Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Betting (2)
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As the banquet hosted by Lord Moritz drew to a close,
conversation had not returned to the topic of the court mage until then.
Mostly trivial matters, like the quality of the local beer or the history of the Guelba territory.
Or boasts about daughters studying at the capital's university.
"My Lord. I'm already overwhelmed by your hospitality toward a stranger. But if I may be so bold as to make one request...?"
"What is it? Speak freely. As long as you're not asking to borrow my wife!"
"Might I have the chance to meet the court mage?"
In the end, with the atmosphere suggesting they'd leave without even a proper greeting, Lian brought it up first.
"What's to stop you? You're not even asking for a ticket price, so no worries! Ah, but maybe I could charge you a bit?"
He grinned.
Was this exactly what he'd hoped for?
'I see. Perhaps the prophecy the court mage foresaw wasn't about me, but about Lord Moritz's future connected to me...'
And Lord Moritz wanted to know more details about that foreseen future.
He'd been neatly led into it.
"Thank you once again for your generosity, my Lord."
Of course, that didn't mean he intended to withdraw his request.
"This way, please. I'll guide you."
After the banquet ended, they followed the butler to meet the court mage.
Along the way, it suddenly occurred to him.
Pirka had spoken as if she already knew the man.
"Pirka. Come to think of it, are you acquainted with Guelba's court mage? You seemed to know what kind of magic he uses earlier."
"Yeah. I have to keep tabs on all the mages in the kingdom, after all."
"Even Madella's court mage?"
"Of course I know that old coot too."
Pirka made a deeply disgusted face at the mention of that foul-tempered old mage.
Her reaction was perfectly understandable.
"Anyway, what kind of person is this court mage here?"
"Hmm. It's a bit complicated..."
"I'm just asking out of curiosity. No need to agonize over it."
"In one word... a guy with no 'today'? A freak who elevates divination—a realm of shamanism—into proper magic."
"Are there even any normal mages to begin with?"
"What? Are you calling me a freak!?"
Never mind the shamanism talk—what kind of slob lives without even a "today"?
"Hmph! Anyway, you'll figure out what I mean once you meet him."
Lian began to worry that this might solidify his prejudice that no mages were ever normal.
Following the butler's guidance, they arrived at a pitch-dark room.
There was a candle lit, but only one near the entrance.
Far from enough to illuminate the whole space.
Scratch-scratch-
Following the sound of a quill scraping across paper, his eyes finally caught a faint silhouette seated at a desk, scribbling away.
"In a place this dark?"
"Please wait a moment."
The butler entered, using the lit candle to brighten a lantern.
Even then, the court mage paid no attention to Lian's group, still copying something diligently.
Only when the butler approached and lightly tapped his shoulder did he stop.
"Oh? You've arrived?"
"You're the court mage here...?"
"Rubio's the name. Pleased to meet you, Lian. And the rest of you as well."
"Yeah. Hi."
"Greetings."
As Lian approached Rubio, he startled and froze in place.
The monk-like bald elder had eyes and ears mangled as if seared with a branding iron.
"Is... conversation difficult for you, perhaps?"
"Ah, no trouble at all. I've already heard everything you're saying now from yesterday's divination."
Clatter-
Rubio rolled something like dice in his hand, producing a low tone like a string instrument.
Lian realized what "no today" meant.
He lived seeing and hearing only the future, unable to perceive the present at all.
To him, the current moment was already the passed past.
"That's convenient. So I don't even need to say anything, right?"
This was a bit of mischievous curiosity.
If Lian said nothing due to Rubio's foresight, it might alter the very future he'd foreseen.
How would he react to a future different from what he knew?
"It wouldn't matter. The outcome where you get answers to the questions in your head right now won't change. Conversation is merely the means."
"I guess I walked into that one. My apologies."
But such a minor change as Lian pursing his lips was irrelevant.
It merely skipped one intermediate step.
The overarching future remained unchanged.
"Lian, fate is like a raging torrent. The current from the past won't easily be diverted by a single stone thrown in the present."
"Does that mean the destined future can't be changed?"
"Heh heh. Who knows? Even I can't say for sure. No matter how fierce the rapids, they shift when they meet a levee, don't they?"
Rubio scratched his shiny bald head and chuckled vacantly.
"My foresight is the same. I merely read the water's path ahead by knowing the flow from the past. Even I struggle with distant futures. It's hardly absolute destiny."
