Foreseeing the Future?

"Ah, welcome, Agent Coulson." Evenson had been deciding how well done he wanted his steak that evening when he saw Coulson walk in and immediately gave him an exaggerated welcome.

Coulson was not appreciative. "Forget it. To be honest, I really didn't want to come here."

Evenson shrugged. "But you came anyway. By the way..." He looked around. "You're alone this time? Melinda didn't come?"

It was not that he had set his sights on her. Melinda was indeed strikingly beautiful and heroic-looking, but Evenson simply felt that having a beautiful woman around made conversation more pleasant than facing another man.

"No, she transferred to desk duty," Coulson answered.

"Really? I thought she'd be outside with a sniper rifle aimed at my head." Evenson joked.

"Not quite, but she does want to beat you up." Coulson joked back.

"Well, what a shame. I could tell she was a born warrior. Staying in an office probably makes her feel worse than sending her to the battlefield." Evenson sighed, then picked up a cup and poured Coulson some instant coffee.

"Thanks." Coulson took the coffee. "She might feel uncomfortable, but it was her own choice, for certain special reasons."

Coulson did not explain what those reasons were, and Evenson did not press. "Actually, being a warrior isn't all that great. I knew a guy named Dios Zhan. He died while charging forward."

Coulson raised his coffee cup. "Dying in a charge? That sounds like the best fate a warrior could have."

Evenson neither agreed nor disagreed. "You'll know when you try it yourself someday."

Dying in a charge sounded romantic, like General Barton's famous saying: a soldier's best fate is to be killed by the last bullet in the final battle. But in Azeroth, you could only charge and then... well, heh.

"How did that matter turn out? I heard you caught the entire Deadlock Gang. You must have gained quite a lot, right?" Evenson asked about Hydra. Although he had orchestrated the incident, he knew nothing about what happened afterward, so he wanted to find out whether they had managed to flush out any fish.

At that, Coulson immediately put on a stern expression. "Before receiving authorization, I can neither deny nor confirm any details or results of this operation."

One lofty-sounding piece of nonsense dismissed Evenson completely. But it made sense. Something this big would not be casually disclosed to outsiders. "Fine, have it your way."

The two exchanged idle small talk until they had finished their coffee, and only then did they get to the point.

Coulson set down his cup, straightened his clothes, and turned serious. He was normally an easygoing person, but once he entered mission mode, he became very stern. "Tony Stark has gone missing. You know that, right?"

"Yes, I know." Although Evenson could not tell why Coulson was asking, there was nothing to hide. The whole world probably knew by now, so he answered truthfully.

"Do you know what happened?" Coulson continued.

"No." I know perfectly well, but I can't tell you that. "Why ask me? Tony Stark is just a name to me. I don't know him, and I've never even met him."

"Ah, perhaps you want me to use magic to divine his whereabouts." Evenson acted as though he had suddenly realized something, while inwardly wondering where things had gone wrong for him to be connected to this matter.

Coulson, who had been about to continue, was greatly tempted. Divination did not sound scientific, but nothing in this shop was scientific. Maybe this magic-using fellow really could divine the answer, and that would explain why he had come here. "Perhaps you could give it a try."

Evenson took out a gold coin. Yes, a gold coin. Even though he was so poor now, he had kept one—the Azeroth gold coin he had brought with him when he crossed over. First, it was a keepsake. Second, it was for emergencies. If he ever became so broke that he could not even keep the lights on, it could support him for a month.

He tossed the coin into the air, caught it, examined it carefully in his palm, then said, "Tony Stark is currently in... Afghanistan."

"That's all?" Coulson asked uncertainly.

"That's all for now. In a few days, I might know more." Evenson put the coin away.

Coulson looked expectant. "Do we need to prepare some magical ritual? Or wait for the stars to shift, a full moon night, something like that?"

"No." Evenson denied it, then pushed the newspaper beside him toward Coulson. "In a few days, there might be new information in the papers. Once I read it, I can tell you."

Coulson stared fixedly at the newspaper stating that Tony Stark had gone missing in Afghanistan, his expression changing repeatedly. In the end, he took several deep breaths before suppressing the urge to smash the coffee cup in front of him over someone's head. "That joke was truly awful. I feel like several blood vessels just burst."

"You shouldn't have expected anything. I'm a warlock, not one of those twitchy astrologers. Divination and predicting the future are powers mortals were never meant to possess." Even Nozdormu, the so-called King of Time, had seen End Time and been left at a loss. How could mortals possibly possess the ability to foresee the future?

"You're twitchy too," Coulson cursed inwardly before saying, "But perhaps you really do possess some degree of precognition."

At those words, Evenson remained calm on the surface, but inwardly he was greatly shaken. His right hand beneath the table even formed the gesture for Chaos Bolt in an instant. But he immediately relaxed it, nervously rehearsing an explanation in his mind. Knowing certain things about the future was his greatest secret. He did not want anyone to know. "What makes you think that?"

"Ever since you left the orphanage and opened this shop, you began buying Stark Industries stock. You never changed holdings, and the dividends from that stock have been your primary source of income. But before Tony Stark went to Afghanistan for arms sales, when the stock was clearly about to rise in value, you sold all of it and bought stock in Justin Hammer, Stark Industries' poorly regarded competitor. Then, two days later, Tony Stark disappeared. Can you explain that?" Coulson revealed the reason he had come.

Selling stocks and making risky investments was perfectly normal in the financial powerhouse that was the United States. If it had happened to an ordinary person, it could only be considered a coincidence. But when it happened to someone with special abilities, someone wielding mysterious power like magic, it was impossible not to think more deeply about it.

PS: The bonus chapter is here. Also, to clarify: I'll add extra chapters when time allows. If there's really no way around it, there may only be one update, but I can guarantee I won't stop updating.