Ending Conditions of the Princess and the Knight

I could tell he was a quack by the way he spoke, some of it were right and some of it wrong.

“Yeah, I hate that. I hate it so much. But I can’t help it. The guilt is the price I paid for surviving alone.”

“But from what I see, that guilt has made you a prisoner. It’s that guy who confined you to this tower!”

With half of his mad eyes wide open, the fortune-teller gleefully blurted out ominous words.

The content itself was incredibly uncreative gibberish, but his acting skills were so impressive that it took a few moments to enter the mind-boggling zone.

“Now that I have glimpsed into your desperate current situation, I shall show you the future as you desire. Although I’m not sure if that’s a good thing! Hehehe!”

“It’s really annoying when you laugh like that, old man.”

“There’s the near future and the distant future. The near future is related to the second-last card. Let’s see. Oh? It seems like you don’t have to be too discouraged!”

“Why, did everything turn out well?”

“No, this is a neutral card that’s neither good nor bad. It means you’ll get what you deserve based on your efforts.”

What was that.That was the most obnoxious, most sarcastic interpretation I’ve ever heard.

You’ll get what you deserve based on your efforts? So, if things don’t work out, it’s all my fault, right? Are you passing on the responsibility to the person who paid for the reading? As if a mere card could do anything!

Frustrated, I tried not to listen to this superficial talk any longer, but the old man with only bones left flipped over the final card, which represented the distant future.

And soon, a chilling laughter echoed throughout the dimly lit room.

“Ahahaha! It’s been a while since I last turned this card!”

In the final fifth card, the grim reaper holding a scythe was drawn. The unknown red scribbles, whether made by the old man or someone else, added to the even more terrifying atmosphere.

A front tooth with a black hole showing where it had fallen out leaned forward, and a long, devilish fingernail flicked between her brows.

“You will die.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes! You will die! You’ll eventually die! Kehehehe!”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, fortune-teller.”

To think the customer’s fate is death, it’s great. The way he chuckles creepily suits him perfectly, like a witch casting spells with a cauldron. Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t particularly angry.

“Well, fate can’t be changed! You can’t argue with destiny.”

“But how will I die? Isn’t that written somewhere?”

“I don’t know. Since you’re a prisoner in the tower, the tower’s guardian will come to finish you off. From my guess, it could be either a living wizard or a deceased wizard! In these lands, wizards are the most dangerous! Those who are eagerly aiming for my life are also among them! So, you should be careful too!”

Seems like he’s excessively talking about himself. Of course, whether it’s a living wizard or a deceased wizard, wizards would be the scariest.

As Taeri laughed it off, the fortune-teller preached in a more serious tone.

“In the village, you have to watch out for the living ones, but in the forest, you have to watch out for the dead ones. You must know how many wizards have died in that forest? When a wizard bears a grudge, they turn into a vicious ghost.”

“So, I have to live while constantly being mindful of the dead people?”

Thinking that Taeri was sighing because of her insignificance, the fortune-teller discreetly took out a suspicious cauldron.

“This is a secret…… but I actually have a special potion that I developed. It’s supposed to keep bad luck away, so you’d better take it, and since you’re an unfortunate young lady, I’ll give you a bargain.”

Aah, you’re starting to bring up that kind of story. With a familiar statement from the quack doctor, I casually checked the time, showing a warm smile. At this point, Claude would have already finished picking all the lettuce in the backyard and even moved on to the lettuce in the front yard.

“So, this is the method for getting lucky. But I’m not buying it. To prevent bad luck, firstly, I’m already miserable enough, and secondly, I dislike dealing with charlatans.”

“What?”

The old man became agitated.

“To say that I’m a charlatan! Who said that?”

“A trustworthy man. You can believe what he says.”

After that, Taeri naturally thought of Claude.

A few days ago, she had called him ‘motherly’ once and got scolded terribly, but today he was taking care of her like a real mother, making that scolding seem insignificant.

He somehow knew why she came here, and at the crossroads, he would block the way first, scolding her, saying, ‘Don’t go alone!’ and then getting angry, he accompanied her. And while waiting outside, she asked if he could turn the small plot of land into a vegetable garden, to which he replied, ‘Why should I?’ but now he seems to be working diligently, looking at the result.

Considering his sincerity, which reluctantly followed her for the purpose of surveillance, his kindness in waiting for more than 30 minutes, even though he said he would only wait for 20 minutes, and his diligence in turning both the backyard and the front yard into flourishing vegetable gardens, she could only trust him.

The vegetable garden terrorist.

‘I can only trust Claude.’

So, you’re not it, fortune-teller. Even if you say I will die tomorrow.

“Frankly, your way of speaking is not good.”

“What’s wrong with my way of speaking?”

