Chapter 48: Hynas Vincent

Chapter Forty-Eight
Hynas Vincent

Howes Street, Number 13, North Borough, Tingen City. The Divination Club occupied the second floor.

Once again, Klein saw the pretty lady responsible for reception.

Her long brownish-yellow hair was still coiled up, giving her a mature and elegant appearance. Merely from her looks, it was difficult to judge her exact age.

“Hello. Mr. Glacis is not here today. Would you like to choose another diviner?” the pretty lady said with a smile.

Hearing this, Klein, who had just placed his silk half-top hat back on his head, was immediately surprised.

“You remember me?”

That had been five days ago!

The brown-haired lady pressed her lips together in a smile.

“You were the first customer to ask Mr. Glacis for a divination—and, up until today, the only one. It is rather hard not to be deeply impressed.”

Deeply impressed by someone being penny-wise and pound-foolish, perhaps?

Klein silently mocked himself. After thinking for a moment, he asked, “When was the last time Mr. Glacis came to the club?”

The brown-haired lady glanced at him, as though considering the answer, then said, “To be honest, we cannot know our members’ schedules with certainty. They have free will and all sorts of affairs to attend to. Hmm. If I remember correctly, after that day—after he performed the divination for you—Mr. Glacis has not come to the club again.”

May he have good fortune. May the Goddess bless him…

Klein offered a quiet prayer, asked no further questions, and instead smiled.

“I did not come for a divination this time. I would like to join the club.”

“Truly? That is our honor.”

The brown-haired lady displayed a perfectly timed look of pleasant surprise.

“For first-time membership, please pay an annual fee of five pounds. After that, it is one pound each year. There is no need for me to introduce all the details again, correct?”

Klein reached into his inner pocket and took out a newly received five-pound note. He watched the portrait of Henry Augustus I move farther and farther away from him.

After carefully checking the anti-counterfeit watermark, the brown-haired lady solemnly put away the banknote, took out a form, and handed it to Klein.

“Please fill in your detailed information. I will issue you a receipt.”

Do you provide invoices? Please make it payable to Blackthorn Security Company…

Klein nearly amused himself with his own thought. He picked up the dip pen on the desk and, using blue-black ink, filled in his name, age, street of residence, company name, and other information.

However, he deliberately left his date of birth blank. To a Seer, that was a spiritual number tied to one’s own mysteries.

Once the receipt was issued and the membership record completed, the brown-haired lady extended her right hand.

“Welcome to the Tingen City Divination Club. I am Angelica Barrehart, your diligent servant. This is your membership cuff stud. It bears our unique inscription and can prove your status as a member.”

“Hello, Miss Angelica.”

Klein lightly shook her hand and accepted the dark-gold cuff stud.

He discovered that the special inscription used the root of a word in Hermes—the word meaning “diviner.”

Angelica withdrew her left hand and thought for a few seconds.

“I do not know what kind of divination you specialize in, or what methods you wish to study at the club. We will consider inviting appropriate well-known diviners to lecture, and will introduce you to members with similar specialties, so that you may enjoy pleasant exchanges.”

“I understand a little of every form of divination. You need not specially consider me,” Klein answered with minor embellishment. Then he asked, “May I perform divinations for others now? I am not a novice who has only just begun learning.”

He had come here to act as a Seer, not to study divination methods ordinary people could access.

Angelica maintained her courteous smile.

“You may freely perform divinations for others at the club at any time. It is only that before we confirm your level, we will not recommend you to customers who ask us for advice. What fee would you like to charge?”

“Two pence,” Klein said, planning to use price to win while he lacked reputation.

“We take one-eighth of the total price, which means a quarter-penny fee…”

Angelica first explained the various rules, then wrote Klein’s information into the album of “diviners” offered for customers to choose from.

After finishing everything, she pointed with a smile toward the meeting room at the end of the corridor.

“Mr. Hynas Vincent is explaining astrolabe divination. You may quietly find a seat and listen, and you may also raise questions if you have difficulties.”

“All right.”

Rather interested, Klein walked toward the meeting room. He wanted to hear how Hynas Vincent’s explanation differed from Old Neil’s.

At that moment, Angelica caught up from behind and lowered her voice.

“Mr. Moretti, would you like coffee or tea? We provide Sibe black tea, Southville coffee, and Desi coffee free of charge.”

Because Klein had often read newspapers recently, he knew that these coffees and teas belonged to the lower-middle tier of quality. Still, he understood that they were surely better than the inferior goods at home. After a moment’s thought, he said, “One cup of Southville coffee. Three spoons of sugar, no milk.”

In the Loen Kingdom, Southville County was best known for beer and red wine; quite a few important people liked them. Coffee, by comparison, had little fame there.

“Of course. I will bring it in for you shortly.”

Angelica gestured toward the meeting room.

Klein walked slowly to the half-open doorway and heard an explanation delivered in a strong Awwa County accent.

“Astrolabe divination is among the more complicated types of divination…”

Only compared with what ordinary people know…

Klein silently added a line on the speaker’s behalf. He saw that five or six long tables had been arranged into a semicircle, surrounding a middle-aged man in a classical black robe: Hynas Vincent.

