Despite that, Roland showed no sign of irritation at Yuui's blunt tone. As a member of the highest nobility, his upbringing and family discipline had trained him to face anyone and anything with calm composure.
"Since Miss Alicia is so eager, let's move on to the second matter."
Leaning slightly forward, fingers interlaced beneath his chin, Roland's eyes glimmered faintly as he spoke slowly: "We wish to make an exchange with you, Miss Alicia. What we want... is a Spirit. The Spirit's name is—"
"Don't even think about it. Not happening."
"Elemental HERO Neos."
"Hmm?"
Yuui froze the moment he heard "Neos."
Roland, on the other hand, was puzzled by Alicia's (Yuui's) reaction. He could understand the initial refusal, but why did she look confused when he mentioned Neos by name?
Meanwhile, within Alicia's mind—
Alicia: "Yuui-san, weren't they after you? Why do they want Neos?"
Yuui: "Probably because Neos and I formed our contract under unusual circumstances, and I've never revealed myself to anyone else. So they must've mistaken Neos for the Spirit they sensed that day—the one tied to the Three Sacred Beasts."
Alicia: "Ah, that makes sense. So what do we do now?"
Yuui: "What else? Stick to the plan. Neos is our companion. There's no way we're giving him up."
Neos: "Thumbs up for Master! (¯▽¯)/!"
After that brief mental exchange, Yuui's gaze returned to Roland.
"Neos is out of the question. Every one of my Spirits is my family—my most precious partner. To me, they aren't possessions to be traded for money. So you can give up on that idea."
Roland didn't seem surprised by the rejection. He merely replied evenly, "If you agree to join us and hand over Neos, we'll complete the entire Elemental HERO set for you. In addition, we'll help you collect cards from the Destiny HERO, Vision HERO, and Masked HERO series. As for Spirits, we can help you obtain those as well."
"I'll say it again. I won't hand Neos over, and I'm not joining you." Yuui's answer came at once. "It's simple; I don't agree with your faction's ideals. I'm just an ordinary person, not some noble of exalted blood and lineage. Even if I did join, I doubt I'd be treated as an equal."
"We can grant you a noble title and a surname," Roland replied effortlessly, dropping a bombshell.
Yuui's eyes narrowed, while Alicia stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
In the Bredt Kingdom, obtaining a noble title was incredibly difficult. Even the lowest rank—Baron—was something commoners could scarcely dream of.
Titles had to be conferred directly by the king, for each one came with vast lands and subjects—a fortune beyond imagination. Only those who rendered great service to the kingdom could ever hope to receive such an honor.
That's why, in the past fifty years, only a handful of individuals had been newly ennobled—among them the newly appointed Great Sage Sandrillon and a few scholars who developed new technologies for the realm.
As for surnames, those could only be granted in times of war to those who defended the nation—a mark of citizenship and honor. One could, of course, invent a surname, but if discovered that one's Identity Card didn't bear it, the punishment was death.
(*Identity Card: a form of magical identification that displays personal data when infused with mana.)
This was why every citizen of the Bredt Kingdom took such pride in their surnames; in addition to being a proof of citizenship, it was also a symbol of their ancestors' glory.
So when Roland said he could grant Alicia both a title and a surname, even Yuui was stunned by the power the Prince's Faction wielded—and Alicia nearly faltered.
Even so, in the end, Yuui said firmly, "Tempting offer. Still, I refuse."
A shadow passed over Roland's elegant features, but his tone remained calm. "Why?"
"Because it's not equal."
"Not equal?"
"That's right," Yuui said in a low voice. "I told you, I'm just an ordinary person. What you really want is my Neos.
"As for my talent or strength, I doubt you value either.
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have sent Emily to recruit me once and then dropped the matter entirely. So I can guess what this offer really means—that your promise of a title and name will only be fulfilled after your Prince becomes king. Trading away my partner for the sake of some distant, uncertain future? Not happening.
"Besides, if I had to choose a side, I'd rather join the Princess's Faction. At least they play fair."
At the mention of the Princess's Faction, the darkness on Roland's face deepened. His features—once divine in their refinement—now seemed as though they had fallen from heaven into the abyss. That face alone could make lesser people fall to their knees and beg forgiveness.
However, to Yuui, that level of pressure wasn't even worth washing his face with.
"I'll ask once more," Roland said coldly. "Are you truly rejecting our invitation?"
"Invitation? You sure it's not blackmail?"
"In that case," Roland snapped, standing abruptly, "we'll settle this with a Duel! I'll show you, in the noble way, exactly what it means to reject us!"
The pride of his heritage finally shone through. As the son of a duke, had it not been for the shadow of Archmagus Aleister behind Alicia, he never would have deigned to sit at the same table as someone without title or name.
He thought he had already given Alicia more respect than she deserved—yet she (Yuui) still refused him.
That was not merely a personal slight. It was an insult to the entire Prince's Faction.
And so, Roland would make her (Yuui) understand what it meant to defy them.
"Took you long enough to get to the point." Yuui stood as well, unfolding his Duel Disk and inserting a freshly prepared Deck.
"Now, let's see just how strong the Duke's son really is."
...
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