191 Dekan’s Kin
Dekan grabbed the arm of the Gate Knight and then looked at Knight Commander Gavin.
“Mr. Knight Commander, could I borrow this young man for a moment?”
“No problem.”
The Knight Commander Gavin agreed without hesitation.
As long as he wasn’t being bothered, he’d agree to anything.
All he wanted was to quickly settle Dekan and his companions, then keep his distance.
A minor incident occurred while passing through the city gate, which already gave Knight Commander Gavin a strong sense of foreboding.
So Dekan brought the Gate Knight, who had purchased the counterfeit [Captain De’Erkan] card, to a corner and assured him that he wouldn’t tell the Knight Commander about this matter.
The Gate Knight quickly confessed everything about how he obtained this card.
A few days ago, after losing the [Captain De’Erkan], he was at a loss about how to rectify this dereliction of duty.
Besides the official channels that primarily supplied the [Captain De’Erkan] to the Randir Kingdom, there were also some civilian circulation routes.
But the civilian channels had scalpers inflating prices.
A [Captain De’Erkan] purchased on the black market would be much more expensive than its normal selling price.
However, the Gate Knight didn’t want to face punishment for losing an important security item, so he decided to check out the black market after considering his options.
Perhaps spending a high price to buy a [Captain De’Erkan] might be more cost-effective than compensating for the lost card and dealing with the penalties.
In the end, the knight met a thin middle-aged man in a corner who asked if he wanted to buy a [Captain De’Erkan] that was only slightly more expensive than the official price.
After inspecting the attributes of the card, the Gate Knight gladly purchased it.
Dekan twitched at the corners of his eyes as he listened.
This counterfeit thing dared to sell for more than the authentic version!
Where is the law?
“Then why didn’t you buy more to resell?”
“I am a knight! Those card scalpers who exploit prices deserve to have no※※children!”
“For that point, I completely agree.”
Dekan nodded.
“However, I did ask if he had more. Since the price was enticing, but he said there was just this one.”
The Gate Knight added.
Dekan: “……”
You’re also a potential scalper.
Dekan shook his head helplessly. He had a rough understanding of the situation.
This Gate Knight was purely a victim of a scam.
The creator of the counterfeit cards likely stole the genuine [Captain De’Erkan] from the knight using the [Bandit Goblin], then cracked the original card to successfully develop the skewed-mouth version of [Captain De’Erkan].
He then sold the counterfeit card back to this unsuspecting knight.
As Dekan listened to this series of nearly risk-free schemes, he couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of deja vu.
Isn’t this similar to the money-making strategy Dekan and Morion used after their collaboration?!
It was just a junior version of the money-making loop, not playing on a large enough scale.
Fortunately.
Since there wasn’t much time between the theft of the knight’s genuine [Captain De’Erkan] and his purchase from the black market, the counterfeit card maker probably only managed to create one skewed-mouth [Captain De’Erkan] at the time.
However, Dekan was well aware that once this technique was mastered, producing more [Captain De’Erkan] cards would be routine.
After all, it was just a one-star blue quality card.
Undoubtedly, the counterfeit card maker had already successfully made several by now!
It was necessary to quickly stop and catch that person!
Otherwise, the smiley world Dekan envisioned would be tainted by the skewed smile!
Moreover, the skewed-mouth [Captain De’Erkan] posed a significant threat to Dekan himself and his companions.
Under no circumstances can this card be allowed to circulate in the market!
Dekan quickly let the Gate Knight go.
Then he walked into the city and returned to his companions.
By this point, their team had boarded the carriage prepared for them by Knight Commander Gavin and was waiting for Dekan.
Knight Commander Gavin had told them that he would bring them to a standalone mansion near the capital city center.
The surrounding protective facilities were complete, there were no other residents or valuable public facilities, so they could enjoy their journey to the Randir Kingdom at ease.
This was the residence specially granted to them by the king.
“How’s it going? Can you find that counterfeit card maker?”
Chloix asked.
“Sure, it shouldn’t be too hard.”
Dekan’s expression was somewhat grim.
It was the first time he had encountered someone who could create a card that even gave him the chills.
