Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Snapped--"

As Hayato snapped his fingers, the villa door behind him slowly opened, and the two maids, [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl] and [Half-Dragon Maid - Waiting Dragon Girl], namely Xiao Lan and Xiao Lü, each pushed open one side of the door to welcome the guests.

"Master, welcome home~" This is Xiao Lan, who bows respectfully after recalling the teachings of the Half-Dragon Maid, the Baby-Raising Dragon Girl, and then smiles foolishly at Hayato.

Little Green, who was specifically there to entertain guests and was known as the "living room maid," was much more professional. Not only did she maintain her elegant demeanor, but she also made sure to welcome Edward. "Welcome, guest from afar."

Although he could now be considered "successful and famous," Edward had never experienced such a life of being served by maids, nor had he ever seen such a scene. Even though the maids in front of him were mainly there to welcome Hayato's return and incidentally to greet him, Edward still felt somewhat at a loss and hesitated in the garden in front of the villa, not daring to walk in front and rather awkwardly glancing at Hayato beside him.

Hayato thought Edward's behavior was quite normal. Students of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen should act like students. Acting like a little adult every day is not cute at all. This kind of shyness is the spirit that young people should have. That being said, when Hayato and Jonouchi were in school, although they were the same age, they weren't much better. The part of them that looked most like students was probably their school uniforms.

Yugi? Before his senior year of high school, Yugi's height was like that of an elementary school student when he sat at the same table as Keihei and Rebecca. Even before graduating from high school, thanks to Jonouchi's "secret training method," he only managed to raise his height to the level of a twelve or thirteen-year-old junior high school student like Sera. On the contrary, during his university years, his height increased dramatically as if he had fought the Holy Grail War. At the age of twenty-three, when most people stop growing taller, he still maintained his late-onset development and finally broke through 1.7 meters this year—at least taller than Anzu, who is 1.65 meters tall.

"You've been very diligent today, Ran. You deserve praise." Calmly accepting the greeting from the two maids at the door, Hayato stepped forward, patted Ran's hair, and then rubbed her cheek.

(Tang Xiaoxiaolan)

"Ugh! Why are you rubbing my face?!"

"Who told you to smile so sweetly, Little Blue?" Hayato said while rubbing your face. "Hehe, someone like you, Little Blue, not only has to do the laundry, but your face is also something I can rub and play with!"

However, as soon as Hayato finished speaking, Ran's long, fluffy tail, which had been wagging like a dog's tail behind her while Hayato was rubbing her face, suddenly froze and stood upright. It wasn't because "an upright tail is a dog's tail" or anything like that, but because she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten, and looked at Hayato with teary eyes: "I... I put the clothes I washed in the washing machine and forgot to hang them out to dry!"

"Waaah! I'm going to hang the clothes out to dry right now, Master, please don't fire me, meow!" In a panic, Little Blue ran out to the laundry room in the garden, saying as she ran.

"Yay! I can have an extra snack while Xiao Lan isn't here." Seeing Xiao Lan run away, Xiao Lü's eyes lit up and she set her sights on Xiao Lan's food. She pulled Hayato with a grin and said, "Master, let's go inside quickly."

(Ear-twitching superpower (confirmed))

Seeing the dragon maid leading Hayato into the villa, Edward felt embarrassed to continue standing alone in the garden, so he followed her into the villa.

Even before Hayato arrived at the villa and waited for the first person to reach the destination, the dragon maids had already estimated how long it would take for their master and guests to arrive, thanks to the surveillance cameras installed in the villa that could monitor most of the island. The half-dragon maid and dragon housekeeper, who was in charge of the entire household, had arranged for the kitchen manager, the half-dragon maid and cooking dragon girl, to prepare meals for Hayato and the others.

Considering that Edward and his fellow students had spent a week in the wilderness on the island, even with numerous supply points along the way allowing them to freely replenish their favorite supplies, not everyone was as lucky as Jaden to encounter a chef like Ameruda who was skilled at processing ingredients. With their skills, they could only handle semi-finished products; raw ingredients could at most be cooked but not guaranteed to taste good.

Therefore, Xiao Hong simply made the dessert that could replenish people's energy, taste the best for most people, and bring them the most happiness. Moreover, she made a cake with extra celebratory significance for Ed and the others to eat. Ed was somewhat flattered when Xiao Lü pushed a cart to the restaurant to deliver a large three-tiered cake.

"cake?"

"It's strawberry cake again! The tokusatsu series Master's been watching recently aired a segment on it, and I guessed Master would be interested, so I chose strawberry cake." Following Little Green, Little Red pushed a cart into the living room. Unlike Little Green's cart, which was filled with cakes and tableware, her cart was laden with drinks and a wide variety of dishes, offering options even for those who don't like sweets—a thoughtful touch.

