Chapter 13: 1.5 Billion Yen for a Single Blue-Eyes, That's Not Overpriced, Is It?

But Kaiba called Jonouchi a "mediocre talent" to his face, and his expression didn't look like he was joking at all. This made Jonouchi quite angry. "Well then, eldest son of the Kaiba Corporation and great genius Seto Kaiba, what brings your highness to a place like this?"

"I merely heard by chance that there were ultra-rare cards here, and I came out of curiosity," Kaiba said. Although a smile played on his face, it was filled with contempt for the shabby Kameki Toy Shop. "However, how could a place even more dilapidated than a toilet next to a rural farmland possibly possess rare cards?"

"Honestly, it seems I occasionally suffer from immature delusions, actually thinking a place like this would have decent cards." As he spoke, Kaiba spread his hands with an air of helplessness that made anyone who saw him want to punch him.

No, Jonouchi was already about to swing. If Honda and Hayato hadn't pulled him back in time, Kaiba's face would have been disfigured. Even while being restrained by the two, Jonouchi remained incredibly irate: "If a tiger doesn't show its authority, do you think I'm a sick cat? What right do you have to slander Grandpa Muto's toy shop!"

"Hmph, do you think I am like you lot?" Kaiba watched as Jonouchi, despite being held back, took an aggressive step forward with an air of fearlessness. "I am a person with the strength of a national Duel Monsters tournament champion. The gap between us is as vast as the difference between a soaring dragon and the shrimp at the bottom of a river; we are simply not on the same level."

Kaiba's arrogant demeanor was truly infuriating; Hayato even had the thought of letting go of Jonouchi and letting him give Kaiba a beating. What excuse should he use then? His hand cramped?

"Then how about testing yourself against a piece of shrimp like me, Kaiba!" Jonouchi laughed out of pure rage, pulling out his recently adjusted deck. "I've seen enough of that unpleasant face of yours at school. I've endured you for long enough!"

"Heh, my time is very precious. I can tolerate spending it searching for rare cards, but a commoner like you is not worth my time." Kaiba sneered and turned to leave. As he turned, he unconsciously glanced at the others in the room.

The weakling of the class, Yugi Mutou; the mediocre Jonouchi and his delinquent companion Honda; the plain-looking Masaki; and that one person whose presence was low precisely because they were a good student—who was it again? Regardless, they weren't important characters.

Kaiba's final gaze landed on the owner of the game shop—Sugoroku Mutou. That ancestral height and hairstyle made his kinship with Yugi Mutou recognizable at a single glance.

Then, his gaze shifted downward. This movement caused a major incident. Seto Kaiba found himself completely unable to move his eyes; they were glued to the card held in Sugoroku Mutou's white glove.

"Nani! That is... 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'!?"

Unable to contain himself, Kaiba completely ignored the fierce, fight-ready gaze of Jonouchi. He pushed past the obstructing Yugi and Anzu, rushed toward the counter, and leaned down, pressing his head as close as possible to the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on the counter.

"Why... why would the legendary 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' appear in a place like this? Why!"

Seeing Kaiba lose his composure so utterly, Jonouchi's smugness overflowed onto his face. "Hmph, Kaiba, 'what kind of trash cards could this place have'? How do you feel now? You didn't even have the Blue-Eyes in your eyes."

But Kaiba acted as if he hadn't heard a word Jonouchi said, immersed in shock: *'To think a Blue-Eyes White Dragon could actually be found here, it's truly incredible. I must have it, I must have it!'*

"Alright, alright, that's enough spectating." As if seeing through the longing in Kaiba's eyes, Sugoroku hurriedly put the card back into its box and closed it, clearly intending not to show it further. "You're Yugi's classmate, Kaiba, right? This card is not for sale."

*'Damn old man.'* Kaiba's thoughts were exposed by Sugoroku before he could even speak, making him somewhat annoyed. However, the refinement brought by his elite upbringing since childhood prevented him from showing his emotions directly. He merely smoothed his tone as much as possible and placed the aluminum alloy briefcase he was carrying onto the table.

*Thud!*

Sugoroku was startled by the heavy sound of the briefcase hitting the glass counter. After all, the counter was glass to display the cards inside, and he feared Kaiba's strength might be great enough to smash it.

Kaiba paid no mind to Sugoroku's expression. He opened the briefcase, turned it halfway, and displayed its contents to Sugoroku: "Grandpa, please, sell that Blue-Eyes White Dragon to me. I can exchange these cards with you!"

Having seen many Duel Monster cards, Sugoroku looked into Kaiba's briefcase, and a hint of longing couldn't help but appear on his face. This was because Kaiba's briefcase was packed with nearly five hundred cards—it was essentially a small, mobile card library!

Hayato took a step forward, wanting to see what kind of cards could surprise Grandpa Sugoroku so much, but he was left speechless after just one glance. Indeed, the briefcase was full of cards, but the quality, judging just by the first layer, was not high—it was either meaningless high-star, low-stat commoners like "Electro Snail" and "Impact Beast," or mysterious fusion monsters like "Maze Magician" and "Roaring Sea Serpent" that were complete wastes of resources.

Even the Spell cards were things like "Red Potion" and "Dreamy Curry"; the only one even remotely decent was a single "Polymerization."

*So your cards are just a collection of these small-fry commoners, Kaiba? I thought there would be at least some slightly stronger cards like "Sapphire Dragon" or "Emerald Dragon."*

"Um, Kaiba-kun, I happen to be short one 'Polymerization,' how about it?" Hayato interjected, but Kaiba kept staring at Sugoroku, seemingly waiting for his answer.

"No, I can't," Sugoroku replied firmly, only after staring at the box of cards for a long time to suppress the longing in his eyes.

"If you aren't willing to exchange, I can buy it with money. I'm willing to pay any amount!" Although Kaiba was surprised by Sugoroku's refusal to exchange, he did not give up on the idea of "obtaining the Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and continued to state his terms. "Just name your price. Whether it's thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, as long as you are willing to sell it to me!"

Hayato remarked, "I don't think it would be unreasonable to sell a 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' for 1.5 billion, but if you do that, it seems your Kaiba Corporation would be gone, President."

***

[Author's Note "Staying up to date with current events." Actually, I didn't expect anyone to make a joke out of a judicial auction. Jumping from 800,000 to 80 million is ridiculous; converted to Yen, it would even be 1.5 billion. And it only cost Kaiba 1 billion Yen to overthrow Kazuki and take over the Kaiba Corporation. This wave, this wave is: "Kaiba's assets are 10 billion, and three Blue-Eyes account for half of it." If you ask me, those people maliciously driving up prices should just be rounded up, thrown together, and given a deck each. Hold a "Prison Cup" once a month, and the first-place Duel King gets released (then the prison staff starts rigging the bracket from the top 16, using meta decks to crush them). (End of Chapter)]