Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Seeing Xiao Lan pointing at her, Xiao Mi tilted her head, her calm tone revealing her confusion: "Didn't Yao Guang come in first before you asked me?"

"Hey?"

"Ahem." An awkward cough came from the ceiling. Only then did Xiao Lan realize that her Radiant Sister—[Half-Dragon Maid/Dragon Girl Butler]—was hiding silently on the chandelier in the room. She blushed with embarrassment because Xiao Mi had exposed her presence. "I just... just came to see if this place was clean."

"Don't worry about that, because although [Dragon Lamp] is a sleepyhead, it's very clean." A pair of white horns peeked out from under the bed, and [Silver Princess of the Labyrinth Castle] pointed to the chandelier where [Half-Dragon Maid - Radiant Dragon Girl] had just stood. The dragon-shaped chandelier then actually came to life and yawned.

Seeing a bunch of people suddenly appear in the room that was empty just moments ago, Xiao Lan looked utterly shocked: "W-really? So many of you sisters secretly came to see Master at night... You guys stayed up all night playing games without telling me, that's so mean!"

Saotome Rei also looked utterly shocked: "So many monsters, and they're just like they're alive! Am I dreaming!?"

Hearing Li's words, the Radiant Dragon Girl recovered from her embarrassment and looked at Li with a puzzled expression, saying, "Madam, although we will need to investigate your trespassing later, have you never seen anyone like us before today?"

"I've seen card monsters before I started elementary school, but to interact with them like real people..." Saotome Rei glanced at the beautiful but strangely distinctive half-dragon maid/dragon girl butler in front of her, who was still hanging in mid-air by Shadowdike Midrash and unable to move, and said with a hint of resistance, "Am I dreaming?"

At the dock in Domino Town, the white, twisted magic power that Saotome Rei had been imbued with after meeting Saiou Takuma, a seemingly "kind" older man, was passively and slowly activated, along with the fluctuations in Saotome Rei's heart. Even though Saiou was focused on escaping Duel Academy Island and no longer wanted to touch the power he released, it was still being passively and slowly activated.

Chapter 1237 Faster Than Light: Besides Accelerated Synchronization, There's Also the Changing Heart of a Young Girl

Before the Radiant Dragon Girl could answer Saotome Rei's question, they suddenly heard a voice coming from outside the window in Hayato's room:

"Sorry, Oma, your emperor has returned!"

Although the lines were nonsensical, the distinctive voice instantly made everyone in Hayato's room recognize him. It was none other than Hayato returning from "Hayabusa Mansion"... cough cough, it should be "Kobayashi Mansion"... it was undoubtedly Hayato returning from "Kobayashi Mansion".

Upon hearing Hayato's voice, although Yoh was still curious about the unusual situation with Saotome Rei, she clearly had more important things to do now. She quickly tugged at Ran, saying, "Let's not worry about that now. Ran, come with me. Master is back."

As she left Hayato's room, Yohkou, who served as the butler and managed many affairs in the household, reminded the others in Hayato's room: "Since you can't hide any longer, hurry up and leave the master's room."

It's not that I don't want these runaways to have a chance to get close to their owner.

In Yaoguang's original plan, since her master was returning so late and might be tired, she figured she wouldn't be noticed while hiding on the chandelier, allowing her to watch him sleep. Staying up all night was nothing to her, the perfect and dashing head maid!

However, he hadn't expected that besides himself, [Shadowy Midrash] and [Silver Princess of the Labyrinth Castle] were also hiding in the room, planning to launch a night attack on his master. How could this be allowed? Besides, his master was so energetic when he returned, he probably wouldn't be able to hide and avoid being discovered. So he might as well go directly to the mansion to greet his master's arrival and warn these despicable guys not to try to sneak away!

Labyrinth crawled out from under the bed with a long face, casually dusted off non-existent dust, and said with a regretful expression, "What a pity, it was such a good opportunity. Come to think of it, I was worried that you guys would complain about me to the Hero. It's not good to stay here any longer."

“【Dragon Lamp】, let’s go.” With a casual wave, the 【Dragon Lamp】, which was attached to the original ordinary chandelier, detached from its attachment and transformed back into a flying dragon burning with illusory flames. It landed on Labyrinth’s shoulder, and Li and Xiaolan watched as the other party strutted out of the room with his head held high, as if he were the queen of this mansion.

