Imperial Crown.

Chapter 191 The Whereabouts of the Holy Emblem

Even though he used many means to conceal his identity, such as wearing a fake hood and a thick layer of fake beard, Raven still recognized Judra at a glance.

Compared to the last time they met, Judra looked more robust, his physique tending to be closer to that of Vesdon, he even had fat on his cheeks, and his rosacea looked even bigger.

He held the cards in one hand and swirled the glass with the other, taking a sip.

"Damn..." Judra muttered.

It’s not because he didn’t get a good hand. In fact, he had a pretty good hand. He said that because the drinks provided by Paramount were too good.

The "Lover" brand red wine produced in the city of Mon'en is priced at 6.37 silver coins per bottle and is provided free of charge.

Judra herself, her daily ration of wine is just a jar of "Liquid Amber" at five silver coins!
Being a gambler in Paramount Hall, he enjoys more than a baron like him!
Judra won the game of throwing cards, scooped up her chips from the pool, blew on them, then stood up and left her seat.

Judra sighed as she looked at the magical lights flickering on the wall.

No wonder Bailetang’s business is so good.

Gambling is one of the most popular entertainment activities. Of course, there are casinos in his Ironforge Territory, but they cannot be compared with here.

The scale is actually similar, but the casino environment in Iron Furnace is very bad.

The air is turbid, mixed with cheap alcohol, sweat and bad breath. It's okay in winter, but in summer, it can turn people into salted fish.

In addition to air, hygiene is also a big problem. You can often see bread corners, fruit peels, fruit cores, saliva and phlegm on the ground. It is as dirty as it can be.

This is actually a common problem in most casinos in today's era.

But the Paramount Hall is different, with fresh air and a clean environment - this is certainly not for nothing. In Judra's opinion, two measures are taken here at the same time.

The first thing is cleaning work. When Judra was at the gambling table, she often saw cleaners picking up garbage on the ground.

They had obviously received professional training and their quality was no worse than that of the servants in the castle. They had a lot of things to do without making people feel disturbed.

Secondly, and what Judra admires most, is the style of the entire casino.

Yes, it’s the style.

The decoration was exaggerated, with magical lights flashing everywhere. The tables and chairs were all made of high-quality hardwood and covered with satin as soft as a girl's skin. Even the dominoes used as gambling tools were polished like jade.

As for the service staff, needless to say, the men are dressed neatly, the maids are beautiful and generous, and the dealers are even more sexy and charming, and their clothes are all made of silk.

Although Bailetang will not refuse anyone entry, such an environment will make people unconsciously maintain a decent posture. People who come in with untidy clothes will feel great psychological pressure. Therefore, even if the customers are not specially selected, the quality of the customers here is quite excellent, and there are very few people who come here deliberately to eat and drink for free.

The nobles are generally rich and have plenty of free time, but their entertainment options are limited. Gambling is a hobby for many nobles, but a good enough casino is quite rare. Judra believes that as time goes by, more and more nobles will come here to play.

In fact, Judra had met more than a dozen acquaintances during the few days she had been gambling here.

Shaking her head slightly, Judra sat down at the counter and threw out a 100-dollar chip as a tip. The waiter quickly brought a plate with a dish called "Eagle Burger" on it.

Two slices of white bread, with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and two plump and juicy beef patties in between.

This portion of food would cost 6.99 silver coins at the Wallace Hotel next door, but here it is not only provided for free, but also without any cutting of corners.

This is really a dish that is very suitable for casinos. It is simple and convenient to eat, and it will not stain your clothes. If you are busy gambling, you can just pick it up and eat it directly. Of course, you can also cut it with a knife and fork and enjoy it slowly like Judra is doing now.

"Why is such a good casino not in my territory!" Judra sighed unwillingly.

He was really jealous of Raven's property, but he also knew that even if he spent the same or even more money to build another Paramount, it would still not be as good as Raven's.

The Colosseum, Wallace Hotel, Lion's Pride Tavern, Crystal Palace, and Paramount Theater: this is a complete ecosystem, and none of them can be missing.

When Eagle Town was just beginning to be rebuilt, Judra felt that Raven had too much money and had no idea where to spend it. Now it was too late to be jealous.

"Humph, so what?" Judra sneered.

Judra didn't know how much money Raven would make in the future, but based on his observations over the past few days, Bailetang would continue to suffer losses for a while.

