"Free? The most expensive things are the ones that are free!" Kevin muttered silently, resolving to firmly refuse any additional services that might be offered.
"If you're so capable, why don't you divine that I've traveled through time!"
With that thought, Kevin followed the woman with her face painted in red and yellow makeup, bending down to enter the low tent.
Inside, it was very dark, with only a few rays of light filtering in, faintly illuminating a table covered with cards.
The woman, wearing a pointed hat, moved around the table with her black dress flowing like water, unaffected by the darkness. She sat down opposite him and lit a candle.
The flickering candlelight made the tent seem alternately bright and dark, adding a touch of mystery.
Kevin sat down without a word, his gaze sweeping over the tarot cards on the table. He recognized some major cards like "The Magician," "The Emperor," "The Hanged Man," and "Temperance."
"Could Roselle really be a 'predecessor'... I wonder if he was from my great foodie empire..." Kevin's lips twitched, feeling a bit dazed.
Before he could finish looking at the cards on the table, the woman, who claimed to be a skilled diviner, had already gathered all the tarot cards together, stacking them into a pile and pushing them in front of him.
"You shuffle and cut the cards," the circus fortune teller said hoarsely.
"Me? Shuffle?" Kevin asked instinctively.
The woman's face, painted in red and yellow, moved slightly as she gave a faint smile, saying, "Of course, only you can divine your own fate. I'm just an interpreter."
Kevin immediately became wary and asked, "You don't charge extra for interpreting, do you?"
As a keyboard folklorist, I've seen this trick many times!
The fortune teller was visibly stunned, then responded sullenly after a moment, "It's free."
Relieved, Kevin pushed the revolver deeper into his pocket, then reached out with both hands and skillfully shuffled and cut the cards.
"Done." He placed the shuffled tarot deck in the center of the table.
The fortune teller clasped her hands together, looking at the cards seriously for a while before suddenly asking, "Sorry, I forgot to ask, what do you want to divine?"
Back when he was unsuccessfully pursuing his first love, Kevin had studied tarot cards, so he replied without hesitation, "The past, the present, and the future."
This is a tarot spread where three cards are laid out in sequence, representing the past, present, and future respectively.
The fortune teller nodded first, then smiled and said, "Then please shuffle the cards again. Only by understanding what you want to ask can you shuffle out truly meaningful cards."
You were messing with me just now... How stingy can you be? All because I kept emphasizing it should be free... Kevin's facial muscles twitched as he took a deep breath, retrieved the tarot deck, and reshuffled and cut the cards.
"Is this okay now?" He placed the cut cards on the table.
"No problem." The fortune teller extended her fingers, took a card from the top, and placed it to Kevin's left, her voice becoming even more hoarse, "This card represents the past."
"This card represents the present." The fortune teller placed the second card in front of Kevin.
She then picked up the third card and placed it to Kevin's right: "This card represents the future."
"Alright, which card would you like to see first?" Having done all this, the fortune teller raised her head and looked deeply at Kevin with her gray-blue eyes.
"Let's look at 'the present' first," Kevin said after a brief consideration.
The fortune teller slowly nodded and turned over the card in front of Kevin.
The card depicted a young man dressed in luxurious clothes, wearing a splendid headdress, carrying a staff with luggage hanging from it, and being pulled by a small dog. The number was "0."
"The Fool," the fortune teller whispered, staring at Kevin with her gray-blue eyes.
The Fool? The zero card of the tarot? A beginning? A start that contains all possibilities? Kevin, not even a novice tarot enthusiast, could only make a rudimentary interpretation based on his impressions.
Just as the fortune teller was about to speak, the tent's flap suddenly lifted, and a strong beam of sunlight shone in, making Kevin, who was facing away from it, instinctively squint.
"Why are you pretending to be me again! Divining is my job!" a woman's voice roared angrily, "Get back! Remember, you're just an animal trainer!"
Animal trainer? As Kevin adjusted to the light, he saw a taller, slimmer woman at the entrance, also wearing a pointed hat, black dress, and red and yellow makeup.
The woman in front of Kevin quickly stood up, dejectedly saying, "Don't mind her. I just like doing this. I must say, sometimes my divinations and interpretations are quite accurate, really..."
As she spoke, she lifted her skirt and quickly left the tent.
"Sir, would you like me to help interpret the card?" the real fortune teller asked Kevin with a smile.
Kevin moved his lips and sincerely asked, "Is it free?"
"...No." The real fortune teller answered.
"Then forget it." Kevin put his hand back into his pocket, gripping his revolver and coins, and bent down to exit the tent.
This is ridiculous, having an animal trainer do tarot divination!
An animal trainer who doesn't want to be a diviner is not a good clown?
Kevin quickly put the incident behind him and spent 7 pence at the "Lettuce and Meat" market to buy a pound of subpar lamb, along with fresh peas, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and other items. Combined with the bread he bought earlier, he spent a total of 25 copper pennies, which was 2 shillings and 1 penny.
