Whispering Verse

Today's Tobesk is destined to be noisy, but according to the schedule, Princess Margaret of Anjou and her party will accept the hospitality of the king's family today, so Shade has no chance to get close to the princess today.

Therefore, after leaving Tobesk Railway Station, Shade did not go to find Miss Carina or search for traces of Miss Sylvia. Instead, he left with a group of people from Dawn Church and was in the church with Priest August. Had lunch together.

At noon after lunch, he received his early winter gift as a core believer. The autumn tomatoes among the seasonal fruits and vegetables were left behind by Shade and shared by Shade and Mia on the road in the heavy fog. The cat seemed to like these vegetables or fruits very much.

Taking advantage of the free time at noon, Shade went to the garbage disposal center in the west of the city and asked if the gems could be reimbursed. Later, at the door of the garbage disposal center, Shade stopped a little flower seller and asked her if there was a market selling fresh vegetables nearby:

"Yes, sir, turn right at the intersection."

The little girl said timidly, not daring to get close to Shade, but she still looked curiously at the yawning cat being carried by Shade.

"Thanks."

Shade smiled and thanked him. When he was about to leave, he felt someone pulling on his sleeve again, and then he realized that the girl was following him:

"Sir, would you like to buy flowers?"

The girl spoke Delarian with a Tobesk accent in a childish voice. Her face was a little gray and her clothes were patched, but she mustered up the courage to stop Shade.

"Forget buying flowers. If you buy flowers, you have to give them away. This is a burden to me. But, this is for you."

He carefully placed the heaviest paper bag in his arms at the girl's feet. After smiling at the girl, he happily walked to the street, ready to complete the task of buying groceries alone.

"Meow~"

The cat on the shoulder wagged its tail and complained that Shade didn't take it home for a nap.

The girl watched the young gentleman carrying the cat and the dangling tail disappear into the fog at the entrance of the street. Then she looked at the paper bag and was surprised to find that it was a bag of fresh vegetables. Shade's boss, Director Anlos, was leaning against the door of the shoemaker's shop next to the city's garbage disposal center, watching the scene expressionlessly.

After thinking for a while and touching his pocket, Sir Dark Anlos, the director of MI6, planned to buy a bouquet of flowers.

After returning home in the afternoon and placing the purchased vegetables in the snowdrift in the basement (note), so that the lazy cat could take care of the house, Shade set out again for Huntington. He had a feeling that the mysterious lake might also be waiting for his visit.

Although he saw the mysterious lake next to Luther Lake yesterday evening, Shade did not think that the lake would appear again in the same place. Therefore, he just yesterday asked Professor Drake for more identities of those who encountered the "Lady of the Lake". After rummaging around last night, he decided to visit Mr. John Rowland who lived in the city.

We still set out from the White River Valley Vineyard, but the weather in Huntington today was a bit bad. When Shade rode into the city, he thought there might be rain or snow today. But when he changed to the carriage and arrived at the apartment building of Mr. John Rowland in the city, although the sky was still gloomy, it still did not rain.

Mr. John Rowland is a local poet who is proficient in Delarian. Although he does not make much money writing poetry, he also does translation work in the bookstore. He is 36 years old, living alone and unmarried. The information provided by Professor Drake shows that Mr. Roland met the Lady of the Lake in the spring of this year, when he went on an outing outside the city to collect materials.

But unfortunately, there seemed to be no one in the apartment at 7 Bishop Human Street, which was paved with uneven checkered stone tiles. But in the end, under the guidance of his neighbor, Shade found the poet playing Rhodes with others in a tavern at the intersection of Bishop Human Street and Garden Pedestrian Street.

This poet was not as thin as Shade had imagined. Instead, he was taller than Shade and extremely strong.

He sat at the square table against the wall, with his right hand clenching his fist against his thigh, and his left hand holding the trump card. His rather sharp eyes cautiously wandered back and forth between the trump card and his opponent's expression.

It is worth mentioning that his right hand only has three fingers, missing the outermost thumb and little finger. Each of the three remaining fingers was wearing a golden ring. After Shade got closer, he discovered that the three rings seemed to be made of pure gold and were antiques with a certain age:

"Are you so rich?"

