Annan and Ghirlandaio were the first to leave the teahouse.
To be more precise... is to escape from the scene of the crime.
"Uncle, what do you think?"
Annan took a deep breath and made a heavy sound.
Beside him, Ghirlandaio, the sorcerer of the Prophet School, patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"It'll be fine."
The middle-aged man with black hair and dark eyes replied affirmatively: "Because they can't fight."
He has thick curly hair, deep eyes that seem to be deeply burned, and a face as deep as a statue.
"So sure?"
"nature."
Ghirlandaio replied with great conviction: "Because of this, it is even more necessary to exclude variables."
"variable?"
"Well... You can understand that it is a variable in terms of nature, quantity, intensity, etc. on the fixed basic phenomena..."
"No, it's not that I don't understand the word."
Annan shook his head and asked, "What I mean is. Do divination spells need to exclude variables?"
"... mostly, yes."
Ghirlandaio nodded, and asked with some doubts: "Is there no tutor of the prophecy department in Zedi Hei Tower?"
Without waiting for Annan to answer, he explained in a tone like a mentor: "In short, the abilities and spells of the divination system are roughly divided into two categories. One is prediction, and the other is perception.
"The ability to predict is to actively seek information about events in the 'future record point'.
"For example, you give me two numbers at will, and let me calculate its result... because I can definitely calculate this problem, and its result is uniquely certain. So I can skip the process now and directly predict it the result of.
"In the same way, predicting trajectory, predicting answers, and predicting the heads and tails of coins are all very simple abilities, and you don't even need to cast a spell. But predicting who I will meet today and where we will go next is much more complicated... simple Generally speaking, as long as predictions other than yourself are included, the difficulty and consumption will suddenly increase, and the error rate will also increase."
"In general, the more fixed and unique the answer is, the easier it is to obtain the result. The more variable the process is, the more difficult it is to predict.
"For example, I can predict what you just wanted to say..."
Ghirlandaio stared at Annan, thought for a while and said, "You want to say, 'Is the human mind a variable', right? The answer is, 'Yes'."
-Yes.
Annan nodded.
Although there are some differences in general... For example, what he wants to ask is "Do you want to exclude the variable of 'thought'".
This small error should come from Ghirlandaio's understanding of Annan and Gerald.
"So, you can briefly see the future?"
Annan asked.
"It's about seeing the short future," the uncle corrected, "What we can know is just the information 'what we can know'.
"As long as the uncertain nodes affecting the future are clear, we can see the results in advance...that is the future in my eyes."
As Ghirlandaio said, he glanced at the teahouse, and then at Annan with deep meaning: "As long as we all leave, they will definitely not be able to fight; and if you and Her Highness Maria stay inside, they will There is a high probability that there will be a fight...
"But I just glanced at it casually, and I don't know what will happen next. But I personally tend to follow the direction of the future that can be determined, rather than changing the future to an unknown direction."
"Is that so..."
Annan nodded slowly.
A strange thought suddenly popped up in his mind.
To confirm this idea, he asked Ghirlandaio: "What about perception?"
"Perception..."
Ghirlandaio sighed in confusion.
His answer this time is very simple: "To put it simply, the teacher suddenly perceives that he is about to die. This is perception. You can't actively seek answers, and the answers may not be useful, but the result of perception is basically fixed.
"Because several key nodes anchoring this future have already happened, but we have not noticed it... In short, it is too late, and it is absolutely impossible to change the future by one's own strength. If you want to change the prophecy you get from perception , on the contrary, a lot of variables have to be introduced.”
Annan roughly understood.
The principle of prophecy spells is basically to be active or passive, to obtain some fragmented information from the future self.
This is indeed quite a versatile spell.
The result of "prediction" is "future possibility", so it can be changed at will.
And the result obtained in "perception" is "the next ending".
It's not that the perceived future cannot be changed.
But relying on one's own strength alone, it is difficult to shake the tide of fate.
Annan was silent for a while.
That being the case.
Could this ceremony be used to change the fate of "Michelangelo was killed"
-Yes.
So far, there is no definite evidence that "Michelangelo is dead".
The reason why they think so is only because the stone statue when they entered the door said so to them.
But what if the stone statue was telling lies
No, it doesn't have to be a lie.
Because the stone statue never said, "Michelangelo is dead".
Not a single word was mentioned.
It just published Michelangelo's suicide note. Michelangelo simply declared, "My murderer is among you".
But if what he said was not "the past".
— but "the future"
"Hey, David. Did you... think of something?"
Ghirlandaio said in a low voice.
Annan looked at him and was silent for a while: "What are you referring to?"
"You're right about this ceremony we're in."
The uncle stared at Annan and lowered his voice a little: "Do you have any special thoughts..."
"What are you talking about?"
At this moment, Maria's voice came.
She frowned slightly, and looked at Annan with her arms folded.
On that immature and delicate face like the most high-end doll, there is undisguised suspicion.
The mute old man Merlin stood behind her listlessly with his head down.
But Annan could sense an inexplicably strong sense of danger from him.
"—discussing the three people in there."
Before the uncle could speak, Annan replied first: "As long as we all leave, the three of them should not fight."
"A prophecy?"
Maria Lindong nodded thoughtfully, as if thinking of something.
At this moment, Annan suddenly asked:
"Your Highness Maria, what do you think of our current situation?"
"what you mean?"
For some reason, Maria always seemed very vigilant every time she talked with Annan.
She was silent for a while, but still answered seriously: "I don't think Melvin will be the only one who died.
"There will definitely be people who will die in the future... Everyone should think so. Everyone can also know that there is only one murderer, and they cannot kill two people, so they all stick together... For example, you, us, Claire and Kim .”
"So your idea is that Master Benjamin is the murderer?"
Annan asked.
Wants to kill a golden-rank wizard.
This master of transformation school who is infinitely close to the golden rank is undoubtedly able to do it. He has not teamed up with anyone now, so the suspicion is the biggest.
But the problem is...
Annan knew from the very beginning that Benjamin was innocent.
For the same reason as Gerald.
Because Benjamin did not die here, nor did he succeed in advancing. Instead, he returned to the Black Tower alive to recruit new students...for example, Salvatore.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Maria shook her head firmly.
"No, I don't think he's the murderer."
she replied.
She looked at Annan and replied without hesitation: "I think...
"The murderer is you."