[Having finished his tests, Simon asked if there was any method he could use to speed up his cultivation and increase his strength.]
Finally, a normal question! Elisa was so moved she could almost cry.
That whole string of trivial questions earlier had polluted both my eyes and my brain. But I couldn’t exactly ignore them either. It was absolute torture!
She raised a hand and wrote the price on the mirror.
15 pounds.
Gold coins quickly dropped out of the mirror. Her male servant had paid without the slightest hesitation.
Elisa counted the coins and happily put them away, then wrote out a [Meditation] ritual on the mirror.
The cultivation of Transcendents primarily relied on [Meditation]. Meditation strengthened the connection between a Transcendent and their spells, allowing them to draw out more of a spell’s power. So if one wanted to cultivate faster, they had to enhance the effects of meditation. Generally speaking, there were two ways to do this: [Potions] and [Rituals].
Potion ingredients were difficult to find, and brewing them was troublesome. Ritual materials, on the other hand, were much easier to gather, making them perfect for her male servant.
[Simon memorized the ritual written on the mirror and decided to try it tomorrow. Dawn was almost here, and he needed to get some rest.]
[Just before ending his question-and-answer session with the magic mirror, a sudden idea flashed through his mind.]
[Simon wanted to use a logic puzzle to test whether the magic mirror was a curly-haired baboon.]
What, another test?
Elisa took a closer look and relaxed when she saw it was only a logic puzzle.
I went to university in the Archipelago, you know! Sure, I only audited a few classes, but a measly logic puzzle like this will be a piece of cake!
Elisa opened the bedside cabinet, took out some paper and a pen, and prepared to work through the problem.
[Simon asked: Suppose that in a village, everyone’s eyes are either red or blue.]
[This village is under a curse. The moment a villager realizes that they have blue eyes, they will die at midnight that same day. Because of this, the villagers never discuss eye color, nor do they look at the color of their own eyes.]
[One day, a villain came to the village and announced in front of everyone: “I can see at least one person with blue eyes.”]
[There are actually four blue-eyed people in the village. On which day will they die?]
[Simon waited expectantly for the magic mirror’s response.]
The magic mirror gave no response at all. Miss Elisa stared blankly at the paper. The question didn’t seem that complicated. I understand everything he said, so why does my mind go completely blank when I put it all together?
What kind of logic puzzle is this?! Aren’t normal logic puzzles supposed to be things like getting a wolf, a sheep, and a cabbage across a river? What do eye color and curses have to do with anything? He didn’t even tell me how many people there are in the village!
How am I supposed to solve this?!
Elisa gritted her teeth and began listing the known conditions, but the more she thought about it, the more confused she became. Finally, she threw down her pen in frustration and burrowed under the covers.
[The magic mirror gave no response. This question does not involve information about the real world, so there is no reason it should be unable to answer. Simon tentatively concluded that the magic mirror was merely a library or a repository of knowledge with no intelligence of its own.]
Who are you calling unintelligent?!
Elisa kicked off the covers, grabbed her pen and paper, and set out to prove herself.
***
Simon lay in bed. [The Young Lady’s Late-Night Lessons] had yet to begin. Miss Elisa was still trying to conquer the logic puzzle.
Heh. That’s what you get for withholding fifteen pounds from me.
Simon closed his eyes and slept for three hours. When he woke up, the [Classroom] still hadn’t shown any signs of starting. His Miss Elisa was still locked in a fierce battle with the logic puzzle.
That was only natural. Although Miss Elisa claimed that she was already an adult, her coming-of-age day was actually still nearly half a year away. She was still an underage girl, with the immature pride of youth.
Although the story elements of Elisa’s route bore a strong resemblance to The Count of Monte Cristo, the Count was already in his forties when he began his revenge.
At Elisa’s age, the Count of Monte Cristo had only just been framed and thrown into prison. In a sense, Elisa was already doing better than him. At the very least, she hadn’t ended up behind bars.
In his previous life, Simon had once asked a friend on the game’s planning team about it. Elisa’s storyline had actually drawn more inspiration from a famous avenger in the popular manga Naruto.
His clan had likewise been wiped out, he had likewise fallen into darkness later on, and even the reason behind his clan’s destruction was similar. The clan had been plotting a conspiracy of its own.
After arriving in the Archipelago, Elisa had certainly been through quite a lot and spent several years as an adventurer. But much like that famous avenger, all of those experiences had taken place under the protection of her village and her teacher.
One thing she had better than him was that Elisa had only been three when tragedy struck her family. She barely remembered them, and her emotional attachment to them was relatively vague. As a result, she wasn’t nearly as obsessive, and her desire for revenge stemmed more from a sense of obligation.
As long as she was guided down the right path, the young girl would never become that tyrannical queen.
Simon threw off the covers and edited the log.
[Simon woke up and recalled his dreams. There had been no nightmares, nor had any mysterious knowledge suddenly appeared in his mind. His teacher had most likely truly gone on a long journey. She hadn’t even had time to conduct yesterday’s dream class.]
What? It’s morning already?!
Elisa raised her head in a daze, the pen slipping from her fingers. The page still contained nothing but the known conditions. She hadn’t found even the slightest clue as to how to solve the puzzle.
***
[Simon enjoyed a delicious breakfast. His sense of belonging to the manor increased.]
[Intimacy +2]
[Intimacy: 98]
[Note: Additional functions will be unlocked once Intimacy reaches 100.]
A week had passed since the East District murder case. Miss Elisa’s life had been peaceful, and she had attended another neighborhood gathering. This time, however, she gained nothing from it. The attendees were merely ordinary wealthy merchants and senior employees.
She had forgotten her male servant’s logic puzzle in a cabinet, while Eleanor and Mabel also seemed to have forgotten about the East District incident and had made no further attempts to investigate it.
If Eleanor hadn’t sent her an invitation to a small gathering, Elisa might have thought that her two allies had already forgotten about her.
The gathering was scheduled for this afternoon. According to the letter, Eleanor and Mabel had invited a few of their closer friends to a private get-together.
Attending a gathering like this meant that Elisa, in her identity as the daughter of a wealthy merchant, was officially entering Eleanor and Mabel’s social circle.
The only question was just how high-ranking Eleanor and Mabel’s circle actually was.
The thought gave Elisa a headache.
In the old days, a family’s influence could be gauged from its noble title and official positions, but that was no longer the case.
Power was no longer tied to noble titles. The emerging bourgeoisie had attained unimaginable status, and although bureaucrats still oversaw specific affairs, it was now the members of parliament who issued decrees and formulated policies.
Mabel’s family were both nobles and members of the emerging bourgeoisie. Her father was a member of parliament, and the family possessed immense wealth. Mabel could casually put up a hundred thousand pounds to establish a workplace injury foundation.
Nobles had all but vanished from the military, replaced by career soldiers without titles. To guard against assassination, military officers also placed great importance on privacy, making it even harder to judge how much influence they wielded.
I wonder how much influence Eleanor’s family has in the military. Do they have a general in the family?
If they can influence the investigation of Transcendent cases, they must at least have someone at the field-officer level!
Thinking about it that way, I can’t compare to either Eleanor or Mabel.
But if I reveal my true identity as the youngest Fifth-Rank Transcendent of the new century, along with my status as a student of the Moon Sage, that would be a different story.
Elisa regained her confidence and contentedly ate her breakfast.
Before heading to the gathering, she still had one thing to take care of.
I need to raise that 98 Intimacy already. Leaving it stuck there is driving me crazy!
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