<h4>Chapter 157: Refusal</h4>


    Trantor: imperfectluck Editor: vb24


    Okubo felt that this was a strange question.


    Shika Kagura was the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ and his temporarily hired retainer.


    He had wanted to utilize her special ability to destroy his enemy’s spell formation, but he failed and wasted his time.


    Not only did he waste his time, money, and effort, he even suffered for it—he had to undergo some ufortable things in order to mitigate the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ on himself.


    His plot failed, and his self-confidence had turned into humiliation… As for that temporary retainer, she was worthless.


    No, she was worse than worthless—she was a piece of garbage! He never wanted to see her again.


    Why was Seiji Haruta asking about this worthless piece of garbage?


    Okubo mulled it over.


    "Haruta-kun, are you worried that you’ll end up just like Shika Kagura if you listen to my orders? You don’t need to worry at all. As long as you help me, we’ll definitely defeat Natsuya Yoruhana, and I’ll keep my promise to you."


    Actually, he wouldn’t.


    After making use of him, Seiji would be worthless. He didn’t care about Seiji at all.


    But right now, it was necessary for Okubo to act sincerely.


    "That wasn’t what I asked," the voice on the phone replied. "I asked what you thought of her—please answer me directly."


    Okubo felt confused again.


    Why did Seiji care so much about that piece of trash?


    Oh, right, Shika Kagura was rather beautiful; perhaps…


    What an idiot.


    Falling in love with the ‘Reaper’s Curse’ was foolish to the extreme! While Okubo admitted that Shika was extremely beautiful, anyone that got close to her would have misfortune befall them, and falling in love with her was akin to suicide.


    Okubo felt even more condescension towards the scum he viewed as Seiji Haruta.


    For scum to fall in love with garbage… Hmph, it was truly a perfect pairing. He mentallyughed at them.


    Of course, he knew that he couldn’t express this out loud.


    "Haruta-kun, could it be that you like Shika Kagura? She’s quite beautiful, but I don’t really rmend trying anything with her; you should consider your options more clearly. As for me… I only treated her as how a contractor should, and I have zero interest in her. I’ve never even touched her."


    ‘I’m an intelligent person who knows how to protect himself. I’d never do anything so suicidal like touch the ‘Reaper’s Curse,’ unlike an incredible fool like you.’


    "You never worried about her or wanted to save her after she was injured and captured, is that right?" Seiji continued asking.


    Okubo was now feeling impatient.


    Enough with the idiotic questions!


    "Why do I need to worry about her!? She was just a temporary hireling, a mercenary! It didn’t matter even if she were injured, captured, or killed! I merely hired her to work for me and paid her as she requested—that’s all!"


    That girl was nothing more than a tool to him.


    Okubo expressed his sentiments clearly.


    If the scum wanted the garbage, then he was free to take it! Okubo didn’t care at all.


    "I understand now," Seiji said politely. "Thank you for your honesty."


    "Haruta-kun, you…"


    "Yoshiaki-san, I shall reply now after hearing so much from you." Seiji raised his phone and stated his next sentence as clearly as he possibly could. "About your request for me… I’m sorry, but I refuse."


    Refuse… Okubo was surprised at hearing this word.


    But before he had any time to think, Seiji continued speaking.


    "I wanted to hear about it from you personally, but after hearing you confirm everything for me, Yoshiaki-san… no, Okubo Yoshiaki.


    "You… are aplete bastard."


    His calm yet forceful words felt like a hammer smashing against Okubo’s chest.


    "No matter how many promises a bastard like you makes, it’s nothing more than hot airing out of your ass, because people like you aren’t worthy of my trust."


    "A bastard like you was actually considered a ‘divine child’ in the past? Or maybe it’s exactly because you used to be a ‘divine child’. Either way, you’ve fallen to the bottom of the abyss, Okubo Yoshiaki."


    "I’m not only talking about your personality, I’m also talking about your real-life situation… My guess is that you’re currently at the state of being forced to the brink."


    Brink… Okubo received a huge impact from this!


    He felt as if he had been seen through.


    That was because there were indeed almost no other options left to him!


    Natsuya had sent him a formal duel request, which he had thought he could deal with easily. But in actuality, everything happened differently from what he expected.


    It was like he had been forced to run in circles from start to finish, and no matter how he resisted, counterattacked, and struggled, Natsuya was able to counter his every move.


    He discovered that not a single trump card of his turned out to be reliable! And as for her… Natsuya Yoruhana seemed to have the entire world behind her as she consecutively yed trump cards that he didn’t imagine her possessing!!


    He was forcefully crushed and defeated at the negotiation table on how to handle the formal duel.


    Why did things happen like this!?


    ‘I thought that her family hated her due to her foolish beliefs!?’ Okubo had roared in his mind. ‘Why are there still so many people supporting her!!?’


    Almost all his gathered information had been wrong.


    His own negotiation ns that he confidently nned on using… werepletely useless, just like a joke.


    After the formal duel negotiation was finished, Okubo remained in a state of shock for a long while.


    He was just like an elementary school student that foolishly believed he would get a high grade on his test but ended up with a big fat red zero.


    When he finally managed to regain his senses, he went berserk and destroyed many inanimate objects.


    But after, he finally was able to face reality. Okubo desperately attempted to conceive a plot which he could use to turn around the situation. Finally, he figured that… he could take advantage of Seiji Haruta!


    As long as he promised to give this piece of trash scum that was exiled from the Haruta family some material benefits, it would be easy to get Seiji on his side.


    That’s what Okubo believed… that’s all Okubo could believe.


    That was why Okubo decided call Seiji and try his best at talking to this scum.


    But the result was…


    "My guess is that you werepletely defeated by Natsuya at the negotiation table when you were discussing the formal conditions for the duel. You were forced to ept many conditions that were unfavorable to you, making it inconvenient for you to do many things, to the extent where you felt that you were in danger of losing the duel."


    "And you absolutely can’t afford to lose this duel, because your situation is already extremely precarious. In other words, you’re betting everything you have remaining on this duel that you set in motion; it’s yourst gamble."


    "Since you absolutely don’t want to lose, you desperately tried to conceive a new n of some sort, and the result was that you attempted calling me, the outsider temporarily residing at Natsuya’s residence. You wanted to make use of me for another underhanded plot against her… such as the plot you attempted with the ‘Reaper’s Curse.’"


    "If it weren’t for the fact that I was necessary for your n, you wouldn’t even consider talking with exiled scum like me, right? You definitely think this way, because your haughty attitude and condescension was revealed just by your tone of voice alone. Yes, it was that obvious."


    Seiji chuckled coldly on the other end of the cell phone. "Are my guesses on the mark, Okubo Yoshiaki?"


    Okubo’s body began to tremble.


    Everything Seiji said had been urate.


    Literally everything he said over the phone… was true!


    How could it be? How was this possible!? Just how did he…


    "Right now you’re probably thinking just how could scum like him guess my actual situation?"


    It was almost as if he could read Okubo’s mind. He said exactly what Okubo was thinking.


    "This is actually quite easy. After I confirmed what a bastard you were, I just needed to think a little. I could infer your current situation and what your ulterior motives were in contacting me," the voice on Okubo’s cell phone stated coldly. "As scum, it should only be natural for me to understand a bastard’s way of thinking."


    The deep sarcasm pierced Okubo’s heart like a sharp knife.