21. First Time Coincidence, Second Time Fate
21. First Time Coincidence, Second Time Fate
The astrologer Airi Heven.
The last descendant of the God of Destruction, who had come to this land bearing a mission, held her breath and seared the horrific scene revealed in the crystal ball into her eyes.
Everything in sight had been burned away—a landscape of utter collapse.
Yet, even though not everything had been reduced to ashes, what lingered most in her sight was the fine powder blanketing the ruins.
Was it sand, or was it ash?
Either way, this too could serve as a clue to the being responsible for this scene.
'For such an absurd event to occur so abruptly, even altering the existing future....'
It was not something that happened under normal circumstances.
For an event capable of laying waste to an entire kingdom to occur, there must be corresponding omens. An astrologer's precognition considers even those omens when deriving a vision.
Therefore, the fact that the future she had foreseen changed in an instant meant the other party had suddenly resolved to commit such an act, leaving no time for those omens to arise.
So abruptly that even the being beyond the vast cosmos, the one who grants her revelations, had only just noticed it now.
'...Ancestor, is this the future you foresaw?'
The Destruction God Angolmoa.
A being who descended to this land ages ago, following a revelation that it would destroy the world, but then ascended back to the heavens for reasons unknown.
That bloodline remained in this land through the God of Destruction's union with a human, and now, in the present age, its descendants had gathered their power together and bequeathed it to her.
Indeed, she was currently in a state of awakening, wielding a power equal to that of the first Demigod, Haven.
She knew this because she was born with such power.
Her clan's power to read the movement of the stars was only possible because it involved the intervention of the God of Destruction, who existed beyond this world.
"...O, God of Destruction,"
Airi, having faintly sensed such intervention,
soon gathered her power into the crystal ball and attempted to communicate with him.
"Until now, my clan has only been able to read the movement of the stars and see the future. We have yet to grasp a method to alter that future in a desired direction."
For even if one can change the future, fate is bound to splinter into countless branches with each passing moment.
With the power that faded generation after generation, simply finding the correct path among those fates was a struggle.
Now that their power was gathered in one place, and that had become possible, even so, it was limited to confirming the path toward the future she wished to pursue through vague sentences or hazy scenes.
It was almost as if she wasn't checking the possibilities directly, but someone was conveying the facts to her indirectly.
"The reason we gathered our power was to prevent the future of annihilation that will soon arrive in this land. It was a path completely different from the future where you intended to destroy it with your own hands, yet you read the coming moment of destruction and chose to step back."
Reading the future, as well as being shown the path to alter it—all were results made possible because an entity worthy of being called a god was watching over this land.
Having realized this only after attaining the same Dignity as the first Demigod, Airi used this moment to ask a question she had always harbored.
"The reason you have continuously granted revelations to us who seek to prevent the annihilation—is it because you too wish for this land not to be destroyed?"
[.......]
No answer came back.
Even so, Airi asked him once more.
"Or is it that, even if we struggle, the future is fixed, and you are observing the struggles of your descendants as mere entertainment?"
Whenever she read the movement of the stars, she felt his presence, yet she could not bring herself to trust him.
For the very nature of his existence was once to desire the destruction of this land.
Even his intention in coupling with a human and creating his bloodline in this land could be nothing more than a whim. How could she, who grew up as a flesh-and-blood human, unconditionally trust his intentions?
"Is this newly altered future something that will come to pass soon if I do not intervene?"
Despite this, she asked him earnestly.
She did not know his intentions or heart, but she wondered if insignificant beings like them at least had the right to struggle.
[Yes.]
When the answer appeared on the crystal ball, Airi let out a heavy breath and channeled power into her hands.
She still didn't know his intentions, but fortunately, he was offering fragmentary answers regarding the power to read the future.
Yes, that would be enough for now.
If that too was a responsibility she bore, she intended only to follow it and change what she could.
'A future like this is too sudden, but I cannot simply blame him for it.'
Having sorted out her thoughts, Airi once again seared the horrific scene floating in the crystal ball into her eyes.
