Chapter 115: Cheat

"You must not speak my name without my permission."

Several minutes after the Gathering ended, Audrey and Alger, who had

returned to their bedroom and ship respectively, could still hear the

words of The Fool reverberating in their ears.

Their impression of the mysterious and powerful Mr. Fool was normally

relaxed, calm, and unfathomable. It was rare that he would adopt such a

stern, supercilious attitude.

Because of that, they were exceptionally alarmed. They submitted to his

wishes sincerely.

They were no strangers to words like that, but these instructions were

normally recorded within The Revelation of Evernight or The Book of

Storms!

In the West Borough of Tingen City, on Daffodil Street.

Klein pulled open the curtains and allowed the golden sunlight to pour

into his bedroom.

He had inspected the star that previously sent out a prayer after

Justice and The Hanged Man left, but didn't obtain any information this

time round.

Since the crimson star had the ability to store prayers, akin to sending

offline messages, Klein believed that the youth who spoke Jotun hadn't

prayed again from the last two times he entered the world above the

giant.

This made him suspect that there was no hope left for the youth's

parents, and that the young man had chosen to give up...

With his back facing the sunlight, Klein walked to the edge of his bed

and laid down. He didn't want to move.

He knew that he shouldn't waste any time and head to the Divination Club

and continue the process of digesting the potion, but he didn't want to

move. He laid silently on his bed, enjoying his rare break.

He had a full schedule from Tuesday to Friday, mysticism lessons and

practicals in the mornings, shooting and combat training in the

afternoons. He was mentally exhausted by the time evening came around.

There was no change in his morning routine on Saturday, but he had to

guard Chanis Gate in the afternoon. He would've stayed underground until

the dawn of Sunday.

Sunday morning was time for Klein to catch up on sleep. In the

afternoon, circumstances would determine if he went to the Divination

Club. On Monday morning, he had just returned from Khoy University in

the morning and had the Tarot Gathering in the afternoon. He also had to

think about the issue of acting as a Seer. In other words, he had been

busy the entire week, with no time to rest.

Thus, all Klein wanted to do was laze around, lying on his bed like a

loser, not doing anything except daydreaming.

No, how can a boss of a cult be so worthless. If Miss Justice and Mr.

Hanged Man caught wind of this, their impression of me would shatter...

Klein buried his face into his blanket and motivated himself.

"I have the formula for the Clown potion, all I need to do now is fully

digest the Seer potion... I have the formula to the Clown potion, all I

need to do now is fully digest the Seer potion..."

He muttered to himself repeatedly and then propped himself up.

Klein took a bronze coin from his pocket and quickly divined if it was

suitable for him to head to the club today and got an definitive

response.

"Five, four, three, two, one!"

After the countdown, he forced himself to stand up straight and walked

over to the clothes rack before picking out his suit and hat.

In the meeting room of the Divination Club on Howes Street.

Klein sat down in a shaded corner and sipped on his Sibe black tea as he

read the Tingen City Honest Paper. There weren't many members around

him, just six or seven.

Just as he was laughing at the grammatical mistake used in a job

advertisement, he saw a monocled Glacis walk in with a silk top hat in

his hand. There was a blue-dressed lady in her thirties beside him.

The lady had curved eyebrows and large yet dull eyes. In her left hand,

she was carrying an Intis hat decorated with the feathers of a black

swan.

*That hat is ridiculous. Wouldn't her neck be sore wearing

that?* Klein noted to himself. He looked over and massaged his

glabella, as if alleviating his fatigue.

Through his Spirit Vision, he noticed that Glacis and the lady were both

healthy, but were anxious, angry, and flustered.

"Good afternoon, Glacis. That Mr. Lanevus wasn't a trustworthy fellow,

was he?" Klein asked with a smile, remaining seated.

Glacis had asked him for a divination about investing in Lanevus's steel

company. Glacis had obtained a negative suggestion.

But noticing his indecisiveness, Klein believed that he had taken the

risk anyway. Klein hoped the man hadn't invested everything he had.

Thus, Klein immediately made the association and judgment when he saw

the colors of his emotions.

Glacis froze for a moment, then let out a bitter smile.

"I truly regret not listening to the suggestion you divined for me. Heh,

this is the second time I'm saying something like that, let's hope,

no---I believe that there will not be a third time."

He turned his head and looked at the lady with some wrinkles.

"Madam Christina, look, Mr. Moretti had already guessed our motive for

coming here without us even speaking. He is the most magical

fortune-teller I have ever seen. I'm more than willing to describe him

as a seer."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Moretti. We have come here precisely because of

Lanevus." Christina gave a simple bow, clearly anxious and flustered.

"Shall we head to Topaz?" Glacis was more collected. He pointed to the

door of the meeting room with his chin.

Klein laughed as he got up.

"This is the job of a fortune-teller."

He followed the path to the empty Topaz room.

Glacis locked the wooden door and walked to his seat while sighing.

