Chapter 1241: Chapter 1241: The Man Who Always Wins
"I’ve also heard the story of Mr. Osenfort restoring the family’s glory. He is truly remarkable. A friend of mine from Draleon inherited the fortune of her fallen family, but unfortunately, she wasn’t as lucky."
This refers to Miss Gawder. At the beginning of the year, when Shard wrote back, he playfully suggested, "I’ll just keep Mia here in the future," and is still waiting for the lady’s reply.
The woman in the black and red gown presented a gentle smile:
"Things will get better, everything will get better."
Feeling the conversation was a bit awkward, she initiated a new topic on her own:
"If you visit not in winter, you can see the flowerbeds I’ve planted in the courtyard. In the garden behind the mansion, I’ve hired a gardener to take care of the flowers, and they bloom beautifully every spring."
Thus, Shard engaged in a talk with the lady about the estate, learning that Lady Osenfort rarely accompanies Mr. Osenfort to the city due to her poor health.
Currently, the Osenfort family doesn’t consist of many mbers; only the couple and so servants have resided here. Lady Osenfort didn’t directly ntion it, but Shard could sense that the master seems to seldom return, spending four or five days a week in the city overnight.
Especially in the current winter season, the dock outside the estate cannot be used, preventing so private businesses, resulting in Mr. Osenfort returning even less often. Shard was lucky today; without a prior appointnt, he ca directly and generally wouldn’t have t Mr. Osenfort.
Of course, this lancholic woman showed no intent to complain about her husband. In truth, her emotions seed sowhat detached; when discussing these matters, there was little lantation, and as Shard talked about his experiences across the Old Continent, she only displayed a faint smile.
Shard couldn’t discern whether this was the restraint of a holy wife or if the woman indeed had so emotional deficiency.
Naturally, Shard didn’t probe into too personal matters while the husband wasn’t ho, as he could see that the woman before him was a traditional holy noble lady. Among the girls around him, none resembled Haila Osenfort, so he lacked experience in conversing with such won.
Fortunately, this sowhat aningless talk ended after half an hour. Mr. Osenfort’s return allowed the holy woman to finally pause her idle chat with Shard, and the master’s appearance upon returning was quite unusual.
He didn’t return by carriage but rode back just like Shard. He wasn’t alone; five or six n on horseback accompanied him.
More precisely, they seed to be horse racing, and as a group entered the estate, Shard keenly heard the sound of hooves. Following Lady Osenfort’s gesture, he got up and walked to the window, witnessing a group of n brandishing whips, laughing loudly as they galloped into the estate amidst the snow.
This scene hardly portrayed a role like a successful businessman.
"He’s always like this."
The pale-faced, black-haired woman stood up to go downstairs to greet her husband:
"Thank you again for returning the ring, Mr. Watson."
"It’s nothing... I won’t ntion this to others."
He knew what the woman was concerned about.
Haila Osenfort nodded, slightly turning her head towards the closed door, then turning back to Shard, extending her fingers as if writing in the air, and then turned to leave.
"Hmm... What did she write?"
But Shard had no ability to recognize "air letters."
["Don’t befriend my husband, he’s not a good person. Don’t visit this estate again."]
"She" whispered in Shard’s ear, and he turned to look out the window, eyeing the group of n gathered in the courtyard, loudly discussing horse racing results:
"Strange businessman, strange woman, strange estate, what story... lies here?"
Lady Osenfort didn’t venture into the snowy courtyard but waited at the mansion’s door for a while until Mr. Osenfort chose to enter the building himself, while his "friends" each led their horses to the stables behind the house.
Mr. Osenfort soon learned of Shard’s arrival, seemingly delighted to et the waiting Shard in the second-floor lounge.
The purpose of Shard’s visit to "return the ring" had been achieved, but he had to stay a while pretending to discuss the Roder Card.
Upon eting, he feigned enthusiasm, shaking hands briefly with Mr. Osenfort, once again confirming that this tall middle-aged man bore no elents of traces.
Lady Osenfort didn’t appear again, but the tea was still served by the maid beside the estate’s mistress. After resuming his seat, Shard distinctly sensed a faint sll of blood on the man opposite, but he didn’t rashly use the Arcane Technique, instead enthusiastically discussing Roder Card topics.
It was apparent that Mr. Osenfort was equally interested in Shard, as they discussed new card decks, renowned card players from Randall Valley City, and even ntioned Mr. Antonio, the scriptwriter Shard had t at the Prophet’s Society.
Before they knew it, it was four in the afternoon, and Mr. Osenfort tried to invite Shard to stay for dinner but was refused by Shard:
"I’ve made plans with a girl for an evening outing in a secluded place."
