Wanna Duel? I've Got the Pharaoh's Deck! [9]

“Food” and “shelter.”

Expanded a little, that meant: What am I eating tonight? and Where am I sleeping?

Yuuhi wasn’t sure how many transmigrators before him had faced this issue, but for him, those two were the first major obstacles to survival.

Because he hadn’t soul-traveled into someone else’s life—he’d come here physically.

He had no family in this world, no friends, no identity. A complete ghost on paper.

And most importantly: no money.

No money meant no meals, no place to sleep.

They said a person could survive seven days without food—but with Yuuhi’s current condition, he figured he’d be a corpse in an alley by day three.

So after getting his very first Duel Disk, his immediate and urgent goal wasn’t to research how to activate his “cheat,” but to find a way to make money. Fast.

Unfortunately, fate had yet to drop one of those “NPC Wallets” into his path—the kind, helpful rich guys that webnovel transmigrators always ran into. It was starting to look like that shortcut wasn’t happening.

Sure, he could go try “righteous intervention” somewhere, maybe earn a reward by stopping some thug—but to be honest, everyone on the street looked kind of like a delinquent. He couldn’t tell who was supposed to be the bad guy.

And if he accidentally escalated something and got the local cops involved? That could get ugly fast.

…Wait. If he did get arrested, wouldn’t that solve both the food and shelter problem?

“…No, no, no. That’s not gonna work.”

Yuuhi shook his head hard, chasing away the darkly tempting idea. That kind of route was for when he truly had no other options.

Which meant—

“Looks like I’m gonna have to go the proper way.”

He slapped his cheeks with both hands—just hard enough to snap himself out of those pointless thoughts.

Then, with resolve setting into his eyes, he looked toward the line of shops nearby.

...

“About 200 credits... That should last me for a little while.”

The sun had long since dipped behind the horizon, and one by one, the streetlamps flicked on—replacing the last rays of twilight with warm golden light.

As he walked past strangers under the shifting glow of their shadows, Yuuhi counted the bills in his hand with a small look of relief.

It was the result of his few hours of “legit grinding”—good old part-time work.

Because of his background, Yuuhi had often worked odd jobs back in his original world. Once he ruled out all the unrealistic ideas, it was the first method that had come to mind.

Legal, fast-paying, and theoretically the most stable choice.

As long as he could find a short-term gig that paid daily, required no ID, and didn’t involve heavy labor or criminal background checks, he could get through the first few days—and buy time to get his bearings.

This was, after all, his first day here. His stamina and energy were still intact. He had the best odds of passing any kind of informal “interview.”

Of course, if he could also find a job that included food and lodging, that would be even better.

…But he wasn’t delusional enough to expect that much.

Luckily, with some experience and a bit of luck, he’d gone door to door, asked around a dozen places, and eventually found a job that (barely) met his needs. He’d even been paid on the spot.

Thanks to that, Yuuhi had also gained a rough understanding of this world’s currency. The “Alliance Credits” had about the same purchasing power as RMB, back in his original world. So for now, he wasn’t at risk of starving to death.

Good news. Genuinely.

“…But man. This world really is duel-brained. Even the currency uses Duel Monsters art.”

He turned the bill over in his hand again. Everyone here called them Alliance Credits, but to Yuuhi they still looked way too much like fake money.

And this one in particular…

“Why is the character on it [Witchcrafter Madame Verre]? Is that creepy girl really that popular here?”

He didn’t get it.

In fact, there were a lot of things Yuuhi didn’t get.

Information had been coming at him nonstop all day—it was already hard enough just to process it all.

“…Alright. I’ll save the info-dump investigation for tomorrow.”

After everything that had happened, Yuuhi was exhausted and starving. He didn’t have the energy to worry about anything else. Right now, there was only one thing on his mind: feed self.

He looked around, crossed at the light with the crowd, and headed into a nearby supermarket—one with a storefront sign featuring [Madolche Puddingcess] as its mascot.

The shelves were packed with everything you’d expect. Yuuhi only gave them a passing glance before brushing off the temptation and heading straight for his target.

He didn’t need much. Just a couple bottles of water and some bread—enough to get him through tonight and tomorrow morning. Once that was done, the next step was to figure out where to sleep.

On that front, he already had a bit of a plan.

He’d borrow the wisdom of the noble vagabonds who came before him: find a decent public park, a sheltered underpass, or maybe an abandoned building, and hole up for a few nights.

Assuming someone else hadn’t already claimed it, of course.

On that note, he might also need a detailed map of this city—“Akebono,” was it?

Hm…?

Just as he left the store, groceries in hand, Yuuhi noticed something strange.

A cool, wet sensation brushed his nose, then his cheeks and hair. He looked down—his clothes were already flecked with damp spots. He looked up.

The night sky was pitch-black—no stars. Only a fine mist of raindrops, falling faster with each second.

“No way… it’s raining?”

Yuuhi hurried back under the store’s front awning, just in time to watch the light drizzle become a proper downpour—definitely past the point of calling it “just a little rain.”

And that meant: he wasn’t going anywhere for a while. So much for his plan.

Of course. Just my luck. The second I start getting things together, it pours.

“What do I do? Wait it out?”

Or should he just go back in and buy an umbrella? But man, he really didn’t want to spend extra right now…

“Yuuhi-kun?”

He’d been so wrapped up in his internal dilemma that he hadn’t even registered the voice at first.

It wasn’t until the second time—clear, sweet, and just slightly surprised—that he finally heard it.

“Huh?”

He turned his head toward the source of the voice—

“…Miss Mai?”

Standing not far from him, under the same awning, was the very same golden-haired girl he’d faced earlier that day.

Hoshino Mai.

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This is a fan translation of 打牌吗？ 我王样卡组！by 夏日戏言 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!