Chapter 186: Accountability After the Fact?

The Duel ended, and the MC excitedly recited his lines, while Judai, slightly drained, shook his head before waving continuously at the camera.

With the third Duel concluded, today's Duels were also finished; tomorrow would feature the "Tag Duel" arranged purely for entertainment.

In fact, Dimension S had not originally considered the option of Tag Duels; initially, they planned for eight contestants to Duel one by one, with the final victor facing their "King."

However, upon hearing from Security Director Goodwin that traveling in pairs was the safest mode during dimensional journeys, and that Tag Duels were challenges most spirits would readily accept, they proceeded to make arrangements accordingly.

Nevertheless, since conventional Duels were already unpopular in this world, and Tag Duelists were even rarer, they simply designated this event as an "entertainment item," scheduling it as a performance match after several other Duels.

Long after the Duel ended, the Duelist named Zhang Liao had not awakened; staff from Dimension S and police officers whispered among themselves, convinced he had been knocked unconscious by the fight, calling Judai a Duelist with supernatural powers and muttering that people from other dimensions were indeed dangerous.

Seto Kaiba had no interest in such boring commentary.

He had long known that Yuki Judai had once earned Yugi's admiration and been gifted a Kuriboh Wing, nor did he care about such matters.

Wasn't it just being knocked unconscious? What kind of major event was that?

At most, it was a mental shock; he had experienced it himself, and it was nothing special.

After all, since the tournament was held in the name of "friendship," following this Duel, the two worlds resumed exchanges in other areas; although their world still could not perform Synchro Summoning to this day, Tuner monsters were quite popular there.

On the other hand, the two worlds also frequently exchanged various other technological advancements.

Even Dr. Fudo, who participated in this exchange, proposed a possibility: that Dimension S was not a "parallel world" but rather "a certain possibility" of their world's future, a conjecture that Kaiba immediately scoffed at.

Impossible, absolutely impossible; he had never heard of Kaiba Corporation in this world, so how could this be their world's future?

Yet, Dr. Fudo and that boy named Fudo Yusei did indeed look very much alike.

However, considering that among the contestants there were indeed individuals who resembled people from their own world, perhaps this was simply how parallel worlds worked.

Therefore, there was only one answer—Dr. Fudo must be the parallel world counterpart of Fudo Yusei!

If Tenjou Hikari had heard such an answer, he would have undoubtedly exclaimed in shock.

Since when does a biological father resemble his son?

On the other side, the Elder who had originally been dissatisfied with Goodwin's arrangements, who had meddled with Goodwin's various choices, and who had even assigned a recently prominent "Security Bureau Genius Officer" to the team, felt no shame but instead began to reproach Goodwin.

"Director Goodwin, it was never stated before that people from another dimension would use Duel damage to harm others."

"I believe this is quite normal; after all, our world also has psychokinetic Duelists and 【Witches】, so such incidents should not be uncommon in parallel worlds," Goodwin replied without surprise.

Wasn't it just knocking someone unconscious?

He could even kill people; what did this amount to?

Duels were like that; he could understand that a group of people who only watched but never fought wouldn't comprehend, so he had always been very tolerant of the Council in this regard.

"Moreover, it was that officer who first opened his mouth to provoke his opponent, was defeated by the opponent's powerful Duel, and then fell into a coma unable to bear the pain, which is not impossible," he continued to speculate.

Based on his understanding of Duels, especially Shadow Duels, he could assert that Yuki Judai absolutely had no intention of playing dirty; otherwise, this Zhang Liao would not have merely fallen into a coma.

"Director Goodwin, we are asking you why you failed to make preparations in advance?" a female Elder interrupted, skipping Goodwin's explanation to ask on her own, "That 【Witch】 also attacks everyone indiscriminately; why did you fail to prepare, allowing an excellent young person to fall into a coma because of this?"

An excellent young person?

A warm smile hung on Goodwin's face.

The closer this time approached, the more tolerant he became toward the Council.

After all... hehe...

As for the term "genius," that was also laughable.

To put it plainly, wasn't it just that upon seeing "King" Jack Atlas growing increasingly popular among Duelists and citizens, they wanted to use Jack Atlas's methods to cultivate a "star" of their own?

Incidentally, they could also arrange more of their own people within the Security Bureau to monitor him, a man whose voice was becoming louder and louder.

But—

There was an essential difference between the two!

Zhang Liao, in the end, was merely a noble from the Top Sector, an actor arranged for the sake of reputation who wielded powerful rare cards and powerful Synchro Monsters.

Jack Atlas was different; although there were Duelists in his matches whom he had arranged to lose intentionally, Jack himself upheld the beliefs of a Duelist, and even if he was not as strong on the surface as he appeared now, he possessed a fiery Duelist's heart.

He was certainly not comparable to some brat who, relying on his background and a powerful Deck due to his older age, pointed fingers at younger people.

However, since they had already acted this way, what could he say?

He could only comply with them.

After all, one should show extra care to those who are about to die.

"I understand; my consideration was lacking this time," Goodwin said, placing one hand over his chest and bowing slightly; his clothing bore a strange pattern, resembling a peculiar ground drawing from some region, seemingly depicting a flying bird.

"People from another dimension are too dangerous," the Director spoke up. "We cannot let our guard down against them. Goodwin, this failure is yours. We will consider your punishment later."

He was an old master at shifting blame the moment he opened his mouth, yet the smile on Goodwin's face did not diminish in the slightest.

"That's right, don't forget, there are still Riding Duels centered around the Satellite Sector to come; if proper arrangements aren't made by then, those people from another dimension might launch an assault on our great 【City】, so preparations cannot be neglected," another Elder added.

"In that case... I will arrange for more personnel to handle protection."

"The Top Sector can dispatch more police; those guys from the Satellite Sector won't be able to stir up any waves."

"Yes. I understand."

Goodwin responded softly.

This was also one of the reasons the Council liked Goodwin: he was gentle and warm, compliant with every order, maintained a good image suitable for representing the Council externally, and was very adept at "taking the blame" for his leaders, making him a perfect subordinate.

Goodwin simply clasped his hands behind his back again, smiled as he ended the video call, and then proceeded to arrange matters for his subordinates.

Since you are so impatient, do not blame me later, honorable Elders.

Chapter One: On this day off, I slept soundly to my heart's content; after lunch and a bit of activity, I took a hearty afternoon nap, sleeping until evening. After washing my face and eating dinner, I felt my mental state had improved considerably.

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(End of Chapter)