In the past few days, Judra has earned a full 67 gold coins with a capital of 20 gold coins. Although the 8% commission of Bailetang makes him feel a little painful, he still gets 61 gold coins!

Thinking of this, Judela's mood improved again:

"You open the casino, and I make money!"

When Judra had almost finished the food on his plate, Doug walked over to sit next to him and asked, "Are you coming?"

Jude said, "Of course I'll come. I've warmed up my hands and have been waiting for you to arrive."

Over the past few days, Judra and Doug have come to appreciate each other's gambling skills and have become a fixed partner. Although they may not be invincible, they are also invincible.

Compared to Judra, Doug is actually more knowledgeable and spends more time playing outside. In his opinion, although the decoration and service of Paramount Hall are excellent, what really attracts him is the game of throwing eggs.

Gambling, after all, is a game of human nature, and is not fundamentally different from politics. In Doug's opinion, games like throwing eggs highlight this point even more.

Every time I sit at the mahjong table, I feel a thrill of maneuvering, as if I were a real noble.

After Judra finished eating, the two of them found a card table to sit down and wait for people to come and "challenge" them.

Over the past few days, the two of them have become "famous". Everyone knows that they are masters of throwing eggs, and of course they gamble to win money, so many people avoided them and no one sat down for a while.

Judra took sips of wine. Doug, who had just drunk Angel's Tears, was not interested in this and began to observe the surrounding environment.

The casino is always noisy, with people surrounding the dice table. This dice game does not require any technical skills and is purely a test of luck, so it is also the most exciting part. The people around it shout "big" and "small", and when the results are announced, some are overjoyed and some are heartbroken.

The bridge table on the other side seemed much calmer, with gamblers sitting at the long table, shuffling cards in their hands. None of them looked happy or angry, but the subtle expressions on their faces could still betray them, such as the bulging veins on their foreheads, the bulging muscles in their forearms due to exertion, and the constantly shaking calves.

Doug can judge from these details who has got good cards, who has got bad cards, and who is unwilling to give in.

If he didn't have this kind of meticulous observation ability, how could he be so successful at the gambling table?

"Gentlemen, I suppose you will not refuse to play a game with us?"

A polite greeting was heard and Doug turned to look.

He was an extremely gentlemanly young man, wearing a monocle in his left eye with a black pupil, and with long hair casually draped behind his head. He looked extremely bookish, like a scholar who spent all day in an ivory tower.

Next to him stood a silver-haired girl. Although she seemed quite calm, Doug could tell at a glance that she was pretending. The panic revealed between her eyebrows was real.

What a fat pair.

"Since you two want to play, we certainly won't refuse." Doug smiled gently, "But this is a high-stakes table. The base bet for each round is 10,000 chips, and a game of poker requires at least six or seven rounds."

Ten thousand chips equals one gold coin.

"No problem, of course we have prepared enough chips." The black-haired young man smiled slightly, glanced at the girl, and took their seats.

Judra frowned slightly. Although the voice was different and the appearance was not much similar, he could still be sure that this young man must be Raven.

Even if Raven was burned to ashes, he would still be able to recognize him!

But he did not refuse, because it would be a great thing to be able to defeat Raven at the gambling table and earn Raven's money in Raven's casino!

Of course, Fiona arrived with Raven, and her nervousness was not fake.

Social anxiety caused her to have very few social activities since she was a child, so she naturally wouldn't participate in gambling, let alone playing mahjong, the rules of which she had just learned!

Therefore, after three consecutive games, Raven and Fiona both suffered heavy losses.

To put it simply, throwing eggs is a combination of Landlord and Upgrade, and the winner is not decided by one round.

Having won three games in a row, Judea is now far ahead. Feeling proud, he raised the corner of his mouth and said sarcastically, "It's a bit boring for you two to play like this. Making money is good, but playing cards is more fun when there is give and take."

"I think you two should fold your cards and admit defeat, then go to other tables to practice, and we will wait for you guys, how about that?"

Doug was also feeling a little bored and smacked his lips. “Yeah, I almost fell asleep from playing so much.”

Hearing these words, Fiona's head was about to be buried in her legs with shame.

"The one who wins first may not necessarily win, and the one who loses first may not necessarily lose. The one who laughs last is the winner." Raven said calmly, "Since you two find it boring, then let's raise the stakes. How about 50,000 chips per round?"

Fifty thousand chips equals five gold coins.

Doug thought about it and was about to agree when Jude shook her head: "Fifty thousand chips is meaningless. I think we should just go for a hundred thousand!"

