"You look like you're dying."

"Believe it or not, I'm still healthy! And I've already read it again today, so I don't need you to repeat it." Matteo took a deep breath and lowered his voice, "As you mentioned in your letter, I came to meet with you, and you ended up telling me this?"

Vika quickly picked up the black strip of cloth on the bridge of his nose and glanced at Matteo again, then lowered the blindfold again, "You're a little darker and thinner than I remember, life on the ship is always hard."

Matteo's eyebrows raised, he took a sip of the pale beer he had at hand, and then placed the cup on the grease countertop, "Don't act like you're an elder, if you don't know what to talk about, or let's get down to business."

The two of them were sitting in a tavern, because of the remote location, the environment was very simple, and the time was not even noon, there were very few customers here, not counting the bartenders and waiters, there were seven people in the whole tavern.

Matteo didn't know why Vika had chosen this place, there was nothing hidden here, and even if he spoke loudly, everyone could hear him, it wasn't a good place to talk about "business".

The two of them occupied a small round table in the far corner, and in front of Vika was a cup of fragrant herb tea, which he held in his hand and always unconsciously spun it.

When Mattio was seated, he asked for a light beer and potato wedges, and then stuffed a few coins as a tip, which at last satisfied the idle waiter, and no longer pretended to have something to do.

"I'm just afraid that sentence will make you too nervous."

"I was still a little nervous, but after seeing the second person say the same thing today, I felt like I had been tricked." Matteo threw a potato wedge in his mouth, and instantly felt his tongue burn, "Shhh According to our captain, fate is always impermanent, and it seems to me that there will always be tricks?"

Vika nodded approvingly, "Oh, your captain is right."

"God babble."

"We just see too much, but we can say too little." Vika lifted the sliding cane on the table, as if he knew it had almost fallen to the ground.

Mattio subconsciously withdrew his hand and landed on his waist, the money bag was tucked under his clothes, and the waist made him feel heavy: "He also said that Olavi Island has my 'way out', but this is also very strange, does it have anything to do with you?"

Vika sighed, "Well, I don't know. Just the day I wanted to write to you, I had an inexplicably strong premonition - it was clear enough for an extraordinary person like me, a revelation from fate."

The corners of Matteo's mouth twitched, "When you say this, you really look exactly like our captain. Seriously, it's annoying."

"Maybe I'm seeing the same thing as the captain you said I was talking about."

Matteo wanted to slap the table and threaten Vika to tell the story quickly, but seeing the other party's vague appearance now, he no longer had any expectations for it: "But you can see it, I can't see it, it feels like being thrown off the boat......

Vika cleared his throat, accustomed to the tea in his cup, shaking the bottom of the cup to make the tea residue gather together, and he asked in a low voice, "Do you remember that agreement?"

"Remember?" Matteo was stunned.

"Pray to her."

Matteo stared at Vika suspiciously, his eyes calm and strange, "Is this a code? Even if you want to pray to something, it should not be 'Him'. What exactly do you want to say, be blunt."

Vika was silent for two seconds, he picked up the strip of cloth on his face, lowered his head to look at the pattern gathered at the bottom of the cup, and stared carefully for a long time: "Sure enough, because it's been too long...... Do you remember the name 'Esther'?"

Matteo looked at Vika in bewilderment, and glanced into his cup, only to see a blurry cloud of tea residues, "I don't remember. Are you doing this divination?"

"One

Very cold tea divination, what do you see in the cup?"

"You ask me," Matteo narrowed his eyes, vaguely sensing some kind of rimed shape at the bottom of the cup, "as if it had wings...... Is it some kind of bird? And a tangled ball of thread."

"The chain, the connection that affects life and changes the past continues, and as for the bird, the strangest thing is that I can't see it clearly."

Matteo was not ignorant of divination, but he was only able to distinguish tarot cards from playing cards, and did not understand Vika's words: "What does that mean?"

Vicara tightened the strip of cloth on his face and stood up from the table, "It could be a bird, a sign of good news, or an eagle, a sign of a mortal enemy."

Vika grabbed his cane and motioned for Matteo to follow, but he didn't understand why, but Matteo quickly picked up his suitcase and hurried to catch up with Vika.

The two of them had been away from the tavern for only two minutes, when a new guest walked in the door.

He wore a black cloak and wore a hood over his head even in broad daylight, the shadows completely obscuring his face, making one wonder how much wanted bounty could be underneath. On the islands of the vast sea, such a dress is not uncommon, so few people are curious, after all, inappropriate curiosity will always kill people.

But the "overzealous" waiter, as if he hadn't noticed the scene at all, didn't come up to greet the new customer, still leaning against the bar and chatting with the bartender, too lazy to even clean up the empty table in the corner.

