Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2461: This Means War

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Way Beyond, SSS-rank Titan Forest Field Dungeon.

Listening to Ollie, I couldn’t help but raise my brows. This guy was suspiciously more enthusiastic about our arrangement than me. It seemed that one of the four honest mules I fooled into working for me wasn’t as honest as I thought.

"Yes. Just share the bill and reason for expenditure with one of the staff in the accounts section, they will handle it," I agreed, willing to accommodate Ollie as long as his willfulness was limited to benefits a company should be providing to its employees. "Don’t sweat ‌the details. One of our staff will soon reach out to each of you, or if you don’t mind, Redfall can help you guys."

"Wait, we are getting paid?" Cam asked in shock.

"Yes, plus benefits and incentives. I know better than not to pay a man for his job and occasionally spoil my star employees," I said with a gentle smile, as it finally dawned on the misfits what they had truly signed for.

"I only wanted to join your criminal rehabilitation and reintegration program. I never applied or agreed to a job," Princess Christina immediately protested. If her people learned that she was working under the Southern Hope, her life was over. She wouldn’t be able to show her face in the Western Region. And her sinister siblings... Oh, fuck, her Royal Father — he might send assassins to assassinate her and wipe the stain on his royal linage.

"There are only two ways for you to join the criminal rehabilitation and reintegration program: as a criminal or as a staff. Unless you are guilty of a serious crime and seeking a second chance, you can only join it as one of the ‌staff," I said, shaking my head. Only to hear Kiren to her friend’s rescue, asking, "What about volunteers?"

"Yes, I want to join as a volunteer," Christina cried even before I answered Kiren.

"No. I take my program too seriously to use volunteers. Besides, only scammers use volunteers. Mine is a genuine program dedicated to helping society be more empathetic and responsible for its ugly half, the criminal half. Yes, most of these criminals deserve their sentence but some of them were victims of our society themselves. Also, if I don’t pay you enough, how can I expect you guys to give it your all? It’s a no-brainer," I preached with a gentle demeanor, but in my mind I grinned widely, knowing I had sunk my claws so deep into them that no matter how hard they struggled they couldn’t escape.

"Don’t even think about backing out. We have a verbal agreement," Lois coldly said, eyeing fidgeting Princess Christina, who looked at bestie in distress seeking help.

Assuring her bestie that she got this with firm eyes, Kiren turned to me, demanding, "Fine, if we are getting paid, we need to be paid fairly, maybe a little extra." Soon, with a smirk she asked, "But are you sure your program’s budget is big enough to hire four capable demigods?"

"Have you guys been living under a rock?" Lois asked the misfits, as these guys did not seem to understand who they were dealing with despite the reverence shown by the princess’s bodyguards when they introduced her boss to them.

"Kind of. We were in seclusion until the Princess called, saying Redfall might have been resurrected. I wouldn’t even have known that our five regions were now open-minded enough to sell adult cards if not for the courtesan trying to sell her cards to me," Ollie replied, while simultaneously texting with his favorite courtesan and mentally listening to Christina’s bodyguards informed them except Cam, that, ’Dalton Wyatt is believed to be the unofficial richest card apprentice in the five regions.’

Their eyes widened in shock. They couldn’t fathom how a teenage card apprentice could be hailed as the richest card apprentice in the five regions. They couldn’t help but wonder if the boy had a mysterious background.

For the first time, it occurred to the misfits that they should investigate the boy who was sheltering Redfall. Until now, they had been so focused on their target that they hadn’t considered the person protecting him. It was as if they only used their brains for decoration, resorting to critical thinking only when they were absolutely forced to.

I was finally beginning to understand why there was hardly any mention of these four in Clown Mask’s future vision. The Card Celestial, obviously, must have had someone else recycle their dumbasses outside of the canon. Otherwise, they should have made a splash in the future vision, especially with the entities hiding in Cameron John’s mind.

"Again, one of our staff will contact you guys to negotiate your salary. I’m sure you guys will not spare any effort to help our organization prosper," I said with a subtle grin, not wanting to provoke the misfits. It was hard to tell how they would react if I began to celebrate conning them openly.

"Organization? We only signed for the criminal reintegration and rehabilitation program," Kiren suspiciously corrected me. While I feigned an embarrassed smile, and brushed it off saying, "Tomayto, tomahto. It’s all the same"

Just as Kiren wanted to demand a clarification, Ollie beat her to it, reporting, "Boss, I have shared the contracts and documents the courtesan signed with the Yin Nymph card executives with your grimoire."

"Great," I beamed, summoning my grimoire to go through the documents.

However, as I read the contracts and documents the courtesans had signed, my smile vanished. I realized that Jill’s true goal wasn’t to make quick money but to acquire the courtesans’ personality rights, which included their physical looks, features, voice, and speech. She was ensuring they could never work for her competitors, thereby guaranteeing that no competition to her business would ever appear for the foreseeable future. No wonder her revenue-sharing plan was so lucrative. I should have known this little money-grubber would never be so generous unless she was up to something devious. She was playing the long game.

"Fuck!" I roared, understanding that Jill had just declared war in the adult card market while no one even knew about it. Not many yet knew the adult card market was possible, let alone know how big the adult card market could grow. By the time they knew it, it would be too late as Jill Norley would have already conquered and monopolized the adult card market.