Chapter 51

"Eh? What's happening to my body...?" A gentle golden light gradually enveloped Nobunaga.

After looking around and regaining her composure, Nobunaga began to understand the situation. "So, this is it, my stage is coming to an end."

The surrounding scene gradually blurred, indicating that this false space created by the system was slowly disappearing.

[System prompt: Nobu card collection progress 40/40. Limited-time event mission [Chattering Honnoji] completed. Preparing to transport back to the original space.]

"Finally, I can go back~" As he watched Nobunaga being enveloped in light and the space gradually disappearing, Hoshino involuntarily sighed with relief. "I wonder how the outside world has changed after all this time."

"Master!" Noticing that she, too, was disappearing with the space, Nobunaga called out to Hoshino.

"What's up, Nobu?" Hoshino asked, looking puzzled at Nobu who had a cheerful smile on her face.

"Catch this!" With a flick of her right hand, Nobunaga accurately tossed the card representing her to Hoshino. "It was fun dueling with you!"

"Nobu..."

Leaving her final words, Nobunaga and the surrounding space disappeared together. With the space gone, Hoshino, losing her footing, began falling endlessly into a bottomless darkness.

"Ah—Ah—Ah!!" Hoshino awoke with a start like a dying man suddenly sitting up.

Looking around at the inside of the tent and the sleeping Anzu beside her, Hoshino scratched her head in confusion. "Was it all just a dream?"

"Wait a minute!" As if suddenly realizing something, Hoshino reached into her pocket.

Her familiar deck was still there. Nervously swallowing, Hoshino slowly flipped open the first card.

"So, it wasn't a dream..." Looking at Nobunaga's familiar smile on the card, Hoshino smiled in relief. "Welcome to the Duelist Kingdom, Oda Nobunaga."

"Master, can you change the cover of the novel to—"

"Smack!" Hoshino abruptly slammed Nobunaga's card back into the deck, stopping her from saying anything further.

"You're up so early, Hoshino~" A gentle greeting came from outside the tent. Hearing the commotion inside, Mai Valentine slowly lifted the tent flap, letting the morning sunlight stream into the dark space.

"Or were you too hungry to sleep?" Walking into the tent, Mai playfully touched Hoshino's stomach, which had shrunk from hunger. "You haven't eaten anything since yesterday, so you must be very hungry now."

"Growl~~~" Not noticing the hunger before, the reminder brought on a wave of intense hunger, making Hoshino dizzy.

Collapsing weakly, Hoshino lay half over her sleeping bag, looking at Mai with her head tilted. "Mai, I'm starving. I don't think I can move anymore."

"Hehe, what a big baby." Mai gently tapped Hoshino's cute nose with her hand and smiled softly. "Can you make it out of the tent? I made some noodles."

"I can! I can get out~" Previously thinking she had no energy left, Hoshino's survival instinct was reactivated at the mention of noodles. Using all her strength, she dragged her exhausted body slowly out of the tent.

"Smells great! This is the best instant noodles I've ever had." Greedily slurping the noodles and praising them, Hoshino looked gratefully at Mai. Having not eaten anything for a whole day and night, this bowl of noodles was a true lifesaver for Hoshino.

"Eat slowly, don't choke." Looking at Hoshino with a loving gaze, Mai picked up an iron pot and slowly stood up.

"Mai? What are you doing?" Hoshino asked in confusion, not stopping her chopsticks despite her puzzlement.

"Hmph~" With a mischievous smile, Mai walked over to Jounouchi's ear and suddenly banged on the iron pot.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!" The loud noise startled Hoshino from a distance, let alone Jounouchi, who had it right by his ear.

"Huh? What's going on? A duel, someone wants to duel me?!" Jounouchi jumped up from his sleep, instinctively assuming a defensive posture. Then, coming to his senses, he looked around in confusion.

"How long are you planning to sleep? If you don't get up for a duel, all the stars will be taken by others." Mai continued banging on the pot, waking up the remaining boys.

"Huh? What time is it?" Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Yugi asked timidly.

"To be exact, it's 5:30 in the morning," Mai replied after checking her wristwatch.

