Chapter 131: The Queen of Fortune Tellers (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 131: The Queen of Fortune Tellers (1)
For a woman, love is nourishment for the soul.
To be loved, she adorns her appearance and refines her words and actions.
The certainty of being loved boosts her confidence, a wellspring that fills her inner anxiety and emptiness. Within love, she feels special and valued, which breathes vitality into her life.
The sensation of being loved is more than simple happiness; it is a certificate of sorts, one that instills the conviction that she is a worthy being.
In other words, a woman deprived of love is like a flower denied water. It means she will slowly wither away.
“Uwaaah… Mastah….”
Here was one such fox girl.
Her pink ears drooped listlessly, and her nine tails hung limply, devoid of life.
She was sprawled face-down on the floor, but because it was as soft as a cloud, it gently cradled her body. Not that it offered the girl any comfort.
Just as a pet grows sullen when separated from its master, the fox girl was depressed because she was away from hers. Of course, in her case, it wasn't a pet and master, but a slave and master.
The girl's name was Rin.
Though she looked like nothing more than a cute little fox, she was, in fact, the Gumiho, the fox spirit who had once threatened the world.
The Gumiho's original form was that of a mature woman, but now, she was no different from an immature child.
“Mastah is a liar…. He said being a slave was bad. But not being a slave is even worse for Rin….”
And he’d promised to give her essence if she defeated the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, but then he’d just up and vanished without giving her any.
She had brought this upon herself. Of course, while Rin was largely to blame, there was another reason for this situation.
“The Master is a busy man. He won’t come back just because you throw a tantrum.”
It was because of the maid girl currently engrossed in a book next to Rin.
Rin had thrown a fit for the petty reason of wanting to monopolize the Master, only to be subdued by the sudden appearance of the maid girl. While she kept Rin from running wild, she had spirited Karami away.
To think a Gumiho was subdued by a mere maid. It was unbelievable, but she was, in her own right, the world's strongest maid.
She was, after all, the Magic Tower Master, the king of mages, and a Great Witch.
Mirabelle.
That was the maid girl's name.
The thick grimoire Mirabelle was reading now was the Book of Omniscience, a tome that combined the infinite universe of knowledge, the Akashic Records, into one. It contained the beginning and the end of the world—and perhaps even the secrets of this world itself.
Rin did not like Mirabelle. No, she outright hated her. She hated her even more than the cat people who had once stolen her precious meat.
“Rin wants to see Mastah! It'd be a piece of cake to go find him, so why are you stopping me!”
Because you're the one stopping me from going to my Master!
You're a worse villain than the Gumiho!
“Rin has a disease where she'll die if she can't smell Mastah!”
“That's fine. I'll resurrect you, so please die with a peaceful heart.”
“Rin can't sleep without Mastah!”
“Ah, I'm the same in that regard.”
She never backed down, not even once.
To think a monstrous girl like this existed in the world.
This wasn't a game; the power scaling was garbage.
If only Mirabelle wasn't Karami's slave. If only Rin still had her soul shackles, it would have been a fight worth having.
Unlike Mirabelle, Rin didn't know how to re-fasten the broken shackles herself.
“Don't you want to see Mastah, too?!”
“I want to see him terribly.”
“Then let's go find him!”
“I cannot. I have already disappointed the Master. I must not be the first to seek him out. I will only go to him when he acknowledges my worth again and requires my presence.”
“Agh.”
This damn stubborn maid.
Rin felt like she was going to die of frustration.
“Besides, you were an adult just the other day. Why are you acting like a child now?”
Mirabelle struck a nerve, but Rin didn't flinch. Instead, she tilted her head as if to say, What nonsense are you talking about?
“Acting according to one's transformed body is a basic of shapeshifting. And a Gumiho has no true form. This is Rin's true form, too.”
Rin's current appearance was from when she was a three-tailed fox, a girl of similar stature to Mirabelle. The only difference was that her tails had increased to nine.
The reason Rin insisted on this three-tailed form out of all her many shapes was that she had more good memories with Karami in this form.
There was no other reason.
“Then you can just stay here alone! Why are you stopping Rin from going to see Mastah?!”
“Because I am the Master's maid. He told me to keep you here. What are you to the Master?”
“R-Rin is….”
Not a maid…
She wanted to claim she was a slave, but the shackles were gone.
The only thing that came to Rin's mind was….
“A-a pet?”
“…?”
For the first time, Mirabelle looked up from her book at Rin's mumbled reply. To Rin's odd-colored eyes, it looked like an opening to exploit.
“That's right! Rin is Mastah's pet! It's the law of nature for a pet to want to be by its master's side!”
“Managing the Master's pets is also part of a maid's duties.”
“Agh.”
She was her natural enemy.
A professional fox hunter, no less.
