Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2714: The Long Game

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

”Pax, you made the right choice by refusing that loan,” I said calmly. ”If you had borrowed the money to buy the rights to the Card World, you would have walked straight into their trap. The moment you failed to repay the debt, once the interest ballooned beyond control, they would have claimed the rights from you. And after that... I don’t need to spell out what would have followed.”

I let the implication settle and added, ”On some level, Demigod Godson probably didn’t trust the New Age Merchant Guild either. That may have been one of the reasons, among others, why he chose not to become a devil merchant.”

Pax’s eyes widened. I could almost see him replaying every exchange he had ever had with the New Age Merchant Guild. It was as if a thin veil had been lifted, and the same memories now carried a different meaning.

At last, he understood.

The guild leaders and elders had been eager when it came to him joining them. They were even more eager to offer him a loan to purchase the rights to the Card World from the Devil Merchant Code. But when he had asked for a loan to hire mercenaries to protect his family and himself within the Card World, their enthusiasm had vanished.

Within the guild, he had slowly become a pariah. He felt isolated. He believed the other demon and devil merchants blamed him for losing his native realm’s rights to a dark faction, so he convinced himself he deserved their contempt.

Rather than dwell on it, he threw himself into cultivating his active soul control. He focused on raising his realm and becoming a devil merchant, hoping that status would earn him a voice in the guild and a chance to prove himself.

In truth, I couldn’t blame him for craving their recognition. He had been led to believe that they were close allies of Demigod Godson, the ancestor he revered and the standard he measured himself against.

He felt that since they had once stood beside his idol, then earning their approval would honor that legacy. But turns out all of it was only one elaborate scheme for the rights of the Card World.

”What do I do now?” Pax asked. The fire had drained from him. In its place was something raw and uncertain. He felt defeated and lost. Saintess Catherine watched in silence, her composure cracking at the edges. Seeing her young lord like this eat at her. She blamed herself for ever placing that cursed token in his hands.

”I don’t know about you, kid, but he’s going to keep his promise to me,” Corey said, shooting me a look. She had clearly decided that, no matter what, she was going to make me help her acquire the trait I promised.

”Now, you dust yourself off and keep fighting. Unless you’re dead, you don’t have a good enough reason to give up,” I said calmly to Pax, ignoring Corey and her stern gaze. ”Remember, saving the world isn’t your burden alone. From everything I’ve heard, Demigod Godson had plenty of capable allies he trusted to watch his back. Everyone did their part. Now that you know who the enemies and friends are, you have taken a step toward doing your part. Don’t tell me you will give up now.”

”Then what do we do about the Emissary of Light and his forces?” Pax asked, finally choosing to share the burden instead of carrying it alone. Pax had enormous shoes to fill. But this wasn’t his moment yet. So, I offered him with a grin, ”I’ve got it handled. If you want to watch, you can tag along.”

”For now, tell me everything you can, and are allowed to, about the New Age Merchant Guild,” I said knowing that the New Age Merchant Guild was a Semi-Rule class force with no permanent base outside the inter-realm city, which made them a far more threat than the ’Seven Princes of Hell’ dark faction. At least with them I knew where to find them and nip the source of the trouble in the bud.

”I don’t know what to say, Master Wyatt. Everything I believed about them turned out to be false. Now, when it comes to the guild, I don’t even know what else I’ve been wrong about. I don’t know anything anymore,” Pax lost it, Just thinking about them made him lose control.

I began to wonder if I shouldn’t have helped him see the New Age Merchant Guild for what it truly was. Back then, at least he had something to hold on to, even if it was built on a lie. His realm was proof of it. Now he was simply lost, unable to think about them without turning that anger inward.

”Son, get a grip and tell Master Wyatt everything you know while there’s still time to do something about it. Everything’s going to be all right. It’s never too late to do the right thing,” Jack’s voice cut through the tension. After getting his daughter to safety, he came back to find his son amidst a breakdown.

He hated that he was too weak to fix this himself. Hated that his teenage son had to carry the burden of saving not just himself, but the entire family. Still, that didn’t stop him from being a father.

”Dad,” Pax blurted the word as he looked at his father, and just like that, the turmoil inside him settled.

He had seen his father at his weakest and at his strongest. The man never ran from his problems. He faced them head-on and took responsibility, no matter the cost.

A tear slipped down Pax’s left cheek before he quickly wiped it away. He steadied himself, thought for a moment, then said, ”Master Wyatt, I don’t know much about the guild. But just last week, they sent me an invitation to visit their headquarters in the physical plane.”