"So what you're saying is…"
"You came all the way here for a breakthrough in astrology?"
"And you already take it for granted that you'll get one?"
All this, just to push her astrology to the next level, so she came all the way here to find him?
But wasn't hydromancy something Barbeloth had created herself, a divination method unique to her?
He didn't know the first thing about that. What was she coming to him for?
…Well, actually, that wasn't quite true.
When it came to jobs related to astrologers, he really did have a few in his hands.
For instance: Harbinger, Mystic Priest, Apostle of Fate… and so on.
Most of those were special support-type jobs.
In straight one-on-one PvP, they basically had no seat at the table.
But in party battles and army battles, they were absolutely indispensable.
In short: extremely valuable.
Judging from that, Barbeloth really had been good to Mona.
As for how Barbeloth had figured out that he could help Mona—
Just because he, Taro, couldn't be divined, didn't mean no one in the world could.
All you had to do was go around this unshakable "anchor point" of his.
Start from Mona as the anchor, move outwards in circles, search for clues, then reason backwards. The answer honestly wasn't that hard to find.
The simplest way?
Just treat Mona herself as the anchor, and divine all the possible "problematic" fate-lines around her.
Then follow the web of fate that already existed in Teyvat, sifting through it strand by strand…
Find that one single line where you couldn't divine his specific situation, but from the end-result it wasn't hard to infer the truth.
That was the answer.
When all the fancy methods stopped working, brute-force enumeration was still very useful.
"Of course!"
Mona tilted her chin up, face full of pride.
"The old hag might be old, but I admit she's the real deal."
"From the moment I became her disciple, not a single one of her divinations has ever been wrong."
"I trust the old hag—and I trust myself."
"As for what I've achieved today… that's, what, ninety… eighty percent my own effort. The old hag can barely claim the remaining two."
Her mouth was full of "old hag, old hag," one right after another.
But clearly, in Mona's heart, she admired Barbeloth a great deal.
So much so that she didn't even doubt the choices Barbeloth made.
There's opportunity in Liyue? Her astrology will soar to new heights?
Fine, then she'd come.
It really was that simple.
"Mhm."
"That does sound pretty good."
Taro rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, then raised his head.
"All right. I'll give you a target. You divine it for me. If you can get the result I want, I'll give you three chances."
"If you can't…"
"…"
Mona arched an eyebrow. "No way. That whole speech you just gave is full of traps."
"If I just blindly agree, I'll probably lose miserably, right?"
What did he mean by "give you a target"?
What kind of target?
A member of the Hexenzirkel? One of the Seven? The Heavenly Rulers?
She was proud, yes, but she was not an idiot.
If Taro casually named some target that was completely impossible to divine, wouldn't she be doomed from the start?
She was not about to walk into that kind of simple little scheme.
"True enough."
Taro's eyes were still smiling.
"That one's on me. I didn't spell it out clearly."
"Then let's do something simpler. Divine whether or not you'll go hungry tonight, and if not, what you'll be eating."
"Okay, that's it. For you, that should be simple enough, right?"
Divine herself?
"Still no."
Mona shook her head without any hesitation.
"The old hag said this before."
"An astrologer should never divine their own fate lightly."
"Otherwise it's very easy to get caught in the whirlpool of destiny and never climb back out."
"…"
Taro raised an eyebrow and pointed at the table beside him.
"Fine, then we'll go even simpler."
"Divine how many dishes will be on this table at dinner tonight."
"This…"
Mona frowned, then gritted her teeth and nodded.
"Fine. That I can try."
"But let's be clear first: you are not allowed to interfere with my divination."
"Otherwise, there's nothing I can do."
Everyone in this house, one by one—
Not a single one of them was within her divination range.
If they interfered—
Then what was the point of doing this at all?
"No problem."
Taro nodded crisply, then turned his head.
"Liya. Ahem."
"Got it."
Huoliya immediately understood, smiling as she lifted her hands to cover her ears.
If nothing unexpected happened, she would still be the one in charge of tonight's dinner.
Better not listen, just in case learning the result beforehand made her feel rebellious and tempted to deliberately sabotage the girl.
"Er…"
Seeing that, Mona instantly knew she'd been tricked again.
But at this point, there was no way out.
She could only grit her teeth and go through with it.
As long as they didn't pull any stunts to interfere with her, she really didn't believe she would lose!
Drawing a deep breath—
Mona suddenly raised both hands. Her Vision glowed faintly, and the water scrying plate rose up once more.
This time, she was determined to be serious.
Glittering water-light rippled outward.
Under Mona's guidance, the hydromancy disc began to rotate.
But the arc of that rotation was faint to the extreme.
"Move, will you…"
Seeing this, Mona bit down and poured her elemental power in like crazy.
The stars slowly, painfully shifted position, and the surface of the water gave off faint ripples that belonged to "fate."
A little while later—
Mona was already drenched in sweat.
But on the surface of the water in front of her, the answer she wanted finally appeared.
This time, she had succeeded.
"Heh heh, I win."
Mona dispersed the water scrying plate, excitement all over her face.
Chin high, like a proud little peacock.
"Tonight, not a single dish is going to be served on this table."
On the surface of the table in the vision, the tabletop was completely bare.
Mona had full confidence in the result she had divined.
Because this was a fate decided beneath the heavens.
Fate was called "fate" for one simple reason.
Because it could not be changed, and it could not be defied.
If it could be changed or defied, then it was not fate.
Even though she often fantasized in her heart, even harbored the occasional wish that—
"Oh?"
Hearing that result, Taro lifted a brow, mildly surprised.
Beside him, Fanan and Yingda also looked at each other in dismay.
No dinner tonight… no dishes on the table?
Did Huoliya decide to slack off?
Or was something else going to happen?
So, the two of them instinctively turned their eyes to Huoliya.
"Mhm? So you've already got your answer?"
Seeing this, Huoliya also lowered her hands.
"Why are your expressions all so weird?"
They had agreed not to interfere, and she was keeping her word.
She absolutely had not peeked or eavesdropped.
"It's nothing."
Fanan shook her head at once. "We were just a little surprised, that's all."
"Exactly."
Yingda nodded as well.
Ever since Huoliya had taken over the kitchen, she hadn't missed a single dinner.
No food on the table today?
That really would be strange.
"Tsk…"
Seeing their expressions, Huoliya's heart began to itch.
She couldn't help turning to Taro.
"Boss, boss, can you tell me the result?"
"Nope."
Taro shook his head. "It's a test, it has to be fair."
"Let's wait till dinner time and reveal the answer then."
"Ugh…"
Huoliya propped her chin on one hand and sighed.
"You've all got a secret and I'm the only one who doesn't. That feels awful."
"Little miss, how about… you tell me quietly?"
"…"
Mona's face went stiff, and she shook her head at once.
There was no way she could say it.
This concerned her final victory or defeat.
If she said it out loud, she would definitely lose.
(End of Chapter)
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