1343 The Challenge
Date- 7 April 2321
Time- 11:27
Location- Southern Region, Southern Capital, Southern Card Creation Association, Auction House
“Ann, look they have uploaded the video of the incident on the grimoire network,” listening to the director’s story Aba immediately went on the grimoire network knowing that such an incident would definitely be uploaded there otherwise it would be impossible for the incident to gain such traction in a single morning.
“Your Highness, the challenge is also being live-streamed on the network by multiple influencers,” Laura Hill reported.
Ann did not bother to watch the video or live stream knowing that the video would be an edited version putting the southern card creationist association in a bad light. As for live-stream, they would just follow the trend. Nor did she bother whether the staff of the southern card creationist association was condescending to their customer, Ann believed the card creationist will conduct an internal investigation for that.
Therefore she chooses to focus on a more pressing issue, the challenge. The longer it continues the more damage to the reputation of the southern card creationist association. Which was bad for business. Not to mention the card auction was being delayed. The guest would not appreciate the delay nor the fact that a single Western card creationist was dominating the entire Southern card creationist in the challenge.
“Who is representing the South right now and what are the chances of their victory?” Ann asked the director.
“A young card creationist who recently gained some fame in the capital but the chances of him winning are not high,” the director answered ashamed of the situation. Every year the Royal family allocates a high budget to both the card creationist association and the array master association. Apart from that they a lot of donations were made to both the associations for their research work. Taking all that money, but not being able to defend the honor of the South when it was their turn, the director could not light his head in front of Ann.
“Who are you planning to send next?” Ann asked the director.
“I had nobody in mind yet but since Master Wyatt is here, I hope he will help the southern card association as its member,” the director immediately proposed.
“You know me?” I asked the director in surprise.
“I would not be doing my work properly if I did not know you, Master Wyatt,” the director answered and then added, “The Sky Blossom city card creationist association has submitted your NanoMorpher card to the annual innovative card creationist competition. I am happy to inform you that your card has made it to the semi-finals. I had the opportunity to use your card and I have a feeling that your card has a good chance of entering the finals and winning the competition.”
“Wait, I never participated in such a competition. Heck, I didn’t even know that such a competition existed till now,” I respond in puzzlement wondering how did my card enter the competition without me knowing, then one name came to my mind, Susan.
“Master Wyatt, I don’t know about that but congrats for making it to the semi-finals. And I hope that as a member of the southern card creationist association, you will help us with the challenge,” the auction house director spoke eloquently. I don’t think anyone can be as humble as the auction house director was currently being. I mean, he was a platinum-grade Card Emperor realm card creationist. Now someone of his status did not need to address me with the title, Master.
While I scrutinized the auction house director as he looked at me with a humble smile, I felt the collective gaze of Ann, Aba, Agatha, Luara, and Aria fall on me. This was the first time Aria made her presence known after we started the palace tour, this girl was really duty-bound.
“So, what have you decided Wyatt?” Ann asked if I was willing to participate in the challenge representing the southern card creationist association. The director was not wrong I was indeed a member of the card creationist association, Lorenzo had helped me jump through the formalities and get certified.
“Not yet, let us go see the ongoing challenge, who knows the current representative of the southern card creationist association might be able to defeat the challenger from the West,” I said while signaling the director to lead us to the main auction hall where the challenge was being held.
“Have you determined the identity of the challenger yet?” I asked as the director led us to the VIP box reserved exclusively for the southern royal family.
“Just his name, Chris Ainsworth. We could not find any Ainsworth family in the Western region so we tried to reach out to our contacts in the western card creationist association for more information but they haven’t responded back yet,” the director answered.
“So, you know nothing about the challenger. And what measures did you take to stop the misinformation spreading through the grimoire network?” I asked trying to discern that the southern royal family had the ability to censor the grimoire network.
“No, Master Wyatt. But how do we go about that?” the director acted innocent but I did catch him and Ann shared a quick look clearly they did not want to disclose how much authority they had on the grimoire network.
“You not only want me to defend your honor but also whip your butt by doing the damage control? Figure something out before a bad precedent about the southern card association’s reputation sets in,” I did not bother to play the directors game. Instead of entering the VIP box, I stood by the balcony and viewed the challenge.
The arrival of guests in the royal family’s exclusive box instantly attracted the attention of the crowd in the auction hall. And many influencers began to use it to ignite the viewers watching their live stream of the Western beggar’s challenge to the southern card creationist association.
Ignoring the reaction of the crowd I focused my gaze on the challenger, “Interesting.”