Taking off her coat and removing [Thousand Faces], Elisa lay back down on the soft bed and let out a contented sigh.
The night air was slightly chilly. She rolled over, wrapped herself in the blanket, and opened [Simon’s Log].
[Simon set up the mirror, performed the purification ritual, and prepared to pray to his teacher and report what had happened during the operation.]
[After lighting the ritual candle, he suddenly found the candle strangely attractive and felt an urge to hug it.]
You beast, you won’t even spare a candle!
After thoroughly slandering her male servant, Elisa began to think seriously.
The male servant’s desire to hug the candle was a side effect of the [Scarab Badge]. After using the badge, he would develop an insect-like attraction to light.
I’m currently suffering from the side effects of the [Mist Mirror], [Thousand Faces], and the divine artifact as well. Divine artifacts aren’t supposed to have side effects in the first place. It’s only because I’m too weak. These side effects are a form of losing control. Haah.
The divine artifact was called [Fire Thief], an heirloom passed down from her family’s ancestor. Its side effect was to randomly amplify some kind of detrimental factor.
This time, the divine artifact had amplified the side effect of [Thousand Faces], and the side effect [Thousand Faces] had produced this time was a reduction in age.
[Using astonishing willpower, the male servant suppressed the impulse and continued the prayer ritual.]
Elisa couldn’t suppress hers. Her side effect had manifested directly on her body. She picked up the [Mist Mirror], and reflected in the gray hand mirror was the face of a ten-year-old girl. The side effects of the two items had compounded, turning her into a child.
With a sigh, little Elisa tapped the mirror’s surface with her tiny hand and poured spirituality into it.
Her male servant’s message came through the mirror.
[Simon briefly recounted the operation to his teacher, mentioned that there might be more going on behind the murder case, and asked whether he should investigate.]
After listening, Elisa replied, “The killer was a semi-spirit baboon. It has already been dealt with.”
[Simon marveled at how powerful, benevolent, and mysterious his teacher was.]
After sending that message, Simon guessed that Miss Elisa on the other side would happily read it several times, smiling each time.
He reviewed the message in his mind, making sure he hadn’t left anything out, then prepared to end his report.
Unexpectedly, Miss Elisa on the other side of the mirror sent him a message of her own.
“I’ll be away for a while. Our lessons every evening will continue as usual. At other times, if you have any questions, pray to the mirror. The mirror will answer you and charge the corresponding amount in gold pounds.”
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Simon thought the voice on the other side sounded much more childish than before.
That wasn’t the important part. The important part was this pay-for-knowledge scheme.
All this time, I’ve been the one harvesting Elisa’s wallet. And now this young lady actually wants to harvest my gold pounds?
I don’t remember you being this kind of teacher!
She’s even pretending she’s going away, trying to make me believe the fee is the “mirror’s” requirement and has nothing to do with her, my ever-generous teacher.
Wait a minute. Isn’t that exactly what I’ve been doing? Using [The Young Lady’s Late-Night Lessons] as an excuse, I’ve harvested huge amounts of spirituality from Elisa.
She actually figured out my trick all by herself!
I can already imagine it. In the upcoming “lessons”, Elisa will deliberately withhold certain details, leaving me no choice but to pay her for them.
She would control how much money I had, keeping me at just enough to scrape by. She’d use money to push me into working harder, make me treasure every bit of money I received, and generate even more Affection.
Then she could use the [Mist Mirror] to drain my money before giving it back to me as Miss Elisa, allowing her to farm Affection at zero cost.
Has this blonde baboon actually gotten smarter?
Having figured out Elisa’s scheme, Simon calmly accepted the pay-for-knowledge arrangement.
Gold pounds were useless to him anyway. Living at the manor, he basically had no expenses. Even when he went out, the most he ever bought was a few snacks, which only cost a handful of pence. Occasionally, the maids would even feed him treats and give him things.
Besides, in this pay-for-knowledge scheme, it was still anyone’s guess who would end up harvesting whom.
