"Where's Miss Carina?"
When the appearance of Founder Silver Moon amazed the members of the Prophet Association, Shade asked the black-haired maid beside him softly, who looked at him in surprise:
"The lady hates meeting strangers, so you will go to see her after you win the bet tonight. Why, do you need to see the lady now? I can go and ask for instructions."
"Not for now."
Shade said, and then reached out to shake hands with the enthusiastic Mr. Mark again.
Before the game begins, both players' decks must be checked to prevent forged Rhodes cards from appearing in the decks. The old duke's deck had already been checked, so now there was only Shade.
There were originally only three special cards in Shad's deck, and Miss Carina gave him two more this time. After the maid gave them to Shad for inspection, they were directly replaced in his 54-card deck.
The two cards are Mark 9 from the Original Steam Engine series, suit Sun 10, and Lake Tis from the Eastern Continental Landscape series, suit Flower 8.
The special effect of the former is that when you draw this card, if you already have at least two cards in your hand, and all the cards are in the sun suit color, you can adjust the number on this card between 9 and 10.
The special effect of the latter is that after drawing this card, guess the number of the opponent's unrevealed card. If it is correct, you can choose whether to force the opponent's card number to increase by 1 after the opponent reveals the card. If the opponent reveals the card first, the Old World Eastern Landscape·Tees Lake will have no effect.
In terms of functionality, neither card is as practical as Shade's Silver Moon, and like Match Girl, they are just entertainment effects. But the Special Rhodes card itself is wealth, and Shade certainly won't dislike anything.
It is worth mentioning that the country home of Mia San Gold, Mia's owner, seems to be near Lake Tees. Shad saw it when he was looking for a map and thinking about the route of "Mia Cat Returning Home".
While waiting for the inspection, Shade saw that the people from the Prophet Association were busy, and the Duke's servants were waiting to be called on the side, so he secretly asked the black-haired maid a question.
"Excuse me, do you know what white stone crystal is?"
The pattern on the bottom of the bottle is difficult to describe without paper and pen, but it is convenient to ask about something that is suspected to be a mineral.
The black-haired maid looked at Xia De in surprise, her pretty eyebrows slightly wrinkled:
"Where did you hear this, Detective? This isn't a common mineral."
"Very precious?"
Xia De asked nervously, but he wanted to know if it was expensive. Considering that Miss Louisa had never even heard of white stone crystal, he was ready to hear a scary number.
"It's not particularly expensive, but it's rare, extremely rare. This mineral is a rare associated mineral. It's basically useless to ordinary people and ring sorcerers. White stone crystal is produced in small quantities in the Yarahan Desert in the middle of the Old World, and in large river valley open-pit precious metal mines in the New World. The most common use is to stabilize space in super-large rituals, but the amount used is very small, and there are many similar materials that can replace it."
As a personal maid to a witch from the Witch Council, she was indeed very knowledgeable.
"So where can I find it? What's the market price?"
Xia De asked again, looking around. Everyone was busy doing something and no one was paying attention to the conversation here.
The black-haired maid, Miss Tifa Servet, thought for a moment and said in a nice voice:
"It's hard to say what the market price is, because this thing basically doesn't flow into trading channels. Some mineral collectors like to collect it. The Mineral Association in Tobesk probably has some in its collection. And, the lady happens to have some..."
Xia De looked at the maid, and the maid looked at Xia De, both waiting for the other to speak first.
"Will Miss Carina sell it to me?"
After staring at each other for a few seconds, Xia De took the initiative to ask, after all, he was the one who needed help.
"The young lady won't care about such an impractical item. I can just take it away and she won't say anything. But detective, the young lady said that everything has a reward."
The maid winked at Shade, then narrowed her eyes and smiled. Black hair, black eyebrows, and brown eyes, this is a hair and eye color familiar to outsiders.
"Well, Miss Servet, what do you need?"
Xia De asked again, knowing that the other party definitely didn't want money. After all, a piece of jewelry on the maid might be worth several Mia.
Tifa Servet turned her head and looked at the Prophet Association members who were checking the Rhodes cards, and said softly:
"Do me a favor. I can't tell you right now. Your only mission tonight is to help the young lady win the game. Later, I will visit you with the white crystal. You can decide for yourself whether to accept... the commission. After all, you are a detective, so you should be happy to accept this."
"Can."
