The victory against Mr. Belson means that Shade has entered the final round of the Lakeview Manor Rhodes Tournament.
The final round of competition will be held at the round table under the grape arbor. Shade and Mr. Belson compete the fastest, so when he, Tifa, and the onlookers came to the grape arbor together , the other three opponents have not arrived yet.
It was already 10:30 tonight. Shade rubbed his face and felt that his mental state was still very good. He put his hands together on the table. Seeing that the card game would not start for a while, Yu turned around and suggested to Tifa:
“After playing cards for a while, how about a walk in the garden with me? There won’t be many pleasant nights like this before the first snow this winter.”
“Okay.”
The maid lady agreed. As for the cat she was holding, she looked at Shade with a lazy expression, looking like a child who was unwilling to get out of bed on Sunday morning.
Soon, the other three opponents who entered the finals came here one after another, and because the space to watch was limited, some people even paid to exchange places with the people in the front row.
The referee of the final game was Mr. Justin from the Prophet Association, and Shade’s three opponents were Shade’s friend Baron Lavender, who was lucky today; Viscount Glen, a relative of the Flamel family, is not from Tobesk. He recently came to Tobesk as a guest and was only invited to attend the banquet. The last one is the lady just mentioned, who calls herself Miss Marie Witte. , the daughter of the local Viscount Werther.
She has blond hair that is close to white, wears a black dress with a red top, and a wide-brimmed hat with a pink flower arrangement.
Although it looks different from the one we met at the banquet in Huntington City, there is no doubt that this is the Six-ringed Warlock “Miss Pavo” of the Truth Society. Not only because when she sat down opposite Shade, Shade sensed the opponent’s level as a ring warlock, but also because the silver-covered notebook she held casually looked like that thick silver book. Miniature version”.
“Counting from Saturday night, it only took her three days to get from Huntington to Tobesk? This is really fast.”
Xia De thought to himself, and together with others, turned in the deck for inspection again.
【Will you report her? 】
The voice in his ear chuckled, but Xia De showed no expression:
“Wait and decide. The cultist holding the [Rageful God’s Punishment] might also be here. Moreover, this Miss Paavo appeared at the banquet, but did not go to meet Princess Margaret. Contact, maybe because of more important things.”
【They are also here for the matter of the “secret keeper”? 】
“I don’t know yet, let’s finish this game first.”
The decks of the four people were quickly checked. Mr. Justin from the Prophet Association acted as the referee, and Mr. Thicke, who had just hosted the game for Shade, acted as the dealer. The dealer and the four players were evenly distributed. At the round table.
The outcome of the multi-player game is determined by points. No points are awarded for exploding cards. Among the players with unexploded cards, the winner gets 4 points, the second highest scorer gets three points, and so on. If the points are the same, they will score together. .
The card game lasts for three rounds. After the three rounds, everyone’s scores are added up. The one with the highest score is the final winner of the game.
The rules are quite simple and no one has any doubts. In the midst of people’s urging, as Mr. Justin loudly announced “the game begins”, everyone’s eyes were focused on the four decks of cards on the table.
The [Life Ceremony and Wedding] placed in a photo frame is in the center of the table, and everyone has a kerosene lamp at hand for lighting. Although it was night in the garden, at least the lights here were very bright.
“Ms. Witte, this is my first time playing Rhodes with ladies. Ladies like you are really rare.”
Baron Lavender said with a smile.
Everyone got their first card. Shade glanced at his flower 3 and signaled to continue asking for cards. Baron Lavender and Viscount Glen with slender fingers did the same, and “Miss Werther” Then she asked for the cards without looking at them. She responded to Baron Lavender:
“My father taught me how to play Rhodes since I was a child. It was only after I came into contact with card games that I discovered how wonderful mathematics is. Even now when I am studying for a degree, I have not forgotten the game that inspired me.”
The Delarian language is quite standard. If it weren’t for the fact that “she” can determine the fluctuations of the spirit and the characteristics of the soul, Shade is really not sure that the other party is “Miss Pavo” of the Truth Society.
Mr. Sik’s card dealing technique was very professional. Four cards flew across the table almost without interruption and stopped on everyone’s hidden cards.
Baron Lavender looked at his “Flower 13” and raised his eyebrows. After thinking about it, he decided to suspend trading. Viscount Glenn got Star 10, and he signaled that he would continue to ask for cards, while Shade got [Northern City, Coldwater Port City] Moon 7. Unfortunately, this card requires more than half of the deck to be used to trigger the rules, so although people whispered Praise for Shade’s luck, but in reality the cards are useless.
Xia De currently only has ten points, so he continues to ask for cards.
“Miss Werther” also continued to ask for cards, so except for Baron Lavender, the other three people got the third card.
