“Bring her up.”

Inside the card room, the honey-haired young woman sat on a plush sofa in white velvet pajamas. Pink fuzzy slippers covered her feet, while her long, bare legs displayed skin as smooth and flawless as milk.

She held a coffee cup in one hand and stirred the bitter black coffee inside with a spoon in the other.

It was Luna’s habit. Every morning after breakfast, she drank a cup of black coffee to wake herself up.

“Yes, Young Lady.”

The blue-haired girl in glasses gave Luna a small bow and left the room. Before long, she returned with a student girl in tow.

“Young Lady.” The student still looked somewhat hesitant.

“Mm. No need for formalities. Let us get straight to the point. You said that at around ten o’clock last night, you witnessed an anomaly on campus?”

“Yes. I definitely did not see it wrong. Several flashes of white lightning appeared in the sky.”

“White lightning?” Luna frowned deeply. The familiar description reminded her of something she had seen before.

“I know it sounds unbelievable, Young Lady. There were no storm clouds, no rain, no sign that lightning was about to strike. But several flashes of white lightning appeared.”

“What direction? Where did it happen?”

“Southwest, roughly speaking, if you were standing with your back to the card room entrance.” The girl recalled the scene. “The flashes were not very obvious. If I had not been looking carefully, I might have mistaken them for lightning before a storm. I was not far from the commercial street, and I happened to be on a rooftop, so I saw them rather clearly.”

“Other than that? Did you see anything else?”

“I do not think so.” The girl thought for a moment.

“Did you hear anything like glass breaking?”

“Glass breaking?” The girl considered it, then shook her head. “No. I was not close enough to hear anything. Those flashes made no sound, and there did not seem to be many people on the commercial street at the time.”

“But...” The girl seemed to recall something else.

“But what?”

“After the white lightning, I think I saw something fly out into the sky. Several pieces of something.”

“Something flew out?” Luna’s brows drew together. “Anything else? Did anything else happen?”

“No.” The girl shook her head.

“How long did the lightning last?”

“Very briefly. At most three seconds, I think. It disappeared before I could properly react.”

“All right. I understand.” Luna nodded thoughtfully. “You have done well. Thank you for coming to inform me so quickly.”

“It is my duty, Young Lady,” the girl hurriedly replied.

After the student left, the blue-haired girl with glasses stepped forward.

“Young Lady, shall we go take a look?”

Having served Luna for years, she naturally knew what Luna intended to do next.

“Mm. Of course. Please make the arrangements.”

“As you command, Young Lady.” The blue-haired girl bowed respectfully.

*****

“I summon Cyclops to attack your Vine Demon Lion!”

Inside the card-player-soul club, Ferdi’s face was bright red as he shouted at the cards spread across the small table. He had clearly been driven to the edge.

“Attack? Are you sure? Sorry, Brother Ferdi, but I activate the set card on my field—Thread Entanglement. Not only is your Cyclops’s attack negated, next turn it can only obey my commands.”

Andre looked immensely pleased with himself.

“Damn it, why are your cards still so underhanded? Then I manually activate Nightmare Curse and attack you directly!”

“Sorry, Brother Ferdi, but I still have another set card on the field. I activate Reflective Force, sending your magic attack right back at you.” Andre laughed. “Brother Ferdi, you have no warrior cards left on the field capable of attacking. How will you deal with that?”

“How will I deal with it? Obviously, I have already figured that out.”

Ferdi fell silent for a moment before abruptly raising his fist.

“I summon my right fist outside the field in face-up Attack Position! Direct attack on the player!”

“Ahh?! We are playing cards! Why are you hitting people too? Foul! That is a foul!” Andre shouted as he saw it coming.

“I am hitting you! You little punk, you like playing dirty, do you? You like acting like a sewer rat, do you? Let us see whether I teach you a lesson today!”

Ferdi rose in fury and was about to seize Andre, who was preparing to run, when someone knocked on the club door.

“Hmm? Who is that?” Ferdi asked in confusion, still holding Andre by the collar as he looked toward the entrance.

“Ah, it must be Brother Vinny! Brother Ferdi, let go of me. I will open the door for Brother Vinny!” Andre hurriedly came up with a way to escape.

“Hmph. Go, then. But you are not getting out of that beating. You play far too dirty. I need to keep you in line.”

“Tch. What a sore loser,” Andre muttered under his breath.

“Hmm? What did you just say?!”

“Ah, nothing, nothing! I said you are right, Brother Ferdi!”

“Hmph!”

The moment Ferdi let go, Andre slipped out of his grasp and hurried to open the door.

“Is it Brother Vinny? You did not go to the arena today?”

However, when Andre opened the door, he found that it was not Vinny at all.

Standing outside was a beautiful girl with cherry-pink hair, as radiant as warm sunlight.

“Ah? Uh... Margaret?”

Andre swallowed and found himself unable to look directly at her face, afraid he would embarrass himself.

“Mm. Good afternoon, Upperclassman Andre.”

The girl outside clasped her hands neatly before her waist and offered Andre a polite, sweet smile.

“Ah, you remember my name?”

Andre grew even more embarrassed.

“Of course. As a junior, I should remember all my upperclassmen’s names,” Margaret replied with a gentle smile.

“Ahahaha, really? You are quite thoughtful. Then I—”

“Is she here to see you? Are you going to open the door or keep blocking it? Move aside.”

Before Andre could finish, Ferdi walked over and lightly swatted him aside.

“Tch. Brother Ferdi is really petty,” Andre muttered unhappily from the side.

“Margaret, you are here early today.”

