"I hope my arrival hasn't disturbed your studies, Fei."
After the maid announced him, Anvis, dressed in a fitted pure white gown with a Silver Magic Book at his waist, walked in with a smile.
"Not at all, I'm very glad you came to see me, brother."
The girl with light golden hair shook her head joyfully, happy to have an excuse to escape her current situation. Annie could only smile helplessly; she didn't dare interrupt the siblings' conversation.
"Alright then, dear Fei, how about a game of Secret Magic Card?"
Noticing Annie's demeanor and the book beside the girl, Anvis chuckled lightly, pretending not to know her little thoughts.
"Of course—Annie, bring our decks and the duel table."
Fiona's lake-blue eyes lit up as she liked Anvis's suggestion.
Secret Magic Card is a collectible card game with two main formats: turn-based and real-time.
In either format, the players aim to reduce their opponent's Life Value to zero by utilizing the effects of their cards.
Due to the presence of magic, the cards in this world can summon magic projections corresponding to the card images.
Secret Magic Card is a popular game among the nobles, and both Anvis and Fiona are naturally skilled at it. However, since they are of lower rank, they usually play the turn-based mode.
Usually, their win-loss ratio is about sixty to forty, but since it's Fiona's birthday today, Anvis decided to go easy on her.
......
A Magic Time later.
At this moment, Fiona activated the Secret Technique Card [Dragon's Covenant], sacrificing all the creatures on her field to summon the nine-life, ten-attack [Ice Giant Dragon Xinsis].
The chilling dragon descended with an illusory dragon roar, and a burst of extreme cold roar sent Anvis's only remaining [Undead Mage] to the graveyard, while also reducing his remaining ten Life Value to seven.
The girl proudly declared the end of her turn and planned to finish Anvis off in the next round.
Even though the Undead Mage summoned three [Skeleton Archers] upon death, their meager one life and one damage were almost useless against the giant dragon.
Moreover, when the Ice Giant Dragon appeared, it brought four frost kobolds with it, each with four life and five damage. Even a concentrated attack from the three Skeleton Archers wouldn't be enough to kill even one of the minor creatures.
The girl adorably held her small, pale pink cheeks, gradually sinking into some sort of fantasy.
If Anvis were to plead with the clever and cute Miss Fiona, "I surrender, please go easy on me," what should she do?
Even though the brother, lacking any gentlemanly grace, had won three games in a row! But the gentle and kind Fiona, being a proper lady, wouldn't hold a grudge—
It wouldn't be a problem to go easy for a round, right?
Yes, let's happily decide on that then~
Watching the girl who thought she had victory in hand and was lost in some fantasy, Anvis showed a slightly strange smile.
"Then, it's my turn now."
"Magic Card [Dimension Exile] activated, with the Super Magic Skill [Magic Extreme Effect], banishing the Cold Ice Dragon Xinsis to the void."
The Ice Giant Dragon's life was reduced to nine, and the exile time was shortened to one turn.
An illusory black hole appeared in mid-air, suddenly swallowing the majestic frosty dragon that was hovering over Fiona's field, leaving only an echoing dragon roar.
"Secret Technique Card [Deceiver] activated, freezing an opponent's unactivated Secret Technique Card for this turn."
A secret technique card on Anvis's field suddenly flipped over, and a phantom bronze chain bound the only remaining Secret Technique Card on Fiona's field, causing the girl to grind her teeth in secret.
"Magic Card [Death Cloud Technique] activated, inflicting five poison damage on all creatures on the opponent's field, with an extra suffocation check for races that need to breathe."
A yellow-green mist instantly enveloped Fiona's field, and a transparent protective shield flickered but failed to completely block the spreading deadly cloud.
The four icy kobolds that came into play with Xinsis were instantly poisoned. Although the magic shield reduced damage by 2, the kobolds, which had only four life, collectively died due to suffocation damage.
"Secret Technique Card [Balancing Scale] activated, exchanging five Life for five Mana."
A bronze balance projection appeared above Anvis's crystal rune, and the spell end tilted downwards.