Viscount Glenn also struck up a conversation with this lady. There were indeed very few ladies playing Rhodes. In addition to the fact that ladies are not interested in this, most noble ladies will not sit and play cards with strange men:
“The last time I saw your father was in the spring of this year. I heard that he unfortunately fell off a horse and has been recovering in bed for the past six months. I wonder how his health is now?”
“Father is still in bed, but he can be helped by servants to walk around.”
“Miss Werther” said without changing her expression.
After getting the third card, all three people, including Shade, stopped playing.
The four people looked at each other, and Baron Lavender, who only had two cards, opened the cards first:
“Flower 13 and Moon 4, 17 points. I don’t want to bust the cards, but the points will be 0 if the cards are busted.”
“How cautious.”
Shade praised, and behind Baron Lavender, the Baron’s “rival” Baron Rwanda snorted, which actually made Baron Lavender feel better:
“Mr. Hamilton, what’s your score?”
Xia De revealed his trump card;
“Flower 3, moon 7, moon 10, 20 o’clock.”
“Oh, he is indeed Rejed’s Hamilton.”
People were talking a lot, and Shade smiled, reached back and touched the cat being held by Tifa:
“Miss Witte, where are your points?”
“What a coincidence, mine is also 20 points.”
As she spoke, the lady picked up the first hidden card and the third card with her left and right hands, which were Sun 2, Moon 11, and the one on the table was Sun 7.
People applauded to express their congratulations, so the three people on the table looked at the last Viscount Glenn. The tall and thin gentleman with slender fingers shook his head slightly:
“Looks like I have the best luck tonight, Mr. Hamilton, I’m sorry.”
He turned over his trump card and put it together with the last two cards, Sun 5, Star 10 and Flower 6.
“Oh, blackjack!”
The heated discussion pushed the atmosphere to a new climax, followed by congratulations to the Viscount for defeating Shade in the first round.
Although Xia De was very lucky, he could not win every game, so he expressed his congratulations quite gentlemanly.
Just when the referee, Mr. Justin, wrote down the result of this round on the page and was about to start the second round, laughter came to Shade’s ears:
[He cheated. 】
“Huh?”
Shad raised his eyebrows. In order to cover up his expression at the moment, he turned to look at Tifa, and then stretched out his hands to “ferociously” touch Xiao Mia, making everyone laugh. Cats are traditionally believed to bring luck, so Shade’s performance could be interpreted as a wish for good luck.
“Who cheated?”
[Glenn at blackjack. When you were talking to the Sixth Ring Warlock, he replaced his dark card with the card in his sleeve. 】
The cat with a stinking face looked at Shade, as if he didn’t want to respond to his boring actions. Shade turned back and prepared to continue the game, without the slightest doubt about “her” words.
The other party used ordinary people’s card cheating techniques, and used it blatantly under the watchful eyes of so many people. Obviously this was not the first time. Shade didn’t expect the other party to be so bold. It was indeed his negligence that he didn’t notice it just now, but he always hated others cheating when playing cards.
At this time, he was already thinking about ways to make the other party ask for trouble, but he glanced at “Miss Werther” again and found that the other party was also looking at Viscount Glenn:
“She found out too.”
Xia De thought to himself, looked at the first card that had been thrown over, and already had a plan in mind.
In the first game, 21 points beat two 20 points, which sparked heated discussions that did not subside until the beginning of the second game. Among the four players present, Baron Lavender, the only one who didn’t know the truth, took his own cards and laughed while discussing with Shade who would draw the first special rule card.
“Miss Werther” looked at her cards with a normal expression, and Viscount Glenn also joined the conversation with Shade. In this way, after each person got the three cards of the second round, Miss Witte and Baron Lavender both said they wanted to stop playing.
The light of March in the starry sky overhead is so bright, and the warm light of the gas lamp next to the grape trellis is also so bright. The atmosphere was just right. At this time, Shade’s two bright cards had 16 points, while Viscount Glen had 13 points. The exciting game once again came to a critical moment.
“Continue to ask for cards.”
Xia De raised his hand.
“Knight, are you taking too much risk? Baron Lavender was right just now. A busted card is worth 0 points. If the points are smaller, at least you still have points.”
Viscount Glenn frowned slightly and asked, Shade shook his head seriously:
“Who is a Rhodes player if he doesn’t dare to take such a risk?”
“Yes, he is worthy of being the champion of Ayutthaya Player 1853!”
Someone in the crowd echoed, Shade nodded:
“Viscount, do you want to continue asking for cards?”
Viscount Glenn looked at the tabletop illuminated by lights:
“Then I will continue to ask for cards.”
The next card for the two people is given out in sequence. The cards are dealt with their backs facing up, but according to the rules, they must be opened immediately after receiving the cards.
Xia De has faster hand speed and smiled after opening the cards:
“Look, Viscount Glen, the sun is six.”
The explosive exclamation suddenly sounded, and then spread in circles to the outside of the grape trellis. Although the 6 of the sun means that Shard has lost his cards, the 6 of the sun also means that this is [Creation·Death].