A Seer's Divination

"You've adapted to the role of 'Seer' so quickly?"

After seeing off the thoroughly satisfied Mrs. Green and finishing the now-cold lunch together, Angel leaned against the sofa, feeling languid as blood pooled in her stomach, and asked Klein.

"This might help me grasp the Potion's powers. Look, isn't a 'Seer' supposed to do divination? To be honest, I'm planning to take a part-time job at the Divination Club... Well, mainly to keep watch for suspicious people there, while also working as an amateur Seer."

Klein took a sip of coffee and said with a smile.

That accidentally fit the rules of the Acting Method. But it was also because the Seer sequence itself possessed convenient supportive abilities. Other sequences, such as the Assassin Potion, would be extraordinarily difficult to act out openly...

Looking at the silver chain faintly visible inside the sleeve of Klein's left hand as he held his coffee cup, a trace of envy welled up in Angel's heart—a person's success depended not only on personal effort, but more importantly on whether they chose a good Potion pathway...

When Mrs. Green had been present earlier, Klein had flicked out the yellow crystal hanging from the silver chain and performed Pendulum Divination on the spot. Angel had thought he had even forgotten the confidentiality rules. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Green had been wholly focused on persuading Angel to accept the commission and had no time to notice Klein's strange actions.

After obtaining the divination result, Klein readily accepted Mrs. Green's commission to find her stolen ring. Though Angel was somewhat puzzled, she trusted her teammate and did not question him on the spot. Instead, she played along and, after tactfully suggesting that they "needed more money," secured the commission for 120 Gold Pounds.

"I used Pendulum Divination to divine whether something is good or bad, relying on the connection between the Astral Body, the Spirit World, and the starry sky," Klein explained. "Clockwise means affirmation, counterclockwise means denial. What I divined just now was, 'Retrieving the ring will be dangerous.'"

"At the time, the pendant rotated clockwise at a very slow speed, so the conclusion was..."

"There is danger, but not much?"

Angel answered before him.

This matched the Jules Detective Agency's investigation results. The ring had indeed been sold by the thief to a gang, but it was only a gang and did not involve any higher-level powers.

For Beyonders, ordinary gang members truly did not count as much of a danger.

"Exactly. If the divination indicated great danger—dangerous even to Beyonders—that would mean this matter was likely influenced by Beyonder factors. Otherwise, it was an ordinary case of stolen property."

"Having confirmed through divination that it was the latter, I thought we could accept this commission. After all, they came to us because of the Blackthorn Security Company sign. Whether for maintaining this cover identity or helping ordinary citizens, accepting it is reasonable."

Klein explained with a faint smile.

And they could earn a full 120 Gold Pounds...

Angel supplied another reason for him.

At the thought of the Gold Pounds soon to be hers, she asked Rozanne, who was brewing a second pot of coffee beside her, "Oh right, Miss Rozanne, if we complete the commission, how will this 120-pound income be distributed?"

Rozanne poured hot water into the coffee pot while tilting her head to reply,

"By the usual rules, half the reward from a commission must be handed over to Mrs. Orianna as funding for the entire team. The remaining half is distributed among the members who took part according to their contributions, though they generally split it equally."

Every member's Beyonder Ability was different, and their contributions in combat or searching for items varied greatly. Splitting it equally really was the more appropriate approach. So after handing over 60 Gold Pounds, each of them could get 30?

Angel quickly calculated the reward she could receive. Thirty Gold Pounds—that was ten weeks' worth of Nighthawks salary. It was said that it would double after becoming an official member, but that was still five weeks...

Her gaze swept over Klein, seated opposite her, and she found his eyes wide as he stared at Rozanne, as though he could not believe he would receive such a large reward.

"Unfortunately, Klein isn't an official member yet, so he can probably only receive ten percent. Well, ten percent after half has been handed over."

"Ah?"

Seeing the enormous sum of 30 Gold Pounds instantly become 6, Klein could not help voicing his confusion at the drastic drop.

His reaction nearly made Angel laugh out loud, but she had received professional training after all. She tensed her facial muscles and held it in.

Judging from his clothes, he did not seem to be short of money... But she had learned in an earlier conversation that Klein had an older brother who worked overtime every day to earn money, as well as a younger sister who was still in school. Perhaps the whole family was under considerable financial pressure?

Angel pondered this privately.

Wait, non-official member...

"But I'm not an official member either, Miss Rozanne."

Angel reminded her.

"Huh? You were already a Beyonder before joining the Nighthawks, so I thought you were already..." Rozanne raised her eyebrows in surprise. "In that case, it's 30 Gold Pounds each again."

