The old man looked up at him briefly, not the least bit angry. "If it were something unjust, it would have ended the moment you were strung upside down. A person is most prone to panic when restrained — whatever sin hides in the heart will surface eventually. No one takes a person guilty of a Major Sin down from the cross."
The three adventurers exchanged uneasy glances at that. The Magic Archer couldn't help but ask, "So there's really no way out?"
The old man said slowly, "Pull back from the cliff's edge while you still can. It isn't too late."
The Magic Archer's expression stiffened. After a long moment she said, "Thank you for the guidance, Master."
Then she rose abruptly and led her two companions quickly away.
The old man shook his head faintly, murmuring to himself, "Nothing to be done. Nothing to be done."
He really did look the part.
...
"Enough with the sighing — we're next!"
Diana rushed to sit down first, setting Eevee-chan up on the table.
Eevee stared at the tarot cards right in front of her, her face full of curiosity.
The old man looked this new set of customers over carefully, then asked, "Who's having their fortune told?"
"Puyi!"
Eevee-chan immediately raised a paw pad.
The old man's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Diana, however, just nodded with a smile.
Beside her, Trina, Aurora, and several Magic Guide Spirits had all gathered around as well.
Only then did the old man speak to Eevee. "Little one, what do you want your fortune told about?"
"Puyi, puyi!" Eevee-chan said excitedly.
The corner of the old man's mouth twitched. Seeing that Dark and the others had no intention of translating, he tidied the tarot cards on the table, then drew a few out and laid them down.
One card was "Wands."
One was "Pentacles."
One was the "Holy Grail."
One was "Swords."
"Power, wealth, emotion, and conflict — which do you choose?"
Eevee-chan glanced at them, then pressed her paw pad down on "Swords."
But Diana immediately grabbed her little foot and dragged it over onto the "Holy Grail" instead.
"Puyi!"
Diana's mouth curved into a satisfied little smirk (?ω?).
Once a paw came down, of course, there was no taking it back.
In the fortune-teller's own words: everything is fate.
The old man gathered up the four Minor Arcana cards and began shuffling, saying as he did, "'Wands' represents the element of Fire — vigor, energy, and creation. 'Pentacles' represents the element of Earth — money, material things, and enjoyment.
"'The Holy Grail' represents the element of Water — emotion, relationships, love, and inspiration. 'Swords' represents the element of Air — thought, wisdom, communication, and conflict. Since you've chosen the Holy Grail, that means you have questions about matters of the heart that need reading."
"Puyi—"
Eevee-chan's ears drooped.
Diana, on the other hand, was thoroughly delighted.
Sylveon, poking her head out from Aurora's arms, waved her ribbon-tentacles about even more excitedly.
The old man glanced around, and seeing no objections, began setting up the ritual.
Once again he used the tarot cards to lay out a magic circle on the tabletop — but this time the pattern was clearly quite different from before.
Whether by design or not, the shape he ended up forming looked something like a heart.
Then, one by one, he tapped out six cards at the six corners of the pattern. When flipped over, all six turned out to be the "Holy Grail."
The moment his finger touched each one, the six Grail cards rose up from the tarot deck, and in an instant linked together into a hexagram.
Seeing that Diana and the others had all been drawn in by the sight, the old man spoke. "You two — each choose one card and place it on the hexagram."
"Both of us?" Diana blinked.
The old man smiled. "Together."
So Diana leaned in, studying the cards laid out on the table.
Aside from the six Grail cards, every other tarot card lay face-down, giving no clue as to which was which.
Picking out the one card that symbolized "union" — the Lovers — from among them was no easy task.
While she stood there tugging at her chin in thought, Eevee-chan had already stretched out a paw, quickly picked one out, and placed it on the hexagram.
Diana clicked her tongue, then just grabbed one at random and set it down too.
The old man laid the two cards on top of each other and pressed down.
The hexagram burst apart instantly, dissolving into a haze of light that wrapped around the two cards.
The old man murmured softly, "Emotion is the most greedy, most fickle, most convoluted of things. My reading only reveals a portent — the future remains unwritten."
Diana stared intently at that cloud of light, blinking.
The old man had already reached his hand in, and he turned both cards over at once.
The images on the cards immediately rose up into view.
One was the Lovers.
The other was Death.
A man and a woman, becoming lovers under the witness of an angel — yet coiled around the forbidden tree was a venomous serpent.
