Jessica continued reading the recent reports. "Send more agents to look into the previous ports this ship visited… Human trafficking like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. We need to dismantle the supporting infrastructure to keep them from setting up new patsies and resuming operations."

Ignoring the 'Yes Sir!' in the background, she moved on. "This counterfeit Duel Monster card issue as well, we've found the same production signs on material confiscated from FIVE separate, unrelated crime scenes."

God, this felt so stupid: "I suspect the counterfeiters are either being used to FUND these criminal organizations, or are the main GOAL of these assholes…"

Because of COURSE no one cared about stealing or grifting billions of dollars and no one wanted fame and power… No, they just wanted better playing cards.

And MOST of these jerks weren't even Duelists! They couldn't even benefit directly by HAVING those Soul Fragments, even if they were legitimate products!

And the risks… "We need to destroy ALL the confiscated counterfeit material as soon as it comes in. The Soul fragments do NOT connect correctly to those low quality substitute materials and it can cause severe issues."

Ignoring the issue where overly large fragments could crack or destroy the Souls of those playing with them, just the uneven distribution of energy could destabilize any Deck they were included in… The instability would likely drive anyone in the area towards madness and irrationality at BEST, if not fully corrode their own existence entirely due to Soul infections.

As her people bustled around, half with holographic bodies and half still in Soul form, she sighed and waved them off. "I'm taking twenty. Can I get some tea please?" Oh, very fast. "Thank you."

Mmm… This was not normal tea.

Something made by her agents? Soul tea, or just something influenced by the local Realm itself?

It was pretty darn tasty, whatever it was. Smelled like… Vanilla? Or maybe freshly frosted cookies?

Jessica's thoughts scattered when the door slammed. "John? Everything alright?"

Her brother stomped in, carefully moved a chair so he could join her at her tea table, and slumped into it. "No."

Oh dear. "Another argument with your deck again?"

He huffed! "Don't get me started on those guys! …But no, not them."

She sipped once more, glancing at his frustration.

The boy picked up one of the pastries and angrily nibbled on it. "That simulation you made cheats. EVERYONE cheats! And it's not in some sort of 'I drew extra cards' way or 'I swapped out what was in my hand when you weren't looking', even the stupid monsters THEMSELVES cheat!"

Ah. "So you had issues during training?"

John glared at the cup of tea her agent placed before him. "Issues? Yeah, I had issues. Ever hear of the Slime Archetype? That guy my frogs hate, [Frog the Jam], he was once a [Slime Toad] for reference."

Hmm. "I think a few were played so far in the castle by people betting their points against each other in personal Duels. One was called [Acid Slime]? Maybe?"

Her brother grumbled. "Well, that simulation opponent pulled out this [Darkness Slime] monster, which can special summon itself if… Anyway, that doesn't matter. Point is, the thing's only REAL ability is to pick one of my monsters and copy their defense number to use as the slime's attack ability, plus they set their defense to my guy's attack value. Simple, right?"

Jessica blinked. "Yes?"

John laughed, a harsh edge to it! "Nope! I attacked the stupid thing and my monster MISSED! Know why? Because the attack 'slipped off' the target! Because the monster was too slimy for a solid hit!"

He glared at nothing. "No cards said that could happen. None of the abilities implied that was possible… But crap like that has been happening EVERY DUEL!"

Her brother began gripping his cup a bit too tightly. "A [Rainbow Flower] caused my frog to sneeze because he had allergies to pollen, and that prevented him from attacking. This human shaped sea serpent, [Netabyss, the Atlantean Prince]? He KISSED one of my frogs in the middle of combat, and she turned into a princess and JOINED my opponent against me!"

John threw up his hands! "I mean, wasn't that supposed to be a princess thing anyway!? Can ALL royalty convert my people into subjects by snogging them!? What about ME!? Am I at risk of that crap!?"

He huffed, folding his arms tightly as he slumped again in his chair. "The girl came back to my Deck after the duel, but I'm pretty sure those two are dating now. So I might end up with a runaway sea serpent prince living in my pond or something, since apparently the guy is in a sort of rebellious phase and doesn't really want to compete with all his siblings for the kingdom throne."

Jessica blinked at that. "Wait, aren't the cards my simulation uses all holographic proxies?"

Her brother shrugged. "Meh, it's close enough for the Soul fragments to resonate with them. It's why I've been getting good data to work with, even if the Duels themselves are BULLSHIT!"

Hmm. "I think you need to take a bit of time to unwind from this… Have you met up with Grace and Temptation since you started all these practice rounds?"

John winced. "Temptation is REALLY invested in gathering the local economy into her grasp, and Grace has been organizing this castle while negotiating with the local politicians to establish this whole festival tournament fiasco into a yearly or even bi-yearly event. They're both REALLY busy… It's why I've been trying to do something useful while waiting for them."

She gave him a look. "You know they won't mind if you ask to spend some time with them, busy or not."