"Only 5:30, and you're waking us up?" Still sleepy, Honda lay back down after hearing the time. "Let me, let me sleep for another half hour."

"Get up, get up, no more sleeping!" Not intending to let them continue sleeping, Mai insisted. "The early bird catches the worm. With such lazy habits, do you think you can enter Pegasus' castle and defeat Pegasus?"

"Pegasus!" Hearing this name, everyone's eyes suddenly became serious, and their sleepiness quickly dissipated.

"That's right, we're here at the Duelist Kingdom not for fun. We must seize every moment." Fully awake, Yugi nodded in agreement with Mai.

"Thank you, Mai, for reminding us." Coming out of his sleepy state, Jounouchi regained his fighting spirit.

"Well, while winning stars in duels is important, the priority now is to have breakfast." Mai put down the iron pot and invited everyone to eat.

"Great, Mai, you're a good person!" Hearing about breakfast, Jounouchi's respect for Mai increased.

"Well, I'm not the one to thank. If you want to thank someone, thank Hoshino." After saying that, Mai gave Hoshino a wink.

"Thank Hoshino? Why?" Jounouchi scratched his head in confusion.

"It's a secret~" Mai put her finger on her rosy lips and gave Hoshino a mischievous look.

Hoshino could only blush and eat her noodles in silence...

Because Hoshino was the first to eat, she finished much earlier than everyone else. Feeling quite aimless, Hoshino suddenly realized that a new day had begun, which meant...

Impatiently opening the system, Hoshino was ready to explore the new card pool.

"You have two unread system messages."

<Unread message ①: [Saint Quartz Summon (Limited-time Card Pool) Evil Dragon Hundred Years War Selected Hero Summon] now open.>

<Unread 5 message ②: Duelist evaluation completed. Oda Nobunaga, Rank E, reward Saint Quartz. Remaining Quartz: 140.>

"Open the card store!" Seeing the number of Saint Quartz she had left and the new card pool, Hoshino impatiently urged the system to act.

<Detected that you have one SSR exclusive summoning ticket. Redirecting to the card pool.>

"Wow, I almost forgot about this thing, my third SSR!" Hoshino had yet to use the SSR exclusive summoning ticket she earned as a reward from the conscience system after winning a dark game with Bakura.

Opening the honest SSR exclusive card pool again, the luxurious interface appeared once more before Hoshino.

Compared to last time, Hoshino felt an even greater respect for this card pool. After all, having experienced the power of two SSR cards, she knew firsthand their strength. Judging by the current mainstream deck strength in this world, each SSR likely represented the potential for some kind of miraculous comeback.

"Come on, come on!" Excitedly clicking the summon option, Hoshino couldn't wait to see what her third SSR would be.

<Do you want to use one [SSR Exclusive Summoning Ticket] for a summon?>

"Yes!"

Colorful light burst out, and the familiar SSR servant summoning interface appeared.

"Wow, wow, wow!" Eyes shining, Hoshino eagerly awaited the card rotating in the colorful light to reveal its true form.

——

"Da Vinci was very worried about you, Hoshino, so she sent me to check on you and help you in critical moments." Hoshino's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the card glowing with golden light in her hand.

"Same as always, if you need a hero, I regret to say my combat power is insufficient. But if you need a detective or a reasoning expert, then you've drawn a good card."

"Sherlock Holmes, here to lend you a hand." The familiar Holmes, with his pipe and raised eyebrow, brought a sense of reassurance to Hoshino, just like Da Vinci's smile.

"Thank you, Holmes." Smiling at the Holmes card in her hand, Hoshino felt grateful to all the servants who were concerned about her.

"In any case, since there's no incident at the moment, just put me back in the deck for now. Whether to use me in a duel is up to you, Hoshino." Holmes cautioned, raising an eyebrow. "Don't blame me for not warning you—I am not like other combat monster cards. I'm just a detective, so don't expect too much from my combat power."

Looking at Holmes' weak stats, Hoshino couldn't help but laugh. "It's fine, Holmes. Duel Monsters isn't just about combat power. Strategy is also very important."