Shade nodded and said that if the other party's request was too excessive, he could refuse and then try his luck at the Tobesk Mineral Association.
"Can you sense the maid's ringmaster level at such a close distance?"
While smiling, he asked in his heart.
It's not a high ring, but it's stronger than your doctor friend, Lazoya, and the heart collector. Most likely six rings, but it could also be five or seven rings. You have to touch her, or even get in touch with her further, before I can give you a more accurate answer.
Xia De nodded, but did not make any rash moves. He just couldn't help but sigh that even a young maid could have such power. The Witch Council must have great power and secrets.
Since there were only five cards that needed to be carefully examined, and they all came with certificates of authenticity, the authentication process didn't take too long.
When it was over, the people from the Prophet Association walked in front, Shade, the old butler, and the black-haired maid walked in the middle, and the servants from the old Duke's mansion walked at the end. A group of more than 30 people came to the third floor together.
The banquet hall on the third floor was actually a remodeled restaurant used by the mansion to entertain guests. It was obviously not as big as the one in Lakeview Manor, but it was about the same size as the first floor of nearly three summers. It was rare to find such a large place in the city of Tobesk.
The guests who had arrived earlier had already started chatting with people they knew, and most of them brought their female companions. Gentlemen in respectable clothes and ladies in informal long dresses were socializing in the intoxicating light of the chandelier under the ceiling. However, most of the guests invited were Rhodes fans, so the topics of conversation mostly 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 card table in the middle, and two simple wooden chairs with backrests on both sides.
There was a row of sofas and coffee tables next to the wall, but the sofas were all facing the center, not grouped together. Right now, the servants in Duke Lux's house were preparing fruit plates, snacks, and black tea for each coffee table.
The oil painting hanging on the wall should have been replaced temporarily, because a normal banquet hall or restaurant would not use the Rhodes card as the subject of the painting.
As the others walked in, Shade looked around quickly, worried about discovering the female writer, the old priest, the fortune teller, or even the blue-eyed doctor. Fortunately, they had nothing to do with what happened tonight, but while looking around, he unexpectedly met the eyes of the young maid with long brown hair, who was bending over to place the tea set.
"Um?"
The maid lowered her head quickly, while Shade's eyes widened slightly. Then he turned his head naturally and observed her only with his peripheral vision:
"Miss Beas?"
Xia De couldn't see his own eyes at this moment, but he saw surprise in Miss Bei Ya Si's eyes just now.
The latter was wearing a heavy maid's dress and a uniform hair accessory. Her face was powdered, so it looked dull and lifeless, and her normal pretty face could not be seen. The girl with long brown hair was not very old, but now she tied her hair with a white lace headband, which made her look more mature.
Seeing that Xia De was still observing her from the corner of his eyes, the latter made a gesture to him while bending down to put the tea set on the table. Xia De understood the simple gesture this time, which meant that he should stop looking at this side.
Turning around, Shad continued to look at the guests, and unexpectedly saw some people he knew when playing cards at Lakeview Manor, but Baron Lavender and Baron Rwanda were not there.
"What is Miss Beas doing here dressed like this?"
Xia De thought to himself, and looked around, trying to find out if there were other people in the same warlock team as Miss Bei Ya Si, but there were none.
"That is to say, similar to the Lucky Southern Cross Club, this is still her own action... Should I leave immediately after playing cards? I always feel that if I meet her, something abnormal will happen."
The old duke, wearing an old red army uniform with a white belt around his waist and a wheat ear decoration on his right shoulder, was talking to two elderly gentlemen near the gate, one of whom had a cube pendant around his neck.
Seeing the door opened and the people from the Prophet Association walked in, the Duke, who had gray hair but looked as strong as an old lion, apologized to his companions, then immediately came over with a smile and shook hands with Vice President Mark.
He is not tall, but he looks extremely strong.
After exchanging a few words with the local vice president of the Prophet Association about the weather, he stood there and watched Shade and Miss Tifa walking over together.
"Detective, this is Duke Lucas."
The black-haired maid clasped her hands together and let them hang naturally in front of her. She bent slightly and introduced herself. Xia De immediately stretched out his hand.
"Duke, this is the Rhodes card player invited by the young 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 hands with Shade. He smiled, and his smile was very kind, but his palm was really strong. 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:
"I've heard of you, Mr. Hamilton."