"Money really goes quickly. Poor Benson..." Kevin lamented, having not only spent the two banknotes he brought but also the penny originally in his trouser pocket.
He sighed briefly and hurried back home.
With the main ingredients, he could now perform the luck-changing ritual!
…
Once the tenants on the second floor had all left, Kevin didn't rush to perform the ritual. Instead, he first translated phrases like "Mighty Emperor of Life" into Old Fusac and Ruen languages, planning to try the original incantation first, and if it didn't work, to try the local language the next day.
He had to consider the differences between the two worlds and adapt to local customs.
As for translating into the ancient Hermes language used for prayers and rituals, Kevin couldn't complete it due to his limited vocabulary.
Having done all this, he took out the four pieces of rye bread from the paper bag, placing one in the corner where the coal stove used to be, one at the base of the dressing mirror, one at the top of the cabinet where two walls met, and one among the clutter on the right side of the desk.
Taking a deep breath, Kevin stood in the center of the room, calming himself for a few minutes before stepping forward solemnly, walking in a counterclockwise square.
With the first step, he murmured, "Mighty Emperor of Life."
With the second step, he earnestly whispered, "Mighty Emperor of Heaven."
With the third step, he held his breath and murmured, "Mighty God of Life."
With the fourth step, he exhaled a deep breath, silently chanting, "Mighty Lord of Heaven."
Returning to his starting point, Kevin closed his eyes, waiting for the result with a mix of expectation, anxiety, hope, and fear.
Would he be able to go back?
Would it work?
Would there be any unexpected situations?
As the darkness in front of him tinged with the deep red brought by the light, thoughts flooded Kevin's mind, difficult to calm.
At that moment, he suddenly felt the air around him stop flowing, becoming thick and eerie.
Then, he heard whispers in his ears—sometimes dense, sometimes sharp, sometimes illusory, sometimes alluring, sometimes frenzied, sometimes mad.
Even though he couldn't understand what these whispers were saying, Kevin couldn't help but listen and try to distinguish them.
His head began to hurt again, as if a steel spike had been driven into it.
Kevin felt like his head was about to explode, his thoughts taking on a hallucinatory quality.
He knew something was wrong, desperately trying to open his eyes, but he couldn't complete this simple action.
His whole body became more and more tense, on the verge of breaking, and Kevin had a sudden self-mocking thought:
"You won't die if you don't court death…"
Unable to endure any longer, just as the string in his mind was about to snap, the cacophony of whispering voices retreated, and the surroundings became eerily quiet.
Not only the atmosphere but Kevin also felt his body becoming ethereal.
He tried opening his eyes again, and this time it was effortless.
A vast, misty grayness filled his vision—hazy, indistinct, boundless.
"What's going on?" Kevin looked around in astonishment and then down, realizing he was floating at the edge of an endless gray fog.
The mist flowed like water, dotted with deep red "stars" of varying sizes—some large, some small, some hidden deep within, some floating on the surface.
As he took in this hologram-like scene, Kevin, half confused, half exploring, reached out with his right hand, trying to touch a deep red "star" on his right, searching for a way out.
As soon as his finger touched the surface of the star, ripples emanated from his body, causing the "deep red" to burst forth like a dreamlike firework.
Start
led, Kevin hastily withdrew his hand, accidentally touching another "deep red" star.
This "star" also began to glow brightly.
Kevin felt his mind go blank, his spirit scattered.
…
In the capital of the Ruen Kingdom, Backlund, in the Queen's District, inside a luxurious villa.
Audrey Hall sat at her dressing table, rubbing an ancient, cracked copper mirror with ornate patterns on its surface.
"Mirror, mirror, wake up..."
"I command you to wake up in the name of the Hall family!"
…
She tried various incantations, but the mirror remained unresponsive.
After several minutes, she finally gave up, pouting and murmuring, "Daddy is definitely lying to me. Every time he tells me this mirror is a treasure of the ancient Solomon Empire's Black Emperor, a mystical item…"
Before she could finish, the copper mirror on the table suddenly glowed deep red, enveloping her.
…
In the Sunia Sea, an outdated three-masted sailing ship was navigating through a storm.
Alger Wilson stood on the deck, his body rising and falling with the waves, effortlessly maintaining his balance.
He wore a robe embroidered with lightning patterns, holding an oddly shaped glass bottle in his hand. Inside, bubbles occasionally rolled, frost formed into snow, and wind etched marks.
"Just need the blood of a ghost shark..." Alger muttered.
At that moment, the glass bottle in his hand glowed deep red, instantly engulfing the surroundings.
…
Above the grayish-white fog, Audrey Hall regained her sight, looking around in fear and confusion, seeing a blurry figure of a man performing similar actions opposite her.
Soon, they both noticed another figure not far away, shrouded in gray mist.
The "mysterious figure," Kevin, was equally stunned.
"Sir, where is this place?"
"What do you intend to do?"
Audrey and Alger were initially startled into silence, then simultaneously asked.