Chapter 228

"As expected, no amount of Emotion Points lasts when you start spending..."

Rowan looked at the 2500 Emotion Points he had left and shook his head inwardly with a sigh.

Poor again...!

Materializing the round Kuriboh and Ishizu, the Gravekeeper's Assailant, had cost him nearly 4000 Emotion Points all on its own. And that was with Ishizu already being half-materialized, which had saved him a bit. Otherwise, with her original Level 4 status plus the Level 1 round Kuriboh, the cost would have come to 5000 in total!

Add the Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Wing and the newly redeemed Underworld deck, the D.D. Dynamite Deck, and his Emotion Points had once again dropped to just 2500.

So Rowan promptly resolved to fleece a lot more wool off the people Vice Chancellor Bonaparte would send his way once he started stirring up trouble, and off Bonaparte himself.

...

Meanwhile, in the Chancellor's office, the short, round Vice Chancellor, who had been arguing with Professor Crowler, suddenly shuddered all over. He felt a strange chill creep up his back, as if something terrible were about to happen.

"In short, I firmly oppose the proposal to abolish Slifer Red."

Professor Crowler was hunched over the Chancellor's desk, his quill scratching away as he worked through the mountain of paperwork bald Chancellor Sheppard had left behind, and he argued back without looking up.

"Acting Chancellor Crowler, you call the Slifer Red students slackers yourself, 'Slifer Slackers'! And keeping a dorm with only a handful of students has no point to begin with, oui!"

The comically dressed Bonaparte stood on the chair across the desk on his short legs, hands braced on the tabletop, pressing his case.

"But of the five Slifer Red students who remain, more than half are extremely powerful. Even Obelisk Blue students are no match for them."

Crowler finished signing one document, tossed it aside, and went straight on to the next, his hand moving so fast it nearly left afterimages.

"And by the way, the word 'acting' in 'Acting Chancellor Crowler' is unnecessary!"

"Slifer Red is nothing but a barrel of rotten oranges. It simply doesn't fit Duel Academy's elite system."

Bonaparte sat back down on the chair, propped his fat cheek on his short hand, and smiled slyly, looking thoroughly ridiculous.

"But since you say Slifer Red is so strong, Acting Chancellor Crowler, why don't we make a bet? Let's see which of us is right!"

"How do we bet, Mamma mia!"

The blond, mushroom-headed professor stopped scratching away at his paperwork. Sparks seemed to fly from his eyes as he locked stares with the short, round Vice Chancellor.

"The bet is very simple. In the month or so before the new students are admitted, I will pick elites I judge to be strong, and find ways to have them duel the Slifer Red slackers," Bonaparte said, eyes blazing at Crowler just the same.

Neither of them would give an inch. Whenever one spoke, his head pushed visibly closer to the other's, forcing him to lean back a little.

"If the Slifer Red slackers beat most of the elites, then I will admit that you were right, Acting Chancellor Crowler. Slifer Red really does have powerful elites, and the dorm really does have a reason to exist."

"But if they lose...!"

Before Bonaparte could finish, Professor Crowler took up the thread. "If those Slifer Slackers all lose, then I will no longer stand in the way of your proposal to abolish Slifer Red!"

"Then it's settled, oui!"

Once more, the short, round Vice Chancellor and the mushroom-headed professor glared nose to nose, sparks leaping between them out of thin air.

...

Not long after, on the tennis courts of Duel Academy, Rowan, dressed in an Academy track jacket and holding a tennis racket, was getting ready for a doubles match against Alexis and her sidekick bestie Jasmine. And his partner was none other than the fully recovered, silly future brother-in-law, Atticus Rhodes!

"So why exactly am I paired with you, Senior Rhodes...?" Rowan said, a little speechless.

His partner was supposed to have been Alexis, with the opposing side being her two sidekick besties. But then that silly future brother-in-law had barged in and proposed to partner with him himself. Now it had turned into the same situation as on the other court, where Jaden, that hot-blooded idiot, and Chazz, that goofball, were two guys playing as a team.

"Ahaha, getting to know my brother-in-law once in a while is a big brother's duty, isn't it!" Atticus scratched his head and laughed heartily.

The same thick-skinned, goofy streak as Chazz was already beginning to show...

"Brother! Don't call him strange things like that!"

At those words, Alexis, across the net, flushed red, clenched her fist in irritation, and her eyes suddenly turned "friendly" in a distinctly menacing way!