Chapter 182: The Missing Child

The lawyer probably saw that Xia De was young and didn't want him to get involved in gambling. Xia De just smiled, putting on a confident look:

"Look at this old deck of mine; do I look like a novice at Gwent? A single round only risks losing less than two shillings. I don't think my luck is so bad that I'll lose every time... Sir, we need something to do on this boring morning."

He deliberately used a heavy Tobesk accent. The lawyer shrugged, signaling for him to begin:

"I do admire confident people."

The surrounding crowd was also excited. Although no one had seen this young man before, as long as the game continued and gave them something to do, they wouldn't care if Xia De was an agent for MI6.

Xia De still held to the idea of not gambling. Sitting at the table now, he wanted to win money to obtain information. Therefore, this didn't count as gambling.

This kind of tavern game didn't have very formal rules. Both sides kept drawing cards until they stopped and counted points. The lawyer might not have had low skill and had plenty of experience, but facing Xia De, who was bolstered by the luck brought by 【Origin · Silver Moon】, he still lost more than he won.

When Xia De sat down, he had already prepared for both losing and winning. But after easily winning four out of the first five rounds, he knew there was nothing to worry about.

At 10:30 in the morning, a pile of small coins and a few banknotes had accumulated beside Xia De's hand, while only an empty glass remained beside the lawyer. The lawyer was sweating, his right hand pressing down on his last card. As his palm moved, his bloodshot eyes trembled slightly, looking at the card that was gradually being revealed:

"Oh, a Moon 9, I've got twenty points this time!"

He slowly exhaled, a relieved smile appearing on his sweaty face, while the three people standing behind him discussed how many more rounds the lawyer could last if he won this time.

On the other side, Xia De also received his last card. He also pressed his palm down on it, and the two people standing behind him leaned in to look with him:

"Oh, a King."

Xia De said easily, then shrugged:

"Lawyer, it looks like I've won again."

"I'm done, I'm done."

The middle-aged lawyer was stunned for a moment, then dejectedly threw his last hand of cards onto the table:

"My luck must have been used up before you appeared. This isn't because my technique is bad; it's the conservation of luck."

He didn't forget to defend himself in front of the acquaintances around him, but he didn't suspect Xia De of cheating, after all, there was a circle of people surrounding them.

"Are you done playing? 20 pennies."

Xia De tapped the table and said. The pile of pennies and the few rare shillings beside his hand added up to about half a pound, of which about 3 shillings were the lawyer's money, and the rest was what the lawyer had won from others that morning.

"Damn it. I was originally thinking of going to find Laura tonight, but now I can only go home and take a bath."

The middle-aged lawyer complained as he went to feel his pockets, while the people around him jeered and mocked him.

"Only two pennies left. But I won't welch on someone else's money. Come home with me to get it; I live on this street."

The middle-aged lawyer said dejectedly. Xia De packed up his cards and stood up too. This was his purpose in coming over to play cards; a guy who gambled in a small tavern like this probably wouldn't leave until he lost all his money.

He had originally planned that if he lost more than two shillings, he would claim he had no money and take the lawyer to a friend's place nearby to get it, halfway there taking out a 1-pound note to ask for change. But now, this plan was no longer needed:

"Okay, it seems my luck is very good today. Do you want me to buy you a drink?"

Xia De proposed.

"No need, I have work this afternoon. If it were tonight, I would definitely let you buy me the most expensive one."

The people watching the card game naturally hoped they would continue playing, but the Laurier lawyer left firmly. He wouldn't play cards on credit; the lawyer knew the bottom line of gambling.

So, they came to the apartment building Xia De had knocked on a few hours ago again. After the middle-aged lawyer opened the door with a key, he originally wanted Xia De to wait downstairs. But seeing him follow closely inside, he didn't say anything and signaled for Xia De to go upstairs with him.

Locke Laurier lived on the second floor of this small apartment building, having rented all three rooms on the entire floor.

In this era, being a lawyer was already a middle-class profession. Although Laurier the lawyer didn't live in a very good place, judging by the furniture and the shoes placed at the door, his income was not low, and living here was probably just a habit of his.

Just like Sparrow the detective's study, the middle-aged lawyer's home was also piled with stacks of documents and file bags. While the lawyer was rummaging for small coins in the shoe cabinet, Xia De stood at the door and deliberately sighed:

"They said you were a lawyer, I didn't believe it at first, but now I do."

"Can't a lawyer go to a tavern to play Gwent? That's prejudice."

Saying this, he handed the money he found to Xia De. Xia De left directly after carefully counting it, which made the lawyer, who thought he had ulterior motives, feel baffled.

