Feeling regretful, he planned to give up the search for Miss Annat today, but the receptionist was still enthusiastically recommending other fortune tellers of the association to Shade.
The detective holding the cat thought about it. If he turned around and left now, it would seem strange, and it might cause rumors about Miss Anat to spread in the association, so he nodded as if he didn't care.
"Of course, no problem. I just want to find a reliable fortune teller to tell my fortune. It doesn't matter who it is... I have membership in the association. Can the price of the fortune telling be cheaper?"
Perhaps because Shade was holding her so comfortably, Mia the cat actually fell asleep. This was the cat's nap time, and her life was much more comfortable than Shade's.
The association's receptionist recommended to Shade a female fortune teller who was said to be very good at divination. However, when Shade was about to go to the second floor, he happened to meet Vice President Mark who was coming down from upstairs.
The two of them were acquaintances, and after exchanging pleasantries for a while, the enthusiastic gentleman directly recommended another fortune teller to him after learning that Xia De came to the association for fortune-telling activities, and he didn't have to pay any extra money:
"Mr. Hamilton, although the association's Rhodes business has been growing in recent years, divination is the association's most fundamental business. You are very lucky. The association's most effective fortune teller happens to be here today. Come with me and I will introduce you to each other."
Then he called Xia De upstairs. Xia De followed the man who always seemed to be dressed in formal clothes and asked curiously:
"Who is that fortune teller?"
"Our president, Mr. Addis Stan, just came back this morning. Ha, Mr. Hamilton, I have to say you are very lucky."
Shade subconsciously stopped, but soon caught up. Miss Anat said that the characteristics of "Beyond Fate" could not be discovered by divination alone. She realized this after doing divination at a cost. Even the dean of the Astronomy School of St. Byrons could not find out Shade's specialness through divination, so he had nothing to worry about this time.
Not to mention, there was no harm in getting to know more people, and he had no reason to refuse.
The two of them went all the way to the third floor, but only walked past the door with the golden plate "President's Office" and finally stopped in front of the door with the plate "Accounting Office".
Xia De did not go into such a sensitive place, and Mr. Mark went in to look for someone.
The discussion was very lively, and the general idea was that if the accounts were not done right, everyone could go begging on the street. Then they blamed each other, saying that the accounts were not right because the bills for the early preparations of "Big City Players" had not been collected yet, and that they would be able to do a good job of the accounts for the first half of this year by autumn.
Mr. Addis Stan, the branch president of the Tobysk City Prophet Association, had the loudest voice among the crowd. He was obviously threatening some of the guys who were obviously problematic, and he was very familiar with these account numbers.
Soon Vice President Mark told him that there was a guest visiting, and Xia De finally met the gentleman who had just returned to the city.
Mr. Addis Stan was about the same height as Shad, but slightly thinner, with a high nose bridge and deep sunken eyes. He looked like a university teacher, and he wore a pair of small gold-rimmed glasses. This was the first person Shad had met in this world who wore glasses.
"Is this Mr. Hamilton? Hello, it is an honor to invite you to participate in this autumn's..."
Mr. Stan smiled and stretched out his hand to shake hands with Shade, and at the moment when the two touched, a voice came to Shade's ear:
Ring warlock, of quite high level.
“As expected.”
"The Grand City Players' Rhodes Card Contest. Do you want to do divination? Of course no problem. Come this way, please. Before I became the president, I was the best fortune teller in the Tobesk branch."
He boasted about himself with some complacency, and Xia De smiled in agreement, looking forward to whether this cheap divination could give him some new insights.
In order to demonstrate professionalism, divination must of course have a special room. A large number of rooms on the second floor of the association that are idle and can be rented out as reception rooms are actually divination rooms.
Mr. Mark left first, and the president of the local association and Shade entered the room on the second floor. The layout of the room was very similar to that of an ordinary reception room, except that on the shelves against the wall, there were strange things such as crystal balls and obsidian basins.
The servants were preparing tea. When Mr. Stan saw Shade looking at the shelf, he casually introduced:
"The items there are just for display. Each fortune teller has his own props. A few decades ago, the association's fortune-telling business was getting worse and worse, while the Rhodes card business was getting better and better. But in recent years, it has been much better. Those reckless young people and idle ladies are very interested in this non-dangerous mysterious behavior."
"So what is this dangerous occult behavior?"
Shade asked. Mia was probably awakened by the voice, but she just made a dreamy "meow" and fell asleep again. The maids who were tidying up the room and preparing tea were all looking at the cat held by the young man. The young orange cat was indeed very adorable... ... especially when it was asleep.
