Chapter 175: The Knight's Prophecy

Feeling regret in his heart, he planned to give up looking for Young Lady Annette today, but the receptionist was still enthusiastically recommending other diviners from the Association to Xia De.

The detective holding the cat thought for a moment; if he turned and left now, it would make his behavior seem strange, and it might even cause rumors about Young Lady Annette to spread within the Association, so he pretended not to care and nodded:

"Of course, no problem. I just want to find a reliable diviner to perform a reading for me; as for who it is, it doesn't matter at all... I have Association membership, so can the price for divination be discounted?"

Perhaps because being held by Xia De was too comfortable, Mia the cat had actually fallen asleep. This was the cat's nap time; its life was much more comfortable than Xia De's.

The Association's receptionist recommended a female diviner said to be extremely accurate to Xia De, but just as Xia De was preparing to head to the second floor, he happened to meet Vice President Mark coming down from upstairs.

The two were already acquaintances. After exchanging pleasantries, upon learning that Xia De had come to the Association for a divination session, this enthusiastic Mr. directly recommended another diviner for him, and without any extra charge:

"Mr. Hamilton, although the Luo De Pai business of the Association has grown larger and larger in recent years, divination remains the Association's most fundamental business. You are very lucky; the most accurate diviner in the Association happens to be here today. Follow me, and I will introduce you."

Saying this, he beckoned Xia De upstairs. Xia De followed the man who seemed to always wear formal attire and asked curiously:

"Who is that diviner?"

"Our President, Mr. Adis Stein. He just returned this morning. Ha, Mr. Hamilton, I must say your luck is very good."

Xia De instinctively stopped his steps but quickly caught up again. Young Lady Annette had said that the characteristics of "Beyond Fate" could not be discovered by divination alone; she had performed a divination at a cost to understand this point. Even the Dean of the Astronomy Academy at Saint Byrens had not been able to learn of Xia De's special nature through divination, so this time he had nothing to worry about.

Not to mention, getting to know more people was never a bad thing; he had absolutely no reason to refuse.

The two arrived at the third floor but merely walked past the door with the golden sign reading "President's Office," finally stopping in front of the door hanging a sign that read "Accounting Office."

Such a sensitive place; Xia De did not enter, leaving Mr. Mark to go in and find the person.

The discussion sounds inside were very heated; the gist was that if the accounts were not done correctly, everyone could go beg on the streets together. Then came mutual shifting of blame, believing the accounts didn't match because the receipts for the preliminary preparation work of the "Dacheng Players" had not yet been gathered; by autumn, they would definitely get this year's first-half accounts in order.

The voice of Mr. Adis Stein, President of the Tobesque City Diviners Association Branch, was the most high-pitched among the crowd. He was obviously threatening some of the obviously problematic individuals and was very familiar with these account figures.

Soon, Vice President Mark informed him of a visiting guest, and Xia De finally met this gentleman who had just returned to the city.

Mr. Adis Stein was about the same height as Xia De, but his build was slightly thin, with a high nose bridge and eyes deeply sunken into his eye sockets. His demeanor was very much like a teacher at a university; he wore a pair of small gold-rimmed glasses on his face, which made him the first acquaintance Xia De had met in this world who wore glasses.

"This is Mr. Hamilton? Hello, it is an honor to invite you to participate in this year's autumn..."

Mr. Stein smiled and extended his hand to shake Xia De's hand, and the instant their hands touched, a voice sounded in Xia De's ear:

【Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, quite high level.】

"As expected."

"The Dacheng Players Luo De Pai Tournament; you wish to have a divination? Of course, no problem, this way please. Before I became President, I was always the most excellent diviner of the Tobesque Branch."

He boasted with some pride, and Xia De smiled in agreement from the side, actually quite looking forward to whether this cheap divination could give him some new insights.

To demonstrate their professionalism, divination naturally required a dedicated room; the numerous vacant rooms on the Association's second floor, which could be rented out as reception rooms, were actually all divination chambers.

Mr. Mark left first, and the local Association President and Xia De entered a second-floor room together. The arrangement inside the room was very similar to an ordinary reception room, except that on the shelves against the wall were placed strange things like crystal balls and obsidian basins.

The servants were preparing tea. Seeing Xia De look at the shelves, Mr. Stein casually introduced:

"The items there are all decorations; every diviner has their own preferred tools. Starting several decades ago, the Association's divination business got worse and worse, while the Luo De Pai business got better and better. But in recent years it has improved; those rash young people and idle noble ladies are very interested in this kind of not-so-dangerous mysterious behavior."

"What kind of dangerous mysterious behavior?"

