“E-Eh? Y-You meant me, Grandma?” Elvis was surprised.

“No, not you, the girl,” The old woman narrowed her already thin eyes even further as she looked at Lily.

“E-Eh, me? I’m Lily,” Lily subconsciously replied with suspicions written all over her face.

The other four also had the same dubious expression on their faces.

“Hmm…”

The old woman took out a notebook, wrote something on it, and then looked at Lily again.

“…You are a Unique Class holder, aren’t you?”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

“…”

“Eh?”

“E-Eh?”

Everyone except Rey, who narrowed his eyes in guardedness, let out a cry of confusion.

“Hmm… Let’s see, your Class’s name is Saint M-“

“W-Wait, wait, wait! Please do not say the name!” Lily panicked.

“Why not? Isn’t it a glorious matter? Saint mom kukuku…” the old woman cackled.

“Uhh… I said don’t say it,” Lily whimpered in sorrow.

“Who are you, Grandma?” Rey asked with his still narrowed eyes.

“This old woman is called B, just a wandering Sage,” The old woman shrugged.

“B? Is that supposed to be a person’s name?” Raphael inquired.

“Hmph! This old woman has traveled the world for a long time. She knows better to conceal her name than letting her old enemies know her traces,” B replied in ridicule.

“So that meant you previously had many enemies before changing your identity,” Rey concluded.

“I see. It seems like this young man has quite an observant eye,” B smirked as she gave a small nod in approval to Rey’s words.

“How did you know Lily’s Class, Grandma?” Guts, who had already recovered somewhat, asked the important question.

“Obviously, with this old woman’s divination skill, of course,” B said, showing what she wrote on her notebook.

There was a huge circle that had been divided by straight lines into eight parts. Inside each part, there were strings of nonsensible numbers with unknown, presumably ancient, letters written alongside them.

“T-This is a divination?” Elvis, the only magician on the team, who should be the most familiar with these types of things in the group, let out a confused voice.

“Hmph! A mere arcane user wouldn’t understand it,” B shook her head in rebuff.

“This old woman’s divination is the long-lost ancient technique of the once-famous diviners’ clan. It uses the positions of the stars along with other normally unimportant signs such as the geography of the land or the color of an important landmark to predict the ongoings of the world. It is a god-like technique that does not require the use of magic at all despite having a magical level of accuracy.”

“…Is it similar to a prophecy?” Rey asked; his interest was piqued.

“Close, but not quite. Prophecy borrows the power of a divine existence to pass on the future the divine one sees to mortals. But divination uses the signs around the world that everyone can see but know not the meaning, looks into their meanings, calculates them into perceptible things, and conveys them to people.”

“E-Eh? T-They are different?” Elvis was also confused with a huge load of information suddenly coming into his head.

Snorting once, B continued to explain, “For example, only Pope or some high priests with a very close connection to their gods can use prophecy. But for divination, one only needs knowledge of what the signs scattering all around the world mean to calculate and predict the future.”

“…I don’t really know what it means, but that sounds amazing,” Raphael muttered.

The other four couldn’t help but nod.

“So, your Class is a Sage, Ms. B?” Rey began again with awe apparent even in his monotone voice.

At his words, the other four were reminded of what had been said that had been neglected because of the weird name.

Sage.

It was the common Class of the highest order.

It had not been classified as a Unique Class because quite a few people could have them at the same time (3 people at the highest point in the history of the past 500 years), but its rarity was almost on the level of a Unique Class, and the prowess the Class signified was absolute.

At one point in time, a weak country was safe from an invasion just because a Sage had proclaimed to protect it and the opposite side dreaded to induce his ire.

The Class was for the ones who learned. Sages had crazy aptitudes for learning things to the point that they could have the mastery obtainable by those practicing a craft for 50 years in just a short 5-year period. The holders of this Class usually had a magic prowess of an Archmagician at a young age and were peerless in anything they had decided to study including magic when they were older.

You could say that holders of the Sage Class were a legend among legend just by the virtues of their Class, and, at the present, no known Sage was known to exist.

That was why the fact that one just revealed herself in front of them was incredible.

Her weird knowledge in things like divination which was unheard of before was enough to convince them of her identity. That was just how peculiar and exceptional the divination she had described was to the world.

“Yes, that’s right. This old woman’s Class is indeed a Sage,” B confirmed with a pleased smile.

