“A duel?”

“Sure, let’s settle this with a duel!”

In the capital city of Caldium in the Borus Empire, a curious sight had taken over the streets: people with peculiar devices strapped to their arms engaging in duels.

“A finalist is here!”
“There’s no way I’m missing this!”
“Hey, isn’t that the guy from the capital preliminaries on the right?”

The official finals of The King of Cards tournament had finally begun.

Finalists from all over the Empire gathered in the capital, engaging in duels as they prepared for the ultimate stage.

Each participant had proven their exceptional skills by surviving the grueling preliminaries, making their matches an unmissable spectacle.

Tourists from across the Empire flooded the capital to witness these duels, to the point that finding lodging became as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.

Some arrived too late to secure accommodations and resorted to sleeping on the streets, prompting the construction of temporary shelters to accommodate the influx.

But the official tournament finals proved well worth the trouble.

“Is that the ‘Duel Arm’ I’ve heard about?”

“Yes, apparently it’s identical to the one from the manga, given only to the finalists.”

Spectators were mesmerized by the Duel Arms worn by the participants, a device straight out of The King of Cards.

‘Krune, make something like this—where the card art pops out, and it shuffles the cards on its own.’
‘You fool! Do you think I’m some kind of miracle worker?’

The Duel Arm was a device featured in Rupert’s manga, allowing users to conduct impromptu duels. While Rupert initially aimed to recreate its fictional functionality, even the ingenious Krune couldn’t make it work.

The technical complexity, exorbitant material costs, and lack of technology forced Rupert to abandon the idea.

However, replicating the Duel Arm's appearance as a decorative good was feasible.

Thus, the Duel Arm became a gift for the tournament finalists, serving as both a badge of honor and a practical way for them to recognize one another amidst the bustling crowds.

“I won!”

“Damn it… to be eliminated like this.”

A man, raising his arms in triumph, inserted a puzzle piece taken from his opponent into his Duel Arm.

“Just three more to go.”

The man’s Duel Arm had five slots, two of which were now filled with puzzle pieces.

• Finalists must collect five puzzle pieces to qualify for the championship round.

The rule, explained when the finalists received their Duel Arms, required participants to win puzzle pieces through duels.

Starting with one piece each, they needed to win at least four duels to survive—a harsh condition.

In the preliminaries, competitors had to collect ten Glory of the Victor cards, but the stakes were higher now, as only the best had advanced.

“Someone’s dueling the Clairvoyant Duelist at the North Gate!”
“The Somerset Card Fiend is causing a stir at the West Gate!”
“At the South Gate, the Sage of Light is dueling the Great Mage Yustaf!”

While duels were happening all over the capital, a few matches drew particular attention.

For instance, the Clairvoyant Duelist, who had swept through the preliminaries with ten consecutive wins, garnered enormous crowds.

At the West Gate, spectators gathered to see the young prodigy known as the Somerset Card Fiend.

And then there was the duel featuring figures of such fame that their mere presence was enough to turn heads.

“Ready to disgrace yourself?”

“Haha, Yustaf, you make it sound like you’ve ever beaten me before.”

“Hmph! This time will be different.”

Yustaf, smirking, pulled out a card and showed it to Harun.

“What?! How did you get that?”

“I drew it.”

The card in Yustaf’s hand—a rare Ultimate Rare Dark Archmage—left Harun visibly stunned, much to Yustaf’s satisfaction.

‘So, this is what it took to get one over on you…’

Despite his satisfaction, Yustaf’s chest ached at the memory of what it cost to acquire the card.

While he claimed to have drawn it, the truth was that he had traded a cherished possession to obtain it.

‘Please sell it to me!’
‘As much as I respect you, Yustaf, this card isn’t for sale.’
‘Then what about this?’

Yustaf had offered his old staff—crafted from the branches of the World Tree, a treasure beyond value to mages.

The World Tree, worshipped by elves as their mother, occasionally shed branches imbued with unmatched purification properties and unparalleled mana resonance.

Owning such a staff was the dream of any mage, yet Yustaf had traded it away.

‘Let’s make the trade!’

Having already reached the pinnacle of magic, Yustaf valued the Ultimate Rare Dark Archmage card more than the sentimental relic of his youth.

‘This time, I’ll win.’

Convinced that his previous losses to Harun were due to inferior cards rather than skill, Yustaf prepared to settle the score once and for all.

“Magic card activation! Search and Seize!”

“Argh! How can you always draw the perfect card?! It’s like you’re possessed!”

Ignoring her opponent’s wails, the little girl calmly examined their hand and promptly sent their deck’s key card to the graveyard.

‘Phew… this is a gamble. The card I’ve set face-down isn’t a spell or trap, it’s a beast card. I just need to bluff and stall for another turn.’

Despite losing his ace card, the opponent tried to reverse the game with sheer willpower.

But—

“Knight of Chaos, direct attack on the face-down card!”

“No, please!”

The young girl wasn’t fooled by his bluff. She mercilessly attacked the face-down card, leaving her opponent with no means of retaliation.

Defeated, the man handed over his puzzle piece with a blank expression.

“Her skill is otherworldly.”
“They don’t call her Somerset’s Card Fiend for nothing.”
“It’s like she can read her opponent’s mind.”

The winner of the duel at the capital’s west gate was none other than Ada Somerset, a favorite to win the tournament.

The spectators, who had gathered to witness her duel, erupted in cheers and admiration.

Rumors of a girl crushing duelists while accompanied by a dog had reached far and wide. Though some thought the stories exaggerated, the audience now had no choice but to believe them.

Ada’s uncanny ability to draw the perfect card and her seemingly prescient plays left no doubt about the truth of her reputation.

Amid the crowd’s roaring applause, Ada struck a victorious pose, savoring the moment.

One man, however, watched her from the sidelines, deep in thought.

‘I still don’t fully understand her….’

That man was none other than Owen, who had witnessed the duel from start to finish.

Owen, having seen Ada train in assassination techniques under Alain, had once been nearly convinced that she was cheating.

However—

‘My lady, it’s time to sleep.’
‘No! I have to memorize all of this!’

When Ada’s group had arrived in the capital ahead of the finals, Owen expected her to cause mischief, relishing her freedom from Rupert and the maids’ supervision. He had braced himself for the headache of keeping her in line.

To his surprise, Ada had instead thrown herself into studying card effects and duel rules at their lodging.

‘I never imagined she’d work so hard.’
‘Why wouldn’t she?’

‘Pardon?’

‘This is the first manga the young master shared with her since Frozen Kingdom. Of course, she’d be completely absorbed.’

Alain’s words helped Owen understand. Yet he couldn’t shake his confusion over why Alain had taught her to apply assassin techniques to a card game.

‘She just wanted to imitate the manga characters, of course.’
‘For such a trivial reason?’
‘It’s not trivial. To her, it’s the most important thing in the world.’

Contrary to Owen’s suspicions, Ada had never used those techniques to cheat in a duel.

Aside from impressing local children for fun, she always took her duels seriously.

‘Stay back! You’re distracting me!’

Even her wolf companion, Rasshu, was made to stay away during duels, as Ada relied on analyzing her opponent’s expressions, movements, and words to deduce their strategies. Having Rasshu nearby disrupted her concentration.

‘Woof.’

Thus, Rasshu obediently moved away whenever Ada dueled.

‘I love everything my brother creates!’

Ada cherished the things her brother made for her. His ability to craft fun and exciting creations just for her was her greatest joy.

The manga The King of Cards, which her brother had allowed her to read, was especially precious to her.

Ada resolved to never tarnish that gift, even as a joke.