Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2720: My Lord, Your Wish Is My Command!

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

All eyes rested on me. The decision now lay in my hands, the fate of two people, Pax W. Godson and Catherine S. Margaret.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued by Catherine’s soul trait. I was already using my soul pupils to study it, and the results were promising. Among the bundle of rules I could sense within the card world’s womb, her trait allowed me to clearly perceive one of the most feared laws in the entirety of the myriad realms: the Casualty Rule.

That alone changed things. So, it was decided. I locked my gaze with Catherine. ”I have considered your proposal, but it’s not enough. If you don’t believe me, ask Pax. Winning an appeal against a big guild like the New Age Merchant Guild in the court of the Devil Merchant Code was never going to be cheap. And if the guild decides to fight back, I could end up spending most of my wealth just to prevail.”

”So, what do you propose, Master Wyatt?” Catherine asked, knowing that I was prepared for negotiation. Otherwise, I would not have bothered informing her of the details at all.

”Pax will have to accept the guild’s invitation and visit their headquarters with Henricks. From there, they can obtain the coordinates of the guild’s headquarters in the physical plane and escape using Henricks’ abilities. Once we have the coordinates, we can sell them to the guild’s enemies for a good price and make sure the guild no longer has the mind nor capital to spare to deal with a mere demon merchant.”

As I spoke, I glanced at Pax, giving him another opportunity to rise as a hero. This time, I hoped he would not let Catherine crush it like the last time.

”No. I’m doing this to protect my young lord. If I agree to it, I would be doing exactly the opposite. I will not put my lord in harm’s way in any way,” Catherine rejected my counter offer immediately. In her mind, she felt the words demon merchant fit me all too well. The look in her eyes gave her thoughts away.

”Master Wyatt, I agree with my teacher. This arrangement is absurd,” Pax said suddenly, surprising Catherine, who didn’t expect her lord to side with her.

He said that, yet I could see something else stirring within him. A fire that had once been smothered by Catherine’s overprotectiveness flickered back to life, now burning brighter than ever.

He turned to his father and bowed his head, apologizing, ”I’m sorry, Father. I cannot be a filial son to you or the family. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Tell my sisters I am truly sorry for placing the burden on their shoulders.”

”Son,” Jack replied, trying hard to steady his voice, ”nothing would make your sisters and me sadder than knowing we became an obstacle in your path. Go. Do what you must. May victory always be yours.”

Listening to her lord’s exchange with his father, seeing his expression, and sensing his inner turmoil, Catherine’s eyes widened. She knew that her lord was up to something reckless again, she wanted to protest but what was she protesting against?

Locking his gaze with mine, Pax made me an offer, a similar one to his teacher, ”Master Wyatt, instead of my teacher, I agree to your proposal. I will offer myself in her place. I don’t have a fancy soul trait like my master, but I am the present-day heir of the greatest card apprentice to have ever lived, Demigod Godson. That should count for something... right?”

He drew a steady breath and continued, ”I plead... no, I beg you. Let me offer my servitude to you. I will serve you till my dying breath.”

Jack had thought his son could not make him prouder. He was wrong. His little bart found a way to make him the proudest dad in the whole damn world.

When she finally understood what she had to protest against, Catherine’s face twisted in despair, unable to find a logical point to refute him this time around. She couldn’t help but wonder if her lord was doing this just to torment her. Her mind almost went blank with despair, believing that I would never say no to the Demigod Godson’s heir offering himself in eternal servitude.

No matter how hard she tried, her lord seemed determined to make the most reckless choice possible. Yet even in despair, Catherine refused to give up. She had to try. Otherwise, she could live with her life.

”Master Wyatt, I agree to your proposal,” she called out urgently. ”Please ignore my lord’s words. He is still young. He hasn’t lived enough. I, on the other hand, have lived more than enough. I can be of far greater use to you than he can. I beg you... please grant me your generosity.”

”Teacher, why must you pay for my decision? Please, stay out of this,” Pax shouted at his beloved teacher. He was beginning to feel smothered by her overprotectiveness, with her treating him as if he were still a child incapable of choosing his own path.

”My Lord, you have it wrong. I’m not paying for your decision. I’m paying for my sin. I led astray by giving you that token. It’s time I paid my dues. Catherine clarified the intent behind her actions, not wanting Pax to blame himself later. Then, in the face of his anger, she pleaded with him, ”My lord, I have never asked you for anything. Please... let me do this for you. I beseech you.”

She was prepared to spend eternity in hell if it meant saving her lord. But if he entered hell in her place, while she stood powerless to stop him, that would be a fate far worse than any torment an eternity in hell could offer her.

”No. This is my decision. I will pay for it,” Pax didn’t let Catherine confuse him with her words and commandingly declared, ”As your lord, this is my final order to you. I dismiss you from your duties. I wish you will go live your life the way you want to live. If you truly think of me as your lord, then you will obey without question.”

”My Lord, your wish is my command, ” Catherine agreed immediately, without uttering a single word against it. She was too calm for someone who had just been cast aside by her lord. The steadiness of her composure in the face of Pax’s command was more unsettling than any outburst could have been. It frightened everyone present, including me.

Maintaining the same steady composure, she turned to me and swore, ”In the presence of the World’s Will, I swear my loyalty to Dalton V. Wyatt in eternal servitude. Be it in the material plane or the dead plane, I will live as his servant and remain his servant in death.”

A graveyard silence took over the atmosphere. Under everyone’s astonished gazes, Catherine kneeled before me, mid-air, on one knee and bowed her head. ”My lord, your wish is my command!”