"Yes, the man without a wish has long realized that he is walking with the devil."
Mr. Asmon nodded and stretched his head to watch Shade and the poet each draw the first hidden card of the second round.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was recalling more details of the story:
"A man without a wish and a devil who granted wishes walked together for a long time. Until one day, that man could no longer walk. The long road called life had come to an end."
Shade and the poet drew the second card. Shade looked at the Star 6 in his hand with a tangled look, and his bottom card was Star 10. After thinking for a long time, he decided to draw another card, and the poet on the side smiled and showed the flower in his hand, Legend of the Nine Heroes·Bard Fletcher, and placed it next to the wine glass on the table.
"Your luck seems to be good, Mr. Shelley. So your hidden card is the color of the flower?"
"no."
So even though the special card was drawn, the young poet did not trigger the special rule.
"The man without a wish finally fell down in a bush of ebony. Then the devil walked out of his soul and asked him if he was willing to exchange all the clothes on his body for ten years of life."
Mr. Asmon recounted, and both Mr. Shade and Mr. Shelley looked at him:
"This is a really good deal. It's a good bargain."
"I think this is humiliating the person who has no wishes?"
"The devil doesn't believe that someone doesn't have a wish, so he proposed such a deal at this moment."
Mr. Asmon said calmly, while Shade and the poet lowered their heads and reached for the third card together.
"'No, I will not trade with you,' the man said. The demon was curious and asked him if he really had no wishes."
The third card, Shad's, was the 2 of Flowers, and the three cards added up to 18 points, so he stopped immediately because there was no point in continuing to gamble. The young poet's third card was actually the 13 of the Sun, which was already a bust just by adding it up with the second card, the 9 of Flowers, the Legend of the Brave·The Bard Fletcher.
But he didn't seem to care. Instead, he was very concerned about the ending of Mr. Asmon's story.
"He actually has his own wish. When his life comes to an end, just like many years ago, he sat on the ground with the devil and talked face to face. The man who claimed to have no wishes said: 'My wish is to seal you with my life.'"
Although Shade and the poet were surprised, they both smiled, and the long-faced man told the final ending of the story:
"He has long realized that the devil has not left him, so he has been walking all his life, just to let the devil stay in his soul, and to find the farthest place to keep the devil away from those he once cared about and loved."
"Is this a compliment to human courage? That's great. The person in the story should be called a hero!"
The poet couldn't help but sigh, and took the roll of banknotes handed over by Shade and counted them. Shade picked up the cards on the table and inserted them into his deck with a smile. Even if the witcher's sword cannot be found today, this trip into the mountains is worth it:
"No, Mr. Shelley, I don't think the story is over yet."
Xia De looked at the demon scholar whose lips curled up on both sides, revealing deep marks on his sallow face:
"Mr. Asmon, I think the ending of this story is definitely not so happy."
"Yes, will there really be a good ending if you walk with the devil?"
The pair of black eyes stared at Shade:
"The devil was laughing, because it had finally fulfilled the human's wish. It had fulfilled the human's wish to be sealed away for life. So, it devoured the human's soul, transformed into his appearance, and headed back to his hometown. That was the direction they came from."
“Tsk tsk.”
Mr. Shelley, the poet, could not help but gasp, put the banknotes into his pocket, and then gathered his scattered deck of cards on the table:
"I thought it would be a heartwarming story."
"No, how can a story about the devil have a happy ending?"
This should be the first sentence Mr. Asmon said to the young poet. When being stared at by those black eyes, the young poet was obviously a little scared, but then he felt amused at his own cowardice.
"Yes, although Mr. Asmon is a demonologist, he is very averse to anything related to demons."
Xia De introduced.
"And what about you, Mr. Watson? What is your attitude toward the legendary demon?"
So the bald, long-faced man asked Xia De again in the dim light of the kerosene lamp. They sat by the wall of the tavern. Because the other side was the kitchen, there were no windows on this wall. The lamp oil used in the tavern was probably of poor quality, so the light was dim and unstable. But fortunately, it was very lively here, so it didn't matter if the light was a little dim.
Shade smiled:
"Treasure your soul and stay away from the devil, that's it."
"Yes, cherish the soul."
Mr. Asmon closed his eyes and nodded.
The young poet was quite interested in the profession of demonologist, so he pulled Mr. Asmon to ask more interesting questions. Captain Rades happened to walk into the tavern, so Shade gathered his cards, said goodbye to the two people who were chatting, stood up and walked towards the captain who was standing in front of the counter and looking around:
"Good afternoon, Captain."
Seeing Shad coming from the wall, Captain Rades knew that he had arrived:
"Good afternoon, Xia, ahem, Mr. Watson. Have you been waiting for me long?"
The captain shook hands with Shade, then craned his neck to look at the wall:
"Those two are your friends?"
"I arrived a little after twelve. I just had lunch and played a game of Rhodes with a friend I know."
"Did you win the bet?"
The captain asked with a smile, lowering his voice:
"The champion of the big city players can't lose here."
Shade reached into his pocket, but did not touch the deck. Instead, he gently stretched out his hand and hooked it. The flower that had just been assimilated by the treasure of the magic, the legend of the nine heroes, the bard Fletcher, automatically flew into his hand:
"Of course I won."
He showed the card to the captain, deliberately covering the card face to avoid the noisy people in front of the counter. The captain took it in surprise and checked it under the light of the counter:
"The Legend of Brave? Oh, I didn't expect to see this series again."
"Have you seen it before?"
Now it was Xia De's turn to be curious.
"Yes, the current commander of the Red Water Camp is Brigadier General Carter, and he has a copy of the Legend of the Brave Swordsman Cybaron."
The Hongshui Camp has a military strength of about one regiment, but it is also responsible for the dispatch and arrangement of other camps in Xikar Mountain. Therefore, an officer with the rank of brigadier general is appointed as the commander of the camp.