Now tired of even throwing a tantrum, Rin buried her face in the cloud-like floor.
Mirabelle sighed softly, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Rin with pity.
“Don't just lie there, do something. You never know, right? If you increase your value, the Master might need you and come looking for you.”
“Rin doesn't know about things like that.”
She was already a Gumiho. How was she supposed to increase her value any further?
Rin gave up on the conversation.
There was no getting through to this girl.
Watching the exchange between the two god-like girls, Morgana chuckled. Her eyes curved into crescents as she glanced at Yuhwa, who sat opposite her.
“Yuhwa, you always said the Gumiho was dangerous, but now that we see her, she's not all that, is she? Can't even make a peep at our Magic Tower Master.”
“Hmm….”
“Well, I suppose that's the difference in level between a witch of direct lineage and a mere yokai.”
Morgana savored a solitary sense of victory in the girls' squabble. She raised her pinky finger and elegantly took a sip of her coffee. It tasted exceptionally sweet today.
Yuhwa, who was sipping her tea with a hum, found it strangely bitter today.
Whoosh.
The space of the Dream Garden shimmered.
Heukbi entered, her black tail swishing. Her hands were full of documents.
“Lady Yuhwa.”
“What is it?”
Since losing the power of the Celestial Fox, Yuhwa had entrusted the merchant group to Heukbi. She had already been struggling with the workload, and with the Celestial Fox's power gone, neither her body nor her mind was as sharp as it used to be. As it happened, Heukbi had left the Lunar Shrine and had nothing to do, so Yuhwa had handed over the reins and put her in charge of the group. Heukbi, also a yokai, was as quick-witted as Yuhwa, if not more so.
Of course, she was still inexperienced in many ways and often came to Yuhwa for advice.
“I have come to speak with you about the contract you signed with the merchant group from the Traul Kingdom, regarding the rental of spirits.”
“Ah yes, there was that.”
It was the biggest contract Yuhwa had handled before stepping down as the leader.
With the help of spirits, who were closely tied to nature, the land could be made far more fertile. The growth rate, yield, and quality of crops could all be maximized.
To think of renting out such spirits for a high price. A very clever move.
“It was the Merchants of Death, wasn't it?”
A new merchant group, not even half a year old. But now, it had become the kingdom's top merchant group. Even Yuhwa couldn't help but admire the business acumen of the Merchants of Death's leader.
“What was it you wanted to say?”
“It is about the elf from the merchant group. I came to inform you that they will be arriving in Vestia soon.”
“You don't need to report every single thing to me. You are the leader now.”
“I would rather not be….”
When Heukbi gave her a look that said, Didn't you just dump this on me because you didn't want to do it?, Yuhwa cleared her throat.
“Ahem, it's all good experience. It will all be useful when you're older.”
“I, too, am a yokai who has lived for hundreds of years. I believe I have lived long enough and experienced enough.”
“Then why do you keep referring to yourself as a young girl? You should be saying 'I, an old woman...'. Should I call you grandma?”
“……”
Heukbi fell silent.
No matter how long she lived, she hated being called a grandma.
Heukbi wanted to be a young girl forever.
“Blackie.”
Who would dare call Heukbi, the Dark Fox, ‘Blackie’?
Heukbi looked down. Rin had rolled over to her feet and was lying there, looking up. A sigh escaped Heukbi's lips.
“…What is it, Lady Rin.”
“Rin wants to try being a merchant, too.”
“Why the sudden desire to be a merchant?”
“Mastah loves money. If Rin makes lots of money, he'll like it.”
“I will give you money, so please just stay still.”
“No! Why won't anyone let Rin do anything! Rin wants to do something, too!”
“Sigh….”
Heukbi let out a long sigh and covered her eyes with her hand.
A wave of fatigue washed over her.
If the Gumiho of the past was autocratic and had the qualities of a king, Rin was just an immature brat. Always throwing tantrums, rolling on the floor.
Is this what it feels like to raise a child? It made her realize just how amazing Karami was for taming this Rin.
“What kind of business do you wish to do?”
“I don't know!”
“You must at least have something you want to do for me to be able to help you.”
“Hmm….”
Rin pondered, tapping her lips with her fingers. It seemed her intelligence had regressed when she shapeshifted into a child. Or perhaps the shock of her master leaving had done this to her.
Seeing how tired Heukbi looked, Yuhwa gently interjected.
“How about opening a fortune-telling booth?”
“A fortune-telling booth?”
“You're a yokai, too. You should be able to tell fortunes, right?”
“Ooh. Gwanny, you're a genius?”
“Sigh…”
The nerve of her…
Yuhwa sighed as well.
Rin shot to her feet.
She had found something she wanted to do.
“I've decided! Rin will become the Queen of Fortune Tellers!”