“See you again someday!”
The shabby inn, revisited.
I sighed and opened the door.
Chloe was reading a book with her chin resting on her hand.
I glanced at the cover of the book silently.
“99 Mysteries of the Female Body.”
…Why would she read something like that?
“Did you deliver it well?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t so bad.
I finally saw Lucy, whom I had always read about in letters.
When we parted, her words bothered me a little, but I still had the desire to see her at least once.
Well, we won’t be meeting for a while now anyway.
I guess I don’t have to worry too much about it.
“Oh, right.”
I almost forgot.
I took out a flower from my pocket.
A flower with white petals, I gave it to Chloe.
“What’s this?”
“Lucy wanted to thank you.”
Chloe widened her eyes.
She closed the book and stood up abruptly.
I wondered what she was going to do.
She took out a small glass bottle from the shelf.
She carefully put the flower petals inside.
“A gift from the Star Child… This is precious, huh? Hehe.”
I looked at Chloe with a cold gaze.
Isn’t she overreacting a bit?
It’s just a flower.
Well, I guess if a lady gave me a flower, I might react like that too.
“Well… Thank you for your hard work.”
Chloe put the glass bottle away with a smug look on her face.
Then she took out a vial and placed it on the desk.
“Money.”
She reached out one hand to me.
I immediately took out a money pouch from my pocket.
“It’s 500 gold coins. I’ll give you the rest as soon as I get my salary.”
“500 gold coins wouldn’t be a small amount. Can I trust you?”
“My annual salary is actually 1200 gold coins.”
I said confidently with a proud heart.
But Chloe didn’t show much reaction.
Instead, she scrutinized the scroll rather than looking at me.
“It seems quite useful. Where did you get it?”
“Oh… this? I received it as a gift.”
Curiosity sparked in Chloe’s cunning eyes.
She reached out one hand to me.
“Would you mind not showing it for a moment?”
There was a moment of hesitation.
It was my only privilege, after all.
Can I just hand it over to someone else without thinking?
“I’ll give you a discount of 100 gold coins if you show it.”
“Here you go.”
Without hesitation, I handed over the scroll.
One hundred gold coins, I can’t resist that.
Chloe carefully examined the scroll.
Soon, she grabbed the end and tried to unroll it.
“Huh?”
But the scroll wouldn’t unfurl.
This time, she tried to open it with both hands.
Yet the scroll remained tightly closed.
Chloe and I both felt puzzled.
“Why won’t it open?”
“Um… I’m not sure.”
Chloe’s expression faltered.
As she tapped her fingers, two magic circles appeared, and two tentacles emerged, trying to pull the scroll open.
Still, the scroll showed no sign of movement.
After struggling with it for a while,
Chloe eventually returned it to me with a frustrated expression.
Curious, I tried to unfurl the scroll.
It unfurled easily.
Chloe looked at me incredulously.
“..It seems it recognizes its owner.”
“It seems so.”
I had some expectations.
Items given by the gods wouldn’t be so flimsy.
Moreover, the scroll had something written on it.
“For the reader’s gift.”
That probably meant it was not just for anyone’s use.
Well, the scroll wasn’t the important thing right now
I reached out one hand to Chloe
“Give me the elixir.”
“Make sure to pay afterwards. Otherwise, it’ll be bothersome for both of us.”
Chloe handed me the elixir
I held the elixir preciously in my hand.
An elixir that could heal the lady’s scars.
With this, she would surely brighten up a bit more.
I wanted to apply it to her quickly.
“Are you going back right away?”
Chloe asked.
I shook my head sideways as I replied.
“If I leave now, I’ll have to spend the night on the road. I’ll go straight in the morning.”
“Hmm..”
Chloe looked at me intently.
It seems like something crossed her mind.
She rose from her seat and walked towards the bookshelf.
“Even though they paid a considerable sum, I’ll do a reading for them as a gesture of service.”
She held a crystal ball in her hand.
It felt like something familiar, reminiscent of fortune tellers in a certain novel.
“A reading?”
“Yes. Please, have a seat in front.”
A fortune-teller reading by a stargazer.
Who could resist the curiosity?
After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I sat down in front of Chloe without much thought.
“Close your eyes and place your hand over the crystal ball.”
“Okay.”
I calmly closed my eyes and placed my hand over the crystal ball.
I felt a sensation akin to electric currents flowing from my fingertips.
