Chapter 55: Beginner's Luck

During the wait, Xia De found an empty single sofa and sat down. A group of men next to him, who seemed to have just met each other, were gathered together because of political issues.

Xia De also tilted his ears to listen and found that they were discussing the possibility of a full-scale war breaking out again between the Northern Kingdom Deraerion and the Southern Karsenrik United Kingdom.

But after a while, the topic shifted to the maritime trade between the Old Continent and the New Continent and the topic of pirates. One of the middle-aged fat men participating in the conversation seemed to be a manager of a trading company. He was very familiar with the situation in the New Continent and believed that as long as one had the courage to take a ship to go, adventurers could always win wealth.

The New Continent was rich in products. Although there were no indigenous people, one could find quite a few civilization ruins. Cold Water Port City, as the most important port city in the west of the Deraerion Kingdom, as a connection point between the Old Continent and the New Continent, never lacked opportunities there.

After the middle-aged fat man was called to accept the appraisal, the topic of the crowd finally shifted to Tarot cards. The men who did not know each other compared their decks, showed off the special cards they had newly obtained, or mocked the anecdotes of the Tarot card collectors in the city together.

The middle-aged man with a small mustache wearing a black top hat and placing a gold-inlaid cane beside the sofa was the topic leader of the group, because he possessed more special Tarot cards, one of which was 【Northern City · Art Capital Atek City】 Flower 13, which even had a special rule:

【When used, throw a 20-sided die. If the die number equals 20, you can unconditionally redraw.】

This was a real card appraised by the Prophet Association, so although the effect was very ordinary, it was still excitedly blown up by a group of Tarot card enthusiasts.

The man with the small mustache called himself Mr. Lavender. Seeing that the atmosphere was gradually becoming heated and that there was nothing to do now, he suggested:

"Why don't we play Tarot cards, using the simplest rules. If I win, you need to give me 5 pennies, and if I lose, I can give the winner 10 pennies. Oh, gentlemen, let us pass this boring early morning."

The so-called "simplest rules" meant that each person drew three cards in a row, and the winner was determined according to the rules of 21 points. If both sides busted, then draw three more cards until one side won.

This bet was not very high, and it was indeed boring to chat here, so the curious onlookers gathered around to watch the fun.

Xia De also gathered around to watch the fun, only he had always hated gambling, and even this kind of small bet he was unwilling to participate in, so he only watched from the sidelines (Note).

There were three men in total who were willing to play cards with Mr. Lavender.

The first was Mr. Luke, who worked at a tobacco company in the south of the city. He had just mentioned the tobacco trade and tax issues between Deraerion and Karsenrik, but unfortunately was eliminated directly with a number of 25 points;

The second was old Mr. Pandon, who lived on rent from local properties. His finger joints were large, and his right eye wearing glasses was crooked, but his Tarot card technique was first-class. He fought with Mr. Lavender for 3 rounds before finally winning 10 pennies, which won the cheers of the onlookers.

The last was Captain Sever, who had a strong build. His ship traveled between the water systems of the Old Continent, mainly doing inland river shipping. He was a regular here, and many people, including Mr. Lavender, knew him.

Unfortunately, this Captain Sever's luck was really not good. The sum of the first two cards already exceeded 21, so he could only regretfully lose five pennies.

"Is there anyone else who wants to play?"

Mr. Lavender seemed to be in the mood. After defeating the third opponent, he issued an invitation to the onlookers again. He often patronized the local Prophet Association and various Tarot card clubs and was a well-known card player in the city, so the gentlemen who were watching the fun just booed, but no one was willing to go down.

After all, five pennies were also money.

Mr. Lavender looked around and finally saw this strange face of Xia De in the crowd, and also saw that he seemed to be here for the first time:

"This gentleman, are you willing to play cards with me?"

The middle-aged man issued an invitation kindly.

"Sorry, I don't gamble."

Xia De shook his head, but Mr. Lavender was not angry, instead laughing:

"Then we won't gamble money, just play one round, how about it? My waiting number is 21, it will be my turn soon, we are just playing one round to try it out."

The people around were also booing, pushing Xia De to the front row.

Xia De thought about it. Since he wasn't gambling money, playing once was fine, just treat it as a pastime to pass the entertainment time. So he took the opportunity to sit on the single sofa opposite Mr. Lavender, incidentally handing his business card to this very wealthy gentleman:

"Xia De Hamilton, detective."

"The profession of detective is said to be very good at playing cards."

Mr. Lavender took the business card and was surprised to see the address of the detective agency, clearly not expecting the young detective to have money to open an agency in that location.

"But I have almost never played."

Xia De said while taking out his deck of cards, which was the deck he picked up when picking up Little Mia. Both sides shuffled the cards for each other, then drew three cards from the top of their own deck.

Mr. Lavender opened his cards with an excited expression. His deck was mixed with many special cards with exquisite card faces, and one of the three drawn was:

"Look, Sun 5, Silver Moon 8, Star 4, 17 points, the luck is really not bad."

The people behind him also whispered congratulations.

Because he wasn't gambling money, Xia De didn't have any pressure, so he flipped over the first card and threw it on the table. It was actually Sun 13, and the people around immediately made sounds of regret. Under the rules of 21 points, the probability of busting after drawing two more cards was quite high.

Xia De flipped over the second card, which was Star 7, adding up to 20 points already. But under the simple rules, he could not stop drawing and had to draw three cards.

People were infected by the atmosphere, exchanging views on the detective's last card.

Xia De was also very curious about how his luck would be today, so he picked up the last card, stood it up, and carefully looked at the card number. The people behind him also stretched their heads to check, and then let out exclamations together, and even the woman in his brain chuckled, reminding Xia De that she had always been there.

A smile appeared on Xia De's face, as if the pressure of last night's event had disappeared at this moment. Playing cards was indeed a good way to pass the time.

Throwing Star 1 onto the table, Mr. Lavender, who was sitting opposite, immediately leaned over the tea table to look, and then showed an expression of exclamation identical to the onlookers:

"Oh, 21 points. Beginners always have such wonderful luck, but Detective Hamilton, do you want to play another round? I haven't been beaten by 21 points for a long time." ===== CHAPTER 56 =====