Shade also said a few words about immigration, but he was actually rubbing the small box in his pocket that contained the twenty-sided dice of the relic's fate. While listening to the conversation about the feasibility of immigration, his eyes unconsciously looked around, and then he saw Mr. Lawrence. There was a photo of him in the report left by Detective Sparrow, and Shade had seen him at the door of the club not long ago.
"Huh? Why is he here? Are all my acquaintances here? ... Lawrence is a big factory owner, so it's no problem for him to be invited to this kind of party."
Xia De thought to himself and looked away, wanting to see if there was any delicious goat milk pudding on the table, thinking of bringing some back for the orange cat that was fostered at home.
But suddenly, the young detective thought of another question:
"Since Mr. Lawrence is wearing such a formal suit to attend the Lake View Manor banquet, it makes no sense that he would not have a female companion. Is Mrs. Lawrence here too?"
He glanced carefully out of the corner of his eye again and saw that the person standing next to Mr. Lawrence was Mrs. Lazoya, who was wearing a red floor-length dress with a ruffled neckline. The "woman", who was still wearing the pebble ring, looked unusually gorgeous in this night.
"Oh, something big is going to happen. Will the helper that Mrs. Lawrence found fight with Lazoya here?"
He looked away, wondering whether he should leave. But suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind, which frightened Shade, who thought that Lady Lazoya had come to see him.
But when he turned around, he found that it was his employer for the night, Baron Lavender, followed by several gentlemen of the same age.
"Oh, my Mr. Dawn! It's really Hamilton, we haven't seen each other for a long time!"
The middle-aged man who loved Rhodes said in a very exaggerated tone, winking at Shade and reaching out to hold his hand.
"Yes, it's been a long time, Mr. Lavender."
Xia De immediately understood what he meant:
"The last time I saw you and played Rhodes with you was three years ago, right?"
In order to show his importance to the commission, Xia De also said in an exaggerated and enthusiastic tone:
"What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet you here."
"Yes, what a coincidence, this must be God's arrangement. Speaking of which, these people are my friends. I want to go over there with them to play Rhodes. Do you want to come with us? If there is anything else..."
As he spoke, Mr. Lavender shook his hand, which was clasped with Shad's. Shad believed that if he did not agree to the other party, he would never be let go easily.
"Of course we can go together. Oh, gentlemen, let's play Rhodes together to while away this boring night. The banquet is certainly interesting, and Lake View Manor is also very nice, but Rhodes is indeed the best. This is my business card..."
While handing out cards to Mr. Lavender's upper-class friends, Shad saw the Baron secretly making a "well done" gesture to him.
While greeting Baron Lavender's friends warmly, he saw Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Lazoya walking towards Lakeview Manor out of the corner of his eye. Then he felt relieved and walked to the back of the manor with Baron Lavender and his party. The exciting Rhodes card competition was about to begin.
On the way, the group also exchanged their own interesting stories about Rhodes cards, discussed the news of special cards appearing on the market, and speculated on the number and theme of special Rhodes cards that the Prophet Association will launch this summer.
In order to better complete the commission, Xia De also participated in it.
"I even heard a rumor that a founding series Rhodes card appeared in Tobesk."
He said to everyone in an exaggerated tone, and although it was hard to say whether a few people believed such a thing, people still showed surprised expressions. The group of people were all Rhodes card enthusiasts, and it was impossible for them not to know the "Founding Series" cards.
"Not long ago, I went to the Prophet Association to do some work, and I heard Vice President Cynthia Mark talking about this with others on the third floor. But it's hard to say whether it's true, after all, it was a card from hundreds of years ago. However, if there really is a founding series card, I would really like to take a look."
Xia De shared his interesting stories, and because of his love for Rhodes cards and his wide network of contacts, he quickly went from being a stranger to being accepted as a friend.
When the group arrived at the stone table under the grape trellis, no one thought about why Xia De came to join in the fun.
Lord Lavender was very pleased with the young detective he had hired.
Baron Lavender's Rhodes opponent, Baron Rwanda, is a middle-aged gentleman of similar age to him, but very short. Shade is reluctant to use words like "dwarf" to describe others, but in fact this word is quite appropriate.
Although he had a height problem, Baron Rwanda, whose facial features seemed to be all rubbed on his face, looked extremely shrewd. Like Baron Lavender, he also came to participate in the card game with a group of friends who loved Rhodes cards.
When the group met under the grape trellis, nothing unpleasant happened. The two barons exchanged a few polite words, introduced their friends to each other, and talked about the dinner at Lake View Manor and today's weather, and then sat on both sides of the stone table.
The men they brought immediately surrounded the stone table instead of just standing behind them. Everyone's face was filled with excitement and excitement, as if the atmosphere had changed at this moment.
This doesn't seem like gamblers simply pursuing excitement, but more like they are looking forward to a wonderful story series or an interesting opera.
Because of Baron Lavender's special arrangement, Shad stood closest to the stone table.
He saw the two barons take out their own bets. Baron Lavender's was his only Rhodes card with special rules, which was a flower 13 from the "Northern Cities" series of cards, that is, the card that can be redrawn when the dice rolls 20 points. The card face was a silhouette of the art capital Artek.
The bet that the Rwandan Baron took out was of course the Rhodes cards with special rules. He very deliberately placed his two special rule cards on the table, and waited until the gentlemen watching saw them before picking out one of them and putting it aside as a bet.
It was the card Star 6 from the "Ancient Fairy Tales" series, and the card face was the "Match Girl" that Baron Lavender mentioned last time.
However, the conditions for using the special rules of the ancient fairy tale Match Girl are more stringent than those of Baron Lavender's northern city Artek City. You must roll 10 or 20 twice in a row on the 20-sided dice to adjust the card number within 6 or 7.
Although there are special rule cards in Rhodes, most of them have strict usage conditions. This ensures that Rhodes competition can be interesting while ensuring relative fairness.
It is very rare to have a card like Silver Moon, the Founding of Shade, that allows you to use special rules directly after drawing it.