Shade pushed his deck across for the other party to inspect:
"Is this how untrustworthy all Delarions seem to you? Rest assured, although I look younger than you, I've spent most of this life playing cards."
The young man across from him merely smiled. He did not understand Shade's meaning and likewise handed his own deck to Shade:
"Betting four cards at once is a little too thrilling. Let's wager them one at a time. It isn't that I don't trust you, but four cards are worth too much. Under local law, gambling stakes this high are illegal."
The people around them all laughed. That was obviously just an excuse; he was afraid Shade would refuse to pay up if he lost four cards at once. Shade did not want to linger here for too long, but since the other party insisted, he turned slightly to glance at Claire behind him:
"Would it be all right if we went back a little later?"
Claire nodded, and Shade turned back to his opponent:
"Fine. One at a time, then."
"Clement Kruger. And you are?"
Shade did not use the name John Watson:
"Sherlock Holmes."
"It's an honor to play cards with you, Mr. Holmes. I've never encountered that surname before. Is it unique to Delarion?"
Not everyone who came here was willing to gamble Special Cards. So although Mr. Kruger's win rate was very high, his deck did not contain as many Special Cards as Shade's.
Even so, his fifty-four-card deck contained no fewer than twenty-four Special Cards. In addition, he seemed to have several Special Rule Cards that could not be included because their suits overlapped. The number of Special Rule Cards he possessed was truly astonishing.
This deck alone would have been enough to buy a luxury apartment in