After confirming Shade's identity, Mr. Walker spoke to him warmly, but was rudely interrupted by Miss Louisa:
"Stop, Walker, Shade has no reason to help you. Besides, he only has the title of knight, but he has no ability to help you get out that truckload of prohibited items. We are not involved in your business of brewing moonshine. Okay, okay.
, let’s continue to discuss things, can we lower the price?”
Miss Louisa was delayed here not only because of the arrival of the police just now, but also because when she was receiving the goods, she learned from Mr. Walker that the parchment made from the skin of the wild three-horned antelope she ordered was going to be temporarily increased.
price.
It’s not that Mr. Walker wants to rip off Miss Isa, but the unexpected events on Thursday night caused the cost price of these rare materials to be transported into Tobesk from other places to change significantly:
"Originally, a 20-inch piece of parchment sold for 12 pounds and 3 shillings, but now I only have it increased to 17 pounds, which is not much."
"But the price increase was before Miss Louisa placed the order. This was an accident. You are disrespecting the spirit of the contract."
Shade opened his mouth to help, but the middle-aged man shrugged:
"I admire the spirit of contract, but I also have to have money to spend. No one's gold pounds fall from the sky, and I can't let myself suffer."
"Oh, Walker, don't think I don't know. The price you get from other places will never exceed 11 pounds and 7 shillings. Listen, the most I can pay you is 13 pounds, otherwise the business is over."
Miss Louisa frowned and said, pretending to turn around and leave with Shade:
"15 pounds, that's the lowest price."
The middle-aged man shook his head and said, without any intention of stopping Miss Louisa:
"Recently, because of those damn lunatics, the prices of all materials in the Tobesk area will rise. I know it's wrong to notify you of the price increase only when the goods are delivered, but I also want to have money to support my family."
"How can you support a family as a bachelor? I think you want to go to the club to play Rhodes."
The blonde girl sarcastically said without mercy:
"I also know your team leader. He has told you about your bad hobbies."
"Playing Rhodes is as important to me as eating."
Mr. Walker responded with a smile. Shade on the side suddenly raised his eyebrows, and he had an idea:
"Want to play Rhodes?"
Miss Louisa looked at him in surprise, but Mr. Walker smiled and showed a very interested expression. Shade was very familiar with this expression, and the other party was definitely a Rhodes player.
"Mr. Hamilton, what do you mean?"
"Let's play a game of cards. If I win, Miss Louisa will buy the parchment for 13 pounds. If you win, we will buy your goods for 15 pounds."
"Do you have any special cards? I don't play with players who use ordinary decks."
Mr. Walker narrowed his eyes, and Shade laughed.
Pulling out the cards from his formal pocket, with Miss Louisa's "Why do you carry this thing with you?" expression, he sorted it out a little, put away the two founding series, and then pulled out [Ancient Fairy Tale·Match Girl],
[Northern City·Coldwater Port City][Eastern Style of the Old World·Lake Tees][Original Steam Engine·Mark Nine][Carsonlik Southern Folklore·Moon Dance Festival] Five cards for the opponent to check.
Although he carries the deck with him, it is impossible to carry the identification documents with him.
Mr. Walker looked at the five cards with wide eyes. He obviously didn't expect that the young detective had so many good things. Shade paid attention to his expression. The middle-aged man didn't seem to notice the special features of the Moon Dancer cards.
.
"How about it? Do you want me to play a game with you?"
Shade asked again, thinking that the other party would definitely agree. But this time he thought wrong. Mr. Walker reluctantly handed the card back to Shade, and then shook his head:
"You have so many special cards, you must be an experienced player. This time you offered to play cards with me again, so you have a high probability of winning. In this case, what reason do I have to play cards with you?"
This was the first time that Shade encountered someone who refused to play Rhodes. He motioned to the blonde to stop talking for the time being, and then asked in a low voice:
"Aren't you confident in your Rhodes skills?"
This simple method of stimulating generals will definitely not work, so Shade added another sentence:
"As a Rhodes player, if you refuse when others propose a game, can you still say that you are a real poker player?"
The middle-aged man hesitated with a sullen face. Listening to the distant opera music, he thought for a long time before speaking:
"I can bet against you, but I can't just bet on Rhodes. We bet three times, winning two out of three games. The last game is Rhodes. In the first two games, each person proposes a bet, and I go first."
Shade glanced at Miss Louisa, saw the latter nodded, and said:
"Okay, so what do you want to bet on first? The card draw ratio? The dice points?"
"Of course not, we are competing. The faster one can move 30 feet (about 9m) from the current position without attracting the attention of ordinary people."
"Oh, that's not fair!"
Miss Louisa took Shade's hand and said with a frown, she knew Shade's [Raglai's Jump]:
"I know your magic skills, but Xia De can't defeat you."
"It's nothing unfair. It's a win-win-win-out-of-three game anyway."
