Horrified by the twenty-one in his hand, he merely shrugged on the surface, trying his best to maintain a calm expression. Aside from Baron Rwanda, the other onlookers had already begun to offer their congratulations.
In the second round, Shade saw that the opponent's first two cards totaled 11, but the third card directly exceeded 21. Thus, with his own two cards totaling 16, he chose to forfeit and not draw any more.
Baron Rwanda's expression was already looking off.
In the third round, Shade couldn't quite remember what the opponent's cards were, but when he saw that his own face-up card was a King, he was horrified once again, nearly unable to stop himself from looking around.
Because his face-up card was a "King," he did not touch his face-down card. Baron Rwanda, however, did not have the luck to draw a King or a Queen, nor the luck to draw 21, and lost once more.
In the fourth round, Shade's face-up card was a Queen.
"Are you tampering with it?"
Even he couldn't help but ask the voice in his head.
【The 'Other Me' of a Circle Warlock cannot interfere with reality.】
"But you aren't a typical case."
【I am special because of you; I cannot directly interfere with reality. And even if I could, why would I bother interfering with a card game?】
The whispering voice answered in his mind, still as melodious as ever. Shade also believed the entity wasn't that bored, so he believed its words, but Baron Rwanda clearly did not believe Shade.
He panted heavily. Amidst the excited discussions of the people around the table, he stared at the Queen on the table for a long time before demanding a re-examination of Baron Lavender's deck. After the inspection, a different person was brought in to shuffle for the fifth round. The original shuffler, Mr. Kandera, who was the subject of suspicion, was very unhappy and stood under the grapevine sulking.
"Detective, I don't care if it's good luck or something else, at least this time I won."
Having only received two cards, Baron Rwanda spoke as he flipped over his face-down "King" to reveal it.
Cards that had just been used could not be added back into the game—at least not in this round. Therefore, it was impossible for Shade's deck to contain a "King" or a "Queen," meaning unless he hit 21, he could not win this round.
Shade's face-up card was the Sun 13, while his face-down card was the Flower 13. The crowd immediately erupted in excited exclamations, not because the young detective had finally lost, but because the Flower 13 in Baron Lavender's deck was a special rule card: [Northern City · Atic City].
According to the rules, Shade could roll a die; if the result was a 20, he could draw a new card. Under the current circumstances, if it wasn't a 20, he would indeed lose this round.
Shade, of course, would not use his own [Relic], the Twenty-Sided Die of Fate, to play such a game. He picked up the one Baron Rwanda had just used; this was his first time handling ivory.
The surrounding people immediately held their breath. Shade didn't understand their excitement; after all, even if the die wasn't a 20, he was still leading three rounds to one.
With a gentle toss, the white ivory die spun across the stone tabletop. People instinctively craned their necks. When the number 20 came to rest facing upward, Shade truly worried that Baron Lavender to his left might suffer a sudden heart attack from the excitement.
"This match will be talked about until the end of the year," Sir Lavender, with his beautiful little mustache, said tremulously. "Since I got this card, I haven't rolled a 20 even once."
Shade shrugged, not questioning the man's terrible luck. He took his next card, knowing the result without even flipping it over
"If this card were an 8 of any suit, I would have 21 and win, but this kind of luck is definitely not right."
Using the dim light from the candles on the stone table, he tilted his head to peek from below. After hesitating to observe his opponent Baron Rwanda's expression to ensure the man wouldn't suffer a sudden brain hemorrhage, he finally flipped over the Sun 8.
Perhaps this match could be discussed by the gathered Rhode card players until next year.
"Did you really not interfere with the game?"
He asked in a low voice again, and then it was as if a woman were whispering in his ear. This phenomenon was quite strange, because there was clearly no such space behind him
【Even if I had such an ability, why would I do something so boring?】
"But the current situation is clearly abnormal!"
While smiling and accepting the people's congratulations, he thought to himself that Circle Warlocks could probably master this kind of multitasking.
【You can ponder: what could possibly be the reason for such abnormal luck?】
Shade almost immediately obtained the answer. It was too obvious; he hadn't actually experienced much since coming to this world
"The Twenty-Sided Die of Fate? A rolled 20 will inevitably cause good things to happen? But why is the Rhode card luck improving? What is the connection? Furthermore, the significance of the die must be clearly manifested before me; right now, this is just a guess."
Shade's victory also meant that Baron Lavender had won two out of the three games. Although he hadn't won the first, he had indeed won this round of Rhode.
Although Baron Rwanda was quite infuriated by Shade's final Sun 8, he maintained his grace and, as agreed, gave the Rhode card with the special rule and special art, [Ancient Fairy Tale · The Little Match Girl], to Shade, and gave 20 pounds in cash to Sir Solar.
This Baron actually brought so much cash to an outdoor banquet.
Even though Baron Rwanda had lost, he held no negative views toward Shade. On the contrary, he shook Shade's hand warmly and invited him to play Rhode together when he had time. Shade, of course, gave a perfunctory agreement.
"I put a lot of effort into winning this card."
As the Baron handed the Match Girl to Shade, he glanced toward Baron Lavender. Baron Lavender was the previous owner of the card, and Baron Rwanda was clearly trying to spite him.
"You must take good care of it. I hope to see it in your hands the next time we play. Detective Hamilton, if you don't wish to keep this card and want to sell it, you must contact me first. I would buy it even if I had to borrow money. Of course, as Rhode enthusiasts, it is impossible for us to sell special cards casually."
As he spoke, he glanced at Baron Lavender again, clearly warning him that if he took this card from Shade, his reputation might not be preserved.
The mustachioed Baron, receiving congratulations from his friends under the grapevine, raised his head slightly
"Of course. Shade, you must take good care of this card."
His relationship with Shade was likely not close enough to call him by his first name directly, and this sentence indicated that Shade would temporarily serve as a card custodian for a while.
"Of course, I will take good care of it."
Shade tucked the card into his portable notebook and placed the notebook back into his coat pocket.
Baron Lavender, of course, would not discuss [Ancient Fairy Tale · The Little Match Girl] with Shade at the banquet, but he did want to invite Shade to spend the remainder of the banquet together after this match.
Unfortunately, Shade was still preoccupied with the matter of Dr. Schneider, so he could only politely decline the Baron and his friends. After leaving the grapevine, he walked along the path the doctor had taken, pondering his inexplicable good luck.
***
PS: New Data Chapter - Rhode Cards: A collection of Rhode cards with special rules appearing in this text.
(End of Chapter)