“Mm. I was helping out at the church these past few days, so I have not been coming to the club much. I am sorry.”

“It is fine, it is fine. We are fairly relaxed with our own. Come whenever you like.” Ferdi smiled.

“No, seriously.” Andre was even more dissatisfied. “Brother Ferdi, what is that supposed to mean? Am I not one of our own? I was late by one minute today, and you have been yelling at me all morning.”

“Go away. What does this have to do with you? Besides, we had an agreement. You are a proper card player, yet you still showed up late. Should I not scold you?”

Ferdi rolled his eyes at Andre.

“What kind of serious reasoning is that?”

“Margaret, sit wherever you like. If you want to learn from any of the upperclassmen’s card techniques, feel free to watch them.”

“All right. Thank you, Upperclassman Ferdi.”

After entering, Margaret glanced around the card-player-soul club and could not help feeling a little puzzled.

“Upperclassman Ferdi, did Upperclassman Vinny not come today?”

“Oh, you mean Brother Vinny? Normally, he is very enthusiastic. But lately, you know, that Chosen Leader Tournament is about to begin.”

Ferdi poured himself a cup of hot tea and shook his head with a solemn air.

“Brother Vinny is different from people like us. Unlike us, getting into Carillian Academy is already the best possible outcome for him. To him, entering this academy is only the beginning. A tiny starting point in his life.”

“As for people like us, we do not have any grand dreams. We devote ourselves wholeheartedly to improving our card skills. Put bluntly, our talent is simply not enough.”

“People outside the academy might envy our talent, but in that Chosen Leader Tournament, being a genius is only the minimum requirement.”

“We cannot compete. All we can do is cheer him on.”

“I see.” Margaret nodded, then seemed lost in thought. “People outside the academy?”

“Yes. Margaret, you know that most people in this world have no magical talent, or only very little. Compared to them, we are already extremely fortunate.”

There was no great longing in Ferdi’s tone.

Knock, knock, knock.

Margaret was about to say something when someone knocked on the door again.

“That is strange.” Ferdi looked baffled. “What is going on today? Why are so many people knocking on our door?”

“Could it be Brother Vinny?” Andre interjected.

“Is that not the guy who has been so busy lately?”

Ferdi opened the door. When he saw the two silver-haired figures outside—more precisely, one girl and one elven boy—he was visibly surprised.

Both were rare visitors.

“Is that Dale? And Aesphyra?”

Ferdi could understand Shicodale’s appearance. He was Vinny’s roommate. Although he had not come to the card-player-soul club often, it was not entirely strange for him to show up.

But Aesphyra was different.

Ferdi had always thought that a brilliant prodigy like her would have nothing to do with people like them. Though Brother Vinny seemed rather close to her, and the two were in the same class.

“Brother Ferdi.”

Shicodale looked at Ferdi, then at everyone inside the card-player-soul club. Once he confirmed that Vinny was not there, his expression grew even more urgent.

“What is wrong, Dale? Did something happen?” Seeing Shicodale’s expression, Ferdi vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

“Brother Ferdi, has Vinny come here?”

“Brother Vinny? When do you mean? Today? No, he has not.” Ferdi found it strange that Shicodale was asking about Vinny. “And has he not been busy lately? He has barely been coming to the club. I thought he had been training every day. I have not seen him in days.”

“How can that be??” Shicodale’s eyes widened.

“What happened, Dale? Did something happen to Brother Vinny?” Ferdi frowned.

“Vinny... after leaving last night, he did not return home all night.”

Shicodale’s expression was complicated.

“Huh? No way. He is not here.” Ferdi scratched his head in confusion. “Where did that guy go off to? I thought he had been training these days?”

“Dale, do not panic. Could he have gone to train, exhausted himself, and fallen asleep right there?”

Of course, expecting detailed analysis from a brute like Ferdi was rather ridiculous.

“No. He did not go training. I am certain.”

Aesphyra, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.

“That is strange. Then where did he go? Where could he even go?” Ferdi was completely bewildered. “Do not tell me he got so used to sleeping at home that he could not sleep one night and decided to lie down outside instead?”

“Brother Ferdi, do not project yourself onto him. Who would do something that strange?” Andre complained helplessly.

“Shut up. I am seriously analyzing the situation. Do not interrupt my train of thought. What if that is what happened??”

“What kind of serious analysis is that??”

“Excuse me, Upperclassman Aesphyra, but what are you all talking about?”

Margaret, who had been listening to their conversation, stepped forward.

“Are you looking for Upperclassman Vinny?”

“Yes.”

Noticing that Margaret was also there, Aesphyra’s gaze fell on her. Something profound and unreadable flickered deep within her eyes.

“You are Margaret, the one from that day?”

Shicodale had some impression of Margaret.

To be honest, whenever he saw her like this, he would instinctively picture the pink-haired girl who had appeared in his dream. Yet he would quickly feel that the two merely looked somewhat alike.

“Did you see Vinny yesterday??”

Shicodale asked as though he had found a lifeline.

“Upperclassman Vinny?”

Margaret fell into thought. Then, for some reason, an unreadable odd expression passed over her face. She shook her head.

“No. I have not seen Upperclassman Vinny at all lately.”

“How could this be...?”

Shicodale looked utterly dejected.

“Is something wrong with Upperclassman Vinny?” Margaret asked.

“Vinny... he did not come home last night.”

Shicodale looked somewhat lost.

“He did not come home all night? May I ask, who are you, Miss?”

“I am a boy.”

Shicodale’s voice was subdued.

“Ah, I am sorry. You are a boy?”

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