Ever since steam and machinery had become the symbol of the age, more and more cafés had lowered their standards, turning into cheap restaurants of sorts, offering busy workers tea, coffee, bread, toast, and dishes like lamb stew with green peas. Thus, respectable gentlemen and ladies no longer came to cafés to discuss matters, nor treated such behavior as a symbol of status. Instead, all kinds of clubs began to spring up, replacing the café's original function as a social venue.
But Ebner and Xio didn't care about matters of status. After all, they had first met in a café, and discussing things in a similar environment always carried a certain inexplicable "atmosphere" and sense of ritual.
What's more, the café where Ebner had arranged to meet was of decent quality, with an elegant and quiet environment.
Lifting his cup and taking a small sip, the caffeine stimulated him, clearing his fatigue somewhat. He ate his breakfast while chatting idly with Xio.
After each of them shared some of their recent circumstances, Xio shifted the subject to the follow-up of the incident at Stone's steam train station last week.
"Because of someone's 'Spear of Unshadowed,' the Church of Storms is taking that demigod clash very seriously. I've been summoned several times to cooperate with their investigation... Fortunately, I'm a member of MI9 and truly had no foreknowledge." Xio paused, glanced at Ebner, and continued, "They still haven't identified the 'Sun' pathway demigod who saved the station... but there are already leads about the attackers. It should be Tony Dawn of the Iron Cross Society."
So it really was Tony Dawn... Ebner nodded. From Vera he had already learned that the 'Dragon of Imagination' Ankewelt had arranged for Ince Zangwill to steal the seal crafted by Roselle that imprisoned a Sauron family angel's evil spirit. He had guessed as much.
After a moment of thought, Ebner sipped the fragrant hot liquid and reminded Xio, "Be careful when you're chasing the thief who stole the seal. If you notice 'coincidences' or 'accidents' happening too often around you, contact me immediately."
He didn't mention Ince Zangwill by name, lest Xio link it to "0-08" and draw unwanted attention.
'Coincidences' and 'accidents'? Ever since I met you and joined the Tarot Club, those two words never leave my side... Xio grumbled inwardly, but still nodded seriously.
After finishing their coffee and preparing to go their separate ways, Xio suddenly remembered something and stopped Ebner. She said deliberately:
"By the way, Professor Michelle's collection—a helmet from the White Rose War once belonging to a Sauron family member—was also stolen last week.
"Because it happened right after the demigod battle at the steam station, the Church took it seriously and determined that a high-sequence Beyonder was behind it."
A helmet from the White Rose War belonging to the Sauron family? That item didn't seem extraordinary, right? At least, I didn't notice anything at the time... But a mundane item wouldn't be worth a high-sequence Beyonder's theft...
Though I didn't examine it with the Pure White Eye, I'm still a genuine demigod of the 'Reader' pathway. Anything that could escape me certainly wouldn't be simple!
Right—Ince Zangwill stole a seal harboring a Sauron family angel's evil spirit. Could it be that spirit who directed Ince to steal it?
That helmet was once used by that angel?
What arrangements has Ankewelt made for Ince?
After parting with Xio, Ebner kept pondering these questions.
Until yesterday, he hadn't cared much about the schemes of the 'Dragon of Imagination,' since they had nothing to do with him.
But Yaloran's matter had made him realize that the old dragon had already reached into his surroundings, even daring to use him. Naturally, Ebner wanted to figure out what Ankewelt was plotting.
After all, unlike the God of Knowledge, Lilith, or the Goddess, though They too schemed and made use of him, They generally considered his feelings and wouldn't truly endanger his friends.
But this ancient god was different. His schemes carried far fewer scruples and had already endangered Yaloran's safety, crossing Ebner's bottom line.
Though he hadn't yet recalled his memories of Yaloran, simply because she had helped him intercept the Rose School of Thought's angel, Ebner already regarded her as a friend. Otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed to meet her alone.
Fortunately, as long as he could grasp the purpose of the 'Dragon King,' it wouldn't be too hard to deduce his schemes in reverse...