The mysterious guest looked around the tavern and sighed, smiling as he spoke, "So the 'fate' path is really annoying, so you can miss it?" I've got the magical items of the 'Monster' path with me."

The man walked to the round table in the corner, glanced at the cold crumbs of potato chips on the table, and finally picked up the teacup.

After shaking the cup, it turns clockwise twice, and the edge of the slag precipitated in the teacup becomes clear due to the evaporation of water, showing a more specific form:

It was an owl flying over several wavy lines, which did not bode well in tea divination—a long journey of trouble, and a harbinger of evil outcrops.

Putting down the glass, the ordinary middle-aged man under the hood thought for two seconds, then pinched the monocle on his right eye socket, and walked outside the tavern.

"I always think that the anchor left by Zoya is a little strange......

——

"Do you know what an anchor is?"

"Anchor?"

Although Vica was blindfolded and on a cane, he strode very fast, but he was not big enough to run. He also walked in a strange rhythm, often turning suddenly, as if there was some invisible obstacle in the air, which was very unaccustomed to Matteo, and he had to trot a little to keep up with Vika after taking two steps.

Matteo always felt that Vika was now more than Sequence Nine, at least none of the Sequence Nine he knew had a messenger. In that letter, this friend was mediocre but remained

The friend who was deeply impressed did not reveal much of his current situation to Matteo.

If it weren't for Captain Aaron's note, Matteo probably wouldn't have made up his mind, but was it a predestined thing?

Thinking of this, Matteo suddenly felt that the path of "monster" was strange and annoying.

"You don't have faith now, do you?" Vika asked suddenly.

Matteo was stunned for a moment, "Hmm...... Nope."

"Well, back to the topic just now, it doesn't refer to the anchor, but the means used by the high-level people to stabilize their own will and resist the erosion of extraordinary power through the cognition of others."

"Then you said praying to her, and that is the ...... you mentioned."

"Don't mention her name!" Vika suddenly shouted, startling Matteo again, "I finally know where that dangerous premonition came from, her enemy is approaching, maybe it's the shadow I can't see!" It sucks, but at least she answered my prayers, no, that's not right—"

Mattio sighed in annoyance, interrupting Vika's broken thoughts, "Can you speak more simply? At least I have to understand it."

"I need you to pray to her to determine her status."

"You can't do it yourself?"

Vika stopped suddenly, spun around twice in confusion, and then walked briskly to a nearby hotel: "My 'way' doesn't work." Catch up, we're staying here today."

"Wait, you-"

"I'll pay."

"It's okay......

Matteo followed Vika blankly, the exterior of the inn looked unremarkable, and it looked like a cheap inn for a short overnight stay, which didn't cost much in the first place.

If it weren't for Captain Aaron's dealings, Matteo would have found people like Vika unbearable, but after learning that the name of this path is "Monster", this unusual way of acting seems to have a reasonable explanation.

Ten minutes later.

The two of them were already in their rooms in the hotel, arranging the props needed for the ceremony, of course, using the materials that Matteo had carried in his suitcase.

Perhaps it was the tension in Vica's body that had infected Matteo, and he was no longer as casual as he was sitting at the round table eating potato wedges, but listening carefully to everything Vika said—the strange extraordinary, who was telling Matteo about the past—Vika was pointing out many things that Matteo had forgotten, and connecting the most vague parts of Matteo's memory with the actions of another "her".

"But I don't remember any of that...... But as you pointed out, I can't remember why I got on the Clover."

It's hard for Matteo to accept Vika's claims in its entirety, but he can't ignore the anomalies in his memory, so Matteo chooses to accept some of them, at least now that Vika is a little more trustworthy.

Vika had already removed the strip of cloth from his face, he wrote three lines of Old Hermetic on the paper, handed it to Matteo, and after Matteo nodded his head to remember, Vika lit the candle to burn the note.

Vika closed the windows, closed the curtains, and began to decorate the room with a "spiritual wall", explaining in circles that "my path was originally special, and I now know why she gave me the choice of 'monster' in the first place......

"Does it have anything to do with the pathway? You've mentioned it several times."

After the "Spirit Wall" was completed, Vika walked to the edge and stood in a corner far enough away from Matteo: "The moment I became a 'monster', I knew that I had received the mercy of 'fate', but ......"

Matteo asked thoughtfully, "Like the favor of the gods?"

Vika smiled wryly and lit the three burning candles:

"You see, this kind of favor is never good...... In fact, if it weren't for a strong hunch, I wouldn't even know if I should have dragged you into this trouble."

Matteo sighed again, "But you called me over."

"If you still want to quit, this is your last chance."

"No, I have to try."

After all, I don't want to die, maybe this is the captain's chance? Matteo muttered to himself.

Free to read.