For the world in the coming year, great misfortune awaits

In this world, each nation believes in different gods but this does not mean that there are religious conflicts, rather their overarching religion is the same. The story goes that the Progenitor created the world, set the laws and birthed the gods. The Progenitor gave the gods various duties and charge of the world. When the Progenitor died, its eyes supposedly became the sun and moon and its limbs became the mountains and rivers, stuff like that… People usually picked 1 or 2 gods they liked from the repertoire available and prayed and sacrificed to them for favours, blessings and protection. Examples include Txarango which followed the god of war, Gillham which followed the god of the sun, and Rosa which followed the god of rivers. There is just one god which is a little more special than the rest. Praying him will not grant any blessing, and so no nation builds temples and prayer halls for him but every person across every nation respects and loves him for he is the god of fate and knows the past, present and future of the world.

At a certain day every year, the god of fate will issue a prophecy to the world. And this prophecy can only be heard by his emissary who will receive it in the form of a vision on that day and translate into the various written languages and disburse them to the rest of the world. Though the prophecies are usually unclear, they are never wrong.

People thus put a lot of weight on this annual oracle, as who doesn’t want to know the future? This day is thus the most solemn of days across the world, as all large scale activities and even wars are put on hold on this day, as representatives from every country will gather and prostrate at a special plaza built for the oracle and await for the arrival of the emissary of the god of fate to relay his message.

The emissary is chosen by god, and the emissary of the god of fate will have a pink birthmark in between eyebrows. For a few thousand years, the emissary of the god of fate has been a female member of the elf race and every generation has had an exceptionally short lifespan. The human race accepted this grudgingly for a number of reasons. The elves are an elegant, noble and beautiful race with strong magic capabilities. They are pacifist and live close to nature, in deep unchartered forests, typically isolating themselves from the world. They are the elders of the world , and are humanity’s spiritual idols. As such, they are regarded as the closest existences to the gods and above humans.
It is said that every generation of emissaries is the most beautiful amongst the elves, and may take on the role at various stages in life; sometimes it may be a mature lady, sometimes it may be a young girl. One common trait is their long hair: They never cut their hair from birth as the god of fate likes long hair. The emissaries only appear before humans on the day of the oracle, and all who have seen their divine beauty have been overwhelmed by it. Once, a certain heroic human king happened to sneak a peek at the emissary, and was so affected that upon returning, he lost all appetite, ignored state affairs and died in misery for he could only look on from afar at the unworldly beauty.
Thus, from then on, all emissaries wear veils when they deliver the oracle.

“Do you finally understand how sacred of a ritual this Oracle Plenary is? You are probably the first commoner to participate in it, be honoured and thankful.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t feel much interest towards the Oracle Plenary, and felt that that king in the story was a really lousy and idiotic person. How could a ruler of a nation have lust but not the balls to act on them to the point of not daring to find a means of communication with the emissary at all, and die alone and miserable?

“Speaking of which, St Txarango actually has 3 participants this year. It has always been the principal who would go alone, and I’m really surprised at that.”

“Oh.”

“Why so moody first thing in the morning, what troubles have you met with?”

I met you.

William brazenly rode over and keeps coming close up to talk. Don’t come over, don’t come over, when you come Tina gets nervous and when she’s nervous, she pinches my back.

I just knew it wouldn’t be a happy journey. The number of slots each nation has for the Oracle Plenary are very limited in number and are mostly taken up by members of the royal family. As the leader of the educational institute that is directly under the supervision of the royal family – The headmaster of St Txarango Academy, the little boy Kester would also be privy to such privileges. But for some reason, he had 2 extra this year which he gave to me and Tina. We then left first thing in the morning today from school and met up with the rest of the delegation. If we were to keep riding without rest, we would probably be able to make it in time to the plaza for the Oracle. My eyes had been twitching ominously as I wondered if the royal representative would be William… And it really was him, waiting at the entrance of the school just as the faint light of morning pierced through the remnants of the night on his white horse with his guard contingent behind him, his cape blowing in the wind.

When William saw Shuoxue on my waist, he smiled widely.

(TL: Kind of like how one feels when the person you like wears your gift?)

“Does the sword cut well? I’ve never used it once since receiving it and was wondering if it had become blunt.”

