Chapter 203: Rowan's Slick Little Trick

“I will use the two hostages sealed inside this Shadow Charm, the Emerald Tablet, as the terms of an exchange for the Spirit Key in your hand. What do you say?”

As he spoke, Banner raised the Shadow Charm book in his hand and made his proposal to Rowan.

“Trade for the Spirit Key?!”

Alexis, Nurse Fontaine, Jaden, and the others were all stunned by the offer.

“But doesn’t a Spirit Key have to be used in a Shadow Duel against its holder before it can break the seal on the Sacred Beasts?”

Alexis asked, completely bewildered.

“No. To be precise, the key needs to absorb the power of a Shadow Duel fought by someone that the presence sealed behind the Seven Stars Gate acknowledges.”

Rowan shook his head. He had already worked out what the squinty-eyed professor was planning, and he explained it aloud.

“And Professor Banner was one of the candidates Chancellor Sheppard once considered. That means he qualifies too.”

“That can’t be…!”

Jaden, Alexis, and the others showed a flicker of realization, along with plain shock. It seemed they had finally caught on as well!

“Exactly. All I need is to take this last Spirit Key, pick a target, and fight a Shadow Duel, letting it absorb enough Shadow Duel power. That is enough to satisfy the condition for breaking the seal.”

Banner nodded firmly, confirming Rowan’s explanation.

“Even if I lose that Shadow Duel in the end, so long as I do not wager this last key and stake only the life of my own body, nothing changes!”

“Among these two hostages are Alexis’s older brother and one of your companions. I believe you would be willing to make the exchange, Rowan.”

Banner’s expression had grown unusually grave as he put the question to Rowan.

Even his squinting eyes had opened a little wider, revealing red pupils that were slightly different from an ordinary person’s.

“Rowan…”

Alexis and the others looked at him with complicated expressions.

For a moment, none of them knew whether they should be urging Rowan to refuse, or urging him to accept.

On one side was the seal on the Sacred Beasts, which meant a crisis for the entire world of Duel Monsters.

On the other were two hostages!

For Alexis in particular, one of them was her own brother, sealed inside that Shadow Charm book in her place.

“No. Unless one more condition is added, in which case I might, reluctantly, consider it!”

Under the gazes of Banner, Alexis, and the rest, Rowan rubbed his chin as though giving it some thought.

Then he came out with an answer nobody had seen coming, an utterly outrageous one.

“Say, an extra twenty million as the purchase price for the Spirit Key!”

“An extra twenty million?!”

In an instant, Alexis, Nurse Fontaine, Jaden, and the others all wore blank, baffled looks.

They were floored by this shameless move of Rowan’s.

“???” Banner wore the same dumbfounded face.

He had never dreamed Rowan would pull something like this.

It made him want to ask one thing in exasperation.

Which one of us is extorting the other here?

Weren’t the hostages supposed to be in his hands?

How had it turned into him having to hand over an extra twenty million?!

“Agree to it, Banner. I will transfer the money to that boy at once.”

Just then, an old, muffled voice suddenly rang out from the Emerald Tablet, speaking to Banner.

“That voice is…?!”

Alexis and the others stirred, staring in surprise at the book in Banner’s hand.

Only Rowan guessed who it was in an instant.

“The chairman of Duel Academy, the one behind the Seven Stars dark faction, huh.”

In truth, if the other side had refused, he had another way to get around the hostage exchange.

He could use the Red Dragon’s punishment, the power of the Mark of the Crimson Dragon, the Dragon’s Tail he had obtained, and force this squinty-eyed professor into a Shadow Duel.

It would not matter in the slightest whether Banner agreed to it or not.

But Rowan knew that Professor Banner was not really a bad person.

Above all… this was the perfect excuse to fleece the mastermind behind the Seven Stars dark faction.

And he would not have to worry about going too far and feeling a little guilty toward Chancellor Sheppard, bald head and all…

So naturally, Rowan had no objection to going along with it now!

Beep, beep, beep.

In barely the blink of an eye, Rowan felt his Duel Academy PDA vibrate.

A notification told him that funds had been transferred into his account.

“That’s quite efficient…”

Rowan muttered after glancing at his PDA.

Then he watched as the squinty-eyed professor, just as quickly, released the two unconscious hostages, Atticus Rhodes and that goofball Chazz, from the Shadow Charm book.

Rowan casually tossed the Spirit Key over to him without hesitation.

“As expected of you, Rowan.”

After catching the Spirit Key, Banner gave Rowan a slightly surprised look, and soon a faint smile appeared on his face.

In Rowan’s decisive move, he had seen a strong confidence.

It seemed there were some things he no longer needed to say aloud.

Rowan had probably already worked something out!

“Then, Jaden, come and face me in a Shadow Duel! If you win, I will tell all of you everything I know!”

Banner turned to Jaden, who was busy helping Chazz to his feet.

“Nope. Professor Banner, my gut tells me Rowan already kind of knows what’s going on, so there’s no need to duel you. We can just ask him, right?”

Jaden rubbed his nose in his classic gesture and grinned.

“No, why are you getting smart at a time like this…!”

Banner’s face twisted in distress, and he swallowed every word he had been about to say!

Even Rowan was shocked as he looked at that hot-blooded idiot, Jaden.

A card fiend turning down a duel?!

Was this the collapse of morality, or the distortion of human nature?