Back on the street, Xia De felt much lighter. Judging from the accounts of the people around and what he saw in the lawyer's home, it was basically certain that there was no trickery regarding the inheritance. Although he hadn't seen the will or the assets, he would go to sign the papers with Mrs. Lemaire, and he could help check them then.

In this way, after going home to write the report, the first half of this commission would be considered finished. This money was earned really easily.

As for the half-pound or so of small change he won, Xia De didn't intend to keep it for himself. He didn't like gambling, and even if he kept the money, it wouldn't have a significant positive impact on his life. Therefore, he thought about donating it directly to the Dawn Cathedral in a while, which would reasonably handle the money while also giving him great psychological satisfaction, and could even be considered thanking Father August for not charging for the labor of preparing the potion.

As for returning the money to the lawyer, Xia De didn't consider it at all. He just hated gambling, he wasn't trying to be a saint. Even if Locke Laurier recognized him when he went to see the lawyer with Mrs. Lemaire, there was no reason to say he wanted the money back.

"However, Gwent is really useful. I've also slightly felt the fun of playing cards."

He thought to himself, walking along Queen Mary Street toward the direction of Dawn Square.

There was a candy store on the side of the next intersection on Queen Mary Street. As Xia De passed by, he saw a middle-aged woman he recognized anxiously talking to passersby.

This was the woman who had scolded her child when he knocked on the door of the apartment building where the lawyer lived this morning, but now her child was not by her side.

Coincidentally, the direction Xia De was walking in would take him past the woman, and the middle-aged woman with somewhat messy hair also spoke to Xia De:

"My child, little Roen, is lost. He's gone. Sir, have you seen a boy this tall, wearing a black hat, nearby?"

Her eyes were dull and lifeless, and her haggard expression ruined Xia De's good mood instantly.

"The child is lost? When did this happen?"

He asked in surprise, his eyes looking around.

"Ten minutes ago. I brought him here to buy things, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. I don't know if he ran off to play nearby, or... was taken by someone."

The woman's eyes were red, and the look in her eyes was hard to describe specifically. It wasn't that she wanted to cry, it wasn't urgency, and it certainly wasn't panic; it was a despair suppressed to the extreme. Xia De had never imagined that a certain emotion could be radiated so strongly just through one's eyes:

"Why don't you go to the pol... never mind."

Xia De took a deep breath. In this era, even with the current frequent "child abduction" cases in the city, one shouldn't expect the police to be able to solve the problem; it would be better to rely on finding some clues on the spot himself.

The outsider had gained a foothold in this world, but he understood very well that this era was far from being civilized and orderly. The outsider had long thought about the various things that might happen in places he couldn't see, he just hadn't expected to encounter one so soon.

After inquiring slightly about the situation, he learned the woman's name was Marian Cook, a single mother living in a nearby neighborhood with no relatives. As for where her husband had gone, Xia De didn't ask, and the other party didn't say.

Sighing, since he had encountered it, Xia De decided to get involved in this troublesome matter:

"I'll help you ask the passersby nearby, you go to the store next door and ask again."

Although this matter didn't have a penny's worth of relation to Xia De, since he had happened to run into it, trying to help out didn't matter. Anyway, he had nothing else to do today.

If it were something like a lost wallet, he probably would have asked about the situation and then turned and left. But a lost child, he would help if he could.

Mrs. Cook turned to go to the clothing store next to the dessert shop to inquire. Xia De didn't follow what he said and go ask passersby, but took a long breath and then closed his eyes;

"Echoes of the Past."

His ears felt itchy, and then the noisy sounds of the street were transmitted into his ears. This thaumaturgy related to 【Time and Space】 could only randomly hear sounds from within the last 24 hours. Although it tended to hear human voices, in the street or in a store, this tendency also couldn't increase the probability of Xia De happening to hear key clues.

In the state of "Radiance of Divinity," all thaumaturgy and incantations would be enhanced. And the enhancement obtained by 【Echoes of the Past】 wasn't an increase in probability, but an increase from 24 hours to 36 hours; he knew this from experimenting at home when he had nothing to do.

He tried many times, but not once did the sounds in his ears have anything to do with the lost child. The longer the time dragged on, the lower the probability of finding the child. Turning to look at the haggard woman who was clasping her hands together and inquiring about the situation with the clerk in the store at the intersection, Xia De sighed helplessly.

He reached into his pocket and asked the woman's voice in his head:

"【Fate's Twenty-Sided Die】..."

【You want to gamble your luck for a stranger? The idea is good, but I must remind you, there is only one chance a day. And even if you roll a lucky number, it might not necessarily have anything to do with your thaumaturgy.】