Chapter 154

"Where is Miss Jia Lin Na?"

When the appearance of 【Founding · Silver Moon】 made the group from the Astrologer Society marvel, Xia De asked the black-haired maid beside him in a low voice. The latter looked at him in surprise:

"The young lady dislikes meeting strangers, so you will only see her after you win the bet tonight. Why, do you have something to see the young lady about now? I can go and ask for instructions."

"Not for now."

Xia De said, then reached out to shake hands with the enthusiastic Mr. Mark again.

Before the match begins, the decks of both sides must be checked to prevent forged Rod cards from appearing in the decks. The old Duke's deck had already been checked, so only Xia De's was left.

Xia De's deck originally only had three special cards, and Miss Jia Lin Na had given him two more this time. After the maid handed them to Xia De for inspection, they were directly swapped into his 54-card deck.

Those two cards were the Mark IX from the Primitive Steam Engine series, suit Sun 10, and the Tiss Lake from the Eastern Continental Scenery series, suit Flower 8.

The former's special effect is that when this card is drawn, if at least two cards are already held in hand and all held cards are of the Sun suit, the number of this card can be adjusted between 9 and 10.

The latter's special effect is that after drawing this card, one can guess the number of a card the opponent has not shown. If correct, one can choose whether to force the opponent's card number to increase by one after the opponent shows the card. If the opponent flips the card first, then 【Old Continent Eastern Scenery · Tiss Lake】 has no effect.

In terms of functionality, neither card is as practical as Xia De's Silver Moon, and like the Match Girl, they belong to the entertainment-type effects. But special Rod cards are wealth in themselves, so Xia De certainly wouldn't complain.

It is worth mentioning that the countryside hometown where Little Mia's owner, Miss Mia Sang Gao De, went to, seems to be near Tiss Lake. Xia De had seen it when he was looking up maps and thinking about the "Mia Cat Returns Home" route.

During the interval of waiting for the inspection, Xia De saw that the group from the Astrologer Society was busy and the Duke's servants were waiting to serve on the side, so he secretly asked the black-haired maid a question.

"May I ask if you know what white stone crystal is?"

It was inconvenient to describe the pattern at the bottom of the bottle without paper and pen, but it was quite convenient to ask about this thing that was suspected to be a mineral.

The black-haired maid looked at Xia De in surprise, her beautiful brows slightly furrowed:

"Detective, where did you hear about this? This is not a common mineral."

"Is it very precious?"

Xia De asked nervously; actually, he mainly wanted to know if it was very expensive. Connecting it to the fact that Miss Lu Yi Sha hadn't even heard of white stone crystal, he was already prepared to hear a terrifying number.

"It's not particularly expensive, but it is very rare, extremely rare. This kind of mineral belongs to rare associated minerals. It has basically no use for ordinary people or ring-mages. White stone crystal is produced in small quantities in the Yalahan Desert region in the center of the Old Continent, as well as in open-pit precious metal mines in large river valleys in the New Continent. Its most common use is to stabilize space in ultra-large rituals, but the amount used is very small, and there are many similar materials that can replace it."

As a personal maid beside a witch of the Witch Council, she was indeed knowledgeable.

"Then where can it be found? What is the market price roughly?"

Xia De asked again, his eyes scanning the surroundings; everyone was busy doing things, and no one noticed the conversation here.

The black-haired maid, Miss Difa Schluch Lake, thought for a moment; her voice was very pleasant:

"The market price is hard to say because this thing basically doesn't enter trading channels. Some mineral collectors do like to collect it; the Tobesk Mineral Association probably has some in its collection. And, the young lady happens to have some..."

Xia De looked at the maid, and the maid also looked at Xia De, both waiting for the other to speak first.

"Will Miss Jia Lin Na sell it to me?"

After staring at each other for a few seconds like this, Xia De took the initiative to ask; after all, he was the one asking for a favor.

"The young lady wouldn't care about such impractical items; if I take it directly, she wouldn't say anything. But detective, the young lady has said that everything has a price."

The maid winked at Xia De, then her eyes squinted with a smile on her face. Black hair, black eyebrows, plus brown eyes; this was the hair and eye color the outsider was familiar with.

"Alright then, Miss Schluch Lake, what do you need?"

Xia De asked again, knowing the other party definitely didn't want money. After all, a single piece of jewelry on the maid might be worth several Little Mias.

Difa Schluch Lake turned her head to look at the group from the Astrologer Society who were checking the Rod cards and said in a low voice:

"Help me do one thing; it's not convenient to say now. Your only task tonight is to help the young lady win the match. Later, I will bring that piece of white stone crystal to visit you. You can decide for yourself whether to accept... the commission; after all, you are a detective, and you should be very happy to accept this kind of phrasing."

"I can."