Xia De asked. Mia was probably woken by the sound of speaking but only let out a dreamy "meow" before comfortably falling asleep again. The female servants cleaning the room and preparing tea were all quietly looking at the cat held by the young man; a young orange cat was indeed very lovable... especially when it was asleep.

Mr. Stein beckoned Xia De to sit down and answered Xia De's question while counting on his fingers:

"Dangerous haunted house explorations, spirit communication methods obtained from who knows where, lingering in graveyards at night, reading strange occult books... these things give the Zhengshen Sect quite a headache, but people who are full and have nothing to do love to do them."

He shook his head and sighed. Xia De actually had some thoughts on this:

"Mr. Stein, look, the great development of the steam industry has driven the emergence of a new wealthy class, but the corresponding entertainment methods have not kept up, leading these rich but idle people to do such strange things. This should be considered an imbalance between the level of productive forces and spiritual construction."

The President looked at him with some surprise and strongly agreed with this view:

"Exactly. So compared to those dangerous activities, isn't it safer to encourage people to participate more in Luo De Pai competitions? Or come to our formal Diviners Association for divination; noble Young Ladies chatting about astrology, or discussing the connection between palm lines and future fortune with others—these activities are not dangerous at all."

After the servants left, the two finally began the divination.

Although Xia De was not at all worried that rashly performing divination would expose his identity as a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, safety first, so the divination he proposed had absolutely nothing to do with himself:

"Here is the situation: I recently received a somewhat troublesome commission regarding inheritance and legal consultation. To protect the client, specific information cannot be disclosed. Coming here for divination is not to get an answer immediately, but simply to seek some vague guidance..."

He smiled sheepishly;

"Actually, I have always had doubts about the correctness of the act of divination; please don't mind."

"No problem; this view is quite common."

Mr. Stein waved his hand and then asked seriously:

"So what specifically do you want to divine?"

"Whether my client, Mrs. Lemere, can safely obtain a large sum of money in the near future?"

"Divining the fortune of wealth, no problem. Then, can you provide some information about that lady? Otherwise, divination is impossible."

Mr. Stein asked again.

Xia De, not really wanting to get an answer from here anyway, didn't hesitate much and described Mrs. Lemere's identity and age information, along with introducing her financial situation.

Mr. Stein nodded to show understanding, looked around, and finally brought the teacup to his own front:

"There are actually many ways to divine: pendulums, crystal balls, water divination, burning bones, and so on. This time, how about we try the relatively rare tea leaf divination?"

He took some tea leaves from the tray, then closed his eyes and sprinkled them into the teacup. After all the tea leaves in his hand had fallen, he opened his eyes to check the floating status, then poured out this cup of tea and observed the condition of the tea leaves sticking to the bottom of the cup.

"That's enough."

Mr. Stein put down the teacup.

Xia De felt no trace of any elements throughout the entire process, which indicated that the other party's "divination" was merely so-called ordinary human divination.

"So what is the result?"

He asked, pretending to be curious.

"That lucky lady deserves to possess a very large sum of money."

"That's good."

Xia De showed a smile; for the divination that cost him 2 shillings, he was actually somewhat heartbroken.

"By the way, I also divined for you."

Mr. Stein said again.

"On my behalf?"

Xia De said, watching the other's expression as he spoke, but it seemed Mr. Stein hadn't noticed anything strange.

Right now, his pocket held the Twenty-Sided Dice of Fate—something he never touched at home but always carried when he went out. Even if the other party used a ring-wielding sorcerer's divination ability, the result they saw would most likely be wrong, let alone divination by ordinary means.

"What did you see?"

"'See' isn't quite the right word—it should be described as a feeling. Divination is a process that's very hard to put into words, and as for you, Mr. Hamilton, what's very strange is that from the mists of the future, I saw you becoming a sword-bearing knight."

"A knight?"

Xia De found it baffling. The identity of "knight" had all but completely vanished in the Steam Age. In the earlier eras of the Sixth Epoch, knights belonged to the lowest tier of the nobility, usually holding only a small fief—such as an estate. They were professional soldiers who fought for the liege lord or king they served.

And as firearms entered the military, the knightly way of fighting gradually declined, until the entire class disappeared. With the changes of the times, even hereditary "knight" titles were few and far between. As far as Xia De knew from common knowledge, the existing nobility of Delarion holding the title of "knight" numbered no more than twenty—compared to the kingdom's vast population and noble system, that handful barely counted.

Rather, it was the medals derived from the knightly title—the "Delarion Iris Knight Medal," the "Delarion Gold Sash Knight Medal," and the "Delarion Honorary Knight Medal"—that were better known, as the highest honors of the kingdom. These medals were usually awarded only to nobles who had made special contributions to the kingdom or the royal family, and very rarely to commoners.

Therefore, there was no way Xia De could become a so-called "knight" in this era.