“You’re going to die. If you say it so decisively, who will believe you? People tend to see the one who brings bad news as a fraud. Don’t do that. Speak ambiguously.”

Leaning her upper body and subtly pressing the five cards she had drawn with her elbow, she whispered secretly.

“You ran off with the king’s key without a care in the world, and your grandfather may die today, just like that.”

“The key…?”

“Yeah.”

“K-k-k-key?!”

“Yeah.”

“You, by any chance?”

“Of course, I’m a wizard. Ah, a living wizard.”

In a brief moment, the peaceful shack, which had been calm as breaths were taken in and out, was engulfed by a storm-like rush of water, not even lasting for a second.

The fortune-teller, with agility that was hard to believe from his feeble body, swiftly stepped back and flicked the red card he pulled out from his bosom like a dagger, facing it head-on.

Taeri, catching the word ‘blindness’ flashing on the surface of the flying card, immediately raised the table like a shield to block it.

Although the remnants of the magic wave reached her, it was at a level that could be easily ignored. Keeping the table raised, she pushed her shoulder forward, toppling the fortune-teller.

“Ouch!”

It was like a tackle play, and due to the collision, the fortune-teller was unable to defend against the consecutive attacks. Even though he cast an incomplete binding spell while lying down, an unfinished spell could be crushed with mere physical force.

Drawing an axe from within the radius, Taeri leaped forward, offering her empty left arm as a sacrifice to the binding spell.

Thanks to that, she could only use one arm, but with that alone, she skillfully shattered the lamp hanging from the ceiling and struck the fortune-teller lying next to her on the bare ground.

“Aaah!”

I didn’t actually cause any injury, just gave him a little scare, but the old man panicked and tried to escape. Seeing him struggling to get up, Taeri swiftly kicked his weak knees with her foot, then pushed the table she used as a shield to block his way out.

“Gasp! This monster…!”

“I’m not a monster. It’s just that it’s faster to go and hit instead of wasting time memorizing spells. That’s why magicians inevitably lose in fistfights.”

“Shouldn’t that apply to you too…?”

“No. Didn’t I give up on using a staff? But I think your attempt was quite admirable.”

It must mean that he was prepared for an attack like this to come someday. Judging from his attempt to bind her with blindness and confinement, it seemed he had prepared some kind of escape route nearby in case of emergencies.

“But where do you think you can run with that leg? Even a brief look at this tent shows that the structure seems fragile. Just break one support and it will collapse in no time. I have confidence in surviving even if I’m crushed, but I don’t know about you. You’re old enough to have weak bones.”

Saying so, she lightly pushed one of the pillars with her foot, and to no surprise, a creaking sound emanated from the joint.

“Oh my, it feels like it’s going to rot! There should be a limit to being scary! Don’t you have any respect for the elderly? Oh, save the old man!”

“Earlier, you said it yourself. The end of a thief should naturally be miserable. So, you should know well what your fate will be. Why did you steal someone else’s things?”

“I did it to survive! I’m broke and penniless, what else am I supposed to do!”

“Stealing from others after experiencing failure once? Trying to become a permanently ruined individual with your neck on the line?”

As expected, the old man didn’t obediently comply, even though he had reached a dead end.

“Do you know the hardships of poverty? Do you know the absurdity of losing your job? When you see a golden opportunity right in front of you, do you just leave it and walk away? With a voice filled with a deep sense of injustice, he appealed.

Hm, Taeri, having swallowed her saliva, briefly contemplated and then retrieved her axe to its original position, flicking off the dirt from her coat.

With such a strong sense of injustice, it didn’t seem likely that he would willingly return the stolen item. However, that level of problem could be resolved quickly. The magic capable of creating that was right above her head.

The fortune teller, whose eyes twitched at the motion of Taeri putting the axe back, widened his eyes to the point of them almost popping out at Taeri’s subsequent action of throwing away her beret.

The fearful and noble, ominously beautiful vermilion eyes glowed dimly even in the darkness caused by the shattered lamp.

“P-P-P-Prin…cess…?”

“Now, don’t you feel less unjust? Where is my key? Return it immediately.”

* * *

By the time Taeri had gotten more than a certain distance out of the shack, she was trudging through a vegetable garden that looked like it had been swept by a swarm of rats.

Humming a tune, Taeri’s wrist was suddenly grabbed by someone who appeared out of nowhere, and she was pulled behind a large tree and hid.

“Oh, it startled me. You scared me.”

The culprit was Claude, with his face covered in dirt and arms full of frosty carrots and lettuce. After quickly scanning her from top to bottom, as if to ensure she was unharmed, he looked around and whispered swiftly.

“Did you succeed?”

“Of course. Look at this.”

As she proudly showed him the recovered card key, Claude’s face quickly turned pale. Then, as if trying to control his expression, he cleared his throat and hastily returned to an emotionless state.