Aimless Ascension

Gale considered the advantages of keeping a half-baked oracle as a housekeeper. Certainly, she could give omens of all the bad stuff that could happen to them. Of course, they couldn\'t be absolutely perfect, or not nearly, but they would solve most of his problems for sure.

Gale had already interviewed the handfuls of candidates Wang Li looked for him, but as he had feared, most of them were gold-diggers, or not nearly qualified enough. They simply wanted to get the post for one benefit or another without a base of skills to provide with.

Of course, the set of skills Gale was looking for were high, and this was merely a growing rural town.

Now Gale was seriously considering taking Ai as the housekeeper, although he feared Ai merely mentioned it as a joke.

"Sadly, my disability won\'t let me be successful all the time at anything," Ai said, smiling ruefully. "But you need not worry. You\'ll find a perfect maid very soon. She\'ll be a hundred times better housekeeper than anyone else."

"Who are you talking about?" Gale couldn\'t help but ask, narrowing his eyes.

Ai didn\'t answer immediately. A cute frown crawled up in her brows, as if she was divining for an answer. She turned her head to face Xiaolin. "You have already met her, haven\'t you?"

"I have?" Xiaolin lifted an eyebrow. "Her? Who?"

Xiaolin considered all the female practitioners she had met in the last few days. There were not really many candidates and most of them her master was familiar with already.

There was only Fang Chen—the porcelain doll, and Sun Lian of the great sun clan, who harassed the doll girl with her confession in broad daylight. Obviously, she couldn\'t see someone from the great sun clan working as a maid. Not to mention, Xiaolin wouldn\'t want to be commanded around by that tomboy.

"That only left Fang Chen," Xiaolin concluded, as delight spread across her face. The doll was even more reserved than her; there was a fat chance she would grow in a short time to leash her around.

"Who?" Gale asked, confused.

"Fang Chen," Xiaolin repeated. "You haven\'t met her, but master, she is absolutely best for the job. Obviously, I would not have anyone if it were me, but if you have to take anymore, then it must absolutely be her, master."

Gale was a little taken aback by her intensity on the topic.

"Uhh, alright, I\'ll look into it," Gale said slowly, not sure what to make of her sudden enthusiasm.

"Sir Gale," Ai addressed him from her seat. "A friendly piece of advice. You must absolutely keep the housekeeper close because she was going to save your life someday."

Gale frowned, unsure about the aspect of the divination.

"What do you mean by that?" Xiaolin asked, her excitement claiming down after hearing the oracle. "Fang Chen is barely a copper ranker. How can she save master, who\'s high gold?"

Ai shrugged as she didn\'t have an explanation for it.‌

"I\'ll look into it," Gale said, promising nothing. "Anyway, Miss Oracle, do you have any other advice to give us?"

Ai narrowed her lightless eyes. "Not to you, I suppose," Ai said. "It was really hard to divine something from higher-ranked individuals. But I guess I can give useful advice to your partner."

Xiaolin blushed, hearing the word partner. "What is it?"

Ai shook her head. "We must speak of it in private. Draw your ears near me."

Xiaolin did, under her master\'s gaze as the oracle apprentice whispered something into her ears. Gale couldn\'t hear anything, not that he tried. Ai was using her Qi to camouflage the voice. Not that it could stop him if he tried, but since it was a talk between two women, he decided to leave them with their privacy.

Although he certainly got curious, finding Xiaolin getting sombre after Ai was done with her whispering.

"You\'re joking, right?" Xiaolin asked, her voice shaking.

Ai chose to say nothing.

"How can you expect me to believe and act according to that?" Xiaolin glared at the blind girl, her brows knit in distress.

"Linlin, what happened?" Gale asked, touching her shoulder to support her.

"Master, she. . ." Xiaolin\'s voice trailed off as she refrained from saying a word.

"I guess I can help you get more context," Ai said with a sigh, "but not today. I\'m playing it dangerously already, don\'t want to die in some unfortunate event."

Ai\'s ability to predict the future seemed to be somewhat related to her own luck. If she used divination too much, misfortune got hold of her. It starts with some simple clumsiness to even some life-threatening accidents.

"That is it," Ai said. "The poor girl has nothing more to share. I hope you act according to my divination, especially you, Sir Gale. Don\'t tempt Fate, Al\'Caizer, you\'re already running low on it."

Gale narrowed his eyes at her, as one of the crew members came to take the blind girl away.

"Now, I must take my leave, Xiaolin, Sir Gale," Ai said, bowing her head politely. "I know I\'ll meet you guys later, so it\'s goodbye until then."

Certainly, this girl had more depth than what she was showing outside, even when she wasn\'t as mysterious and enigmatic as the older oracle he met a few months back.

"Caizer?" Xiaolin repeated, hesitation brewing on her face. "Isn\'t that one of your titles, Master?"

"It is," Gale said, "but don\'t worry too much about it. Oracles can\'t see everything, or else they would already be ruling the world. There were thousands upon thousands of weaves in one person\'s destiny, and when more people got together, the strings of fate became incomprehensibly complex to divine.

"Whatever she divine might not even be a full string of destiny. The lesson to take from here is to work to make the destiny you want, not the one heaven throws at you."

"But she told me, not to fight it," Xiaolin muttered.

"Whatever she said should be less of your priority," Gale advised. "Your first priority should always be what you want."