Whispering Verse

The demon looked at Shade in the still time. It did not speak to Shade anymore, but stood up after a pause and came to the next table. He reached out and grabbed one of the apples in the air, took a bite, and threw it aside.

He turned to look at Shade, who also stood up, and then picked up a wooden spoon from the table. He grabbed the front end of the spoon, aimed the slender back end at the outermost side of the table, and stabbed it into the eye sockets of the man who was smiling happily and applauding.

"Wait a minute."

Shade stopped it and asked doubtfully:

"You want to say that if I play any tricks on Friday, you will deal with me like this? But I can resist your time power. Don't you even remember this?"

"No, I meant to say that."

The devil let go of the spoon and let it rest in front of the man's eyes:

"If you dare to play tricks, I will kill a hundred people; if you don't show up on Friday, I will kill a thousand people; if you fail to put the sword or dagger into Oxenfurt's chest, I will kill Ten thousand people.”

Shade took the spoon and put it back on the table:

"What does it have to do with me if you kill other people?"

"I know people like you too well. On the surface, I don't care, but you can't lie to yourself about what you think."

The devil patted Shade's shoulder lightly:

"Friday night, Oxenfurt Manor, duel with Oxenfurt. Then, the eternal flame, the relic that increases lifespan, the alchemy item that turns stone into gold, the eternal bottle of wine, and the devil's book of knowledge , [Desire] information. There are six options, you can choose one at will, I won’t lie.”

Shade snorted and sat back down in his seat:

"I know."

The devil walked backward towards the door of the tavern with his hands behind his back:

"I hope you really understand."

After another snap of fingers, the noise started again, and no one in the tavern realized what had just happened. Only the people at the next table were surprised to find that the three thrown apples turned into two, and then they praised the magic guy for being really good.

This time, Shade finally picked up the glass of rye beer and took a sip, then spat on the ground in an uncivilized manner:

"Bah, what?"

He raised his head and looked at the busy tavern again. The figure of the devil had disappeared without a trace.

Shade put the wine glass on the table, but this time he did not stand up. Instead, he held his breath and stared at the swaying flames and thought. It took a long time to raise his head, and then he saw a familiar figure walking out of the crowd who continued to laugh.

He was a middle-aged man with a bald head and only hairy hair. His skin was dark, and his eyes were extremely double-folded. He was wrapped in an unusual brown old-style robe that was often worn by people in desert areas, and he was holding a notebook with slightly rolled corners in his hand.

The middle-aged man was originally looking around, looking for an empty table, when he also saw Sha De. His black eyes were unusually bright, and his stubble was as short as his hair. Mr. Sean Asmon smiled and waved to Shad. The smile was still as weird as when they met before.

"Oh, I knew, Mr. Watson, that I would definitely meet you again somewhere. But I didn't expect that you would also come to Randall Valley City. It's really nice here."

Mr. Asmon sat opposite Shad, where Oxenfurt and the devil had sat, with his right arm across the table and his body leaning forward slightly.

Shade was also a little surprised to meet this gentleman again, or maybe not that surprised:

"Cold Water Port, Fort Midhill, Huntington, and then the Randall River Valley. On such a quiet night, in a tavern in a country village, it was a surprise to meet a friend I hadn't seen for a long time. What would you like to drink? I'll do it. dinner."

"Then, thank you."

Mr. Asmon nodded, and Shade called the waiter over. After the waiter left, Shade said again:

"In the past, I always met you at a place with the name 'Rose'. It seems that this time it was an accident."

"No, no, isn't this a rose?"

Mr. Asmon picked up the withered rose that had just been dropped by the devil, and then took a deep breath:

"Withered black roses, this is a very unlucky sign."

"Yes, yes, before I met you, I met a very annoying guest."

Shade waved his hand as if to ward away invisible flies.

"Everyone has some annoying people they have to meet."

Mr. Asmon said very understandingly, while Shade shook his head in disbelief. Then the waiter came with a tray and brought wine and a plate of fresh fried beans to the two of them.

"Don't talk about me anymore, Mr. Asmon. Now that I see you in the Randall Valley, are there any rumors of demons in the Randall Valley? I only heard that the petrified plague is currently prevalent in the city and there are also some in nearby villages. Malaria, so we have to be careful about what we eat.”

