WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 165

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Fortune-teller Gurgar (2)

"Hm, there he is."

"Brett."

Brett Lloyd emerged from Gurgar's tent.

Airen's group, waiting for him in that heavy atmosphere, gathered around him at once.

Judith did too.

Thanks to all the teasing from her Krono Fencing Hall classmates, she'd grown less inclined toward superstition than before, but right now she couldn't help herself.

The charisma Gurgar the orc fortune-teller had shown had blown past anything she'd expected.

'Coming back from death wasn't enough, he even ran off Master Halifa with nothing but presence!'

That was a miracle even a great Sorcerer couldn't have pulled off.

Judith's chest ached with the anticipation of getting her own fortune read by Gurgar.

She felt a real pang of disappointment that she hadn't been called in first.

But that feeling aside, she couldn't bring herself to ask Brett how his fortune had gone.

Almost ten days had passed, and Judith still hadn't fully let go of her resentment toward him.

"So, how was it, Brett?"

Fortunately, Illia Lindsay asked in her place.

Everyone's eyes turned to Brett, and he answered with a solemn expression.

"Remarkable."

"Really? That good?"

"Better than Kubharu?"

"Different. Completely different."

"Now hold on, you two. Even so, saying it like that makes me sound like nothing at all..."

"But Kubharu, you are a quack."

"Ohh..."

Leaving Kubharu's lament behind, Airen and Illia pressed for a few more details.

All of it about what the fortune had actually said, but Brett shook his head again, just as solemn as before.

"I can't tell others the content of a fortune. It loses its power."

'What kind of nonsense is that?'

Judith frowned.

She'd never heard anything like it in her life.

What baffled her most was that Brett was the one saying it.

The guy who'd dismissed fortune-telling as pure superstition and never once cared, suddenly acting like this.

But it only made her more eager. If it had charmed even someone like him, Gurgar had to be a genuinely incredible fortune-teller.

"Judith, come in."

"Oh! Ah, um."

Her name had just been called too.

She let out an involuntary sound of surprise before catching herself and composing her expression.

Trying not to look embarrassed, she avoided everyone's eyes and walked straight into the tent. Just as she was about to greet Gurgar, he spoke first.

"Interested in your love life?"

"Excuse me?"

"I asked if you're interested in your love life."

"....."

Judith found herself at a complete loss for words.

The reason she'd come all this way to distant Durkali was to test herself against fierce orc warriors and to have her fortune read, to find some direction for her own growth.

Growth here obviously meant growth with the sword, in strength.

Surely Gurgar knew that as well as anyone.

He was dead now, sure, but he'd still been the greatest fortune-teller on the continent, hadn't he?

'No, if anything, maybe his powers only grew stronger after death.'

Thinking that, it suddenly struck her that this old orc might be toying with her.

She'd had an irritating incident right before coming here, and it left her with no patience to take this lightly.

"Don't joke around. Do this properly."

"Properly? What do you mean? I was speaking with complete sincerity."

"No, right now... ugh, forget it. What I want is advice about the sword, about swordsmanship. How I can get stronger, how I can become a Sword Master, or something even stronger than that. Tell me that."

"Not going to."

"....."

Judith's expression shifted into something dangerous.

Heat seemed to rush to her head, her skin flushing as red as her hair, and something ground quietly inside her mouth. The telltale sign of an imminent explosion.

Less composed than usual, she opened her mouth to say something.

That was when Gurgar, who'd kept his easy smile the whole time, dropped a single line.

"You weren't going to listen to anything I said anyway, were you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Not just me. Plenty of swordsmen far more skilled than you have probably given you advice by now, and you never listened to a word of it. Never had any intention of changing your mind either. How am I supposed to give sword advice to someone that stubborn? Especially when I'm not even a swordsman."

"....."

"Am I wrong?"

Judith fell silent, uncomfortable, with nothing left to say.

She hated to admit it, but Gurgar was right.

She'd received advice from countless people by now, and turned most of it away.

Not the fine details of technique.

When it came to the sword debates she'd had with Brett and Airen, she'd taken plenty of their suggestions to heart. But when it came to her attitude toward training, her overall direction, Judith was without question stubborn to the bone.

She'd pushed back hard against the words of Zet Frost, the 101st-ranked swordsman. And the whole reason she'd left the fencing hall to travel the continent in the first place was to prove Hall Master Ian wrong.

