On the balcony of an unremarkable detached house in the North Borough of Tingen City.
A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a black double-breasted robe, sat in a folding chair against the wall.
The man wore a soft hat and had dark blond hair. His features were as sharply defined as those of a classical sculpture, his skin deathly pale, and his face entirely free of wrinkles.
The difference between his two deep-blue, almost black eyes revealed that he was blind in one eye.
An open notebook lay on the round table before him. Above it, an ancient-looking quill wrote on the paper by itself, as though guided by invisible strings.
This was Ince Zangwill, the former Archbishop who had defected from the Church of the Evernight Goddess, along with Sealed Artifact 0-08, the Quill of Alzuhod, which he had secretly stolen.
By fabricating "reasonable" plots and "coincidences," this Sealed Artifact could make most of what its wielder wrote come true-as long as there were potential external factors to support those events.
Its side effect, however, was that 0-08 possessed certain living characteristics. It would create many new "plots" beyond what its wielder wrote, attempting to write its wielder to death.
Thus, ever since obtaining this Sealed Artifact, Ince Zangwill had been locked in a constant tug-of-war with it.
Whenever 0-08 tried to create a situation that would inevitably kill him, Ince would counter by writing information favorable to himself, steering developments back onto the "proper course" he envisioned.
Yet now, as Ince read the words on the paper, his expression was filled with confusion and shock.
What it had written concerned Lanevus, Megose, and the offspring of the True Creator, but it was fundamentally different from before.
"...After Lanevus completed the ritual to conceive the True Creator's offspring, he appeared to have been subjected to some inexplicable external influence.
"The source of this influence... (crossed out) remains unclear, but one thing is certain-after completing the conception ritual, Lanevus did not regain his sanity. Instead, he became even more deranged.
"Not only did he temporarily abandon his plans to flee Tingen, but he also did certain things to Megose. No one knows the specifics.
"During this process, some inexplicable power intervened... No, there appeared to be more than one."
"Fortunately, Megose and the fetus in her womb appeared to be unharmed. In fact, they became somewhat more vibrant and radiant."
Bang!
Ince rose in disbelief, accidentally bumping into the table.
"What is going on?"
Ince muttered to himself:
"0-08 has resisted my will before, and it has crossed out things that failed to happen, but it has never written a 'plot' so vaguely!
"What exactly went wrong?"
Although the ending of this unexpected plot still met Ince Zangwill's expectations-Megose and the True Creator's offspring were not dead, and the latter was still growing-Ince could not shake a bad feeling about it.
There was no basis for this foreboding, but Ince felt he had to do something.
At the very least, he needed to add some explanations and adjustments to the current situation to ensure that nothing developed beyond his predictions and "arrangements."
Fortunately, after finishing that passage, 0-08 stopped writing on its own.
Ince sat down again, took a deep breath, picked up the quill, and began writing furiously once more...
"Ah... that feels great!"
A little after ten the following morning, Julian woke feeling refreshed. He stretched in front of the window, then let out a hearty shout.
Thud!
A muffled noise suddenly came from the sitting room. Puzzled, Julian opened the door and discovered that Ethan had fallen to the floor, looking utterly dazed.
"Sorry, I forgot you spent all night studying."
He scratched his head apologetically, then put the snowy owl he had woken back onto the table.
After all that disturbance, however, Ethan could no longer fall asleep.
He hooted as he opened his beak toward Julian.
"Are you... hungry?"
Julian quickly caught on and scratched his head.
"Still, I forgot to ask Vincent and Grace what snowy owls are supposed to eat."
While he puzzled over this, Ethan waddled over to the Comprehensive Highlander-Loenese Dictionary, opened it, and showed Julian the words "small," "mammals," and "insects" in turn.
"You want to eat those?"
Julian gave a little chuckle. He had never expected the little fellow to be so clever.
Clearly, Ethan had prioritized learning words related to his food, using them to establish basic communication with Julian so he would not starve because the latter did not know what to feed him.
"Then come out with me. I'll find you something to eat."
At Julian's words, Ethan hooted happily, then flapped his wings with all his might and flew unsteadily onto Julian's shoulder.
Julian picked up his cane and took Ethan to the nearest live-feed market. After he bought some live insects, the little fellow finally began to feast.
Once he was full, Ethan closed his eyes and fell asleep right there on Julian's shoulder.
"What am I going to do with you?"
Julian stroked Ethan's head helplessly. He tried to pull him off, only to discover that the owl's talons were firmly clamped onto his shoulder.
With no other choice, Julian took Ethan along to the Divination Club.
Since it was Monday, Julian was scheduled not only to offer his services at the Divination Club, but also to make time to attend the Tarot Club gathering.
"Angelica isn't here?"
Julian glanced at the empty reception desk, guessing that the woman had stepped away for a moment.
An idea struck him. He took the club's membership register from the counter and quickly leafed through it.
Soon, he found the name he had been hoping to see.
"Klein Moretti.
"Proficient in various divination methods. Charges eight pence per session..."
As Julian read, Angelica's voice suddenly rang out:
"Mr. Albrecht, you're here just in time. Someone is waiting for you."
Julian looked up and saw Angelica hurrying toward him.
As she walked,
she continued:
"He's a client referred by Councilor Oakley. He seems to have some family matters on which he'd like your advice.
"I originally suggested he return after two, but he was very insistent and insisted on waiting here for you."
Just then, she stopped in her tracks, looking in surprise at Ethan, the little owl perched on Julian's shoulder.
"It seems my intuition is very keen... That's why I came here early as well."
Julian smiled and nodded slightly, then pointed to Ethan on his shoulder and explained:
"My newly hired divination assistant."
"...You certainly are an interesting gentleman."
Angelica paused before offering this somewhat awkward assessment.
"Please take me to him."
Seeing that Angelica seemed unable to make sense of it all, Julian shook his head, then followed her toward the divination room.
The moment he opened the door, Julian saw a very handsome young man with tousled hair, dressed in a finely tailored black double-breasted suit.
"I've heard much about you, Mr. Albrecht."
Upon seeing Julian, the young man immediately rose to shake his hand, his manner warm and enthusiastic.
Unlike Angelica, he noticed Ethan on Julian's shoulder without displaying any surprise.
"My name is Alexander Hoy. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Hoy?"
Julian was slightly taken aback by the surname.
Then he quickly asked:
"As in Khoy University?"