When the plot-skips players into the game world

"It sounds like you are about to embark on a rather dangerous endeavor,"

said Mrs. Mina, bringing over some tea snacks with a worried look, "Be very careful."

"Speaking of which, Mrs. Mina," said Aiwass, a thought struck him and he revealed a smile, "do you have any good items for sale here?"

Mrs. Mina was also a bit puzzled, "Good items... are you referring to my fortune telling shop?"

"Yes. Do you deal in antiques or treasure maps or anything of that sort?"

Aiwass was quite expectant.

Mrs. Mina couldn't help but laugh at his question, "How could I? This is just an ordinary fortune telling shop. I do occasionally buy antiques, but they are part of my personal collection and I'm not planning to sell them anytime soon.

"Although Maya says my divination isn't accurate, that's actually because I sometimes intentionally interpret it incorrectly to maintain a more 'normal' success rate. This is to make people not trust me too much.

"The future cannot be predicted with absolute precision, not even by the most powerful prophets. That's because the moment you engage in 'prophecy,' once you share the images from the prophecy with others, the future is already altered. As such, too much reliance on divinations can actually lead to falling into the 'trap of prophecies,' and inadvertently fulfilling them."

"Actually, Mina's divinations are quite accurate," interjected Bishop, "because even though she came to study art, her true Path is not the Path of Beauty. Mina's real Path is the Path of Adaptation."

"That's right," Mina nodded gently, "I left the Iris Flower because my divination told me that staying there would lead to a great crisis, while heading to Avalon could very well lead to meeting the Knight of my life. He would be my teacher, my Sun, and my Guardian... And sure enough, I did meet Mathers."

"...A [Seer] of the Path of Adaptation?"

Aiwass was stunned.

That was a rare profession. Players couldn't even select it; it was a pure NPC profession.

"How about I divine for you?"
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Mrs. Mina smiled and said, "I'll interpret it properly this time, and won't do it wrong on purpose."

"Can you divine anything?" Aiwass asked.

"Each person, every day, should only have one divination per matter," Mrs. Mina explained, "The more one repeats divination for the same matter, the more the threads of fate get disturbed; conversely, the longer the interval between, the more accurate the divination will be. So in the Iris Flower, the simplest method of preventing a seer from prying is to have the seer perform continuous divinations on oneself every day, manually muddling one's thread of fate.

"Since you haven't had a divination before, the first time is sure to be the most accurate. Would you like to give it a try? It's free of charge."

"...Please do,"

Aiwass hesitated a little but finally made up his mind.

Since he had come all this way and had nothing else to do when he returned, he might as well draw a card before leaving.

If he 'draws the right card,' it would suggest that his fortunes are currently high, and his actions tomorrow are bound to go smoothly!

If not, it means this divination has 'primed' the next day, making his actions tomorrow even smoother!!

"You go ahead, I'm going back to rest,"

Sherlock apparently had little interest in divination. He went straight back upstairs to read.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mina led Aiwass and Lily to her fortune telling shop.

"What would you like to divine? And by what method?"

Mrs. Mina, already dressed in a black veil, donned a hat — the drooping black veil of the large-brimmed hat partially obscured her emerald eyes. She gazed at Aiwass, her tone filled with tranquility and confidence.

Aiwass didn't think his upcoming visit to Lawyer York would be perilous.

Although he was disappointed that Mrs. Mina's place didn't sell antiques or treasure maps, perhaps her divination might reveal something valuable?

— After all, it's free; there's no harm in trying.

"Can you divine anything?"

Aiwass reconfirmed at the end.

"Anything at all,"

Mrs. Mina affirmed, "Whether or not it's accurate is another matter... but whether or not it can be divined, that depends entirely on the skill of the diviner."

"In that case, I'm in need of a suitable weapon."

Aiwass clasped his hands together, speaking very sincerely, "Please help me see where I might obtain it—"

"...Huh?"

Upon hearing Aiwass's request, Mrs. Mina was struck dumb.

She had anticipated that Aiwass might predict his own fate, inquire about his future achievements, seek advice on love, career, health... or even come to her with dilemmas, choices between two or three difficult alternatives.

But she hadn't expected Aiwass to be so straightforward, so... pure in his inquiry.

"Is it not possible?" Aiwass was slightly disappointed.

"...Of course it's possible. There'll be no problem,"

Mrs. Mina said, looking as if she were a bit pained, "I just wasn't expecting you to ask that. Wait a moment for me. I need to think about how to go about this divination.

"Here's what I'll do: I'll use the Dream-Watching Method. Just sit here and wait for a bit."

Saying this, Mrs. Mina took a few strands of Aiwass's hair from him. She wrapped them up and placed them on her chest.

Then she drank a silvery, glowing alchemical potion, and immediately collapsed into the chair, falling into a deep sleep.

Aiwass let out a bored sigh.

Seeing that Lily was resting her hand on his shoulder, he casually reached out to lift it, idly pinching Lily's hand to pass the time.

He studied Lily's slender yet somewhat coarse fingers, and she seemed a bit shy, curling up her little finger. But she didn't withdraw her hand, and instead asked nonchalantly, "I thought you might ask about where to find a new Codex Book."