Part 1. the jester chapter 62 – the soothsayer’s advice

　　Before leaving the house, Klein took the time to meticulously clean his formal wear and bowler hat with a small brush and handkerchief, then changed into a white shirt, put on its linen counterpart and the only decent cheap coat he had ever worn, and walked quickly down the street.

　　First Melissa’s dress, then Benson’s formal wear, before I can finally consider my second set, and there’s never enough money to go around …… Also one must accumulate glazed china tableware for entertaining guests one by one …… And one must save up for the purchase of various occult materials as well! …… Crane sat in the public carriage, mentally calculating his family’s finances and shaking his head the more he did the math.

　　He estimated it would be at least a year before he, and his brother and sister, could live like the so-called middle class.

　　Of course, that was without taking into account promotions and raises.

　　The public carriage drove through the streets and stopped opposite the Divination Club on Howells Street.

　　Klein pressed his black, non-silk, half-high hat, half-hopped, half-walked out of the car, and, following the familiar path, entered the door of the club, which was located on the second floor, where he saw Angelica, a pretty lady with brown hair.

　　There was a lingering redness around her eyes, but her whole person seemed very relaxed.

　　Klein raised his hand and tapped his brow twice, examining it closely and noticing that the intense grayness deep in Angelica’s emotional color had dissipated and added a bit of sunny whiteness.

　　Only after looking at it did Klein walk over and take off his hat and smile:

　　”Ms. Angelica, it’s a sunny day, isn’t it?”

　　Angelica looked up and gave a short startled gasp, before breaking into a smile and saying:

　　”You look a lot like that cat of Mr. Vincent’s, walking without a sound, hmm, you can tell? Oh, I forgot, you are a soothsayer who specializes in face reading ……”

　　She paused, biting her lip lightly in a curtsy:

　　”Thank you, thank you for the advice you gave yesterday, I feel so much better, I’ve never been so relaxed, pleasant, as well as contented as I have been all year.”

　　Hearing the other’s sincere thanks, Klein was infected with that same joy and happiness, and the corners of his mouth turned up as he said:

　　”It was an honor to help you.”

　　As he spoke, he only felt that his own spirituality had become much more relaxed and lively.

　　This was the “Diviner” that the “Magic Pill” wanted? A soothsayer who could truly help the inquirer? Klein pinched his brow as if he was thinking, and quietly tapped it twice.

　　It had to be said that he had already realized in practice that the current action of turning on and off the “psychic vision” was still not covert enough, but the problem was that he couldn’t think of a better alternative within a short period of time, because he had only become a “soothsayer” for a short period of time, and his psychic aptitude hadn’t yet grown to its current limit, and his own mastery was similarly limited. The same was true for his own mastery, so it had to be a location that could effectively stimulate his aura in order to be used as the medium for the “switch”, and there weren’t many such locations, so the center of the eyebrow was a relatively superior choice.

　　After I’ve thoroughly digested the “magic potion” and become a true “Diviner”, I should be able to design a more subtle “switch” maneuver… …Klein nodded imperceptibly and headed for the half-opened conference room.

　　”Coffee, or black tea?” Angelica asked in a rush.

　　”Dixie coffee.” Klein replied with the mindset of trying all kinds of beverages.

　　At that moment, he saw that there were six or seven members in the conference room, but it didn’t include Hyannis Vansant who had been here before.

　　”Mr. Vansant isn’t here?” Klein asked casually as he stopped in his tracks.

　　Angelica was stunned and said:

　　”Mr. Vansant doesn’t come every day, he accepted an invitation to lecture at a divination organization in Enmart Harbor, you have something to see him about?”

　　”No, just curious, after all, I’ve seen him every time I’ve come here before.” Klein shook his head with a smile.

　　At the same time, he realized that there were faces he was familiar with among those seven members:

　　Grassis who had divined for himself!

　　Grassis was wearing a monocle to read the information on his desk, when he suddenly realized that someone was watching him, so he raised his head and looked at the origin of his line of sight.

　　With a sudden and obvious joy on his face, he stood up with his hands on his head and rushed over to Klein in a few steps:

　　”Good afternoon, Mr. Moretti, I was just wondering if you would come today.”

　　”From what Angelica said, you are not a doctor, but a soothsayer who specializes in reading faces?”

　　Klein smiled:

　　”That’s not the only thing I’m good at, Mr. Grassis, you seem to have completely gotten rid of the disease?”

　　He pinched his forehead and tapped his brow twice, noticing that all of Grassis’ health colors had returned to normal.

　　”Yes, I was really, really regretting that I didn’t listen to your advice, and luckily, luckily there is a very powerful apothecary near my house, who gave my wife quite a miraculous potion, which kept me away from death.” Gracias lamented.

　　As a prospective member of the Night Watchman Squad, Klein asked rhetorically with professional sensitivity:

　　”A very powerful potioneer? Quite a magical potion?”

　　Magical? How magical? Does it fall into the extraordinary category now?

　　”He said it’s a folklore potion from over in Lemberg, and all in all, it’s helped me a lot with my ailments.” Gracias answered without feeling unusual.

