126 – Ghost of the Guardian Tree (5)
Shion was arguing over an old man sitting on a mat.
To say that I let go of my hand for a moment and hang on to a stern person. She would know without asking what troubles her teacher might have.
I came out to play, but I can’t just go and have a good time. She doesn’t have to blush.
I quickly walked over and intervened between the two.
“What’s up?”
“….”
Shion clenched her fists and glared at her old man, but she gave me no explanation.
Then the old man, who recognized her as a member of her group, smiled dejectedly and told me.
“Dear, my luck wasn’t unusual, so I gave you a light advice, so you didn’t get angry. Be patient, tsk tsk.”
“… What was your advice?”
What do you expect from a street fortune teller? People who say strange things are also a problem, but it is also a problem to pick up the words thrown by others and put them in your pocket.
“I said it would be better if I distanced myself from my teacher.”
I asked Zion.
“Did you pay for fortune telling?”
“No, I don’t believe in dots.”
“Then… I’ll just go. Excuse me, old man.”
Since I didn’t spend any money, I tried to ignore it, but Shion held on.
“No, I need to hear what the basis for that nonsense is.”
“….”
“Answer straight or you will pay the price.”
The old man laughed, sweeping his beard as if it were absurd. His hair is sparse like weeds in the wilderness, and one of his pupils is discolored as if it is not functioning. His limbs are skinny, like those of a monk practicing fasting.
It goes without saying that the appearance is that of a homeless person. It looks like Zion is grabbing and harassing those in need.
He said, tapping his seat with the palm of his hand.
“No, you have to pay for that! I’m going to eat fortune-telling every day, so what do I do? Uh? Am I going to starve to death?”
I’m sure you’ll feel bad when you say things will get better if you get farther away from your Sword Master teacher… The business method is obvious, but isn’t it too easy to get involved?
“Old man, how long have you been reading fortune telling?”
“I lived on this sh*t for thirty years in my Rigbed Square. It’s different from the swindlers who call themselves prophets. Even if bad fortune-telling comes out, I say everything without adding or subtracting. Say what you say right. So I didn’t make any money, but I have a reputation. Grab the store owners and ask them. I will find out.”
It feels like listening to a drunkard’s life laments.
“I see. Can you tell me what you base your divination on?”
“Constellation. It’s definitely a constellation. I used to be a star altar priest. Human destiny is to move with the power of the stars. Cards, bones, draws, phrenology, dice, they are all cheaters’ mouths.”
Shion put a stop to his resume.
“Bullsh*t. There is no place called the Altar of the Stars in the world.”
Actually, I’ve never even heard of such a place. Well, it could exist somewhere, but it doesn’t seem like a great place.
Even so, it’s just a waste of energy to go through the history of every fortuneteller on the street.
“How much does it cost to read one person’s divination?”
“Originally, I was given one silver coin, but today I will give you five special coins.”
It’s not gold coins, and that’s the price of three or four potatoes, but it’s not bad.
I put my hand in my pocket and took out some money. Zion saw this and was displeased.
“Why would you want to invest your money in bullsh*t?”
“Curious about me? Why did you say that?”
“You seem to have grown up in a noble family and don’t know the value of money.”
“You are curious too. Sit down.”
“No, I’m not curious. I just wondered how you found out about my master’s existence.”
Yeah, of course he looks like an Eternia student, so he must have stabbed him.
I squatted down in front of the old man. However, Shion did not bend his pride and stood with his arms crossed.
There was no hope of listening to the astrologer’s fortune-telling, which caused a stir in the lead bed as to whether it was the prophet of the soil or not. It was an impromptu plan, so there is no regret. There is nothing good about the fortune teller’s words. What would you do if you heard something bad? Nothing could be more unpleasant than that.
Quack fortune telling also has its advantages. If you hear a good story, you can just go with a good mood, and if it’s a bad story, think of it as a quack and just shake it off.
I put five coins on the table and put one more on it.
“Can you tell me what my friend is curious about? I only ask for good stories, old man.”
“Heh heh, I had a smart and patient man as my lover who didn’t match his temper.”
I hurriedly corrected it.
“Not like that.”
Shion bites his teeth tightly. Are you doing this on purpose to arouse the old man’s temper?
I laughed inwardly because it was so absurd that he spit out the wrong answer so confidently.
“If not, what is your friend’s birthday?”
I looked up at Zion.
Perhaps because of her pride, Shion shut her mouth and stood firm.
The fortune teller lamented.
“Be patient, how can such a stuffy person plan such a big thing?”
“Let’s check it quickly and go.”
She reluctantly opened her mouth.
“… July 7th.”
“This is it.”
“Look where you are. Kkeungcha.”
The fortune teller lifted a glass jar the size of a watermelon from behind and moved it. It was half filled with water.
He picked up dozens of pebbles inscribed with runes and dropped them into the fishbowl.
“Ackra, Maha Subakum.”
As he uttered an improvised incantation, several stones that had sunk floated to the surface. Then, two stones stuck to the center of the fishbowl and spun around on the surface of the water.
“Now, look. That friend’s teacher is a big star. Big stars have strong gravitational forces. They attract everything around them. You, too, are a small star that revolves around you, pulled by that gravitational force.”
“….”
“But you are destined to become a star as big as your teacher. Small stars and small stars maintain balance because of their weak gravitational pull, but large stars and large stars have so much gravitational pull that the order of the celestial bodies is broken and they cannot but collide with each other. What if that happens Everything shatters, leaving only dust and smoke. This is the biggest reason for you to leave your master’s side.”
