One-Eyed Monster

Chapter 1: Chapter 1 Divination

The Great Witch adjusted her glasses with trembling hands; sheer excitement permeated her demeanor. After all, ever since she had miscalculated the egg-laying date of the Governor’s beloved chicken, nearly two months had passed since anyone had ventured into her Divination House.

The young man standing before her was striking. His angular face, with its bright, lively, dark eyes, didn’t suggest a fool. And his physique—a well-proportioned torso and robust limbs—made him look strong and hardly reckless.

The Great Witch’s dull grey eyes rolled thoughtfully in their deep sockets a few times before she arrived at a conclusion in her rather imaginative mind: This young man is either lost or illiterate.

With this conclusion reached, the Great Witch’s initial excitement gradually faded. She quickly resumed her usual slovenly demeanor, hunching over the divination table and staring blankly at the dust-covered crystal ball, lost in an endless daze.

”Uh, hello there!” the young man stuttered, seeming ill at ease in the gloomy Divination House as he greeted her.

”HMPH,” the Great Witch responded faintly.

This ”HMPH” contained both her past arrogance and her current desolate loneliness, but the young man, continuing to approach cautiously, couldn’t decipher any of it.

”If you want to ask for directions for free, go to the village up ahead. Here, I charge a fee,” the Great Witch said, growing a tad irritated. The young man’s silence had unintentionally disrupted her customary ”serenity.”

”Uh, doesn’t the sign at the door say Divination?” the young man asked.

Hearing the long-unheard word ”divination,” the Great Witch’s hunched figure began to tremble slightly, causing her to readjust her glasses again. When she saw the young man scratching his head in confusion and foolishly stepping outside to confirm the sign, the conclusion she had just formed was immediately overturned.

It seems appearances can be deceptive, the Great Witch mused. This good-looking young man isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed after all. Her wrinkled face gradually softened, a result of pity and sympathy.

”Erm, I don’t have much currency on me,” the young man confessed after confirming the sign. Scratching his head, he walked back to the divination table, then started rummaging through his bag. ”But will you accept these?” he asked, placing two items the size of hen’s eggs on the divination table.

The two irregularly shaped ellipsoidal objects slowly rolled across the age-old, dust-covered divination table. Their smooth surfaces, reflecting the light, gleamed with an unusual luster against the dust, and soon the narrow Divination House was bathed in a vibrant, sun-like radiance.

At that moment, the Great Witch looked like a statue, her jaw agape, transfixed by the objects on the table. Her dull grey eyes, set deep in their sockets, seemed on the verge of popping out and knocking the glasses from her nose.

But the Great Witch, after all, had seen many years. She quickly regained her composure. She raised an arm, extending four withered fingers from her wide sleeve, and said in a deliberately calm voice, ”One divination session requires four Rain Crystal Stones. Two are not enough.”

”No problem!” the young man said, quickly taking out two more stones from his bag, and these shone even more brilliantly.

The Great Witch felt she was about to lose control of her expression. These Rain Crystal Stones... their value in currency would be several hundred Gold Coins! she thought, struggling to maintain her composure. No, it should be several hundred Gold Bars. And that many Gold Bars—no, Rain Crystal Stones—would be enough not just for a divination, but to buy the entire village...

”So, can you answer my questions now?” he asked.

The young man’s voice quickly interrupted the Great Witch’s complex thoughts. She coughed, raising her voice slightly. ”Well then, tell me what you wish to divine. Career, love, or your aspirations?”

”Well, it’s not exactly divination. I just want to clarify a few things. These things are troubling me, making my path forward unclear...”

Poor man, the Great Witch thought, barely listening to the young man’s ramblings. His mind isn’t all there. He takes so long just to ask for directions. I really don’t understand how he got these Rain Crystal Stones. How many Gold Bars would these be worth? Her mind was filled with pity and, well, Gold Bars.

”What I mean is, since you Wizards hold so much knowledge, you must know something about Adventurers. I just want to understand...”

”Adventurers!” That word suddenly shot into the Great Witch’s ears, causing her to shriek like a monkey. This startled the young man, who had been talking at length, into silence.

”Ahem,” the Great Witch coughed to break the awkwardness. ”You mean, to divine about the career of an Adventurer?”

”Uh, you could say that, I suppose...”

Before the young man could finish, the Great Witch stood up. She slowly turned and, with her hunched body swaying, shuffled into the inner room.

”Hey, don’t ignore me, Senior Wizard! I’ve already paid—uh, made an Equivalent Exchange, you know!” The young man was bewildered. He heard a CLATTERING AND BANGING from the inner room, and then the Great Witch emerged, sweating, a book clutched in her hands.

THUD— The Great Witch slammed the book onto the Divination Table. Dust billowed up, and sneezes echoed through the small room.

”I say, you old hag! Can’t you be a little gentler? AH—CHOO! So much dust—ACHOO...” an unfriendly voice sprang up from the Divination Table.

The young man looked towards the sound. On the Divination Table, a small figure—no, it was a book that looked like a small person—was hopping about in a fit of pique.

”Is this a Spirit Book?” the young man asked the Great Witch, his face full of eager anticipation.

”You’ve got some sense, at least,” the little person-like book began to wave its covers animatedly before the Great Witch could answer. ”I am a Spirit Book, infused with wizardly power! I know everything, I can do anything! I can provide you with...”

SMACK! Before the book could finish its spiel, the Great Witch snapped it shut. Then, adopting the haughty air of a true Wizard, she said in a sharp, knowing tone, ”This is the Spirit Book created by the great Lord Soron. Lord Soron was not only a great Wizard, but also a, uh... what is the word you Adventurers use for praise?”

”Uhmmm, c-courageous...” the book mumbled indistinctly from under the Great Witch’s hand.

”What... what did it say?”

”You only need to know that Lord Soron’s book can tell you everything about Adventurers. Now, listen closely.” With that, the Great Witch released her hand from the book.

”Uh...” The young man looked expectantly at the book on the Divination Table.

”WHOOSH! Suffocating! Let me catch my breath first...”

”Lord Soron wrote this great work in year 296 of the Mixed Calendar!” the book began its lengthy spiel. ”To become an Adventurer, or rather, to be a brave Adventurer, you must piously appreciate Lord Soron’s efforts! Of course, in the realm of Wizards, I—no, I mean Lord Soron—also made great achievements. Lord Soron is the most learned and courageous person on the Yowein Continent! You lot should all be prostrating yourselves at my—no, his feet! HMPH! Alright, now I will tell you the specific details recorded in this book...” The book continued its long-winded lecture...

...

Half an hour later, the young man left the Divination House, thoroughly satisfied.