Card Apprentice Daily Log Chapter 2845: Peyote’s Long Game

Date: Unspecified

Ti: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampnt

"Well, what do we have here?" I said aloud, dragging the Emissary’s unconscious body along. My gaze shifted to Peyote, who had rooted himself into the ground, struggling to keep the Breath of Erosion from eating further into his divinity under the watchful eyes of Dredre, Field Marshal Lorn, and Karl.

I handed the Emissary’s unconscious body off to Karl and turned my attention to one of the living Ten Commandnts in the flesh. Considering what this world had already done to his peers, I couldn’t help but wonder what gave him the confidence to step into it. Then again, maybe he hadn’t been thinking at all.

At my approach, a pair of beady eyes and a rugged mouth ford on the massive cactus. Locking onto , it spoke, "Who are you?"

I looked at Peyote in mild surprise. He hadn’t bothered speaking to Karl, Dredre, or even the Field Marshal, yet he chose to address directly. I could understand ignoring Karl or Dredre—one had nothing to do with the Devil rchant Code, and the other was a pixie, beneath even slaves in their eyes. But the Field Marshal? She was a legitimate Devil rchant. And still, he skipped her to speak with —a re demon rchant.

Then again, the Sandalphon had already noticed stalking them through the bloodstorm clouds and tried to use its eye’s ability to read my emotions and mories attached to it, but I stopped it ruthlessly.

Also, Peyote seed far more perceptive of his enemies than Slay had ever been. The Field Marshal might have been the most physically imposing among us, but her bearing made it clear she wasn’t the one in charge.

That aside... what did he an by ’Who are you?’ Couldn’t he tell I was just a demon rchant native to this realm? Or was he asking about my background?

"That’s a damn pixie. How do you have one with you? Don’t you dare lie to . She may seem braver, may even slip in and out of the River of Reincarnation and wield Breath of Erosion, but I know a lowly pixie when I see one.

"Are you serving one of the families under the Librarian? I heard his youngest—the one currently in charge of the Infinity Library in the inter-realm city, Zaltan Librarian Jr.—leads the Pixie Tribal Confederation. I’m guessing you answer to him."

Peyote laid out his entire line of thought without restraint, clearly trying to flaunt his deduction skills.

I wasn’t impressed.

It was common knowledge that all existing pixies in the Myriad Realm fell under the Librarian’s influence. At the sa ti, no one doubted that every last one of them was accounted for and belonged to the Librarian. There was no room for exceptions, stray pockets hidden sowhere beyond reach. Thanks to the Librarian and the Devil rchant Code’s terrifying divination abilities. These two weren’t considered among the top beings closest to achieving transcendence in the myriad realm for nothing.

Any dark race or demon or devil rchant who saw with Dredre outside the Infinity Library would co to the sa conclusion—that I served the Librarian. It was the most natural assumption. Peyote had simply followed that line of thought. The difference was that he seed to know more about the inner workings of the Infinity Library than most. I guessed that either he or the forr mbers of the Ten Commandnts had once been VVIP patrons there. In that case, this level of awareness wasn’t surprising.

"What are you getting at?" I asked, looking at the massive cactus. It was obvious he was trying to negotiate.

"I don’t know how soone like you managed to join the Librarian’s faction, but I want in. Even if it ans serving under you."

The beady eyes and rough mouth on the cactus strained to form sothing resembling sincerity, doing their best to sell the proposal.

Having only just been reborn, Peyote had no intention of dying again. And this ti, if Breath of Erosion took him, there would be no return—no rebirth in the Dark Realm.

So even if survival ant serving soone weaker than him, Peyote was willing to accept it without hesitation. More than that, it gave him a way into the Librarian’s faction—one of the top three ruler-class powers in the Myriad Realms.

From his perspective, this wasn’t rock bottom. It was an opportunity knocking on his door. The demon rchant before him wasn’t a threat, but a doorway. Once inside the Librarian’s faction, he could earn that demon rchant’s trust, learn the internal structure, and use it to his advantage. With his strength, climbing the Librarian Faction’s pecking order would only be a matter of ti.

In his mind, this was the start of a coback. One where he would settle scores—especially with the loan sharks who were trying to bleed him dry under unfair interest rates.

But all of it hinged on one thing: convincing the demon rchant in front of him to trust him enough to take him in as his subordinate. And that wouldn’t be easy—not with the gap in their strength.

Peyote weighed his options. If it ca to it, he was even willing to sign a decade- or century-long slave contract—dressed up as employnt—just to earn the demon rchant’s trust. Given his current situation and what he stood to gain, a few decades of servitude didn’t seem like much.

Even if the alternative wasn’t death and he sohow made it out of this alive and returned to the Dark Realm, his life right now was worse than that of a slave on the run. Every nobody was crawling out of the cracks and grabbing his collar, claiming his old faction owed them sothing.

If he wanted a real coback, he had to be decisive—and play the long ga. That said, he hadn’t forgotten this was still a negotiation. He wasn’t about to hand himself over without resistance. Whatever the outco, he intended to secure the best terms he could.