“Weapons? Don’t make me laugh fool,” a voice from the crowd all but yelled.

And within that crowd of nobles Daniel quickly spotted the heckler, Douglass, the man that had tried to kill him when he’d first arrived in this world making his opinion known.

“I'm sorry, but this event is for nobles," Daniel said distastefully. "What exactly are you doing here? Because if I remember correctly, your family has no legendarys."

The statement seemed to impact Douglass like a smack to the face, “Don’t give me that shit, you little thief. You have no right to act so arrogant. I doubt that Anton wouldn't be so willing to save you again right after you spit in his face and decided to give yourself over to this lot,” Douglass said, gesturing to the rest of the nobles. Most of whom were currently eyeing the noble with more than a small bit of annoyance.

“But I see right through you," the noble declared. "You’d already be dead if Anton hadn’t saved you from me and now he’s not providing you any special protection. You’ve messed up.”

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Daniel thought to himself. Though he could understand the noble’s reasonings. While he’d been working for the guild he’d ostensibly been a part of Anton’s faction. Sure he’d still theoretically receive protection from the demigod even after leaving his faction, but it wouldn't be any more or less than any of the other legendary user.

But that thought process got thrown right out the window the second just who’d given him A Sane Man’s Burden not four hours ago came into play. The fact he’d been gifted a legendary card from Anton and still been asked to help during the coming Blood Moon meant that Anton saw a certain amount of value in him. Not to mention the fact that the man himself had practically said so himself.

“You offer the services of a traveler and a legendary user, but you’re nothing but a coward running away from the monsters prowling outside the walls. Worse, you’re a coward that lost in battle against me. A man with nothing graded above a rare in his deck. You’re not desirable, you’re worth nothing.”

Daniel watched as the crowd seemed to consider Douglass’s words. Most had likely already heard that he’d been bested by Douglass upon arriving in this world, and while most weren’t going to put much stake into the man's insults, Daniel could see that some were letting it weigh on their minds. It wouldn’t amount to much in the end, and likely wouldn’t do any more than lower the final bid that he’d receive at the end of the auction if he let the insults lie where they were. Which was unacceptable.

It was something that Daniel couldn’t allow. He needed to take every advantage he could in this world. That was the conclusion he’d come to after nearly dying beyond the walls and seeing that crazy goddess. Living out his ten years in this world in peace was nothing more than a pipedream, and Daniel considered himself more of a realist.

“You bark like a dog hiding behind a fence,” Daniel said calmly. “Yap, yap, yap, that’s all you do. You defeated someone who hadn’t had their first card for more than an hour, and yet you act so confident. If I remember correctly, I still managed to burn down a good portion of your house and evade you long enough for Anton to rescue me. A single non-combat oriented card, wielded by someone who’d owned it for less than an hour bested you in all the ways that matter. You can’t deny that. Besides if you’d really won like you claim, I’d be dead wouldn't I?”

Douglass spat, “So the coward has excuses. The fire you started was nothing more than an unintentional side effect of your card, and your escape nothing more than a fool's luck.”

“Luck is it?” Daniel asked. “I’m a traveler, and I have a feeling that luck works differently for me than it does for you. I believed I could evade you. It was a possibility that I had the tools and desire to make happen, so it did. That’s my value.”

“That card is my son’s. Anyone who hires this man is my enemy through blood. I’ll see to it that our houses go to war,” Douglass yelled.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed as he stared down the irate noble, and then he said something that he normally never would.

“Do you know why your son’s dead?”

“What?” Douglass asked with venom in his voice.

Daniel stared down the noble, eyes cold, “When I found him he was nothing more than a corpse at the bottom of a cave. Stuffed so deep in a pit that rats could barely even reach him. He was trapped in every sense of the word and he'd clearly had no real hope of escaping, but why did he appear there to begin with? That seems rather inconsiderate of a legendary card, no?”

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Daniel didn’t wait for a response as he continued to speak, “I have a theory. He ended up in that cave because he was scared. He was so scared of the transfer to my world that when he became a traveler his worries impacted the card and made his fears a reality. He appeared in a cave surrounded by flames, and watched as melting stone reinforced by his own beliefs rapidly sealed him in. Seeing is believing, and his belief in this case caused a downward spiral leading to his own death.