“Not bad, it cuts bread pretty fast.”

By the way, Shuoxue is currently howling non-stop about how she’s starving in the sheath. I was worried at first that she was too loud, but then I found that only I could hear her voice when she was in sword form.

“What we discussed before, any change of heart?”

“Nope, not all, why won’t you give up already?”

“Such a stubborn man. Even though it’s such a good opportunity for fame and glory.”

“Give the opportunity to someone else then. My Ma always told me to be altruistic.”

“Willy~” Headmaster Kester calls out to William, “It’s going to be you again this year who’s coming to play huh.”

“Yes.” William replies as he lowers his head in respect.

“Lanlan, is his condition still very poor?”

“Un, Father’s illness is progressively worsening.”

“Hai… And I even wanted to tell him about something fun I found out about recently.”

“Headmaster, let me know when you have time, I will send someone to receive you to Father’s castle, and you can spend time with him at length.”

“No need~ I’ll just find him myself.”

This conversation between William and the headmaster scared me. Eh? Isn’t the power relationship supposed to be opposite? Could the headmaster be someone great? Even though he’s just a little brat mimicking adults, maybe he is the scion of some wealthy household that controls the economy of the nation? It’s still the agricultural era, does his household own a lot of fertile land?

Whatever, I could care less. I carefully steered the horse, with apprehension at every step. Faburando’s head butler had taught me horse riding before, but I am still not fully adept. Nevertheless, I still got up on the horse. Of course I had to ride, if I didn’t then Tina would be riding behind blondie. Though not that she is behind me, she pinches my back from time to time. It really hurts Tina. I distanced myself from William.

Following behind was William’s guard contingent, numbering exactly 20, all decked in their military uniforms. I, Tina, William and the headmaster rode in front. Tina was wearing her best dress, with her hair tied up in a bun, exuding a graceful and elegant beauty that moved hearts. William was also in his military uniform, but it was pure white, complete with a majestic cape. The headmaster wore the same exquisite clothes he did at the speech, with his hair neatly combed back, though this time he managed to do it perfectly and there was no ahoge. I, on the other hand, had no formal wear and could only wear my uniform to greet the god of fate but I don’t think he will mind it that much.

After 2 days, we finally made it to the plaza. It was built in the middle of a vast wilderness, where no nation had territorial claims to, and no one was allowed to enter without a permit. People were already prostrating in the plaza. William was famous in diplomatic circles and many people greeted him. Each delegation had an allocated spot and ours was near the altar, where there was an impressive stone clock hanging beside that was almost the size of my room.

Continually travelling without rest over the past few days was arduous. Tina yawned constantly with tears in her eyes. I was very tired too, and my body was weak from travel. The headmaster, however, was energetic as ever. Being a kid sure is nice.

“How much longer do we have to kneel?” I asked.

“Shh,” William whispered, “Don’t make any noise, keep silent, the time of the Oracle is soon.”

Finishing, he went quiet, lowered his head, and put his hands together with a solemn expression on his face. I was bored stiff, and surveyed the surroundings only to find that everyone else was in a similar position and demeanor. There were thousands of people gathered at the plaza, gathered from all corners of the world, prostrating themselves on the hard stone floor of the plaza, displaying utmost sincerity as they awaited the Oracle patiently and silently.

As an atheist myself, seeing such a large pilgrimage was something that shook me deep down.

When I turned around, noticed that there was dark-skinned man amongst them, wearing a necklace with a very curious shape that I seemed to have seen somewhere before.

Just then, the stone clock beside the altar sounded, even though no one was nearby.

Everyone raised their heads on knowing that the hour was here. The sound of the clock slowly dissipated, leaving only silence in the plaza.

Then the holy water in the altar surged out and made a fountain with a crashing sound, and a girl emerged from the curtains of water and stepped barefooted onto the altar.
She wore a plain white long dress, and walked out of the water without a single drop of water on her. Her long golden hair, which seemed to be as long as 10 meters covered the floor, was radiant and soft as silk, reflecting the glow of the sunset. As she held her long pointy ears characteristic of her race, she opened her eyes slowly, revealing beautiful jade irises.

