This Card Must Be Seriously Flawed!

"Ding-a-ling~ Ding-a-ling~"

With a melodious chime, the slightly aged shop door was pushed open.

The general store was classical in style, yet every corner bore the marks of the owner's meticulous maintenance.

A simple layout divided the shop into several sections; aside from the counter, there were only a few tidy shelves.

The orange-red sunset, carried by the cool breeze characteristic of an autumn evening on the kingdom's border, slipped into the shop, casting a thin veil of color over the warm-toned wooden decor.

The visitor was a young girl wearing a silver-white military uniform, though unlike standard-issue gear, it appeared to be a student version for reservists.

The clothing could not conceal the girl's graceful, well-proportioned figure, and her long, dark blue hair cascaded behind her shoulders, giving her an elegant and noble air.

Behind the counter, Dekan was leaning lazily against his chair.

He possessed delicate, elven-like features, though his eyes held a hint of cold detachment.

He rested his chin on one hand while balancing a bright red apple in the other, staring at the fruit in a daze.

The girl walked straight to the counter and tapped on the table, attempting to draw Dekan's attention.

Dekan frowned slightly and looked up.

Almost immediately, his gaze was captured by the girl's clear, jewel-like eyes, which were vibrant with color.

He couldn't help but let his gaze linger on her face for a moment longer than necessary.

Fine, I'll forgive you for interrupting my contemplation of life.

Dekan straightened his posture and switched to a professional, business-like smile.

"Is there something you would like to buy?"

The girl, Theresia, hesitated for a moment as she looked around the small shop, then turned to Dekan.

"Are you the owner of this general store?"

"I'm just watching the shop."

"Then, is this card sold by your store?"

Theresia took out a magic card and placed it in front of Dekan.

It was a Tier 1 Goblin summon card.

As one of the easiest cards to produce, it was generally very cheap.

Due to its extremely weak stats and effects, very few people used Goblin-themed decks.

However, Dekan recognized this magic card at a glance; it was indeed one he had made.

The Goblin on the card art had a distinctive outfit.

It wore a black mask and held a strange weapon that resembled a flintlock.

"It is sold by our shop. Is there some kind of malfunction with it?"

"It's not a malfunction, but the problem is very serious!!"

Theresia became somewhat agitated in an instant. "Do you have any idea? The entire magic card system at Heavenlyte Magic Academy in the capital has been thrown into chaos by this card!"

"Is that so?"

Dekan raised an eyebrow, looking at Theresia with confusion.

He had indeed mass-produced a batch of Bandit Goblin cards a while ago and sold them to a traveling merchant.

He hadn't expected this card to cause such a huge stir.

He appraised the card on the table, confirming once more that it was indeed crafted by his own hand.

"This card is clearly very ordinary..."

Dekan scratched his head in confusion as he looked at the stats.

[Bandit Goblin]

[Category: Summon Card]

[Rarity: Blue Rare]

[Tier: 1]

[Attack: 100]

[Health: 100]

[Effect: When this summon is about to deal damage to an enemy, prioritize changing the damage dealt into forcibly stealing one item from the opponent.]

[Note: "The M1917 Gangster-issue Smith & Wesson, solving all your troubles!"]

Dekan looked up at the girl's expression again and suddenly understood why she was so agitated.

Could it be that she was disgusted by this card?

That shouldn't be it...

The card I actually consider truly 'underworld' level, I never put up for sale.

"In that case, why don't you just bring more Bandit Goblins?"

If you can't beat them, join them.

Dekan's eyes were filled with confusion.

"Who in their right mind carries that many Tier 1 cards! And do you even know how much a single Bandit Goblin costs in the Royal Capital right now?!"

Theresia was becoming frantic; this shop assistant was clearly a layman who didn't understand magic cards at all!

It wasn't that this card was incredibly stable, unrestrained, or invincible.

It was purely designed to be disgusting; what you managed to steal depended entirely on luck.

With bad luck, you might only snatch the candy out of your opponent's pocket, but with good luck, you could potentially steal their entire card slot!

Carrying too many of these Tier 1 cards wasted deck space, but not carrying Bandit Goblins meant lacking a certain deterrent effect, and you might even get disgusted by your opponent instead!

What was this called? This was called involution!

"Then what should we do?"

"...Do you have a matching Goblin archetype deck?"

Dekan: "..."

"I actually do."

Since someone was willing to buy his cards, he naturally wouldn't refuse, especially since this young lady had traveled over mountains and through valleys from the Royal Capital's academy all the way to his remote little town.

Dekan opened the counter, took out a card binder, spread it on the table, flipped to the back, and found a Tier 2 card he had recently crafted.

"Goblin Sheriff. I recommend you buy this one."

"Sheriff?"

It had the same bizarre art style, clearly from the same genius hand as the Bandit Goblin.

Theresia was full of confusion; although this card was Tier 2, didn't a Sheriff and a Bandit conflict with each other?

Dekan didn't say much, simply pulling the card out and handing it to her so she could appraise it herself.

[Goblin Sheriff]

[Category: Summon Card]

[Rarity: Purple Rare]

[Tier: 2]

[Attack: 200]

[Health: 200]

[Effect: When there is a Bandit Goblin nearby, this summon gains the effect of the Bandit Goblin and additionally summons two more Bandit Goblins.]

[Note: "Sheriff is just my side job; being a bandit is my true profession!"]

"What kind of hellish effect is this..."

Theresia stared at the card's effect, dumbfounded for a long time, completely abandoning any burden of maintaining her image as a beauty.

Setting aside whether this card was overpowered or not.

If four Bandit Goblins suddenly came charging at her, her only choice would be to turn around and run.

"I'll take it! How much?"

She snapped back to reality and hurriedly said to Dekan.

At the very least, this cursed card couldn't fall into anyone else's hands!

"...Actually, I'm not very familiar with the prices in the Royal Capital. Why don't you name your price?"

Dekan was now somewhat regretting selling that batch of Bandit Goblins to the traveling merchant for 100 coins each.

Although he didn't know exactly how high the price of that card had been inflated in the Royal Capital, it was certainly higher than he had imagined.

Theresia thought for a long time, then asked tentatively: "How about 60 gold coins?"

Holy--!

Dekan almost lost his balance and fell off his chair.

1 gold coin was equal to 1,000 coins.

Twenty gold coins were enough for a family in this border town to live on for a year.

Theresia observed Dekan's reaction. Even though Dekan looked like someone who didn't know the market, she didn't want to cheat him.

There must be a legendary card crafter living in seclusion in this small shop.

She would need to rely on this crafter's power even more in the future.

Theresia bit her lip: "This card could definitely sell for more in the Royal Capital, but I didn't bring that much money with me, and I need to save some for travel expenses to get back... If it's not enough, I can make up the difference with magic cards."

Although she wanted to buy Tier 3 or even Tier 4 cards, she knew she couldn't afford them right now.

"Fine."

Seeing that she seemed quite sincere, Dekan didn't say much more and took out his ledger to scribble some notes.

Theresia was equally decisive, pulling a pouch of gold coins from the bag at her waist and handing it to Dekan.

"By the way, would you mind letting me see what a Tier 3 card from your shop looks like?"

Theresia was very curious about just how bizarre the Tier 3 cards produced by this shop might be.

Even though she couldn't afford one, she still wanted to take a look first.

"We don't have any Tier 3 cards for sale here."

"How could that be?"

"Because I can't make Tier 3 magic cards yet."

Theresia: "???"

"You made these cards?!"