Death, mounted on a white horse and clad in armor, proclaimed an unstoppable power. Some had already fallen. Some accepted the cruel reality. Some tried to look away. And some put up a futile struggle.
"How am I supposed to read this?" Diana asked, dazed.
The old man frowned slightly too, and after a long moment said, "The Lovers is the best possible reading for matters of the heart. But becoming lovers is only one stage on the road of feeling — hidden behind the Lovers lies the forbidden tree and its venomous serpent.
"Even if you manage to stand out among many choices, temptation and conflict may still prove too much to resist, and the two of you could part ways.
"And Death is a symbol of ending — but after an ending comes a beginning. Death also represents rebirth. As the saying goes, 'find life by courting death.' After going through separation and reunion, a bond grows only stronger."
"So..." Diana asked, "is that good or bad?"
The old man said, "That depends on the two of you."
"Puyi?" Eevee-chan looked utterly confused.
"Eh?" Diana couldn't help but question it either.
After all that talk, how had it circled right back around again?
If it all depended on themselves anyway, then what was the point of having their fortune told at all?
And yet, that was really the whole nature of fortune-telling in the first place.
The old man merely gave Diana a faint smile, then gathered the tarot cards back together, turned to the others, and asked, "Does anyone else want a reading?"
But perhaps because Diana had drawn Death, everyone else's enthusiasm had dropped considerably, and for a moment no one seemed eager to continue.
The old man didn't seem to mind. Once he'd put the cards away, he turned to look at Dark and said casually, "Well then, young friend — would you care to have a chat with this old man?"
...
The old man's manner seemed entirely natural, but this sudden, unprompted interest in Dark still set off Trina's guard.
Before Trina's tension could fully rise, though, Dark stopped her with a gesture.
Dark studied this crane-haired, child-faced old man with obvious interest, then had Diana get up and step aside.
Diana scooped up Eevee and obediently left her seat.
Dark sat down, laid the Magic Guide Scribe flat on the table, and said, "What's your name, old sir?"
The old man smiled faintly. "Aaron Rhodes."
Dark's brow lifted slightly, trying to recall whether he'd heard the name before.
Aaron Rhodes smiled. "You should know me. I'm Ignaz Cooper's teacher."
"Ignaz Cooper?" Dark's brow furrowed, and he tried again to place where he'd heard that name.
Watching his expression, Aaron Rhodes felt a faint, uneasy premonition rise in him. "You don't know Cooper?"
"Cooper — oh, Cooper—" Dark thought about it carefully, then suddenly clapped his hands. "It's Cooper!"
Aaron Rhodes relaxed a little. "You remember now."
But Dark shook his head, very solemnly.
A flicker of barely-noticeable stiffness crossed Aaron Rhodes's face. "You truly don't know Cooper? Ignaz Cooper, of the Church of Knowledge?"
"Church of... Knowledge—" Dark now put on a look of sudden realization. "Oh, so that's him! You're his teacher — could it be that you're one of the Church's so-called Elders?"
Aaron Rhodes nodded. "One of the Thirteen Elders."
Dark couldn't help but laugh. "Well, since the party responsible has finally shown up — how exactly does your Church intend to compensate me for Ignaz Cooper's attack?"
Aaron Rhodes gave a bitter smile. "That was not done on our authority."
Dark said, "I know. It was his own personal action, wasn't it? Every big organization, once something goes wrong, always finds some individual with poor personal conduct to point to."
Aaron Rhodes said hurriedly, "Absolutely not that. Our Church has no wish to involve itself in disputes. Toward the Duke's estate, and toward you personally, we maintain nothing but the most absolute goodwill."
Dark said with a smile, "Goodwill enough to want to worship me as a deity?"
Aaron Rhodes's face flashed with an awkward smile, then he said, "That's a matter of mutual consent between two willing parties. We've only expressed the intention."
Dark nodded. "On that point, I'm willing to believe you. Otherwise, you wouldn't still be sitting here across from me, safe and sound."
"Ahem." Aaron Rhodes cleared his throat lightly. "Since Young Master Demon has no interest in that matter, we naturally won't press it. The reason I've come this time is simply to ask whether Ignaz Cooper is still doing well. If it's possible, I'd be willing to pay some price to redeem him."
Within the Church of Knowledge, Aaron Rhodes clearly belonged to the more pragmatic sort.
His purpose in coming was also very simple — to bring his troublesome student back home.
