Whispering Verse

The old Duke said this, and after testing that the detective's hand strength was not inferior to his, he let go of his hand with satisfaction:

"I heard about last Sunday's game at Lakeview Manor, which was really exciting, and it's a pity I wasn't there. But just hearing their descriptions, I knew that Tobesk finally had another Rhodes card. Good hands."

Although he was old, he spoke with great energy. Shade could clearly feel the military temperament in him, which was even more obvious than the temperament in Captain Rades.

"Okay, very good! Playing Rhodes is only fun when you play with young people like you."

The heartfelt smile on the Duke's face cannot be faked. It's like a fake smile and the heartfelt smile he showed when he peeked at the knight novel in class and saw the wonderful things. The two can be distinguished at a glance. Shade already understood roughly what kind of person the other party was. This was another hopeless Rhodes lover.

There is not much nonsense, the salon, drinking party and socializing are all held after the game is over. Since both sides of the game have appeared, it can start directly.

Most of the people here are here for the Rhodes cards. There are probably not many people who know that the significance of the game lies in the personnel transfer of the navy, so the atmosphere is very lively.

The old Duke sat on the chair on the left side of the long table, and the servant opened the seat for him. Shade sat on the chair on the right, and the black-haired maid pulled out the chair for him.

The guests who came to watch the game gathered around, but not directly around the table like rude gamblers, but in groups of two or three, standing slightly away from the table but still able to see the cards clearly. Location.

The room fell silent, and Vice President Mark of the Prophet Association walked to the table and coughed. For the game held by the two dukes, his role as the host is perfect:

"I won't say any more. The participant in this battle is Duke Lucas——"

Vice President Mark nodded to the old Duke, and then nodded to Shade:

"And Detective Hamilton who is here on behalf of Miss Carina."

Shade also nodded slightly to Mr. Mark.

Miss Carina did not intend to appear in front of everyone, but according to the young black-haired maid behind her, Miss Carina was on this floor, waiting for the outcome of the game.

"Is this considered social phobia? No, does it mean that you 'hate men' to this extent?"

Shade thought to himself, but suddenly he was worried that high-level warlocks could read minds even through several walls, so he didn't dare to think about it.

"This game will be played according to the rule of best-of-three games. In each game, the first party to win three times wins the game. If both parties keep blowing cards, the first party to draw all their cards will lose the game."

Shade noticed a plump lady standing not far from him looking at him. He glanced at the lady with his peripheral vision and found that she was probably over forty years old.

"Before the game begins, we first invite three gentlemen to jointly check the Duke and Detective's decks for final confirmation."

This is the rule of the informal competition to prevent the Prophet Association from being bribed. Of course, only this kind of card game played by nobles would cause such trouble. Vice President Mark's speech was enough time to complete half of the game.

The three who were invited to check the deck were Baron Skaven, who had a beautiful mustache, Baron Hull, who wore what looked like horseshoe boots, and Viscount Ford, who had gray hair and looked almost sixty years old. Everyone was wearing similar black formal suits.

The three of them first picked up Duke Lucas' deck, inspecting it while nodding and exclaiming from time to time, which made Shade's opponent particularly proud.

It took a few minutes to check it out, but it was just a formality. Then after greeting the detective, he picked up his deck of cards from his left hand.

The main part of Shade's deck is the one he picked up from the roof of the pet boarding center when he picked up little Mia. Although it is a bit older, it is the old decks that appear to have been played frequently.

He sandwiched the five cards with special rules in the center. The gentlemen who opened the deck quickly saw the first card [Ancient Fairy Tale·Match Girl].

Shade heard Baron Hull mutter the name "Baron Lavender", obviously they were all acquaintances. Then came the second card [Original Steam Engine·Mark 9] and the third card [Eastern Scenery of the Old World·Lake Tees]. The three of them smiled while watching, which was also a rare card. When I saw [Northern City Coldwater Port City], I couldn't help but exchange words. This card seemed to be very famous, and I didn't know where Professor Manning got it from.

Later, Baron Hull, holding the deck of cards, was the first to see [Creation Silver Moon].

He blinked at the card in his hand, then stretched his neck and stretched his head to take a closer look at the items in his hand:

"Uh~"

There was a strange sound in his throat, and his whole body seemed to have been hit by a bullet, and his hands shook at a frequency visible to the naked eye. His eyes were wide open, as if they were about to pop out, and his mouth was slightly open, looking like a patient with dementia.

"What's wrong? Are there any other precious cards in the detective's deck?"

asked the other two gentlemen beside him in a low voice, as if to reproach him for the startling effect. Because they were standing on both sides of Baron Hull, they both stretched their heads to look at the card.

"Uh~"

Baron Skaven also made a strange noise. He stretched out his generous hand with a gem ring to cover his mouth, but the look of his bulging eyes was really similar to Baron Hel's.

The older Viscount Ford was more mature. He turned his head to look at Vice President Mark of the Prophet Association and asked tremblingly:

"Is this the real thing?"

"Yes."

The latter nodded, and then a commotion broke out in the room, because people saw the old Viscount Ford suddenly covering his heart with a ferocious expression.

The panicked servants wanted to help, but were dismissed by the Viscount with a wave of his hand:

"No need~"

He squeezed out this voice from between his teeth:

"I can't bear to pass out until I finish watching this game."

Then he took his hand away from his chest abruptly, and his originally red face returned to normal little by little:

"I must watch this game."

Very roughly, he took Shade's deck of cards from Baron Hull, who had not yet recovered from the shock. He stared at [Founder·Silver Moon] for a few seconds before returning the deck to the detective.

This made Baron Skaven, who reacted but found that he had no chance to touch the card in person, extremely annoyed.

"What did you see? Rare cards? Which series? Why are you acting so exaggerated? If I hadn't known you for a long time, I might have thought that you were hired by Carina to act and disturb me before the game. Feeling."

Old Duke Lucas sat on the other side of the table and asked curiously, raising his head, but the three gentlemen shook their heads with a very unified frequency:

"I didn't see anything, I wish you victory."

Their voices overlapped together, which sounded a bit comic.