"Lanevus has gone missing. He gave the excuse of going to the Sivellaus

County to oversee the excavation and left Tingen, never to return. We

sent someone to look for him via steam locomotive and discovered that

the large-scale steel mine he spoke of only existed on the map. Luckily

for me, I recalled your advice and only invested a third of what I

initially intended to invest. Otherwise, I would have lost my family and

my life."

Klein's pupils were darker than usual when he looked at the two people

in front of him. He asked, a little curious, "Before making such a major

financial decision, wouldn't you choose a representative and ascertain

if whatever he said was true at the Hornacis mountain range in the

Sivellaus County?"

Christina responded quickly, "Our representative was fooled, fooled by

the people Lanevus employed, the place he rented, and the land that was

fenced off."

Klein didn't question them any further. He maintained his attitude of a

Seer and asked, "What do you wish to divine today?"

"We wish to see if this is salvageable or not," Christina said as she

looked at Glacis.

Klein took a piece of paper and a fountain pen.

"Then let us do an astrolabe divination. I'll ask, and you'll answer."

Between the questions, Klein marked out the Thunderous constellation and

the corresponding symbols of various situations before completing the

astrolabe.

He used more elements in his astrolabe than an ordinary person would

have. The method he was going to use to interpret the astrolabe was

going to bring him closer to the truth.

"Madam, Sir, you are now at a crossroad. If you don't restrain

yourselves and succumb to your greed and anxiety, you will fall further

into the abyss, never being able to free yourselves. But if you can be

patient and wait persistently without being greedy, then there will be

an opportunity of you seeing the sunlight..." Klein said, his tone

unhurried.

"I understand." Christina nodded. She thought for a moment before

saying, "Mr. Moretti, can you divine Lanevus's whereabouts?"

"No, I don't think so. The information Lanevus left behind is most

likely fake; even his name might not be real. How can I divine anything?

Unless you can give me very specific details, or an item he carries with

him all the time," Klein replied truthfully.

Christina fell silent for a moment before pushing a one-soli note toward

Klein.

"I have heard from Glacis that you are a true seer, who is respectful

and fearful of fate and not greedy for money. You can think of the rest

as tips that I am giving to the club."

"Thank you for your confidence in me."

She stood up and bade farewell before leaving quickly.

Not greedy for money... No, I am a materialistic man! Klein

was regretting his actions of acting as a charlatan.

Seeing Christina leave, Glacis closed the door and asked, "Is there

really no way?"

"I told you the way just now." Klein smiled as he leaned back.

Glacis sighed. "Lanevus took off with over 10,000 pounds and his victims

totaled over a hundred people. Luckily for me, I only lost 50 pounds.

Those were my savings, and I have no debt. But Miss Christina invested

150 pounds. To her, this is not a sum that she can bear easily."

"Have you called the police?" Klein suddenly felt anger towards the

cheat after hearing the sum of 10,000 pounds.

One could be considered rich even in Backlund with money like that.

*I don't know if the police would enlist the help of the Nighthawks,

Mandated Punishers, or Machinery Hivemind for a simple case like

this...* Klein thought, a little distracted.

Glacis nodded and said, "We've already made a police report. The police

are paying a lot of attention to this case. After much discussion, we're

willing to take out a portion of the money we would get back as a

reward. One can get 10 pounds as a reward if they manage to provide

clues about Lanevus's whereabouts. If you can give a precise location

and help the police catch Lanevus, you can get a reward of 100 pounds!"

10 pounds for a clue? 100 pounds for catching Lanevus? Klein's

eyes nearly sparkled after he heard that. His breathing became heavy.

He happened to be worrying about how he was going to pay the detective

in the future.

He could barely afford the second phase of the payment with the extra

salary of three pounds he received this week, but if the private

investigator managed to complete his mission within the next week, then

he wouldn't have enough to pay off whatever he promised to pay. He would

be lacking a few soli, provided that he wouldn't need to spend his

savings elsewhere this week.

*Perhaps the police will have some items belonging to Lanevus. But they

won't be very useful if he's already left Tingen...* Klein felt

a mixture of excitement and disappointment.

In the next hour and a half, Klein got another two customers due to

Angelica's recommendation. One was a divination for a one-year-old

toddler. Klein immediately drew the corresponding birth astrolabe and

explained it, much to the satisfaction of his customer.

The other was searching for an item. Klein used tarot reading, coupled

with dream divination, to give him a general area. This made his

customer very shocked, for he had never seen a fortune-teller that could

give him such accurate information.

*Perhaps I could obtain enough funds just by doing divinations for

others.* Klein, who had received some tips, put on his hat, held

his cane, and walked toward the exit of the club.

At this moment, he saw Christina enter the club once again with a young

girl wearing a sunhat beside her.

Christina saw Klein and immediately approached him. She asked softly,

"Mr. Moretti, you said that you could try divining Lanevus's whereabouts

if there was something belonging to him?"

"That is correct." Klein nodded.

Christina heaved a sigh of relief and asked in a serious tone, "Then is

his child something that belongs to him?"

Huh? Klein was momentarily a little lost.