With his thoughts flashing, Ebner set the matter aside for now. He walked into another, slightly more modest café, intending to spend the time before nightfall studying information on the 'Black Emperor' pathway's "Incomplete Mythical Form," while also seeking a target to "act" as.
—The knowledge of the Black Emperor pathway's "Incomplete Mythical Form" had come from Princess Vera. Ebner hadn't expected her mist to be so marvelous—it actually allowed her to shift back and forth between demigod states of 'Justiciar' and 'Black Emperor'... a true demonstration of what it meant to be the "Indeterminate Mist."
After an entire night of research, he had only just begun to construct a related "model" within his broken White Tower, which explained why his spirit was so weary.
…
Simon Larrie was a middle-aged man whose receding hairline bore the typical Ruenian features. He worked as a technician in a steam machinery factory in Stone, with a decent income, a beautiful wife, and a healthy son.
Though his life was simple and monotonous, he had always been content, believing himself a happy man.
But today, all of that ended...
Moments ago, he had received a shocking revelation: the wife he had married three years ago had always been the mistress of the factory's manager, and his "son" was actually their child!
His wife had only married him to use him as cover.
Because the manager's wife was the daughter of the factory's owner, and had suspected her husband's affair, the situation back then was tense, and they had chosen him as a shield...
Now, with the owner dead from illness, the manager no longer needed to pretend. He had openly revealed the truth, offering Simon 100 gold pounds to divorce his wife and leave the city.
Simon didn't know how he had left the manager's office. After confirming the truth, he had stumbled to his usual café, ordered a coffee, and sat staring blankly at the cup.
His eyes unfocused, he didn't notice a brown-haired youth slip into the seat beside him.
Unknowingly, Simon began recalling his life—his false happiness, the manager's polite yet domineering face...
He sometimes smiled, sometimes clenched his teeth in hatred, sometimes relaxed his brow, sometimes tightened his fists...
He didn't know how much time passed. When he finally noticed his coffee had gone cold, lines of text inexplicably appeared before his eyes.
The text formed a multiple-choice question:
"You discover your marriage has been trampled, your happiness destroyed, everything was a lie. You decide to:
"1. Go to the Drunken Hunter bar at 13 Less Street to buy a revolver, give the manager and your wife their due retribution, and then, in regret, shoot yourself.
"2. Tell the manager's wife as revenge... but the manager, skilled as he is, has already seized all of her family's property rights. She cannot restrain him. Instead, your retaliation is exposed. In the end, the manager uses the 100 pounds meant for you to hire a gunman to kill you.
"3. Pretend to accept the manager's terms, use the 100 pounds to secretly hire a gang for revenge, but they turn on you and kill you.
"4. Take the 100 pounds, leave this sorrowful city, enroll in the full-time program at Conston Industrial University in Jianhai County, and begin a new life."
Staring blankly at the four options, Simon thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes, but the words remained.
When he instinctively chose the fourth option in his heart, the text slowly faded.
He sat in a daze for a few more minutes. Then he drew a triangular holy symbol on his chest and muttered:
"I really thought about dying together with them just now... and about deliberate revenge...
"But is that really the outcome I want?
"Why should I destroy myself for a woman who never loved me? I'm only thirty-five, with a long life ahead!
"Was this a revelation from the gods, a warning for me?
"Praise the God of Steam and Machinery!"
As Simon resolved to accept the compensation, divorce, and start a new life, not far away, Ebner quietly erased one last line from the options Simon had not seen.
'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—don't mock the poor middle-aged man?'
"So the 'Wheel of Fortune's' uniqueness is this chuuni?!
"No—it probably followed the God of Luck in the past... It must have been influenced by Him. But my own chuuni phase ended back in my second year of high school!"
Ebner's lips twitched. Yet he noticed that the man's "feedback" after the fate deviation was far less ideal than expected.
—In Ebner's earlier observation, the man was very prone to extremes and likely would have followed the first or third branches of fate.
Ebner stroked his chin in thought, then suddenly realized: the options he gave had been too detailed, listing even the outcomes. That bordered on "changing" fate rather than "deviating" it, which explained the poor effect.
"Looks like in future roleplay, I'll have to keep things simple."
(End of this chapter)