He wanted to meet this mysterious person.
“Mr. Gavin, could you tell me where the black market is?”
Dekan looked outside the window, asking Knight Commander Gavin, who was guarding them on horseback.
“The black market… It’s not far from the outskirts of the city, but it’s quite a distance from the capital city center where you’ll be staying.”
Gavin slightly felt a bit uncomfortable but maintained his composure and answered calmly.
“Mr. Gavin, could you please wait for us for a bit?”
“No problem.”
Thus, the Beautiful Soul Squad held a brainstorming session on the carriage.
After a short exchange.
“Alright, Chloix and I will go to the black market. The two of you ladies and Teacher Cat can enjoy the city center today.”
Dekan considered how to divide the group.
There was no need for the whole group to go to the black market.
After all, for covert operations, just one or two people were best.
If Dekan took Cornelia along, Chloix and Mia might feel a bit awkward since they weren’t very familiar with each other.
Mia and Cornelia had mostly been sitting together during the trip to the Randir Kingdom.
In the evenings when they found rest at towns, Mia and Cornelia shared a room with Teacher Cat, while Dekan and Chloix stayed in another room.
After two weeks of travel and rooming together, Mia, with a lively personality, had become very close with Cornelia.
Judging from their closeness, Dekan was sure that Mia had become Cornelia’s second female close friend after Flora.
Additionally,
Honestly, going to the outskirts, the gray area,
Dekan preferred going with guys.
“No problem.”
Everyone nodded.
Compared to exploring the black market, Cornelia, Mia, and Teacher Cat seemed more inclined to enjoy the leisurely afternoon of sightseeing and leisure in the capital city center.
“By the way, Mia, could you help us disguise ourselves a little?”
Dekan said.
He had seen Mia master various excellent scout skills, but she would never consider challenging the Shadow World.
Due to their fame after the battle in Tristin City, black market informants might have their descriptions.
If recognized, it would cause some trouble.
Moreover, they couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t cause a commotion in the black market today.
If they were pursued, it would be problematic.
Having a disguise would be more convenient.
“No problem, but you two just make sure not to lead people back to our residence.”
Mia seemed to have determined that these two guys wouldn’t have a peaceful afternoon.
She took out her toolkit from her luggage, including special leather masks and quick-acting dyeing agents, and skillfully disguised the two in little time.
Now it was impossible to tell that these two were Dekan and Chloix.
Additionally, at Dekan’s specific request, Mia tried her best to make Dekan look like Morion.
“Hmm, pretty similar.”
Dekan, looking in the mirror, mimicked the cheerful smile that he remembered Morion would often show.
Unfortunately, this temporary disguise didn’t last long. Otherwise, he could frequently use Morion’s identity to stir up trouble in the future.
Anyway, Dekan still felt like something was missing.
“Right, it lacks… a certain aura.”
Cornelia, after observing Dekan carefully, gave her evaluation.
“Ah, what’s up…”
When Dekan put down the mirror, he saw quite a few vendors outside selling small ornaments.
So Dekan jumped off the carriage, bought a single-ear hanging-eye accessory and wore it on his face, then bought a black top hat and put it on his head.
“How about now, does it have a Morion feel?”
“This aura is here! You, are Morion!”
Chloix gave a thumbs-up, agreeing.
Thus, the Beautiful Soul Squad temporarily split into two groups, the boys and the girls, beginning their individual activities.
…
On the outskirts of the underground black market.
Dekan and Chloix wandered around, to act low key, Dekan temporarily put away the single-ear glasses and top hat.
They looked around at all kinds of shops and stands and occasionally bought some cheap low-level materials.
Not long after, they noticed a thin middle-aged man observing.
His appearance matched the Gate Knight’s description to a certain extent.
Seemed like he was checking customers’ buying tendencies.
So Dekan and Chloix naturally moved slightly closer to the thin middle-aged man and asked nearby vendors if they had any [Captain De’Erkan] for sale.
No matter if vendors replied yes or no, Dekan wouldn’t buy, then commented that the price was too high.
They couldn’t act too extravagant.
Otherwise, it might scare off the thin middle-aged man.