Her appearance made everyone in attendance hold their breath. Though the elven maiden had a veil on, it could not hide her unworldly beauty, which pierced through with the force of a thousand suns, and lit up the world like the dawn of creation.

At this point, I could understand the feelings of the king William told me about. He was probably like me now, just helplessly gazing at the elven emissary as she seemingly descended from the heavens, as the glorious sight swept away the fatigue and pains in the body that endured continuous and arduous travel. As he knelt, shaking in the plaza, the emissary was on the altar, looking down upon the masses, an unreachable existence.

Though he may be of royal lineage and lord over a thousand cities, he was merely an ordinary man… How could he have dared to reach out to a godlike existence?

The elven maiden delicately opened her lips, and her voice rang out like a wind chime.

“I am the emissary, and I am here to announce the Oracle.”

(TL: She is currently speaking in a very formal and archaic manner that is difficult to bring across in English)

Everyone seemed to snap out of their stupor, as if they had forgotten their purpose there up until now, and perked up to listen.

“My god is all-knowing and knows of the troubles of Man who struggles on in life even as he faces the murky future, and has thus specially arranged this Plenary to share a glimpse of the things to come so as to assist Man in his decisions and meet with good fortune whilst avoiding disaster; all this, he gives in his virtue and for his love of Man.”

On hearing this, the masses in the plaza bent their heads once more in prayer.

“As declared by my god,” the elven maiden continued, “In the coming year, one will find it easy to conceive but one should not move into a new home; it is an auspicious year for marriage but an ominous one for construction; one can proceed with wedding preparations but one should not build or move one’s stoves and furnaces as well as avoid long travels. For those who were born in the month of metal, eating more bamboo may help improve one’s luck in love…”

(TL: This was really painful to translate as I had to really research all the fortune related stuff. Essentially, it is the same format as how Chinese geomancers will announce annual fortunes during Lunar New Year where there are very clear specifications on what is good to do and what one should avoid as well as how to change your luck.)

“HUH!?”

“Don’t be rude!” William berated me softly, “Don’t make a ruckus.”

But I must make it clear right now no matter what!

“What is she speaking about?”

“The emissary is conveying the Oracle. It contains the prophecies of the god of fate and pertains to luck throughout the year, what one should and should not do, as well as the outlook for the horoscopes.”

What the hell!? Even horoscopes are here!? What’s next? Blood types!?

“For those with first blood type, you will have great luck and ventures in the coming year will bring great tides of fortune…”

I called it! I just knew she would talk about blood types!

Bloody hell, this is what your religion is all about!? Travelling day and night without rest for thousands of miles over bodies of water and mountains, to this no man’s land in the middle of nowhere, prostrating for hours soaked in sweat, all for the sake of blood type fortunes!?

You are all really are 666666!

(TL: Same reference as Chapter 2. He’s saying they are really smooth / played it well, with sarcasm of course)

I cursed fiercely in my mind.

Was it worth it? Was it? The so-called Oracle was just this? I broke my back crossing mountain ranges, and what else do I have to show for that effort besides damned blood type fortunes?! I! I mean, I did get to see this world-class beauty, with her radiant golden hair, standing on the altar like a mini sun…

Worth it?

Maybe a little…

But what about Tina! Why did she have to travel so far and wide without sleep, just to see another girl beautiful thought she may be!

“Molan.”

“Un?”

“Me, I have the first blood type.” Tina declared with some satisfaction as she pulled my sleeve.

“…Congrats congrats.”

… What the heck, why is everyone listening so closely and enthusiastically?

I feel like I’m the one who is weird.

Could it be that… Unlike earth which has an overwhelming number of horoscopes from as many religions and mystic faiths, the singular belief here seems much more credible to people… Ah ah, whatever floats your boat… I won’t make a fuss about anything that seems weird to me anymore…

Since I came anyway, might as well listen in. On coming to a conclusion, I turned my attention back to the Oracle.

“… As my god declares: ‘For the world in the coming year, great misfortune awaits.'” The elven maiden loosens her grip on her ears, “‘The dead shall come, and a revolution will come.’ That concludes the Oracle.”

“Engrave the Oracle into your hearts. I will now excuse myself.”

The maiden turned around and stepped into the holy water, step by step, making the water splash about, until at last she was fully submerged and disappeared into the pool of holy water.