He said with embarrassnt, and Mr. Osenfort displayed a smile of understanding. Shard rose to bid farewell but was stopped by him:
"Mr. Watson, I heard from the butler you rode here?"
"Oh, yes. I need to apologize for visiting without prior appointnt."
The general etiquette of the ti was that if a guest ca riding a horse or in a private carriage, the host must cover the horse’s fodder. As the host bears extra costs, this kind of visit needs prior arrangents, and Shard’s unscheduled arrival was considered quite impolite, so he apologized at that mont.
Mr. Osenfort casually shook his head, stood up with crossed arms, and asked:
"Mr. Watson, are you good at riding? My butler praised the horse you rode."
"I wouldn’t say good, just a beginner’s hobby."
"No matter, no matter. Before you leave, would you like to have a race with ? We’d run around the nearby paths. I can offer so stakes for the dull winter relaxation; my friends can guide the way, so no need to worry about missing the route."
Now it’s four ten; there’s no rush, and Shard had plenty of ti to catch up with Iluna for dinner. However, he remained cautious of the man before him, and rashly refusing seed odd, so he pretended to hesitate briefly before agreeing:
"Horse racing is certainly interesting, but there’s no need for stakes; it’s rely a ga between friends."
"That won’t do. How can a competition lack stakes?"
Mr. Osenfort chuckled, proving to be far more normal than the emotionally detached Lady Osenfort:
"Then let’s proceed now. Oh, this is really exciting."
The two of them entered the courtyard, and Mr. Osenfort instructed Shard to wait at the mansion entrance, while he went alone to the garden behind the house. Shortly afterward, Mr. Osenfort’s friends scread and rushed out of the estate on horseback, acting as human signposts at the junctions, while Mr. Osenfort himself and the old butler each led a horse over, the butler leading the one Shard had borrowed from Miss Lathis.
Mr. Osenfort briefly explained the approximate route to Shard, and after mounting up at the estate entrance, the old butler pointed a revolver at the sky.
Bang~
As the gunshot echoed beneath the snowy sky, a raven fell from the distance, and Mr. Osenfort and Shard rode out shoulder-to-shoulder.
The race’s course was roughly a loop around the vicinity, crossing the bridges over Elon River on the way. The nearby wooden bridge could bear the horses’ weight, but it wasn’t particularly wide; if a horse dashed across the bridge center, another horse must follow behind unless taught to fly.
Consequently, traversing two bridge sections beca the race’s key points. However, for Shard, recognizing Mr. Osenfort’s friends at each junction wasn’t an easy task either.
Mr. Osenfort was undeniably a professional rider in essence, displaying a sense of coordination and power incomparable to those at the racecourse. He trained in the wild and woodland. He started leading ahead, but as curves appeared, the gap didn’t widen because Shard’s horse was superior.
The horse loaned by Miss Lathis was likely the mount of herself or Miss Benanis, and while Mr. Osenfort’s horse wasn’t inferior, it couldn’t match Shard’s.
When crossing the bridge for the first ti, Mr. Osenfort was ahead of Shard by at least five horse lengths. But when they burst out from the wooded path again, Shard was already closely following him.
The latter part of the course was easier, with more curves, which was more suitable for the horse Shard was riding to sprint.
By the ti they could vaguely see the walls of the estate, Shard had already overtaken Mr. Osenfort, but the latter sohow managed to catch up in the end. When they finally returned to the manor gate, it was impossible to tell to the naked eye who had arrived first.
[It was you, the skull of the horse you were riding is bigger.]
"It’s quite interesting, Mr. Osenfort, you’re really good."
Shard jumped off the horse, and Mr. Osenfort also dismounted.
"If we swapped mounts, I think I’d lose badly."
He said exaggeratedly, taking off his gloves and shaking hands with Mr. Osenfort again:
"Let’s call this one a draw, I really can’t tell who returned here first."
Mr. Osenfort shook his hand with Shard’s, the forr shaking his head:
"I never accept a draw, to
a draw is a loss. You’ve won again, Mr. Watson, it feels quite nice."
Saying this, he waved to the old butler standing nearby, who handed him a bronze shield-shaped dal:
"This is probably so antique, it’s yours now, Mr. Watson. I hope we get to race again next ti."
"Oh, yes, you are indeed generous. I hope we’ll race again next ti."
He glanced at the shield-shaped tal dal, unable to determine which era’s antique it belonged to. The resulting "prize" ant acknowledging his victory, just like in card gas, "she" once again reminded Shard that he encountered a very slight Misfortune Curse, which also barely affected Shard this ti:
"Then I’ll leave first, and the next visit, I’ll make an appointnt in advance."
So Mr. Osenfort and the friends who had gradually returned went back to the manor, and Shard rode away alone in the snow.
[Look back at the house.]