Xia De nodded, saying that if the other party's request was too excessive, he could refuse and then try his luck at the Tobesk Mineral Association.

"At such a close distance, can you feel the maid's ring-mage level?"

While smiling, he asked in his heart again.

【Not a high ring, but stronger than your doctor friend, Lasoya, and the Heart Collector. Most likely a Sixth Ring, but it could also be a Fifth or Seventh Ring. You need to touch her, or even have further contact, for me to give a more accurate answer.】

Xia De nodded but didn't make any rash moves, only unable to help but sigh that even a young maid could have such power. The Witch Council must possess incredible power and secrets.

Because only five cards needed to be checked carefully, and they all had appraisal certificates, the appraisal process didn't take too long.

After it ended, the group from the Astrologer Society walked in front, Xia De walked in the middle with the old butler and the black-haired maid, and the servants of the old Duke's mansion walked at the end. The group of more than thirty people came to the third floor together.

The third-floor banquet hall was actually converted from the dining room used by the mansion to entertain guests. It was obviously not as good as the one at the Lake View Manor, but it was equivalent to nearly three times the size of Xia De's first floor. In the Tobesk urban area, it was rare to find such a large place.

The guests who had arrived ahead of time were already chatting with people they were familiar with, and most of them had brought their female companions. Gentlemen in decent attire and ladies in less formal long dresses were mingling in the intoxicating light of the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. But most of those invited were Rod card enthusiasts, so the topics of conversation mostly revolved around the tense and exciting Rod card game.

The banquet hall's original long table had been moved away, and now there was only a Rod card gambling table in the center, with two simple-styled wooden chairs with backrests on either side.

Along the walls were rows of sofas and tea tables, but the sofas were all uniformly facing the center, not arranged in sets of three or two. Now, the servants in Duke Lu Kasi's house were preparing fruit platters, snacks, and black tea for every tea table.

The oil paintings hanging on the walls must have been replaced temporarily, because a normal banquet hall or dining room would not use Rod cards as the content of oil paintings.

Xia De walked in here with the people, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, very worried about discovering the figures of the female writer, the old priest, the fortune teller, or even the blue-eyed doctor. Fortunately, they were indeed unrelated to tonight's events, but while scanning around, he unexpectedly made eye contact with the young maid with brown long hair, who was bending over to arrange the tea set.

"Hmm?"

The maid quickly lowered her head, Xia De's eyes widened slightly, and then he turned his head naturally, only observing her with his peripheral vision:

"Miss Beiya?"

Xia De couldn't see his own expression at the moment, but he saw surprise in Miss Beiya's eyes just now.

The latter was wearing a heavy maid's long dress and a uniform hair accessory; the skin on her face was covered with a layer of powder, so it looked dull and lusterless, unable to see her normally pretty face. The girl with brown long hair was not very old originally, and at this time, tying her hair with a white lace-edged hairband made her look a bit more mature.

Seeing that Xia De's peripheral vision was still observing her, the latter gestured to him while bending over to arrange the tea set. Xia De understood this simple gesture this time, meaning for him not to keep looking over here.

Turning his head, Xia De continued to scan the guests and unexpectedly saw some people he had met while playing cards at the Lake View Manor, although neither Baron Lavender nor Baron Lu Anda were there.

"What is Miss Beiya doing appearing here dressed like this?"

Xia De thought in his heart, scanning the surroundings while wanting to see if there were any other people from Miss Beiya's ring-mage squad, but there were none.

"In other words, similar to the Lucky Southern Cross Club, this is still her own action... Should I leave immediately after playing cards? I always feel that encountering her will definitely lead to abnormal things happening."

The old Duke, wearing a red old-style army uniform, a white belt around his waist, and a wheat-ear decoration on his right shoulder, was originally near the door, talking to two elderly gentlemen, one of whom had a cube pendant hanging around his neck.

Seeing the door open and the people from the Astrologer Society walk in, the Duke, who had gray hair but looked as robust as an old lion, apologized to his companions and immediately walked over with a smile to shake hands with Vice President Mark.

He was not tall, but he looked exceptionally sturdy.

After exchanging a few pleasantries about the weather with the local Vice President of the Astrologer Society, he stood in place and watched Xia De walk over with Miss Difa.

"Detective, this is Duke Lu Kasi."

The black-haired maid introduced him with her hands clasped together, naturally hanging in front of her, and bowing slightly. Xia De immediately reached out his hand.

"Duke, this is Detective Hamilton, the Rod card player invited by the young lady."

The old Duke's expression clearly showed he knew Xia De's identity in advance, so he reached out his right hand naturally and shook hands with Xia De firmly. He smiled, a very kind smile, but his palm was really forceful. Xia De had learned about this old Duke's identity in advance; when he was young, he was the commander of the First Army of Delarion:

"Mr. Hamilton, I have heard of you."