A future revealed by reading the movement of the stars... To be precise, it was a near-certain future derived by the God of Destruction as he observed this land from the cosmos.
'Is the sudden alteration of the future due to an error in his judgment?'
No, that wasn't it.
Now, as she communicated with him and sensed his vessel, Airi concluded instead that it was precisely because he was such an absurdly powerful being that he could immediately reflect the altered results.
After all, this was the outcome of a whim by those that the Haven clan defined as 'Transcendents'—beings whose movements even he found difficult to predict.
'The result he grants us could be likened to looking down at an ant farm through a magnifying glass and writing a journal.'
He observes the ecology of the ants and meticulously records the data discovered through them.
Once enough information accumulates, merely glancing at the overall layout allows him to roughly predict all the ecology and processes occurring inside, without needing to check every corner of the ant farm.
If even a mere human could manage that much, it wouldn't be considered difficult for a being called a god to predict the future of a single planet.
'But even that is only a story for normal ecology. No matter how perfectly you try to control the environment for observation, variables can always appear.'
What if an unforeseen mutation is born within that ant farm?
Or what if a natural predator invades from outside the ant farm, or a disaster like a flood or earthquake occurs?
Such variables make prediction difficult and inevitably lead to a situation where the observer must discard or entirely revise their accumulated data.
The immediate reflection of that revised result: that was the alteration of the future.
Transcendents, as the Haven clan had always defined them, were beings who, on a mere whim and without any prior omen, defied the expectations of the god observing them.
'Of course, once he perceives such a whim, he too will make revisions. In fact, because it will exert an influence drastic enough to change the future, from that moment on, reading the omens will be an easy task for him.'
The key point was how far she, now aware of such a future, could ultimately change it.
Ironically, an astrologer is a being who can read the future but has limits on what they can change with their own hands.
To overcome those limits, the help of others was unavoidable. But as is often the case with fortune-tellers, it is not easy to earn the trust of ordinary people.
If you told them the truth but it wasn't what they wanted, they'd call you a fraud or spread false rumors. And reading the future of someone who appeared to follow your words often revealed them plotting to stab you in the back...
"......O, great Ancestor."
But now, she was in a state of equal Dignity to the first Demigod.
That power went beyond simply reading the movement of the stars; it now allowed her to even communicate with the God of Destruction, who possessed the power to read fate itself.
"As one of your creations, I dare to make a request. If my voice reaches you, please teach me a way to avoid the future revealed to me in this moment."
The moment light shone upon the crystal ball in response to her power along with her earnest prayer,
her consciousness interfered with the cosmos beyond the clear sky, soon touching the remnants of the God of Destruction spread throughout and linking into communication with him.
[Wait. Then you will meet.]
It was only a fragmented message that could hardly be called detailed.
'...Meet? Who do you mean?'
[You will know when the time comes.]
That was all he had to say.
The moment she withdrew her power from the crystal ball afterward, Airi felt a wave of exhaustion and let out a deep sigh, furrowing her brow.
'If I wished for something more specific, a more proper answer might come... but my power is not infinite.'
Simply reading the movements did not consume much power, but what she aimed to do was pinpoint the exact future she desired among countless branches of fate.
Even reading a fixed future was daunting; accurately discerning only the path designated by the God of Destruction's answer among those myriad branches of fate was no easy task.
He, too, knowing her limits, must be conveying his intention by summarizing his answer as concisely as possible.
"But if that is the answer you gave me....... For now, I will trust it,"
For his revelations had always been accurate, except when the future was altered by the whims of Transcendents.
So, following his message that appeared on the crystal ball, she sat quietly in place. Soon, she spotted a figure walking toward her from a distance.
A man striding through the street, clad in fine armor, a spearshaft bearing a bluish blade strapped to his back.
The moment she marked him in her eyes, Airi could immediately guess. Yes, that man was the protagonist of the revelation granted to her.
"You there, the passing Adventurer. Would you come this way....... Huh?"
She had opened her mouth to call out to him, but only briefly. The instant she perceived his existence, a familiar afterimage began to well up in Airi's mind.