Shade, who had just finished negotiating with the devil and had been threatened by the other party, asked, while the devil scholar with a weird smile nodded:

"There are indeed rumors, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Why, Mr. Watson, are you interested in this?"

"Sure, care to share your story with me?"

"No problem, but before that, do you want to play a game of Rhodes?"

Mr. Asmon took out his deck of cards, and Shade smiled and nodded, feeling that his mood improved:

"Of course it's no problem, but I won the first two times."

"Oh, you want to play Rhodes?"

Before Mr. Asmon could speak, another voice sounded from the side.

Shade looked aside unexpectedly and found that the man speaking was the man who had just performed magic with an apple. He still seemed to have not found his missing apple, but this did not prevent him from bidding farewell to the villagers at the table. He moved a chair with great interest and sat beside Mr. Shade and Mr. Asmon's table:

"Introduce yourself, Mark Winston, the magician of the Tuna Circus."

He also put his cup on the table. Now there are various things on the table in front of Shade, surrounded by the kerosene lamp. Empty cups, plates, newspapers, roses, sword hilts, Rhodes cards are scattered around, and then The addition of an extra cup is not at all obtrusive.

"Our circus has not yet received permission to perform in the city square, so I stayed outside the city for a few days and had nothing to do, so I came here to drink. Do you want to play Rhodes? How about me? I can get it I’ll bet you my special cards.”

Shade glanced at Mr. Asmon and saw that he had no objection, so he said:

"The three-person card game is also very interesting. Mr. Asmon, would you like to earn some travel expenses for yourself?"

As he suggested, he touched the pocket left by Oxenfurt and took out 5 crowns, which is about 60 to 75 pounds of coins:

"A special card is probably about this price. I don't have any special cards in my deck, so I will bet with you with these coins."

"I don't have any special cards, and I don't have that much money on me. This is all I have."

The demonologist took out 3 crowns and threw them into the empty plate together with Shade's 5 crowns. Neither the magician nor Shade minded.

So Shade came up with the rules:

"Three-person games, basic rules, the first person to win two games wins and can take away special cards and 2 crowns. The remaining two people play one-on-one, winning one game counts as victory, and the winner takes away 5 crowns. The loser gets a consolation prize of 1 crown.”

"no problem."

The magician said excitedly:

"Even if the country bumpkins in the village gamble at cards, they can't make any decent bets. It's still fun to play with travelers like you who are passing through here. Oh, let you see my special card first, but in a moment, I will use this card Put it in the deck and bet with you."

He rummaged through the deck, pulled out the special card and placed it under the kerosene lamp. Shade stretched his head to look and found that this was a series he had never seen before.

On the card, a clown riding a unicycle and wearing a nose ball is raising his head and throwing three balls. In the less detailed background, there is a faceless audience applauding high in the scene. Although the card surface is black and white, the contrast between shadows makes the clown appear to be under the spotlight on the stage.

"[Circus Tragedy·Headless Clown], suit: Three Stars. After the game is over, activate the effect, remove this card, and add 5 to your total points. This effect must be activated."

Shade read out the content on the card, and then asked suspiciously:

"The headless clown. The circus tragedy. Was it that incident thirty years ago?"

"Yes."

Mr. Magician Winston nodded:

"At the time, the famous 'Jasmine Circus' in Kasenlik, all the members, including the lions, cats, elephants, mice and pigeons performing the circus, died in the tent overnight, and even the eggs in the kitchen were lost. It was smashed. It took the official nearly ten years to investigate the truth, and this set of cards was released to commemorate the case being solved at that time. My colleagues all thought this card was very unlucky and asked me to hurry up. Throw it away or sell it, but I think that’s a superstition.”

Shade looked at Mr. Asmon, who just looked at the card with a weird smile and seemed to be somewhat interested.

"Then let's get started. Oh, Mr. Asmon, I remember you said that there is a continuation of the story last time. Just playing cards is too boring. Why not continue the story while playing cards? .”

"what story?"

The magicians asked as they checked their respective decks, and Shade recalled:

"That's a very old story -

A wonderful existence, because of people's recognition, it really has the power of the rumored demon. It brought disasters to the world, until it met a person without wishes, and it accompanied that man throughout his life because of the other person's 'wishes' to seal the devil.

After the man died, the devil took his soul, spent one night returning to his hometown, and devoured all his relatives. But those respectable people were trying their best to protect the last boy, but the boy did not escape the devil by keeping silent, but made the same wish as the first man. "