#107
The last card was rather creepy. It was a bizarre picture of someone having sex with a skeleton. The man sitting on top of the skeleton even had ten swords stuck in his back. A red moon hung in the sky and a giant scythe lay scattered at his feet. A river seemed to flow in the background, but what was strange was beyond it. Unlike the medieval atmosphere on this side, the landscape beyond the river resembled a modern city skyline.
The man sitting on the skeleton with an ecstatic expression had the same hair and clothing as all the characters that had appeared so far, seeming to be the same person, but this time his eyes weren’t closed or covered, so his face was properly visible for the first time. But that face somehow… didn’t it resemble me?
“I’ll interpret it for you.”
Bisang, who interjected while pushing away my thoughts, sounded somehow excited. He pointed to the first card and said.
“The demon that looks like an angel means your partner feels both strong affection and physical desire for you simultaneously. The ribbon with bells tied around the partner’s ankle shows obsession, or unusual sexual preferences.”
Carlisle did have controlling tendencies, so obsession seemed likely, and since we were having a physical relationship, there would be desire… I supposed. But what affection? Half was out of necessity and half was for releasing urges, that was all. As for sexual preferences… I wasn’t sure. It was a bit excessive but didn’t seem particularly unusual or strange.
“Wearing a helmet means either wanting to take the lead or having a strong will to take responsibility for and protect you.”
“……”
Looking at his personality and tendencies, both seemed to fit. But what was this—Bisang wasn’t even a real fortune teller but he was surprisingly accurate?
While I was inwardly impressed, Bisang continued his interpretation.
“Look at this. Even though I changed the cards, similar things keep appearing. Red moon, collapsed tower, cloth covering the eyes.”
That was definitely a bit eerie.
“As I said before, the moon means anxiety, misunderstanding, uncertainty. Covering the eyes means being unable to see the truth. Since both have their eyes covered, the problem becomes more complex. Whether it’s each other or a third party, someone has hidden truths.”
I felt inwardly guilty since it was true that I had truths I was hiding from him.
“Hiding what?”
When I asked while feigning innocence, Bisang stared at me intently.
“Secretly cheating on each other or lying. Or memories disappeared or were hidden, things like that.”
“Cheating is… no.”
I supposed I was lying, but not that kind of lie.
Ignoring my timid protest, Bisang continued reading the cards.
“The collapsed castle tower means that the foundation built up was destroyed by a shocking event at some point.”
That would refer to the event that collapsed this world, right? If I believed this fortune telling a bit more… it could also refer to the event of me entering this side from reality.
“Having relations in a collapsed castle tower means a precarious relationship or adultery. Having relations with two people also means you have more than one partner. Like the first card, keywords like adultery, cheating, two-timing keep overlapping for you.”
Bisang sent a meaningful gaze. That wasn’t it, I told you. It was unfair, wasn’t it? Wasn’t this guy interpreting it this way because he knew my rumors?
“Isn’t it just the same person? The faces look as similar as twins.”
“Well… that could be, or it could mean your taste is consistent.”
“Or maybe the card illustrator is someone who can’t draw various faces.”
I grumbled openly.
At least the part about it being a precarious relationship might be correct. We weren’t really dating, but anyway I’d eventually return to reality, so it was a relationship that couldn’t continue.
“Being tied up and blindfolded has the same interpretation as the first card. The partner’s obsession, being unable to see or hiding truths. And not all cards in this deck are sex pictures, but everything you drew is like this, which means you have considerable lewdness.”
“……”
I would have denied it before, but lately I was a bit… I couldn’t confidently say no. After clearing my throat, I averted my gaze and pointed to the last card.
“What about this card? The feeling is so ominous—is it bad?”
The previous two cards didn’t have great atmospheres either, but this was a bit extreme. Having sex with a skeleton with ten swords stuck in your back. The giant scythe also reminded me of the grim reaper.
What was beyond the river? No matter how I looked at it, this side looked like the reality I used to live in?
“The skeleton and scythe are both cards meaning death and endings. The ten swords also represent the worst situation, despair, or catastrophe. But something ending also means something new is beginning at the same time.”
Bisang gave off an unusually solemn atmosphere.
“It could mean going to the world beyond the river for a new beginning, or since you’re two-timing anyway, you might be able to straddle both worlds.”
That damn two-timing talk until the end.
Cards meaning death weren’t necessarily bad, and new beginnings were hopeful, but… somehow this talk of new beginnings after death was too meaningful from my perspective. No matter how I thought about it, didn’t it sound like I had to die to return to reality?
