Chapter 316: Mr. Darkness

Miss Princess only brought Xia De to the tavern; she had nothing in particular that needed handling. So, after some idle chatter, Xia De spoke to the bartender about his desire to acquire currency-type 【Relics】.

Relics are not easily found. Although Luvia had been acquiring such relics year-round through the Academy, the Prophets Association, and the black market in Tobesk, she still could not supply enough for her overly demanding "accurate divination." That was why Xia De had traveled, without fear of hardship, to the city of Coldwater Port; as a harbor city, it was accessible from all directions and offered more opportunities.

"No problem. I'll post the commission for you. If there's any news, I'll let you know the next time you come by. But if the deal goes through, the tavern takes a cut."

The bartender said.

"Of course, that's no problem. By the way, do you have a commission sales list for 【Relics】 here?"

Xia De asked again, noticing a long, slender black cat lying on the counter. It was the tavern's cat, seemingly taking an afternoon nap; even with the three of them chatting right beside it, it remained undisturbed.

"Of course not. Do you think this is a vegetable market? You state your requirements, we check the list of commissions for sale by local Ringed Shushi, and if there's interest, we'll arrange for the buyer and seller to meet at the tavern. The tavern only acts as a broker; we don't help you negotiate prices. Wait a moment..."

The bartender said, looking down beneath the bar counter:

"You're in luck. There really is one currency-type relic currently for sale. But there's only one, and it's only Poet-level. Interested?"

Although it seemed like good luck, in such a large city, it was normal for Xia De to have some success on his first search:

"Poet-level? That's fine. When can I see the seller?"

This kind of "luck" should be limited to this one time; once he had searched the city, he would have to wait slowly next time.

"The seller is right here in the tavern. I need to remind you, the other party isn't a regular either. They only came here for the first time a week ago through a friend's introduction, and they've been spending their days here waiting for a ship to the New Continent. So, the tavern does not guarantee whether there is any fraudulent behavior in the transaction."

"I understand. How much of a cut do you want?"

"For small transactions, it's five out of every hundred."

The burly man behind the bar twisted his fingers.

"No problem."

Xia De nodded and picked up the glass of water on the bar, but then remembered he was wearing a mask:

"I want to meet the seller. Also, regardless of whether this deal goes through, the commission for acquiring currency-type relics will remain posted with you for a long time."

"It can only stay up for half a month. Otherwise, if you go and never return, is the tavern supposed to keep track of your commission forever?"

The burly man laughed, tilted his head, and whispered something to the young bartender wiping glasses beside him.

The latter nodded, left the bar, and walked straight toward the wall on the left. After whispering for a moment with a man sitting alone at a small round table drinking and reading a newspaper, the middle-aged man looked back toward the bar.

He had short, withered yellow hair, and the outward-turning traces of his eyelids were very obvious. He wore no mask, and his clothing had no special concealment; the only thing somewhat special was that he wore a red glove on his right hand.

He saw Xia De and Miss Princess at a glance. Xia De nodded at him, and the man thought for a moment, then gestured for Xia De to come over to discuss business.

Miss Princess looked curious about what would happen next, but out of respect for Xia De's privacy, she did not follow.

Xia De sat down opposite the man and saw that on the wooden round table, there were hand-rolled cigarettes, matches, a deck of upside-down Luo De Cards, half a glass of beer, a plate of boiled peanuts, and a thin book titled *Adventure Guide to the Eye of the Storm*.

In those urban life novels heavy with romanticism, middle-aged men with stories to tell usually spent their entire days in taverns like this. But the man at the table was not quite middle-aged; although he looked very mature, he was probably only approaching 30.

There was nothing for two strangers to chat about, so Xia De stated his purpose directly:

"I want to buy the Poet-level relic you have."

"I only accept barter."

The man's voice was very hoarse, as if his throat had been injured, but his Dalarion was surprisingly standard. He looked at Xia De with drooping eyelids, but because Xia De was wearing a mask, he couldn't actually tell anything.

"Barter?"

Xia De shook his head. The only 【Endless Mercury Bottle】 he could currently part with was prepared for his practical credits, and this item might be linked to the destroyed 【Mercury Blood】. Selling it through any channel other than the Academy could lead to problems.

"I don't have anything good on me. Give me a price; I can pay a high price to buy what you have."

He said.

"A high price?"

The man hesitated for a moment:

"What I have is the Poet-level relic 【Universal Currency】. If you mix it with any two ordinary coins of the same type and denomination, it can automatically transform into the surrounding currency. What price can you offer?"

