Chapter 2304: Parsifal Club's Card Game

"Normally, only those who have signed up with me in advance can come, but since this young friend of yours is so handsome. My girls here all like this kind of man. It's okay to let you participate, but the registration fee still has to be paid.

A contestant can bring two friends to enter. The registration fee is 20 crowns, which I know is quite expensive. But I only keep 20% of the total registration fee as a commission, and the remaining 80% is distributed to the four people who enter the semi-finals according to the ratio of 1:2:2.5:2.5. Of course, the champion can finally get that Rod card as a reward. Once you win, you will earn more than just those 20 crowns."

The registration fee of 20 crowns is equivalent to nearly 250 pounds according to the exchange rate. This registration fee is definitely not a small amount.

"What card?"

Xia De asked, so Mrs. Frey leaned forward slightly and whispered in Xia De's ear:

"【Ancient Alchemy · Dragon Transformation Stone】."

Xia De was stunned:

"Isn't this..."

One of the three expensive Rod cards that scattered in Moon Bay after the merchant died in the rumors.

Mrs. Frey nodded slightly proudly:

"I have always had information about this card, but none of you were willing to buy it, so I got it myself. How about it, is this card worth you spending 20 crowns to gamble?"

Of course it's worth it. The "Ancient Alchemy" series is also one of the oldest Rod card series. Among them, the famous 【Ancient Alchemy · Philosopher's Stone】, 【Ancient Alchemy · Snake Potion】, 【Ancient Alchemy · Elixir of Life】, and 【Ancient Alchemy · Universal Solvent】 can sell for at least 600 pounds at auctions every time they appear in modern times, which is 10 times the price of normal special rule Rod cards.

"Where did you get this card?"

Xia De asked curiously, wanting to know the clues to the last of the three cards, and also remembering that the death of the undercover agent who disappeared from "MI6" was related to this.

Mrs. Frey smiled:

"If you can win to the end, of course I can tell you, but did you bring enough money?"

Thanks to Marquis Morsen this morning, he sponsored the three of them with quite a lot of operating expenses.

In short, although it took a lot of twists and turns, the three finally successfully entered the Parsifal Club and soon found the captain who was organizing his Rod card deck at the table.

Compared with the tall vampire and those big hands, the Rod cards were simply like small pieces of paper. And seeing Xia De and the three appear, the vampire captain said very surprisingly:

"What on earth do you want to talk to me about? You actually chased me here... Wait, you didn't pay the 20 crowns ticket fee for the competition, did you?"

"It doesn't matter, it's not our money anyway."

Mr. Bernhardt said, sitting in the chair opposite the captain, while Xia De and Mr. Albert stood behind him:

"We want to talk to you about the 'threat letter.' Actually, this morning, we already went to find..."

"Can you wait a moment?"

The captain, who was still organizing the deck, said:

"I need to concentrate on preparing for the card game in a while. The 20 crowns fee is not cheap. Can we talk about anything after that? You see, even if I enter the finals, you only have to wait two hours. If I'm unlucky, you don't even have to wait two hours."

"This involves your life safety."

Xia De warned.

"Life safety? I am a person who runs a ship; I will have life danger at any time, but as long as the value of the goods is high enough, then everything is worth it. I don't have this awareness, I can't walk to today. Now, the value of this Rod card game is very high."

Captain Rudolf said this. Mr. Bernhardt still wanted to speak, but he refused to talk.

So Mr. Albert proposed the last condition:

"Then can we follow you?"

"Worried that I will run away after playing cards? Ptolemy, am I that kind of person? Alright, alright, it's okay to follow me, but you can't stand behind me when I play against your friend. I lost the arm-wrestling to him last time, and I have been thinking about finding a chance to get back at him."

The players who came to participate in this card game were all friends of Mrs. Frey or regular customers of the Parsifal Club, and the captain belonged to friends rather than regular customers. And among those players who were very confident, Xia De even saw Freeman Hawthorne, whom he had attacked twice.

However, Freeman Hawthorne was busy talking to other acquaintances and didn't see Xia De. And even if he saw him, he wouldn't recognize him, so Xia De didn't pay too much attention to him.

All players who paid the registration fee counted as 15 people. Because it was not an even number, Mrs. Frey also decided to participate in the competition to make up 16 people. Everyone had no opinion on this, because this woman who was good at dealing with people would definitely not let herself go to the finals.

And the number of 15 people meant that the registration fee collected a total of 300 crowns. Even if Mrs. Frey only took 20% of the fee, she could net about 750 pounds.

