Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date- 18 April 2321

Time- 10:17

Location- Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

'Field Marshal, are you being serious?' Wyatt did not agree to the Field Marshal immediately. Having seen how despicable and shameless the honorable Field Marshal could get when backed into a corner, he knew he had to make it so that she could not back out of her words.

'Yes, I am,' Field Marshal said with a mischievous tone wanting to hear Wyatt finally throw up his hand in the air and say he could not afford her loyalty.

Now this was the best part for the Field Marshal when being courted, the best of the best realizing that she was out of their league. She could not wait to hear Wyatt give up saying he could not complete the wager in half an hour. She thought it would be satisfying to watch him get off his high horses.

'Field Marshal is this final, are you sure there is no wiggle room for negotiation?' Wyatt asked, trying to confirm that if he agreed to the wager she would not back out.

'What the— Don't tell me you are considering it," The Field Marshal was shocked to hear Wyatt consider her unreasonable demand.

Even if Wyatt employs the best teleportation card in the world it would be impossible for him to rescue Clown Mask in the next 30 minutes. After all, no abilities could be used in or in the immediate surroundings of the secret space housing the facility. Which means he would have to teleport further from it. Reaching it he would have to find a way to break into the facility, handle the guards, search for Clown Mask, and rescue her. Not even she could achieve that in under 30 minutes. So she did not understand where Wyatt was getting his confidence from.

'If that is the price of your loyalty then I have to because I want your loyalty. Doing everything to get what we want, isn't what all this struggle is for?' Wyatt asked the Field Marshal, only to hear her say, 'You are willing to risk everything doing the impossible and unreasonable, just to get my loyalty. You are crazy, do you know that?'

'So you agree what you demand is unreasonable and impossible,' Wyatt pointed out, enraging the Field Marshal. Who then, said, 'Fine, do whatever you want. Those are my terms for the update wagers for the stakes you proposed, take it or leave it.'

'Sigh~, I will take it,' Wyatt responded acting as if he got the short end of the stick.

The Field Marshal was no longer surprised just mad, she felt she could not trust any of Wyatt's words. Her niece warned her but she was only beginning to comprehend it now. She even went as far as to say, 'Let's make an oath so that neither of us can back out later.'

The Field Marshal knew Wyatt could not complete the wager in the stipulated time limit. Yet, seeing him agree to the update wager anyway, she thought worse and proposed to take an oath to secure her winnings. Lowkey, she was even thinking that Wyatt might be doing this to marry into the Southern Royal family while saving some face.

How could such thought not cross her mind when she saw Wyatt, a mere card master, agree to do what was impossible even for her, one of the top ten strongest demigods? Anybody in her place would think the same. Agreed, Wyatt was not a normal card master but still, this was too much. Unless Wyatt could pull out a miracle from his ass he was going to lose this wager. Even a child with a little common sense would know this.

'Do we have to go that far between us?' Wyatt showed hesitance in taking an oath. Seeing this The Field Marshal sighed and said, 'I am sure, we do. Follow my lead, in the presence of the world I agree with the updated wager and stakes.'

'In the presence of the world, I agree with the updated wager and stakes,' Seeing that the Field Marshal took the oath without any reluctance, Wyatt smiled and also took the oath. The oath was straightforward with no deceit. Clearly, the Field Marshal did not want Wyatt to back out using a technicality.

'Good, now I will inform Anna of the good news that she is going to be a bride soon,' the Field Marshal said as soon as Wyatt took the oath. She wasn't trash-talking to Wyatt to throw him off his game. She genuinely felt that she had won the wager. It was also her way of calling him stupid.

'Oh, congrats. Who is the groom?' Wyatt asked, feeling pity for the Field Marshal who had no idea that she had sold her loyalty for pennies.

'Why you, of course, my dear Great-nephew-in-law,' the Field Marshal responded with glee. Wondering if Wyatt's delusion had grown to the point where he could not understand what she was obviously implying.

'If I were you I would check on your subordinates. Or they should be trying to reach you right about now,' Wyatt replied nonchalantly.

Having finally dealt with Field Marshal, Wyatt continued to scan the crowd for Gideon Grim's hypnotized puppet. He and the Hive AI had already scanned most of the crowd by now and were unable to find a single hypnotized puppet. Pretty soon they concluded that there wasn't a single hypnotized puppet in the crowd. Which was just bonkers.

This was starting to worry Wyatt. Because with so many hypnotized puppets at his disposal, Gideon Grim could spare a few to keep Wyatt on his toes but he did not. After all, Wyatt was his most hated enemy who foiled most of his plans and outed his existence to the card world. But unable to find a single of Gideon Grim's hypnotized puppets Wyatt was beginning to wonder if Gideon Grim's hypnotized puppets were purposeful in avoiding him.

This further intensified Wyatt's worry about Gideon Grim's revenge. He knew that with Gideon Grim's cautious nature, he would not strike until he was sure that he could kill his target and not get caught. Wyatt feared such an enemy the most because they would wait as long as required to achieve their revenge. Not to mention Gideon had already shown that he was not above using Wyatt's friends and family to get to him. This was why he had to prioritize this asshole of all the people that wanted to kill him. Even more so than the three mischiefs and Belphegor.

Then Wyatt's grimoire notified him of a call from Cortney, picking it up, he asked, "What is it?"

"Where did you go? The children are waiting for you. Do you want them to have breakfast when it's time for lunch," Cortney replied, there was a hint of blame in her voice.

"Gather everyone. I am done here, once I check the orphanage compound. I will be there," Wyatt informed as he headed toward the orphanage compound hanging up on Cortney.

Nearing the orphanage, Wyatt saw Debra had summoned her origin card and its army of undead to guard the compound efficiently. She had advanced into the peak Card Grandmaster realm and from the looks of it after a baptism the time restriction on her origin card's skill had been improved allowing her to summon her undead army more frequently and for longer periods. It seems the Fine Gold has not spared any effort to help her grow.

Most importantly, Debra Khan was able to develop so quickly mostly because she had accumulated a lot in the lower realm and once she got her hands on a Golden grimoire, her years of accumulation had given her a huge boost in her realm advancement. Wyatt felt a little good to know one of his clients was doing better in her life. Yes, Debra's current success was mostly because of her patience, hard work, and good judgment but he would like to believe that the origin card he created for her had paved the path for her.

While checking the compound of the orphanage, Wyatt noticed that enthusiasm in the eyes of his employees. Especially the kids from the Bright Lion Gang which had now transformed into a private security agency that provided security to almost three-fourths of the city's market. The only part of the market they did not have access to was the part that belonged to the city's top families who had their own private security force to take care of their businesses. Still, they donate a small fortune for the development of the Bright Lion Security agency.

Wyatt also noticed the development and expansion of the orphanage planned by Diana and agreed by Cortney was actually well thought keeping the future of the orphanage in mind. However, Wyatt believed the orphanage lacked the staff to properly make use of and maintain these new additions to the orphanage's infrastructure.

If there were not enough responsible staff to guide the kids on how to make use of the new facilities being provided to them, then it would all be a waste of money and effort. He had to get started on the criminal rehabilitation and reintegration program. It will not only help him increase his defense againstGideon's hypnotized puppet army but also be a big help to society.

Unable to find a single hypnotized puppet or anything suspicious, Wyatt prepared to join the others for Breakfast but then he heard the voice of the Field Marshal in his head, asking, 'How did you do it?'

...

[AN: Check out Reader's Quest Board in the Author's Thoughts section for mass release.]