Whispering Verse

"Priest, you are really experienced."

Shade praised sincerely.

"Haha, as we get older, our physical strength and energy are no longer as good as those of you young people, but the life experience accumulated over a long period of time is not in vain."

Shade nodded clearly, stretched out his hand forward, and the flying red butterfly automatically landed on his finger, and then melted into the skin.

After ringing the bell on the fence gate and waiting for a few minutes, the old housekeeper carried a polished oil lamp and walked through the small yard filled with white mist to the door. After Shade, who called himself "John Watson", explained his purpose and showed the cards, the bald old butler in black formal clothes actually let the two people in.

"You see, Rhodes cards are really useful sometimes."

Following the old housekeeper through the courtyard towards the mansion, Shade whispered to Priest Augustus. The priest ignored him and stared at the back of the old housekeeper in front of him:

"He won't live much longer."

"What?"

"Heart disease, judging from the current medical level, is hopeless."

Priest August shook his head and motioned to Shade not to speak too loudly:

"People die all the time, that's normal."

Count Darak is a well-known local Rhodes player, and many people have come to challenge him. When the old butler led Shade and the priest into the house, he also confirmed to the two that they wanted to use special cards to make bets.

"Every time the count gambles with others, does he use special cards to make the bet?"

"Mostly yes."

The old butler nodded and led the two of them through the foyer hung with art and antiques, and walked upstairs along the stairs.

Although Xia De didn't know much about antique appreciation, he had seen many houses of great nobles. From his point of view, the Dalak family was indeed in decline. The decoration inside the house was old, and some of the vases and oil paintings on display were obviously modern works of art. For example, the oil painting at the corner of the stairs looks like the "Heroes Slay the Dragon" auction that Shade saw at the Fire Worship Festival dinner.

The room was very quiet, it seemed that except for the old housekeeper, all the servants were resting. But at least the place is kept clean, and it can be seen that the maintainers of the house are still trying their best to maintain the dignity of the place.

Shade and Priest August met Count Darak in the study on the second floor. Compared with the flashy attire at the Fire Worship Festival banquet, the Count behind the desk was wearing a very normal black coat. If it weren't for the pink flower in his hair, he would look more normal.

The old butler introduced the purpose of the two guests. Shade felt the red butterflies that melted into the skin of his fingers trembling. Priest August also touched Shade's arm, looked at him sideways and nodded.

Both Shade and the priest knew that the third person they were looking for to come back from the dead was the middle-aged noble in front of them.

"Mr. John Watson? Oh, I remember you, you are Miss Aurora's"

The count raised his head in surprise.

"I am a friend of Miss Aurora. The Baroness from the South Country was joking with you last time."

Shade replied with a smile. At this time, the old housekeeper left temporarily to prepare tea for the three of them, so it didn't matter what Shade said. Now that we have found Earl Darak, we must send him away.

"Ha, I know you are not an ordinary bodyguard. I heard that Miss Aurora is always kind to men. Moreover, if an ordinary bodyguard has such good card skills, then my life will be a failure. ”

The Earl, who looked even thinner than last time, smiled and put down the pen in his hand. He was writing a letter just now:

"Mr. Watson, with your appearance, you can actually make money in anything you do. I guess you are the lover of Miss Aurora."

"Ahem!"

Shade coughed quickly to prevent his image of a promising young man in the eyes of Priest Augustus from being further damaged:

"Earl, let's get down to business. After the last card game, I heard from the locals that you are a famous local Rhodes player, so I want to play cards with you again. Last time, we didn't use our own special cards, that can’t be counted as winning or losing.”

Count Darak looked even happier:

"Yes, we didn't use special cards last time, so it can't be considered that I lost to you."

He stood up and said:

"You two, the weather is weird today, and I happen to have nothing to do to kill the boring day. Come on, please come with me, I have a special Rhodes gambling table here."

The count walked toward the door, and Shade and the priest August also stood up from their chairs at the table.

"First, let's observe what his current condition is. If we can send him away without fighting, then we should try to avoid fighting."

Shade hoped that his eyes could express such a complicated meaning, but Priest Augustus actually nodded when he saw Shade's eyes.

Shade was very curious as to what Priest Augustus thought he wanted to do.

In short, under the leadership of the count, the three of them returned to the first floor. The count even took a long detour through the house to introduce the history of the antique collection and the traditions of the Dallac family.