People of high rank or status, having seen more, if they sold counterfeit cards to them, they might be caught red-handed.
The thin middle-aged man’s target group is those who want to buy Captain De’Erkan but think the official card price is too high.
These people have never used [Captain De’Erkan], almost certainly not noticing any flaws in the counterfeit card.
Soon enough, the thin middle-aged man fell for it.
He directly approached Dekan and asked:
“Sir, are you looking to buy [Captain De’Erkan]?”
Dekan, with a puzzled expression, turned his head to look at the thin middle-aged man.
After hesitating for a moment, he still nodded:
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I happen to have a [Captain De’Erkan].” The thin middle-aged man licked his lips and said, “Since I urgently need money, I can sell it for just 1200 coins (1 gold coin = 1000 coins). Do you want it?”
“Let me see it.”
Since the central and southern countries mostly use the Kingdom Union’s issued general currency, even without currency exchange, Dekan could conveniently use the money earned in Norton Kingdom directly in Randir Kingdom.
The thin middle-aged man glanced around, licked his lips, then took out a [Captain De’Erkan] card from his pocket and showed it to Dekan.
Dekan looked at the card face and resisted his facial expression from changing.
The mouth on this counterfeit [Captain De’Erkan] was even more crooked!
Seemed like after a short practice, the counterfeit card maker’s skills had become even more wild!
“Can you make it a bit cheaper?”
Dekan was ready to play the role.
He was unsure if the person before him was the counterfeit card maker himself or someone helping to get rid of the goods.
It’s also inappropriate to make a move here.
“Lowest price is 1100 coins, can’t go any lower. If I wasn’t in urgent need of money, I wouldn’t have sold it so cheaply.”
The thin middle-aged man answered with a distressed expression.
Dekan looked at him, and began to sneer inside.
Original card cost only one gold coin!
You keep pretending.
Pretend like you’re selling the original card!
“Uh, do you have more of these [Captain De’Erkan]? If I buy a few more, can you make it a bit cheaper?”
Dekan asked somewhat hesitantly.
The thin middle-aged man probably wouldn’t carry all his valuable cards on him. If there were more in stock, they might be led to the storage or even the place where counterfeit cards are produced.
“Sure, if you buy five at once, I’ll sell them for five gold coins!”
The thin middle-aged man acted like he was in urgent need of money.
“Alright then, I’ll take them all!”
Dekan bit his teeth and handed over 5 gold coins to the thin middle-aged man.
He felt it was indeed as he expected.
“Sorry, not all on me. Follow me.”
After receiving the gold coins, the thin middle-aged man quickly led Dekan and Chloix to an old small store.
Apart from a small counter, there was hardly any space for customers to stand. Behind the counter was also a door that led to what seemed like a small warehouse for storing goods.
Just as the thin middle-aged man was about to unlock the drawers under the counter and retrieve the goods, Chloix cast a light magic [Restriction Halo], the light binding the thin middle-aged man like tape.
“What, what are you going to do?”
The thin middle-aged man instantly looked terrified.
When Chloix took a quick action, the magical strength displayed on Chloix’s body made the thin middle-aged man feel a shiver.
Such a high-level wizard shouldn’t be here at his small run-down store!
It wouldn’t make sense for robbery to come to him either!
“Did you make this card?”
Dekan showed the warped-mouth [Captain De’Erkan].
“No, it wasn’t me.”
“Then who made it?”
“Mr. Dekan made it! I bought it normally from Tristin City!”
Hearing the thin middle-aged man’s words, Dekan was laughing out loud.
He had never made such a disturbing card!
“Ho ho, think it’s easy to fool us just because we seem trustworthy?”
Dekan chuckled, twisting his neck, then closed the shop door and locked it. His expression turned grim.
“Chloix, get tough on him.”
Just as Dekan finished speaking, Chloix immediately cast a wind blade, striking the chest of the thin middle-aged man.
The feeling that his chest was torn apart made the thin middle-aged man want to scream miserably, yet he found himself unable to make a sound or even call for help.
He had been [Silenced].
And even scarier, he thought he was going to die from the wind blade, but in fact, he was completely unharmed.
