Drama Poet put away his smile, looked at the two of them, and shook his head helplessly.
He took a deck of cards from his satchel and said, "Rules are rules. Even I can't break them. You can't get something for nothing from me. You have to pay a price."
"Draw one prophecy card, and it can lower the difficulty of this Trial to a certain extent. But bear in mind, the more the difficulty is reduced, the more cruel the card's contents will be. You may never recover because of it. Sometimes, humans being unable to see the future is actually a form of protection."
"You possess Firefly Splendor Princess's Longing authority, so you can influence the draw to a certain extent. The prophecy card will respond to your longing."
Drama Poet placed the prophecy cards in front of Ash. "Go on. It doesn't matter which one you draw."
But just as Ash reached out to flip over the top card, Drama Poet pressed his thumb against the edge of the deck and said seriously, "I hope you won't draw. The Prophecy School has an extremely fascinating trait: 'Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.' In other words, if you don't know the prophecy, then your future is unknown. But once you know it, your future will collapse toward that prophecy. Even some of your unconscious actions may become foreshadowing for fulfilling it."
Ash looked at Drama Poet and smiled faintly. "Thanks."
He flipped over the top prophecy card. On the face of the card, a human figure was falling into a sea of fire. Drama Poet picked up the card, and faint ripples spread through his lake-clear eyes.
"If your overall difficulty is forty points of damage, then this card can offset five points," he said. "That is also the limit of my