Perhaps to prove that he deserved that half of the reward, the high-spirited Klein immediately helped Angel carry out further divination. Rozanne, who was quite interested in mysticism, watched from the side, while Bredt, lacking enthusiasm, went to help Mrs. Orianna organize the accounts room.

"The key to Pendulum Divination lies in the choice of the divination subject." Klein held the silver chain in his left hand, letting the yellow crystal pendant hang down naturally until it almost touched the tabletop, upon which lay a blank sheet of paper where he had just written the divination subject. "If you use a question like 'Where is Mrs. Green's lost ring?', you won't get an answer, because the pendulum will only give 'yes' or 'no' answers, at most with an 'intermediate state' added in. Any more specific answer goes beyond its scope."

"But we can break down what we need to divine, dividing it into simple questions that can be answered with 'yes' and 'no,' then divine them one by one to obtain the answers."

Looking at the paper on the table that read, "Mrs. Green's lost ring is at the Labor Mutual Aid Society in Tingen City's Docklands," Angel was rather surprised. Had Klein really only just become a Beyonder?

Klein closed his eyes, his lips moving as though silently reciting something.

After a while, he opened his eyes again and watched the pendant in his hand slowly rotate clockwise.

"Confirmed. It seems the conclusion in the investigation report Mrs. Green provided was correct. The ring is in the Docklands."

"Can we narrow the area down further?"

Angel held the investigation report, her gaze passing over several keywords.

"I have some impression of the Labor Mutual Aid Society. It's an office area converted from a warehouse. There usually aren't many people there, but there are many rooms, and it's a mess. Searching room by room would take too much time, and if we alert the staff, it could easily cause a dispute."

"We cannot ask questions, we can only verify their truth or falsehood," Klein reiterated, holding a fountain pen. A clean sheet of white paper lay spread out before him, but he had yet to put pen to paper as he waited for Angel to propose the question she needed to divine.

"What about ruling them out one by one? Try divining every room?"

"My spirituality can't support that many divinations. If the location were relatively small, it would be fine, but if the area is too large, there's nothing I can do."

Klein rejected that method. He frowned and thought for a while, then nodded as though making up his mind.

"How about this? I'll go to the Docklands with you and use Dowsing Rod to find the ring."

He picked up the cane beside him and explained this divination method to Angel and Rozanne.

Unlike the yes-or-no prompt of Pendulum Divination, with Dowsing Rod, one only needed to silently recite the matter to be divined, such as "the location of Mrs. Green's lost ring," and plant the cane on the ground. The direction it fell would indicate the item's approximate location.

"That sounds pretty good. Even if it isn't very accurate, as long as we divine several times and use the Triangulation Method, we should be able to make up for the lack of precision."

Angel was somewhat tempted, but after estimating the size of the dock warehouse, she still shook her head.

"It won't be of much use. We've already confirmed that the ring is in the Labor Mutual Aid Society's warehouse. It's quite large, and if you divine from outside, it won't be accurate enough..."

"Then we'll go inside together." Klein seemed rather eager as he rubbed his hands and made the suggestion.

"Then it wouldn't be stealing; it would be robbery." Angel rejected him. "I should act alone. With an Assassin's agility, it's better for me to go in by myself. You following me would only make it easier to alert those gang members."

Before Klein could speak, she took the paper and pen, quickly wrote a sentence, and placed it before him.

"Come on, Seer. I've already thought of a way. Try divining this first."

With his identity as a "Seer" emphasized, Klein could only smile bitterly. He took the paper, glanced at it, and saw the words: "Mrs. Green's lost ring is currently being carried by someone."

The pendulum rotated counterclockwise, producing the divination result: denial.

"The second one."

While Klein closed his eyes and silently recited the words on the paper, Angel had already written another statement: "Mrs. Green's lost ring is being properly stored."

This time, the yellow crystal pendant rotated clockwise.

This meant the ring was being properly stored.

After completing two consecutive divinations, Klein set down the pendant, pressed both hands against his temples, and rubbed them before opening his eyes.

"I can perform two or three more divinations at most. Sorry, I've only just become a Seer. Consecutive divinations consume too much spirituality."

"It's fine. That's enough. I've already obtained the answer I needed."

Angel laid the three sheets bearing the divination statements across the tea table in sequence and used her pen to mark the divination results on each one.

Under Klein and Rozanne's astonished gazes, she patiently explained, "First, we confirmed that the ring was indeed at the Labor Mutual Aid Society in the Docklands, just as Mrs. Green's information said." She drew a circle on the first sheet. "Then, the second divination denied that the ring was being carried by someone."

She drew an X on the second sheet.

"Finally, it is being properly stored."

After drawing the final circle, Angel looked up at the two of them. "A gold ring that looks extremely valuable, not being carried by anyone and properly stored—where should it be?"

"A safe!" Klein and Rozanne answered in unison.