Beaten but not broken

At the counter, Alucard reorganized some common cards for sale, opting to sell them in sets of ten instead of the previous six per magicoin. The six-for-one magicoin deal seemed a bit stretched, and arranging them by card type rather than name satisfied his mild OCD without much additional effort. He decided to let customers explore the cards themselves, making it easier for both parties. Displaying a selection of rare cards, mostly from the Legend of Blue Eyes set, he acknowledged that rarities above rare were scarce. The coveted cards like Blue Eyes or Dark Magician weren't even in his possession yet, so any hopeful customers dreaming of purchasing those would have to keep dreaming.

Finishing the task, Alucard noticed Annie and her parents waiting at the counter, with Nina and Neon behind them. Trell and Failer, having made their decisions, stood up to join the line. Reflecting on the situation, he thought, Maybe I should add a bell to get customers' attention during times like these. He then addressed the waiting group, "Sorry about the delay; I had to tidy up some cards for sale. Have you guys figured out which packs you want to buy?"

Annie eagerly responded, "Yes! Mama and Papa agreed to get the beautiful boxes for each of the sets! Also, since you're giving one pack per customer, my Mama, Papa, and I will be buying them separately, so that should count as three packs for me, right?" She beamed, remembering the deal Alucard had made with her and her friends.

"My sister and I also will be buying all of those boxes! We're two customers, so I get two packs!" Nina yelled behind Elaine and Robin, startling them a bit, but they chuckled lightly at the sight of Annie's boisterous friend.

Failer raised his hands and also loudly declared, "Sir! My uncle and I won't be buying a box but will buy five packs each!"

"Wow! You kids brought me big business! You know what? I'll add an extra pack per customer since you guys put me in a good mood!" Alucard grinned, pleasantly surprised. He thought he would sell five packs at most, but it seems like the children had big shots backing them up. If he could get these big shots addicted... If he is enthusiastic about cards, then the word might just spread around and make his business smooth sailing.

The children cheered at Alucard's announcement of extra packs, and as he finished the transactions and the customers grabbed their purchases, the glass door suddenly opened wide. In front, a tall, muscular woman with azure hair and a deep tan stood quietly. She had a scar across her face and was looking coldly at Alucard. She wore a tight-fitting sleeveless black shirt and had leather armor pants. Alucard and the rest also noticed that the woman was carrying a relatively small figure on her left shoulder and was dragging a burly man with her right arm. It was Jiji and his father, James. They both had beaten faces but still conveyed worried looks with each other. James sighed and was cursing himself for even mentioning Harpie Lady and all the other 'beautiful cards,' he slipped while passionately describing the illustrations.

"Big sis Gardenia! It seems that your two boys have been a bit rowdy, huh?" Elaine laughed and walked up to the tall woman.

"Hi Elaine, these two were scheming me in concert. I caught them trying to sneak and steal from our family safe; they said that they needed to buy something that costs gold coins and magicoins in order to play a game about duels. So I 'dueled' them, but they won't stop yapping about this card thing." Gardenia snorted.

"Oh, they probably meant these! These are called cards, and they're used to playing an amusing game called a duel! You can summon monsters and use spells; our baby and the other kids really find it fun. Me and darling also find it very novel!" Elaine said as she showed the cards from the borrowed deck she played a little while ago.

Gardenia let down her husband and son; the pair scrambled to their feet, then kneeled as if begging. She snorted at them, then smiled at Elaine. She asked to see the deck of cards and went through each card. She was surprised by how detailed yet small the cards were; the illustrations were very unique, and each card had a different air to it. Gardenia then got to the Enchanting Mermaid, Harpie Lady, and Water Omotics, which made her raise her brows and glare at James.

She showed the scantily clad and 'charming' monsters to James. "So these are the cards you said were pieces of art that you want to collect, huh?" She asked in a chilling, cold tone.

"N-no! My dear wife, those are only the common cards! They're not what I want to get!" James hurriedly explained.

"That's right, Mom! We want the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Jiji immediately covered for his panicking dad.

"Yeah! The Blue Eyes White Dragon is the most awesome creature I've ever seen! You know I only have eyes for you, my dear!" James added.

Gardenia's gaze softened a bit. She then turned to Elaine and asked, "Is what they say true? Surely you've seen the women drawn in those cards as well, right?"

"Ahh, I did see them, but my Robin would only have eyes for me. Although the Captain had a colorful past as the Steel Heart Casanova, I don't think he'll act it out on these playthings," Elaine replied, which made James panic as he recalled his wife's insecurities with his previous scandalous title.

Alucard interjected and decided to help a brother out. "Ma'am, the illustrations on these cards are considered art; many of them sure are beautiful, but I don't think that Captain James would have eyes on anyone other than the woman he married. He is known for his loyalty and stubbornness after all. Besides, he's right, these cards are only the common ones; the women might be beautiful, but in this game, the powerful monsters are what matter." At least for now, who knows with the future waifu decks, he thought.

After being convinced by Alucard, Gardenia had a troubled look, and she then sighed. "I guess I owe you two an apology; I also apologize to your store owner for causing a scene." She then bowed lightly towards Alucard, then helped James and Jiji up.

"Haha, no worries, my dear! All is well as long as you understand; no woman or card can compare to my lovely dear!" James took the chance to solidify his image; he also gave a thumbs up to Alucard and winked. I'll always support your business, my brother!, his expression said.

