“Felutina’s Spirit Eye can predict the future to a certain degree.
That has been an enormous help to her work in divination.”
“So her career at the Divination Commission is going from strength to strength?”
“Not exactly.
I promoted her to Divination Officer, and she still refuses to believe in fate.
Whenever a reading comes back with a result she doesn’t like, she reruns it at least three times.
And if she’s still unsatisfied after three, she goes and verifies it in person.”
“Verifies it how?”
“She takes up a Cloud Knight longsword and cuts her way straight into the deadliest place in the hexagram.”
“…”
“To be fair, she has a real gift for the battlefield as well.
They say she’s slain countless foes and racked up one merit after another.
That’s one reason the other Divination Officers who resent her don’t dare give her any trouble.”
“And the results of these verifications of hers?”
“Without a single exception, her readings have all proven correct.
From that angle, she’s rather impressive.”
“Haah…”
The woman in military dress let out a sigh.
“Don’t be so quick to sigh.
The more pressing problem is that the child is stubborn past all reason.
All these years of walking face-first into walls haven’t taught her to bow her head once.”
Luo Li’s voice dropped lower.
“And the calamity written into your fate is nearly upon you.”
The Sword Champion’s hand trembled, just slightly.
She spoke as though testing the water.
“Felu, she—”
“She will go.
And she should go.”
Luo Li’s words came soft.
“Her memory is frighteningly good, near enough to Photographic Memory.
In divination that gift is a blessing, but in suffering it becomes a curse.
If you leave her with regrets over your affairs, she’ll wall herself up inside them, and the risk of her falling to Mara will only grow.”
At the end of the long corridor the wind sighed and rattled.
The woman in military dress said nothing more, only stood there, thinking.
…
Aboard the troop carrier already.
Felutina propped her chin on one hand and stared blankly at the star sea sliding backward past the porthole.
The view was breathtaking the first time you saw it, but after enough looks it was just a view.
Besides, the things she had to think about right now were a great deal more serious than scenery.
She had made a lot of preparations for this war.
Word was that the abominations of Abundance were massing in secret.
Nobody knew what they were after, but going by past experience, it was never anything good.
The Cloud Knights had already begun setting their defensive lines, supporting the Yaoqing fleet in encircling and exterminating the abominations.
On paper it looked decisive.
The Yaoqing fleet was a proven blade, victorious month after month, and with the Luofu backing them their numbers and warships doubled those of the Borisin hunting packs.
By any reckoning, this battle was already won.
And yet…
Felutina looked down at her own palm.
The lines ran in a tangle, without order or sense — much like the future in front of her.
She and Luo Li had run the divination calculation together three times.
The results came back eerily identical.
Ill omen.
And then greater ill omen.
She had gone out to verify her readings many times before, and fate had never once proven changeable.
She kept at it anyway.
Her colleagues muttered behind her back that she was “derelict in duty, contemptuous of the Mandate of Heaven.” She didn’t care.
And also.
Felutina lifted her head, and a screen only she could see unfolded silently before her eyes.
[Popularity Event unlocked.]
[You are integrating into the world.
This is good.
Keep it up, and refine your persona as quickly as possible.]
[Quest: Every sip and every peck is preordained.
Go along with the natural course of events.]
[Quest reward: Eligibility to appear in the Belobog main storyline]
“…”
Felutina waved the system away and drew a deep breath.
Go along with the natural course of events?
It sounded lovely.
Translated into plain speech, it meant watching her comrades and a whole list of familiar faces die while she sat safe on the Luofu playing audience.
A main-story debut was tempting, sure, but the price was standing by while the tragedy played out — and Felutina’s conscience would ache for it.
To hell with fate.
“Sis.”
Jingliu’s voice cut through her thoughts.
The girl turned to look at the young woman who had appeared behind her at some point.
“Here.”
She seemed to have come to deliver equipment.
It was a war the divination had marked as “ill” at the very best, after all — of course she’d want extra preparation.
Felutina took the sword from Jingliu’s hands.
Three feet seven inches long, a little over fourteen catties in weight, the standard Cloud Knight pattern blade — except the materials were better, and it looked as though the Artisanship Commission or a Master Artificer had been asked to grind and fit it personally.
It was a good sword.
“Thank you.
Still nervous?”
Felutina reached out with her free hand and ruffled Jingliu’s hair, then pinched her cheek for good measure.
Soft.
Very cute.
She wasn’t worried about Jingliu.
In the story, right up until the Sudden Turmoil, Jingliu was the one who built the Cloud Knights’ undefeated name.
“…I’m not a child anymore.”
The words came out muffled around the fingers squeezing her cheek, but Jingliu didn’t pull away from Felutina’s hand.
Ten years had passed since Felutina entered the Divination Commission.
In those ten years Felutina had earned merit after merit, and Jingliu was not about to fall behind.
She’d spent no small amount of time on the battlefield herself.
It was only that this campaign was destined to be perilous, so she carried a little more worry than usual.
“I know.
But humor your big sister when she wants to show off a bit.”
Felutina smiled.
Handling prickly, awkward girls was her specialty.
Open your arms.
Hug her.
Say something sincere and warm.
Throw it straight down the middle — she can’t take that.
“…Sis.
Be careful.
With everything.”
Sure enough, Jingliu ducked her head, color rising in her pretty face.
She started to speak, stopped, started again, stopped again, and only after a long moment squeezed out that one line of concern.
She felt she ought to say something gentler, something with more feeling behind it.
Unfortunately, that was the one thing she was worst at.
“Mm, I will.
You too.”
Felutina answered.
Perhaps because the battle loomed so close, both sisters had their own thoughts weighing on them.
Once Jingliu had spoken she turned on her heel and left.
She and Felutina had separate duties, so of course they weren’t assigned to the same unit.
Divination results could inform strategy, but they could never decide for a general.
Yaoqing’s general this term was a soldier through and through, and he’d chosen the option with the least immediate cost.
Press the advantage of numbers.
Strike hard, strike fast.
Take the abominations of Abundance down in a single stroke.
“Lady Felutina, a verbal message from the Sword Champion—”
A Foxian strategist hurried up to her and offered a shallow bow, hands clasped.
“She says she’s going in.
Don’t worry about her.”
“…Understood.”
Felutina blinked.
She had the distinct feeling her teacher had just casually planted a death flag.
Still, it could have been worse.
At least the teacher hadn’t sent anyone to stop her, or she’d be adding defiance of military orders to her list of crimes.
“Lady Felutina, this battle…”
The strategist’s face betrayed his unease.
He was a clever man; he wouldn’t have become a strategist otherwise.
He had seen the Sword Champion of the Luofu earlier — brows knit tight, expression grim.
Where was the invincible martial splendor she’d always carried?
“Relax.”
Felutina had read his nerves at a glance.
She gave him a brilliant smile.
“We’re going to win.”
The divination results were known only to the diviners and a handful of high command.
There was no sense in gutting your own morale before a single blow had been struck.
If every reading she’d ever made had come out correct, then this time she would run one final experiment—
She was going to save the Sword Champion.