1365 Chivalry
Date- 7 April 2321
Time- 14:12
Location- Southern Region, Southern Capital, Southern Card Creationist Association, Auction House
Watching the harrowing effect of my reputation of being a fraud spread by Anna’s mother I understood it was more of a risk than I thought.
It did not even take the audience a second to believe that I had cheated in the challenge, not one person stood up in my support, not even the southerners whom I was representing in the challenge between Chris and the Southern card creationist association.
In weeks, I went from an unknown kid from a third-rate city to a household name as a fraud. Participating in the challenge I finally saw how infamous I was, people who don’t even know me held prejudice toward me.
It’s not like I did not know that Anna’s mother’s action would cause harm to my reputation but I did not think it would be ruined to this instant and prove to be a problem for me this early. I thought I would not have to deal with this, at least not until I enrolled in the university or maybe once the silver milk powder hits the market my reputation will clear without me having to take action. But seeing the reaction of the public, I had a feeling that if I don’t do something about it, it will be too late for me to act.
At first, I decided to volunteer as the representative of the Southern card creationist association in the challenge because I was curious about Chris, especially his origin card but now I stayed to take a step to improve my reputation.
I was not a fool to think I could clear my name with this challenge, I would have to pull the entire Southern royal family out to clear my name, Anna’s words alone would not be enough for that. And this challenge alone was evidence enough that my taking an oath in the presence of the world’s will would not help either.
Clearing my reputation was not possible in a day, there was not much I could do about it with my current strength so I decided to settle for improving my reputation from a fraud to a talented card creationist with a tainted past. After all, once the silver milk powder becomes public my reputation will once again become spotless and shine brighter than ever. So bright that even the people on the other side of the world will be blinded by it.
Therefore, instead of worrying about things I couldn’t control I decided to do what I had control over. This was the reason why seeing that the audience would not believe that I did not cheat even after being proven not guilty by the World’s Will, I decided to challenge Chris for another card creation match with a slight change.
So after stopping Ann from meddling in my plans I glanced at Chris and asked, “So, do you agree?”
“I have no problem with what you proposed. However, you sure do talk big so I have to ask do you dare to compete against me in a challenge that favors me?” with a smirk on his face Chris asked if I dared to do what I proposed.
“Wasn’t I obvious earlier? Just to assure you I will bet 2 liters of Liquid soul energy,” Saying that I passed the card of a 2-liter soul energy constructed bottle filled with Liquid soul energy to the referee. Which the referee displayed on the display formation of the auction. Then I added, “That’s yours if you manage to beat me.”
“Color me impressed. However, we Westerners are known for our bravery and generosity. Since you dared to take out 2 liters of liquid soul energy as a bet, I will counter it with a liter of S-rank Diamond Ape wine. As for the challenge, how about we randomly select three people from the audience who will state a random ingredient each? And will use those three random ingredients to create a card following the regular rules of the challenge. What do you say?” Chris said taking out a jar of wine from his storage card and handing it over to the referee who displayed it on the auction hall’s display array formation for the audience to witness that both the bets were genuine.
Chris did this because if he were to win in a challenge that favor him as proposed by his opponent, it will not be an honorable win. As a capable showman, Chris knew how important chivalry was to the audience. Therefore instead of agreeing to his opponent’s proposal, he not only increased the stakes of the bet made by his opponent but also pointed out a better way to ensure the legitimacy of the challenge by having the randos from the audience choose the set of random ingredients for their challenge.
“Honorable, but you sure you will not regret taking the handicap I gave you when you lose to me?” I taunted Chris agreeing to his proposed challenge. Though Chris proved to be incompetent to use his origin card to its full potential, he made it up for his shrewd mind. However, this time none of them will save him from the devastating loss he was about to suffer.
“You talk big for someone who relies on cards to control his mental strength,” Chris retorted pointing out that the boy would not have finished the card creation faster than him in their last challenge if not for his rare mental strength mastery card.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, not understanding what Chris was referring to.
“Don’t dumb or do you think that the people in this auction hall are dumb to believe that you have polished your mental strength to do four tasks simultaneously? It is so obvious that you are using a card,” Chris spoke what everyone in the audience was thinking.
“Oh, that. It’s a part of my physique,” I respond to Chris removing the taboo limiter on my body.