"Wow, such a great figure." Because Labyrinth's outfit wasn't the voluminous gown she wore as [Labyrinth of the Silver Castle], but rather the battle skirt of [Silver Princess of the Labyrinth Castle], Saotome Rei could clearly see the other's curvaceous figure—although Labyrinth's genitals were actually only a C-rank, they were still much better than Rei's before she had even developed.

Holding her sister Yaoguang's hand, Xiaolan nodded in agreement, "Goo, it really is quite big. It feels just as tall and big as Yaoguang. Hmm... mine is only that small."

As she spoke, Xiao Lan, her face covered in cold sweat from witnessing the stark difference in status, trembled as she reached for the horn on her head.

"Wait a minute, were you originally referring to the horns on your head?!"

"Huh? What else?" Little Blue's voice was full of resentment as she touched her horns, which were shorter than her fingers. But then she glanced at Labyrinth's departing figure and suddenly felt confident again. "But it doesn't matter, Little Blue's tail is much stronger than hers."

"Although it's not as thick as Yaoguang's tail, compared to Yaoguang's tail which is half dragon scales and only half of its soft part is visible, my tail is all fluffy, hehehe~" As she spoke, Xiaolan even hugged her own tail and showed a perverted expression.

"Even if it feels good to touch, there's no need to make that kind of face at your own tail. What's with that 'people without tails are so pitiful' look when you look at me? And don't give me that 'I'm not giving you such a nice tail, you can't even touch it' look after I've said a few words. Who would want that?!"

The tail is covered by the top, and the diagnosis is: the tail is stretched out and cannot be pulled back, what is the cause of the complaint?

As Saotome Rei was making this comment, she saw the purple threads that had been suspending her disappear into thin air, putting her back on the ground. Meanwhile, [Shaddoll Midrash] followed Labyrinth out of the room with a blank expression, along with [Shaddoll Beast] that slowly emerged from Saotome Rei's shadow.

"Huh!? What is that thing? When did it appear in my shadow!?"

Hearing Saotome Rei scream in panic, Xiaomi simply tilted her head and asked, "When...? In Master's words, 'When did you start to have the illusion that the [Shadowmon] wasn't in your shadow?'"

"The moment you step inside, the moment you enter any shadowy spot within the building, the Shaddolls have already spotted you..."

Although she explained a few words to Rei Saotome, Mimi's patience with strangers only went so far. In fact, after all these years, the fact that she could communicate with humans other than Hayato already showed how much better-tempered she was. Nodding to Yohko, Mimi left Hayato's room.

Seeing that there were no other "people" in the house, Yaoguang nodded, quickly pulled Xiaolan and Li away, closed the door, and pretended that nothing had happened, preparing to greet Hayato, who had already entered the garden and was about to arrive at the mansion entrance.

The moment the door closed, [Summoner-Aleister], who had been hiding behind it and holding his breath, breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he hadn't been discovered. Otherwise, wouldn't he have been surrounded and attacked by these women?

Let me state upfront that Aleister does not consider himself to be any kind of South Copper. He was merely coerced by the [Temple's Water Warriors] into setting up a spatial tunnel in Hayato's room that led directly to the [Temple's Water Warriors]'s room.

Before he could even make a move, the women slipped into Hayato's room one after another. He was lucky he hid quickly, otherwise he would have been exposed long ago. After all, it needs to be reiterated that he, Alesta, is not Nantong; he can't afford to give the wrong impression.

Although I was forced to come, I've already come all this way, so wouldn't it be a shame to leave empty-handed? I should at least take some souvenirs from Hayato's room; Master probably won't notice. Finally, let me reiterate, Aleister is definitely not some Southern Bronze.

Yaoguang, who was leaving the second floor of the mansion with Xiaolan and Saotome Rei, did not notice that Alai had quietly slipped out of the room behind her. She did not take any action against Saotome Rei for trespassing. She only asked Arias, the butler of Silver City, to temporarily look after Rei when they met him passing by. Then she took Xiaolan to the front of the mansion.

Meanwhile, the rest of the dragon maids were already ready.