Fiona's eyes widened, and she was a little at a loss for a moment. You know, her annual salary was only five gold coins. After receiving the red envelope from Raven, the gold coins in her own small treasury only reached double digits.

"Okay, one hundred thousand is one hundred thousand." Raven spread his hands: "Let's continue!"

After another four innings, the situation began to improve.

In fact, even in the first three games, Raven's performance was remarkable. It was Fiona who held him back. But as he gradually became familiar with the rules, the pressure of money activated Fiona's academic attributes, and she began to play cards in a methodical way. Occasionally, he would come up with some unexpected moves, which not only surprised Judra and Doug, but also exceeded Raven's expectations.

All I can say is that a top student is a top student and can quickly master anything he learns.

The two fierce counterattacks forced Judra and Doug to take it seriously, but even so, they gradually lost more than they won, and the score between the two sides was quickly tied.

The thirteenth game, the deciding game.

The chips in the gambling pool have swelled to 4.12 million, or 412 gold coins.

Whoever wins will get all the gambling money!

Looking at Judra and Doug again, they no longer have the ease and comfort they had before.

Judra pulled open his collar, his face gloomy, sweat pouring down his forehead, softening his fake beard.

Doug also began to lick his lips frequently and drank the wine that he had originally looked down upon, sip by sip, but he could not quench his thirst.

The girl still couldn't hide her emotions. She looked happy when she got good cards and frowned when she got bad cards. But Doug couldn't get any advantage from her. Even if she got a bad hand, she could use it at the most appropriate time to minimize the loss.

As for the young man, he was even more confused. No matter whether he won or lost, he always had a faint smile on his face, making it impossible to see his emotional changes, let alone judge the cards in his hand.

Two freaks!
There are more than 400 gold coins in the gambling pool now, and Doug has invested more than 100 of them. You know, the money he spent on this trip was only 500 gold coins, and after this period of time, the consumption has dropped to less than 400. If he really loses more than 100 in one go, he will be really distressed!

Absolutely can't lose!
Doug took a deep breath, glanced at Judra, and tapped the back of his hand with his little finger. This was a tacit signal between the two of them, and they began to connect each other's card patterns.

Judra nodded imperceptibly in response.

Like Landlord, whoever uses up all the cards in his hand first wins the game. In this round, both sides go back and forth, and soon all four players have run out of cards.

Judra's lips were already chapped. His desire for victory was no less than Doug's. Every gold coin in Ironforge Territory was precious. If he lost this battle, not only would he lose all the money he had earned before, but he would also have to pay more than forty yuan in compensation!
Damn, this is enough to equip fifty militiamen with leather armor!

He stared at Doug. Next, as long as Doug played cards that Raven and Fiona could not control, he would be the first to be eliminated and secure the victory!
Doug played his cards, and they were indeed a big deck. Judra's mood calmed down a little, because Fiona still looked worried and did not play any cards, and Raven probably had no usable cards in his hand.

But at this moment, he saw Raven leaning back in his chair. This was the first time Raven did this in the entire gambling game, which made Judra feel very uneasy.

Then the facts confirmed his uneasiness. Raven raised his arm and casually slapped the remaining five cards in his hand on the table. "Sorry, I have to leave first this time."

Then the card rights naturally passed to Fiona.

When the last card in Fiona's hand fell to the ground, Doug collapsed in his chair, as if he had been fished out of the water.

Judra's eyes were red. Money was of course important, but the thing he couldn't stand the most was that he couldn't even beat Raven at the gambling table!

He stood up and pointed his finger at Raven, "Y-You must have cheated!!"

"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want." Raven raised his eyebrows: "You said I cheated, and I said you cheated!"

Judra's breathing stagnated. After all, this was Raven's home ground, and he himself was indeed not clean!

"Okay, okay, I admit defeat!" Throwing the cards in his hand on the table, Judra turned and left.

Raven grabbed the chips in the gambling pool, watched them slip away from his fingertips, and a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

This feeling of getting something for nothing is really... refreshing!
But Raven also had his mind set on this. If this wasn't his own place, he would never go to the table.

Moreover, he did cheat, but it was cheating that no one could tell - his place, his croupiers, his dealers, whatever cards they wanted, they got the same cards, right?

"Here, it's yours." Raven took out half of the chips and pushed them in front of Fiona.

"This..." Fiona's eyes flashed. This amount of money was completely beyond her expectations.

She was obviously just here to help out!