Seemed he wouldn’t die no matter how many wind blades he would endure next.
For him, it was likely going to be an experience worse than death.
“One more chance, tell the truth. If there is a lie, we’ll torture you for ten minutes first and then ask again, understand?”
Dekan poked the thin middle-aged man on the shoulder, looking at him coldly.
The thin middle-aged man frantically nodded.
When Chloix purged the [Silence] status for him, the thin middle-aged man immediately shouted and pointed at the room behind the counter:
“This card wasn’t made by me! The card maker is in this room!”
“Ho ho, whether or not you say it, I will check what’s in this room anyway.”
Dekan had guessed.
If there was a counterfeiter, they were likely secretly making cards in the small room behind the counter.
Because Dekan could smell the fear.
There seemed to be someone inside the small room.
After sensing the unexpected turn of events in the shop, the person was holding their breath.
It was his favorite, the breath of fear that could easily be concealed.
During “Mountain Blizzard Shadow” back then, Dekan had also listened to the breath of the Rebirth Church sisters. The sister who was struggling behind the door.
“Who dares to plagiarize my intellectual property, are you ready to pay the corresponding price?”
Dekan approached the small room step by step like a demon.
Just as Dekan was about to open the door with a sardonic expression, the door suddenly burst open, and a tiny figure covered in a hood and cloak charged out. She decisively threw out a warped-mouth [Captain De’Erkan] towards Dekan.
Dekan was once again mocked by the warped-mouth [Captain De’Erkan] as before at the city gate.
Dekan did not expect the counterfeit card maker would have the audacity to choose active offense.
However, this time Dekan was already prepared and immediately used [Blood Purification] to dispel the mocking status.
Just as Dekan was about to use [Hypnosis Gas] to control her.
Suddenly, Dekan felt an excruciating headache.
Fortunately, the pain intensity wasn’t too extreme, it wouldn’t be enough to knock Dekan unconscious.
“What the hell!”
While pressing his forehead, the agile little figure had seized the opportunity to bypass Dekan and rush towards the door.
The instant Dekan came back to his senses, he identified what had just happened!
The little figure had a small puppet hanging at her waist, an equipment card similar to Dekan’s [Cursed Doll].
[Curse Puppet]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Grade: Purple Rare]
[Class: 1]
[Effect: Returns 0.1% of the damage received to the opponent, and transfers 100% of the pain sensation to the opponent.]
[Note: Tarta’s masterpiece]
And this little figure had also used a card of the same category as Dekan’s [Mental Collision] (both spirits clash, loser becomes dazed and suffers tremendous pain).
[Mental Impact]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Grade: Purple Rare]
[Class: 1]
[Effect: Effective only if the distance between the two is less than 1 meter, and the shorter the distance, the stronger the effect, causing a collision of spiritual forces.]
[Note: Tarta’s another masterpiece]
This little figure had a strong willpower, as she could consciously withstand the pain this card brought to herself.
It was beyond doubt that Dekan was sure this girl followed the same path as him!
Not only could she counterfeit him, but also create similar cards that Dekan himself had never sold!
This girl was undoubtedly a genius who could independently create purple rare cards, albeit still a bit immature.
For example, this [Mental Impact] card compared to Dekan’s [Mental Collision] seemingly avoided the “daze” negative effect for the loser, but didn’t consider the anti-[Counter Magic].
The little figure would have successfully bypassed Dekan and fled the shop if it weren’t for Chloix blocking the door.
A sixth-class mage was an impenetrable wall for her.
Chloix easily bound her with the same light magic.
She could trick one person, but not two.
With the two villains blocking the door, there was no escape for the first-class girl, no matter how hard she struggled.
“What did a little girl like you do to become a creepy person already?”
Dekan came over and looked at the girl bound by the light beams on the ground.
He laughed bitterly.
It was clear that this little figure with barely the height of six or seven years old was only first-class.
But it was indeed the first time Dekan had been taken to a certain point by a first-class card maker.
“Ho ho, don’t blame me for my class suppression. Honestly, this class suppression is just too delightful.”