Although the maids have a clear division of labor, the work in the kitchen has been completed, and the Kobayashi family does not have such strict hierarchical rules. Otherwise, Midori's behavior of pulling Hayato into the villa earlier would have been considered disrespectful. After finishing her work, Red naturally came to the living room to see her long-lost master to replenish Hayato's energy (Red: This sentence should be deleted!).

"Don't be shy, you can see how big the cake is. You definitely can't finish it all. Have some dessert to relax." Hayato was a little surprised to see the whole cake. He called out to Edward and then teased Midori, "You didn't sneak a bite today, Midori?"

"Hey, actually it's because Little Red made extra cakes for us, seven different cakes specially modeled after us," Little Green said with a grin. "But Master, you already have such big cakes, you won't try to steal ours, will you?"

(There are seven kinds of cakes in the picture. This card from 22 is a prediction of this year's new Dragon Maid card.)

However, before Little Green could even take a few steps, seemingly wanting to abandon her maid duties in the living room and rush to the back to "protect" her share of the cake, she was forced back by Little Pink, the [Half-Dragon Maid/Nurse Dragon Girl] who was walking over from the other side. Little Pink smiled gently, even squinting her eyes, seemingly without any intimidation, "Don't bully Little Blue, Little Green~"

"I-I know, don't laugh so scary, Pinkie." The gluttonous maid stood at attention, seemingly obedient to Pinkie, and returned to the table to help Hayato and Edward cut the cake and pour tea.

(As you know, I've always been a big fan of pink.)

Is black tea acceptable?

Hayato suddenly asked Ed this question. Ed, who was about to pick up a strawberry and put it in his mouth, blinked and quickly said, "Yes, Hayato-sensei, I'm fine with anything."

"Haha, it's nothing, just a sudden joke. You can continue." Hayato smiled and shook his head, indicating that he didn't mean anything by it.

A moment later, Ed felt he had eaten enough. Although he could still eat, it was enough for now. The sugar from the dessert made Ed feel happy under the release of dopamine, and the accompanying black tea greatly restored his energy. Eating any more would only make him sleepy because of the increased blood flow to his stomach. This state was just right—meaning it was suitable for preparing for a duel.

"Ready? Hmm, not bad eye. Well then, let's duel in the garden. It's spacious there, perfect for your dueling monsters." Hayato wiped his mouth, stood up, and left the living room after speaking to Edward. He then took the Duel Disk from the guest room maid, [Half-Dragon Maid - Bedroom Dragon Girl], who had also come to the living room on the first floor, and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, I didn't see [Radiant] today?"

"As for Yaoguang-neechan, she's helping the new sister arrange her work." Xiaolan, who was carrying a pile of clothes that also needed washing and was about to move them to the laundry room to wash together because she had forgotten to hang them out to dry, replied to Hayato, "Because the master didn't bring the mistress with him."

"I see, that makes sense." Hayato nodded, then casually instructed, "By the way, Ran, go to the door and greet the rest of the group that arrives later."

"Hey? Little Blue, is that me?"

Pointing to herself, Little Blue suddenly puffed out her cheeks as if she were angry, "You used to love including me in your deck so much, Master, are you trying to get rid of me from your deck? Waaah! I knew you'd changed, Master! It's all that guy called [Melo Mermaid] who bewitched you!"

"Ahem, that's not what I meant at all." Hayato pulled Ran towards the villa's exit, secretly pulling the card of [Tears of Elegy Clan - Mermaid of Mero] out of the deck and putting it away—of course, he had told Edward that he didn't use [Tears of Elegy], he just forgot to take the card out, forgetting to turn it off is the same as turning it on?

But since Xiao Lan wants it, there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just go for a "pure [half-dragon maid]" one.

After calming down the whiny little blue, Hayato arranged for someone else to greet the other students arriving later at the gate, while he waited in the courtyard for Edward to adjust his deck.

Because his opponent was Hayato, Edward carefully laid out his entire deck and meticulously adjusted it, occasionally taking out a few cards to exchange with the cards in his sub-deck. It took him a long time to confirm his deck before he returned to the villa.

Sometime later, the dragon maids who had been roaming around the villa had all disappeared. Looking out through the open gate, Edward saw only Hayato standing among the greenery on either side of the path, his back to the fountain in the center of the courtyard. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the courtyard.

"Duel!"

No warm-up introduction is needed; Edward is already in "Climax" mode, his fighting spirit is high, and the cards in his deck are eagerly awaiting his call.

This time, he not only used the [D·hero] card, but also the [V·hero] card, which had been tested in his duel with Kajiki Ryota. He used every means at his disposal.

The only problem is that he didn't even know when a card he'd never seen before appeared in his side deck. But after carefully reading its effect, he added it to the deck, thinking it might be helpful in duels.

