Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The light filtering in through the window with a sunshade is faint, despite it being midday outside, the inside of the shop was dim. The shelves lined up along the walls were filled with medicines, yet the place didn’t smell medicinal; instead, a faint, gentle fragrance drifted in the air.

This is a pharmacy. The reason the sunlight is kept from shining inside is to prevent it from impacting the quality of medicines. The incense being burned was simply to keep the sight of rows of medicine bottles in the dimness from appearing eerie.

This is「Pharmacy Vedito」. Ever since I, Cyril Vedito, lost my parents, I have protected this shop, my precious home and what could be called my parents’ keepsake. People in town call this pharmacy 「The Fortune-telling House」 but I find that terribly regrettable.

*Riing*. The doorbell at the entrance rang, and I turn toward it with a smile, raising my voice as I say, 「Welcome.」

「Um, excuse me… I heard that if you buy something here, you’ll do a fortune-telling for me…」

A timid-looking woman stood at the entrance, looking troubled and embarrassed. Thinking 「again?」 I kept my smile and simply told her, 「Please take your time looking around.」 Then, as she hesitantly began to gaze at the products on the shelves, I shifted my gaze, more precisely looked above her head, and thought.

(She wants a fortune-telling… Well, probably something about love.)

I can see things that other people cannot. Because my family descends from healing magicians, someone in it would be occasionally born with an ability to use magic. And rarer still, among them appears someone who can see something special. And I happen to be that someone.

Right now, above her head, I can see thick lines of peach pink, orange, and indigo. I can see such lines above everyone’s head. And apparently, these lines represent the emotions they carry, or events that will soon happen to them, expressed in color.

For example, if someone is surprised, a pale yellow line appears; if they are grieving, or if something sad happens to them, a blue line appears. Something like that.

The length of the line tells me how strong the emotion is, or how likely the event is to happen, but it took me years to figure that out. …Since I’m the only one who can see them, I couldn’t ask anyone how to interpret them, and there were very few people I could even talk to about it. So taking a while to understand this was only natural.

(If only there were something like the Hero’s memoirs left behind, maybe I could’ve used them as reference.)

There is a legend, that long ago, when this world still had many monsters, there was a Hero from another world who supposedly cried out, 「A death flag just went up!」 before dying. Sometimes I think maybe that Hero saw something similar to what I do. Well, he said 「flag」 so maybe he literally saw them as flags.

But you can’t talk to someone who died ages ago. And even if they left some sort of a diary a normal citizen like me wouldn’t be able to read them. With nothing to reference, I had to learn color interpretations purely through my own experience.

As a child, I didn’t understand what any of the colors meant, but after living eighteen years and seeing them every day, I can now identify most of them. Nowadays, I can even roughly predict a person’s future from the colors, lengths, and combinations.

(And thanks to that, I’m stuck being treated like a fortune-teller…)

It all began when I carelessly gave advice to someone who looked like they were heading toward danger. Since then, I’ve become known as a bit of a 「fortune-teller.」 …But I am a pharmacist, not a fortune-teller. Definitely not. It is completely against my wishes.

「Uh, I’ll take this tea, please.」

「These tea leaves are 200 bel.」

Placed nervously on the counter was a relaxing herbal tea. This is a pharmacy, but I sell everyday goods like this too. Women who come seeking fortune-telling often buy something cheap like tea leaves. As I took the payment, I once again looked above her head.

The lines stretching above her head, I call them prediction lines, are a mix of lines indicating events and lines indicating emotion. Right now, she has three emotional colors: love-pink, joy-orange, and anxiety-indigo.

Among the three, only the color of joy is semi-transparent. Semi-transparent emotional colors indicate feelings that haven’t happened yet, emotions they are very likely to experience in the near future. Though really, a color only shows up semi-transparent when it’s something huge, something strong that will last for hours. …This woman will probably experience something very happy later.

However, she seemed too embarrassed to know how to ask, staring down and rubbing her fingertips together without saying anything. At this rate, I’d finish wrapping the product and handing it over and she’d still be silent. …Fine. I’ll just speak based on my own guess.

(Love and anxiety… followed by future joy… So probably right before a confession. Or she’s about to invite someone on a date.)

If that’s the case, she’ll succeed. That’s the kind of prediction line combination this is. The long navy line of anxiety must be because she’s worried about the unknown outcome of the confession. So she clung to fortune-telling and came here.

I can’t just look at people like this and do nothing… And that’s why I get treated as a fortune-teller…

「What you’re thinking of doing will surely go well. A good future is waiting.」

Smiling, I handed her the tea in a paper bag. She widened her eyes in surprise, then gave a relieved little smile as she accepted it. From that reaction, I could tell my guess wasn’t wrong.