The poet was obviously left-handed. He placed the cards on the table skillfully with his left hand, and then asked the man wearing a round hat opposite:

"Would you like a fourth card?"

His tone of voice is quite accentuated. This method of trying to use language to put psychological pressure on his opponent is similar to bragging about winning many games before playing cards or bragging about the legendary experience of his deck.

The crowd of onlookers also booed for a while. Shade was among them and heard people calling the poet Mr. Roland "Lucky Roland".

In this round of cards, Mr. Roland defeated his opponent with 20 points and won 20 pfennigs. Among the currencies of Kasenrik, the main currency is Kasenrik krona, and pfennig is a minor currency, with 95 pfennig equal to 1 kronor. Based on the current exchange rate of 11 to 12 gold pounds for 1 crown, their bet is not small.

Of course, there is another auxiliary currency called Orr in Kasenlik. "Eur" is a small pure silver coin. Generally, 1 kronor is equal to 7 eur. The monetary system composed of "crown, orr, and pfennig" is more complicated than Delarian, but this is also related to the chaotic monetary system among the federations when the United Kingdom of Kasenric was established.

The man in the round hat lost the card game and wanted to make a comeback, but because he had no money in his pocket, he was forced to give up his seat to someone else.

Shade did not open his mouth to join the card game, but left from the outside of the crowd to find the bartender in the tavern to inquire about the information.

Both the bartender in Delrayon and the bartender in Carsonlik seem to enjoy trading information. When Shade took out a few small copper-colored coins, the bartender wiping the glass understood Shade's purpose.

Mr. John Rowland is a well-known local Rhodes player. "Lucky Rowland" means that he has a very high winning rate and often defeats his opponents with unexpected luck. He even defeated the "King" with 21 points, which once made the poet a legend among local Rhodes players.

Mr. Roland has two special cards in his hand and often visits the Prophet's Association. Some people have questioned his cheating, but no one has given evidence. Although the winning rate is quite high, Mr. Roland is not a gambler, and he only occasionally goes in and out of the pub when he has nothing to do. He has always been obsessed with poetry creation and is proud of his name as a poet.

"Has Mr. Roland always been lucky, or did he just start getting lucky recently?"

Shade held the glass of ale and asked the bartender. The latter leaned on the counter and looked at the people playing cards in the distance:

"Sir, your Carsonlic is really bad. Roland has only started to get lucky since the beginning of this year. I am not jealous, but I always believe that a person's luck is conserved, so this year it will probably be this gentleman's turn." Good luck."

Although the specific information about the poet Roland appeared in Mr. Drake's information, the former did not say what he traded with the "Lady of the Lake". Although the professor with disabled legs sent people to investigate, there was no result. Now it seems likely that John Rowland was blessed with good fortune.

"I noticed that two of his fingers are missing. Is this a congenital disease or is it due to other reasons?"

Shade asked again. The three people he had met so far who met the Lady of the Lake all had physical disabilities.

The middle-aged bartender thought for a moment:

"I don't remember when the problem with his fingers happened, but he has always been left-handed, so the impact is not very big. This look is actually very bluffing. After all, I saw that my Rhodes opponent was missing two fingers. , people will subconsciously imagine whether he encountered something in an underground casino."

As he spoke and laughed, Shade also leaned on the counter and looked at the poet playing cards through the gap in the crowd:

"Lucky Roland? Yes, I understand."

Because he was worried that he would encounter the same unfortunate situation as yesterday evening, where he found the lake but watched it disappear before his eyes, so Shade didn't waste too much time. After bidding farewell to the bartender, he squeezed back into the crowd watching the Rhodes cards. Seeing that someone had lost his change in a round, he rushed to sit in the vacant seat.

The men playing Rhodes in the tavern were obviously familiar with each other, so when they saw a stranger joining the game, they curiously asked him about his origins:

"I'm a foreigner traveling from Delrayon to Carsonlik. Do you mind playing cards with me?"

Shade shook his deck at Mr. Roland, who was counting banknotes:

"We can play bigger. I haven't encountered an opponent worth mentioning in Kasenlik."

