Whispering Verse

"Where's Miss Carina?"

When the appearance of [Founder Silver Moon] amazed the group of Prophet Association, Shade asked softly to the black-haired maid on the side, who looked at him in surprise:

"The lady hates meeting strangers, so you will only go to see her after you win the bet tonight. What, do you need to see the lady now? I can go and ask for permission."

"Being not."

Shade said, then reached out to shake hands with the enthusiastic Mr. Mark again.

Before the game begins, check the decks of both players to prevent forged Rhodes cards from appearing in the decks. The old Duke's deck has been checked long ago, so now there is only Shade here.

There were originally only three special cards in Shade's deck, but Miss Carina gave him two more this time. After the maid gave them to Shade for inspection, they were directly replaced into his 54-card deck.

The two cards are the Mark 9 in the original steam engine series and the suit Sun 10, and the Tees Lake in the Eastern Continental Style series, the suit 8.

The special effect of the former is that when you draw this card, if you already hold at least two cards in your hand, and all the cards you hold are of the sun suit, you can adjust the number of this card between 9 and 10.

The special effect of the latter is that after drawing this card, guess the number of a card that the opponent has not shown. If it is correct, you can choose whether to force the number of the opponent's card to be increased by one after the opponent shows the card. If the opponent reveals the card first, [Eastern Landscape of the Old World·Lake Tees] will have no effect.

In terms of functionality, both cards are of course not as practical as Shade's Silver Moon, and they have the same entertainment effect as Match Girl. But the special Rhodes card itself is wealth, and of course Shade will not dislike it.

It is worth mentioning that the country home where little Mia’s owner, Miss Mia Sang-Gaud, went seems to be near Lake Tees. Shade had seen that place when he was looking for a map and thinking about the route of "Mia the Cat Returns Home."

While waiting for the inspection, Shade saw that everyone in the Prophet's Association was busy and the Duke's servants were waiting to be greeted, so he secretly asked the black-haired maid a question.

"Do you know what white stone crystal is?"

The pattern on the bottom of the bottle is difficult to describe without a pen and paper, but it is convenient to ask about something that seems to be mineral.

The black-haired maid looked at Shade in surprise, her pretty brows slightly wrinkled:

"Detective, where did you hear about this? This is not a common mineral."

"Precious?"

Shade asked nervously. Actually, he mainly wanted to know if it was very expensive. When he contacted Miss Louisa, she had never even heard of White Stone Crystal, so he was already prepared to hear the terrifying numbers.

"It's not particularly expensive, but it's rare, extremely rare. This mineral is a rare associated mineral. It has basically no use for ordinary people and magicians. White stone crystals are produced in small quantities in the Yalahan Desert in the middle of the Old World. and in the large river valley open-pit precious metal mines of the New World, where the most common use is to stabilize space in very large ceremonies, but in very small quantities and with many similar materials available as substitutes.”

As the personal maid beside the witch of the Witch Council, she is indeed very knowledgeable.

"So where can I find it? What's the approximate market price?"

Shade asked again, looking around. Everyone was doing something, and no one paid attention to the conversation here.

The black-haired maid Miss Tifa Servit thought for a moment, and her voice was very pleasant:

"It's hard to say what the market price is, because this thing basically doesn't flow into the trading channels. Some ore collectors like to collect it. The Mineralogical Association in Tobesk probably has some collections. And, the lady's place also happens to have... .”

Shade looked at the maid, and the maid looked at Shade, both waiting for the other person to speak first.

"Will Miss Carina sell it to me?"

After just looking at each other for a few seconds, Xia De took the initiative to ask. After all, he was the one asking for help.

"The lady won't care about such impractical items. I'll just take it away and she won't say anything. But detective, the lady said that everything has a reward."

The maid blinked at Shade, then narrowed her eyes with a smile on her face. Black hair, black eyebrows, and brown eyes. This is the hair color and eye color that foreigners are familiar with.

"Okay, Miss Servit, what do you need?"

Shade asked again, knowing that the other party definitely didn't want money. After all, a piece of jewelry on a maid may be worth several little Mias.

Tifa Servit turned her head, looked at the Prophet Association group who were checking the Rhodes cards, and said softly:

"Do one thing for me. It's not convenient to say now. Your only task tonight is to help the lady win the game. Later, I will bring the white stone crystal to visit you. You can decide for yourself whether Accept...the commission, after all you are a detective, you should be happy to accept this statement."

"Can."

Shade nodded and said that if the other party's request was too excessive, he could refuse and then go to the Tobesk Mineral Association to try his luck.