「You can tell even when I don’t say anything… Just like the rumors say, you’re an amazing fortune-teller. Thank you! I’ll do my best!」

While still smiling, I could almost feel my face cramping. I will say it as many times as needed (even though I haven’t actually said it aloud): I am not a fortune-teller. Her steps were lighter than when she entered as she headed for the door, bowing slightly and saying, 「I’ll come again」she then left.

Once she was gone, I let out a small sigh. If people knew me as a good pharmacist, I’d be thrilled. But being rumored as a fortune-teller feels wrong. Besides, what I’m seeing, is it really that reliable? If someone just changes what they plan to do, these prediction lines change easily. What I see is not absolute. Just a tiny change in their choices can shift things completely.

…If I really don’t want to be known as a fortune-teller, maybe I should just say the wrong thing. But whenever I see eyes full of expectation, I can’t help but feel compelled to help, I just can’t bring myself to lie there. I know I’m a bit meddlesome. …If there’s something I can do to help, I just can’t leave them alone.

「Kyaa!!」

Hearing a scream from outside, I rushed out of the shop, but seeing what was actually happening, the strength just left my body. It wasn’t a scream of terror, but a scream-like cheering.

There, surrounded by a crowd of women, was a certain very famous knight belonging to this country’s knight order.

Knights are admired by commoners, an existence somewhere between nobles and regular citizens. It’s dangerous work but well paid, they’re gallant and dignified, and if they achieve great merit, they can even receive a noble title, although a non-hereditary one. A highly popular profession women dream of marrying.

And among such knights, the most famous, the one who attracts women the most. He is called 「The Flower Knight.」by the locals. The reason that nickname stuck is…

「Ah, today the butterflies are just as beautiful as ever.」

A voice sweet enough to melt your ears, a sigh-inducing charming smile, and a face so perfectly handsome it seemed sculpted. His gently waving golden hair was loosely tied, somehow alluring, and every woman on whom the gaze of those honey-colored eyes fell couldn’t help but blush.

Someone must’ve first compared his stunning appearance to a flower. But really, a man swarmed by fluttering women more like insects than anything else is called the Flower Knight, half in mockery. Since he calls the women who gather around him 「butterflies」 the nickname stuck. I wish someone would tell them he’s basically treating them bugs.

(The Flower Knight doesn’t have even a trace of love or joy colors above his head. All I ever see is pain and disgust. A hardcore woman-hater.)

Rumored to be a frivolous, romance-hungry ladies’ man, many women claim to have had 「something」 with him, but they’re all lying, surely. I’ve never once seen a love prediction line above him.

Maybe because his looks draw attention, maybe because of the swarm of women, either way, he stands out wherever he is. I’ve seen him a lot. It’s been six years since he first came to this town as a beautiful sixteen-year-old knight, and in all that time, not once have I seen a love color on him. The world calls Hector a man of many romances, but maybe I’m the only one who knows he’s never fallen in love with anyone.

(Well, nothing to do with me anyways.)

At most, the only involvement I might ever have is giving 「fortune-telling love advice」 to the women falling for him. But since none of them have any chance, I can only tell them to give up.

Thinking something serious had happened, I’d rushed outside, but it was just the Flower Knight passing through and causing a scene. Since all of that seemed irrelevant to me, I immediately returned to the shop.

I have no interest in getting close to someone that beautiful. It sounds like nothing but trouble. And more importantly, he’s a knight. That alone is reason enough to avoid involvement.

(I can’t afford to have the big shots find out that I’m a magician… And knights are connected to nobles.)

If it’s just 「fortune-telling」 something women like, something people doubt anyway, then it’s not a big deal. Suspicious fortune-telling shops exist everywhere; it’s nothing unusual. …Though my place isn’t one.

But the fact that I’m descended from magicians, that I can use healing magic, that must never be known. It’s too valuable a power.

「If they find out, they’ll take you to the castle and lock you away」 my late parents once said. As a child, I was simply terrified and tried to hide my power. Now I understand it clearly. This is power those in authority would crave. I could be caged and used.

Even so, the medicines I make carry stronger healing effects because of my power. Thankfully, people just assume I’m simply very skilled. …Though for some reason, only my 「fortune-telling skill」 keeps getting praised. Which is a problem.

In any case, I have no intention of involving myself with royal knights. Especially not a beautiful one. Surely, in my whole life, I’ll never have anything to do with him, or so I thought.