Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Roar of the Weak

Chapter 23 Lunia of the Magic Key

"That girl next to me, I said she looked familiar, and now I remember, it's Lunia from Magic Key." Hearing this, Lunia's body trembled violently. "She was our hope for the entire fourth floor, a genius and beautiful duelist, the first person in the Scrap Metal Zone to successfully level up in ten years. And what happened? She was still betrayed by those above, thrown down like a dead dog, and didn't even keep her deck."

"So if you have cards, you should be like us, not daydreaming about getting stronger and leveling up. Just honestly plunder those weaker than yourself. As long as you're doing well, that's enough. People say we bully the weak, but isn't that how humans survive? Challenging stronger creatures is not human, it's something only a fool would do."

Shi Diao practically roared these words, suggesting he might also have a story to tell.

Di Xing turned his head and looked at him calmly. "You're right. Plundering what's weaker than oneself is an instinct of humans, or rather, animals. Only in this way can humans survive. But if that's all there is to it, humans are no different from beasts. Our ancestors would charge at mammoths, many times their size, with stone spears." Di Xing searched his memories of this world, using examples from this world to make his point more convincing. "The first hero of this world, wasn't he also challenging and defeating the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon with rudimentary equipment? That was the first card spirit that humans captured, thus beginning the era of spirit cards. Challenging those stronger than oneself is something only a fool would do. That's true, but this world also progresses because of these fools. You're used to calling them fools, but I'm used to calling them—heroes."

"Hahaha, hero, you're not some little brat anymore, yet you still believe in heroes. Look at that Lunya, do you know why she was betrayed? It's because she constantly spoke up for the lower classes, constantly engaged in duels, trying to attract everyone's attention and create more benefits for them. But what was the result? When those high-ranking citizens threw her down like a dead dog, hardly anyone thanked her, even though she was once radiant, fighting desperately for their interests. When she was useful to them, she was called a hero; when she wasn't, they hated her even more than the upper classes, because even though they came from the same area, she was better than them. Since that's the case, since they'd hate her anyway, she might as well be a bandit. Heh, if that guy could understand this, he wouldn't have..." His gaze didn't fall on Lunya, but drifted off somewhere else, then he gritted his teeth, "So, heroes are just a joke for children."

"You're right. Heroes may not be thanked by those they save, and may even be envied and resented, but these things have little to do with the hero. Because the greatness of all tragic figures is created by a certain morbid psychology, and the greatness of all mortals is nothing more than morbidity. The reason why heroes go against human nature to help the weak and challenge the strong is because if they don't do so, they will suffer in their hearts. Fundamentally, heroes are pursuing their own inner peace, and it's also for their own sake. This may be a kind of morbidity, a great morbidity! So, as long as there is injustice and unfairness in this world, heroes will protect the weak behind them and throw punches at the former, even if they have been betrayed a thousand times, they will still repeat it, because that burning heart will never be extinguished."

Hearing this, tears welled up in Lunya's eyes. The shopkeeper actually crushed the wine glass in his hand, but luckily no one noticed. He quickly put his hand under the table. Only Jane saw that on the shopkeeper's clothes, on the green magic card that was stuck to his chest as the initial of "happy," a raging fire was burning.

Upon hearing this, Shi Diao was stunned for a moment, muttering, "I see. So that's why that guy went all out back then. Damn it, he really is a lunatic." He struggled to his feet, and "Mina" tried to help him, but he pushed her away. "Mina, today marks the start of the Black Scorpion Thieves' Gang disbanding. I'm going for special training. When I come back, we'll definitely be the strongest thief gang in the slag heap!" With that, he turned and left without looking back.

Di Xing was actually a bit confused at this moment. He was probably influenced by Shi Diao's emotions and subconsciously uttered such a long speech, even quoting lines from Moby-Dick. This was not his usual personality. Now the people in the tavern were looking at him differently. What should he do?

"Cough cough," the shopkeeper's cough drew Di Xing's attention. "You're quite the smooth talker, aren't you? For this girl's sake, I'll do business with you this time, just this once." Di Xing saw Lunia clutching the shopkeeper's clothes with teary eyes, her gaze full of pleading.

However, the store manager's tone changed: "Do you even have any money? You were just making excuses with a cowboy hat, but my card isn't cheap."

“Yes, I have some,” Di Xing hurriedly said. “But you have to let me see your card first.” The reason Di Xing hadn’t taken out his coins was because he wasn’t sure of their purchasing power. He had tried to find out the price of the cowboy hat from the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper had said it was copper coins, so he still didn’t know the purchasing power of the money. Then, he followed the shopkeeper and Lunia into the inner room. After opening a hidden door, he found himself in a small card shop. There weren’t many cards, and no complete sets; they were all loose cards, but they were neatly arranged, showing they had been carefully maintained.

The store manager skillfully pulled out the neighbor's lawnmower card from the pile. "How much money do you have? These two cards aren't cheap."

Di Xing pulled out a coin he'd looted from Zhuang Sini; it had 1000 on it. He didn't know its purchasing power, but it was the largest denomination coin in the pile.

"Is this a credit coin?"

Upon seeing this, the shop manager's expression immediately changed: "Are you a lackey of the City Lord's Mansion?"

"Huh!? No way!"

"Don't play dumb, how could someone on the fourth level possibly have credit coins?"

Oh no, this looks like we've messed up. Who would have thought these different currency systems wouldn't be interchangeable? "This, this is what I found."

The shop manager pulled a double-barreled shotgun from under the table in the card shop. "If you don't tell the truth, I'll send you to the Underworld God in the Closed World right now." Seeing the two dark gun barrels, Di Xing was so frightened that he spilled his entire story, omitting, of course, the hole in the pillar that he had shot himself.