It felt like a tingling sensation.
“Let’s see… What future awaits you.”
Chloe’s voice came through my ears.
Her voice sounded even clearer due to my closed eyes.
I’ll just have to stay still until she tells me to open my eyes again.
I waited for Chloe’s words while keeping my eyes shut.
As time passed by,
Thirty seconds… a minute… two minutes…
Despite the passing time,
Chloe remained silent.
Why is this reading taking so long?
It must have been at least five minutes.
How long am I supposed to keep my eyes closed?
I started to feel restless.
Sitting still with my eyes closed made me increasingly bored.
However, Chloe continued to remain silent.
Eventually, overcome with frustration, I had to open my eyes.
Chloe was staring at the crystal ball.
But something seemed off.
Her face was flushed red.
Furthermore, her eyes and lips were trembling.
“…Chloe?”
“Ah?!?!”
…What’s going on? Why is she like that?
I stared at Chloe incredulously.
Chloe has lived for over a hundred years.
She must be accustomed to controlling her emotions in various situations.
Seeing her so startled was unexpected.
“Why are you acting like this?”
“Huh? Oh? Wait… This is…? Ugh?”
Her face turned as red as an apple.
Chloe looked at me with trembling eyes.
“Ah… Clearly not interested…”
“Yes?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
Chloe didn’t utter a single word.
She just looked at me.
Thus, a strange silence settled between her and me.
How long had this silence lasted?
Gradually, it reached an uncomfortable point.
“Ahem.”
Chloe cleared her throat a few times, then calmly placed the crystal ball back into the drawer.
“Have you seen my future?”
“Th… That’s right.”
My upcoming future.
Honestly, it was somewhat scary.
But I was also curious about it.
“…You seem to have a rather sensitive body.”
“Yes?”
Sensitive? What, like being perceptive or something?
I am quite perceptive myself.
Moreover, I consider myself quite sharp too.
I could detect most cues right away.
But well.
I’m not particularly interested in that.
“What about my future?”
I asked with bright eyes.
In fact, I vaguely guessed.
Since there was only one thing I had to do in the future.
I don’t know which future Chloe saw, but probably I would be working at a café.
Watching the cheerful smiles of the customers, feeling happiness and pride.
“…Your voice was really beautiful.”
“My voice?”
My voice, what could that mean?
But after thinking about it for a moment, I had a guess.
Perhaps she saw me working at the café.
Since I always put on my best voice when calling customers or serving them.
She might have heard that.
But come on, just my voice?
That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.
Actually, I wasn’t really curious about the café.
It was as good as a given even without the fortune-telling.
So, I asked the thing I was most curious about directly.
“Will future me be happy?”
Chloe’s eyes widened again.
She glanced at the ground for a moment, then started muttering to herself with a deeply troubled expression.
“Happiness? Um… happiness… maybe? It seemed like a happy expression… but also not?”
Once again, a vague answer returned. Her frustration creased her forehead.
No, is this person really an astrologer?
They said she had exceptional insight.
Why are there so many ambiguous things?
People should be straightforward.
Is it necessary to be so vague?
Chloe’s trust began to waver.
‘…This elixir must have an effect, right?’
With narrowed eyes, she looked at the elixir.
Suddenly, everything seemed suspicious.
But since it had an effect in the novel,
there shouldn’t be any problem with the elixir.
With a brief sigh, I rose from my seat.
“Ah, forget it. I’ll be going.”
It’s not like I gained anything special.
I just feel uneasy for no reason.
“Uh…? Uh… yeah… I’ll stay here, so come back whenever you want.”
“Okay.”
A short but intense encounter.
The meeting with the great astrologer ended like that.
As I left the inn, the setting sun caught my eye.
Maybe because the surroundings had changed a lot,
I felt quite tired.
‘…But I can see the young lady again tomorrow.’
I recalled the cute image of the young lady.
A spontaneous smile formed on my lips.
I should hurry back and cook.
Although I brought frozen food, it wouldn’t taste as good as freshly cooked.
It’s only been two days since I last saw her, but I already miss her.
I must be seriously ill.
I’ll have to send her away when she grows up.
I have things to do, and she’ll be busy as a duchess.
But maybe I’ll be able to see her graduate from the academy.
By then, she’ll be a mature and beautiful woman.
Yes.
That’s definitely how it will be.