Mr. Walker showed a confident smile, then snapped his fingers, and a subtle crackling sound appeared in his ears. He rushed forward suddenly, and his whole body seemed to turn into a flash of lightning and appeared 30 feet away. He smiled and looked back at Xia
De, signaling that it's his turn.
Shade looked at Miss Louisa, and with the latter's smile that couldn't be concealed, he took out the extract and put it on the tip of his tongue, and then said to Mr. Walker:
"Don't blink."
Taking a step forward, the next step appeared directly next to Mr. Walker. The latter opened his mouth in surprise:
"Space ability? Louisa, since when did your group have a ring warlock who can master this kind of ability?"
"Walker, don't pry into other people's secrets at will."
Miss Louisa smiled and said:
"We won the first game, Shade, what are we going to do in the second game?"
"I want to bet..."
Shade wanted to say that whoever drew 4 first would win. But Mr. Walker immediately interrupted him. Under the current situation, he couldn't let Shade ask the question:
"Let's bet on Rhodes in the second round!"
"The third round is Rhodes."
Shade won't do useless things. If he can win simple, he won't play cards.
The middle-aged man knew that he was unreasonable, so he put forward other conditions, waved his hands and said:
"You and Louisa really deceived me just now. Don't refuse in a hurry. I want to say that the race just now does not count. We will still follow your original proposal and use Rhodes cards to compete. If I win,
I will still sell you those parchments for 15 pounds. If you win, I will not only sell you the materials at a low price, but I can also give you a message."
He looked at Shade with a serious expression.
"what news?"
Shade asked. Actually, it doesn't matter if he agrees.
Seeing Shade asking questions, Mr. Walker smiled. He knew that Shade was moved:
"Do you know that the Thirteenth Ring Warlock originally stationed here, Mr. Sari Pilot, the 'Iron Right Hand', has been away from this city two months ago?"
"I even know that he led a team to a rural town to deal with an incident where an angel-level (level 1) relic went out of control."
Shade said that he heard this news from Miss Bayas (Chapter 177), when they talked about the returning president of the Prophet Association.
"You know? Yes, but do you know what that angel-level relic is?"
Mr. Walker asked again, Shade shook his head, and the middle-aged man in black formal suit laughed:
"Additional information is the news about the angel-level relic. Note that the Zhengshen Church almost completely destroyed [Mercury Blood], but the sage-level relic [God's Gift Box] was not found in the underground ruins. Now about that
The information on a relic can reach 100 pounds on the black market. So the angel level is expected to be higher, so you won’t lose money on this bet. Oh, you must agree, otherwise you are not a real Rhodes player."
He used what Shade said just now.
"No problem, I'll play cards with you."
Shade made a hesitant expression, and then agreed softly. The blonde girl glanced at him, she knew Shade's level of betting on Rhodes:
"Xia De, there is actually no need to take such a risk."
His tone showed great concern.
"Luisa, Mr. Hamilton has already agreed, and you can't go back on it!"
Mr. Walker said hurriedly, and then pulled out his deck for Shade to check. This gentleman had two special cards. The deck looked a bit old. You could tell at a glance that it was frequently used.
"By the way, when I was doing business in Kasenlik, I was known as the 'Gambling King of Sikal Mountain'."
The Sikal Mountains are a mountain range that stretches across the east coast of the central part of the continent and serves as an important dividing line between Carsenlik and Delarion. The front line of the Windy Trail where Captain Rades won the [Gun of Goodness] is right on Sikal
The northern foot of the mountain.
When Mr. Walker said something like this, it was an important stage of "talking harshly" before a stranger played Rhodes. On the one hand, it showed that he was an experienced player, and on the other hand, it was to intimidate the opponent and overwhelm him in terms of momentum.
Shade smiled:
"I don't want to brag about myself, but I haven't lost a game since I started playing Rhodes. Yes, I can swear to Mr. Dawn, what I, Shade Suellen Hamilton just said, is absolutely true.
real."
Mr. Walker was startled:
"Never lost a game? Oh, no, you can't scare me, Knight, tonight is the moment when you are about to lose. Come this way."
The three of them walked to the window at the end of the corridor together, and outside was the night view of Tobesk. Under the warm yellow gas light, Mr. Shade and Mr. Walker shuffled each other's cards, and then put their respective decks on the window sill together:
"One round determines the outcome."
Shade suggested:
"I'm still thinking about opera."
"no problem."
Mr. Walker nodded and narrowed his eyes to look at his deck.
But no one suggested that Miss Louisa, who was watching, act as the dealer. According to the unwritten rules of Rhodes, the dealer can only be male.
The two of them each drew the first card. As usual, this is the hole card, and you can choose to reveal it at the end. Shade's card was 13, and Mr. Walker looked at his hole card for a moment, then turned it over with a smile: