The Status Effect Count - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Count with an Abnormal Condition — Episode 015
Unable to resist Peter’s hopeful gaze, Anne managed a smile and raised her hands in applause.
“Wow! That’s amazing!”
“Right?”
Peter beamed with pride, grinning widely.
“But will it really be okay? What if Valence sees this?”
“She’s far too busy. Besides, she hardly comes down to this part of the estate.”
Jack adjusted his glasses with the tip of his pen as he answered.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate for them, Valence was the busiest person in the entire mansion—simply because she was the only one capable of solving the endless stream of problems that arose.
‘If she weren’t so occupied, this place would have been condemned long ago.’
They had tried to convince Anne to take a proper room of her own, but she had politely declined.
“It’s more fun with a lot of people around.”
“You might catch a cold.”
“It’s fine. Look—I’ve laid down plenty of cushions, so it’s nice and soft. And since it’s right by the kitchen, it’s perfect for grabbing snacks!”
Peter seemed eager to convince Anne of how wonderful this cramped, hidden corner of a workspace was, but Anne had somewhere far better in mind.
Before their disappointment could deepen, Anne made her escape.
‘Thank goodness. Still, it seems they’ve all adjusted remarkably fast.’
Just yesterday they’d been awkward as sacks of grain, but now they were loitering about without the head maid catching them.
Not that they looked much like servants of a noble house…
What face would the count—who fretted over every seam and embroidery on a cushion—make if he saw this mess?
Anne giggled to herself.
“My room really is the best!”
Back in her secret refuge, Anne quickly stretched out on the damp, cozy bed.
A tingling sensation spread through her heavy legs.
Anne sprawled flat on her back and muttered to herself.
“This is definitely going to cause muscle soreness.”
If she had to climb the stairs back and forth again tomorrow, her frail legs would swell up like iron clubs!
Absolutely not! Anne panicked and began massaging her legs frantically.
Someone tapped her cheek lightly.
“Chirp!”
It was Jaelong, who’d been perched on her shoulder all day.
Like the name tags and platters, this bird of an unusual color was invisible to everyone else’s eyes.
Even though it had remained clinging to Anne’s shoulder the entire time.
“Do you need assistance?”
“But you’re just going to say something useless again anyway.”
Anne said matter-of-factly.
“Do you need assistance?”
This one was remarkably persistent.
Anne narrowed her eyes at Jaelong.
In the bird’s pitch-black pupils, which seemed to understand yet not understand her words, Anne’s reflection gleamed back at her.
Could it be…?
“Hey. You can’t do something like Mind Reading, can you?”
“Chirp?”
“Or see through what people want, wait—that’s basically the same thing as Mind Reading.”
Jaelong simply tilted its small head back and forth.
Anne deflated, resting her chin on her hand as she tapped lightly on the tip of Jaelong’s beak.
“So what can you actually do? Want to help out together? Can you do Item Moving?”
[Searching for Item Moving]
Huh?
Chirp-chirp-chirp—
Jaelong trilled thinly and fluttered upward, hovering motionless in mid-air. Its black pupils spun round and round.
Then it stilled.
“Beginner’s Tip! When performing many Item Moves, make use of your Inventory!”
There it goes again. Just spewing out strange words.
“Inventory?”
The moment Anne asked aloud, a massive tray shot up in front of her eyes.
The large tray bore a grid pattern across its surface.
* * *
“For the pillow—”
“Between the rose-embroidered one, the slightly higher one, and the one that’s so plush your foot sinks right in, which would suit you best?”
“Some cool water—”
“I brought water with lemon and thyme, ice and all!”
Nathan stared at Anne intently.
He looked at her, then past her to the space behind. He seemed to be checking whether someone else was there.
Anne smiled knowingly, as if she hadn’t noticed.
“Would you like something else instead?”
“…….”
By now, the side table beside him was crowded with numerous glasses of water, the floor was strewn with cushions, and books pulled haphazardly from the library were piled high in chaotic abundance.
Anne stood amid all this, beaming with satisfaction.
See? This is what I mean by “I have no idea what the master wants, so I’ll just bring everything.”
Last night.
A latticed tray suddenly appeared before Anne’s eyes, far larger than any she’d seen before.
And unlike the other trays that bore inscriptions, this latticed one…….
“It’s just pictures?”
Small illustrations were drawn one by one within the grid squares.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
In response to Anne’s question, Jaelong tilted his head, then hopped about in place, bouncing eagerly.
Figure it out yourself, then?
Anne sighed and turned her attention back to the latticed tray.
The pictures drawn in each square were all different. A bucket, a key, straw, and straw again, and many more…….
“This looks kind of like my pen?”
Anne quickly rummaged through her pockets.
Lately, the pen she often kept there had been disappearing.
And yet here it was, something similar to the pen she’d lost, drawn right there on the tray!
In the square next to it was something that looked like the notebook she’d misplaced.
Next to that was the hair tie she’d lost.
Wait?
“Why are all my things here?”
Every lost item was drawn there.
Even the errand slips and maps she’d jotted notes on were visible.
Good heavens. I thought for certain I’d dropped them somewhere.
They were all here.
“You took all of these?”
Anne grabbed the tray and shook it vigorously, but the tray offered no answer.
Wait, hold on.
Jaelong had just told her this.
When using Item Moving with many objects, make use of the Inventory.
“Does that mean…….”
Anne slowly looked up at the latticed tray she now understood to be the Inventory.
The pictures in each square of the large grid looked exactly like the compartments of a massive drawer chest.
Anne slowly brought her hand down to one of the squares.
Then.
A pen fell to the floor with a soft thud and rolled away.
“Oh!”
It had clearly been a picture.
Yet the pen rolling across the floor was a real object, not a drawing.
Moreover, it was definitely the pen Anne had lost. Even the worn part at the tip matched exactly!
Anne looked back up. The square where the pen had been drawn was now empty.
Which meant.
“I can take out everything else too?”
Anne quickly reached for the pictures.
With each touch, objects burst forth as if breaking through a thin membrane.
Pens, ornaments, shells and water bottles—countless items tumbled from the air and scattered across the floor.
“Wow! Wow! Wow!”
It was a remarkable sight.
Anne couldn’t help but gasp with wonder.
Though the room became a complete mess with all the things strewn about, the thrill was even greater.
“It’s like magic!”
To summon objects from thin air! It felt as if she had become some great and powerful mage.
Even though they were all things that had been in her pockets and then vanished.
Wait, hold on.
“If I can take things out, then I can put them back in too, right?”
* * *
The result was every single object now piled in front of Nathan.
After that, Nathan kept sending Anne on errands, but Anne stayed one step ahead.
‘Because I’ve been sweeping up everything of the master’s from the warehouse since this morning.’
Cushions, towels, books, odds and ends—the moment she stuffed it all into the Inventory, the grid filled to bursting.
Once she’d packed it completely full, new slots even appeared.
Anne emerged from Nathan’s bedroom, humming as she descended the stairs.
‘This is fantastic!’
Whatever Nathan demanded, Anne would slip out of the room in an instant and call out the name Inventory from some corner.
Of course she’d waited a reasonable amount of time to avoid suspicion, but even that was fast enough.
In the end, Nathan surrendered first.
“That’s enough. Stop.”
“Is there nothing else you need? Oh, I know—you must be bored. Shall I fetch a Chess Board instead—”
“You want me to pile even more things in here?”
Nathan’s voice carried a note of exasperation as he questioned her.
And he was right—his room was already stuffed with all manner of objects.
When he’d asked for a book, she hadn’t just brought that book, but another one too, and a lamp, and blank paper—all of it, dragged in at once.
The way Anne kept fetching things he hadn’t even asked for, one after another, had transformed what was once an empty room into complete chaos.
“If you bring much more, I won’t even be able to lie down properly.”
Nathan sighed, surveying the clutter around him. Anne picked up on it then.
“……Should I put it all back?”
Nathan shook his head. He looked tired of it all.
“Just sit still for a while. All this back-and-forth is exhausting.”
Perhaps she’d overdone it.
At first, her intention had been to handle the master’s errands perfectly, but somewhere along the way it had gotten excessive.
Putting things into the Inventory had been so entertaining that she kept wanting to take them out and put them back in again.
Such a marvelous magic it was!
No matter how many objects she carried, they never grew heavy or taxing.
But the truly remarkable thing was something else entirely.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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