The Prophet Association will issue no more than three sets of special series cards each year. The number of cards issued in each set is uncertain, but there will be no more than 54 special rule cards mixed in, that is, there will be no more than one card of each suit and number. It is even possible that there are only two special cards in a whole set of cards, and they will not be sold on the market but will be given directly to people who have a special relationship with the association.
Therefore, it is difficult to get a card from a special series. If that card has special usage rules, you must have money to get it without luck.
Baron Lavender and Baron Rwanda, although richer than Shad, did not have enough money to buy precious Rhodes cards. But they were all Rhodes masters, relying on their card skills to win cards from friends and foreign Rhodes enthusiasts. This was not the first time that such a thing happened today.
The game is played in a best-of-three format, and Baron Lavender and Baron Rwanda must each play at least once, and the remaining rounds can be completed by their respective friends.
Because there are only two people participating, both sides use a deck of cards to compete. Baron Lavender's friend, Mr. Kendara who works at the Prophet's Association in Tobesk City, is responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards.
Two cards are dealt for the first time, and both parties decide whether to stop or continue. In each round, if one party wins five times, the round ends and one point is counted. The party that first gets two points wins and gets the other party's bet.
Bets can be involved in the deck, so after both parties present Rhodes card authentication certificates to prove the authenticity of the cards, the game officially begins.
“I’ve used this deck for 5 years and it’s helped me win over 100 games!”
Baron Lavender said as he leaned against the stone table while waiting for the shuffling process.
"This deck of cards of mine has been on the battlefield with me. Although there are no traces of it now, it has been stained with my blood."
The Rwandan Baron clenched his fists and counterattacked unceremoniously.
Shade activated the life ring in his soul, used the spell Echo of Blood, glanced at Baron Rwanda's deck, and then frowned without showing any expression.
The atmosphere under the grape trellis reached its peak when both sides "made ruthless remarks". Baron Lavender and Baron Rwanda both chose to play in the first round. The warm atmosphere also attracted the banquet participants near the garden grape trellis, but after discovering that it was a Rhodes card competition, only a few gentlemen chose to watch from the sidelines.
Shade was forced to stand beside the stone table, but he had no interest in this fancy gambling. After he wrote down the rules, he noticed the bloodstains on the Baron of Rwanda cards, and then he stopped watching the game. Even though everyone around him was nervous and smiling, he was not infected by the atmosphere.
"What's so fun about playing cards?"
Xia De doesn't quite understand the thoughts of people in this world and thinks that the differences in ideas are caused by cultural differences.
So, he just paid attention to the progress of the game, and his main focus was still on looking around, trying to find out what the woman in his mind mentioned as the big event that was about to happen.
Halfway through the first game, when Baron Lavender began to sweat as he held the cards in his hand, Shad saw that on the side path that was not illuminated by the elegant garden gas lamps and candles, another team of ring warlocks from the Orthodox Church appeared. They came from the direction of Lake Schluchsee and had probably been at the lake a long time ago, but Shad had not noticed them.
There were only six people in this team, but Shad knew three of them. They had met each other at the door of the Exploding Silver Shop, which was very close to the Silver Parrot Milk Distribution Company.
One of them was extremely strong, one had the temperament of a scholar, and the other handed him a church flyer that allowed him to receive relief food on the afternoon when Xia De first came into this world.
"This is a ring wizard from the Church of War and Peace of the True God and Peace Father."
Shade turned his eyes away from the group to avoid being discovered by them. Although the ring magicians also noticed that there were people gathering under the grape trellis, they did not go there, but went around to the courtyard in front of the manor through the inconspicuous garden path.
"Now there are two teams of ring wizards, probably from different churches... What will happen?"
He thought to himself, and then was startled by the exclamations of the men around him. It turned out that the Rwandan Baron had drawn the special card of the ancient fairy tale Match Girl.
Of course, both parties who came to compete in Rhodes brought dice. Although the Rwandan Baron rolled 13 on his first roll, which meant that he could not use the special rules, it still made the onlookers extremely excited, and the short baron himself was quite proud of it.
This was also something Xia De couldn't understand, after all, he didn't trigger the rules at all.
Baron Rwanda continued his "good luck" and won five games in the first round, defeating Baron Lavender. The latter pursed his lips and looked quite upset, but when he stood up, he forced a fake smile and praised the other party's good card skills. The funny expression made the joyful atmosphere under the grape trellis even more intense.
Although Baron Rwanda won, he did not choose to continue the game by himself, but asked his friend Mr. Sick, a local flour mill owner, to participate. Similarly, Baron Lavender also invited his friend Sir Solal, a horticultural artist who worked as a garden manager at Cold Spring Palace.
These two were their real friends, who had appeared many times before, and they were not hired friends like Xia De.
The game started again, and Baron Lavender was extremely nervous because he had already lost a game. But the garden artist was very relaxed, even holding a toothpick in his mouth, fiddling with his mustache with his fingers while explaining that he was quitting smoking.
At this time, the night had completely fallen, and three moons hung high in the night sky. The lighting under the grape trellis was mainly provided by the elegant gas lamps in the garden and the candlesticks fixed on the table by everyone.
Under the warm yellow light, the Rhodes players squinted at their cards, and the men watching were also looking forward to every card being opened.
Only the bored Shad was not attracted by the card game. He looked at the purple grapes hanging from the grape racks and wondered if the owner of Lake View Manor would mind if the guests took away some of these plump fruits without permission.
"By the way, can cats eat grapes?"
Xia De's thoughts diverged quickly, but his main focus was on observing whether there was anything unusual nearby.
As I looked around, I saw two middle-aged gentlemen in black suits walking along the garden path next to the grape trellis with wine glasses in their hands. They were talking about psychiatric topics, such as whether hitting the back of a person's head with holy silver could cure more serious mental illnesses.
Shade saw Dr. Schneider, who was also holding a glass of wine. During a break in chatting with his friends, he happened to glance under the grape trellis and saw the youngest detective in the group.