Not that the journey had been easy, of course...

'Damn it, so what am I supposed to do about it!'

Anger flared up in her again, and she narrowed her eyes.

She knew perfectly well that she was stubborn.

She'd tried, in her own way, to loosen her thinking, to take other people's ideas to heart, but it never came easily.

Whether it was something in her nature or something from how she'd grown up, Judith had never been able to properly absorb any kind of big-picture advice.

But hearing that fact confirmed again, by the great fortune-teller himself no less, felt like being told outright, "This is as far as you'll ever go," and it soured her mood even further.

But then...

"That stubbornness. It's not a bad thing."

What Gurgar said next was far more positive than she'd expected.

She asked, dazed.

"Excuse me?"

"It's not a bad thing, I said. You're unusual, to begin with. Everyone likes winning and hates losing, sure, but most people, after hitting their limits a few times, learn to settle for some acceptable level. It's painful, you see. Throwing yourself again and again at a wall that never gives no matter how hard you charge it, how hard you pound on it, wears down both body and mind. The people around you try to stop you too. Telling you to calm down and find another way, or to just turn back..."

"....."

"But you're not built that way, are you?"

"...No."

Judith nodded slowly.

Watching her, Gurgar's smile deepened.

"The one who understands you best, who thinks about you most deeply, is you yourself. If you know yourself better than anyone, and even after hearing all kinds of excellent advice, you still won't let go of your stubbornness... then that stubbornness has its own reason for being there."

"....."

"Go your own way. Judith's way. Down the path only Judith can walk, toward a level only Judith can reach... how does that sound? I think it's not half bad, myself."

Ah, of course, no need to become closed-minded about it either.

Adding that last remark, Gurgar reached for the table. He took a sip from a cup of tea that had appeared out of nowhere, then let out an "ow, hot!" and dropped the cup.

Could a ghost even feel heat?

The thought crossed her mind for a moment before vanishing.

Judith didn't even blink, turning the fortune-teller's words over and over in her mind.

Some time passed like that.

Her earlier anger had eased considerably by the time she bowed politely to Gurgar.

"Thank you."

"Heh heh, was it helpful?"

"Yes. I still don't fully understand it, but... thank you anyway. I've been lost for the past several months, but now I feel like I finally have some idea."

The red-haired swordswoman bowed once more.

Gurgar watched her with a pleased expression.

Judith felt the same way. The weight on her heart had eased somewhat, and with a faint smile toward the fortune-teller, she turned to leave the tent with proper manners.

But she couldn't quite manage it.

A voice from behind stopped her in her tracks.

"So, no interest in your love life at all? Really?"

"....."

"Think it over carefully. I'm the greatest fortune-teller on this continent. Before I died, human guests came all the way from the kingdoms to the south just to see me. Ah, elves from the east dropped by now and then too. All of them brought fortunes in gold, but I only read for the ones I actually felt like reading for."

"....."

"And here I am, telling you I'm willing to read your love fortune... so, what do you say."

Truly, truly no interest in romance at all?

Gurgar spoke in a voice that was subtle yet carried real weight.

As though this were the very last offer he'd ever make. Judith stood there, hand on the tent flap, in silence.

A brief moment passed.

"....."

In the end, the red-haired swordswoman quietly turned back and returned to stand before Gurgar.

Grinning at her, the fortune-teller spoke.

"Good. Honestly, this happens to be my specialty."

* * *

A fair amount of time had passed since Airen's group arrived at Gurgar's grave.

In that time, Brett and Judith had both had their fortunes read, and Illia was inside listening now.

Ending up last by no real choice of his own, Airen waited his turn with a racing heart.

Soon, just maybe, he could learn the secret behind his dream.

Even if he couldn't uncover everything, he might at least get a clue!

With a thought like that, every ounce of his attention should have been fixed on the tent, but it wasn't.

The mood around his two friends who'd already had their fortunes read felt strange, somehow.

'What is this? What's going on?'

He'd felt something like it a few times back in Aienmarc too.

They just sat there quietly, saying nothing, and that was all there was to it...

So why did watching the two of them leave him with this itchy, peculiar feeling?

Airen brought up what he was thinking to Kubharu.

He didn't get a satisfying answer back.

"If you've got to ask, you might as well stay that way your whole life."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, it's your turn anyway. Go on in."

"Huh? Uh..."

