Chapter 135: Kindhearted Rowan Forced into a False Confession

"Well then, how about we swap the terms of this deal? What do you say to the treasures left behind by the vampire clan?"

Sensing the punishing power of the Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Tail radiating from Rowan's wrist, Camula fell briefly silent before decisively changing the terms she was offering.

Her Shadow Charm, the Bat Amulet, clearly held no appeal whatsoever for this brat.

"Does the vampire clan's treasure amount to much?" Rowan asked, a flicker of interest crossing his face as he looked at Camula on the dark card in his hand.

Even though he was hardly short on money these days, having a bit more certainly wouldn't hurt.

"Of course there's plenty. Even though the vampire clan has been all but wiped out except for me, what's left of our fortune would still be more than enough to build several more mansions just like the one you're living in now."

Camula said with a satisfied smile. But before she could even finish gloating, everything suddenly went dark before her, as Rowan had already tucked the dark card sealing her away back into his pocket.

"W-wait...!"

Rowan flatly ignored the faint sound of Camula's protests drifting up from his pocket.

This so-called "vampire clan treasure" sounded a whole lot like a sparrow trying to peck through cowhide, all bluster and no substance.

And once Camula had actually gotten specific about it, all he could think was, that's it?

It wasn't even close to what good old upstanding Rowan already had lying around.

"Kuri kuri!"

Just then, the round Kuriboh tilted its head as if it had just thought of something, tugging at Rowan's sleeve with its tiny stubby hands and letting out a cry, offering up a suggestion of its own.

"Mm-hm, the round Kuriboh boss has a point there."

Ojama Yellow, hovering not far from the sofa, no bigger than the palm of a hand, nodded along in agreement with Rowan.

"Big brother really could use a maid to keep the place tidy."

"That's right, cleaning the bathroom every day, doing the laundry, that sort of thing."

"Or warming up the bed."

The big-tongued Ojama Green, and the big-nosed Ojama Black beside him, chimed in one after another with their own suggestions for Rowan.

But after the two cheeky little green and black men finished listing off their ideas, they suddenly seemed to realize something was off, put their heads together, and started muttering to each other.

"Wait, don't vampires supposedly have really low body temperature? If she's warming the bed, wouldn't that just make big brother's blankets colder instead?"

"Also, this island stays pretty warm all the time anyway, so that particular use wouldn't really come in handy at all."

"..." The corner of Rowan's mouth twitched, staring at the three cheeky Ojama brothers with an exasperated look on his face.

Still, between the round Kuriboh's suggestion and some of the more reasonable examples the three of them had thrown out, Rowan did find himself genuinely interested.

Having someone around to clean the bathroom, do the laundry, bring tea, that sort of thing every day did sound pretty appealing.

Rowan immediately pulled the dark card sealing Camula away back out again, and ran through the whole proposal with her once more.

Finally, he asked Camula, trying to tempt her, "So, how about it? If you agree to this, I'll let you come and go from the card normally, like the other Duel Spirits, and get out and about for some activities on a regular basis."

"Nani?! How dare you suggest that a noble vampire like myself become some kind of... mmph!"

Rowan promptly flipped the dark card face-down onto the sofa cushion mid-rant, leaving Camula to stare at the wall in silence, unable to make another sound.

Then he turned to the Ojama brothers and instructed them, "You three are in charge of working on this card, getting her to agree to the deal."

For the sake of his own comfortable, easygoing lifestyle, Rowan had already decided he was going to get this vampire woman Camula signed on as his maid, by hook or by crook.

"Understood!"

The three Ojama brothers immediately hovered eagerly by the sofa, thrilled to accept the mission.

"This is the first time big brother's ever trusted us with something this important! Green, Black, we've gotta pull this off properly!"

Ojama Yellow said, turning to his two older brothers.

"Oooh!!"

The cheeky little green and black men both threw their fists up in agreement at the same time.

Seeing the three Ojama brothers looking, for once, genuinely fired up about something, Rowan left the matter with them for the time being and set it aside.

Instead, he headed off with the round Kuriboh to grab breakfast at the Slifer Red dorm's dining hall next door.

Although the Slifer Red dining hall pretty much only ever served things like salted dried fish and curry mapo tofu day after day, since Rowan usually ate the far more luxurious boxed lunches prepared by Ms. Dorothy and her pretty niece over at the academy's convenience store, an occasional meal here still tasted plenty good by comparison.

When he got there, though, Rowan was more than a little confused to find that the squinty-eyed Professor Banner hadn't prepared any breakfast at all.

"Ehehehe, Rowan, I honestly didn't expect you'd actually show up for breakfast today."

Professor Banner said, scratching his head awkwardly with a nervous laugh.

Normally, the only ones who actually ate at the Slifer Red dining hall were Jaden and Atticus.

Rowan, along with Chazz, who'd just moved into the Slifer Red dorm two days ago and taken over the single room Rowan had vacated, both being the resident rich kids of the dorm, rarely ate there themselves.

This time, though, Jaden had taken some fairly serious injuries during his Shadow Duel with Camula the day before, and was recovering in the infirmary.

Naturally, Atticus and Chumley had both stayed behind to look after him, and hadn't made it back to the Slifer Red dorm at all.

Given the dorm's already tight food budget, Professor Banner had figured he could get away with skimping on breakfast for once, maybe even sneak off some of the savings to buy a bit of cat food for his beloved fat cat, Pharaoh.

He hadn't at all expected Rowan to actually show up for breakfast this time, catching him completely red-handed.

"Rowan, please, whatever you do, don't report me to the school!"

Squinty-eyed Professor Banner pressed his hands together at once, eyes brimming with tears, pleading with Rowan.

Then he offered up a proposal.

"To make up for it, how about this weekend I take you all out to explore the ruins behind this island, on the far side of the Duel Academy?"

"You and Jaden might just come away with some pretty impressive finds out there!"

-------------------------

Patreon Advance Chapters: patreon .com / ElvenKing20