Chapter 35 - The Cards of Fate

"What do you mean by that, old woman?" he asked Shizu, not liking where this new conversation was going. Something in his gut made him feel like she was trying to discourage him from fulfilling his mission, and he couldn't have that. 

But he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt; after all, he felt he owed her one for giving them a heavy discount earlier that day. She had charged him so little for something that was much more valuable, and he respected that.

"I will not ask for the reason behind your resentment towards goblins, as the fates have already shown me what you had witnessed," she responded to him, "but I will get straight to the crux of the matter here."

"I'm listening," Kazuya said as he folded his hands, feigning genuine curiosity over what she was about to say. 

"Not only have I seen glimpses of the horrors you experienced that night, but I have also seen glimpses of your near future as well," she said, but she also said to him, "So I can say one thing with utmost assurance: If you are embarking on this pointless quest for the sake of fulfillment, for the sake of filling up a void in your heart, then you are in for a lot of turmoil."

"Tell me something I haven't anticipated," Kazuya replied nonchalantly, causing the old woman to be more concerned than ever. "I don't care about pleasantries." Worst-case scenario: I die; so be it. "I could care less anyway."

"Your temporal victory over what you resent will only lead you down a path of misery, and it would only be a downward spiral from there until you realize there is nothing to strive forward to." Then you will mourn and weep when you discover that the only way you could have had peace would have been by letting go of your anger and hatred from the very beginning... 

Slaying goblins that are a threat to humanity is one thing, but doing so out of anger and spite would do you no good. It is like the art of gambling: it feels exhilarating when you succeed, but in the long run, the odds get stacked against you, and the continuous losses would only bring you more sorrow...

I know all that I am saying doesn't matter to you right now, but shortly, it just might. I just thought that I should let you know, as my conscience wouldn't forgive me if I chose to keep it from you simply because I know you wouldn't listen."

Kazuya looked away from the busy streets below and back at her. "You are right, old woman," he responded to the woman's surprise. 

"What?" she reacted with a slight disbelief. 

"What you say to me doesn't matter," Kazuya replied rudely, "you were right about that."

The old woman sighed. At least she had tried her best. "We will be leaving shortly after noon tomorrow," she said to him as she turned to leave, "and your weapons and armor should have been ready by then."

Kazuya was quite surprised she didn't come to him to talk about Genta, as rumours of her leave from the guild had been spreading like wildfire within the building ever since they returned. 

When she had taken a few steps away from Kazuya, Kenpachi had just come out of the bathroom and was heading towards the room when he found the Master leaving with Kazuya standing right behind her. 

It was obvious they had just had a conversation. He bowed in respect to Shizu, who nodded in response, before he resumed his walk back to the room without uttering a word. 

Though no exchange was made between the two of them, Shizu could tell there was some friction between these two. 

So she looked back at Kazuya and said, "Try not to get in a fight with him, alright?" "It's just for one night."

"I will keep that in mind, old woman," he said to her before she left.

Kazuya looked back into the far distance, taking in the nice view of the town from the balcony. For a few minutes, he pondered over what Shizu had told him. She looked genuinely concerned for him, but that mattered little to him, as what she was indirectly suggesting felt too difficult to do. Though her warnings came from a genuine place, they weren't good enough for him. 

She was expecting him to simply say "let go" and pretend everything leading up to this point never mattered as much. That was impossible to do, and hence, it became irrelevant to him.

That brief period of exhilaration he felt when destroying the very same goblins that slaughtered his family felt irreplaceable, and he wanted to experience it again, no matter what. Perhaps it was this selfish feeling that was hidden behind the veneer of "honoring his family's memory."

-

It was daybreak the following morning, and Shizu was busy with work at her table, jotting down the things that felt relevant to her from the visions she had received the previous night. That was when she heard a knock on the door. "Come on in," she responded, and the door opened, revealing Kenpachi standing behind it.

He looked upset about something, and Shizu wanted to know what it was. 

"What is it, my child?" she asked as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"I apologise for prying, but I overheard your conversation with the guest Kazuya last night," he said to her, "and it only further strengthens my resolve not to let Genta become a part of his squad."

"I understand where you are coming from, I do," she said to him, "but it is entirely up to her." By your standards, she shouldn't be treated like a child anymore. So whatever decision she makes, it would be up to us to respect that."

"I want to ask you a question, Master," he said to her, and she nodded in approval.

"When you first implied that Genta would be leaving the guild, were you relying on my mere intuition, or was it by pure revelation?" he asked Shizu.

"It was by revelation, not by mere intuition," Shizu replied. "As you know, my visions start the full day before the night of the full moon and end on daybreak the next day, which is today." In my visions, their faces looked strange, so I had no worries about it, believing it would happen in the far future. But when I saw them for the first time talking with Genta, even in my drunken state, I knew they were the ones I saw. "The ones who would take her away from us, sooner than I expected."

"That man is full of sheer resentment and anger; all he wants out of life is endless goblin slaughter." He has no proper ambition and no formal qualities of a mage. "How do you think an alliance with them would be of any value to a growing mage like Genta?" he asked, getting visibly upset about it.

"We shouldn't worry about that, Kenpachi," she said to him. "What have I told you to always do when fate hands you a strange set of cards?"

"You play them diligently and trust that it will work out for the best," he reluctantly replied to her. 

"Good," she remarked, "we can trust the fates with the life of Genta, and we believe that whatever comes of her alliance with those two, it will be for the good of everybody." "It is the least we can do."

Then she stood up to face him properly. "I know Genta is precious to you," she said to him before quoting a proverb, "but if you don't let the baby fall, it will never learn to walk in its life."

"We were struggling in the town slums when you found us, and even before then, Genta was precious to me. We both lost our parents to the occultic attacks of the past decade, and before you found us, I was the one looking after her, even when we were alone on the streets. "So you should understand why I find it hard to accept this," he said to the master, who simply sighed, not knowing what to say. Ultimately, if Genta chooses to go, he wouldn't be able to force her into doing otherwise. 

From what he had heard the Master tell Kazuya, it seemed their alliance wouldn't be as short as he had hoped but rather would be long-lasting into the indefinite future. If all that would come out of the mission would be further hatred and resentment, without any sort of fulfillment at the end, what would become of Genta? Why does she have to be a part of it? 

How long would it even take? Well, it could range from several months to a couple of years; nobody knew for sure. This was a hard possibility for him to accept, and he wondered what would become of her once all was said and done. 

These thoughts kept plaguing his mind as he thought about them continuously, and he had to get them off his chest. So without waiting any longer, he walked over to the other side of the guild's dormitories to see Genta, wanting to settle this once and for all.