Chapter 293 - Kingdom Cards

Early afternoon, in the city of Plunes in the center of the province.

It was lunch time the busiest time of day for the Everlasting Spring Restaurant. The two storey restaurant occupied the length of an entire city block, sitting at a prominent position along one of the many circular plazas in the city. The high class establishment had dark green shingles and its pronounced wooden framing was painted bright red. A large carved wooden sign hung above the central double doors and displayed its name in bold brushwork.

The restaurant was boisterous and noisy, packed with diners of all backgrounds and origins. Dozens of waiters ran around carrying steaming trays heaped with all sorts of food, but most prominently dishes that featured spring lamb. Spring lamb was the specialty livestock of central Kumin, which was filled with rolling hills and small mountains with plenty of grazing space.

Spring lamb was a special breed that was different than regular sheep. In the spring it grew a luxurious spring wool coat that was as smooth and light as silk. Clothing spun from the waterproof, breathable wool was perfect for wet weather. The wool was gathered at the end of spring before its coat grew rough under the summer sun. In the fall the coat would thin out and shed, leaving the lamb vulnerable to the winter cold. Keeping the lambs healthy and warm in the winter, along with the short harvesting time for their wool made raising and keeping spring lambs quite expensive.

As it was mid summer after shearing, spring lamb was popular on menus as the weak wool producers of the year in a shepherd’s herd were culled. The meat was soft and tender, and more fatty and less gamey than other sheep. Everlasting Spring Restaurant was the the most well known restaurant in Plunes to serve the delicacy, though their menu also had plenty of items for customers with shallower coin pouches.

In the center of the first floor a wide staircase wound its way up to a second floor balcony where more privileged clientele sat overlooking the noisy crowd below. This level catered to merchants, travellers and the local elite. At the back of the second level, a staircase led up to a third level.

On the third level there was an exterior balcony that looked down on the other two levels, but all the tables were in private dining rooms sectioned off with sliding walls. The background din from the restaurant below was still audible at this level, though it was much less pronounced. Waitresses on this level were refined and beautiful and wore colourful red and dark green spring wool robes.

There were four rooms, separated by open space. The walls were made of thin paper which showed the silhouettes of passersby— these were privacy features that gave the occupants peace of mind that nobody was outside listening in on their conversations.

This level had a minimum deposit of one gold coin that also served as the minimum room charge. This exorbitant price meant the upper levels had an exclusive, prestigious clientele: Rich tycoons, aristocrats, and of course, Exalted.

In the south room, Corbin Nao sat across from a middle aged merchant who was sitting next to his wife and family of two young children. The table was filled with half-finished plates of food as Corbin poured a smooth and clear rice wine for his guest.

“Thank you for having lunch with me, Reza. It’s a great coincidence that we were both in Plunes at the same time.” Corbin smiled.

“Absolutely, how could I refuse the invitation? Mr. Zhao and my father are old friends. As the inheritors of our respective businesses, our relationship is already decades old.” Reza said.

“Well said, well said!” Corbin shared a final toast with Reza.

The merchant and his family said their goodbyes, leaving shortly as Corbin remained in the room. A number of waitresses entered as he returned to his seat and began clearing the table and preparing it for the next customer.

This was Corbin’s third meeting of the day, and subsequently third meal. His cheeks and neck felt flush with heat from the amount of alcohol he had consumed, which was also quite significant.

“Ah… being a businessman is such hard work sometimes…” He muttered inwardly. Fortunately, this was the last meeting of the day. He motioned to a waitress, “Call in my guards, please. Also, the bill.”

His security entourage were in a small room near the staircase not much larger than a closet. Rich clientele often had bodyguards, after all, but having them visible was unsightly and not conducive to business. With dining space being at a premium in a restaurant, the bodyguards were ushered into a waiting area that was crammed in a nook in the structure.

Char Char was waiting with Kai in the room, sitting on an uncomfortable chair with a broken back rest. She was wearing her full security outfit including the mask that concealed her face. She sat in one corner of the room, watching Kai as he sat at a small table across from another two pairs of guards whose clients were currently dining in the other third floor private rooms.

A small pile of silver coins was on the table, along with a set of face up cards.

These cards were divided into three suits, red black and gold. Each suit was divided into four “seasons”: Winter, spring, summer and autumn, with four cards in each season making for a deck of fourty-eight cards. This was a set of cards known colloquially as Kingdom cards. It was a popular set in NianXing with its origins from across the Altic sea. All Kingdom cards had these base characteristics, but there was a lot of variety in the cards based on the region the cards were made in, catering to local rules and variations. Sometimes the cards in each suit was numbered from one to twelve. Sometimes only the seasons were numbered from one to four. Some decks even had no numbers at all, but each card of each season was instead unique.

Although cards were considered low class, Char Char knew a few of the games that were played with the set as they were popular with kids and merchants.

However the deck that these guards were playing with was different than the ones she had seen before. In fact, they were even considered contraband.

Why?

Because this was an authentic set of Kingdom cards from across the sea. The ‘suits’ were not just colours, but corresponded to the three divine kingdoms: Red for Humanity, black for Demons, gold for Gods. The four seasons still existed, but the cards also represented the Exalted domains within each kingdom.

From what Char Char could gather: Spring included Nature, Life and Emotions. Summer was Knowledge, Order and Body. Autumn had Spacetime, Chaos and Psyche. Winter contained the last three domains of Fate, Death and Spirit.

In NianXing where Exalted matters were highly secret holding such items would be cause for confiscation or even arrest. But Char Char was fascinated to learn that this was not the case across the sea.

