Sparrow was dead, and Shad wanted to respect his last wish and let the story of "Grey Eagle" end unknown at 6 St. Teresa's Square. Therefore, he would not do that task, even if it meant 2,000 pounds, a huge sum that 99% of the people in this world could never earn in their lifetime.
Taking advantage of the fact that he had nothing else to do on Thursday, after having lunch with the cat, Xia De first took his formal suit to the clothing store on Silver Cross Avenue to have it cleaned, and agreed to pick it up early the next morning.
Afterwards, he did not go home directly, but went to the Prophet's Association, which was also on Silver Cross Avenue. After not seeing Luvia for half a week, Shade wanted to invite her out for dinner tonight, and if there was time, they could also go to the opera.
Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the "1853 Great City Players Rhodes Tournament", and the entire Prophet Association has been redecorated. Banners are hung, the interior of the association is re-cleaned, and new paintings and billboards are piled up in the lobby on the first floor ready for installation.
Everyone here is very busy. In order to prepare for tomorrow's opening ceremony, the association is only open for Rhodes brand identification business today, and other businesses are temporarily suspended.
Since the association was not doing divination today, Shade could not use the excuse of "wanting to have divination for cats" to see Luvia. But because he came so many times and every time he specified that he wanted Luvia Anat to do divination, people also knew that this rumored "duke's lover" frequently appeared in the association for people, not for cats.
The receptionists on the first floor smiled and found Luvia for Shade, but when Shade told her about his invitation, the purple-eyed girl shook her head regretfully:
"Tomorrow is the opening ceremony. I even plan to stay in the association today. There are still many things to do. The Tobesk branch finally won the right to host this year's competition. President Stan and Vice President Mark are determined to make this year's competition a success, so I don't have time to go out for dinner with you tonight."
"That's a pity."
Shade could understand that, too.
"But maybe we could go out together tomorrow night."
She smiled again and looked at Xia De:
"I haven't thought about those troublesome things this week. I also noticed that I was in an abnormal mood recently. Let's have dinner together tomorrow night and then watch the opera. However, I want to invite Iluna, she will be very happy."
Although it was not in Shade's plan for the three of them to go out for fun together, this was not a bad idea:
"Of course, I'll go book the tickets first, I hope it's still in time."
Luvia and Iluna were busy, so Shade seemed to have nothing to do. In order to prove that he was also working hard, after leaving the association, he went to the apartment where Ms. Black lived in the south of the city.
Of the four tasks left by Detective Sparrow, only "Help Miss White find her missing sister Miss Black" has not been completed. Shade visited this girl who actually ran away from home last week, but she went to the countryside for a vacation to cool off and will not be back until this week.
When Shade visited her for the second time, he learned from the neighbor that Miss Black had indeed returned from the country. But unfortunately, she left with her luggage on Tuesday and headed for Midhill Castle, known as the "Mountain City" in the southeast of the kingdom.
This is a city built on the northern foot of Mount Sikar. It is the most important entrance to the Rommel Mountain Range that stretches across the eastern and central parts of the Old World. It is also the most important transportation hub in the entire southeastern part of Draurion.
"Midhill Castle" was originally a military castle on the border between Carsenrick and Draerion. It has become the city it is today after three centuries of changes.
It is not only a transportation hub, but also has a very developed tourism and mining industry. Relying on the trade between the two countries and the rich local mineral and forest resources, it has developed a very prosperous steam industry.
Anyway, Miss Black went on a trip to Midhill Castle and would not be back for about half a month.
But this visit by Shad was not in vain. Miss Black's "disappearance" was actually a quarrel with her sister. In order not to worry her sister, she left a letter to the detective who came to look for her to explain her whereabouts. In the letter, Miss Black hoped that Shad could send a letter to Miss White about her trip to Midhill Castle, and she even left a one-pound note in the envelope for this purpose.
The two sisters seem to be very wealthy.
"However, according to the detective records, Detective Sparrow has never met the client, Miss White. She sent a letter to commission him. At that time, Detective Sparrow was somewhat curious about Miss White's identity and therefore guessed that she was a female aristocrat of very distinguished status."
Shade thought to himself, thanked the old man who was about to go out for a walk, and then looked up at Miss Black's apartment:
"The two sisters had a quarrel, and I made a fortune. But why are they sisters, one with the surname Black and the other with the surname White? A reconstituted family? Or some other reason?"
He thought to himself as he gripped the door handle downstairs in the apartment building. He originally wanted to confirm whether the door was locked, but he didn't expect that as soon as his hand touched the cold metal door handle, he heard a voice in his ear:
Outsider, you touched the whisper.
"What?"
He looked at the door in front of him in surprise and took a step back, as if he was worried that some monster would suddenly break through the door:
"There are relics here? I can finally encounter relics?"
Every time he encountered a relic in the past, it was because of someone else. Xia De had never encountered a relic alone.
No, the whispering element is very faint, fainter than the derivatives of relics, and fainter than any whispering element you have come into contact with. There is even reason to believe that no one except you can detect such a slight trace of the element.
"Oh, so it means that a long time ago, a relic appeared nearby."
Now Xia De felt much more relieved, as today was indeed a peaceful day.
He packed the letter and planned to write a letter to his client, Miss White, when he got home, to inform her of Miss Black's whereabouts:
"I hope Miss Black can return safely from her trip so that I can finish this commission. Otherwise, of the four commissions for the detective, finding Mia will be the only normal one."
The time has finally come to Friday, and the "Big City Players Rhodes Card" competition that the outsider has learned about since he first set foot in the Prophet Association is finally about to begin.
The full name of this competition should be "1853 Tobesk City Players' Rode Tournament", and the player who wins the final victory can be awarded the title of "King of Rode 1853" after the competition.