The rune's sky-blue glow dimmed almost to extinction, leaving only a meager two points from the original seven Life.
"Magic Card [Corpse Explosion] activated, inflicting damage on the opponent's field equal to two-thirds of the maximum life of enemy corpses, multiplied by the number of corpses on the field."
The recently deceased four kobold corpses suddenly turned an eerie dark green, swelling and twisting before exploding violently in a burst of ghastly green light.
With no creatures left on the field, the terrifying damage was applied entirely to Fiona's crystal rune. The originally bright blue glow of the rune instantly dimmed to a precarious level.
But at that moment, Anvis noticed Fiona's tearful gaze, and his heart sank.
Oops, he forgot to hold back!
Except for the first game where he went easy, it seems he's been winning ever since...
'Brother is bullying me—'
Facing the silent accusation in the girl's eyes, Anvis couldn't help but break out in a slight sweat.
But it was too late now, as his casting turn ended, the three Skeleton Archers immediately drew their bows and fired.
The three small bone arrow projections instantly struck Fiona's rune.
The rune flashed brightly and then made a crisp cracking sound before finally dimming out completely.
As she watched her life-representing crystal rune shatter completely, the girl's eyes turned vacant.
The well-laid situation had been overturned in an instant. Fiona pouted, her lake-blue eyes looking aggrievedly at Anvis, and her light golden hair seemed less bright than usual.
Anvis quickly spoke up, trying to make up for it.
"Let's stop here for today."
The first words instantly elevated Fiona's resentment to a new level.
Win and run!?
But fortunately, Anvis's next actions allowed the petite girl to forget her displeasure over consecutive losses.
"I have a gift for you."
Meeting Fiona's eyes that sparkled with renewed joy, the pale-skinned noble boy smiled gracefully, and with a light flip of his slender right hand, an elegant gift box appeared out of thin air in his hand.
The box was pure white, square-shaped, with a pale blue gemstone embedded on the top lid, two simple golden lines running across the lid from both sides of the gemstone, and the entire box showed no traces of any seams.
Fiona gladly accepted the gift box, but after examining it, she didn't know how to open it, so her big watery eyes looked at Anvis in confusion.
The latter smiled, took hold of the girl's tender little hand, and gently tapped on the gemstone in the center of the lid.
"Fei, happy birthday—"
The gemstone emitted a soft blue glow, and mysterious and magical blue patterns spread across the entire box like sprouts and vines from a seed.
With a snap, a neat seam appeared on the seamlessly integrated box, and it opened like a flip-top box in Fiona's hands.
"Meow—"
The box was lined with a layer of silky cushion, and a fluffy little head popped out, meeting the young girl's expectant gaze.
It was an adorable kitten with a bluish-grey back and a snowy white belly. It mischievously clawed at the box's edge with its two fluffy white paws, its one blue and one green round eyes curiously gazing at her.
"Wow! So cute! Thank you, brother—"
"Meow~"
The little girl exclaimed in delight, cradling the fluffy cute kitten in her hands, her softly glowing, light golden hair mirroring the kitten's white belly.
The little fellow sniffed Fiona's tender fingers, gently licked them, and then mewed softly, settling in calmly as the girl held it.
"She's a four-month-old Kalksa short-haired cat. I've already gotten father's permission; he agrees to let you keep her in the castle."
As he watched the warm and beautiful scene before him, a gentle warmth filled Anvis's heart, and a sincere smile appeared on his face.
"You know, Fei, there's an ancient legend about them—"
Upon hearing that Anvis was about to tell a story, Fiona immediately perked up, scooting next to Anvis, her lake-blue eyes blinking excitedly, as both the girl and the cat stared at Anvis.
Even though she was old enough to be independent, the young girl still enjoyed listening to Anvis's stories.
"Legend has it that their true origin wasn't of this world! Rather, they arrived here from the endlessly distant starry sky, following in the footsteps of the Purple Moon."
Anvis gently patted the girl's head, and she closed her eyes comfortably, snuggling against his shoulder like a little cat.
"It's said that even today, on the dark side of Amis, there are still several mysterious kingdoms that belong only to the cats..."
......
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