[After counting the cash, Simon put it into his pocket and closed the strongbox]
Give it back! That’s my money! Elisa wanted to charge out of the room, rush downstairs, and apprehend Simon the Great Thief.
Pocketing a few shillings here and there was one thing, but 1,000 pounds was going way too far!
[Simon used the key to open the strongbox again. The metal box was completely empty. He sighed and put the 1,000 pounds in cash back inside]
Of course it’s empty….you took all the money! What are you sighing for?!
With the 1,000 pounds safely returned, Elisa relaxed. She looked back over the log and formed a guess.
Was that male servant experimenting with his ritual? Although he failed, did he think he could somehow conjure something inside an empty strongbox?
Why?! The [Truth] ritual didn’t mention anything about an effect like that!
Elisa was burning with curiosity. As a master of Mysticism, she simply couldn’t tolerate an unsolved mystery right in front of her.
Explain yourself properly in the [Log], you bastard!
It’s always like this! You only give me surface-level information! This baboon can’t figure it out!
Elisa became painfully aware of the limits of her intelligence. There was no doubt about it….she was a pure-blooded curly-haired baboon.
Fortunately, through exceptionally ingenious means, she had found a way to compensate for her lack of intelligence.
After hurriedly finishing lunch, Elisa returned to her bedroom and sent her personal maid Eve away on the pretext that she wanted some time alone.
She opened the wardrobe and took a grayish-black hand mirror from the pocket of a black coat. Gray mist swirled across its surface.
This was one of the supernatural items in her possession, known as the [Mirror of Mist]. It could connect to nearby mirrors, allowing messages to be transmitted through them and even enabling travel from one mirror to another.
Back on the Archipelago, she had often used the [Mirror of Mist] to spy on her targets. Every mirror was her eye, and every mirror was her door.
Channeling spirituality into the [Mirror of Mist], Elisa connected to a mirror near Simon.
The male servant had already returned to his bedroom. Every senior servant’s room had a dressing mirror, and Elisa took control of his.
[Simon noticed gray mist spreading across the dressing mirror, with the dark shadows of trees swaying within it. He immediately went on high alert]
Sharp as ever.
Using [Thousand Faces] to alter her appearance, Elisa struck a mature pose and projected her hazy image onto Simon’s mirror.
Hehe. I couldn’t exactly question the male servant directly before, but now that I have this disguise as his teacher, I can ask him whatever I want!
She adjusted her voice and asked, “What ritual did you obtain?”
In the mirror, the male servant respectfully rose to his feet, bowed, and introduced the [Truth] ritual and the power of [I Reckon It Works].
His explanation was superficial, barely any different from what Elisa had already seen on the light screen.
This bastard! Even when talking to his own teacher, he still won’t explain anything?!
Is he really that secretive? Does he not trust me at all, this mature, elegant, charming, and attractive lady?
Elisa opened [Simon’s Log] to see whether this male servant had developed any disloyal thoughts.
[Simon briefly described the ritual without explaining it in depth. He believes that his teacher, whose wisdom shines as brightly as the moon, has no need for his explanations]
I do need them!
Sorry for being a curly-haired baboon!
Elisa felt as though someone had kicked her squarely in the chest, leaving her painfully stifled.
So the male servant didn’t distrust me at all. Quite the opposite….he trusts me too much! He thinks way too highly of my intelligence!
“Whose wisdom shines as brightly as the moon”….. somehow that compliment hurts even more than being called a curly-haired baboon!
And if that’s really what you think, wouldn’t asking you outright completely shatter my image as your wise teacher?
Elisa desperately wanted to tell him the truth, but her pride wouldn’t allow it.
If her image as a wise teacher crumbled, would the male servant start looking down on her? Would he think being the student of a curly-haired baboon was too embarrassing and sever their teacher-student relationship?
Even if he didn’t sever their relationship, he’d probably look at her like she was a curly-haired baboon forever after.
I don’t want a future like that!
I have to restore my dignity as his teacher!
Miss Elisa racked her brains with all her might and finally came up with the perfect response.
She asked, “What did you try in the butler’s room?”
Asking what the male servant had tried instead of directly asking what his actions meant instantly made her sound much wiser, like a teacher preparing to offer guidance to her student!
And I specifically mentioned the “butler’s room”. That’s my way of telling him that his movements can’t escape my eyes. I know everything he does!
Kekekeke! Are you scared? Trembling? Terrified?
Can you feel how mysterious and powerful your teacher is now?!
[Simon is surprised that his teacher actually knows he went to the butler’s room to conduct an experiment. Perhaps his teacher has been secretly watching him all along]
That’s right, exactly! Tremble in fear!
[Simon reasonably suspects that his teacher is hinting at something with those words. He wonders whether, after their conversation ends, he should wash himself thoroughly and invite his teacher to spend the night]
What kind of pervert are you?!
Why is it that when you find out I’ve been secretly watching you, not only are you not scared, but your mind immediately goes there?!
And you’re even planning to agree! Back when I was Elisa and you thought I was making advances, your intimacy dropped immediately!
That’s too much! Talk about blatant favoritism!
After mourning her true self for a moment, Elisa listened to Simon’s explanation.
[Simon tells his teacher in the mirror that he used his ability to try opening the strongbox with his room key. He succeeded]
Why did that work?
[A room key is a key, and a combination lock is a lock. According to a truth governing the material world, “a key can open a lock”, so the strongbox opened]
Elisa lowered her head in thought. A key could open a lock, so the male servant had used a key to open a lock. Perfectly reasonable.
No, what part of that is reasonable?!
First of all, that’s a combination lock! It doesn’t even have a keyhole! Second, you used a room key, not the key to the strongbox!
That’s not a [Truth] ritual at all! It’s a [Twisted Logic] ritual!
[Simon also tells his teacher that he took all the money out of the strongbox and tried to use the truth that “money is kept in strongboxes” to make money appear inside it. He failed, and the backlash from the ritual nearly drained all his spirituality, so he was unable to conduct any further experiments]
I’d say “money is kept in strongboxes” really is a truth, so why didn’t it work?!
Having missed her chance to become filthy rich, Elisa heaved a deep sigh inwardly.
The male servant’s failure was perfectly normal. Both the key and the lock were physical objects, so opening the lock didn’t require creating something from nothing.
But trying to make money appear inside a strongbox already ventured into the realm of creation, something a first-rank Transcendent could never accomplish.
[After hearing his teacher’s guidance, Simon suddenly understands and eagerly awaits further instruction from his teacher]
If you want guidance, you should be going to an insane asylum, not coming to me!
How did you even come up with a way to use the [Truth] ritual like that?! Are you really a normal person?!
Elisa thought carefully for a moment before giving an answer that sounded suitably mentor-like: “Learning to develop and apply one’s own rituals is an essential lesson for every transcendent.”
Yes, this is me testing you. It’s definitely not because I don’t know how either!
Elisa continued, “I’ll teach you a short incantation. If anything comes up in the future, find a nearby mirror, recite the prayer, and state your question. If I have the time and believe it is necessary for you to know, I will respond.”
This was preparation for the future. If the male servant discovered something troubling and I, a golden-haired baboon, failed to figure it out from the log, at least this would let him take the initiative to explain the situation.
Saying that she would only respond if she had the time and deemed it necessary was meant to preserve her dignity as a teacher.
If he ever asked something she didn’t understand, it wouldn’t be because she couldn’t answer…it would simply mean she had decided he didn’t need to know yet!
Leave a Reply