Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

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Shocked at the twenty-one points in his hand, he simply shrugged on the surface, trying to keep his facial expression calm, and besides Baron Rwanda, the other onlookers had already started to congratulate him.

In the second round, Shard saw that the opponent's first two cards totaled eleven, and with the third card going over twenty-one points, he stopped with his own cards totaling sixteen and decided not to draw any more.

The expression on Baron Rwanda's face was starting to look odd.

In the third round, Shard hadn't been able to clearly remember what cards the opponent held, but when he saw that his upcard was the King, he was shocked again and almost couldn't resist checking his surroundings.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Because the upcard was the "King," he didn't touch the hole card. Baron Rwanda, however, was not lucky enough to draw the King and Queen, nor lucky enough to hit twenty-one points, and as a result, lost again.

In the fourth round, Shard's upcard was the Queen...

"Are you cheating?"

Even he couldn't help but question the voice in his head.

The Circle Sorcerer's 'Other Self' cannot interfere with reality.

"But you are not a usual case."

I am special because of you, but I cannot directly interfere with reality. And even if I could, why would I interfere with a card game?

The murmuring voice answered in his mind, still as pleasant as ever. Shard also believed the other party wasn't so bored as to do that, so he trusted the words, but Baron Rwanda clearly did not trust Shard.

Gulping for air, amidst the excited chatter of the people around the table, he stared at the Queen on the table for a good while before requesting a recheck of Baron Lavende's deck. After the inspection, a different person was chosen for shuffling the deck in the fifth round; the initially suspected shuffler, Mr. Candela, was very unhappy and stood sulking under the grapevines.

"Detective, I don't care if you are just lucky or if it's something else, but at least this time I have won."

After dealing only two cards, Baron Rwanda said, revealing the hole card, the "King."

The cards that were just used cannot be reintroduced into the game, at least not in this round. Therefore, it was impossible for Shard's deck to still have a "King" or "Queen," so unless he drew twenty-one points, there was no way he could win this round.

Shard's upcard was the Sun 13, and the revealed hole card was Flower 13. Immediately, people gasped with excitement, not because the young detective had finally lost, but because the Flower 13 from Baron Lavende's deck was the special rule card "Northern City: Atak City."

According to the rules, Shard could roll a die, and if the die showed twenty points, he could draw another card. At the current state, unless it was twenty points, he had indeed lost the round.

Of course, Shard wouldn't use his own "Relic," The Twenty-Sided Die of Destiny for such a game; he picked up the very one Baron Rwanda had used just before, his first time touching an ivory product.

The people around immediately held their breath, and Shard didn't understand their excitement; after all, even if the dice didn't come up twenty, he was still leading four to one in the third round.

With a gentle toss, the white ivory die spun on the stone tabletop. Everyone craned their necks in sync, and when the number twenty stopped facing upward, Shard genuinely feared that Baron Lavende on his left might suffer a heart attack from the excitement.

"This game will be talked about until the end of the year."

The Baron with a handsome mustache quivered as he said:

"Since getting this card, I've not thrown a twenty once."

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Shard shrugged, without questioning the other's poor luck. He picked up his next card, and knew the outcome without even flipping it:

"If this card is any suit's number eight, then I've got twenty-one points and have won, but this kind of luck is definitely not normal."

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By the glimmer of the candlelight on the stone table, he tilted his head to sneak a peek from below and, after hesitating, observed his opponent, Baron Rwanda's expression to ensure the man wouldn't suddenly suffer a cerebral hemorrhage, before flipping over the Sun 8 card.

Perhaps this game could be talked about by the surrounding Roder Card Players until the next year.

"Did you really not interfere with the game?"

He asked softly once more, then it was as if a woman whispered in his ear—an odd experience given there was clearly no space behind him for someone to be:

[Even if I had the ability, why would I bother doing such a trivial thing?]

"But the current situation is obviously not normal!"

While he laughed and accepted the congratulations, he thought to himself that Circle Sorcerers must be adept at multitasking like this.

[You could think about what might be causing such an aberrant streak of luck?]

Shard almost immediately got the answer; it was too obvious, given the few things he had experienced in this world:

"The Twenty-Sided Die of Destiny? A roll of 20 points that has to bring good fortune? But why would Roder Card luck change? What's the connection? Besides, the meaning of the dice should clearly reveal itself before me, right now this is just speculation."

Shard's victory also meant that Baron Lavende had won two out of three games, and although he hadn't won the first game, he had indeed won this game of Roder Card.

Baron Rwanda, although quite peeved by Shard's final Sun 8 card, gracefully adhered to the agreement, handed over the Roder Card with the special rule and design of the "Ancient Fairy Tale: Match Girl" to Shard, and gave the 20 pounds in cash to Sir Solar.

This Baron indeed brought such a substantial amount of cash to an outdoor banquet.

Despite his loss, Baron Rwanda harbored no negative sentiments towards Shard. On the contrary, he enthusiastically shook hands with Shard and invited him to play Roder Card together when time permitted, which Shard noncommittally accepted.

"This card, I went through a great deal of trouble to win it."

The Baron said as he passed the Match Girl card to Shard, glancing at Baron Lavende. Baron Lavende was the card's former owner, and it was clear that Baron Rwanda was provoking him purposely.

"Make sure to take good care of it, and when we play cards next time, I hope to see it still in your possession. Hamilton Detective, if you don't wish to keep the card and you're thinking of selling it, make sure to contact me first. I'd even borrow money to purchase it... Of course, enthusiasts like us wouldn't sell a Special Card frivolously."

He also threw a glance at Baron Lavende, signaling a warning that if he took the card from Shard, it could tarnish his reputation.

Mustache Baron, receiving congratulations from friends beneath the grapevine, looked up slightly:

"Of course, Shard, you must take good care of this card."

The relationship between him and Shard wasn't close enough for first-name terms, and the statement meant Shard would now be a temporary card custodian.

"Of course, I'll take good care of it."

Shard tucked the card into his notebook, then placed the notebook back into his coat pocket.

Baron Lavende certainly wouldn't discuss the "Ancient Fairy Tale: Match Girl" with Shard at the banquet, but he did want to invite Shard to spend the rest of the event with him once the game was over.

Unfortunately, Shard was still concerned about Dr. Schneider's matter and politely declined the Baron and his friends. After leaving beneath the grapevine, he walked along the path Dr. Schneider had taken, pondering his inexplicable good fortune.