"Tianfeng! You're stealing food again! That was for Xiaolan!" the red-haired dragon maid—[Half-Dragon Maid - Distillery Dragon Girl]—said angrily. She'd probably caught Xiaolv stealing the food she'd prepared and asked her to serve again. This was probably the umpteenth time. And the fact that Xiaolv had clearly seen Xiaolan take a gift to the second floor of the mansion but hadn't shown up before was likely partly because she was secretly eating Xiaolan's portion at the time.

Despite being caught red-handed, Xiao Lü showed no embarrassment at being called by name directly, and laughed carefree: "Hey~ it's just a little bit. Besides, Acycia ate some too, much more than me."

"How can you compare yourself to a glutton? Didn't you hear Master telling her, 'You're different from others, don't waste your time on things other than eating'? Besides, we're maids, okay? Maids!"

"Alright, alright, Little Red, calm down. Master is almost home. Yaoguang is here too~" Noticing the door behind her open, Little Pink, who had been smiling and watching the show from the side, spoke up to soothe the disgruntled Little Red. After Little Red calmed down, Little Pink nodded and smiled at Yaoguang and Little Blue.

Centered around the [Half-Dragon Maid/Dragon Girl Butler], five human-form [Half-Dragon Maids] stood in a row in front of the mansion, facing Hayato as he walked through the garden. They all clasped their hands together in a maid's bow and said, "Welcome home, Master~"

Because Xiao Lan's reaction was a beat slower and the bowing wasn't quite synchronized, Xiao Fen gently supported Xiao Lan's head to help her adjust the angle of her bow.

While in normal circumstances, maids would only come out in groups to see their master off when he leaves home, in "Hayabusa Mansion"... "Kobayashi Residence", because Hayato's return home is very unpredictable, the maids would often greet him at the door before going to do things like cooking.

"Ciallo~(∠?ω<)⌒☆"

Hayato greeted the maids who came to welcome him home, but before entering the mansion, he asked his butler, "Has anyone been to the house?"

Yaoguang nodded: "I was just about to tell you this. A young lady came to visit my home with Xiaolan. She seems to know you and wants to find your residence. I have temporarily entrusted her to Deacon Arias for care, and we will decide what to do when you return."

"Is she an eleven or twelve-year-old girl with blue hair?" Xiang Yaoguang asked again to confirm. Hayato nodded, then looked at Xiao Lan, who was almost completely hiding behind Yaoguang and Xiao Fen, "Xiao Lan, do you know her name?"

Although Yaoguang had tried his best to explain Xiaolan's actions of acting as a mole and leading Saotome Rei in a more subtle way, Xiaolan was still worried that Hayato would hold her accountable. Moreover, she had hidden the soiled curtains in the garden, fearing Hayato would find them. Hearing Hayato's question, she quickly replied, "I know! Xiaolan, I remember, she seemed to have said her name was 'Rei'!"

"Then it must be her, the brat I know. I just didn't expect her to come to my house. Is she lost?" Hayato said with some doubt as he walked into the mansion.

As soon as he entered, he saw Saotome Rei, who was too afraid to leave the side of Arias, the butler of Silver Castle, because she was terrified of the slime-like liquid monsters floating in the air. He waved to her and Arias and greeted them, "Yo, Arias, Saotome Rei too? Good morning, lunch, and evening~"

"Welcome home, Lord~" Arias, who had a face similar to Labyrinth, gave Hayato a butler's bow. Although she wanted to get closer to her master whom she hadn't seen for a day, she still remembered that she had her own duties—such as comforting Labyrinth, who was in his room feeling frustrated about the failed night raid plan. After leaving Saotome Rei in front of Hayato, she left with three minotaur slime familiars who were used to set out cutlery and plates.

Saotome Rei still wore a panicked expression, but now it wasn't because of Arias's familiars, but because she saw Hayato appear in front of her.

Hayato assumed she was panicked because she had broken into his mansion, seen so many spirits, and then bumped into him as he had just returned home. He didn't think too much about it. After telling the maids following him to go about their business, he didn't make things too difficult for Rei, who had come to the island without permission. He just said in a slightly troubled tone, "You've really caused a lot of trouble for others, Ms. Saotome Rei."