"Can you feel the maid's Ring Warlock level at such a close distance?"

While smiling, he asked in his heart.

[Not a high ring, but better than your doctor friend, Lasoya, and the Heart Collector. There is a high probability of six rings, but it may also be five or seven. You have to touch her, or even have further contact, before I can give a more accurate answer. 】

Shade nodded, but did not make any rash move. He just couldn't help but sigh that even a young maid could have such power. The Witch Council must possess incredible power and secrets.

Because there were only five cards that needed to be carefully inspected, and they all came with identification certificates, the identification process didn't take too long.

When it was over, a group of people from the Prophet Association walked in the front, Shade, the old housekeeper, and the black-haired maid walked in the middle, and the servants of the old Duke's residence walked in the end. A group of more than 30 people came to the third floor together. .

The banquet hall on the third floor was actually converted from the restaurant used by the mansion to entertain guests. It was obviously not as good as the one in Lakeview Manor, but it was still the same size as the first floor of nearly three summers. It is rare to find such a large place within the city limits of Tobesk.

The guests who had arrived a step ahead were already chatting with people they knew well, and most of them brought their respective female companions. Well-dressed gentlemen and ladies in less formal gowns mingle in social circles under the intoxicating light of chandeliers under the ceiling. But most of the people invited were Rhodes enthusiasts, so most of the chat topics revolved around the exciting Rhodes game.

The original long table in the banquet hall has been moved away, and now there is only a Rhodes gambling table in the center, with two simple wooden chairs with backrests on both sides.

There is a row of sofas and coffee tables placed against the wall, but the sofas are all facing the center, not clustered together. Now the servants in Duke Lukes' house are preparing fruit plates, snacks and black tea for every coffee table.

The oil paintings hanging on the walls should have been replaced temporarily, because normal banquet halls or restaurants would not use Rhodes cards as the content of the oil paintings.

Shade walked in with the people and quickly looked around, worried about finding female writers, old priests, fortune tellers and even blue-eyed doctors. Fortunately, they had nothing to do with tonight's events, but while looking around, they unexpectedly caught their eyes with the young maid with long brown hair, who was bending down to put the tea set.

"Um?"

The maid quickly lowered her head, and Shade's eyes widened slightly, then turned her head naturally, observing her only with her peripheral vision:

"Miss Bayas?"

Shade couldn't see the look in his eyes at this moment, but he saw the surprise in Miss Bayas's eyes just now.

The latter was wearing a heavy maid's dress and a uniform hair accessory. The skin on her face was powdered, so she looked dull, and her normal beautiful face was not visible. The girl with long brown hair was originally young, but now she tied her hair with a white lace hairband, which made her look a little more mature.

Seeing that Shade was still observing her from the corner of his eye, the latter gestured to him while bending down to place the tea set. This time, Shade understood the simple gesture, which meant that he should stop looking here.

Turning his head, Shade continued to look at the guests, and unexpectedly saw some people he met while playing cards at Lakeview Manor, except that Baron Lavender and Baron Rwanda were not there.

"What is Miss Bayas doing here dressed like this?"

Shade thought in his mind, and while looking around, he wanted to see if there was anyone else in the same warlock team as Miss Bayas, but there was no one.

"In other words, similar to the Lucky Southern Cross Club, this is still her own action...Should I leave immediately after playing cards? I always feel that something abnormal will happen when I meet her. occur."

The old Duke, who was wearing an old red army uniform with a white belt around his waist and a wheat ear on his right shoulder, was originally talking to two elderly gentlemen near the door. One of them had a necklace hanging around his neck. Cube pendant.

Seeing the door being opened, the people from the Prophet's Association came in. The gray-haired Duke, who looked as strong as an old lion, apologized to his companions and immediately came over with a smile to shake hands with Vice President Mark.

He is not tall, but he looks extremely strong.

After exchanging pleasantries with the local vice-president of the Prophet's Association about the weather, he stood there and watched Shade and Miss Tifa walking together.

"Detective, this is Duke Lucas."

The black-haired maid clasped her hands together, naturally hanging down in front of her body, and bowed slightly to introduce, Shade immediately stretched out her hand.

"Duke, this is the Rhodes player invited by the lady, Detective Hamilton."

The old Duke's expression clearly showed that he knew Shade's identity in advance, so he naturally stretched out his right hand and shook it with Shade forcefully. He smiled, his smile was kind, but his palms were really hard. Shade knew the identity of the old Duke in advance. When he was young, he was the commander of the First Army Corps of Delarion:

"Mr. Hamilton, I've heard about you."