"Believe me, madam, I am not joking."
Roger looked at the beautiful lady opposite him, whose face was full of hesitation, and spoke earnestly: "I am an experienced diviner from Backlund, where I charge half a gold pound per reading. If it weren't for my family encountering some troubles, I wouldn't have come to Tingen."
Hearing this, although her eyes still held suspicion, she finally nodded. "I understand. I forgot to ask earlier—how should I address you, sir?"
"Mertes Bonway. And may I ask your name, beautiful lady?" Roger removed his wide-brimmed hat and bowed slightly with a gentleman's smile.
"Angelica. Angelica Barehart."
She answered, revealing an apologetic smile. "Mr. Bonway, if you want to become a registered diviner, you'll need to undergo a simple test. Although you have extensive divination experience in Backlund, we still lack understanding of your abilities, so please don't take offense."
"No problem. What kind of test is required?" Roger nodded.
"My relative recently encountered a troublesome matter. I'd like you to tell me what this matter concerns, and if possible, provide some solutions."
"In that case, I suggest using star chart divination."
Roger remained calm and composed. The "Judgement Star" pathway contained authority over stellar operational rules, so even at Sequence 9, Beyonders gained relatively strong astrology abilities. Although this couldn't compare with the Apprentice pathway's Sequence 7 "Astrologer" or the Seer pathway's Sequence 5 "Astromancer," it would display even greater strength when he advanced to higher sequences.
The Abraham family also placed extreme value on cultivating their descendants' astrological knowledge, so Roger could already be considered a fairly accomplished astrologer.
He inquired about Angelica's birth time and location, then immediately took out a star chart and drew a series of stellar symbols and lines upon it.
"This matter should be related to your brother. Does he owe money to others?"
With just one glance, Roger identified where the problem lay.
Hearing this, Angelica immediately showed an astonished expression. "You can see this too? I won't hide it from you—my younger brother's business has recently run into problems. He's hiding from creditors everywhere, and we're all very worried about him."
"May I ask how you saw this? I've been learning astrology from Mr. Vincent myself, but I can never grasp the essentials."
Roger smiled and pointed to Angelica's star chart. "Saturn, representing loss, has fallen in the wealth house and formed unfavorable stellar aspects with Mars. As you should know, Mars generally corresponds to brothers. As for solutions, his business will naturally improve after some time—there's no need to worry."
Hearing this, Angelica breathed a sigh of relief and showed a grateful expression.
"So, did I pass the test?" Roger asked with a wink.
"There's no problem on my end."
Angelica nodded. "Your divination has helped me greatly—at least I'm no longer anxious. As repayment, I can personally give you some discounts."
From their earlier conversation, she had obviously heard that Roger was reluctant to pay membership fees.
"What I want to say is that even for rotating diviners, the 5-pound membership fee is still required. However, I can deduct half from each of your divination earnings until you've paid it completely. I personally don't recommend pricing your services at 8 soli per session, since you're new to Tingen and have no reputation yet. There's no guarantee you'll be able to repay the full amount within a year."
Angelica spoke very diplomatically, implying that Roger might not necessarily find clients seeking divination.
"You can rest assured about that. If I can't earn 10 pounds within one month, I'll voluntarily withdraw my membership," Roger said confidently.
Seeing his insistence, Angelica could only complete the registration and handed Roger a membership cufflink. The cufflink bore an inscription in Hermes using a word root meaning "diviner."
Although Roger had already conducted divination on the train to Tingen and received positive feedback, things had still gone more smoothly than he'd expected.
"Is Mr. Haynas Vincent here today?" After putting on the cufflink, Roger asked tentatively.
Angelica raised an eyebrow, clearly hearing the deliberately challenging tone in his voice. "Mr. Vincent isn't here today, but he often comes on Saturdays to conduct divination courses. If you want to see him, you could try your luck on Saturday."
Haynas Vincent was his main target, and since no one in the club was currently seeking divination, he decided to leave temporarily.
After bidding farewell to Angelica, Roger bought a cup of southern-style sweet iced tea and strolled through Tingen's streets while drinking, appreciating this familiar yet strange streetscape that had once existed only in dreams.
"Sorry."
Suddenly, a beautiful girl walking a golden retriever passed by his side. As their arms lightly collided, she immediately apologized and continued on with her dog.
Roger was about to say it was alright when he suddenly froze. This girl reminded him of another noble miss far away in Backlund—that test subject for the fantasy dog potion... no, that "Justice" miss who had already met Klein in the Tarot Club.
"Perhaps I should also raise a pet? Something like Susie."
Once this thought emerged, it couldn't be restrained. He pretended to casually let his silver-inlaid cane slip, watching it fall in a particular direction. Roger bent down to retrieve the cane and, following fate's guidance, walked in the direction it had pointed.
He repeated this cane divination several times and finally, at the upper corner of Iron Cross Street, saw a stray tabby cat only about three months old. It was dirty all over and nearly starved to death, desperately digging through garbage in search of food.
His heart moved. He walked over directly, crouched down to look at the kitten, and made coaxing sounds. The kitten obviously wasn't afraid of people. Hearing Roger's calls, it immediately ran over and rubbed its dirty body against his trouser legs.
"Congratulations on becoming the first member of the Tingen City Stray Cat Protection Association."
Roger half-jokingly scratched the kitten's chin, watching it narrow its eyes in satisfaction before speaking again: "Hey, do you want to become an 'apprentice'?"
Hearing this, the kitten showed a fawning expression and licked Roger's hand. Although it didn't understand what an apprentice was, instinct told it that this nice-smelling young man would definitely be a reliable long-term meal ticket.
As both parties "reached an agreement," Roger ignored the kitten's dirt and placed it directly on his shoulder, heading toward the inn.