Did Shion first mention that his teacher was a sword master? When I heard it, it sounded pretty plausible.
Shion denied the divination.
“I don’t believe you.”
“If not right now, you will have to do that someday.”
It was still disapproving. Yes, I understand your mind. I’d feel very bad if I heard the fortune teller that I must leave Sylverin’s side too.
Since Shion is the head of the famous Eternia, it could be a divination made up of rumors. So he couldn’t be so blinded. You should just listen and pass it for fun.
The old man didn’t stop there and started doing business with me.
“Ah, shouldn’t you also take a look? If couples come and see only one person, luck moves to one side.”
“I am not a lover. And I’m fine.”
I stood up shaking my body.
“Uh-huh, stop doing that and take a look.”
He held out three of his fingers in front of me.
“I’ll take care of you if you give me three. That’s it, that’s that.”
“I am satisfied with my current life.”
Then he suddenly raised his voice and tried to grab me.
“Hey! No, two! No i will just watch it Sit down, quickly!”
“… You don’t have to.”
“It’s because I’m curious. Sit down, I’ll just do it.”
Why are you doing this all of a sudden? It’s so suspicious that they just do it for free.
Shion is famous in its own way, so even if I touched it, it wouldn’t be me.
I ran my hand over my face to check if I was wearing the mask correctly. Since he is wearing a mask, he has nothing to do with Silverin.
I guess it’s another business tactic. I pretended to be fooled and sat down again.
“Tell me your birthday.”
“Is this really necessary?”
“Good to know.”
I hesitated for a moment before opening my mouth.
“…… It is December 1st.”
“Let’s see….”
He retrieved all the pebbles from the fishbowl, emptied it clean, and when the water calmed down, he dropped it again.
They sank to the floor like any ordinary pebble.
“… Weird. Something’s wrong. Is your birthday really right then? You are deceiving me.”
“You didn’t memorize the spell.”
“The order has nothing to do with it, you bastard! Did you see this cunning fellow who dared to test me?”
“Actually, it is August 4th.”
“Okay, adventure, let’s see…” .”
I threw the stones again, but they sank to the bottom as weakly as before.
“Uh huh….”
He didn’t yell at me about why he was lying. Unlike a street fortune teller, he pointed out his essence sharply.
“Not even this. You…… Are you an orphan?”
My heart suddenly sank as if a weight had been placed on my heart.
I was speechless for a moment.
“… ….”
I didn’t argue and kept silent, but Shion, who was standing next to me, opened her eyes wide and looked at me as if it was real.
Why don’t you have a birthday? Everyone born on this earth has a birthday. However, there was no way for orphans who did not even know their parents’ faces to know their birthday.
Even if they knew, how would the orphans celebrate the day their lives began?
So, birthdays did not exist for children who grew up in Acates Temple. I did too. I erased it from my head, and I didn’t even bless it.
We just gathered together on the day of our baptism and prayed to Goddess Acates. That was our birthday.
I didn’t expect the fortuneteller to guess this. I thought that if I made up my birthday, I would respond appropriately.
His tone instantly went from a drunkard’s accent to a high priest’s.
“It’s okay if you don’t know your birthday. You should throw it instead.”
He retrieved a stone from the fishbowl and handed it to me. When I accepted it, it was quite heavy like a lump of iron.
“… Can I throw it in a fishbowl?”
“Let’s try.”
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I threw a stone over the fishbowl.
The stones that fell into the water did not sink unlike before, but each stopped at one point and floated in the water. It was like forming a constellation.
Wrinkles filled the middle of the old man’s forehead.
Shion, who was standing upright, quietly crouched next to me, perhaps out of curiosity.
He looked at the fish tank and opened his mouth.
“I cannot see your luck.”
“Do you really need to know your birthday?”
“It doesn’t matter. You just can’t see it. It is impossible for humans to know all the will of God.”
“Then what is this?”
Then what do the stones floating in the fishbowl mean?
The old man looked down at the fish tank with unfocused eyes. His eyes seemed to be looking at something invisible, not stones.
“This is your past. The constellations of the living show the future, and the constellations of the dead show the past. You look like a dead person.”
“… ….”
The wrinkles deepened on the old man’s forehead. He was silent for a while, then opened his mouth.
“You have a painful past. You’ve lost something you hold dear, like your life. So….”
“It’s okay if you don’t listen.”
I put my hand in the fishbowl and broke the stones. But the old man didn’t care.
“So, you live in the past. My heart is filled with anger at myself for not keeping anything.”
“Stop it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“No, you must listen to this.”
I put my hand on the wooden sword. He was determined not to give up blood in order to silence the old man.
Shion grabbed my arm and stopped me before I could draw the sword. It was the detection of my strange feeling. I looked into Zion’s eyes. She must have been surprised by my appearance, and her eyes widened like the full moon.
Zion calms me down. She originally came to calm her down, but the situation was reversed before she knew it.
The old man continued.
“You will keep fighting. To catch a mirage, to protect the ghosts of the past. That is your curse and lamp. You are the only guide, burning with intensity in your destinies where there is nothing.”
“….”
“Don’t forget and move on.”
The surroundings have become very quiet. No, the plaza was noisy, but I didn’t perceive these as noise.
My head was in a vacuum.
This fortune teller…. How did he survive for thirty years?