[Simon reluctantly accepted reality and mourned for his wallet. He felt uneasy, unsure of just how expensive the fees would be.]
Elisa smiled smugly.
Don’t worry, I won’t bankrupt you. I’ll just keep you right on the edge of abject poverty. Then you’d better work hard for me! Stop zoning out and slacking off all the time, and give me more useful information!
She added, “Elisa will also use the mirror ritual. If something happens, she’ll ask the mirror for help. If it’s something the mirror can’t resolve, the mirror will contact you and have you handle it.”
This was meant to separate such tasks from her identity as his teacher. From now on, whenever she wanted to assign her male servant a task, she could do it in the mirror’s name rather than in the name of his generous purple-haired teacher.
It still hurt a little to think about how her male servant had extorted two Transcendent items from her last time!
[Simon reluctantly agreed.]
Done!
Well done, Elisa! You’ve perfectly established an entire harvesting system and eliminated the chronic problems left over from before. This system will keep your male servant in line and make him serve you even better!
“See you again in a while.” Elisa sent a farewell voice message, not forgetting to pretend that she was about to leave on a long journey.
Putting down the [Mist Mirror], Elisa opened [The Young Lady’s Late-Night Lessons] and began thinking about what lesson she should teach her male servant tonight, and what information she should withhold to force him to pay up.
Before she could settle on a lesson, the [Mist Mirror] stirred again.
A customer already? I haven’t even started squeezing him yet!
Elisa immediately connected and prepared to handle her very first piece of business seriously.
What will the male servant ask? How much should I charge him?
First, let’s see how much money he has right now.
Elisa pulled up the money column.
[Money: 127 pounds, 18 shillings, 9 pence]
What?! When did you secretly save up over a hundred pounds?!
Oh, right. He just got it from the gang’s safe. And that’s only the cash, not even counting the jewelry.
Damn it, I have to fleece you for all you’re worth!
No matter what you ask, I’m charging you at least 10 gold pounds!
Under Elisa’s expectant gaze, Simon’s question came through the [Mist Mirror].
“What color underwear am I wearing today?”
Officer, we’ve got a pervert here!
Elisa listened to the voice message twice in disbelief, even carefully rubbing her ears in between.
Is that a question a normal human being would ask?! Even the most perverted harassment I encountered in the Archipelago wasn’t as twisted as you!
Are you flirting with your beloved teacher?
No, wait. Elisa tapped her head. The male servant doesn’t know I’m on the other side of the mirror. If he’s flirting with anyone, he’s flirting with the mirror.
Miss Golden Retriever quickly opened [Simon’s Log].
Let me see what the hell is going on here!
[Simon asked the magic mirror an extremely private question to test the limits of what knowledge its question-and-answer function possessed.]
Another test!
Miss Elisa deflated. If it was a test, then there was nothing she could do about it. The male servant’s question might have been a little strange, but as a test, there was nothing particularly wrong with it. A Transcendent item wouldn’t care about something like that anyway.
Come to think of it, this kind of testing is only natural. If it were me, I’d test it a little too. But I’d never ask such a perverted question!
[Simon waited for a long time, but the magic mirror gave no reply. It seemed the other party either didn’t know the answer or was unable to answer.]
[Simon asked a second question: “What kind of man does Miss Susanna like?”]
“..…?”
Who’s Susanna… Oh, right. That busty university student from the picnic. She was the one who got tangled up in the East District murder case.
You bastard, what are you asking something like that for?
What are you planning to do to the innocent Miss Susanna?!
[The magic mirror still gave no response. Simon asked several more trivial questions about everyday life, but the mirror likewise remained silent.]
[Simon concluded that the magic mirror would only answer questions about general knowledge, not specific information about real-world matters.]
[What he couldn’t determine was whether the magic mirror was unwilling to answer questions about real-world information or simply didn’t know the answers.]
I don’t want to answer, and I don’t know the answers either!
Ask me some proper questions!
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