“See you again someday!”
The shabby inn, revisited.
I sighed and opened the door.
Chloe was reading a book with her chin resting on her hand.
I glanced at the cover of the book silently.
“99 Mysteries of the Female Body.”
…Why would she read something like that?
“Did you deliver it well?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t so bad.
I finally saw Lucy, whom I had always read about in letters.
When we parted, her words bothered me a little, but I still had the desire to see her at least once.
Well, we won’t be meeting for a while now anyway.
I guess I don’t have to worry too much about it.
“Oh, right.”
I almost forgot.
I took out a flower from my pocket.
A flower with white petals, I gave it to Chloe.
“What’s this?”
“Lucy wanted to thank you.”
Chloe widened her eyes.
She closed the book and stood up abruptly.
I wondered what she was going to do.
She took out a small glass bottle from the shelf.
She carefully put the flower petals inside.
“A gift from the Star Child… This is precious, huh? Hehe.”
I looked at Chloe with a cold gaze.
Isn’t she overreacting a bit?
It’s just a flower.
Well, I guess if a lady gave me a flower, I might react like that too.
“Well… Thank you for your hard work.”
Chloe put the glass bottle away with a smug look on her face.
Then she took out a vial and placed it on the desk.
“Money.”
She reached out one hand to me.
I immediately took out a money pouch from my pocket.
“It’s 500 gold coins. I’ll give you the rest as soon as I get my salary.”
“500 gold coins wouldn’t be a small amount. Can I trust you?”
“My annual salary is actually 1200 gold coins.”
I said confidently with a proud heart.
But Chloe didn’t show much reaction.
Instead, she scrutinized the scroll rather than looking at me.
“It seems quite useful. Where did you get it?”
“Oh… this? I received it as a gift.”
Curiosity sparked in Chloe’s cunning eyes.
She reached out one hand to me.
“Would you mind not showing it for a moment?”
There was a moment of hesitation.
It was my only privilege, after all.
Can I just hand it over to someone else without thinking?
“I’ll give you a discount of 100 gold coins if you show it.”
“Here you go.”
Without hesitation, I handed over the scroll.
One hundred gold coins, I can’t resist that.
Chloe carefully examined the scroll.
Soon, she grabbed the end and tried to unroll it.
“Huh?”
But the scroll wouldn’t unfurl.
This time, she tried to open it with both hands.
Yet the scroll remained tightly closed.
Chloe and I both felt puzzled.
“Why won’t it open?”
“Um… I’m not sure.”
Chloe’s expression faltered.
As she tapped her fingers, two magic circles appeared, and two tentacles emerged, trying to pull the scroll open.
Still, the scroll showed no sign of movement.
After struggling with it for a while,
Chloe eventually returned it to me with a frustrated expression.
Curious, I tried to unfurl the scroll.
It unfurled easily.
Chloe looked at me incredulously.
“..It seems it recognizes its owner.”
“It seems so.”
I had some expectations.
Items given by the gods wouldn’t be so flimsy.
Moreover, the scroll had something written on it.
“For the reader’s gift.”
That probably meant it was not just for anyone’s use.
Well, the scroll wasn’t the important thing right now
I reached out one hand to Chloe
“Give me the elixir.”
“Make sure to pay afterwards. Otherwise, it’ll be bothersome for both of us.”
Chloe handed me the elixir
I held the elixir preciously in my hand.
An elixir that could heal the lady’s scars.
With this, she would surely brighten up a bit more.
I wanted to apply it to her quickly.
“Are you going back right away?”
Chloe asked.
I shook my head sideways as I replied.
“If I leave now, I’ll have to spend the night on the road. I’ll go straight in the morning.”
“Hmm..”
Chloe looked at me intently.
It seems like something crossed her mind.
She rose from her seat and walked towards the bookshelf.
“Even though they paid a considerable sum, I’ll do a reading for them as a gesture of service.”
She held a crystal ball in her hand.
It felt like something familiar, reminiscent of fortune tellers in a certain novel.
“A reading?”
“Yes. Please, have a seat in front.”
A fortune-teller reading by a stargazer.
Who could resist the curiosity?
After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I sat down in front of Chloe without much thought.
“Close your eyes and place your hand over the crystal ball.”
“Okay.”
I calmly closed my eyes and placed my hand over the crystal ball.
I felt a sensation akin to electric currents flowing from my fingertips.