But in the tutorial I’d already experienced death nine times but couldn’t return. Was it because it was a tutorial? Because it wasn’t real death? Did this mean I had to really die to return to reality? Wasn’t I supposed to be able to return by completing quests without dying?
“Draw one more advice card. This is the last one.”
Now that I was getting immersed, he said it was the last one. I felt uneasy, but quite a few people had gathered behind me and were peeking around. It was time to give up my seat. It seemed I had fulfilled my role as a shill.
The cards Bisang spread out again were the ones with geometric patterns on the back from the beginning. Since people were starting to crowd around and I was already concerned about them, I drew a card while inwardly sighing in relief.
The selected card was again a complex picture.
Against the backdrop of a blue, giant tree, a person wearing a deeply pulled hood and holding an ornately decorated staff stood there. The clothing was luxurious but seemed more like a priest or mage rather than royalty. A lion that appeared to be twice the size of a person was wrapped around him, but rather than being dangerous, it looked like a guardian animal protecting its master. It was the most normal picture I’d seen so far.
Bisang first pointed to the high waves visible in the background that seemed to reach the very top of the card.
“This means to be careful of water, and also means tremendous disaster or adversity awaits. But…”
Bisang continued while pointing to the entire picture as if drawing a circle.
“You have the ability to make what you want into reality, and you have beings that give you strength and protect you, so there’s nothing to fear. Be brave and act proactively. But there are hidden truths, so you must be careful and prudent. Then you can achieve everything you want.”
I just stood there with my mouth open for a moment, listening to the story that flowed fluently as if it wasn’t coming from Bisang.
Not only was the speech fluent, but somehow… the content was too plausible? Since I’d experienced many dangerous things in water and really hated water, mentioning water specifically hit too close to home.
But thinking again, since ocean exploration was imminent, being careful of water was obvious, and if you were going to do dangerous things, you needed courage but being careful and prudent was also obvious. Thinking this way, my immersion suddenly broke and I felt stupid for being briefly captivated with my mouth hanging open.
Still, well… it was fun.
It was a card reading I started half for fun, half out of obligation. If it was entertaining enough to be this absorbed, that was rather something to be pleased about.
“Thanks. How much is the fee?”
Actually, since it was a shilling role, I didn’t really have an obligation to pay, but since it was fun, I was thinking of paying if he quoted a reasonable price. But like last time, if he tried to empty my pockets again, I planned to ignore him, so I asked first.
“Instead of a fee, buy this. It’s good stuff.”
As expected, Bisang rummaged through a box and started his scheme. I thought here we go again, but still had some expectation that if it was something Bisang was selling, there would be something to it.
“What is it?”
“This.”
What Bisang placed on the table was a small pink potion with a heart-shaped lid and several cards.
“?”
The potion’s appearance was annoying, but more than that, what were those cards? They somehow looked like the lewd cards I’d drawn earlier.
“This is a love potion, these are romance charms.”
“……”
The potion, okay, I’d concede that a hundred times over. (No, honestly, it didn’t even look like just a potion but like lube, so I didn’t feel like conceding.) Saying the cards I drew were romance charms—what kind of bizarre sales tactic was that? Honestly, if they were very good fortunes I might want to take them, but they weren’t particularly good fortunes and they were even such strange pictures. If I carried such things around and accidentally dropped them, I’d be branded a pervert without question. My reputation was already rock bottom, but I didn’t want to live with a pervert reputation on top of that.
“Don’t need it.”
I firmly refused. But Bisang more firmly refused my refusal.
“It’ll help you get together with the person you like. You can use it when you sleep with that person too.”
The persistent guy shamelessly insisted.
“I said I don’t need it.”
“No, you need it.”
This bastard really. You should argue about things worth arguing about.
But since Bisang was insisting like this, I started thinking in a corner of my mind that maybe I really did need it. Maybe I had the blood of a sucker flowing in me.
“…How much?”
I asked thinking that if it was an affordable price, I’d rather just buy it than have this argument in front of people.
“I’ll give it cheap. One million Rual for everything.”
This crazy scammer bastard. I finally exploded. Did I have the luxury to buy such completely useless adult goods for one million Rual?
“I’m not buying, you crazy bastard!”
I shouted angrily and tried to turn around. But someone grabbed my shoulder as if embracing me, and a gloved hand reached out to pick up the cards. The back that touched me was warm.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
