The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 108

Chapter 109
Drawing a Card Before Leaving

“It sounds like you’re about to do something very dangerous,” Madam Mina said with some worry, holding a plate of refreshments, “Be careful.”

“Speaking of which, Madam Mina,” Eivass’s heart stirred as he heard this, and he smiled, “Do you have any good items for sale here?”

Madam Mina looked a bit puzzled, “Good items… you mean in my fortune-telling shop?””Yes. Do you offer services for antique appraisal or selling treasure maps?” Eivass asked with anticipation.

Madam Mina was amused, “How is that possible? This is just an ordinary fortune-telling shop. I do occasionally buy antiques, but that’s for my personal collection and I don’t plan to sell them yet.”

“Although Maya says my predictions are inaccurate, that’s actually because I sometimes intentionally misinterpret them to maintain a normal hit rate. This is to prevent people from trusting me too much.”

“The future cannot be precisely predicted, not even by the most powerful prophets, because the moment you make a ‘prediction’ and relay the foreseen scene to others, the future has already been altered. Therefore, if one trusts fortune-telling too much, they might fall into a ‘prophecy trap’ and end up fulfilling the prophecy instead.”

“Actually, Mina’s fortune-telling is quite accurate,” the Bishop chimed in, “Although she came to study art, she’s not truly on the Path of Beauty. Mina’s real path is the Path of Adaptation.”

“That’s right,” Mina nodded gently, “When I left the Iris Flower, my divination results told me that staying at the Iris Flower would lead to a great crisis, but going to Avalon would likely lead me to meet the knight of my life immediately. He would be my teacher, my sun, and my guardian… As expected, I did meet Mathers.”

“…A ‘Prophet’ of the Path of Adaptation?” Eivass exclaimed in surprise.

That was a rare profession. Players couldn’t even choose it; it was a pure NPC profession.

“Yes, would you like me to divine for you once?” Madam Mina smiled, “This time, I’ll interpret it properly and won’t intentionally give you the wrong reading.”

“Can you divine anything?” Eivass asked.

“It’s best to perform only one divination for each person, each day, and each matter,” Madam Mina explained, “The more you repeat a divination, the more easily the threads of fate are disturbed. Conversely, the longer the interval between divinations, the more accurate the result. So, at the Iris Flower, the simplest way to prevent a prophet from peeking into one’s future was to have the prophet continuously divine for themselves daily, manually disturbing their own threads of fate.”

“Since you haven’t had a divination before, your first one will be the most accurate. Would you like to try? It’s free for you.”

“…I’ll trouble you then.” Eivass felt a moment of trepidation but steeled his resolve. He had come this far, and there was nothing else to do back in his room today. Might as well draw a card before leaving. If he got a good pull, he’d consider it a sign that he was on a roll and tomorrow’s actions would go smoothly! If he didn’t, then this divination would have paved the way for tomorrow, making his actions even smoother!!

“You go ahead then, I’m going back to rest,” Sherlock clearly had no interest in fortune-telling. He directly returned upstairs to read his books.

Madam Mina then led Eivass and Lily to her fortune-telling shop.

“What would you like to divine? And by what method?” Madam Mina, already wearing a black veil, donned a hat – the wide brim’s dangling veil partially obscured her emerald green eyes. She gazed at Eivass, her tone filled with peace and confidence.

Eivass didn’t believe he would encounter any danger on his way to see Lawyer York. Although he was disappointed that Madam Mina didn’t sell antiques or treasure maps, perhaps her divination might yield something good? After all, it was free; it would be a waste not to try.

“Can you divine anything?” Eivass confirmed one last time.

“Anything,” Madam Mina affirmed, “Whether it’s accurate is another matter… but whether it can be divined at all depends entirely on the diviner’s skill.”

“In that case, I am still in need of a suitable weapon.” Eivass clasped his hands together most earnestly and said, “Please help me see where I can obtain one—”

“…Huh?” Hearing Eivass’s words, Madam Mina froze. She had expected Eivass to inquire about his destiny, his future achievements, or ask about love, career, or health… or even seek her counsel on difficult choices with two or three options. But she had never imagined that what Eivass wanted to ask about was so straightforward, so… pure?

“Is that not possible?” Eivass sounded somewhat disappointed.

“…Why not? It’s certainly possible.” Madam Mina looked as if she had a toothache, “I just didn’t expect you to say that. Wait a moment. Let me think about how to divine this. How about this, I’ll use the dream divination method. Please sit here and wait for a moment.”

Saying this, Madam Mina asked Eivass for a few strands of his hair. She wrapped them up and placed them over her chest. Then, she drank a silvery-white alchemical potion that emitted a faint glow. Immediately, she slumped back into the chair and fell into a deep slumber.

Eivass sighed idly. Seeing Lily placing her hand on his shoulder, he reached out, scooped her up, and gently squeezed Lily’s hand to pass the time. He carefully observed the delicate yet somewhat rough fingers of Lily, who looked a bit shy, tucking her little finger in. But she didn’t pull her hand away, instead asking nonchalantly, “I thought Young Master would ask where to find a new Grimoire.”

“Because you just looked at a Grimoire, didn’t you?” Eivass chuckled, “That’s why you think Grimoires are good things… and they are, but I’m not particularly short of Mystical Arts right now.”

After all, Madam Maya intended to give him a Grimoire on the Path of Devotion later. While she called it a gift, it was more of a loan for him to peruse, since he could learn from a single reading, and it was a treasured book of hers. Eivass would, of course, politely return it. He wasn’t sure what his grandfather had hidden away, but it was likely another skill book, possibly even of Grimoire level.

Grimoires were the highest level of Occult books. The knowledge within them was alive. They were translated versions of the “Nameless Originals” written in Gidic script and were themselves a form of “original text.” The Gidic originals could only be understood by those on the Path of Wisdom; others’ brains couldn’t even remember a single symbol of that demonic script, long dead yet existing. As long as one was qualified to open and read it, and could withstand the knowledge contained, they could directly learn the Mystical Arts it held.

Copies of Grimoires were merely ordinary textual records, devoid of any mystical value. For instance, the textual version of the Shepherd’s Secret Manual was essentially an ancient legend.

Simply put, Grimoires were “limited-edition pools.” Miss this one, and you’d have to wait for “limited-edition reruns” in other language versions.

The Curse Ritualist profession required acquiring both the Mystical Arts of Curses and Rituals simultaneously upon entering the Transcendent Path, without mastering Demonic Knowledge. Rituals were relatively easy to learn. Curses, however, were very difficult, their corresponding skill being the extremely challenging Art of Blessing. Avalon had never possessed such profound Mystical Art lineages. Yet, in the original “Serpent Hand,” so many Curse Ritualists were born – many excellent priests in the academy couldn’t learn the Art of Blessing after years, so where did those unofficial Extraordinary individuals, without formal education, acquire such skilled Curse Masters?

Therefore, Eivass believed the “Serpent Hand” might have possessed a Grimoire related to curses. It was through this book that they mass-produced potential Extraordinary individuals with Transcendent Path tendencies into Curse Ritualists. Otherwise, it was hard to explain why they would choose the difficult, long route instead of the shortcut—it could only mean that this long route had a convenient shuttle service.

But the Inspection Bureau ultimately didn’t find this book. If that Hooked Demon Jack’s intelligence was also insufficient to discover it, it might still be in that village. In that case, Eivass would have at least two Grimoires in the foreseeable future. Leveling up Mystical Arts also required experience and energy – he was like a lucky player who drew a bunch of good cards, but couldn’t afford to raise them.

The two good equipment pieces Lily acquired made him a bit envious. This key would eventually have to be returned to Bishop Mathers – it was, after all, his unit’s key. How could the guardian of a sacred tomb not have the key to the sacred tomb they were supposed to guard? It would be akin to a gatekeeper being unable to open the main gate, and the reason being he had lent the key to a friend. Such an action would surely lead to misfortune for the Bishop, and his actions would be even more severe, an absolute violation.

However, Eivass genuinely lacked suitable equipment. Therefore, Eivass needed to find a way to obtain a handy weapon before returning the key.

