Chapter 91
Bang!
“!”
Johannes jumped in surprise and rose from his seat. But as the carriage lurched, he had no choice but to sit back down.
Between him and Selena, an arrow shot through and embedded itself. Seeing it lodged in the nearby wall made Johannes’ heart drop.
“Hmm.”
Selena, however, remained perfectly calm.
A note was attached to the tip of the arrow. Smiling at the old-fashioned method, Selena chuckled softly.
“It hasn’t changed here at all.”
She unfolded the note, revealing a simple message:
「Go straight. At the fork, turn right. After about 30 minutes, you’ll find a small cabin.」
“What’s this?”
“A message from Hilda. Looks like you’ll get to meet her in person. Congratulations, Yan. It’s rare to see Hilda directly.”
“…….”
Johannes swallowed hard. He had no idea what this “Hilda” would look like.
‘A woman, perhaps? The name suggests so. But if it’s an alias….’
Various thoughts tangled in his mind.
‘If she calls herself a farmer, she must be quite skilled in agriculture. Maybe she’s the type who returned to the countryside because she hates the city.’
In Johannes’ imagination, “Hilda” gradually transformed into a burly middle-aged man.
“Is Hilda an Esper?”
“Unlikely. Even if it’s Hilda, I haven’t heard of her personally having a guide.”
Selena spoke casually.
“But she did have an uncanny way with plants.”
“…?”
“Even dying plants would revive under Hilda’s care.”
“…Then maybe she is an Esper with that kind of ability.”
Johannes’ expression shifted. In his imagination, the burly middle-aged man now smiled broadly, holding a flowerpot under one arm.
And, of course, all of that imagination was shattered the moment he saw her.
“Wow. Long time no see, Hilda.”
“So, you’re the visitor I was expecting.”
It was, indeed, a woman. And a rather young one at that.
She looked barely in her early twenties. Far from burly.
Wearing a straw hat, her skin was fair, her limbs slender. She did not look like an ordinary countrywoman at all.
She gave off more the impression of a noblewoman resting in the countryside. As Johannes pondered this, Hilda suddenly turned her head and looked at him.
“Next to you?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s mean. Makes me even more curious. Dalton.”
“Yes, Hilda.”
“Who’s that?”
The man who had been standing silently, almost like a mannequin, immediately came forward at Hilda’s call.
He glanced at Johannes as Hilda pointed, then whispered into his ear.
“Ah, I see.”
Hilda smiled brightly.
“I heard the gist of it… so that’s how it turned out?”
Selena raised her eyebrows at Hilda’s peculiar tone. But Hilda smoothly shifted the topic.
“But why did you come looking for me, Selena?”
“Oh, that… do you have any connections in Valeri?”
“Valeri. A fine place.”
“No, I mean, do you have contacts there?”
“Valeri’s specialty is certainly the magical tools created by the wizards.”
“That’s why I hate talking to you.”
Selena’s face twisted in frustration. No matter what she said, Hilda only spoke what she wanted, making her a hopeless conversational partner.
“Why Valeri?”
“There’s someone Edit wants to find.”
“Really! You’re asking me for this?”
“Yes. Since it’s a request, you can boss me around later however you want. But this time, hear my request first.”
“Hmmm~ What to do~ This brings back memories.”
Hilda smiled faintly.
Selena and Hilda had maintained this peculiar symbiotic relationship. Selena needed an outlet for her wildness, and Hilda was the perfect employer.
“Indeed. At first, you really sent me to my death.”
“But I came back alive in the end, didn’t I?”
“Well, I also messed with you a few times, so we’re even.”
Selena shrugged.
She had started accepting missions under Hilda as her reputation as a mercenary who never died grew.
It was then that Hilda began to see Selena as a threat.
“At first, it was great having a mercenary who couldn’t die, but I didn’t expect you’d be so relentless.”
Hilda laughed in a slightly menacing way. Johannes watched this strange relationship with a curious expression.
“Someone she’s looking for… Who could Selena be searching for?”
“Just a gypsy.”
“A gypsy…”
Hilda smiled faintly.
“Hmm~ Is that how it is?”
“What nonsense.”
“You came to find Cassandra, right?”
“……!”
Selena’s eyes widened. Johannes couldn’t help but interject.
“You know her? Cassandra?”
“Dalton.”
Snap—Hilda snapped her fingers. The man behind her immediately stood at her side.