This feels like pie in the sky!
"This money is not given to you for free." Looking at Fiona collecting the chips, Raven laughed: "Next, you have to spend some time in the casino."

The reason why Raven said this is because he found that Fiona was very sensitive to numbers. You know, in the past life, big casinos had their own actuaries to calculate the odds to ensure that the casinos would make a profit. This is what Raven wanted Fiona to do.

It was not until Raven had left for a long time that Doug, who was slumped in the chair, stood up, with a hint of refreshment in his eyes, as if he had just taken a bath!

Losing money is painful, but since you are at the gambling table and have used all kinds of cheating methods but still failed to win, of course you have to accept the defeat.

Moreover, he gained a real sense of excitement from this gambling fight, which made his numb nerves excited again!

He really likes Eagle Town more and more!

The time has come for daily prayer.

To be honest, Doug didn't have much respect for the so-called God of Death, and the prayer was just a formality.

But today the situation was a little different. He gathered his people and took out the altar from his storage ring. Before he could start praying, the withered hand on the altar statue suddenly came alive. Its five fingers spread out, holding up a gray-white light curtain. Then a cold voice came out from it:

"…Why are you still here!?"

Doug felt a little nervous and was about to answer when Manda next to him said, "Elder Rudolph, it's not that we don't want to leave. This is Mr. Doug's order!"

"Doug, what's going on? You should know the significance of the Holy Symbol of Death to the Holy Church. Why are you delaying so much?" The screen was in a blur, and occasionally a face as old as a skull could be seen: "You dog, dare you disobey me?"

I'm Doug, not dog!!!

Doug roared in his heart, but he didn't dare to show any dissatisfaction: "Elder Rudolf, it's not that I don't want to leave, but I have found the clue of the 'Holy Symbol of Death'!"

The Holy Symbol of Death, previously left behind in the Nordic Province by the Order of the Hand of Death, contains millions of carefully selected souls.

"Are you serious?" Elder Rudolph's voice was doubtful.

Doug said without hesitation: "Of course it's true. I went out every day these days because I found a trace of the aura of the Holy Weapon on a bearded man!"

This was of course false, Doug didn't find any trace of the Holy Symbol of Death at all.

He has his own reasons for saying this.

Through the ritual, the Hand of Death Cult was able to confirm that the Holy Symbol of Death was located within the five northwestern counties of Nord Province, but could not pinpoint its exact location.

Since it cannot be locked, it is possible that it appears anywhere. Even if someone finds its traces somewhere else in the future, it cannot be said that Doug's discovery has no value.

He was wholeheartedly working for the sect, there was just a slight deviation!
"Manda, is this true?" Rudolph asked.

Manda swallowed and said, "This... I have never heard of it before?"

Doug's eyes flashed with a cruel light: "Elder Rudolph, I really didn't tell him, because he is not tight-lipped. He can go over my shoulder and complain to you today, and he can sell out the Holy Church for profit tomorrow!"

As soon as he said this, Manda knelt on the ground and begged for mercy loudly.

Rudolf was silent for a moment: "Okay, I get it. Since you are concentrating on working for the Holy Church, I won't say much, but you have to remember that I want to see the results!"

After saying that, the gray-white mirror disappeared, and the rough big hand slowly clenched into a fist again.

Doug let out a long breath, glanced at Manda who was sweating profusely on the ground, turned around and walked out of the house.

Official business? Fuck official business.

The guy who could intercept the holy emblem must be no simple person, and he, a mere second-level necromancer, cannot deal with him.

Anyway, there are more than one person coming out, so let others do their work!

He was ready to stay in Eagle Town, no matter how long he could delay. He didn't want to leave this comfortable nest anyway!
"Where should we go next?" Doug licked his lips, his eyes full of anticipation.

Crystal Palace, Paramount Hall...

There are so many fun places in Eagle Town!
At the same time, Raven rejected Fiona's proposal to deal with Doug.

"He is backed by the Death Hand Cult. Although their purpose is unclear, it seems that they will not cause any harm to the Eagle Territory at the moment."

"There's not much harm in leaving him under our noses. Exterminating them will only cause more trouble. There's no need for that."

"Just have someone keep a close eye on it."

Over the next few days, just as Raven had judged, Doug spent his days enjoying himself, and his figure was seen in most of Eagle Town, but he did not engage in any other suspicious activities.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed and it is now mid-October.

The green peaches are ripe.

……

(End of this chapter)