The essence of "prophecy" was to peer into the river of fate. Although the fate being glimpsed could include the past, present, or future, with his current "prophecy" ability relying on the Pure White Eyes, Ebner could only see one side of it.
If no time was specified, the Pure White Eyes defaulted to "future fate."
So, when he prophesied "Mr. Sari's location" just now, what he actually wanted to know was "where Mr. Sari would appear in the future."
But the prophecy failed… That left two possibilities:
First, if the prophecy involved a target of very high rank or level, then the question was too serious, exceeding the limits of what this trial version of the prophecy ability could foresee. Naturally, it would fail.
Second, it could mean Mr. Sari no longer had a "future"—he might already be dead or would die very soon…
Based on my past experiences with prophecy, only beings at the angel level or higher can interfere with this trial version. Otherwise, at most, the revelations would be unclear or vague due to insufficient known prerequisites.
Could this matter really involve an angel? That seems unlikely…
Compared to that, it's more likely that he's already dead or about to die.
As his thoughts raced, Ebner hesitated for a moment, then made a new prophecy:
"Location of the Beyonder characteristic shed by Mr. Sari."
If this could be prophesied, it would confirm that Mr. Sari was indeed dead… Ebner truly hoped it would fail again.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished. A revelation quickly appeared in his mind:
"Tosk."
Tosk? I remember that's a border city between Intis and Loen… I'll have to pass through there on the way to Trier… Mr. Sari's characteristic will end up there in the future… Is this a convergence of fate?
But the city of Tosk is about the same size as Tingen, with at least a few hundred thousand people… This revelation narrows it down a bit, but trying to find it in a metropolis of that size is still like finding a needle in a haystack.
Ebner had originally thought that if he could obtain Mr. Sari's remains, he could use them as a medium to make a more accurate prophecy—perhaps uncovering Secretary Johnson's or even Special Envoy Owen's true plot…
Now it seemed there was little hope of that.
…
At the same time, at the Hermit of Fate gathering in the secret space within the Babur Valley, the hooded man whose face was hidden behind a mask, revealing only his eyes, issued a bounty task related to the "Cryptologist" characteristic. Then, he took out an "Astronomer" Beyonder characteristic and marked it with a high price of 12,000 pounds.
In the end, a lady with a distinctly foreign accent bought it.
"Looks like Mr. Sari is dead." Leonard, who had been coldly observing from the side, made his judgment.
He had suspected from the beginning that the masked man who only showed his eyes was someone from the Intis embassy, and now he was even more certain.
"Old man, what do you think?" Leonard asked quietly, a hint of smugness in his expression.
"This situation runs even deeper than I expected… You'd best stay out of it," Pallez warned again after a long silence.
His tone was far graver than last time.
…
In the dining room of the villa at 28 Kingster Street.
After concluding his divination, Ebner briefly considered the matter and decided not to immediately share the prophecy's results with Fanny.
After all, the outcome would be too cruel for her. It would be better to prepare her gradually, revealing the truth in stages to give her time to mentally brace herself...
Ebner's divination hadn't taken much time, nor had it produced any obvious supernatural phenomena. Apart from Xio—who knew him extremely well—noticing something amiss, the others simply assumed he had been deep in thought.
Glancing at Fanny, who was doing her utmost to mask her worry and unease behind a cheerful facade, Ebner sighed inwardly. He steered the conversation away from the topic, shifting focus instead to preparations for the film company and the shooting of their first "movie" to divert attention.
At this point, Xio relayed Princess Vela's interest in investing.
Shares in the Daily Observer? Ebner's heart leapt at the news. After all, the success of a film depended partly on promotion... Owning a stake in a well-circulated print media outlet would provide immeasurable benefits for his company's growth.
Originally, Ebner had planned to acquire an entertainment newspaper in Intis to publicize his films—killing two birds with one stone by also fulfilling his agreement with the "Lion" Lyon.
In his blueprint, the film company's headquarters would be established in Trier, Intis' capital—a more liberal society that would suffer minimal damage in the coming war—while branches would open in Loen, Feynapotter, Feysac, and Lenburg to handle distribution.
But now, with shares in the Daily Observer and Xio's theater connections, if he could convince the board to launch a dedicated film review magazine or special column, he might prioritize developing the Backlund branch first...
"If our first series, Impressions of Backlund, proves successful, I believe I can persuade my father to invest as well... At the very least, he might agree to upgrade equipment at two theaters," Hazel added after some thought.
Having spent the day planning shooting locations with Helene and examining the "mystic camera," she had grown quite enthusiastic about the film company concept.
Worth noting: Since patients at the Harvest Church needed two more days to recover, Emlyn wouldn't finish his "medicine brewing" until Friday to begin his "broadcasting" work... Fanny, acting as legal counsel, had drafted a contract he could reluctantly accept.
Synthesizing the four women's input, Ebner now had a clearer picture of preparations for both the film company and their debut production. The first rough cut would likely be ready by weekend...
We can invite bishops from the three major churches and parliament members to a screening, then sneak in footage of me teaching at the free schools...
Let the churches realize that widespread adoption of this technology could significantly alleviate teacher shortages at free schools...
If schools nationwide used my "instructional videos," the acting feedback would be substantial...
To Ebner, "arcane techniques" permeated daily life and learning—the nine-times table, commutative/associative laws in arithmetic, spelling rules—all qualified as "secret arts."
Once these "secrets" spread via instructional videos to every free school student, truly mastering them would achieve his goal of "demystifying the arcane"!
...
On Thursday afternoon, Fors finally obtained the "Spirit Warlock" potion formula from her mentor Dorian and relayed it to "The Tower" via Mr. Fool.
Meanwhile, after visiting the great inventor Repard and commissioning him to produce a "non-mystic" version of the camera and projector, Ebner immediately boarded a carriage to the ramshackle house Dunn rented on Riverbank Street in St. George District.
—Repard was the inventor who'd collaborated with Klein on the bicycle. Ebner approached him as backup, unwilling to put all eggs in Melissa's basket.
Yet when the door opened to reveal Dunn—whom Ebner had transformed into "Doctor Strange" to meet—he got a shock:
How has Dunn grown so frail in just two or three days? Has his mental condition relapsed, inflicting new trauma?
(End of Chapter)