"Really? From what you said, I guess this is a turn-based card game that relies on intelligence and strategy. Duel Monsters, right? It might be quite interesting." From just one sentence and his attributes, Holmes, who had never encountered a duel before, had grasped the basic rules of Duel Monsters. Truly deserving of the title of detective, the epitome of 'the revealer.'

Carefully placing Holmes back into the deck, Hoshino closed the luxurious interface and switched to the regular card store.

<[Saint Quartz Summon (Limited-Time Card Pool) Evil Dragon Hundred Years War Selected Hero Summon] now open.>

"Evil Dragon Hundred Years War, if I remember correctly, should be set in France, with Jeanne d'Arc and Alter Jeanne d'Arc's confrontation." Rubbing her chin, Hoshino tried to recall. "I wonder what effects the special-class Jeanne d'Arcs will have. I'm looking forward to it."

Thinking of this, Hoshino shook her head vigorously. "I haven't even drawn them yet, what am I expecting? Don't jinx yourself, Hoshino Chiyuki!"

"But I have 140 saint quartz in total, so I shouldn't fail, right?" Not knowing the exact summoning probability in this world, Hoshino estimated that around 100 saint quartz should be enough to get what she wanted, much better than the original 1% money-draining probability.

After all, you couldn't spend real money in this world, and the sources of quartz were limited, so, understandably, the probabilities would be increased. Hoshino couldn't help but think back to her previous comfortable life, where she could buy as many quartz as she wanted. Probability issues seemed insignificant when you had tons of quartz.

How ironic, this is what they call 'not knowing to save when you have money, only realizing the value of money when you're broke.' Mocking herself, Hoshino silently clicked the ten summon option.

"But do your best. If you win in the end, you can live an even better life than before!" Shallow and devoid of any respectable morality or burden of responsibility, Hoshino's simple desire was just to fulfill her wishes. This was her goal, similar to most duelists on this island.

Yet, it was this most shallow desire that pushed Hoshino forward step by step. Time and again, she made comebacks in desperate situations, and this same motivation would continue to drive Hoshino to victory in future duels.

With such prayers, Hoshino stared intently at the spinning ten summon. The first attempt yielded no golden cards.

"Well, the first step is always the hardest." Feeling confident with 110 stones left, Hoshino clicked the [Ten Summon] option again.

"Emmm~" Seeing the second ten-fold attempt yield nothing, Hoshino's calm heart began to feel a bit anxious. "Am I not summoning correctly?"

After taking a few deep breaths, Hoshino patted her chest and adjusted her sitting posture.

Anzu, who was eating beside Hoshino, saw her sitting respectfully with her deck and couldn't help but admire her silently. "So, even powerful duelists like Hoshino show such respect to their decks, even sitting properly to adjust their decks. That's amazing…"

"O Goddess of RNGesss, O Godfather of Gacha, can you feel my sincerity, my hope and dreams? Please bring Jeanne to my side." With a sincere prayer, Hoshino tremblingly clicked the [Ten Summon] option again.

...

"Hoshino, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?" Seeing Hoshino suddenly collapse, Anzu was startled and quickly put down her food.

"I'm fine, Anzu…" Hoshino, with tears in her eyes, reached out and touched Anzu's worried face. "I just feel like all my efforts last night were wasted."

The gods did not respond to the prayers (desires) of a girl named Hoshino Chiyuki.

"All your efforts last night? Wasted? What are you talking about, Hoshino? Pull yourself together." Gently holding Hoshino's cold hand against her face, Anzu wiped away Hoshino's tears with a pained expression.

"What's wrong? What happened?" The others, having almost finished eating, also noticed Hoshino lying on the ground.

"Weren't you adjusting your deck, Hoshino?" Jounouchi asked in confusion, seeing Hoshino looking lifeless. "Did you lose some valuable cards?"

"Is that it, Hoshino?" Yugi asked worriedly, as this seemed to be the only reasonable explanation for such a situation.

But Hoshino, looking at her remaining 50 Saint Quartz, only enough for one more ten summon, couldn't possibly tell them she had failed in gacha.

Silently scanning the worried faces around her, Hoshino wanted to say something. Then, when she saw Jounouchi, a sudden idea struck her like lightning.

"Jounouchi, come here for a second…"