　　A folkloric herbalist? Klein tapped his brow as if he was thinking:

　　”What’s his name? Where does he live? You know, there’s no way for a Diviner to guarantee that he won’t get sick, so maybe I’ll have to buy potions from him in the future.”

　　Klein knew through his instructors and classmates that the modern medical system in this world was only just taking shape, and there was almost no way to deal with a lot of diseases, so there was still a big market for magical potions and powerful apothecaries, so it wouldn’t be wrong to find out about it, and maybe there would be a need for it in the future.

　　Gracias answered frankly:

　　”His name is Rosen Duckweed, and he has a small store at 18 Vlad Street on the East Side called ‘Rosen’s Folk Herb Shop’.”

　　”Thanks.” Klein made a silent note and spoke sincerely.

　　Gracies turned his body and guided him to sit next to him, and at that moment, Angelica also brewed coffee and brought it over.

　　Compared to the Southwell coffee, the aroma of Dixie coffee is more intense, but the taste is relatively poor …… Klein took a sip and savored it for a moment.

　　Grassis saw him put down the white glazed cup and was busy weighing his tone:

　　”Mr. Moretti, can I ask you to help me with divination once? I will pay the price you have fixed.”

　　”Eight pence is enough; I will not raise the price on the spur of the moment.” Klein was hoping someone would seek out his divination, “Do I need to go to the divination room?”

　　”Yes, the citrine room.” Gracias took the lead in going over there more familiarly than he was.

　　Once inside the divination room and unlocking the wooden door, Klein sat down behind the long table and asked somberly:

　　”What is the matter you wish to divine, Mr. Grassis?”

　　”I have an investment opportunity, but the amount of money involved is too much, if it fails, my family and I will suffer a heavy blow, I want to divine if it will go well.” Gracias offered to mention, “I did a divination myself with tarot cards, well, a post-pure mind divination, and I got a pretty good result, and yes, I did the reading myself, but I didn’t violate those symbolic principles.”

　　Klein said curiously as he thought about it:

　　”Then describe what happened exactly, then give the information itself, it would be better if we could have the other person’s, we’ll do astrological divination.”

　　”Good.” Grassis organized his language and said, “Mr. Lanlus discovered a large iron ore mine with rich deposits and very good quality during an expedition in the Honachis Mountains, he spent all his savings to buy the land and hired a professional company to do a survey, and came up with encouraging conclusions.”

　　”Lacking funds for subsequent development, he set up a steel company with the intention of using the project to apply for a loan from the bank and at the same time issuing a percentage of stock to raise the initial capital, a plan which for the time being is still in the stage of private preparation, and which gives a very handsome return.”

　　Crane, who has been reading the newspapers a lot lately and is a “history expert”, knows that there are stocks in this world, and even more so that the concept of stocks originated from Rossel the Great, well, him again.

　　In the process of colonizing the southern continent, he established the Sibiran Company, and through the issuance of shares to raise funds from the public, he successfully solved the financial problems, and successfully seized the first bucket of colonial interests.

　　Because the return was generous, from then on, similar things one after another, such as railroad stocks, mining stocks, steam development and utilization of stocks, and so on, and so on, there are successes and failures, and thus gave birth to the Bakerland Stock Exchange and other organizations.

　　On top of that, Rossel the Great came up with things like state bonds, trust funds, and so on, the former of which has carried on to this day as the most stable form of investment, with returns of four to six percent a year.

　　Klein remembered that his brother Benson once said that if he could inherit a property of 3,000 pounds, then he wouldn’t have to work hard anymore, because a stable annuity return would be about five percent, about 150 pounds, slightly equal to Klein’s current annual salary.

　　This is the so called profit eating class ah …… Klein sighed darkly and asked with deliberation:

　　”Are you sure there’s no problem with this? Lanlus is trustworthy?”

　　”I’ve seen his real estate paperwork and exploration reports with the seal of the West Vilas County government and the endorsement of a professional firm, and there are pictures of Mr. Lanlus with Sir Devereux, and Mr. Mayor, in Mr. Lanlus’s office.” Gracias nodded in reply.

　　A group photo? A group photo means nothing …… Klein, who was born in the age of the knowledge explosion, had seen too many similar things to be convinced by it.

　　However, there was no use for him to believe it or not, so he could only pick up a pen and draw the corresponding astrolabe based on the key time information provided by Grassis.

　　After a long time, Klein pointed at the “astrolabe” and said:

　　”You yourself should be able to see that this matter is going to be very uneventful, underneath the surface prosperity is a cliff, an abyss, my divination opinion is to bypass it and avoid it.”

　　”……” Grassis lapsed into silence, his mouth opening several times and then all closing again.

　　After a few minutes, he smiled bitterly:

　　”I’ll give it serious consideration when I get home.”

　　Hearing such an answer, Klein could only shake his head and sigh, realizing the helplessness that a “Diviner” should have:

　　”A soothsayer can only give advice, but cannot decide for others.

　　Just after the two of them left the citrine room, Angelica came over and said:

　　”Mr. Moretti, someone is looking for your divination.”

　　Speaking here, she added in a small voice:

　　”He didn’t ask me for a recommendation, nor did he look at the atlas.”

　　The reputation had gotten out? Klein turned suspiciously toward the reception hall.