Because it was an Extra Deck monster card that was very common in the outside world and I had seen it many times, I was certain that I couldn't be mistaken. What appeared before my eyes was indeed that "Marauding Captain."
Or rather, it was that monster, but the image was slightly different.
Although it still wore the armor from the card artwork, it wasn't holding a sword. Outside the armor, it wore a white apron, and on its head was a chef's hat. The appearance was somewhat amusing.
So, the captain, besides rushing into battle, was actually a number one hidden chef. My expression was a bit strange, vaguely feeling like I had seen this appearance in some card artwork.
"."
"I've arranged for someone to look for the comrade you mentioned."
Following the captain into an area that looked like a warrior encampment, he enthusiastically invited me to sit down and brought me a bowl of hot soup.
"Come, try this." The captain said with a hearty laugh, "I usually do a little research into the art of cooking, and I'm quite confident in my skills.
This is a new dish I developed today. Everyone who's tried it has praised it unanimously."
A passing soldier muttered softly, "Because anyone who didn't praise it is currently lying down and can't talk."
The captain turned around with a cold face, and the soldier quickly ran away.
Yugen: "."
Now I remembered, there was such a card, called "Marmiting Captain," and the artwork depicted the captain cooking in the camp.
Theoretically, according to the time in the outside world, it should still be past midnight, and after all this trouble, I was a bit hungry. But whether spirit food was compatible with humans hadn't been proven, so out of caution, I still declined.
"We've gathered all the nearby spirits with combat abilities to fight, but those subordinates of the Evil God are too strong. Our forces have repeatedly retreated with heavy losses.
If the hero hadn't arrived just in time."
He turned around solemnly: "I need to express my gratitude on behalf of the comrades who were rescued and everyone in this camp."
"No need, I just happened to be passing by. And I don't intend to stay long," Yugen said truthfully, "If you're hoping that we can stay and help you fight the enemy, you might be disappointed."
"It's alright, we understand. The Evil God's main body is in the Duelist world. If the main body isn't dealt with, even if we defeat one King of the Skull Servants, it will only support a new great agent to come forth."
The captain's expression suddenly turned serious as he said this.
"But what I want to say next is..."
He stood up and walked to a sealed box on the side of the camp, solemnly and carefully unlocking it.
Looking at the posture, it seemed like he was about to unveil the "best sword in the village." However, when he opened the box and took out the item sealed inside, placing it on his hand, it turned out to be a strange duel disk.
The whole thing was shaped like a sword, inserted into a heavy scabbard. Normally, if carried on the back, it would probably look like a greatsword.
I couldn't help but imagine a swordsman wandering the world, encountering injustice and letting out a roar, then with a whoosh drawing his sword from behind, only for it to be a duel disk, inserting a deck and dueling the opponent to the death.
Well, maybe that's just how things are in the spirit world.
"I heard them say that the hero easily defeated that King of the Skull Servants and possesses rare and powerful strength."
The captain knelt on one knee, his expression sincere.
"Please, teach me the secret to dueling!"
"Because I am too weak, too incompetent, so many comrades have fallen, so many comrades have left me. I don't want things to continue like this."
"I want to obtain the strength to protect everyone, to protect our ending!"
Coach, I want to learn how to duel!
Yugen: "."
He pondered for a moment and said, "Well, it's true that I defeated the King of the Skull Servants. But my dueling methods might be a bit different from yours."
Duelists from the outside world in the anime world were already pure enough, but from what I've observed, spirit dueling seemed even purer.
I had thought before that if the deck was theoretically an extension of the spirit's being, wouldn't that make the bond incredibly strong, and shouldn't the spirits draw stronger cards than duelists?
But the reality seemed to be that those at the very pinnacle of the way of cards were all duelists. And spirits, rather than going into battle themselves, could unleash their power even more when serving as warriors under powerful duelists.
Actually, if the level of spirit draws wasn't up to par, I felt like I really did have some quick methods to teach how to duel. But at this moment, I was thinking whether these methods were a kind of heresy to pure spirits.
As it turned out, the captain seemed to have misunderstood his meaning.
He probably understood it as "strength comes at a cost"—which was often indeed the case. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, extremely powerful cards required strong souls to control, and some cards that could grant duelists fates far beyond the ordinary often had very strong side effects.
A look of determination appeared on the captain's face, followed by him gritting his teeth and saying, "No matter what my body and mind become, it doesn't matter!
As long as I can obtain the strength to protect everyone, even if it means selling my soul to the devil—no, even if I have to transform into the devil myself, I won't hesitate!"
Yugen: "No, that's not what I meant."
He pondered, then stood up.
"Forget it, I'm waiting anyway. If you really think so, then let's have a duel directly, I'll show you."
Before, I had thought that dueling in the Spirit World must be a matter of life and death, but later I was told that it wasn't necessarily so. Duels between spirits could end in death or just stop at a point, and it wasn't always necessary to go all out.
I figured that was also the case. If every duel resulted in death, then the first lesson spirits learned in dueling wouldn't be how to duel, but how to deal with their master first.
So a moment later, the two of them went outside the camp, each standing firm and unfolding their duel disks. The nearby spirits, hearing that the captain was going to duel the hero from another world, hurriedly crowded around to watch.
Good, today I get to duel the captain who cut into the enemy lines himself.
Yugen: "Spell Card 'The Forceful Sentry', look at the opponent's hand and choose one card to return to the deck."
"."
Yugen: "Trap Card 'Raigeki Break', discard one card from my hand and destroy the first card you control on your field."
"."
Yugen: "Activate the effect of 'Puppet Plant' in my hand. By discarding this card from my hand, choose one Warrior-Type monster your opponent controls and gain control of it. I want to gain control of the second card you control on your field."
"."
Yugen: "'Marauding Captain', direct attack on 'Marauding Captain'!"
The "Marauding Captain" that had been stolen to my side flew up without any hesitation. A sword light flashed, and it slashed down in one go.
It was just that, for better or worse, I finally let him hold back. The sword only brushed against the original's shoulder, making a show of the slash. The blade clanged as it hit the floor, sparking dazzlingly.
[ Marauding Captain, LP 0 ]
The captain, who had almost been killed by his own sword, looked up at the sky.
He began to wonder why spirits still existed, and why they would be idle enough to want to duel a hero even more evil than the Evil God.