“Why did an amazing person like you reveal yourself to us, Ms. B?” Lily couldn’t help but ask.

B stared at Lily with a serious gaze for a while before shaking her head in bemusement.

“What an amazing person are you talking about? This old woman is merely a common Class Sage, while you yourself are the fourth holder of a Unique Class known in the past 500 years. Of course, this old woman knows that you just recently became one from her little divination trick, but that doesn’t change that this old woman is a mere firefly in front of a dazzling sun like you.”

“E-Eh? I-Isn’t that a bit exaggerating?” Lily timidly replied in embarrassment.

An old Sage, a legendary existence, told her that she was a mere firefly in front of Lily!

A Unique Class was cool after all! But…

‘It would be much better if it did not have such a lame name.’

Sighing once again when her thought reached that point, Lily inquired, “So does this mean that Ms. B came here because of me?”

It may sound like she flattered herself, but that was what it seemed like from how B treated her so far.

“As expected of a Unique Class holder, you have a good intuition, don’t you? That’s right. This old woman came here after her divination had told her that a new Unique Class holder will be born,” B cackled shortly again before continued in a more serious tone.

“This old woman has experienced many things in her life. It is her last wish in life to spend the remaining days of her life serving the one higher than her and seeing them onto the path of success. Of course, she could go to the Pope of Light. However, she did not like his way of doing things. That was why when she knew that there was another Unique Class holder, she couldn’t help but come here and offer the great one her sincere services,” B narrated with deep emotions, a drop of tears in her eyes.

“That is why, please, let this poor old woman serves you and fulfills her last wish,” B slowly prostrated herself on the floor while her body was shivering all over, “Please help this old woman so she can be on her way with no regrets.”

“W-What are you talking about, Ms. B?! Please stand up! You can’t do this to me! I don’t deserve it!” Lily was shocked. She tried to help B stand up, but B resisted.

“This old woman will only raise herself if the great one agrees to her request.”

“Yes, yes, you can help me, Ms. B! Please stand up!” Lily agreed in panic.

“Do not forget you have given me your words, oh the great one,” B slowly rose up with an old smile on her face.

“Uhh… I said I will receive your help, but I don’t know what Ms. B could help me with,” Lily confessed.

“Do not worry, great one. This old wo-“

“Please just call me Lily,” Lily interrupted.

“…Do not worry, Miss Lily. This old woman is knowledgeable on various things. You could ask her for consultants when having unsolvable troubles. She also could offer you her whole prowess, but she wants to see the one she serves walking the path of brilliant by her own power. That is why this old woman will hold off on that and only offer her wisdom.”

B glanced to the side at Guts before continuing, “This old woman sees that you have a problem you wish to solve by yourself, so she will leave for now and will contact Miss Lily again at a later period when she deems her service is needed with her little divination trick.”

Bowing once, the old sage walked away from the group, leaving the bewildered five behind.

“…Congrats, Lily. It seems like you got yourself a great patron,” Rey said half-sarcastically even with a monotone voice. That would usually be Guts’ role if he was not so out of the weather.

“…Yes, I guess so,” Lily agreed, still feeling perplexed by the whole bizarre situation.

…

…

…

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Guts, can you open the door? I want to talk to you.”

After that bizarre encounter, the five took a rest at the inn.

Shortly after that, Lily came in front of the door of Guts’ room and knocked, wanting to talk.

After a few moments of rustling sounds made by the person inside, the door opened.

“What do you want, Lily?” Guts said with a slightly annoyed face.

“Let’s talk in your room,” Lily put off answering, entered the room, sat on the bed, and invited Guts to sit next to her.

Sighing once, Guts resigned himself and sat next to Lily on the bed.

“Are you okay, Guts?” Lily asked, her voice tinged with worries.

“You know I’m oka-“

“Don’t lie, Guts,” Lily gazed at Guts with her beautiful sapphire-blue eyes.

Looking into those eyes, Guts sighed once again, “Okay, it all sucks.”

“Can you please tell me about your past in detail, Guts? The parts that I don’t know.”

“Hey, why should I tell you the details? You already have the general ideas of what happened, don’t you? I want to puke just by recalling it and-”

“Please, Guts!” She pleaded.

“…”

Guts remained silent with an ugly expression on his face as he stared into Lily’s sapphire eyes.

“…Okay, you win. What do you want to know?”

Finally, the past of Guts before he met Lily was revealed.