“First, would you pick five cards here?”
Melvern roughly drew five cards from the pile Glowe had shuffled and laid face-down on a chair in the corner of the training ground. He’d thought that was how it was supposed to go, but judging from the startled expression of the gaunt man watching from the side, it wasn’t.
“This is a bit different from when you did mine.......”
“Ah. For this gentleman, I was thinking of lightly doing a real fortune first alongside using my ability, before I proceed.”
Glowe flipped over the far-left card first. It was a card depicting a bird with only one leg.
“Flight of the One-Legged Bird. It means wandering.”
“Haha. I do travel to many places for my job.”
“Mm... since the card came out reversed, this means you moved for reasons you did not want.”
Glowe quietly murmured as she looked down at the card.
“Whether you wander by your own will or because of external circumstances is a bit different....... In truth, the wandering this card signifies weighs more on the mind than the body.”
Melvern’s joking laugh paused for a moment.
“So... it means my heart is currently wandering aimlessly due to external factors... is that it?”
“Yes. It can be interpreted that way. This reading is for you to objectively look back at your current situation.”
It wasn’t exactly wrong. The very thoughts Melvern had just been having here while looking at those new recruits were self-mockery aimed at himself, who, unlike them, could not move forward and was wandering.
They wouldn’t know his identity, nor what situation he was in, yet for an instant it felt like the emotions he’d hidden inside had been laid bare. Melvern flinched, but without showing that discomposure, he smiled.
“I do have a lot on my mind these days. Hahaha.”
Glowe flipped the second card on the far right. It was a card with a hand picking a flower.
“The Reaping Hand. This card signifies a sense of purpose. It seems the goal you look toward is very clear.”
“Ah, yes. I tend to be definite about what I want.”
From the day he came to watch Ezein and, instead, was moved and thought he truly wanted to become his loyal attendant, Melvern had had only one goal.
Help Ezein Aphanan Nellarun. Devote everything so he can achieve what he desires. Even if what was needed for that were his own life, he wouldn’t begrudge it.
But he wasn’t a superhuman who could do everything as his heart wished. That was the bitter and sad part.
If he was going to awaken an ability anyway, then like Yuder Aile—no, even if not to that extent—how great would it have been if it were an ability good for attacking and knocking down enemies?
‘Even if it wasn’t an offensive ability... if it were an ability that didn’t deform my body when I used power, I might not have needed to do this training.’
Of course, the ability he currently had was extremely helpful in daily life. Even so, people always lamented what they did not have.
In front of the increasingly thoughtful Melvern, Glowe drew the third card.
“A Thousand Eyes. This means the gazes currently paying attention to you... in other words, there are many who are interested.”
“That too is... probably true.”
Across both Nellarun and the Empire of Orr, the number of people currently interested in Melvern would be many, not few.
“But usually when A Thousand Eyes comes up, we interpret it not as simple interest, but as the attention of a very powerful and great patron focusing on you. A level of attention such that your fate could change at a single glance from that patron. When this card is drawn, I generally advise being careful with your conduct and not missing the opportunity received through that attention. Since you’re with the Cavalry, perhaps such a card would come out.”
“Aha.......”
“The fourth is... a Butterfly on a Sword. Mm, this is.......”
“Is it a more serious card than the last?”
Glowe, who had hesitated briefly, shook her head.
“This is a card depicting a fragile butterfly perched on a sharp sword, and it means ‘fear.’ The situation is so dangerous that a single flutter of the wings could cut it to death, so it can’t help but be afraid. But it also means that if you muster courage and fly, you can avoid the sword. When this card comes out... I advise you to honestly try anything.”
It was similar to wandering, but fear was a somewhat more concrete expression. Instead of answering, Melvern just narrowed his eyes in a smile. His mouth tasted bitter.
Honesty. It was a very difficult word for Melvern, who was a former spy and an outsider.
‘I’m doing something like this for the first time... but it seems more accurate than I expected. Is it because she’s an Awakener?’
“Well then, what’s the last card?”
“The last card...... will be the card of blessing that best fits your current situation, which we’ve glimpsed through the card reading so far.”
Glowe declared and drew in a breath. A different light flickered in her previously calm eyes. Melvern quietly watched the last card Glowe turned over.
On it, an old man holding a lantern was drawn. The old man on the card was hunched over, wearing a shabby pilgrim’s robe. However, only the light flowing from the lantern he held was drawn very bright and radiant like sunlight.
What could that mean? The moment he wondered, Glowe showed a slightly flustered expression.
“...Radiant Sorrow......?”
The moment she spoke the card’s name, a faint mist rose over the card. Melvern tilted his head, feeling as if his body had somehow become a bit warm and light.
“Oh. Is this the blessing? What kind of blessing is it?”
“Ah....... I’m sorry. To be honest, I didn’t expect this card to come out at all. The blessing this card grants is... actually something I haven’t fully figured out yet.”
“Pardon?”
“Ahh, it’s just that.......”
According to Glowe’s explanation, she hadn’t yet perfectly grasped all the effects of the cards.
“After awakening, to figure out my ability, I tried using my power on myself to determine what blessing it was. But there were a few cards that I couldn’t tell what effect they had even after using them. Usually, even then, it didn’t stray far from the card’s original meaning, so I could guess... but Radiant Sorrow is very tricky, so I haven’t fully figured it out yet.”
“.......”
