Chapter 2339: Two Divinations

Chapter 2339: Chapter 2339: Two Divinations

"Dragging me into this? No, no, it’s fine, I’m not afraid of being dragged into anything. Last time I didn’t know a thing and still took that fellow to Milestone; that contribution is enough for me to lie on the roll of merit and eat off it for a lifetime."

Mr. Benhart shook his head.

Meanwhile, the innkeeper polishing a wineglass looked over at the guests at the corner table, watching them secretly converse while repeatedly reaching up to point toward the ceiling. First he raised his head in puzzlement, thinking there must be something wrong with his own ceiling, then decided they were definitely criticizing the city Council or criticizing the King—anyway, they had to be talking politics.

"What’s the specific method?"

"Have a great dream. If you can see the Red Moon in the dream, then you’ve succeeded."

Mr. Benhart said, reaching into his pocket and groping around for a while, then taking out a bracelet tied with a Five-Colored Cord. Set in the bracelet was a crescent-shaped red gemstone, saturated with undisguisable Desecration Elements:

"Press it under your pillow. In a bit I’ll draw a Ritual Circle for you and set it up under the bed. Before you sleep, remember to drink some Magic Potion that can guide you into deep sleep. And finally, the lunar phase..."

He pinched his fingers, muttering under his breath as he calculated:

"Any time before the end of this week will work—if your luck’s good, you’ll succeed in one try; if your luck’s bad, you’ll never succeed at all. The ritual may sound simple, but it’s absolutely reliable. But I have to remind you once more, if you do succeed, you’ll be facing directly in the dream..."

As he spoke, he pointed upward again.

Shard slowly nodded very solemnly:

"I have to at least try. From what I can tell, my relationship with that one isn’t that bad."

Mr. Benhart’s face remained expressionless; he had absolutely no intention of responding to that line. Although he didn’t remember the aftermath of the Battle of Milestone, he could now guess well enough what must have happened back then, so he simply pretended he hadn’t heard clearly:

"How long will you need for Divination on those letters? We’ll meet again after the Divination."

"It’s Tuesday morning now—oh, noon already... give me a day and a half. Let’s meet again Thursday morning, here in this place. Then we’ll act together to settle this matter. If something comes up and we need to contact each other midway, use the same address as before."

"No problem. I’m still staying at the Goethe Grand Hotel."

That was the floor the "Golden Dawn Opera Group" had booked out entirely.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Benhart, Shard returned to Belindel Estate for lunch. After lunch he waited until two in the afternoon, before the Countess—exhausted from handling the aftermath of the city’s unrest—finally came back. Though Shard felt a bit reluctant to burden her further, he still brought up the matter of Divining the source of those letters:

"The origin of these letters definitely has Anti-Divination measures in place; there’s even a chance the source is a Relic."

"It’s fine, I’m a professional Diviner."

Although she sounded very confident, she still called Miss Aphrola over to help. Officially, Miss Aphrola was still on the way back from the New World with her family’s fleet, so she would also be living here for the time being.

The estate had a Divination room reserved exclusively for the Countess, and the level of professionalism in that room was far superior to what Luviya had set up in Room 1 on the third floor of the Shard Family house. The Miss Maids helped arrange the Ritual Circle, and then the two Witches both contributed strands of their hair as Divination material.

Yet by three in the afternoon, after Miss Belindel had shut herself in the room and performed Divination alone, she came out holding those letters with a puzzled look:

"Nothing but a blank."

Which was the same result Miss Les had gotten:

"It’s really strange, I can’t see anything."

She looked somewhat embarrassed at Shard, but Shard’s expression was very serious:

"Looks like I’ve run into a troublesome problem again."

The Witch with the crimson birthmark on her brow wasn’t thinking about how troublesome this matter could become; instead, she wanted to prove her professionalism and show that she was of use:

"Wait. This Divination ritual was too small in scale. Let me prepare properly, and tomorrow I’ll Divinate for you again. This time I’ll go all out—I absolutely will get something."

Miss Aphrola saw through what she was thinking, and kindly helped out by saying:

"Shard, just wait one more day. The matter Bella wants to Divinate will definitely be Divinated—at worst... we’ll borrow the Council’s Ritual Site."

"It’s fine. If this matter weren’t of great importance, it wouldn’t be used to trade for information on the Sorrow of Blood."

Right after that, Miss Aphrola was called away by a Maid sent with a letter; Miss Sylvia had sent word from Margaret’s Manor asking her for help. So the Blonde Countess pulled Shard alone up to the second-floor terrace for a private talk:

"Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll definitely be able to Divinate a result."

"Really, it’s fine; don’t take it too much to heart. I still have other ways to investigate this."

He said with a smile.

"That Miss Luviya Annette, right?"

The Witch suddenly lifted her chin slightly:

"Go ask her for help, but I’d bet she won’t be able to divine anything either."