The Count remained the longest before one of the raping swords. He also said last time that he was very good at using a stabbing sword.

The so-called special Rhodes table is actually a table with squares drawn on the tabletop to facilitate the placement of card piles, draw cards and discard cards. It was a sunny room on the first floor, decorated by the Count as a room specially used to play Rhodes with players.

Except for the table in the middle, there are many signatures and photos hanging on the surrounding walls. Those were the players who had come here and played cards with Count Darak. According to the count, he even played cards with the runner-up of "Big City Player 1850". It's just that the other party didn't want to leave a photo, so he just left a signature.

In addition to the signatures and photos on the walls, there are neat glass display cabinets under the four walls. In the cabinets are interesting souvenirs related to Rhodes Brands. For example, in "Big City Players 1853" that ended more than a month ago, the copper commemorative coins used to calculate points in the semi-finals and the news reports at the time are all displayed here.

After introducing the exhibits, the gambling game officially began.

With the old butler as the referee, Priest August dealt the cards to the two players. As for the bet, Shade bet on his "only" special card [Legend of the Brave: Bard Fletcher], and smiled and claimed that if he won this time, he would go to the Red Water Camp on the Windy Trail and challenge to have [ Brigadier General Carter from "Legend of the Brave: Swordsman Saibalon".

"No, no, your news is out of date. Now [Swordsman Saibalon] is in the hands of a captain in the Red Water Camp. He is the same captain who solved the serial murder case at the Middleburg Mechanical College."

The earl reminded, then took out and showed his bet:

"[Ancient Fairy Tale·Sleeping Princess] Suit: Sun 4. If you roll 10 or 20 on a 20-sided die twice in a row, you can adjust the card number between 4 and 5."

He read out the information on the card and asked the butler to hand the card to Shade for inspection.

The count took off his gloves with some pride, waved his wrist and said:

"This year's Big City Players Champion, Rejed's Hamilton, also has a special card from the ancient fairy tale series, which is [Ancient Fairy Tale·Match Girl]. I even plan to take a steam train to go there in the winter if I have nothing to do. Tobesk City, challenge the big player with dozens of special cards."

He moved his fingers with an expectant smile on his face:

"The trip to Tobesk must be very interesting. I might be able to become friends with that young man."

Shade's face was sullen and showed no expression.

If Earl Darak was not a nail resurrected from the dead, he actually wouldn't mind having such a friend, just like Baron Lavender who initially invited outsiders to play cards and led Shade into the world of Rhodes.

But sometimes destiny doesn't always go as you want, and you have to go what you want, and no one can disobey this.

In order to make the game more interesting, this time the traditional best-of-three rules are adopted. Each round has five rounds, and the first to win three rounds wins one round.

The two parties shuffled the cards with each other, and after the old butler confirmed that the cards were correct, the cards were placed on the left and right hands of Priest August for dealing.

The long table is placed parallel to the window, and through the thick fog, the thin sunlight illuminates the tabletop and the profiles of the two people.

Shade got his first hidden card, but he didn't open it. Instead, he directly signaled that he wanted the second card.

Then he smiled and said:

"Earl, I heard that you were seriously ill at the beginning of this year? I wish you good health."

"Yes, that disease really almost killed me."

The Earl also got his second card. After taking a look at it, he frowned, obviously not satisfied.

Shade's second card was Sun 1. He signaled to continue dealing, and then warned:

"I have a friend who is a doctor. He often says that exercising more will help your health."

He did have a doctor friend, but it was a psychiatrist.

"That's a good idea, but lung disease probably doesn't have much to do with exercise. I'm suspending it, 18 o'clock."

Count Darak revealed his two cards.

The third card that Shade got was Moon 10. He took another look at the hole card, and then also announced a suspension:

"Sun 1, moon 10, stars 8, 19 o'clock."

"That's really unlucky."

The Earl shook his head and threw the cards in his hand aside. The two cards were swirled together, and he looked like an experienced Rhodes player:

"However, my illness may be related to my unhealthy living habits. Mr. Watson, you are a foreigner. Do you know about the interesting local drink, blood brew?"

Shade raised his eyebrows in surprise and took the cards handed by Priest August:

"Of course I know. I even met a salesman selling this drink at the Fire Worship Festival party. But I have always stayed away from blood products. Even steak must be nine-mature before I eat it."

"Then your life really lacks a lot of fun."