By simply facing a subject, the Haven clan had the innate ability to faintly grasp fragments of that subject's experiences or memories.
Unless she looked deeply, it was merely a superficial result. But the more vividly the person remembered something, the more clearly she could confirm it, as if it were neatly organized paperwork.
His personal information, chronic worries, and even the problem currently weighing most heavily on his mind.
"O-oh? You are......."
"...Huh?"
The man approached Airi with a blank expression as a sense of familiarity from that past washed over her,
she recognized him immediately, but the man himself couldn't quite place her. He simply tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand.
"Hmm? I've seen you somewhere... who were you again?"
That was only natural.
It had already been several weeks since they parted ways.
So she should have forgotten him too, but.......
"Wha, wha......."
Why was it, really?
Why, since that day, whenever her mind wasn't occupied with other thoughts, had she continuously thought about him?
"Wha, whawhawhat!? W-what are you doing here!!!!"
"Oh, so you do remember me? I was just thinking about who you were... It's that fortune-teller lady I met a while back, right?"
"Ah, yes. Uhm, er... I-I mean!!"
Airi Heven floundered, waving her hands in the air at the sudden encounter.
Soon, her gaze shot hastily toward the crystal ball placed before her.
'S-something must be wrong.... No, his words are without error. A Transcendent's whim doesn't happen that frequently either.'
Yes, from the moment she read the future, this was no coincidence.
The God of Destruction had foreseen that he would come here, predicted this very moment where they would meet, and was certain that by meeting him and offering counsel, the future she had seen could be averted.
'But, that means....... If we meet again like this... I-I and this man will, well... that kind of.......'
That their second meeting would happen in such a state, having already seen such a future.
If this was no coincidence, wasn't it no different from her and him being fated to be intertwined?
"Um, are you alright? Your face has gone incredibly red...."
"...Ahem."
A cough escaped her before his question could even finish.
Along with it, Airi smoothly lifted her head and sketched a composed smile on her lips as she addressed him.
"Though we were separated by unavoidable circumstances last time, we have indeed met again in a place like this. This can truly be called fate, guided by the stars shining in the sky above."
"Ah, yes. Long time no see. Miss... Airi, was it?"
"Indeed. I am Airi Heven, one who reads the past and glimpses the future by observing the movement of the stars......."
With utmost composure and total seriousness.
Having succeeded in maintaining that atmosphere, Airi let out a quiet "huhu" laugh and faced him with half-lidded eyes.
"Come to think of it, even though I promised to read your fortune for free once, I ended up letting you go without realizing it."
Yes, even if the future was set, it could be changed by variables.
She didn't know why the God of Destruction had read such a future and granted it to her, but by keeping that outcome in mind and staying on guard, it would never come to pass.
Of course, one of the purposes she came to this Empire for was to find a partner for the revival of her clan, but that partner was something to be chosen carefully.
For now, there was no need to think about that. So thought Airi. She soon began to smile leisurely, prepared to continue her consultation with the man before her.
"If it's alright with you, shall we finish what we couldn't do that day?"
Whatever her relationship with him might become later,
for now, she focused solely on the fact that this man was the hope capable of preventing the 'great calamity' that was about to strike this Empire.
***
"Well then, I must make preparations, so please wait a moment."
"Ah, yes. Preparations...."
The astrologer, Airi Heven, waved her hands before the crystal ball in front of her.
As my memories of her, starting with that name, gradually came back to me, I decided to bring up what happened that day to lighten the mood.
"Hey, Miss Airi. I was just curious about one thing... that thing last time...."
"That was an accident."
"...Pardon?"
"An accident. Please forget about it."
"Ah, yeah."
Miss Airi spoke firmly, immediately returning to her work.
I had brought it up as a way to break the ice, but apparently, it wasn't a very pleasant memory for her.
Well, of course. No matter how much she tried to act cool, it'd be weird if she could just be chill after a client caught her with a porn file.
Deciding not to mention it unnecessarily and to understand with a warm heart, I resolved to focus on the upcoming consultation with her.