"You don’t need to compete with her over anything."

Shard gently put his arm around her shoulders, and she obediently leaned into his embrace.

"Diviners aren’t omnipotent, I know that much."

"She’s the one who told you that too?"

Those golden eyes so close to him looked up, stubborn, so Shard rose slightly on his toes and kissed the spot between her brows. The Witch let out a little "ya~" and her face flushed scarlet, but she dropped the topic of Luviya:

"You really are... Emma and Vanessa keep saying you always look like such a gentleman, but why are you always putting your hands all over me... You know, I’m really worried. That Yellow Moon Orb in my shoulder is guiding me to see more futures in my dreams, and I... I’ve seen something bad."

"Those purple eyes again?"

She’d mentioned that before.

"No, it’s Moon Bay burning. But the flames were far greater than last week, the disaster far greater than last week. That prophecy passed down in Moon Bay for generations... it’s really going to come true."

She tilted her head against Shard’s shoulder, looking down from the second floor at the city’s peaceful afternoon.

Shard held her a little tighter, but didn’t immediately make any promises. He would protect everyone around him, but whether he could protect this city this time was still hard to say. The long?haired, purple?eyed girl had told him how dangerous this was, and for now he also didn’t know just how far the future would go.

Shard didn’t leave the estate that afternoon, instead working with Miss Belindel in the study to sort through those Seven Great Families documents, hoping to find the whereabouts of the remaining four pieces of Dragon Scales.

He already knew "Desire" had one piece, but he’d only get it after completing the mission. As for the remaining three, Shard figured at least one had already fallen into other hands, so the chances left to them were not many.

Not until after dinner, after saying goodbye to the girls of the estate and asking Miss Swift to contact Granny Cassandra to help investigate the pattern he’d brought back from the Gravel Golden Sea, did Shard finally leave, taking Mia—who apparently had been playing happily with the Little Unicorn—and bidding farewell to the ladies before returning home.

Since Miss Galina and Dorothy were both staying here for the time being, the house was lively. Luviya, off work, had also come to Saint Delan Square; after hearing Shard talk about those letters, she immediately busied herself with trying a divination:

"That Fate Witch couldn’t see anything at all, right?"

The place for the divination was that additional room on the third floor, added after the Green Lake incident. Dorothy and Miss Galina came to help too; although the Level of the divination ritual couldn’t compare to Miss Belindel’s in the afternoon, Luviya felt that performing divination in this house might produce something very strange.

"What do you mean, ’something very strange’? Oh, Luviya, why do I feel like you’re still making fun of my house?"

Shard asked, then was promptly kicked out of the room by Luviya, who was already prepared.

She also performed the divination alone, and the conclusion she got was exactly the same as that Great Witch of Destiny’s:

"Nothing at all."

When everyone returned to sit in the living room, the purple?eyed girl said this as the Maids brought hot tea and snacks. Mia wriggled frantically on Shard’s lap for quite a while; seeing that he really wasn’t going to get her any snacks, she finally settled down.

"In general, what causes this kind of situation?"

Dorothy asked curiously, and it was Miss Galina who answered:

"The other party’s skill in divination far surpasses Luviya and Bella; a High-level Relic, since relics come with innate Anti-Divination; or some object protected by a huge ritual, but what Shard wants to find is the sender of the letters, not some hidden treasure."

Luviya looked at Shard:

"With the state I’m in now, even if Laplace Klein Howard were resurrected on the spot, it still wouldn’t likely leave my divination completely blank. Most likely it’s a relic, and a relic related to Fate... Sage Level or even higher, a dangerous Level."

The Red-Haired Duchess lounged beside Shard and said lazily:

"Another High-level Relic? I know I’ve said this already, but I’m still very curious—why are there so many relics in Moon Bay?"

"That’s hard to say... No, for the moment I’m not planning to use the Special Coin."

Shard shook his head, while Luviya showed none of the Countess’s afternoon worries:

"It’s not like we don’t have other options. The two of us divined separately with no results, so let’s try working together. The combined power of two professional diviners is far more than simple addition."

A bright smile lit her face:

"Shard, tomorrow morning I’ll use the One-shot Deadly Pistol to go to Moon Bay."

"That soon?"

Dorothy asked with concern, and Luviya shook her head:

"We can’t wait. From Shard’s description, things in Moon Bay could completely erupt at any moment. If I’d been there last weekend, and could have seen that Dragon Feast Sacrificial Ground with my own eyes, the situation now would be better.

Dorothy, please have Lecia send an Invitation Letter to the Council tomorrow morning, specifying that I go to Yordle Palace to help her with divination. That way there’ll be a reason for my absence on Wednesday, and the annual leave I’m taking on Thursday will be approved. I passed the Registered Diviner exam in this summer’s tests, so I do have grounds to take a vacation abroad."