This gentleman had obvious dark circles beneath his eyes, and his brown hair was thick and stiff, each strand stubbornly standing upright, as though it were pretending to be a hedgehog.

Aside from that, the man explaining astrolabe divination had no other distinct traits.

Seeing Klein enter, Hynas Vincent nodded slightly. He did not interrupt the lesson, but merely slowed his pace a little.

One hand in his pocket and the other carrying his cane, Klein casually found a seat at the edge. He leaned back comfortably and, in the afternoon sunlight that remained brilliant, looked around. There were six members present—four men and two women.

Some focused intently on taking notes. Some quietly exchanged words. Others returned Klein’s gaze with wry smiles.

After setting down his cane, Klein adjusted his half-top silk hat and tapped the space between his brows twice with a bent finger.

His gaze fell upon Hynas. He saw the man’s aura and the different colors, brightness, and thickness within it.

“Dark red. Emotionally, a little anxious… Other areas are healthy. Only that place has some issue. I wonder what exactly it is…”

Klein listened to the lesson at ease while muttering silently to himself.

At that moment, he curled his right hand into a fist and pressed it to his mouth, preventing a laugh from escaping. He had suddenly felt as if he were some unlicensed country doctor.

As for spirit vision, he was now quite satisfied with the ability. Although he could only use it to judge general conditions and could not distinguish specific details, it was already enough to obtain a great deal of useful information.

After looking around once more, he tapped his glabella twice again, as if pondering what Hynas had just said.

Astrolabe divination belonged to astrology, but ordinary people could also attempt to interpret it. For example, the most basic “natal chart” was drawn according to the positions of the sun, moon, blue star, red star, and so forth at the time of the querent’s birth. Their symbolic signs were marked on the proper places of the astrolabe, supplemented with the corresponding circumstances of the constellations, and the result was used to interpret the querent’s fate.

This required the diviner to know how to calculate backward the states of planets and constellations—quite complicated indeed. Of course, some people published reference books for consultation. Others simplified the method directly, using only constellations and the like for the vaguest interpretations.

Klein listened quietly. He did not interrupt or ask questions. From time to time, he rubbed the citrine pendant hidden in his cuff, and from time to time, he sipped the Southville coffee Angelica had brought in.

After a long while, Hynas rubbed the space between his brows and said, “Perhaps all of you should try drawing your own astrolabes. If you have any questions, you may find me in the white crystal room.”

Watching him leave, a young man in a white shirt and black waistcoat rose with a smile and walked to Klein’s side.

“Hello. I am Edward Steve.”

“Hello. Klein Moretti.”

Klein stood and returned the greeting.

“Astrolabes are truly too complicated. Every time I hear about them, I cannot help wanting to begin a dream,” Edward Steve said, mocking himself.

Klein smiled.

“That is because Mr. Vincent cannot help wanting to teach us everything he knows at once. It is like setting an entire Intis feast before us all at once. That is very bad for digestion.”

“If it were me, I could finish an entire Intis feast. They always use enormous plates to serve tiny bits of food,” Edward said with a chuckle. Taking the opportunity to sit down, he asked curiously, “You are a new member, aren’t you? I have not seen you in these two years.”

“I joined the club today,” Klein answered frankly.

“What are you skilled in? I am best at tarot and playing-card divination,” Edward asked casually.

“I understand a little of everything, and only a little,” Klein replied, reusing the old description of himself.

He was not being modest. In the field of divination, there was indeed far too much mystical knowledge he had not yet mastered.

Just as other members were about to come over to discuss astrolabe divination, Angelica entered the meeting room.

“Mr. Steve, someone is asking for you to perform a divination.”

“Of course.”

Edward Steve stood with a smile.

“You seem to be an excellent diviner,” Klein said, looking at him.

“No. It is only because my price is the most suitable,” Edward said in a low laugh. “When ordinary people come for divination, they absolutely will not choose the most expensive ones directly. And unless their head has been kicked by a donkey, they will certainly not feel confident in choosing the cheapest few either. The middle price range is the easiest place to gain opportunities.”

I am the one whose head was kicked by a donkey…

Watching Edward leave, Klein suddenly shook his head and laughed bitterly.

It seemed there was a problem with his price positioning.

He stood, took up his cane, left the meeting room, and found Angelica again.

“I would like to change my divination price. Mm, eight pence.”

Angelica looked at him deeply.

“We will satisfy your request, but we will also tell customers that you have only just joined our club.”

“No problem,” Klein said, nodding without minding.

Sometimes, mystery itself was an important element by which a Seer attracted customers.

After updating the information, Klein returned toward the meeting room.

At that moment, he saw Hynas Vincent come out of the white crystal room, holding a silver-plated mirror in his hand.

The well-known diviner addressed the five members inside the meeting room—three men and two women.

“I have recently mastered a new form of divination: magic mirror divination. Would you like to learn it?”

Magic mirror divination? That is not exactly a safe form of divination…

Dressed in black formal clothes, Klein stopped outside the meeting room and frowned.