Date- 27 Mar 2321
Time- 17:40
Location- Sky Blossom City, Card Stadium, VIP Box no1
“Just 5? Are they that confident in their strength or are they just underestimating our strength?”Anna asked, hearing that only 5 of the hostile Card Emperors were heading towards us. And later added, “Um… it doesn’t matter. Either way, I will have fun breaking them”
“I don’t think that breaking any of them would be the best course of action. Those 5 must not be heading here to fight with us. Judging from how the other 20 card emperors chose to hide in the city, it appears like they are taking the entire city hostage and the 5 card emperors that are heading here if my guess is correct are the negotiators.” Luna deduced the situation to her understanding. Clearly, the hostile forces did not underestimate Anna if anything they overestimated her and despite their advantage in numbers, they decided to take the entire city hostage rather than fight her.
“Thanks, genius. If not for your explanation I would never have guessed it.” Anna made snarky comments on Luna’s deduction. As she already knew that the hostile forces had taken the city hostage. But as always her cousin explained the obvious as if she was too dumb to understand what was happening without her explaining.
“Are you guys serious? Fook, they are Card Emperors, not some common mercenaries. how can they stoop so low to take a city hostage?” I could not help but voice out as this directly concerned my well-being.
“They may be card emperor realm mercenaries, who knows?” Replied Anna nonchalantly.
“You said negotiate, what do they want to negotiate?” Ignoring Anna I asked Luna.
“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius? Is it not obvious, they want to negotiate an exchange you for the lives of millions of people in the city.” Wow, I get it where Anna’s snarky comments stemmed from. Her cousin was indeed a… how to put it? Is quirky the right word.
“When it involves you, it is wise to double-check the facts” I had already guessed what the hostile forces were after but it was hard to believe that I, a countryside card soldier, was worth the lives of 25 card emperors.
Done with the dumb questions I looked around the room and asked the question which was bothering me the most, “don’t tell me you guys are okay with sacrificing one life for millions of lives because let me remind you, each life is equal in value. And you should think hard before making any decision.”
I was worried the people that were supposed to protect me would sacrifice me in exchange for millions of lives in the city. I would be a fool not to. I basically had no value if not for being the discoverer of silver milk powder. Which is of little use since the production method of silver milk powder and its key ingredient silver ocean had already been handed over to Anna.
Right now I had my fingers crossed that Anna would be the self-righteous type who is willing to sacrifice millions for one. Instead of a rational one that would not hesitate to save millions in exchange for one.
“Don’t worry master Wyatt, we will protect you with our lives.” The younger unknown card emperor assured me.
“Anybody else?” I ignored the younger card emperor as previously demonstrated by Anna, those two unknown Card emperors’ opinions did not matter here in this group.
“Wyatt, aren’t you being selfish? Do you believe your single life is worth millions of lives? Even with your logic that ‘each life is equal’, it would be wiser to sacrifice you in exchange for millions.
Wyatt, if not for anybody else at least consider the lives of the toddlers… Even though you are young, you have lived a life. Those toddlers haven’t even experienced life yet.
In a way, you owe them, if not for you they would not be in this situation. ” Luna reached out to my guilty conscience. By blaming the victim for being a victim.
Yes, the victim I am talking about here was me. All I did was try to better the world by discovering a miraculous powder. And in return, they are trying to kill me. How is that fair? Did I have other not so pure intentions attached to my discovery? Yes, but let me ask, is it wrong for a guy to earn a living for himself? Even more so to have him killed for it?
“Is she being serious right now?” I asked in dismay.
“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.