They were playing a variation of a bluffing game which Char Char knew as Year’s Harvest, which was based around the flow of seasons and used four identical Kingdom card decks shuffled together. Players would advance the current round by playing cards of each season, with the goal to reach the “year end” and reap the “harvest’.

This variation was called “Ascension”, though the rules were largely the same. The main difference seemed to be that players had the option of calling out specific kingdoms instead of just the season.

“Black shift, Chaos rising.” A skinny man from ChiuMing security company played three cards face down on the table while placing two silver coins on top of it. He stared directly in Kai’s eyes as he played, even maintaining eye contact as he discarded a card to end his turn and drew a number of cards to replenish his hand.

“Pass.” His fellow ChiuMing mate passed casually.

Kai frowned, looking carefully at his hand of cards as he analyzed the situation. The two guards from the other company passed as well. They had already given up the round. Leaving the young, spiky-haired member of the Red Lion security company alone against the two from ChiuMing. Though this was not a team game, there was absolutely an advantage of having friends in the game. There was unspoken strategy around blocking, assisting and enabling ones’ allies while still playing with the game’s rules.

However, Char Char didn’t have experience in gambling. If she participated she and Kai would be at a huge disadvantage, so Kai played alone. Furthermore, there was another unspoken rule about using ones’ powers during the game. This was not enforceable in practice, but there was always the chance that one of the Exalted at the table could detect the use of active or even passive powers.

Therefore for small stakes games like this one where the players were simply passing the time, the honour system was enough.

After a long while Kai removed three cards from his hand and placed them down with three silver coins, casually announcing, “Black match, Chaos into Fate.”

The skinny man stared Kai in the eyes, hiding his own emotions as he tried to discern Kai’s true holdings. The pile of silver crowns was quite large at this point. It was the largest pot of the session at nearly twenty silver coins, one which heightened the tension at the table.

In addition, “Fate” was a Winter card. It signified that he was ending the game with this move. The other players would have one more turn of play, and then points would be tallied based on each player’s holdings and the players would pay the highest scorer out.

As for the twenty coins in the pot, these were a ‘side bet’, part of the bluffing portion of the game. Kai’s bluff was bold, a counter play to the skinny guard’s previous play. If no one called Kai’s bluff he would win it. If they did call it and his declaration was true, the challenger would need to pay the three silver coin bet directly to Kai as punishment. Furthermore, if Kai also had the winning hand he could win a large sum purely from points.

A thin bead of sweat formed on the side of the skinny guard’s temple as he eyed the large pool of silver coins in the center.

“B…bullshit.” The skinny guard muttered.

Kai smiled casually in return.

He doesn’t believe Kai has it, but he’s afraid to challenge. Char Char thought to herself with excitement. Kai has this one!

Sure enough, the skinny guard and the players behind him all passed.

“Thank you, thank you!” Kai’s smile was broad as he cupped his fists politely and bowed to the other players. He gathered all the coins in the center of the table. The final round of play proceeded without any further upsets and the players revealed their cards to count points. Kai had a ‘chicken hand’, meaning it was basically worthless, however he had already profited due to his big play at the end. After points were tallied Kai paid a small amount to the skinny guard, who ended up winning with a modest but not huge hand.

“Just one more turn…” The skinny guard sighed loudly, lamenting the fast end to the game. He had only been one card away from a monster hand.

A silhouette at the sliding door drew Char Char’s attention as one of the restaurant staff stuck her head in, “Red Lion, your employer is summoning you. Please follow me.”

Moments later Char Char and Kai were standing across from Corbin in the private dining room. The table was clean, but had three fresh steaming dishes in the center.

“Sophie, come eat.” Corbin motioned for Char Char to sit at the table with her ‘guard’ name.

Char Char’s stomach grumbled as she saw the food, reminding her that she was starving. In fact, neither she nor Kai had not eaten since the previous night. She nearly stepped forward but hesitated when she saw that Kai remained standing at calm attention.

“What’s the matter, you haven’t eaten, correct?” Corbin said with a stern but caring tone, “I’ve ordered this restaurant’s specialties for you.”

“I— I’m on duty.” Char Char said, “I shouldn’t.”

Corbin raised an eyebrow, the wrinkles on his forehead forming thick lines as he looked at Char Char in muted surprise, “No one is around, you can take off the mask for now. Come, your grandfather will be mad at me if I don’t treat you.”

Char Char’s lips pressed together in a thin frown as she shook her head.

Corbin glanced at the dishes then shrugged nonchalantly, “Suit yourself.”

“How were the meetings, boss?” Kai asked.

“They were fine.” Corbin sighed, “It’s just work. Even if we didn’t have other business in town, I’d still probably be dragged into these meetings.”

The ‘other business’, of course, was their secret mission to investigate the White Maiden shrine. Their arrangements had been disrupted by the attack of the multi-path ‘mage’ on the night of their arrival. Char Char had stayed hidden with Kai for the previous day while they relied on the police to try to identify and catch the mage.

This morning they had received two pieces of news from the police. First, their attacker had not been caught, nor were they able to discover any information about his identity. Second, that they were dropping the case meaning Corbin and his entourage were no longer being watched or required to report to the police.

This was good news, since it meant they were now free to investigate the shrine.

“Well, if you’re not going to eat, I guess we should be off.” Corbin stood up, putting on his coat and top hat. He turned to Kai, “We need to be careful to not attract unwanted attention when we leave the town.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Kai said, “Let’s head to an import shop.”