kachi], and a large number of [Goblin] grunts. They are accompanied by the military advisor [Dark Realm Strategist - Grin], and their leader is [Dark Realm Knight - Zul]."

"They're all low-level monsters. It's good news that there aren't any higher-level 'Dark World' monsters." Edward said, then added with a complaint, "But I guess the card descriptions from the International Illusion Society are just made up, aren't they? I remember the description of 'Dark World Knight - Zul' said that he was a 'noble knight' and 'wouldn't attack the weak.'"

"But in reality, the [Knight of the Dark Realm - Zul] who captured and killed the villagers here is completely different from the description on the card." Amon also shrugged. "I thought that in the design of the International Illusion Society, the [Dark Realm] was the kind of contrast between a fierce appearance and a kind force. But in the real elven world, the [Dark Realm] has become a villain in the truest sense."

"After all, there have been precedents like the [Lion Wizard] being over-interpreted," Jim joked, completely unaware of the trouble such criticism of a great god would bring upon him.

Just as O'Brien was organizing the intelligence he had gathered and sending the hastily drawn map to everyone present, a shout suddenly came from outside—

"Captain Fried!"

Because of a shortage of manpower, a young girl who was filling in for the original soldiers and was in charge of reconnaissance in the shelter hurriedly pushed open the door and shouted, "Lord Fried, a soldier from the Iron Knights has escaped back!"

Behind him, four people carried in a door panel that served as a stretcher. On it lay a person whose face was exactly the same as the man in the photo that Kyle had specifically gone to retrieve. It was one of the captured members of the Iron Knights - [Warrior-Raz]!

(Two teenage girls and two children carried a thick wooden plank for an adult man; these villagers are also inhuman.)