Dekan laughed recklessly, evidently in an especially cheerful mood.
Even Chloix couldn’t help but glance at Dekan, wanting to criticize him.
Even though he thought Dekan was behaving just like a bad big villain bullying the protagonist in a play.
But when he saw Dekan in Morion’s disguise, he thought it was quite natural.
“Let me see your true face.”
This time, Dekan finally lifted the hood from this little girl’s head.
She was wearing a beret, only showing some gray strands, and seemed to have tightly taped it to her head.
She glared at Dekan, looking like a fierce puppy ready to die if necessary.
“Hey kid, are you so confident about counterfeiting my cards and still look so righteous?”
Dekan squatted down and laughed, flicking her forehead.
“…”
The little girl said nothing, just continuing to glare at Dekan like at an enemy.
Just as Dekan was about to continue asking how the girl counterfeited his cards,
“Hm…”
Dekan squatted down and finally took a clear look at the little girl’s appearance.
He couldn’t help but frown.
Although her face was dirty and her one eye was tightly bound with a bandage,
Somehow Dekan thought her face looked familiar.
It’s as if…
his childhood self?
Dekan didn’t know if it was because the girl coincidentally had gray hair and blue eyes, causing the illusion.
So Dekan reached out to lift the little girl’s hat.
However, despite being bound by Chloix’s light magic, the little girl was still straining painfully to loosen the bindings to protect her hat.
“Great, you’ve tied the tape on your hat pretty tight, learning from Jotaro here.”
Dekan found it impossible to take off the girl’s hat at once and didn’t want to hurt her.
Unless it was a truly evil person, Dekan was unwilling to lay hands on a child.
Helplessly, he could only peel off the bandage on her face first.
The little girl wanted to bite Dekan’s fingers, but Dekan just held her head to prevent her from touching him. In no time, he tore off the bandage covering her eye.
The little girl, due to the bright light, quickly closed the eye that was covered by the bandage.
However, even for a moment, Dekan locked eyes with her pupil.
He found that,
The pupil under her bandage had a unique deep golden colour.
Dekan understood this pupil well!
It was identical to the golden eyes he possessed when demonized!
《Reward Settlement and Successful Words》
① July’s monthly vote ranking successfully reached third place, thanks to all of your full support, and thanks to the big shots who helped me
No matter who they are, I just want to say thank you now
Feeling like I’ve been reborn, I’m finally free! Haha!
Last total received 15750 monthly tickets, one update per 500 monthly tickets, rounding up, a total of 32 chapters to update
Taking into account previous debt, the already-updated/un-updated chapters changed from 21/30 to the current latest 22/62. I will write the update/debt details in the chapter title.
The previous failed statement will be kept as part of the dark history for some entertainment effect, not deleted.
② According to the agreement announced on July 1st for the [Monthly Ticket Reward], if ranked in the top ten of the monthly votes, at [11 PM tonight], I will open five silver chests worth 250,000 cat coins, the cat coins will be fully gifted to the readers. There will be a total of five.
So everyone who has time tonight can come and grab the cat coins, fast handspeed can grab all five.
At [11 PM tonight], I will @ everyone in the group.
The group number for the production supervisor is 948957812.
③ My production capacity, based on the test results of last month, can update up to 15-20 chapters per month without affecting the quality, so I will strive to catch up with the debt in August and September. There will be no more rewards in August, I’ll focus on updating debt, and the earliest new reward will likely be by the end of September.
Of course, if you still wish to give me some [Monthly Tickets], I’ll still crawl to thank you!
④ Moreover, the artwork for Little Succubus Dekan, chosen by the previous vote, will be out in early September.
But that’s not the highlight, the highlight is that I’ve commissioned seven more standing illustrations, which will start releasing by the end of August.
Currently confirmed characters are Dekan, Cornelia, Chloix, Morion, Master (Craftswoman Tarlomati), Mia, Artemis (Ice Snow Princess), new main characters will also have standing illustrations added.
I’ve just splurged my payment on them!
No more pretence, I want to shamelessly ask for some [Monthly Tickets] and crawl in gratitude!
⑤ Wish everyone happiness and good luck every day!