Ed Phoenix: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand

"【Hero】Deck user, Edward Phoenix." Looking at Hayato, Edward assumed a ready stance. "Hayato-sensei, please guide me!"

"Hmm, let's begin the duel, Duel." Hayato unfolded his duel disk and drew five cards from his starting hand. "This time, we're playing a 'pure Dragon Maid' deck. Come and meet the dragon maids of the Kobayashi family!"

[Kobayashi Hayato: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

Meanwhile, outside the courtyard, Asuka was saying something with a helpless expression.

"The first place has already been taken? Or maybe it's just a little short. What a pity. But it's only Judai, so it's normal for him to be so quick. His strength is indeed formidable."

"Not Judai? Tsk, so it was actually that Manjoume, who's always sticking to Judai's side like that guy with questionable sexual orientation, interrupting my conversation with Judai... our duel, who beat us to it? But I have to admit, he's quite strong."

"Not Manjou-motsu? Well, although he's usually unreliable, he has been called 'King' before, so it's reasonable for him to take first place."

"Huh? Ed Phoenix?"

Chapter 1503 Our game is currently underway!

Okay, Asuka actually knows Edward, after all, even before this "Wilderness Survival" started, Edward had already been enrolled at Duel Academy for a week.

In addition, Edward was assigned to the academy's special accommodation dormitory—the same one where Yugi and Jonouchi lived last academic year—which was quite close to the Red dormitory. Asuka, Manjoume, and the others often saw Jaden when they went to see him, and thus learned about "Ed Phoenix".

With the abilities of "Information Misawa", not only Ade's career performance as a professional player was unearthed in a week, but even "Little Ade's Story Collection" such as "Ade was late for school when he was a child and found that the school gate could not be opened from this side" was also brought up, and Asuka and the others learned a lot about Ade.

This includes the fact that his father, who died young, was apparently the original designer of the [Hero] deck, and that Edward uses the [D Hero] deck, which is different from the [E Hero] deck used by Jaden.

Led into the courtyard, Asuka followed the person in front of her along the path outlined by greenery, around the two people dueling in the central courtyard, to an open space on the side. This seemed to be a specially reserved resting place, where people could relax in the courtyard during their leisure time, or, as it was now, a spectator spot for the duel.

"The duel seems to have only just begun?" Looking at the five cards each player still had, Asuka was slightly relieved that she hadn't arrived too late, otherwise she would have missed this rare duel with Hayato-sensei. "But why is that Ed Phoenix challenging Hayato-sensei... Ah, I thought of a rather silly question, anyway, it's something like 'Let me see the performance of XX' or 'Are all of Hayato-sensei's XX decks monsters'?"

"Well then, please rest here for a moment. I need to continue greeting the other guests." The man who brought Asuka here said, and was about to leave, seemingly having no intention of staying to watch Hayato and Edward's duel. It was unclear whether it was because he had no interest in the duel, or because he had no interest in a duel with no suspense.

"Ah, thank you very much, this..." Although he looked fierce, tall and strong, and bald, Asuka found that the man in front of her had a rather peaceful personality, contrary to the rugged first impression he gave. She thanked him for leading the way, but only then did she realize that she didn't even know his name.

“Lishid, Lishid Ishdar.” The man seemed quite proud of his name, or rather his surname, emphasizing it once more.

"Aren't you going to take the first turn?" Hayato asked curiously, seeing that Edward wasn't in a hurry to go first. "You know, you can draw cards when you go first."

"Can't you draw cards even if you go second?" Edward asked in confusion, unaware that in the rules of another world, going first doesn't involve a card-drawing phase. He then shrugged and said, "Since I'm the one challenging you, Mr. Hayato, it's only natural that you should go first, right?"

This is a lie.

Edward discovered that he hadn't been able to secure a consistent advantage in any of his recent duels, especially his two previous duels against Kaiser Ryo and Tenjouin Fubuki, which ended in defeat. He might have also suffered a setback in his duel with Kajiki Ryota if it weren't for the use of [V·hero]. The common thread in these duels was that he had the first move in every single one of them!

As expected, the [Hero] deck just can't play the first-goal strategy. The first-goal setup is simply not very effective for [Hero], and it's much easier to play the second-goal strategy and break through.

“Eh~ I was planning to let you go first anyway.” Hayato raised an eyebrow, but didn’t stand on ceremony, drawing a card from his deck. “But since you chose this way yourself… then I’ll go first. Draw a card.”

“Since it’s a ‘Pure Dragon Maid’ deck, let’s start with this card—” Hayato said, revealing a card in his hand, “I will discard this card along with any Dragon-Type monster or LIGHT monster in my hand to activate the effect of my [Radiant Dragon - Spectral Dragon]!”