Although it was a small profit on the cards, it was a loss considering the business volume of the Parsifal Club that was delayed. But this maintained the relationship with these important guests and friends, and as a local intelligence merchant, she probably had other purposes, so overall, this activity was definitely not a loss.

This kind of formal Rod card competition of course invited staff from the local Divination Association as referees, and the competition officially started after the three Xia De entered the venue.

15 people would conduct four rounds of card games, each round of card games would conduct three small games, and the three small games would be a point system. Those who get three points first win the small game, and those who win two small games first win this round and advance to the next round. In this way, including the halftime break, two hours was just about right.

Mr. Albert followed the captain's actions, while Mr. Bernhardt and Xia De stood together. Xia De didn't meet any acquaintances in the first round, but the businessman Mr. Stanford who played cards with him had very poor card skills, and even made mistakes when counting points, so Xia De won this round without accident.

In the second round, Xia De's opponent was the local noble Baron Lehman. Xia De had seen him at Margaret's banquet last week. The Baron's card skills were not bad, and his luck was okay. One of the two special cards in the deck was drawn by him before the end of the game.

But Xia De's luck was better. When the second small game between Xia De and Baron Lehman ended, the latter looked at the "Queen" card Xia De was holding, touched his chin for a long time before saying:

"So you stopped at the second card, not because the points were large enough, but because the Queen card forced you to stop?"

Freeman Hawthorne was eliminated in the second round, and Xia De actually knew two of the other three who entered the third round. The tall vampire captain looked very happy, and as for Mrs. Frey herself, she smiled and said her luck was very good, and promised that she didn't want that bonus, and would give it to the girls who accompanied the guests to play cards today as a bonus.

In the third round, Xia De's opponent was Mrs. Frey, while Captain Rudolf sat with another fat Baron whom Xia De didn't know.

When Xia De put his deck without any special cards beside his hand, he still tried to see something from Mrs. Frey's expression, but the woman who was good at hiding herself didn't let Xia De see anything. Instead, she said to Xia De:

"I didn't expect you to be a Rod card expert too. When I asked the 'Boatman' about you last time, he only said you were very good at dealing with girls. However, I am curious that there is no special card in your deck."

"I have many girls around me. In order to maintain my identity as a rich man, I would sell it if I got a special card. When I was in the North, I even sold a special card to the 1853 champion of the city players, that Mr. Hamilton of Rejiede."

Mr. Bernhardt behind Xia De pursed his lips and didn't laugh out loud, while Mrs. Frey narrowed her eyes and smiled:

"You have met that knight? I heard he is also very handsome, and relied on his face to win the heart of the beautiful Duchess of the North. I am very curious to see him, to see what kind of face can capture the heart of such a noble lady."

Mrs. Frey's style when playing cards was different from everyone Xia De had played with. She didn't care much about winning or losing, and no matter what her hand cards and the points she showed were, there was always a smile on her face, which made Xia De unable to judge her bottom cards through expressions.

But Mrs. Frey's card skills were a bit average. She kept chatting with Xia De about the local customs of Moon Bay and recent things at the table, such as Margaret's charity speech at the Moon Bay City Hall on Tuesday morning, and that Willendale intended to support manpower and material resources to help Moon Bay get through this riot.

And when she finally lost to Xia De, she didn't show any regret. After wishing Xia De could win 【Ancient Alchemy · Dragon Transformation Stone】, she stood up directly and left the seat.

Xia De stood up with a teacup and saw that the card game between Captain Rudolf and the fat Baron was still in the finishing stage, while Mr. Bernhardt whispered to Xia De:

"This Mrs. Frey is really unusual."

"She is the local intelligence head. Rumor has it that she is backed by one of the 'Upper Three' of the Seven Great Families: Eddington, Hawthorne, or Belindell... Definitely not Belindell. Looking at the means of doing things, it doesn't look like Hawthorne either. Otherwise, if Freeman Hawthorne had an accident here, she couldn't... It's probably Eddington."

Mr. Bernhardt nodded, looking at Mrs. Frey's back:

"Moon Bay City is really complicated."

Finally, Captain Rudolf defeated his opponent by luck and also came to the finals. The venue for the finals was placed in the lobby on the first floor of the Parsifal Club. Before this, the defeated card players didn't leave, and also wanted to witness who would win.

The professional gambling table was placed in the center of the lobby, and the card players and the girls of the club soon surrounded the table.

Except for the deck on the table, only a teacup was placed beside each of them. And when Xia De and Captain Rudolf sat down at the table and shook hands respectively, the sturdy vampire also smiled and said:

"I said when we were drinking last time, we must play Rod cards when we meet next time." ===== CHAPTER 2305 =====