Chapter 344

She totally said ‘the Fool’ while looking my way.

“Um, excuse me?”

I blurted out, prompting the woman to widen her eyes in surprise.

“Ah– oh. Sorry, I was in the middle of training.”

Flustered, she hurried to apologize to me.

And the eerie aura in her eyes is gone now.

Still, training, huh? Training what exactly?

While I tilted my head curiously, the woman trotted over to me.

“Here, check this out.”

Saying that, she handed me a card.

It’s got a picture of a man standing atop a cliff.

“Is this for… fortune telling?”

“Yup, that’s right! See, I’m traveling all over the place while practicing my fortune-telling skills! Came down from the north and ended up here in T’oued, and business seemed especially good here. I mean, they even got a couple of Shamanesses who actually prophesize stuff! Well, I don’t have all the time in the world, so I just practiced while walking around, and you just kinda caught my eye, I guess? And that’s the card I drew for you!”

The woman explained VERY quickly, poking at the card in my hand.

“So, wanna give it a try?”

“Uh, no, I’m busy–“

While I was saying that, I was grabbed and pulled to the side of the road.

“H-hey–!”

“C’mon, I’ll give you a discount!”

Welp, looks like fate has dictated that I’d spend some money today.

And I’m in a hurry to meet Kaoru and Jun’ko, too…

I heaved a sigh and showed the woman the palms of my hands.

“Thanks a bunch! Now, here we go!”

“–!?”

For a moment, I opened my eyes wide, startled.

The fortune teller started chanting, causing her deck of cards to fly in the air, and five of the cards laid face-down in the shape of a cross.

Then a sixth card was laid over the card in the center, forming a smaller cross.

…It’s an application of repelling arcane energy similar to what I do to simplify the invocations of fixed-position type Spell Circles.

Who the hell is she…?

“This is my original reading method I’m using, you know. The card on the top represents the meaning of your future, the two on the sides are the present, and the bottom one is your past.”

“…What about ones forming the small cross in the center?”

“That’s the… ‘core,’ so to speak, and they represent your whole being. The one on the top is in the upright position, and the one on the bottom is reversed.”

“Upright? Reversed?”

“It means their readings will be the good and bad meanings of the cards, respectively, pretty much.”

Oh-ho, two sets of meanings for each card? Talk about convenient.

“Now, let’s start from your past.”

The woman proceeded to flip the card the farthest from me.

“Death.”

“Off to an OPTIMISTIC start, I see…”

“Now, it’s not a bad thing, this card. If it’s upright, it represents gatherings for important beginnings, key decisions, and turning points.”

“Yeah… right, upright. What about the reverse?”

“Don’t worry about it. With my reading method, the reverse position is really only important for the bottom card of the core.”

Right, I’ve seen a lot of turning points in the past — that much is true.

Creating a Drop of Eternity, entering the Magic University… and not to mention, I literally traveled to the past and did a ton of stuff, too.

“Heh, looks like you’re actually interested now.”

The fortune teller smiled, happy as a little girl.

“…Ahem. Well, how about you show me my present, then?”

“Sure thing. Here.”

She flipped up the cards on the sides one by one, and for just a moment, she looked surprised.

“The first one is the Wheel of Fortune… interesting. It represents progress and elevation, generally speaking. And the second one is Strength — faith, determination, and courage. Lemme guess, you’re a pretty straightforward guy, eh?”

Saying that, she stared straight at my face.

Well, that sounds about right. We just successfully rescued War Demon Emperor Vaas, and now I’m here to get started on a new objective.

And I might be opening up that magic classroom sometime soon. Her fortune-telling seems pretty on point so far.

“Now let’s see your future… Hmm, the Seeker of Truth and Justice…”

“Whoa, that sounds awesome! H-h-hey, mind explaining in detail what that card means!?”

“Well, other interpretations of the card might call it the Hermit, the Wise, or the Philosopher, among other things. It generally represents skill, knowledge, creation, focus, those kinds of things. But this is the future we’re talking about, so you need to be careful to keep it that way.”

“Huh?”

“Depending on what you do and when you do it, your card might shift to the reverse position instead.”

“What does this card’s reverse position say, then?”

“Distraction, insufficiency of skill and knowledge, and indecisiveness — pretty much. Huh, you all right there?”

Man, all those points stung my heart real hard.

Well, no — the prediction is still on the good side of things right now.

Gotta keep things on the right track, and surely it’ll be all right.

“I-I’m fine…”

“O-kay…? Well, your future is looking bright, from what we’ve been so far. Now let’s see your cores, eh? Which one do you wanna open first?”

“Uh, since there are no rules… the bad one first, I guess.”

“Oh, taking the defensive? That never really ends well when it comes to this kinda thing, you know?”

Oof, I wish she’d brought that up BEFORE I made my choice.

“Hmm… Ahahaha, I knew it. The Fool.”

“Ngh–!”

“When reversed, the Fool is associated with imprudence…”

“Gwoh–!?”

“Ego.”

“Gah–!?”

“Ignorance.”

“Wha–!?”

“Negligence.”

“S-stop it already! Not another word of that, please!”

“Ahaha, sorry, sorry. Your reactions were so funny, I couldn’t resist.”

Couldn’t resist — yeah, right, couldn’t resist shortening my life span! Man, this girl is pretty bold.

…Oh, right, I have unlimited life span.

“Well, you seem to know yourself pretty well — that’s a good thing!”

No. No, it isn’t.

“Ugh… Anyway, how about you tell me what the good one says?”

“Mm-hm, got it. Here we go…”

The fortune teller flipped up the sixth card, but then she froze up, her eyes suggesting that she was even more surprised than before.

“So, what is it?”

“Ah… Ahaha! I messed up!”

Saying that, she refused to show me the face of the card.

“Huh?”

“I must’ve messed something up along the way! This one doesn’t count!”

“Why not!? Can’t you just tell me what that last one is!?”

“Sorry, sorry. I won’t charge you, so let’s just ignore it, yeah?”

“Hah… okay, fine. I’m in a hurry anyway. See ya…”

“Ah, huh– Hey, wait!”

And so I ran away from the fortune teller, toward the temple where Kaoru and Jun’ko must be.

I rushed quite a bit to make up for the time the fortune teller had stopped me, but then…

“Wait, what? I had to file an appointment!?”

“Yes, sir. I cannot let you through unless you have completed the official process.”

I was turned away at the gate, and now I’m stuck staring at the blazing midday sun.

My Telepathic Calls aren’t connecting to them, either. Things are starting out pretty rough.

And right after the fortune teller told me my future was looking bright, too. I can’t believe I got superstitious for a moment there. Nope, I’m not gonna believe any fortune telling. No way.

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“Hmm, weird… Why’d this one come up again?”

As Asley was standing in front of the temple, elsewhere, the fortune teller was also staring at the sun, pointing one of her cards at it.

The card’s face was a picture of a man atop a cliff — the Fool.

“I’m sure I didn’t put any duplicate cards into the deck… so why’d the Fool come up twice?”

She grumbled to herself as she walked out of the gates of Eddo.

She put the card back in her hand and continued to look at it.

“The Fool in reverse is… imprudence, ego, ignorance, and negligence.”

Then she shifted her sight to her other hand — to the other card of the Fool.

“The Fool upright is… purity, freedom, inventiveness, and…”

The woman turned around, looking in the direction in which Asley had run off.

“…Undiscovered potential.”

She muttered, and then…

“Ughhh… GAH!”

Let out a scream and scratched her head.

“Nope, can’t figure it out! I gotta remember to ask my teacher about this later.”

Sounding weakened as she said that, she proceeded to walk westward.