Beside Hayato, a small flying dragon appeared, its body pure white and its back radiating a dazzling aurora-like turquoise light.

"The card I'm going to discard is this one, the Dragon-Type monster [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV5]. I'll discard [Radiant Dragon - Spectral Dragon] and [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV5] together to the Graveyard. Then, under the effect of [Radiant Dragon - Spectral Dragon], I can add two [Radiant Dragon] monsters other than [Radiant Dragon - Spectral Dragon] from my Deck to my hand."

Hayato discarded two cards to the graveyard, then retrieved two more cards from his deck and showed them to Edward, saying, "These are the two cards I've added to my hand: [Storm Dragon - Gale Dragon] and [Rock Dragon - Rust Dragon]."

"But that's not all. If a Dragon monster is sent to the Graveyard to activate its effect, the effect of the [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV5] that I discarded will activate. I will add one 5-star or higher Dragon-type WIND monster from my Deck to my hand. The card I chose is this [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7]."

The [Armed Dragon], crackling with electricity, transformed into lightning and fell into Hayato's hand, increasing his hand size to seven cards instead of decreasing it.

"【Dragon Conqueror】 and 【Armed Dragon】, those are classic cards you used in Duel City back in the day, Hayato-sensei. But there are also some new cards I haven't seen before." Edward said, glancing at the vanished 【Light Dragon - Spectral Dragon】, though his expression couldn't quite keep it up. "But, isn't that the 'Pure Dragon Maid' deck?"

"What, can't [Armed Dragon] and [Conqueror Dragon] be maids?" Hayato retorted confidently, drawing two more cards from his hand. "It's not over yet. I need to use the effect of [Storm Conqueror Dragon - Gale Dragon] in my hand. I can only activate this effect by discarding this card and a WIND monster to the Graveyard. I can add a Dragon monster from my Deck to my hand."

"I discarded [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7] and [Storm Dragon - Gale Dragon] from my hand, and then added [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon] from my deck to my hand."

Hayato proudly waved the little blue card he had deliberately retrieved, as if to say, "I even brought the little blue card, who dares to say I'm not a 'pure dragon maid' deck?"

While using the resources of two cards to search for one card might seem like a bad deal, even a [LV5] card has an effect, let alone a [LV7] card? Just as Hayato added [Half-Dragon Maid - Laundry Dragon Girl] to his hand, he said, "Of course, just like [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV5], if this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate the effect of a Dragon-Type monster, the effect of [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7] will activate."

"I added a [Armed Dragon] card to my hand from my deck, and the card I chose is this [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV3]."

With his hand still holding seven cards, Hayato drew two more cards from his deck and then discarded two more from his hand: "Next up is this card, [Rock Dragon - Rust Dragon]. Discard it and my EARTH monster, [Half-Dragon Maid - Earth-kind Dragon Girl], from my hand to the Graveyard to activate their effect!"

"Special Summon One Monster from my graveyard!" Hayato shouted with a wave of his hand, "Resurrect, my hero!"

"【Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7】!"

At the cost of reducing his hand to five cards, Hayato finally played his first monster on his field, and it was a high-level Dragon-type monster with a rank of 7☆ – [Armed Dragon Raiden-LV7]!

【Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7】【7☆/Wind】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[2800/1000]

Seeing that Hayato's first Special Summon was made from the Graveyard, Edward glanced helplessly at the card in his hand. It was a pity that Hayato hadn't summoned or Special Summoned any monsters from his hand.

However, it wouldn't hurt to use it now, would it?

"Although it's temporarily ineffective, before you start your real combo, Hayato-sensei, I'll activate this card in my hand first." Just like Hayato, he discarded the card to the graveyard, and a jellyfish-like creature appeared beside Edward. "The effect of [Joyful Companion - Shaking Moon Jellyfish] is: During both players' turns, if I have no cards on my field, I can discard this card to activate its effect, allowing me to apply two of its abilities during this turn."

"My first ability is that every time my opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster from their hand, I draw one card from my deck."

Hayato chuckled: "Oh, isn't this one of the six roots of [G]? It's a pity that it can only be used to summon and special summon monsters from my hand. You can't use this effect to draw cards with [Armed Dragon - Thunder - LV7] that's currently on the field."

"Not only that, but the same goes for Special Summoning monsters from my Deck." Hayato waved a card in his hand and discarded it to the Graveyard. "By sending a monster from my hand to the Graveyard, the second effect of [Armed Dragon - Raiden - LV7] is activated. I discard [Armed Dragon - Raiden - LV3] from my hand."

"I send my [Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV7] to the Graveyard, and then I Special Summon one [Armed Dragon] monster with a Level of 10 or lower from my hand or Deck. The monster I Special Summon is—[Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV10]!"

【Armed Dragon - Lightning - LV10】【10☆/Wind】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]