Even though Shad won so easily, Mr. Lavender was still very excited. But unfortunately, his number had already been called, so he could only get up and leave with regret, but he carefully collected Shad's business card.
After the card game was over, without an organizer, people had no intention of playing cards anymore. Shad sat there, confusedly invited to join the discussion of royal anecdotes, and was forced to express his opinion on the conflict between Prince Mogus Cavendish, who understood nothing about it, and the Marquis of Callard, commander of the 3rd Steam Equipment Division of the Army.
Fortunately, his number was finally called. Seeing that he had an excuse to leave, he hurriedly stood up and handed out his business cards to the people around him. This was a good opportunity to attract business for himself. Those who played Rhodes were all rich people.
He pushed open the side door of the room and walked in, of course he did not forget to close the door. The last Rhodes collector who entered here had already left through the main door of the room. At this time, there was only an old man behind the desk in the room. He yawned and asked Shade to sit down.
The room was not big, and could even be said to be a little cramped. There were only some picture frames on the wall as decoration, and the table of the Rhodes card appraiser took up almost a quarter of the room.
When he sat down, Shade also noticed that in addition to several gas lamps and various lenses on the table, there was also a rather obvious black metal box, which was filled with torn Rhodes cards. On the top was the "Flower 1" card from the Draerion Hero series that Mr. Lavender showed off to everyone. It didn't have any special effects, but the card face was very beautiful, but it was also a fake.
"Did you know that the forged Rhodes cards will be torn up?"
The old man with glasses asked, and when Shade nodded, he signaled him that he could show the cards to be identified.
He carefully opened the diary, took out the founder of "Sun 3" Silver Moon and placed it on the cushion on the table. The old man wearing gloves reached out to take it, took a look and frowned:
"Silver Moon from the founding series?"
He looked up at Xia De as if he was looking at a mental patient, obviously not believing that anyone would come to identify this.
But he still dutifully pulled over the gas lamp at the lotus mouth closest to him, adjusted the light to the strongest, and picked up the magnifying glass to examine the details of the card under the light.
Xia De, who was waiting for the lottery ticket he had picked up, suddenly felt less nervous. But the person sitting on the other side of the table became more nervous as time went on. It was almost dozens of minutes later that he raised his head and looked at Xia De seriously. His forehead, which was covered by his hair, was already sweating:
"Silver Moon from the founding series?"
It was the same question that Shade had asked when he sat down, but the tone was completely different.
Xia De, who probably understood the result, just shook his head:
"Maybe."
He said this very reservedly. Even though he thought he could control his emotions, he couldn't contain his joy when the moment came.
"Oh, sir, wait a moment, please wait a moment. I can't identify this card. I'll ask someone else to come."
The old appraiser trembled as he returned the cards to Shade, took off his glasses, picked up a towel from the shelf nearby, wiped his face, then ran around the table to the door:
"Sir, don't run away. I'll be back soon! Give me three minutes."
The voice began to tremble.
"Why would I run?"
Shade thought to himself, watching the door close.
Then he looked down at the founding Silver Moon "Sun 3" card, and saw the lady holding up the silver moon sideways on the card:
"Speaking of which, Yin Yue and I really do have an inexplicable fate."
The old appraiser hurried back in less than three minutes, or even less than one minute. He held the door frame, looking like he was almost suffocated from running:
"Great sir, you're still here."
"Why am I not here?"
Xia De thought to himself, picked up the cards and stood up. At this time, he heard the sound of running in the corridor behind the old appraiser, and soon saw a tall and thin middle-aged man wearing black leather shoes running over. He was wearing a black formal suit and a brooch with the Ouroboros logo:
"Cyndia Mark, Vice President of the Tobesk branch of the Prophet Association."
The middle-aged man walked past the old appraiser while panting and shook hands with Xia De.
"You'd better catch your breath before you talk. I won't run away."
Xia De said, and then asked in a low voice:
"So, is this card of mine real?"
Mr. Mark invited Xia De to the third floor of the association for a talk. This time it was a very formal reception room, and there were even servants hired by the association to prepare tea for the guests.
Xia De sat down on the sofa in the reception room. After Mr. Mark sat down, two appraisers who were probably older than Father Augustus hurried over.
"We need to do further identification on this founding series silver moon, but it is right here, in front of you. Sir, can you wait a moment?"
Vice President Cynthia Mark wiped his sweat as he spoke, and Shad keenly noticed that the collar of his shirt under his formal suit was soaked with sweat.
"Of course, but the cost of the appraisal..."
Xia De hesitated deliberately.
"It's still fivepence, of course. You don't have to pay more."
Mr. Mark said, taking the business card handed to him by Shad, and was as surprised as Mr. Lavender just now at the address of "No. 6 St. Teresa's Square".
He asked again:
"Mr. Hamilton, would you like something to eat?"
"I don't think so for now."
Xia De waved his hand. Although the Prophet Association was a formal world organization and would not kill people to steal their cards, as a stranger with no one to rely on and no power, it was better to be cautious when going out.
He looked at the three old appraisers who had been hastily summoned. They had already spread out a dense array of tools and lenses on the long table on the other side of the reception room, and turned on all kinds of strange lamps brought by the servants. The curtains of the grand French windows in the reception room were closed, shutting out the silhouette of the Yodel Palace in the morning mist:
"Regarding this Creation Silver Moon... If it were real, I don't think the association would publicize it."
Shade didn't look at Mr. Mark, but spoke unconsciously.
"Of course, the association is absolutely fair in terms of Rhodes cards and will never harm the interests of any collector. This is our purpose."
Mr. Sindia Mark assured that Shad, who tacitly owns the card, is a collector.
He looked at Xia De with the corner of his eyes. He was well-dressed but did not look rich. He just had a unique temperament. After hesitating for a while, Vice President Mark asked:
"Then would you mind telling us the origin of this card? I don't mean anything else, but the last time the association saw it was about 127 years ago at the 'Big City Players' Rhodes card competition. That year, Baron Stilwell Byron entered the finals with this card and stole the show. The association wants to record the whereabouts of this card over the past hundred years. I never thought that I would have the honor of seeing it."