Back in her bedroom, Elisa stood before the mirror and carefully admired the original body that had left Simon so reluctant to see her go, then deactivated [Thousand Faces].
The pure white mask slipped from her face. Her alluring features returned to their youthful innocence, her long purple hair turned golden again, and she shrank by ten centimeters. The robe that had once hugged her figure became loose and baggy once more, while her chest was even flatter than it normally was.
This was a side effect of [Thousand Faces]. Many Transcendent items came with negative effects.
[Thousand Faces] has the negative effect of randomly reducing one of my physical attributes. I thought it would only reduce my height….I never expected my chest to count too!
Damn it! Of all places, it had to attack my weakest point!
Thankfully, I’ll return to normal after an hour. That’s also why I chose to use it at night.
Elisa took off the purple robe, changed back into her nightclothes, and lay down on the bed, reviewing what had just happened.
There were two things she hadn’t done. The first was explaining to her male servant just how precious the [Ritual Array] was. But there had been no way to bring that up. A mature lady wouldn’t go around mentioning prices like some nouveau riche.
The second was exchanging something for the [Finger Bone] with her male servant. He hadn’t been carrying the [Finger Bone] with him, so if she had asked for it then, she would have had to wait for him to make a round trip, which would have taken too much time. And she had been in a hurry to leave.
Neither matter was urgent.
Elisa opened [Simon’s Log].
[Simon used the Ritual Array and found a domain suited to him. A ritual slowly began taking shape within his body.]
He found a suitable domain that quickly? As expected of this young lady’s child!
I infused my spirituality into the [Ritual Array], so the ritual he’s inscribing must belong to the [Blood] domain.
Within the [Blood] domain, those of higher rank held tremendous influence over those beneath them. They could even bestow their own power upon their inferiors, forming a bond akin to that of shared blood. This was known as the [First Embrace].
The [First Embrace] is already underway. I hid my blood inside the array.
Once you finish the inscription, you’ll truly be my child in every sense of the word. Hehehe!
Even if Teacher doesn’t have a way to control you, I still have methods of my own!
I’m the clever and beautiful Miss Elisa! Did you really take me for some stupid curly-haired baboon?
Elisa pulled up the covers and closed her eyes in satisfaction.
Now that the task of bringing her male servant under her control was complete, next came the picnic with Mabel and Eleanor. She would bring her male servant along. Now that he was a Transcendent, he would surely be able to provide even more information.
Miss Elisa drifted off to sleep.
……..
….
After waking from a good night’s sleep, Elisa figured her male servant should have finished inscribing his ritual by now. She opened [Simon’s Log] and eagerly looked inside.
Awaken, my eldest son!
[…Simon completed his ritual inscription and obtained the ritual of Truth.]
“……?”
What the hell is [Truth]?!
Who swapped out my child?!
Why? I waited for so long, made so many preparations, and eagerly awaited your birth…
Elisa hugged her knees and stared blankly ahead, her heart hollow with an overwhelming sense of loss.
It felt as though she had carried a child for months, only to suddenly miscarry just before giving birth.
I clearly had a backup plan, so why isn’t it [Blood]? Why is it [Truth]? Where did this homewrecker come from?!
Elisa tapped on the [Truth] ritual.
[Ritual: Truth]
A ritual’s name represented the scope of its abilities. For example, Blood encompassed abilities related to blood.
Elisa had seen many rituals before, but she had genuinely never encountered one called [Truth]. Going by the literal meaning, was it an ability related to the laws governing how things worked?
It sounded somewhat like a ritual related to craftsmanship or machinery.
She continued reading. A Ritual was merely the overarching term; the individual powers a Transcendent actually possessed were known as abilities.
Her male servant had only just become a Transcendent, so he should have only one first-tier spell.
[First-Rank Ability: I Reckon It Works]
What kind of strange name is that? “I reckon”? As in “I think”? The Power of I Think?
Elisa couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Fortunately, there was a description below.
[I Reckon It Works: As long as something conforms to the laws of the material world, it will invariably produce the corresponding effect.]
After reading the description, Elisa was even more confused.
Anything that conforms to the laws of the material world will produce the corresponding effect? Isn’t that just stating the obvious?!
What wouldn’t work if it followed the laws of nature?
Your ability is to make things operate according to the laws of nature? What difference does it make whether you’re there or not?!
It’s as pointless as saying there are sixty seconds in a minute!
Damn it! You took away my right to be a mother just for this useless ability?!
Give me back my child!
Elisa raised her fists and unleashed a vicious combination of punches at the light screen.
The light screen remained perfectly still, completely unchanged.
Letting her arms fall, Elisa sighed. Thinking about it carefully, though, this ability wasn’t entirely useless.
Some rituals worked by violating the laws of the material world. The [Error] ritual, for example, was an extremely troublesome ritual capable of turning front into back and left into right. The [Truth] ritual was its natural nemesis.
But hardly anyone possessed bizarre rituals like [Error]. Even in the Archipelago, I’ve only encountered one once.
All I can do is hope some useful abilities appear later on. Come to think of it, plenty of abilities are useless in the early stages anyway.
Besides, if his rituals were useless, there was no need to worry about the male servant getting too full of himself and becoming uncontrollable.
Elisa tried her best to console herself, but she still felt somewhat disappointed. If he had a useful ritual, the male servant would be able to help her much more.
Forget it. At worst, she could just prepare more transcendent items and talismans for him. His rituals might be useless, but he could still use those tools.
She continued reading the log.
[After staying awake all night, Simon was feeling somewhat drowsy. Using illness as an excuse, he asked Maria for the day off and drifted off to sleep]
Elisa sneered and opened [The Young Lady’s Late-Night Lessons], then selected the [Firearms Training] course.
Hand-to-hand combat was no longer enough to vent her frustration. She was going to let her male servant have a taste of acute lead poisoning!
***
[After being shot by you for six hours, Simon’s understanding of firearms has improved significantly]
[Firearms LV1→Firearms LV2]
Elisa nodded in satisfaction. If rituals were useless, guns would just have to make up for it!
“Miss Elisa.” Hearing the commotion, Eve pulled back the bed curtains and looked at her worriedly.
It was already noon. Elisa had slept for far too long.
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Elisa explained with a smile.
“Mr. Simon isn’t feeling well today. I thought you might have fallen ill too.” Eve helped Elisa get dressed.
He’s going to make me sick with anger!
Just thinking about that [Truth] ritual made Elisa’s head ache all over again.
She opened [Simon’s Log]. That male servant should be testing out his ability right about now. Haag, he must be disappointed too.
[……Simon is currently practicing his ritual in the butler’s room]
What is there even to practice? That male servant really refuses to give up. Should I go comfort him?
[He used a key to open the strongbox and took out the 1,000 pounds in emergency estate funds that Miss Elisa had left with Maria]
“……?!”
What are you doing?! How did you open the strongbox?! It has a combination lock! There isn’t even a keyhole!
Something’s not right. Just what the hell kind of ability is this?!
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