Chapter 2670: Asong’s Unluck

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

"Alright, Jill, see Asong out. I’ll get started on those cards," I said, deliberately teasing Asong. She had clearly wanted to speak to me for a while now, but every time she finally had the chance, she hesitated and lost her nerve.

"She knows the way out. She doesn’t need me for that," Jill replied dryly. Then she turned to me and complained, "Wyatt, you said I’d be in charge of the Slime Fairy cards, but they wouldn’t even let me in."

Ignoring Asong entirely, I corrected Jill. "I never said you’d be in charge of the Slime Fairy cards. I already have capable people handling their creation. What I said was that you’d be in charge of selling them across the other four regions. Maybe not in those exact words, but that’s what I meant."

I stepped closer, pulled her into an embrace, and spoke quietly. "Jill, you need to stop this. Why are you trying to steal credit from our own people? That’s not a good strategy if you want to beat Susan and Anna, especially when they both have the home-field advantage."

"Wait, I thought you wanted us to get along. Now you’re provoking me by bringing them up?" Jill asked, rolling her eyes. She knew exactly what I was doing, using Anna and Susan to push her into backing off. Even so, she had to admit the point I was making wasn’t wrong.

She quickly realized that playing the cold, lone-wolf role here would only hurt her, not them. Susan was practically the girl next door to everyone in my organization, familiar and easy to approach. As for Anna, with most of the organization’s employees being Southerners, they adored her by default. Now more than ever. Her marrying their boss felt like validation for the work they were doing. They couldn’t have been prouder.

Which meant that, when it came to popularity, Jill was clearly the least favored of the three among employees. And if she wanted to become the principal wife, she would need to amass more fame than the other two. Otherwise, judging by how things were going, she would end up dead last. And that was something she absolutely refused to accept.

"Gotta keep the pan hot," I said. "I want the three of you to get along, sure, but I don’t want you ganging up on me like you did today. You’ve shown me how a woman’s grudge can sneak up on you when you least expect it."

"Now that you know what the three of us can do together," Jill warned, pulling back slightly, "don’t go sniffing around under other skirts." She didn’t even bother acknowledging how much of my careful planning they had just flushed down the drain.

Well, in their defense, they were only acting in what they believed was my best interest. So clearly, they couldn’t be wrong. I suppose this was entirely my fault for having the audacity to choose all three of them instead of choosing just one.

Jill slipped free of my embrace and added, "Think hard about that. I’ve got a few things to go fix."

With that, Jill hurried out, intent on correcting the damage she’d caused. She knew it was too late to change people’s first impressions of her, but she also knew one thing just as well. As long as she helped them all make a ton of money, today’s minor clashes would be forgotten, replaced with admiration, if not outright worship.

After she left, I turned to Asong and asked dryly, "You’re still here?"

"Stop being an asshole," Asong said, fully aware that I was teasing, knowing she herself was struggling to say whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Asong, I’ve got very little time and far too many things to deal with," I said flatly. "Whatever it is, spit it out already."

"My party fired me. I had to vacate my seat in assembly. I’m effectively a civilian now," Asong said at last. She hadn’t shared the news with anyone else, and didn’t want to, especially not with someone who had saved her life more than once. Yet, she ended up sharing in a moment of weakness.

"Was this because of what happened today?" I asked. Earlier, her party members had been all smiles when they arrived to greet me, but the moment Susan started talking about world domination, they had vanished like smoke. It wasn’t hard to guess what followed. They’d likely wasted no time cutting Asong loose to distance themselves. First, she’d been hunted by the Supreme Leader. Now this. Her luck was on a steady downward spiral.

"Does it matter?" Asong replied quietly, brushing off the question. She clearly didn’t blame me for it.

What I didn’t understand was something else entirely. Why was she telling me this instead of her friend, Anna?

"I guess not," I said, making no attempt to comfort her. Truthfully, I had considered recruiting her before, but now I had Jill, and Asong was far too rigid for the kind of organization I was building. If my secret about the calamity daughter gems ever came to light, I was absolutely certain she wouldn’t be able to look past it.

Still, seeing her standing there alone, I couldn’t bring myself to stay indifferent. I transferred an encrypted blueprint of the array formation for crafting Celestial Empowerment cards, that Hive Spirit had just processed, along with a short note, directly to her grimoire.

"I’ve shared a file with you," I said. "Help me deliver it to Dalie at Lil’ Red Storm. Go find Cindy. She’ll make the necessary arrangements. You don’t mind, right?"

"No problem," Asong replied with a tired sigh. "I don’t have anything better to do anyway." She gave a half-hearted wave and turned to leave.

Watching her retreating figure, lost and alone, I shook my head thinking, ’A glimpse of the future ought to cheer her up.’

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