His "big talk" naturally aroused ridicule from the onlookers in the tavern. Mr. Roland, who originally didn't want to play cards with strangers, was also intrigued by the foreigner's attitude. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Shade:

"This gentleman from Delrayon, please make sure that you have saved your own travel expenses home."

"Of course, I earn my travel expenses by playing Rhodes."

Shade slapped the deck on the wooden table and pulled it to the left, letting the deck unfold in an arc. This beautiful move can also show that he is not talking big words:

"Look, I don't have any special cards."

He smiled, and then saw the poet's cautious expression. He knew that Shade was a "professional".

Since Mr. Roland was unwilling to tell others the details of his encounter with the "Lady of the Lake", Shade had to find a way to force him to do so.

Moreover, he was also curious about which one was more powerful, the unknown lucky blessing given by the Lady of the Lake, or the blessing given by the old god [Noisy Black Hunter].

[There is also the luck brought by the impermanence of all things, and the gifts of thousands of souls in Fort Midhill. 】

The voice in the ear reminded softly, and at this time the two sides had already begun to exchange and shuffle cards.

Mr. Roland, the poet, looked confident, a confidence that Schade usually found hard to see in his rivals.

However, Shade did not think that he would be able to defeat the opponent because of his many blessings, so he took this card game seriously, just like he took any of his card games seriously.

Mr. Roland has two special cards in his deck, while Shade has no special cards in his deck. After mutual checks and shuffling, the game begins. Taverns usually do not play with particularly complicated rules. Mr. Roland and Shade played nine rounds in total. Each round was scored with 5 points for winning and 2 points for a draw. After the nine rounds, the player with more points won and received their own point multiplier. Bet 5 pfennig. This is a big bet, because if you are unlucky and lose all nine rounds, you will lose about half a crown, which is equivalent to five or six pounds.

Mr. Roland's luck must be really strong. After receiving the first card in the first round, he just glanced at it and turned over the card with a smile on his face:

"Mr. Watson, it seems that I still have good luck today."

He shouted to the bartender to bring him another glass of ale, and then the poet placed the "King" in the center of the card table. People around him were talking a lot, and Xia De stretched his head to take a look, sighing that good luck is indeed great.

"Mr. Roland, you should go to the Big City Players this fall."

Shade praised, instead of looking at the trump card, he directly asked for the second card. According to the rules of Rhodes, the first hole card cannot be suspended. It is actually illegal for Mr. Roland to not use the second card. After all, he can still bet that the second card will be the king.

"Gather up some crowns and go to Tobesk in Drarayon. Maybe even Rejed's Hamilton can't beat you."

Shade said.

"No, no, you can't say that."

Mr. Roland behaved very reservedly:

"I can probably only beat him a little bit."

The people watching the excitement all laughed. Shade got the third card and asked hesitantly:

"Then Mr. Roland, why didn't you go to Tobesk?"

He looked at the cards, and was about to turn over the hole cards and place them on the table, when he suddenly blinked with something in his heart, and then looked at the back of his hole cards.

Ta~ta da~

The moment his fingers touched the trump card, he seemed to hear the sound of the dice spinning in his ears. It was like [the twenty-sided dice of fate] suddenly turning on its own. Afterwards, Xia De naturally understood that he would definitely win this round.

"What's happening here?"

He was carefully grasping the moment just now, as if he had seen through fate.

[Foreigners, when you intersect with your opponent's luck, you have some understanding of 'luck'. 】

"Are you lucky?"

If Shade can obtain the "lucky" spirit rune next moment, he will not be surprised at all. Judging from his six months of experience in this world, Xia De believed that he had the greatest chance of getting "lucky" at the poker table.

"I remember that one of Luvia's four core spirit runes is [bad luck]. If you really get the lucky spirit rune, what thaumaturgy can be associated with it?"

He thought to himself, turning over his cards and placing them on the table.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

PS: In the summer, Shade discovered that [The Little Match Girl] could make snow, so he planned to build a snow cellar in the basement to store magic potions. By default, he had already built it, but it was on a small scale.