“Guide them.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As he strode ahead, Selena asked urgently,
“What’s going on? Wasn’t Cassandra supposed to be in Valeri?”
“Hmm. Well… I feel like I’ve been used, so I’m not exactly happy about it either…”
Hilda ran her fingers through her hair and continued.
“She came to me a while ago. In exchange for a short favor, she shared some useful information. I heard someone was waiting for her—and that turned out to be Selena.”
She smiled faintly and tilted her head, giving a fleeting impression of innocence.
But Selena knew very well: whenever Hilda did that, her mood was seriously twisted.
“Go see her. I’ve kept her nice and safe. Ah, but for every ‘going,’ there should be a ‘coming,’ right?”
Hilda’s gaze subtly shifted behind her, passing over Selena and Johannes to reach Anton, who silently carried out his duties.
“Lend me that for a moment.”
“?!”
“I won’t break it. Just short-handed on the farm.”
She lightly brushed her fingertips over her lips. Johannes felt the look was somewhat lecherous, though perhaps it was only his imagination.
Johannes looked at Selena, who nodded casually.
“Alright then. But just for a moment?”
“Yep!”
“No… is that really okay?”
“It’s fine, fine. Like I said, basically a farmer. Just help out a bit in the fields.”
Selena said this confidently. Her eyes, however, seemed a little off, though Johannes couldn’t say anything.
He reluctantly followed. Dalton, the man called, walked ahead without giving them a glance.
Soon, a small cabin appeared. It looked, at first glance, like a rustic man enjoying a break in the countryside.
Inside sat a man.
“…Cassandra?”
Johannes hesitated to speak. The man turned to look at them, eyes closed, with a composed demeanor.
Because of the name “Cassandra,” Johannes had never imagined that Cassandra would be… a man.
“I’ve been waiting.”
He showed no surprise. It was as if he had anticipated Selena and Johannes would arrive.
“I am Cassandra.”
“You…?”
“Precisely, I am roughly the sixth Cassandra.”
Selena nodded.
“Ah, so… ‘Cassandra’ isn’t an individual’s name?”
“Correct. In our gypsy language, it means ‘oracle.’ I am the first to take the form of Cassandra in a male body.”
His voice was gentle yet calm. Not a trace of impatience or nervousness.
Even a fairly bold person would be intimidated by Selena, but Cassandra appeared completely unaffected.
“So, when you say you’ve been waiting, what do you mean?”
Johannes asked, suspicious from the start.
“Exactly as I said. I knew you would come here, so I came first to wait.”
“…Why?”
“Because, in any way, any place, any time, you would eventually come to meet me.”
“…?”
Cassandra’s words were ambiguous. As Johannes tried to parse the meaning, he spoke again.
“I could sense it.”
“You could sense…?”
“Yes. I cannot see, you see.”
He smiled slowly. His tightly closed eyes never once opened.
Only then did Johannes realize that he wasn’t closing them on purpose—he simply couldn’t open them.
“You’ve been talking about me?”
Selena asked sharply.
“You mean spreading prophecies about the blue gem, the god of death, and so on… that was you?”
“If it offended you, I apologize. I only wanted to find a way to protect a precious life…”
“That’s irrelevant. Just apologizing enough? If you peeked at someone’s fate, you’d better watch your tongue. Isn’t that right?”
“…I apologize.”
Cassandra bowed deeply. Selena had the urge to grab his collar, but seeing him bow to seemingly nothing, she lost all motivation.
“Eh. Messing with this guy will only leave a bad taste.”
Selena tapped the ground lightly with her shoe.
“…So he really is a prophet?”
“Yes, for now.”
“But I’ve never heard of a gypsy with prophetic abilities.”
Especially one without the biggest risk: a fixed future.
“The reason the existence of ‘Cassandra’ remained hidden was that our tribe had kept it secret from outsiders.”
He spoke slowly.
“The one who broke that rule… was me. I sensed that the Pyrenee Gorge would be engulfed in flames, and that our gypsies would be caught in someone else’s war and be wiped out.”
“Hmm.”
“I could not stand by and do nothing. My predecessor, the previous Cassandra—my mother—taught me that prophecy should not be spoken unless it is of grave importance… but I could not watch everyone die.”
Cassandra revealed this heavy story. Johannes looked uneasy, but Selena remained calm.
Then she asked, as if nothing had happened:
“So?”
“And while delivering that prophecy, I also learned about you.”
He gave a gentle smile.
“Do you wish to change a fixed future?”