Midway through the speech Daniel hopped down from the table he’d been standing on and walked over to Douglass, before leaning in and whispering into his ear.

“I had nothing to do with what happened to your son. He went and got himself killed.”

Douglass took a swing at Daniel, who just as quickly retreated into Limbo, where he watched as the imperceptibly fast attack phased harmlessly through him. It would have been impossible to dodge if he hadn’t fully been expecting the irate noble to take a swing at him.

Daniel would’ve sighed if he could, instead he placed A Sane Man’s Burden on his arm and willed it to join his deck. A second later it did, and that freed up his rare to enhance things other than his mind.

With a mental command Daniel switched Foundation of One off of boosting his mind and over to boosting his nervous system with the intention of having it improve his reaction speed. He’d wanted to add the new legendary to his deck in front of the nobles to raise the final bids during the auction, but from what he could tell nobody seemed to be rushing to stop Douglass' outburst so he couldn’t really afford to leave Foundation of One boosting his mind any longer.

Right then, at that exact moment, the second Daniel switched Foundation of One off boosting his brain and over to boosting his reaction speed the reality of what he’d been planning to do finally resonated, and the weight of the revolver that he’d gotten fixed in the draconian settlement actually became real in his hands as he watched the smokey figure of Douglass move throughout the guildhall, and found that his eyes could follow him.

Daniel quickly disregarded his heightened senses. He felt like a cloud had left his mind. He’d been so confident, so sure of himself. Not seconds ago it’d felt like his mind had been filled with an unmatched clarity, but looking back it was anything but.

‘Did my card drug me? And was I really just about to execute Douglass in front of an entire room full of nobility?’ Daniel thought in astonishment.

Putting aside whether or not he could actually pull off killing Douglass. He’d gone as far as to bait out a strike from the noble so that he’d have the justification for killing him. That wasn’t normal or rational, not by his own standards at least.

It wasn’t that Daniel wouldn’t kill him if it came down to it. The guy had actively tried to hunt him down and kill him after all, but at the end of the day the man was still a noble.

The consequences for killing one, even in self defense, was likely to be severe. That much was obvious, and something Daniel couldn't risk doing before he had a firmer grip on the laws of this place.

Even if he somehow disregarded the near murder of Douglass, the auction itself was still extremely problematic. It was very likely to anger at least some of the nobility for one reason or another. Whether from how he hadn’t so much as dressed up for the occasion or simply from the fact that he was a legendary user selling his services like a mercenary."

'I even called myself that to their faces,' Daniel internally cursed.

The auction was definitely going to ruffle some feathers. Especially when he considered just how many of the nobles' claims to their titles seemed to be almost entirely reliant on the scarcity of their own legendary cards. Somone who was ostensively their equal working as a mercenary wouldn't be a great look for them.

Those were just some of the problems with holding such a poorly thought out auction, and there were almost assuredly more social and cultural taboos that he was breaking even now. This whole event was hasty and poorly thought out, but the worst part was that he couldn't just go and call it off. He’d already summoned every noble in the city to the auction and it was already about to begin. Any backpedaling at this point was just going to make things worse.

So with a nonexistent sigh, Daniel left Limbo and faced the crowd, “Look Douglass, I’m sorry for what happened to your son, but we can’t go and make a scene like this in front of the entire city's nobility. It doesn’t suit somebody of your stature.”

Douglass stopped his rapid movements for a moment to scoff at Daniel, “Me, making a scene? What about you, you bastard!”

Daniel took a moment to nervously gauge the room, and most of the nobles didn’t seem to be all that concerned with what was happening.

At that moment a woman from among the nobility turned to face Douglass, “Calm down and take a seat, would you Douglass. It’s obvious that he’s been suffering the ill effects of some card or curse or whatnot. I'd bet he’s only just now become of sound mind,” she said, sending a glance toward Daniel.

Another male noble sitting near the back laughed at Douglass’ obvious irritation, “Looks like the show’s over everyone. But it has been an interesting one. If the rules of the auction still stand as you’ve laid them out Daniel, I’m willing to bid one rare card and two uncommon for your services.”

“One rare and three uncommon,” another yelled out.

The nobles didn’t wait for Daniel to respond, the auction was already underway.