Chapter 41: The "Impoverished" Astrologer
Conan blinked, his brow furrowing behind his oversized glasses. 'Alcohol?' What did liquor have to do with the men in black?
"Yes," Mona affirmed. Her gaze remained fixed on the shimmering water mirror of her hydromancy. "And the stars reveal that your paths will cross again. Very soon."
"Really?!" Conan leaned forward, his hands slamming flat against the table. The lenses of his glasses flashed under the café lights. "When exactly? Do you know their names? Their specific identities?"
Mona crossed her arms, her expression unreadable. "I don't know. The hydromancy only reveals this much."
In truth, the watery reflection had shown even less. The extra details were purely Mona's own deductions—or rather, Natsume's meta-knowledge bleeding through. Just a few days prior, Mona had suffered a tragic depletion of her funds. Forced to make a humiliating trip to the bank to withdraw her last remaining coins, she had glanced at the teller's nameplate: Hirota Masami.
The alias of Akemi Miyano.
That simple nameplate was a ticking clock. The infamous ten-billion-yen bank robbery was imminent.
When Natsume first processed this revelation, a heavy knot of conflict had settled in her chest. Should she intervene and save Akemi Miyano? The woman was the older sister of Sherry—the genius behind the APTX4869 poison—and the tragic ex-girlfriend of the FBI's silver bullet, Shuichi Akai. Akemi's web of connections was terrifyingly vast. Plucking her from the jaws of death could yield massive strategic advantages for the Teyvat Organization down the line.
Yet, Natsume hesitated. She tapped her fingers against her arm, weighing the risks. She ultimately decided to leave it to fate—and the gacha system. It would depend entirely on which character she managed to draw when the time came. If she had the right pieces on the board, she would strike. If not... well, Akemi Miyano would simply have to succumb to her canon fate.
Right now, Teyvat's foundation was too fragile. Stepping into the crosshairs of the Black Organization this early was a death sentence. Any clash with the crows of the underworld would have to wait until her own forces were absolute.
"Ah..." Conan slumped back into his seat, the eager light fading from his eyes.
Watching the boy's deflated posture, Sonoko felt absolutely zero sympathy. She covered her mouth, letting out a sharp, aristocratic laugh. "Ohoho! Weren't you the little brat who didn't believe in astrology just a minute ago? Didn't you call it a total scam? So who was that just now, begging the astrologer for more answers?"
Conan's eye twitched. His disappointment evaporated, instantly replaced by a surge of pure irritation. He shot a vicious glare at the smirking teenager, his fists clenching at his sides. 'That stupid Sonoko!'
"Alright, alright, Sonoko. Leave him alone, Conan is still just a child," Ran interjected, waving her hands with a nervous smile to defuse the tension. She glanced at the darkening sky outside the window. "Since we've all had our fortunes told, and it's getting pretty late, how about we head back?"
"Wait! Ladies, ahem!" Mona suddenly bolted upright, her voice pitching an octave higher. She leaned over the table, her eyes practically sparkling with desperate commercial intent. "I see you possess a natural affinity for the stars. Would you perhaps be interested in purchasing a copy of Introduction to Astrology? With this, you could master the cosmic arts yourselves! You might even perform your own divinations!"
Mona wasn't about to let prime customers slip away. She had finally hooked two girls with a genuine interest in the craft. She needed this sale. Badly. With a new mouth to feed at home over the past two days, her already abysmal finances had flatlined. They were dangerously close to starving.
"Oh! Really?!" Sonoko's eyes lit up. Already fascinated by the occult and completely won over by Mona's earlier pinpoint accuracy, she didn't hesitate for a second. "I'll take one!"
'Hey, hey... isn't this just a blatant sales pitch?' Conan deadpanned, a massive sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. He stared at Mona. The enigmatic, deep aura of the great astrologer had completely vanished, replaced by the hungry gleam of a door-to-door salesperson. It seriously made him question the validity of that terrifyingly accurate reading she gave him earlier.
"Excellent! Come, come, right this way!" Mona practically leaped from her seat, sweeping her hydromancy tools into her bag with practiced speed. She grabbed Sonoko's arm, hauling the wealthy girl toward the door before she could suffer a moment of buyer's remorse. "My residence is just a short walk from here. I don't carry the texts on me, but I have plenty of stock at home! Oh, and I have several exquisite astrolabes as well. I can offer you a very generous discount!"
Ran and Conan exchanged a helpless look. They trailed behind as Mona and Sonoko marched down the street, chattering excitedly about zodiac signs and romantic compatibility.
The group soon arrived at a modest two-story house tucked away in a quiet residential block. Mona stepped up to the porch, reaching into her pocket for her keys, but before her fingers could even graze the metal, the front door swung open from the inside.
"Miss Mona, welcome back!"