"Because of you, one of my friends was so scared he thought he saw a ghost. Then another idiot got caught in a sting operation because I was trying to find you. Even I stayed up late at night looking for you for ages."

"But I thought you were going to the Obelisk-Blue dormitory, why did you come here?"

Hayato's earlier words were not very clear to Saotome Rei, and the final question also puzzled her: "Obelisk-Blue Dormitory? I did pass by there, but why do you think I'm going there, Hayato-sama?"

Ignoring Saotome Rei's way of addressing him, Hayato shrugged and said, "Because Marufuji Ryo lives there, you know, that radiant 'Caesar'."

However, looking at the expression on Saotome Rei's face, Hayato also felt something was off. "Hmm? Something's not right. Why are you so calm? Isn't your idol Marufuji Ryo? And you came to Duel Academy Island even though it's against the rules just to see him?"

"No, no, no, although I did admire Mr. 'Caesar' when I saw him dueling before, I was just a child back then." Saotome Rei quickly shook her head in denial, even though she was only eleven years old now. Finally, she added shyly, "The person I like and admire is someone else."

Sure enough, even a kid this young has a fickle heart. When it comes to changing idols, only those anime otaku who can change their waifu every three months can probably compare.

Hayato was somewhat surprised by Saotome Rei's words, but he quickly thought of someone else: "I see, I understand now. You must have heard that Yugi's deck was going to be exhibited on the island, and the person you admire is actually Yugi, so you came to the island to see his deck, but you unexpectedly met Yugi on the ship you were on."

"That explains why Jonouchi saw you outside the game's room, then ran away and came to my place. Were you looking for an empty room to spend the night? After all, it's a game, and as always, it has a special attack on little girls. Princess Mary, Rebecca, and now even Saotome Rei? Heh heh heh, perfect deduction! I'm so smart, accurate, and the best~"

"N-No, that's not it! Don't make wild guesses, Hayato-sama!" Hearing Hayato's reasoning, Saotome Rei quickly denied it again, and fearing that Hayato would misunderstand something else, she also suppressed her shyness and looked directly at Hayato, saying, "The person I admire, the person I most wanted to see here, is you, Hayato-sama!"

"I saw it at the KC Cup five years ago. I saw Hayato-sama's heroic duel and how you saved many people, including me and my parents, at that time."

Hayato was surprised by Rei's words. He hadn't expected that the person Rei admired had changed from Marufuji Ryo to himself, nor had he expected that Rei Saotome was one of the tens of thousands of spectators at the first KC Cup five years ago, which had an accident.

"I clearly remember how you so coolly smashed that golden palace, Mr. Hayato, and I will always remember your life-saving grace."

With her cheeks flushed and a shy expression, Saotome Rei looked at Hayato and said, "I wanted to see you, I wanted to see you again, and finally I've come here. I'm confident that my longing for you is second to none."

"Because, Lord Hayato, you are the man who can become my father!" Looking at Hayato, Saotome Rei opened her arms and said with courage and determination, "Please accept the persistent longing of this young girl!"

As Saotome Rei felt excited, the power that Saiou had placed on her became active again, focusing on a card in her deck called "Girl in Love." The awakened spirit even appeared as a phantom behind Saotome Rei, and the card spirit, dressed in a wedding dress, made the same gesture as Saotome Rei towards Hayato.

Chapter 1238 Love is the heart of pursuit, infatuation is the heart of dreams.

She bravely and passionately confessed her feelings, but Saotome Rei only received Hayato's shake of the head in return.

Confused, she heard Hayato say, "You say you admire me? But how much do you really know about me? You're just an elementary school student, how can you possibly shoulder the burden of other people's lives?"

On Hayato's face, Saotome Rei's impatience was quite obvious, as if she was very dissatisfied with her own words just now. But despite this, Saotome Rei still wanted to prove her feelings to her idol.

"Hayato-sama is twenty-three years old. He lives in the villa area of ​​Domino Town and used to attend Domino City High School. During his time there, he became the Duel King, tied for first place in the Duel Kingdom, and the champion of the Duel City Tournament. From then on, he became the most powerful being in the Duel Monsters world. And his hobbies are—"

Listening to Rei's description, Hayato shook his head again: "Do you know that there is the greatest distance between admiration and understanding? What you said is not wrong, but that is only how the world sees me. Is that all you know about 'understanding'?"