He waved that off. "Yeah, but these are projects they chose themselves and that they are really invested in… I don't want to wedge into that or take away from how amazing they both are doing so far. Their lives shouldn't revolve solely around me, after all… And while our family does benefit from their hard work, this IS becoming something like a personal hobby for them both right now."

Her brother pushed a half eaten pastry around his plate. "Temptation LOVES manipulating everyone and Grace has really found her place as a high level organizational manager. I know they'd both drop everything if I asked for anything… And that's not good. Not in the long run, especially. For them or for me."

She gave him a smile… Her little bro was growing up! "So you are giving them a bit of space to find themselves, as it were?"

A nod… Before John sighed. "Well, that and I felt a bit silly trying to 'Duel' in front of others. I was going to go all ham on it! You know, yell stuff like 'Now, PREPARE yourself to face the FROG FORCE' or 'Let's all HOP to it!' or whatever… And in the end, it even seemed fun to scream 'NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! It can not BEEEE!' during my matches and stuff."

He sighed. "But it loses a lot of its impact when you lose every single time. And almost all my attacks failed for stupid reasons, and all THEIR monsters and stuff managed to survive by impossible quirks or luck and…"

John stared at the table. "Sis, I… I don't want to play anymore. It just isn't fun."

Aww… But he had been looking forward to this so much! "Are you sure?"

He nodded.

Well… "Then you don't have to."

He seemed to curl into himself. "But… But I've told everyone I would, and my friends helped me put together our Deck… And… I don't want to ruin this for everyone else."

Meh. "Then we can adjust the simulated opponent program to holographically look like you for any dueling required. In fact, we can duplicate the system entirely so that all FOUR of us will be replaced by that simulation when needed! That way 'we' can be challenged even AFTER we move on to the next Realm."

John blinked. "Wait, we are allowed to do that?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't see any rules against it. If anything, this is probably the LEAST cheat worthy activity going on in this tournament so far."

And that spark began to come back to her brother's eyes! "And I can watch OTHER people fight against that stupid program!?"

Jessica nodded, starting to smile as his eagerness visibly grew. "Yep!"

Her brother was nearly vibrating in his seat! "Hang on, don't do it yet! I'm going to go Duel it some more first."

Hmm? "Any particular reason why?"

His grin only grew wider. "Because I've been losing every duel against your simulation while on the LOW settings after giving it tons of handicaps… NOW I'm going to try and enhance the stupid thing! Let's see how OTHER people enjoy having their fighters trip when attacking or having an opponent 'forget' that it was killed! HA!"

Oh dear… "Don't take it too far, alright?"

He waved her concerns off. "From what I can tell, it won't matter in the end. This game is so fluid, even WITH my changes and restrictions, that the one 'destined' to win the Duel is likely to be the same people regardless of who actually opposes them or what tricks they use to gain an edge."

John sighed as he stared at his snack. "I'm pretty sure HALF my issues have been how good my Defenses have become. I am now showing up to the Realm as 'perfectly average' and 'unremarkable'... And thus the decks are quite literally stacked against me."

Oh. "So when you fight against someone stronger than you, crazy stuff starts happening?"

He snorted. "Not quite! To reality I'm PERFECTLY average. Even a single win or loss should theoretically shift me one way or the other, giving me opportunities to improve or whatever… But it doesn't, and I don't think this Realm knows how to handle that."

John pointed over his shoulder. "On the other hand? Since that simulation DOESN'T have my defenses, IT can be manipulated and be affected by all sorts of stuff. Lucky moments, 'inspiration', improbable chances, all that mess. Heck, it might even be WORSE than usual specifically BECAUSE it was Dueling me, since even a slight edge would be enough to trigger really powerful side effects considering how 'average' I am."

That sounded horrible. "Do you think Grace can fix that? Will I have the same issues if I Duel someone?"

He blinked. "I mean, maybe? It won't matter for long anyway, I hope. See, I'm gathering all the data as we go anyway… Hopefully we can have her set us up as 'Slightly above average' instead of this perfect impossibility of 'average in every way.' Maybe even set up some variance or fudge the numbers a bit too, so the four of us won't show up as impossibly identical existences to anything scanning us."

Jessica considered that… And finished her tea. "Then I better get back to work while you are testing out those simulation modifications. Don't forget that dinner is in three hours though, we are having hot dogs tonight."

John grinned! "Hot dogs!? Heck yeah! Right, later sis! I'm going to go test out the 'Extreme' settings on that stupid cheating simulation and see what I can do to enhance it."

Those poor, poor duelists. "Alright, have fun!"

And he left? Good. "I need a team to review my decisions retroactively and in the future. My defensive abilities might have been negatively altering mission outcomes and we need to confirm if that is the case as soon as possible."

"""""YES SIR!"""""

Good. "I'll be sending messages to the royal Consorts about this as well, so have a runner ready to pass that along after I gather the review team's results."

"""""YES SIR!"""""

Now, let's see if her being an 'Average' Director of SPYRAL has been causing any issues so far…