This is the official title of the Prophet Association, the publisher of Rhodes cards, and is recognized by card players all over the world. When playing cards with others, saying that you are the champion of a certain Big City Player is more prestigious and honorable than bragging about how many opponents you have defeated with your cards.
Even outsiders who always claim that they don't have too many desires are very interested in this title.
After breakfast on Friday morning, Xia De went to Silver Cross Avenue to pick up the formal clothes that he had commissioned to be cleaned. After returning home and packing up, he went out at 9:30 and headed to the Prophet Association.
As soon as I turned into Silver Cross Avenue, I noticed that this street was very busy today.
The carriages parked in front of the Prophet's Association almost filled up half of the street. Gentlemen speaking various languages and with various accents gathered from all over the New World and the Old World with smiles on their faces. Flowers and red carpets had already been arranged in front of the association to welcome the challengers.
If Queen Diana's birthday party not long ago was a feast for the aristocrats, then today is a festival for players all over the world.
The opening ceremony was held in the large conference hall on the third floor of the Prophet Association. Only those who received an invitation were eligible to come. The opening ceremony started at 10 a.m. and ended around 11 a.m. The players were looking forward to playing cards, not listening to long speeches, so the main content was to announce the rules of this "Big City Players".
Xia De also walked into the Prophet Association with a smile. As soon as he entered the first floor lobby, he saw Vice President Mark hurriedly coming:
"Oh, Mr. Hamilton, nice to see you. They forgot to put this in the envelope when they sent you the invitation!"
Vice President Mark looked as if he was about to suffocate. He greeted Shade and handed him a Rhodes card:
"This is for you."
The Rhodes cards he handed over were not special rule cards, but cards with only special card faces.
The suit is the Sun III, the same as the founding Silver Moon of Shade. The special card is a silhouette of the Tobesk branch of the Prophet's Association located on Silver Cross Avenue. On the left side of the card is written in vertical writing "Big City Player 1853", and on the right side is also written in vertical writing "0003".
"What's this?"
Shad was very curious. This was the first card with a special card face he had ever gotten. Although it did not contain any rules, he still liked this card very much.
"This is a card from the Big City Player series, and it also serves as a qualification for the competition."
"qualifications?"
"Yes, after paying the one-pound registration fee, you can get this special card for free. You are a specially invited player, so your number is at the front. This not only represents your eligibility to participate, but also means that you can use the cards on the table."
Vice President Mark introduced with a smile:
"Mr. Hamilton, I know your founding Silver Moon is the Sun Three, but you can't possibly take that card out in every game. So, I chose the Sun Three specifically for you so that you can swap with each other."
“Will the Big City Players series cards be sold publicly?”
Shade asked again.
"Of course not. You can only get it after you sign up."
“That’s really nice.”
Shade flicked the cards, took out his own deck and inserted them in. He could only sigh that these fortune tellers were really business-minded.
He admired such business acumen. Although the one-pound registration fee for the competition was high, the unique special-faced Rhodes cards could offset the cost.
Players who really want to participate will definitely be satisfied with being able to participate and get "free" cards, and all the Prophet's Society needs to pay is the design cost and printing cost.
This is a true win-win situation.
The number of contestants in each "Big City Players" competition is around 1,000 to 2,000. Although it sounds like a lot, it is already very small compared to the number of Rhodes players in the world.
It is not only the high registration fee that discourages the enthusiasm of low-level players to register. Moreover, the entire competition process lasts for two weeks, which does not have a big impact on locals, but not every outsider can spend two weeks staying outside just to play cards.
Therefore, "big city players" not only refers to the scale, but also means that the competition should be held in big cities to attract more players. In each competition, the number of local players can account for at least one-third, which can also provide convenience for the association of the host city.
The selected Rhodes players are the real Rhodes masters with strength or money. The players will compete in the preliminary, semi-final and final rounds within two weeks to determine the final winner, who will receive honor, special rules cards of the Big City Player Series and money.
The "Big City Players Rhodes Card Tournament" is a competition officially supported by the kingdom, because each competition can enhance the popularity of a city, and the Prophet Association has spent decades making people accept this kind of gambling behavior. As long as both parties are well-dressed, it can be considered a very high-class game.
Therefore, when Xia De and Vice President Mark came to the third floor of the association which was usually open to the public, they found that today's opening ceremony not only had Vice President Rick, who came from Ryan City, the capital of the Principality of Lagson, the headquarters of the Prophet Association, but also the mayor of Tobesk City Hall, Mr. Johnson Water.
This was a kind man wearing a silk suit and with a big belly, who looked more like a businessman than an official. While waiting before the opening, he even took the initiative to find Xia De and chatted with him about some boring weather topics.
Shade didn't know much about the mayor. After all, although he was the mayor of Tobesk, this was the capital of Draerion. And the current king of the kingdom, Fire Leaper Larus III, happened to be a person who cared more about power. Therefore, the mayor of Tobesk was actually a sinecure in a sense.
"Good morning, Shad!"
Baron Lavender, Shad's friend, and Baron Rwanda, who was at odds with Shad, arrived together. The three of them greeted each other, gathered together, and talked about the upcoming competition amid the noise.
The hall was filled with people, and the Rhodes cards on the wall were collectibles that everyone wanted to get. The men in formal suits were not discussing political topics, but were only interested in the cards.
Anyway, on the first Friday of the harvest month in the fall of 1853 in the Universal Calendar, players who were high enough to be invited gathered on Silver Cross Avenue in the center of Tobesk, the capital of the Kingdom of Draerion, on the third floor of the Prophet's Guild, to celebrate the official start of the "Big City Players of 1853".