A gentle, crystal-clear voice drifted out. Standing in the doorway was a young girl dressed in a carefully clean maid uniform, complete with heavy armor plating on her shoulders and a red rose pinned to her chest.
"The vegetable salad is prepared," the maid continued, offering a flawless curtsy. "When would you like to dine?"
Conan blinked. An astrologer who hustled for book sales on the street actually employed a live-in maid? And more... vegetable salad? Just salad for dinner? Wouldn't a person starve on that?
"Um, Miss Mona..." Ran voiced the exact thought running through Conan's head, her tone laced with genuine concern. "Won't you be hungry eating nothing but salad for dinner?"
Mona coughed into her fist, her cheeks dusting with a faint pink as she ushered her guests inside. She quickly introduced the maid as Noelle, then lifted her chin, adopting a tone of supreme philosophical detachment.
"Ahem. You see, overly decadent food clouds the mind, making one forget the true essence of nourishment. Just as overly dazzling sights obscure the simplest truths. I maintain this austere diet to keep my senses sharp, that I might pierce the veil of this world's ultimate truth!"
'Heh. That's just a really fancy way of saying you're dead broke,' Conan thought, his eyes half-closing in a deadpan stare. It completely explained her desperate sales pitch to Sonoko. But wait... if she was too broke to afford meat, how on earth was she paying a maid's salary?
"Oh! I see, that makes so much sense!" Ran clapped her hands together, completely buying the astrologer's dignified excuse.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable on the sofa," Mona instructed, gesturing to the living room. "Noelle, pour our guests some water. I will head upstairs to retrieve the texts and astrolabes."
As Mona hurried up the wooden staircase, Conan took the opportunity to survey the interior. The house featured a distinct, slightly antiquated European decor. The furniture was visibly worn, the upholstery faded in places, but the entire space was immaculately clean. Not a single speck of dust lingered on the floorboards, a clear sign of the new maid's terrifying efficiency.
Noelle approached the coffee table, a pitcher of plain water in hand. As she bent forward to pour the drinks, Conan's sharp gaze caught a flash of color resting against the large red bow tied at the small of her back.
It was a gemstone. A very familiar, glowing glass orb.
His breath hitched. It was almost identical to the strange ornaments carried by Xiangling and Lisa.
No, Conan corrected himself, leaning closer. It was an exact match to Lisa's ornament. The metallic casing—a stylized, winged crest—was identical. The only difference lay in the gem itself. Where Lisa's pulsed with a dangerous, crackling purple light, Noelle's glowed with a warm, solid yellow. And yet, the geometric symbol carved deep within the yellow stone looked eerily similar to the angular casing that held Xiangling's red gem.
'There's a connection,'Conan's mind raced, his detective instincts flaring.'There has to be a hidden link between these three women!'
"Excuse me, Noelle-san..." Conan began, putting on his best innocent child voice to subtly interrogate the maid.
"Ah—!"
A sharp, horrified gasp echoed from the second floor.
Conan instantly dropped the act. He bolted from the sofa, his sneakers hitting the stairs before Ran or Sonoko could even react.
He reached the second-floor landing in seconds. Mona stood frozen in the doorway of a room at the end of the hall. Her back was to him, her fingers gripping the wooden doorframe so tightly her knuckles were white. She was staring straight ahead, completely paralyzed.
Seeing no immediate blood or signs of a struggle, Conan exhaled a brief sigh of relief. He quickly closed the distance, using his small stature to slip right past Mona's legs and peer into the room.
It was a study. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, groaning under the weight of countless heavy tomes. Stacks of overflow books formed precarious towers on the floorboards, and the central oak desk was cluttered with complex brass astrolabes and star charts. This was clearly where Mona kept her inventory.
But Conan's eyes immediately locked onto the intruder standing dead center in the room.
It was a young man, looking no older than a high school student, with somewhat long, unkempt hair. He held a sharp utility knife in his hand. He looked panicked, stammering out a frantic, disjointed explanation to Mona about why he was trespassing in her home.
"My books! My beautiful, out-of-print editions!" Mona wailed, her voice trembling with absolute despair.
She wasn't listening to a single word the intruder said. Her devastated gaze was locked entirely on the desk. Several thick, leather-bound volumes lay open, their pages brutally slashed to ribbons. The deep, jagged cuts ruined the text beyond repair.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs as Ran and Sonoko finally arrived at the scene. Taking one look at the strange man holding a blade, Ran's eyes narrowed. She immediately stepped in front of the dazed Mona, her stance shifting into a defensive karate guard.
Conan quickly analyzed the scene, his mind piecing together a preliminary deduction. An intruder had somehow broken into the second-story study and maliciously vandalized Mona's rare books, only to be caught red-handed before he could make his escape.
It seemed straightforward enough. But as Conan stared at the slashed pages and the panicked boy, a familiar itch of suspicion crawled up his spine. He wasn't entirely convinced this was the whole truth.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]