“Thanks to Senior Yuder, I realized I could draw a card of a specific meaning under my intention, so I was going to try that... ah, why did it turn out like this. I’m sorry. Truly.......”
She even said it wasn’t a card that came up often. Glowe, who had confidently set out to bestow a blessing, then flustered when an unexpected situation occurred, was pitiable, and at the same time he felt a sense of kinship. Before he knew it, Melvern burst into a laugh with a face slightly different from before.
Glowe’s face flushed with embarrassment, as if she’d misunderstood the intent of that laugh.
“I’m sorry... You must find it ridiculous.......”
“No, not at all. That’s not why I laughed. It just suddenly struck me that you, Miss Glowe, and the other new recruits aren’t actually so different from me.”
“Excuse me?”
The gaunt man, who had awkwardly raised his hand as if trying to comfort Glowe, and Elpokin both opened their eyes wide. Barely calming down, Melvern asked gently:
“Haha, mm. First of all, can I know how the card called Radiant Sorrow is interpreted in a normal card reading?”
“It’s a card depicting an old, weary pilgrim obtaining a light to illuminate the road ahead. So it’s often interpreted as ‘receiving an answer like a light’....... But when I used this card on myself, nothing changed in my body, and there was one time it came up for someone who helped me during my traveling-troupe days, but it was the same then as well.”
“For now, since that card came up, I did feel for a moment as if my insides grew slightly warm and light. Since it says one receives an answer, could it be a card that makes a worried person’s mood considerably better?”
“Could it be.......”
Glowe tilted her head and then let out a sigh.
“I’m truly sorry. I was sure a card like ‘Sun of the Wilderness’ or ‘The Smallest Breath’ would come out....... Both help on the side of temporary emotional stabilization.”
“You can really use such a variety of abilities. Just getting to see such a precious ability up close and having you use it for me is quite enough for me. So please don’t mind it too much.”
Melvern said as much to comfort Glowe. The gaunt man beside them also muttered something like, ‘Yeah. Your ability is incredible. If it hadn’t been for your ability, I really would’ve died.......’ It was far too ominous a statement to simply hear and let pass.
“Have you, sir, had a time when you almost died?”
“Ah, ah. Yes. It just turned out that way.......”
“If a Cavalry member says he might have died, I can’t even imagine how dangerous the situation must have been.”
“I’m not as great as the other members. I can’t even use my ability properly... and so it turned out like that.......”
“Ah.......”
“It’s okay, Fay. All you have left is training now! If you’ve only the way up left, there’s no need to worry about going down.”
“Haha....... R-Right.”
This time, Glowe comforted the deflated man in turn. Only then did Melvern learn that the gaunt man’s name was Fay.
“Yeah. As time passes, you get better in some way or another. I did, so you can believe it.”
“Elpokin......”
At Elpokin’s words, Fay bit his lip, holding back tears of emotion. Normally, he would have thought it a truly touching scene and ended it there, but perhaps because of the circumstances.
Melvern suddenly recalled Glowe’s words telling him to “honestly try anything.”
On impulse, his lips opened.
“...It’s a bit surprising to learn that people like you also carry a lot of fear when you use your abilities.”
“Uh.......”
“When I use my ability, I stand out quite a bit. I can’t help but be conscious of external eyes, so I’ve been very worried lately. Will that also get better with time?”
Once he’d said it, he felt it was such a foolish thing to have said that he grew sheepish.
“Well, you’ll surely say of course it will. Haha. I just said something silly for a moment because your camaraderie looked nice.”
“It isn’t a matter of course.”
It was Elpokin who opened his mouth. He looked straight at Melvern and spoke clearly.
“Looking like this, I still don’t go out much. Because I’m scared of meeting people. But when I’m in the Cavalry, it’s okay. Now I have peers who’ve said they want to go out with me, so I should try to get better going forward.”
“Ah....... As expected, you’re truly strong. Haha.”
“It’s not because I’m strong. Compared to someone like Senior Yuder, I’m just dust. Slightly big dust.”
Elpokin flatly denied Melvern’s words.
It looked less like self-deprecation and more like clear-eyed acknowledgment of fact, because everyone knew just how incredible Yuder Aile was.
“But... if I don’t overcome it, it makes the Commander who saved me and Senior Yuder wrong. I don’t want my name to remain as a result they’d regret. I don’t want to remain only as a pitiful guy either. So what can I do. If I hate it, I have to do it.”
“.......”
“I’m doing it not because I like it, but because I hate it. Even knowing that forcing myself to go out won’t necessarily make others like me more than before, I still do it. That makes quite a big difference.”
Melvern’s eyes opened wide. He felt as if he’d realized something, but before he could speak again, someone in the distance let out a grim shout that was louder.
“I wondered if you’d all fallen into the privy and drowned together, and here you are training your asses off? Do the pharmacist’s words sound like words you can ignore?”
“Gasp......!”
“H-Hey, Pharmacist!”
“Everyone in the Cavalry thinks he’s Yuder Aile and treats his own body like it’s a rock......!”
“We’re sorry, sir! We have to go now...!”
The three recruits, startled as if burned, jumped to their feet, gave a hasty bow that barely counted as a greeting, and were dragged off by the scruffs of their necks. Even though the pharmacist of the Cavalry he’d been so curious about had appeared, Melvern couldn’t even properly think to go and exchange greetings.
He came to properly realize the effect of Glowe’s card a few hours after that.
When he met Yuder Aile again at the personal training ground.