Clatter-
The dice rolled in his hand once more.
It had definitely been a six-sided die at first, but now it was a ten-sided one.
"Still, of course. I can read a bit of how your stream will flow from here, Lian."
"The court mage... no, Lord Moritz is curious about my future?"
"Ha ha. Indeed. As the rumors say. You've seen through me."
Conversing with Rubio felt like watching a perfectly scripted play.
Not that he was deceiving Lian, of course.
No matter what was said, Rubio showed no emotional fluctuation in his responses.
It made sense, thinking about it.
He was essentially just reminiscing aloud about what he'd seen and heard yesterday.
"Lian. Suppose I foresaw someone stabbing you with a sword. What would you do with that person?"
"Hmm. I'd try to win them to my side first."
"Ho? Why is that?"
"Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?"
"Hm. Unfamiliar term, but I think I grasp the meaning."
Rubio nodded along in his dry tone, timing impeccable as always.
"Knowing the prophecy might lead me to preemptively execute them, creating the very opportunity for them to stab me. I don't want that."
"But they might still betray and stab you."
"Of course that's possible."
Self-fulfilling prophecies could be nitpicked endlessly; countless scenarios existed.
Math has one problem and one answer.
But myriad paths to solve it.
Every active attempt to alter fate could invite unforeseen ends.
"But you can't grasp the full context from just the snippet of being stabbed."
"Is that so? For example?"
"It could be a staged act to avert a greater threat. Or maybe a misunderstanding from seeing them try to save me after I was stabbed."
But what if the arrived answer was wrong to begin with?
Misunderstandings arose even for past events.
How much more for futures yet to come?
"You think deeply, Lian. Excellent."
"So what's the intent behind such a question? Did you foresee me stabbing Lord Moritz?"
"On that, I'd say not quite—but similar."
As expected, Rubio sidestepped here too.
From prior exchanges, though, the foreseen future didn't paint a positive picture.
"Well then? Shall I divine your fate?"
Rubio extended his dice-holding hand toward Lian.
Lian stared at it fixedly, then took a step back.
"No. Solving to match a pre-seen answer isn't my style."
"I see."
"You knew I'd refuse, yet asked anyway?"
As he'd said himself earlier.
Whether urged or not, the future where Lian refused divination remained unchanged, didn't it?
"Knowing a stream's flow can't easily be altered, don't people still toss in stones now and then?"
Rubio chuckled dryly again, scratching his head vigorously.
After meeting Court Mage Rubio and finishing their business, Lian's group left the castle.
Lord Moritz passed the time oiling his old armor.
Moments later,
Rubio approached, supported by the butler.
"Rubio. Did you see Lian's divination?"
"No. He doesn't open up easily, as you know."
"I see. So no glimpse of the detailed future after all."
He'd known it wouldn't work, of course.
Rubio had told him as much.
Still, stones tossed into a river current could pile up into a dam someday.
Even knowing it fails now, trying something might breed change later.
"Just in case, though—could you check the divination again? Something might have shifted."
"Understood."
Rubio held out his dice hand to Moritz.
Moritz took the dice, rolled them in his palm for a long while, then dropped them onto Rubio's palm.
"Well?"
"Same as before. Lian standing beneath the banner of a fallen territory. Exactly as seen prior."
"The river of blood and mountain of flames too?"
"Yes. Unchanged."
"As expected."
Moritz hung his polished armor on the rack.
Then began sharpening a massive double-headed axe.
"What will you do? At this rate, he might be the one to destroy our territory in the future."
"If he truly is, then kill him."
Shring- shring-
Moritz tested the whetstone-sharpened axe blade against his arm.
His thick arm hair sheared off cleanly.
"But right now, he's just a mere merchant. Even in a rural territory like ours, can you imagine such a guy smashing this place?"
"Hard to believe, honestly."
"Right? Me too."
"But the future is unknowable."
"True enough."
The divination showed mere fragments, after all.
Standing at the center of Guelba's ruin didn't guarantee Lian caused it.
He might be the savior arriving amid crisis.
"On the flip side, doesn't it mean he'll rise that high? Better to ride the same boat with such a guy. Ha ha ha!"
"Wise words, my Lord."
Even if this choice led to the territory's doom later.
He couldn't stop tossing boulders into the torrent.