"Hooray! Let's buy all the boxes, dad! That way we have a chance of getting all of the cool box monsters!" Jiji cheered.

"Haha, sure! As long as your mother agrees! Honey, these are art pieces! We can show them around easily to those snobby nobles at gatherings. I'm sure they're going to be jealous since neither of their paintings nor statues have creative and vivid presence," added James as he turned to Gardenia, set on convincing the matriarch on this expenditure.

"Haaahh. Alright, alright. Since I've embarrassed you two, we'll buy whatever you want here." Gardenia had no choice but to give in, as she felt guilty that she went overboard with beating up her husband-son duo.

"Owner! You heard my darling, we'll get all 3 boxes!" James went to the counter along with Jiji, and while they paid for their purchases, Alucard informed Jiji that he'd be getting six packs free since he considered him and his parents as separate customers and that he was in a good mood and gave an extra pack per customer. Jiji became elated and asked his father if they could get all the packs as Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon packs, to which James heartily agreed.

While the customers were busy admiring their packs and booster boxes, a notification rang in Alucard's mind.

Ding! Congratulations, Host has completed the quest: 'You live in a ghetto and want to charge crack prices for cards?!': Sell at least 2 booster packs to 10 unique customers in 5 days! (Personal purchases do not count).

Store is now lvl 2! Check out new items on the shop panel!

Host now allowed to sell Deck Cases (Red and Blue), Playmats(Dark Magician, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Relinquish).

3% discount for business purchases is now applied(amount calculated each month).

System's comments: Host got extremely lucky this time, but please do not forget to keep working hard towards your dream!

Nice! Doesn't matter how I completed the mission, don't be so fussy about it system, Alucard thought. then turned his attention back to his customers, ignoring the system while it was announcing the next mission he needed to complete.

"Oh, by the way, this is how you would open a booster box and the packs inside." He took out a Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon booster box and got a tiny decorative knife key chain that looked like the wings of Blue Eyes White Dragon inside it. He gently poked the synthetic ether seal, then tore the seal from the box; it ripped off easily and disintegrated into the air. "You just need this to pierce the packaging. The seal is actually made up of a trade secret material; it's very durable, which prevents your booster box from being tampered with. You can only remove the seal using this knife; the seal becomes easy to tear and will disappear in the air."

"Don't worry, I'm not selling the knives; each customer gets one per purchase of either a booster box, or 4 bundles; here, choose from this box." Alucard then gave each of the customers who bought the booster boxes. Most of them chose the Blue Eyes White Dragon themed knife; Gardenia and Elaine chose the Black Skull Dragon themed knife; and only Neon got the Relinquished themed knife. Trell and Failer stood there awkwardly, as they hadn't purchased any booster boxes.

Trell chuckled and said to Failer, "Haha, don't worry, Little Fai, how about we open the packs first, then go home and get some more money?"

"It's okay, uncle; I'm really happy with these packs. Maybe if we don't get the cards that we want, then we can come back tomorrow," Failer said in response, to which Trell lightly smiled and ruffled his hair.

After the small interlude, Alucard continued with his demonstration: "You open the booster box like this, remove the stickers from the side, then lift up the lid of the box. You can then fold the lid by cutting off these small connections, which will prop up the pop-up monster, fold the left and right flaps to the side, and now you can grab open a pack and open it!"

He then extracted a pack from the booster box, holding it up for everyone to see. "To open a pack, use the pull tab located at the back, right where the middle flap is. It looks like a black square. Pinch it tight, pull down, and voila, your card pack is now open." Displaying the opened pack, he revealed the back of the cards while hiding the fronts.

"Once you crack open the pack, you'll find a neat stack of cards waiting inside. What's cool is that when you pop it open, the cards are facing the other way, adding a bit of suspense since you can't see them right away. Grab the cards, give them a flip to the front, and bam, you're ready to check out the artwork. Now, as you go through the cards, the 7th one is guaranteed to be a rare. There's a tiny chance it might even kick it up a notch in rarity. The 8th or 9th cards usually hang out in common territory, but there's a slim chance they could surprise you with a rare or higher. If luck's really smiling down on you, you might hit the jackpot with the 7th to 9th cards all boasting rare or above rarity."

"The initial 6 cards are always common cards, but some common cards can be very useful as well, so don't underestimate them. Common cards also have awesome artwork in them as you've already seen with the borrowed decks, the borrowed decks only include basics cards and not every common card. That means you have plenty of common cards to add to your collection." Alucard said as he carefully and slowly flipped through each card while showing to the cards to the crowd.

"So, the chance of getting rare or higher-grade cards is low, but common cards are still great for playing and collecting?" Trell asked.

Alucard nodded, "Exactly. And not just that—many normal cards allow players to customize their deck to fit their needs. Now, let's reveal the cards. Each card boasts top-notch quality in terms of material and artwork. Unfortunately, I got nothing on the 7th or 8th pull. Let's see with this last card; hopefully, I get something decent and don't embarrass myself." He chuckled.

As he removed the 8th card, revealing a Hinotama Spell card, a shiny glint caught everyone's attention. Alucard gasped as he fully unveiled the 9th card.

"Holy freaking sh*t! I actually got one! It's a Blue Eyes White Dragon!!"