"One question, just one question is enough for me to know the true extent of your so-called feelings." Hayato extended a finger and slowly pointed it at Rei Saotome, then pointed downwards.

"Can you give me that thing, Saotome Rei? That's my only question, and whether you can meet my needs is your answer. Through your answer, I can fully understand your true feelings." Hayato's lips curled into a cold smile. "If you can give me a satisfactory answer, then accepting your feelings isn't impossible."

Hayato was pointing to the card box on Saotome Rei's waist. When Saotome Rei infiltrated the Duel Academy island, she had brought her card deck with her. Hayato's finger was pointing at Saotome Rei's card deck inside the card box!

"My...my deck? This...isn't this a little...off?"

Although she's a bit love-struck, that doesn't mean Saotome Rei only thinks about romance. At least she still has her bottom line as a duelist; how could she easily hand over her deck to someone else? She looked at Hayato, hoping to hear something more acceptable from him, like "Take a look at your deck's construction."

However, all she heard from Hayato was cold words.

"There's nothing wrong with it, after all, in my opinion as the Duel King, your deck is just a bunch of garbage. You can't call it useless, you can only say it's utterly worthless." Hayato spread his palms. "If I accept your offer, then naturally your deck will be useless, right? I might as well sell it and get some money to play pachinko."

"Sell, sell!? Hayato-sama, why would you say something like that?" Saotome Rei's eyes widened when she heard Hayato, the Duel King, so easily say such heartless words as selling her cards. "My cards, every single one of them was chosen with my sincere feelings! And Hayato-sama, shouldn't you be a hero of justice?"

"Hero? You've got too many things wrong." Hayato sneered, a smirk playing on his lips. "You saw me break down the [Golden Palace of Rapids] that caused the incident at the KC Cup, but you don't know one thing, do you? That kid who used [Golden Palace of Rapids] was tricked by his own brother and used that card without his knowledge."

"And the person behind that incident, I'm actually in that organization, and I hold a very high position, second only to one person. And all I did was sell other people's cards. Where do you think I got the wealth to enjoy such a luxurious life?"

Of Hayato's words, nine out of ten are true. The starting point of the KC Cup incident—the activation of the Field Spell Card [Golden Palace of Rapids]—was indeed activated by Reinhardt without his knowledge, misled by his brother Chigfried.

Then, of the three masterminds behind the KC Cup incident, apart from Chigurhfrid, with whom he had no interaction, the other two, Dark Bakura, had direct dealings with him regarding the KC Cup incident. And Raphael, representing Doma, did indeed join later, and it wouldn't be wrong to say that his status in Doma was even higher than Dartz's.

Saotome Rei, of course, saw that Hayato was telling the truth without a trace of falsehood, and looked at him incredulously: "Are you... joking? Hayato-sama, how could you possibly be that kind of person... that kind of person..."

As she spoke, Saotome Rei's voice trailed off, because she could clearly sense the aura emanating from Hayato, which was only a few steps away from him. It was an evil aura that made him easy to commit evil, that didn't even care about the evil he had committed, and that regarded the good deeds of others that hindered him as evil!

If he were an evil person, just standing in front of Hayato would make one be overwhelmed by the evil he exudes and regard him as their savior. But for Saotome Rei, it was as if she had seen frog urination and felt disgusted from the bottom of her heart by the evil deeds Hayato spoke of!

The glorious image of the "Duel King" that had existed in her heart for five years began to crumble in Hayato's words. The admiration she had always felt for Hayato also began to disintegrate, and she even involuntarily took a step back from him.

“Those things don’t really matter anymore, do they, Rei? Come on, give me your card deck. If you give it to me, I can accept your feelings.” Hayato’s smile softened, and he opened his palms again. “Why are you backing away? Didn’t you want to convey your feelings to me? I’ve already given my answer. As long as you respond, I can accept you.”

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

Facing Hayato's outstretched hand, Saotome Rei lowered her head slightly, her upper face hidden in shadow due to the angle. Her emotions, now completely unsettled, drove Saiou's power away from the card "The Girl in Love" and redirected it towards another card.