Their current makeshift team was quite peculiar. Sherlock, as a Mage, had no staff or spellbook; as a Law Master, he had no short sword of commandments – his short sword was usually lent to him by Edward. Haina, as a Supervisor, didn’t have a Gryphon, and while she had a sword, she also lacked a gun. Eivass, as a Priest, had no holy crown or scepter; as a Demon Scholar, he had no demonic tome or ritual kit. The three of them were essentially empty-handed. The only item that could be considered a weapon was Eivass’s small-caliber lady’s pistol. The only one with a main-hand weapon was the lowest-leveled Lily – her threads could serve as a weapon, for free. Later, when her level increased, she could tie Hawk Feathers onto her threads. It was as if three adults were leveling up a child, and the adults went out without any weapons, while the child was fully equipped. Although Eivass knew that this was a peaceful era, and outside of soldiers and law enforcement officers, few people carried weapons… it still sounded absurd.

After a while, Madam Mina slowly woke up. She looked at Eivass, seemingly hesitant to speak.

“Madam Mina, did you see the future?” Eivass’s eyes lit up. Seeing her reaction, he knew she had indeed seen something in her dream. “Good heavens, you can really shop for cards in the mall?”

“…Although your divination subject was bizarre and I’ve never heard anyone ask for such a thing in my life, I did see it,” Madam Mina shook her head helplessly and prophesied, “I saw you casually summon butterflies made of pure flame as protective weapons.”

Hearing this, Eivass immediately realized the value of this prophet. Not only did she avoid vague pronouncements, but she even saw his Illusion Card! Eivass immediately felt profound respect for Madam Mina and pressed, “And then? Was there anything else?”

“There was also a book,” Madam Mina nodded, trying hard to explain to Eivass, “It’s strange, but it’s truly a book. At least, according to my dream divination, the Hourglass’s guidance for your request ‘Where is the most suitable weapon for you?’ pointed to a book in the future. However, it’s not a Grimoire.”

That must be a demonic tome, Eivass realized.

“What kind of book is it?” Eivass pressed, “Could you precisely prophecy where it is?”

Madam Mina helplessly wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, “A preliminary statement… after this divination, I might not be able to perform any more for you for a long time. I also cannot guarantee the accuracy of my divination.”

“For some reason, the threads of fate around you are exceptionally chaotic, with many powerful individuals’ threads entangled with yours. It took me a long time to untangle which thread belonged to you, yet your destiny seems to be outside this world.”

“You must understand, Eivass, I am a Fourth Tier ‘Prophet,’ and you are only Second Tier. Under such tier suppression, I can barely see your future – if I were younger, or if you were stronger, I might have already fainted.”

After making detailed disclaimers, Madam Mina let out a deep yawn, looking a bit listless. As she stood up to pack her things, she casually replied, “The location is Eagle Cape Village in Shepherd’s Bay Country. I saw Sherlock with you when you found this book, along with someone I didn’t recognize. I vaguely saw the name of the book… It seems to be called ‘The Book of Law.'”

Good news, my head doesn’t hurt after sleeping at least. Bad news, my sleep schedule is still messed up… I originally wanted to wait until night to sleep together yesterday, but I was too sleepy in the afternoon and couldn’t help but fall asleep again around four or five o’clock. I woke up at 11:30 PM and was quite energetic. What can I do? At least I can write now that my head doesn’t hurt. If I sleep again, I should be able to recover. I’ll sort out this irregular sleep schedule at the end of the month by taking a day off to stockpile manuscripts. I need at least one day’s worth of saved drafts to adjust my schedule, because during those two days for adjustment, I won’t be able to do anything. As for the cat, I publish as much as I write, so I can’t save anything; if I have saved drafts, I get itchy to publish them… In short, I’ll pre-emptively request a day off at the end of the month, meow. Today is also an update of over seven thousand words! But according to the outline, the plot at the end of the month should be an advancement for the Transcendent Path, which seems a bit difficult to request off (sad). I’ll try my best to finish this advancement before taking time off.