Simple as the goal was, though, achieving it was another matter entirely.
The Church of Knowledge and the Demon family had no substantive dealings whatsoever; even trying to send word through connections would have been difficult.
That he'd managed to encounter Young Master Demon here in the Eugenie Trade District was, frankly, extraordinarily lucky.
Except Young Master Demon didn't seem all that easy to talk to.
...
"Ignaz Cooper..."
Dark tapped the tabletop lightly with a fingertip, pretending to think.
In truth, he had absolutely no idea what Ignaz Cooper's current circumstances were.
There was no way he could actually answer Aaron Rhodes's question.
Ever since seeing Cooper that one time in the underground cold storage, Dark had handed him over entirely to "Scorpion" Chris to deal with.
It had never once occurred to him that Chris still hadn't let the man go, even now.
It had been, what, a whole month already?
For all he knew, Ignaz Cooper might already be dead.
With that thought, Dark glanced toward Trina.
To his surprise, Trina gave the faintest shake of her head — clearly she hadn't been paying attention either.
She rarely interfered in matters that fell under "Scorpion's" purview.
So Dark's mind turned, and he said, "No need for a ransom. Since you claim to represent a Church of Knowledge, I have a few questions for you. If you can answer them, I'll let Ignaz Cooper go."
"A test of problem-solving?" Aaron Rhodes fell into thought.
Problem-solving should, in theory, be exactly his area of expertise — but the world was full of countless problems with no solution.
If Dark deliberately picked out a few of those to trip him up, then no matter how vast his knowledge, there would be no way to answer them.
As if reading his hesitation, the corner of Dark's mouth curled up. "Of course, if you can prove that the question I pose has no solution, I'll release Ignaz Cooper all the same."
"Take the deal, Aaron."
In a corner of the tavern, an old woman with graying hair suddenly stood up.
This old woman's face looked even younger than Aaron Rhodes's — aside from a few crow's feet at the corners of her eyes that she couldn't quite hide, there were almost no wrinkles to be seen at all.
Dark looked her over briefly and noticed her ears were slightly pointed — clearly she carried some portion of long-lived-race blood.
He said mildly, "This one's from the Church of Knowledge as well, I take it?"
"One of the Thirteen Elders. Aviva Julius."
The old woman walked over and sat down beside Aaron Rhodes.
Between her brows lurked a trace of pride and prejudice.
She clearly held immense confidence in her own learning.
She fixed her eyes on Dark and said, "Whatever question a child comes up with — there's no way it could stump the two of us."
Aviva Julius's arrival visibly put Aaron Rhodes much more at ease, which suggested she must have some genuine expertise of her own.
...
Dark studied the old woman without bothering to hide it, and suddenly said, "Half-pixie?"
The old woman's brows twitched, a flash of surprise crossing her face. "Very few people can tell at a glance that I'm of pixie mixed blood."
In fact, most people, upon seeing her ears and features, would assume at once that she was half-elf.
Compared to the elusive pixies — seemingly existing only in legend — elves were far more common and far better known.
Dark chuckled. "It's nothing. I just happen to be fairly familiar with pixies. Well then — since there are two of you, I'll ask two questions. How does that sound?"
"Any number is fine." Aviva Julius said confidently.
"Julius..." Aaron Rhodes shot her a quick, urgent look.
But no matter a woman's age, she was still a woman.
Julius paid him no attention whatsoever.
Dark couldn't help a knowing smile — the two of them really did make quite a pair.
He said, "Very well, let's begin then. Will you need paper and pen to take notes?"
"No need." Julius said immediately.
"All right, then." Dark nodded. "The first question. Listen carefully."
Aaron Rhodes and Julius immediately focused their attention to listen.
The ambient noise around them dropped noticeably — the crowd on the tavern's second floor had already noticed the commotion here, and quite a few of them were secretly eavesdropping.
A few of the more curious ones had even pulled out paper and pen, ready to write down whatever question this noble young master was about to pose.
Dark's gaze shifted, and he said, "Suppose n is an integer, and let x^n denote the product of n copies of x. Then, when n>2, does the equation x^n+y^n=z^n have any positive integer solutions? If it does, how would you prove it? If it doesn't, how would you prove that instead?"
"Wait — what do you mean by x to the power of n?" Julius asked, frowning instinctively.
Dark said slowly, "Well, that involves a certain definition regarding exponents..."
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