Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 1790 Drunk

Date- 16 April 2321

Time- –:–

Location- Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters, Blood Rock Cave, Seed World, Inter-Realm City, Sector DS0909, Infinity Library, Exec. VVIP Members Lounge

Before the glass could reach the floor it vanished in thin air thanks to prompt JiJi reaction.

”Thatʼs my girl, nice save,” Ezra cheered and complimented JiJi masking his embarrassment. Being complimented by her friends JiJi held her head high while her fellow pixie adored her from afar. From the pixieʼs eyes, it was apparent that she considered JiJi her hero for getting complimented by her client. Understandably since getting complimented by their client was a scarce sight for pixies.

The traditional demon/devil merchants native to the dark realm have done a number on these pixies for them to get this excited over a simple compliment for all their hard work. They were a pitiful race. Maybe this was the result of them incorporating their cage into their lifestyle over their thousands of years of enslavement.

Belphegor quietly continued to monitor the chaos dwarf, from the dwarfʼs slip-up earlier he had already determined that the dwarf was drunk yet kept going just to save face, which was not unheard of among the dark races, take Devil Gol Kin for example. Belphepor wondered how the dwarf was able to keep a straight face and talk properly when he was so drunk that he could not place a glass on the table that was right in front of him. ʼYears of practice,ʼ he thought. As a devil, he too indulged in drinking but the dwarfʼs drinking capabilities amazed him.

The more Belphegor monitored the dwarf the more felt that his guess was right, the dwarf was drunk but acted sober. This caused him to wonder if he overestimated the dwarf. Shaking his head he reminded himself not to underestimate his opponent. Trying to test the field, he asked the dwarf, ”It is unheard of for a dwarf to be named Ezra, is there a story behind why you were named that?”

Ezra quietly stared at Belphegor for a few seconds before answering him, ”Nope their no story.”

Belphegor nodded with a light smile, he determined that the reason the dwarf took so long to answer him with four simple words was that the dwarf was taking his time to process his question and think of a proper answer. Similar to a drunk trying to sound sober. A sober person would need so much time to answer a simple question.

With this Belphegor determined that the dwarf was truly drunk and not pretending to be drunk. However, had the dwarf answered him immediately in a stuttering voice, Belphegor would have determined that the dwarf was pretending to be drunk. This deduction of the Belphegor was based on a wise saying he had heard about chaos dwarves. Which went like this,

ʼHow do you tell a sober chaos dwarf apart from a drunk chaos dwarf?

You donʼt because chaos dwarves are always drunk.ʼ

The young dwarfʼs current state reminded Belphegor of this. Belphegor believed that whoever spoke these words was truly wise. Belphegor now had confidence that he could get the dwarf to settle at his terms or even withdraw the appeal for next to nothing. With this mindset, he asked the dwarf, ”What will it take for you to settle?”

Ezra answered after carefully thinking it over, ”I donʼt know you tell me, how far are you willing to not let this matter go to trial?”

”How about I get the two devil merchants to apologize to you for their actions in person, then will you be willing to withdraw your appeal?” Belphegor felt that as long as he satisfied the dwarfʼs ego. The dwarf would happily settle and withdraw his appeal.

”An apology is not enough, I want their heads,” Ezra demanded with a stern voice.

Listening to Ezraʼs demand Belphegor frowned and thought, ʼThere was no way the dwarf thought that I would give up two devil merchants over this matter.ʼ

Devil merchants held more value than any regular devil or demigod. They were a potential stock. With two devil merchants, his faction could produce two demon merchants every decade. Losing two devil merchants would be a huge loss to the faction. Especially now when they were planning to invade a realm. Therefore Belphegor did not consider Ezraʼs demand for a second.

”Do you have to go that far? After all, we all are from the same realm. I agree that what they did to you was wrong but killing them over it would be cruel, the punishment will not fit the crime,” Belphegor did not immediately reject the dwarfʼs demand but rather tried to reason with him. Feeling that there was no need to be aggressive as the dwarf was drunk and could be influenced by a few soft words. Being aggressive would only make matters worse.

”Wrong, they wanted to enslave me. Had I not come prepared that day I would be enslaved by them. I want their heads nothing more nothing less,” Ezraʼs voice grew colder as he spoke.

JiJi who was next to him could feel his anger. For the first time since he met the dwarf, Belhphegor too felt something else other than indifference. Seeing the dwarf like this he knew that this matter would not end with a simple apology. However, as a proud devil merchant, he believed he could wear a drunk chaos dwarf down.

”I agree, those fools deserve to be killed for what they have done. But nothing happened, you are safe now. Do not let your anger for them dictate your actions. Nobody has to die over this,” Belphegor agreed with the dwarf to give him the feeling that he was on his side. This way the dwarf would be prone to listen to what he has to say. If he were to aggressively reject the dwarfʼs demand then the dwarf in his drunken state would react more aggressively and demand a trial. Which Belphegor was trying to avoid at all cost.

”Nothing happened? I was attacked in a foreign realm by your subordinates. They freaking tried to enslave me and you dare say nothing happened. If you feel that way then their no need to continue with the discussion. Let us meet at the trial,” This time Ezra answered immediately displaying rage.

Listening to rage in Ezraʼs voice the cunning light in Belhpegorʼs eyes grew brighter, as he gathered that, thanks to his drunken state and rage he was feeling, the dwarf was no longer acting on reason but emotion. This was good for Belphegor because now he would be able to control the conversation. If the dwarf were to act with reason that would not be possible.

If Ezra were to follow reason, then he could get the Blight Brood Club for every penny they had. However, if he were to follow his emotions, then there was still hope for the club. Now it all depended on Belphegor and whether he was able to influence the drunk and emotional dwarf.

Seeing how the dwarf did not take this matter to trial when the devil merchant code offered him and instead chose to try and settle, Belphegor was stunned. Because by reason the dwarf had the Blight Brood club in checkmate, any other demon merchant in his place would choose to proceed to trial.

Now talking to the dwarf Belphegor knew why he chose to try and settle it was because the dwarf was driven by emotion right from the start. Turns out that the dwarf did not hold the blight brood club accountable for the actions of Muth Diya and Handsome Fox. The dwarf did not want to punish the blight brood club the the two culprits that tried to enslave him.

ʼAt least those dumbasses did something right,ʼ Belphegor thought believing that Muth Diya and Handsome Fox did throw the faction under the bus with them. This lessened his anger towards them.

”I apologize, I did not mean it that way. I just was trying to say that two wrongs do not make right. Just because they did something wrong does not mean that you should get your hands dirty. By this, I donʼt mean we should forgive them. I believe they should be punished according to the crime,” Belphegor did not hesitate to apologize to the dwarf to persuade him to give up his intent to kill Muth Diya and Handsome Fox. Instead, try to think of another way to punish them.

”I do not care about all that. I want them dead. If you and your faction plan to continue to protect them then I donʼt mind going to the trial and holding the entire Blight Brood club accountable,” Ezra did not listen to Belphegorʼs reason and continued to demand Devil Muth Diya and Demigod Handsome Foxʼs head for their crime. After a pause, he added, ”The only reason I am not going to the trial is that the devil merchant code will not individually hold them accountable but the entire Blight Brood Club. By that, those two will easily slip through the cracks. I want them to suffer. Now you decide, are you willing to sacrifice the Blight Brood Club for those two?”