Kubharu shoved him off as though he didn't want to deal with him.

Airen wanted to argue, but just as Kubharu had said, Illia stepped out of the tent, so he had no choice but to head that way.

He asked her.

"Was it okay?"

"...I'm not really sure. I think I still need a little more time."

"Hm."

"But it's not like I got nothing out of it."

"Ah, this is..."

"He said to open it whenever things feel truly stifling."

Airen nodded at the pouch in Illia's hand.

He'd received something similar from Kubharu once before. Something like a fortune cookie, with a slip of paper carrying advice tucked inside.

'She doesn't look like she's had a weight lifted off...'

Airen studied Illia's expression.

That much was true. Whatever it was, Brett and Judith had both come away with a strange air about them, but also some sense of relief, as though they'd gained something.

She hadn't. A shadow still lingered on her, as if she hadn't quite pulled free of some dark cave yet.

He kept watching her, a little frustrated by it.

'Hm?'

Then something felt off.

It wasn't only darkness in her.

Her expression definitely wasn't bright, but there was something new in Illia's eyes, something he'd never noticed before.

Strange. And itchy, that same peculiar feeling.

The instant he realized it was the same mood he'd felt from Brett and Judith, Airen also realized he'd been staring at her for far too long.

"Ah, sorry."

"For what?"

"No, I just... stared too long."

"It's fine."

"Right, well, I'll head in then."

Airen waved awkwardly and stepped inside, and Illia watched him go, her gaze lingering.

The blond young man never noticed, to the very end, that she too had been staring at him for a very long time.

With a somewhat conflicted expression, Airen Farreira stepped into the tent.

Gurgar turned an unusually serious gaze his way.

Clear eyes, yet bottomlessly deep.

Just as Airen found himself thinking it reminded him of the way Hall Master Ian looked at him, the Durkali fortune-teller finally spoke.

"I'll get straight to it. Your dream, I can interpret it."

"...!"

"To be precise, it's your past life. The man in the dream you've been so desperate to understand, he's you, from a very long time ago."

Airen's heart began to race.

This felt nothing like when Lulu had first mentioned the possibility of a past life.

Unlike that time, Gurgar's words now carried a deep, unmistakable certainty. And with it, the claim that he could actually interpret it.

His heart burning, Airen opened his mouth to say something.

But the fortune-teller was faster.

Raising a hand to stop him, Gurgar spoke in a calm voice.

"I can't look into your past life right away. There's personal preparation involved, and I'll need Kubharu to gather certain materials..."

"...I see."

"But don't be too disappointed. So the wait isn't dull, I've prepared a gift for you. No, I should say a gift for all four of you, not just you."

"A gift?"

Airen asked, eyes going wide.

Having his fortune read at all, let alone learning about his past life, was already an enormous gift in itself. It felt like too much already.

Perhaps sensing that thought in him, Gurgar continued without pause.

"I'll say it again. Thank you for bringing my disciple to me, someone I never thought I'd get to see again even after death. Truly."

"....."

"The gift is my way of repaying that. Ah, but for this I'll need to discuss it with Tarakhan... so if you could step outside and wait a little, that would help."

With those words, Gurgar closed his eyes.

Airen couldn't bring himself to speak to him any further.

He hadn't noticed until now, but Gurgar's form had grown far more faded than before.

It seemed his time left in this world was running short. Realizing that, Airen quickly stepped out of the tent.

Karakum and Tarakhan were already waiting there, as though they'd expected exactly this.

Nodding as if they understood everything, the two of them walked into the tent.

Judith, Brett, and Illia came up to Airen and asked.

"A gift? What is it?"

"I don't really know either..."

The four swordsmen put their heads together and tried to guess what Gurgar's gift might be.

But they never reached a conclusion. He was such a mysterious orc that too many possibilities came to mind, and none of them felt like the definite answer.

Of course, their curiosity was resolved soon enough.

"Well then, see you later. Disciple, next time lay out more drink than food."

Whoosh.

With those parting words, Gurgar vanished as though evaporating into thin air, and Kubharu stood there without a word, silent.

In their place, Durkali's chieftain, Tarakhan, stepped forward.

He spoke in a low voice.

"The gift for all of you... is a method of Aura control passed down through Durkali's high warriors."

"...!"

Tarakhan nodded toward the four of them, who stared back at him with shocked expressions.

"That's right. The Five Elements Divine Technique."

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