After riding for a certain distance, "she" suddenly reminded him. Shard turned his head while on the horse, then squinted slightly, relying on his excellent vision, seeing Lady Osenfort watching him from the second window on the left side of the third floor of the manor house. Since this lady’s skin was quite pale, Shard instinctively thought it was another evil spirit, then realized.
He waved goodbye to the window and then left normally:
"I will surely return. Although I haven’t detected anything unusual, I’m almost certain sothing is definitely off with Osenfort. However, there’s no connection here with The Chosen and the Crazy Earth, so I don’t need to focus my main energy here... Entrust Margaret to let her intelligence departnt check the background of the Osenfort family and Mr. Osenfort’s rise to prosperity. Rember to remind , I must instruct Margaret not to let her people directly contact the target, just a peripheral investigation will do."
[Why does it feel like there’s a problem here? Your Sixth Sense?]
"Pretty much, although there’s no reaction of elents, there are many ways to hide them. Besides——"
He looked back again at the manor gradually hidden among the woods:
"I have seen rumors that the Osenfort estate was abandoned outside the family for seventy or eighty years. Almost every owner of the estate encountered misfortune as long as they lived here. If this is just a coincidence, then Mrs. Osenfort’s strange deanor..."
He pinched the mithril tal block in his pocket, sensing no reaction:
"No matter what, the most important thing today is the adventure tonight."
Shard tid it well; when he returned to the city, it was less than five o’clock. Therefore, he returned the horse to Miss Lathis, borrowed paper and pen to write a letter to Margaret, asking Miss Lathis to deliver it on his behalf, and then went back to his own ho.
It was obvious that Iluna was taking tonight’s action seriously, as Shard found her lightly made-up when he opened the door in the evening... This probably wouldn’t help in a fight.
Although Iluna said she would treat for dinner tonight, Shard still insisted on paying. When they finished eating, it was dark, but it was not yet ti to set off. Shard thought for a mont and asked Iluna:
"Do you still rember the black market of Circle Sorcerers our group knew about I ntioned before? An independently run pawnshop by an old man. He once said he didn’t want to be too involved with the True God Church, so I told you about other places. Just happened to have ti now, want to co with
to take a look?"
"He wasn’t unwilling to..."
"At that ti, I wasn’t particularly familiar with Old Man John, now I even know what organization he’s from, it’s fine, co with . Oh, you can say your na, but let’s not ntion The Chosen."
Iluna hugged the well-fed Mia who didn’t want to move, while Shard searched his ho for the pile of "junk" he retrieved from the bottom of the Randall Valley City, and the two went together to Old John’s Pawnshop.
This ti when they pushed the door open and entered, there were still custors in the shop, a stranger Three Ring Sorcerer. Shard and Iluna politely did not approach the counter and instead looked at the stacked piles of miscellaneous goods around the shop.
It wasn’t until the previous custor finished the transaction that Shard led Iluna over:
"Good evening, Old John."
"Good evening, Detective, this is..."
"A guest I brought, a Church Ring Sorcerer from the Sun Church, and my friend."
After saying this, he seriously added another sentence:
"Yes, a very good friend. You said you didn’t want to engage with Church Ring Sorcerers, but..."
"It’s okay, since it’s a friend of yours, then they can be trusted."
Old John scrutinized Iluna, and after frowning slightly, evidently recognized her.
"Miss Iluna Beath. This is Old John. He sells and recycles relics, excluding limb-type relics, and can custom-make so useful alchemical items. Besides being very good at haggling, there’s no downside."
"Being good at haggling is an asset."
The old man emphasized, shifting his gaze from Iluna’s face. To have The Chosen co to the shop to buy things was, of course, good. Of course, he didn’t want to point out Iluna’s identity:
"Detective, you do make a wide range of friends... what brings you here today? Have you finally saved enough money and decided to custom make that alchemical longbow priced in five digits of Gold Pounds?"
"No, no, I’ve co to sell things this ti."
Saying this, he lifted the woven bag at his feet onto the counter, opening it to reveal the contents within.
"Why are there ores? Let
see, rings, earrings, coins... Did you rob a jewelry store? There’s even change. Is this stuff legitimately acquired? If it’s stolen goods, then the price will be lower."
The old man arranged the coins and rings on the counter while picking them out, asking.
"Found them."
"They’re all things in the Carsonrick style, no idea where you picked them up."
He took out his identification equipnt from under the counter and then handed Iluna a booklet, which was the inventory list of the shop.
Although the items Shard brought this ti were varied, Old John took less than half an hour to classify and appraise them all. He offered a total price of 1,463 pounds. The large gold ore was hard for Old John to price because he had never directly purchased ore before. They finally agreed to leave the ore there for the ti being, and if soone was willing to buy it, they would contact Shard separately to discuss the price.
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