Xia De had heard of this relic; it had been introduced in his first-year course, *The Containment and Management of Relics*.

The Poet-level relic 【Universal Currency】 was first recorded in the 723rd year of the General Era of the Sixth Era. The Church of Creation monitored the abnormal frequency of natural disasters in the Karsandala region of the Southern Old Continent. After three consecutive years of investigation, they discovered that this relic was circulating locally.

The characteristics of 【Universal Currency】 were very simple: its positive characteristic was that it could be used as any other currency, while its negative characteristic was that once it was spent as money, the person who used it would fall into at least ten years of bad luck.

Back then, after the great earthquake in the Karsandala region in 719 of the General Era, the entrance to an ancient tomb was exposed on the ground, causing coins that filled ten large water urns to spill into the city. As these coins continued to circulate in the Karsandala region, more and more local people came into contact with and used the 【Universal Currency】, eventually causing the fortunes of the entire region to decline, resulting in years of frequent earthquakes, storms, insect plagues, and other natural disasters.

Of course, although it sounded terrifying, after the Church learned of 【Universal Currency】 and recorded it, this relic became known to Ringed Shushi as a common 【Relic】. Therefore, as long as they came into contact with it, most Ringed Shushi could identify it, thereby reducing the relic's danger level to the lowest grade.

Because it was relatively common and useless to Ringed Shushi who did not possess spiritual runes with characteristics like 【Wealth】, its value was actually very low.

"How about 10 pounds?"

Xia De proposed, while the reasonable price should not exceed 9 pounds.

"20 pounds."

The man said, and Xia De narrowed his eyes:

"You know that price is impossible."

"I just want to express that I prefer barter. There are no relics under 10 pounds in this tavern, but you can certainly take 10 pounds elsewhere to find a new relic, and then use the new relic to exchange with me."

The man proposed, gesturing for Xia De to think it over slowly, while he reached out to pick up the newspaper he had just put down.

Xia De shook his head:

"I don't have the time to run around for something worth less than 10 pounds. I noticed you have Luo De Cards by your side. How about we bet a game of Luo De Cards?"

"Oh? What do you want to bet?"

The man asked, looking at Xia De's mask, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

Xia De proposed:

"If I win, I'll buy that coin for 9 pounds. If I lose, I'll buy that coin for 20 pounds."

The man only hesitated slightly before nodding:

"Fine."

"I need to confirm that the relic is on your person first."

"Fine."

The man reached into his pocket and took out a golden coin, placing it on the table. The face turned upward bore an ancient rune representing "Wealth." Xia De took one look and immediately received a prompt from the "Whispers" element.

"No problem. Let the tavern's bartender act as a witness. Oh, you can call me Mr. Watson. By the way, there are no special cards in my deck."

Xia De said, not wanting to expose his identity because of Luo De Cards; he was going to use those cards to participate in the "Great City Player" Luo Luo De Pai Tournament in the autumn.

"You can call me Mr. Darkness. There is 1 special card in my deck."

Mr. Darkness folded his hands together on the table:

"The days waiting for the ship to sail are truly boring. I'm quite happy that someone wants to play Luo De Cards with me. Why don't we use some interesting rules? It's still 21 points for Luo De Cards, but each person draws three cards directly each time—two face-up and one face-down—and then we reveal them together. Winning a hand is two points, losing is zero. If both sides bust, both get zero points. Folding is allowed; folding means you get zero points and your opponent gets one. When both sides have exhausted the deck, the one with the most points wins."

Xia De thought for a moment:

"No problem."

Although this was more time-consuming, a deck only had 54 cards, so even at its slowest, it wouldn't take twenty minutes.

So the two of them went to the bar together and explained their idea to the burly bartender. This kind of thing wasn't the first time it had happened in this tavern, so the bartender readily agreed to act as a witness and collected the stakes from both sides in advance.

Xia De still didn't consider this gambling, only a means of bargaining, so he had no psychological barriers to participating in the card game.

The idlers in the tavern heard that someone was going to play Luo De Cards and gathered around, but because of their distrust of the strange Ringed Shushi, they only watched from afar. Only Miss Princess stood directly behind Xia De's chair, reaching out to support the back of his chair.

This lady didn't feel surprised at all that Xia De had gone to buy something and suddenly ended up playing cards. Even when Xia De swapped his card deck and pulled out all the special cards, she very naturally stood in front of him to help him cover it.

After both sides organized their decks, they exchanged decks to check and shuffle them. Xia De thus saw Mr. Darkness's special card; the suit was Moon 9, but it looked very new. ===== CHAPTER 317 =====