Mr. Stan asked Shad to sit down and answered Shad's questions by counting on his fingers:
"Exploring dangerous haunted houses, using psychic techniques obtained from nowhere, staying in cemeteries at night, reading strange occult books... These things are quite a headache for the Orthodox Church, but people who have nothing to do love to do them."
He shook his head and sighed. Xia De had some opinions on this:
"Mr. Stan, you see, the great development of the steam industry has led to the emergence of a new class of wealthy people, but the corresponding means of entertainment have not kept up, which has led these rich but idle people to do such strange things. This should be regarded as an imbalance between the level of productivity and spiritual construction."
The president looked at him in surprise and agreed with this view:
"That's right. So compared to those dangerous activities, isn't it safer for people to participate in Rhodes card games? Or come to our formal Prophet Association for divination, and noble ladies can talk about the stars and discuss with others the relationship between palm lines and future fortunes. This kind of activity is not dangerous at all."
After the servants left, the two of them officially began divination.
Although Shade was not worried at all that he would expose his identity as a ring wizard if he did divination rashly, safety was his top priority, so the divination he proposed had nothing to do with himself:
"It's like this. I recently received a somewhat troublesome commission regarding inheritance and legal advice. In order to protect the client, the specific information cannot be disclosed. I came here for divination, not to get an immediate answer, but just to seek some vague guidance..."
He smiled sheepishly;
"Actually, I have always had doubts about the correctness of divination. Please don't mind."
"It's okay. This view is very common."
Mr. Stan waved his hand and asked seriously:
"So what exactly do you want to divine?"
"Will my client, Mrs. Lemaire, be able to safely obtain a large sum of money in the near future?"
"Fortune telling about money, no problem. Then, can you provide some information about that lady? Otherwise, it will be impossible to tell fortune."
Mr. Stan asked again.
Xia De didn't really want to know the answer here, so he didn't hesitate and described Mrs. Lemaire's identity and age information, and also introduced her financial situation.
Mr. Stan nodded to show his understanding, looked around, and finally took the teacup in front of him:
"There are actually many ways to do divination, such as pendulum, crystal ball, water divination, bone burning, etc. This time, why don't we try the less common tea leaf divination."
He took some tea leaves from the tray, closed his eyes and sprinkled them into the teacup. After all the tea leaves in his hand fell, he opened his eyes to check the suspension state, then poured out the cup of tea and observed the condition of the tea leaves stuck to the bottom of the cup.
"Okay."
Mr. Stan put down his teacup.
Xia De did not feel any trace of elements throughout the whole process, which shows that the other party's "divination" was just the so-called divination of ordinary people.
"And what was the result?"
He asked with feigned curiosity.
"That lucky lady deserves a lot of money."
"That's good."
Xia De smiled, but he actually felt a little sad about spending his two shillings on divination.
"By the way, I also did some divination for you."
Mr. Stan continued.
"For me?"
Shad said as he observed the other person's expression, but it looked like Mr. Stan didn't notice anything strange.
Now he has the twenty-sided dice of fate in his pocket. He never touches it at home, but he always carries it with him when he goes out. Even if the other party uses the ability of a ring wizard to divine, the results he sees are likely to be wrong, not to mention the divination by ordinary people.
"What did you see?"
"'See' is not the right word. I should say it is a feeling. Divination is a process that is difficult to describe. And for you, Mr. Hamilton, it is very strange that I actually saw you become a knight with a sword from the mist of the future."
"knight?"
Shade felt puzzled. The identity of "knight" had almost completely disappeared in the Steam Age. In the earlier era of the Sixth Epoch, knights belonged to the lowest level of the aristocracy and usually only owned a small piece of land, such as a manor. They were professional soldiers who fought for the lord or king they were loyal to.
As firearms entered the army, the knights' tactics gradually declined, and the entire class disappeared. With the changes of the times, even the hereditary title of "Knight" is rare. According to common sense that Shade knows, there are no more than 20 nobles with the title of "Knight" in Delarion. Compared with the country's huge population and aristocratic system, this number is almost nothing.
The "Delarion Iris Knight Medal", "Delarion Gold Ribbon Knight Medal" and "Delarion Honor Knight Medal" derived from the title of knight are more well-known as the highest honors of the kingdom. These medals are usually only awarded to nobles who have made special contributions to the kingdom or the royal family, and are rarely awarded to ordinary people.
Therefore, it is impossible for Shad to become a so-called "knight" in this era.