It felt like a tingling sensation.
“Let’s see… What future awaits you.”
Chloe’s voice came through my ears.
Her voice sounded even clearer due to my closed eyes.
I’ll just have to stay still until she tells me to open my eyes again.
I waited for Chloe’s words while keeping my eyes shut.
As time passed by,
Thirty seconds… a minute… two minutes…
Despite the passing time,
Chloe remained silent.
Why is this reading taking so long?
It must have been at least five minutes.
How long am I supposed to keep my eyes closed?
I started to feel restless.
Sitting still with my eyes closed made me increasingly bored.
However, Chloe continued to remain silent.
Eventually, overcome with frustration, I had to open my eyes.
Chloe was staring at the crystal ball.
But something seemed off.
Her face was flushed red.
Furthermore, her eyes and lips were trembling.
“…Chloe?”
“Ah?!?!”
…What’s going on? Why is she like that?
I stared at Chloe incredulously.
Chloe has lived for over a hundred years.
She must be accustomed to controlling her emotions in various situations.
Seeing her so startled was unexpected.
“Why are you acting like this?”
“Huh? Oh? Wait… This is…? Ugh?”
Her face turned as red as an apple.
Chloe looked at me with trembling eyes.
“Ah… Clearly not interested…”
“Yes?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
Chloe didn’t utter a single word.
She just looked at me.
Thus, a strange silence settled between her and me.
How long had this silence lasted?
Gradually, it reached an uncomfortable point.
“Ahem.”
Chloe cleared her throat a few times, then calmly placed the crystal ball back into the drawer.
“Have you seen my future?”
“Th… That’s right.”
My upcoming future.
Honestly, it was somewhat scary.
But I was also curious about it.
“…You seem to have a rather sensitive body.”
“Yes?”
Sensitive? What, like being perceptive or something?
I am quite perceptive myself.
Moreover, I consider myself quite sharp too.
I could detect most cues right away.
But well.
I’m not particularly interested in that.
“What about my future?”
I asked with bright eyes.
In fact, I vaguely guessed.
Since there was only one thing I had to do in the future.
I don’t know which future Chloe saw, but probably I would be working at a café.
Watching the cheerful smiles of the customers, feeling happiness and pride.
“…Your voice was really beautiful.”
“My voice?”
My voice, what could that mean?
But after thinking about it for a moment, I had a guess.
Perhaps she saw me working at the café.
Since I always put on my best voice when calling customers or serving them.
She might have heard that.
But come on, just my voice?
That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.
Actually, I wasn’t really curious about the café.
It was as good as a given even without the fortune-telling.
So, I asked the thing I was most curious about directly.
“Will future me be happy?”
Chloe’s eyes widened again.
She glanced at the ground for a moment, then started muttering to herself with a deeply troubled expression.
“Happiness? Um… happiness… maybe? It seemed like a happy expression… but also not?”
Once again, a vague answer returned. Her frustration creased her forehead.
No, is this person really an astrologer?
They said she had exceptional insight.
Why are there so many ambiguous things?
People should be straightforward.
Is it necessary to be so vague?
Chloe’s trust began to waver.
‘…This elixir must have an effect, right?’
With narrowed eyes, she looked at the elixir.
Suddenly, everything seemed suspicious.
But since it had an effect in the novel,
there shouldn’t be any problem with the elixir.
With a brief sigh, I rose from my seat.
“Ah, forget it. I’ll be going.”
It’s not like I gained anything special.
I just feel uneasy for no reason.
“Uh…? Uh… yeah… I’ll stay here, so come back whenever you want.”
“Okay.”
A short but intense encounter.
The meeting with the great astrologer ended like that.
As I left the inn, the setting sun caught my eye.
Maybe because the surroundings had changed a lot,
I felt quite tired.
‘…But I can see the young lady again tomorrow.’
I recalled the cute image of the young lady.
A spontaneous smile formed on my lips.
I should hurry back and cook.
Although I brought frozen food, it wouldn’t taste as good as freshly cooked.
It’s only been two days since I last saw her, but I already miss her.
I must be seriously ill.
I’ll have to send her away when she grows up.
I have things to do, and she’ll be busy as a duchess.
But maybe I’ll be able to see her graduate from the academy.
By then, she’ll be a mature and beautiful woman.
Yes.
That’s definitely how it will be.
