[Miss Eleanor forcibly dragged Miss Susanna off to the bedroom, and Simon watched her retreating figure with envy.]
What are you envious of?! Eleanor isn’t you! She’s taking Susanna to the bedroom to do something perfectly proper! Elisa complained inwardly.
She went back over the contents of [Simon’s Log], pondering the information within.
As expected of my male servant. Not only did he lure Eleanor into solving Miss Susanna’s problem, he even noticed that something suspicious was going on behind the scenes.
Susanna had picked up the evil spirit in the East District. The evil spirit had originally been a child who was murdered late one night. His chest had been pierced straight through, leaving behind a hole the size of a fist.
A fist-sized hole?
Elisa immediately thought back to what had happened at the police station. Her family’s thieving butler had died the exact same way.
Was the murder in the East District committed by the same guy who attacked the police station?
Elisa then thought of the [Finger Bone]. She had no idea whether either of these two incidents had anything to do with the [Finger Bone].
Forget it. It has nothing to do with me anyway.
I’ll leave this matter to the military and let that military investigator, Miss Caroline, deal with the headache.
Right now, I’m just an ordinary daughter of a wealthy merchant who only wants to work hard at making her way into the extravagant world of high society.
She glanced at the log again.
[Simon wonders how he should report this to his teacher after returning.]
Not bad. At least you know to take the initiative and report it when you encounter a transcendent incident. But could you maybe report it to your beautiful and charming mistress Miss Elisa while you’re at it?
Miss Elisa was clearly here first!
Even though both identities are me, being treated so differently is infuriating!
Elisa finished her ice cream, sighed, composed her expression, and returned to the battlefield of socializing.
***
By evening, the picnic had come to an end. Contrary to Elisa’s expectations, neither Mabel nor Eleanor invited her to stay overnight at the manor, and Eleanor didn’t remain at the country estate either.
Is she in such a hurry to go back and report the transcendent incident? Elisa thought.
Miss Eleanor was a transcendent, but that identity couldn’t be brought into the open. She had probably become a transcendent in secret, so she couldn’t directly say that she had discovered a transcendent incident. She could only subtly alert the military, perhaps by tipping off Miss Caroline.
The male servant must have been planning to use Eleanor to report this transcendent incident as well. That was why he had tipped off that curly-haired baboon Eleanor, practically spelling out for her that there was something wrong with that murder.
My male servant handled everything perfectly. There’s nothing left for me to worry about.
Elisa took a carriage back to her own manor.
After entering her bedroom and lying down on the sofa, she sensed a reaction from the [Mirror of Mist]. At the same time, new information appeared in [Simon’s Log].
[After returning to the manor, Simon finds an opportunity to be alone. Through the mirror, he prays to his teacher and briefly describes what happened today.]
Elisa poured spirituality into the [Mirror of Mist] and heard Simon’s voice.
This kind of prayer was similar to leaving a message. It was quite convenient for passing along information, but its range was severely limited, making it impractical.
What her male servant said in the message was more detailed than what appeared in the log, but there was no new information.
After listening, Elisa cleared her throat, preparing to reply in a mature and intellectual tone, “I understand.”
I’ve wanted to say something like that for ages! It feels just like writing “Reviewed” on a subordinate’s report. It really gives you the feeling of being someone in authority.
I heard the former king loved using those words whenever he responded to reports from his subjects!
She had barely opened her mouth and uttered a single sound when another message came through the [Mirror of Mist].
“…I believe Miss Elisa may end up getting involved in this matter and won’t be able to avoid it. Please keep a close eye on her, Teacher.”
What?! How am I going to get dragged into this?!
What information did you leave out this time?
Elisa abruptly rolled over and sat up on the sofa, racking her brain for any details she might have overlooked.
My male servant said I won’t be able to avoid it. How exactly am I unable to avoid it? Is someone actually capable of forcing me, Miss Elisa, to get involved?
Unable to figure it out for the moment, Elisa replied to her male servant first, sending back a simple, “I understand.”
Damn it! When I said those words, I was supposed to sound dignified, composed, and effortlessly authoritative. But now my head is full of questions, and I even sounded a little unsure of myself!
This isn’t how it was supposed to be!
***
Elisa soon understood why she would get dragged into the incident and why she wouldn’t be able to refuse.
The day after the picnic, Eleanor and Mabel came to visit her manor. Burning with righteous indignation, Mabel brought up the recent murders in the East District.
The flat-chested young lady, who constantly craved adventure, invited Elisa to join her and Eleanor’s detective team and investigate the East District murders together.
Elisa reluctantly agreed.
After arranging to officially begin the investigation the next day and seeing the two young ladies off, Elisa sat on the sofa and clutched her head.
Needless to say, Eleanor must have lured Mabel into this, disguising the transcendent incident as an ordinary murder case and getting Mabel to step forward and assemble an investigation team.
I’ve known for ages that Mabel craves excitement, but I thought Miss Eleanor was supposed to be a mature and level-headed transcendent!
Why didn’t you report the transcendent incident? Why did you decide to investigate it yourself?!
No matter what your reasoning was, you should’ve let the military’s transcendents handle a transcendent incident!
Even back in the Archipelago, when adventurers like us encountered transcendent enemies, the first thing we did was send an anonymous tip to the military!
Then, once the military had dealt with everything, we’d swoop in and enjoy the spoils.
Who goes out of their way to volunteer for something like this?
Haah. Maybe this is the difference between these high-society young ladies and lower-class adventurers like us.
Elisa thought back to Eleanor’s personality: arrogant, regarded everyone else as curly-haired baboons, loved listening to her male servant’s mysterious and terrifying stories… She was the textbook example of a newly minted transcendent. Full of herself and eager for a challenge. She must have seen this incident as the perfect stage to show off her abilities.
Her male servant had used precisely this to deduce that Eleanor would investigate the case herself.
As a high-society young lady, Eleanor knew very little about the East District, and she rarely acted alone, so it made sense that she would want to bring a friend along. But that friend should’ve been Mabel. How did I end up on the team too?
Oh, right. It’s because I know the East District so well! When Mabel and I toured the East District before, I had an answer for every question she asked.
But that wasn’t my knowledge! I was just repeating everything I’d read in my male servant’s log!
I’m screwed. If I follow them around investigating tomorrow, won’t they realize I’m a fraud?
I have to bring my male servant along too! That shouldn’t be difficult. Mabel will definitely agree.
For the first time, Elisa felt that Mabel’s fondness for her male servant might actually be a good thing. It would be even better if she’d just stop trying to poach him from me.
Rubbing her forehead helplessly, Elisa tried to pull herself together.
Looking on the bright side, I’ve now joined Eleanor and Mabel’s private little team. Once we finish dealing with this incident, maybe the three of us can become close friends.
This is a perfect opportunity to raise my friendship level with Mabel and Eleanor, just like that time in the East District!
Although, back then, the person who gained the most favor with Mabel was my male servant, Simon…
But this time, it’ll definitely be me!
Elisa began making preparations. She took stock of the transcendent items she had on hand and crafted several talismans that might come in useful.
It was only a precaution. Generally speaking, an investigation like this wouldn’t turn up anything.
The military still hadn’t managed to get to the bottom of the attack on the police station, so what could a team cobbled together by three young ladies possibly accomplish? This was nothing more than a detective game.
After placing the transcendent items and talismans into the clothes she planned to wear tomorrow, Elisa finally turned her attention to the [Finger Bone].
She hadn’t used the [Finger Bone] even once since getting it from her male servant.
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