Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date- 17 April 2321

Time- 10:55

Location- Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters, Blood Rock Caves gate dungeon, Seed World, VR Universe

"Wyatt, you leaving already. You haven't tasted my grilling yet," Asong said, seeing Wyatt was preparing to leave.

"I would have loved to but something just came up," Wyatt wanted to say Laura did all the grilling but he was not lying when he said something just came up. Just as his mind was contemplating the consequence of a second demon invasion on the card world, one of his calamity daughter gems demon merchant Cuth Diya contacted him through demon codex messaging.

"Do you plan to leave right after getting the answers you sought? Boy, who do you think I am?" Asong said jokingly, but her meaning could not be clearer.

"No, madam, something did come, I will make it up to you some other time," Wyatt assured Asong. He understood occasional or accidental small get-togethers, like this one, were a huge part of networking but right now he needed to attend to another urgent matter on which thousands of lives depended.

Seeing the genuine urgency in Wyatt's eyes, Asong understood Wyatt was not lying but something else bugged her, "Are you keeping something from me?" She could not shake the feeling that Wyatt was not telling her everything he knew.

"No, madam, if you don't mind please excuse me. I need to deal with this ASAP," Wyatt did not wait for Asong to reply and went offline.

"Wyatt wait, change my identity and appearance before you leave —" Aba shouted seeing Wyatt's figure fading but he had left before she could finish her sentence.

"Shit," Aba cussed in disappointment. She really wanted to experience the VR universe from the perspective of a poor girl. She wanted to prove that she had more to offer than her awesome father.

"Girl, language," Asong warned Aba, only to hear her chant the cuss louder, "Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit…"

Seeing Aba throw a tantrum, Agatha hurriedly rushed to her side and whispered, "Princess, you better stop it. I don't want to spank you again at her orders."

"You traitor," Aba remembered the last time she acted out against Asong, Agatha was the one who helped Asong discipline her. They claimed to be her guardian but they were a bunch of child abusers.

"You two done," Asong eyed Agatha and Aba before continuing with a stern tone, "Let me warn you, you are not going to ever speak about changing your identity and appearance to live a different life, ever again unless you want to end up in a loony bin. You aren't mentally strong enough to adopt the duality."

"I don't see what the big deal is. I just want to live an average life for once," Aba complained aloud. Seeing Asong's frown grow narrower she reduced her voice and muttered, "I think I can handle living as someone else for two days."

"Fine then, tell me this, as a beggar girl walking on a busy street you see the person in front of you drop his wallet, what do you do?" Asong asked Aba seeing that she was not convinced with her decision.

"What anybody else in that situation would do, pick up the wallet and hand it to the person," Aba answered confidently.

"Wrong," Asong declared, it appeared she had already anticipated Aba to answer something of this sort.

"Hey, how am I wrong?" Aba protested, not understanding how she was wrong.

"You are a beggar girl in this scenario, use your brain Aba," Asong did not immediately tell Aba what she did wrong hoping Aba would figure it out.

"Hey, just because somebody is a beggar girl doesn't mean they will steal someone else money. Grandma, Aren't you the one who keeps saying one should not judge a book by its cover," Aba said proudly, feeling she had outwitted Asong.

"Yes, you dumb girl, one should not judge a book by its cover but people still do. Agatha tell Aba what would you have done in that situation?" Asong asked Agatha to answer, feeling that Aba would be more convinced if the answer came from Agatha rather than her.

"I would do nothing and mind my business or go the other way and even run for my life," Agatha answered, but then she got sidetracked as if she was speaking from her experience.

"What?" Aba cried out in disbelief. She expected Agatha to say something to the effect of 'the beggar girl would be hungry and keep the wallet for herself forced by her circumstances' but the answer Agatha gave was beyond her comprehension.

"Princess, if any normal person were to be approached by a beggar returning their wallet most of the time their reaction would not be gratefulness but suspicion which is why first I said I would mind my business.

Also, the streets are less safe than you think. Local gangs might be fishing, and just nearing the wallet could spell disaster for the beggar girl. Many demonic card apprentices pay a good price for a child," Agatha explained, even surprising Asong. She was not expecting the second part of Agatha's answer. Asong realized even she had underestimated the streets.

"How is a beggar girl supposed to know that?" Aba felt she failed to answer the question because she was not given the full context.

"A beggar girl would know how to survive the streets otherwise you would not find her on the streets but in some drainage / back ally rotting or some demonic card apprentice's demonic card collection," Agatha got real with Aba for once. She did not speak of her past much but today she opened up seeing Aba make light of how hard life is on the streets, especially for orphaned or runaway beggar girls.

Asong, Aba, and Laura were shellshocked Listening to Agatha because they could feel the seriousness in her tone. Smart ones like Asong and Laura already understood Agatha was speaking from experience. Even Mrs. Miko who happened to be wolfing down the grilled monster meat from the start paused to look at Agatha. The way Agatha spoke about this matter sent chills down these girls' spin.

Aba suddenly hugged Agatha's waist from the side, though she did not understand the underlying meaning she could feel the fear in Agatha's tone as she warned her about the streets. She had never seen Agatha get scared, even in the face of a powerful enemy but now speaking of the streets, though she sounded serious she felt her fear.

"Um, what are you doing?" Agatha asked, surprised by Aba's action.

"It just felt like you could use a hug," Aba replied in a muffled voice.

"Then how about you give me a proper hug?" Agatha requested, to which Aba gritted her teeth and agreed, "Fine, just this once."

Due to her small height, Aba could not properly hug tall Agatha. For them to properly hug, Agatha would have to lift Aba and hug her. Aba found it shameful and warned Agatha from ever repeating it. But considering the situation Aba decided to agree to Agatha's request, and she closed her eyes in preparation for the shame. However, to her surprise, Agatha did not lift her but knelt to hug her.

"You could have always hugged me in this way but you kept hugging me in that shameful way, that too in front of my classmates?" Aba was pissed at Agatha.

"No. No. don't lift me, put me down. Agatha put me down," Listening to Aba ruin their moment by complaining, Agatha changed her mind and got up carrying Aba in her embrace. Thanks to their shinanigans everybody's mood was lightened. Mrs. Miko once again returned to devouring the grilled monster meat.

However, black lines were visible on Asong's forehead as she stared at Agatha. She felt because of Agatha's antics Aba who had the memory of a goldfish might have already forgotten the lesson she was trying to teach her. But then seeing that Aba had shut up about changing her appearance and identity to live a different life in the Vr Universe, her stare eased. Having taken Aba under her wing she had learned to take the win when she gets one.

…

Waking up from the VR Universe, Wyatt summoned his demon codex and stared at devil Merchant Cuth Diya's text not knowing how to solve the new problem that had popped up.

[Master Ezra,

For unknown reasons, devil merchant Belphegor has ordered my father, devil merchant Muth Diya, to hide in the card world for the foreseeable future. Completing my work, I followed my father to the Card World. After coming to this realm, I learned that my father had recruited devil merchant Handsome Fox's help to gather human sacrifices to help me cultivate my new unique abilities. He has gathered about a hundred thousand human sacrifices and is asking me to use them to cultivate my abilities. Knowing your relationship with humans I do not know what to do next.

Yours Truly,

Demon Merchant

Cuth Diya.]