"It sounds like you're about to do something very dangerous."
Ms. Mina brought over some tea and snacks, looking worried. "Please be careful."
"Speaking of that, Ms. Mina," Iver said, his thoughts stirring as he smiled, "does your shop sell anything good?"
Ms. Mina looked puzzled. "Anything good... You mean the fortune-telling shop I run?"
"Yeah. Do you sell antiques or treasure maps or anything like that?"
Iver was full of anticipation.
Ms. Mina laughed. "How could I? This is just an ordinary fortune-telling shop. I do occasionally buy antiques, but those are part of my personal collection. I have no plans to sell them for now.
"Although Meiya says my fortune-telling isn't accurate, that's actually because I sometimes deliberately interpret things incorrectly to maintain a relatively normal hit rate. I do that so people won't believe in me too much.
"The future can't be predicted precisely. Even the most powerful prophet can't do it. The moment you make a 'prophecy,' the moment you describe the scene in that prophecy to someone else, the future has already changed. So if you believe in fortune-telling too much, you may instead fall into the 'trap of prophecy' and end up fulfilling the prophecy yourself."
"Actually, Mina's fortune-telling is quite accurate," Bishop said from the side. "Although she came here to study art, she isn't actually on the Path of Beauty. Mina's true path is the Path of Adaptation."
"That's right." Mina nodded gently. "Back then, I left Iris because my fortune-telling told me that I would encounter a tremendous crisis if I stayed in Iris, while going to Avalon would likely lead me to meet the knight of my life right away. He would be my teacher, my sun, and my protector... And sure enough, I really did meet Mathers."
"...A prophet