Taking a Gamble

Once again, he snapped out of his daze.

"What was I going to do again?"

"Right, I was going to drink the potion." The instant Lorne picked up the potion again, he drifted into another daze.

GOOGLE search

"What was I going to do again?"

"Right, the potion."

"What was I going to do again?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Just as Lorne picked up the potion, he heard someone knocking at the door.

Startled back to his senses, Lorne glanced at the orange cat beside his legs and hurriedly stuffed the cat under the desk.

Composing himself, Lorne walked to the door.

He opened it about fifteen centimeters and stood half-hidden behind it, only to find Mrs. Griffin wearing a stern expression.

"Mrs. Griffin, I'm fairly sure I've already paid this month's rent," Lorne said first.

"Must I only ever come by to collect rent, young Lorne?"

"Heh..." Lorne chuckled awkwardly.

"Of course not. You're always welcome if you want to chat."

"Have you been going out at night lately? I keep hearing strange noises in the middle of the night."

"Uh, yes. Did I disturb you?" Lorne did not deny it.

At the same time, Lorne marveled at how good Mrs. Griffin's hearing was. Although the soundproofing in this era was poor, he swore he had been as quiet as possible whenever he returned in the early hours.

Were all the elderly people in this world this sharp?

"You know, the streets aren't very safe these days. If something happened to you while you were out so late, it would put me in a very difficult position."

"I also have a duty to keep my tenants safe. It's written in the rental agreement."

"Is that actually in there?" Lorne scratched his head.

"You're going out in the middle of the night..." Something suddenly occurred to Mrs. Griffin, and she spoke in the knowing tone of someone who had been young once. "Oh... yes, of course. You're old enough now. It's perfectly normal to have those urges, but the streets are far too dangerous at night. There are plenty of gangsters around, and you're all..."

Lorne's lips twitched at her words.

What exactly do you think I've been doing at night?!

"Uh, well, I..." Lorne tried to explain, but Mrs. Griffin gave him no chance.

"I know people your age can be impulsive, but for the sake of your health, you need to show some restraint. When I was young, I saw plenty of men who couldn't keep it in their trousers end up rotting all over and dying miserable deaths in sickbeds."

"The Goddess teaches us to... oh, right. I forgot you're a believer in the God of Steam and Machinery."

That's fine. I'm only pretending to be a believer anyway.

Of course, if the Church of the Evernight Goddess offers its followers better benefits, I'm open to negotiations. I could believe in the Evernight Goddess too.

So Lorne thought.

"In any case, stop going out in the middle of the night. Even if you don't care about yourself, at least don't disturb my sleep."

"Oh, and you seem a little strange today."

She glanced into the room Lorne was blocking, gave him a look, and left with a soft chuckle.

"That's strange. She didn't notice anything, did she?"

"She's just an old lady. Surely she can't be that sharp?"

Lorne had little confidence in his acting skills.

"Right, what was I going to do just now?"

"Right, the Assassin potion."

"Mrrrow..."

The cat's cry made Lorne's heart suddenly lurch.

"Don't!" His voice rose sharply as he rushed over in a few quick strides.

"Don't drink it!"

His words had no effect. He could only watch as the cat's pink tongue lapped up the silver liquid sloshing inside the bottle.

"No!"

As Lorne stumbled toward the desk, his knee knocked over the chair, throwing him off balance and sending him sprawling across the desktop. The sound of breaking glass followed.

When Lorne gathered his wits, he saw the shattered bottle and the orange cat licking the potion off the floor.

"No!"

"You've caused a disaster, do you know that?" Lorne picked up the orange cat and spoke as "fiercely" as he could.

"Meow?"

"Ugh, how did I suddenly get so stupid? I'm probably the only person in all of history to accidentally let an animal drink a potion."

"Even those rich idiots born with silver spoons wouldn't do something this stupid. It's over. I feel like I'm about to become a disgrace to all transmigrators," Lorne muttered to himself, his face full of regret.

"Damn it, just go! Go back to being a stray!" As he spoke, Lorne felt an urge to throw the orange cat straight out the window.

But the moment he lifted the cat, he abandoned the idea. "No, if I throw you away, I'll have lost everything."

"But what am I supposed to do about the potion? That was practically an advance payment from that organization!"

"Why don't you join the organization instead?" Lorne said, staring at the cat in front of him.

The orange cat did nothing, merely gazing at Lorne with innocent eyes.

"Ugh!" Lorne slumped into his chair, looking utterly lost.

For starters, the Assassin potion was gone. If they demanded compensation, he had no way to come up with that much money right now.

"Maybe I could sell the Monster potion."

Lorne remembered that he still had a Monster potion. On second thought, though, selling it within a day would be impossible unless he priced it far below market value. That would leave a shortfall of several hundred pounds, and he had no way to cover it.

From that perspective, selling the Monster potion to make up the loss simply wasn't realistic.

Why not just tell the silver-haired lady the truth? She seemed pretty reasonable. At worst, I could give her the Monster potion as compensation.

Lorne had also considered simply hiding and never going back to see the silver-haired lady. After thinking it over carefully, however, he realized that wasn't very realistic. First, doing so would be rather dishonorable. Second, the lady seemed far from ordinary and was most likely a Beyonder. Hiding would not necessarily prevent her from finding him, and if it came to that, he would never be able to explain himself.

Viewed that way, going to admit his mistake of his own accord had become Lorne's most reasonable option.

"That's all I can do." After weighing his options, Lorne decided to seek out the silver-haired lady tomorrow and admit his mistake. At worst, he would give her the Monster potion as compensation. Perhaps that would settle the matter.

"Phew." With a plan in mind, Lorne suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

But just as he stood up,

a familiar dazed sensation washed over him. This time, however, it was much clearer-as clear as if it had been imprinted on his soul.

At the same time, an overwhelming terror engulfed him. He saw an image of himself lying in a pool of blood, with the silver-haired lady standing beside him. Lorne could even see her sneer.

What was this? A prophecy?

Fate.

The word suddenly appeared in Lorne's mind.

"Fate? Does that mean I'll die if I go to see her?"

"And what exactly was that vision? Some kind of cheat? Or something unique to me?"

Lorne paced around the room, thinking about the scene he had just witnessed.

He was puzzled. Neither he nor the original owner of this body had ever experienced anything like this, yet deep down, he still trusted the truth of what he had seen.

After all, it was perfectly reasonable for a transmigrator to have something special about him.

If the vision showed a future that could truly happen, then the likely scenario was that he went to apologize to her, only for her to kill him outright. As for the Monster potion, it would still be hers once he was dead.

Thinking it over carefully, Lorne did recall a few things about the silver-haired lady that seemed off.

There had been a clear element of manipulation in her behavior, and he had felt a strange sense of unease earlier as well. Perhaps that had been a warning from fate.

His earlier, uncharacteristic loss of composure also lent support to that possibility.

If the silver-haired lady was not a good person, everything made sense.

But now Lorne was trapped between two equally bad choices. Going to see her meant death, and if he fled and she found him, he would surely die all the same.

"Why not take a gamble?" Lorne thought of his Monster potion.

"Monster" might not sound pleasant, but it did sound rather intimidating. Perhaps it was a very powerful potion.