The church

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"We don't have time for this now. Let's talk about it later," said Nicola, still seeming unwilling. She was trying to avoid this invitation that looked like a dangerous trap.

"It's alright. You're welcome to come anytime. I'll be waiting for you in Stellacity," said Meredith, not giving up. She even added a condition that she thought would be tempting. "I can do a special fortune reading for you."

Then, without another word, she turned and headed for her carriage.

Unfortunately, I have no interest in fortune-telling at all, so this didn't catch my attention. She failed. Though, to be fair, I wasn't her target anyway...

"Feliciana, it's fortune-telling!" Vivianne, next to me, looked excited, as if the offer was made to her. "That's a fortune reading promised by the fortune tellers of Stellacity!"

"Uh, what's so different about it?" To me, it was just drawing cards and telling fortunes, nothing impressive. Even if it may be a bit more accurate in this world, it still didn't seem like a big deal.

"Of course it's different! The fortune tellers of Stellacity are the most famous on the whole continent. Many countries and royal families go to them for readings, and their accuracy is said to be over 90 percent!"

That high? I was suddenly struck by how sad that would be if it were true. To me, it was like a paradox - if the fortunes were accurate, then the future would be unchangeable. But if the future could be changed, the fortunes could not be accurate.

In any case, my curiosity was piqued a little.

As we watched the carriage speed away, everyone finally relaxed. The trouble had passed.

"Lady Nicola, is that sword really a celestial weapon?" As soon as the carriage was far enough away, Selene couldn't help but start asking about the Condensation sword. Nicola had purposely concealed it from the group earlier, so everyone's curiosity was stirred back up now that the threat was gone. They gathered around her eagerly.

"Can I just say I'm not sure what's going on with this sword?" Nicola responded with an awkward smile, looking very helpless. "This sword was made by me using my own abilities. If you don't believe me, I can make another one right now for you to see."

She started to raise her hand.

"Wait, don't be hasty!" Adrian immediately stepped in to stop her actions.

"Based on the astrologer's words just now, that sword of yours seems to give off an extremely strong wind aura. Those tower people haven't gone too far yet. It's best not to reveal it for now."

Vivianne nodded emphatically in agreement. "Also, those people had some hidden purpose in coming here, likely related to that sword. So if not absolutely necessary, it's best not to summon it carelessly."

"Is that so?" Nicola looked very unwilling. With a careless tone she asked, "Are those tower people so formidable that we need to be so wary of them?"

"Actually, that astrologer's strength was quite mediocre. After all, her real specialty is in astrology, divination and such," Brennan pondered for a moment before answering. "But those two sages with her are different. Each has a strength surpassing the fifth order, while Minos, whom we fought earlier, was only fourth order at most."

So those two sages must be extremely powerful, I realized. It was good nothing happened, otherwise we would have had to face at least two opponents much stronger than Minos, not even including the mysterious astrologer.

"That's still not much," Nicola responded casually, as if she could summon her Condensation sword at any moment and slice those few sages and astrologers into eight hundred pieces. Though, to be fair, fifth order magical beasts were nothing to her at this point.

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