The Status Effect Count - Chapter 25

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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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Status Abnormality Earl 025
“Enough. Show me the fief reports instead.”
“My lord!”
“Are you truly asking me to lose yet another knight?”
Nadan spoke with exasperation.
“Rise, Hayden. Should I choose to punish you, it won’t be a leniency you’ve begged for.”
“……I shall obey.”
Hayden planted his feet and pushed himself upright.
Standing before his lord, he began his report on the state of the territory.
“……Word has spread as far as Ketilon. Everyone believes the war has ended thanks to you, my lord, and many live in fear that conflict might erupt again.”
The new fief granted to Nadan was Ketilon, the region that had seen the most frequent warfare.
Because both sides had been exhausted by years of conflict, they’d accepted his rule without resistance when he took command. They had acknowledged his martial prowess.
But now that his health had become an issue, the hidden resentments they’d buried were rising to the surface.
“Are there any signs of suspicious activity?”
“Not yet. They’re treating it as mere rumor. But it’s only a matter of time.”
Hayden scratched his chin as he spoke.
“……There are also rumors circulating about a fairy’s curse.”
“Every manner of gossip has taken root.”
“Well, when a man who seems as though he wouldn’t bleed even if you stabbed him anywhere suddenly falls ill—that’s bound to happen. Surely you have some idea what might be behind this?”
“I have more than a few suspicions.”
When Nadan replied with indifference, Hayden let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair.
“I’d almost prefer if something nasty came to light. Since there’s nothing concrete, it only drives a man mad……. Wait, but you do seem somewhat better than before?”
Hayden scrutinized Nadan from every angle.
Ignoring his knight’s hovering inspection, Nadan handed over the reports and asked, “How fares the Holy Maiden?”
Hayden’s expression soured visibly.
“Why ask me about someone in the Imperial Palace? Besides, she’s hardly in any danger.”
“Hayden.”
Nadan fixed him with a cold stare.
“……Nearly half our personnel have been assigned to her guard. Sion is with her as well, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Well done.”
Nadan’s face softened noticeably.
In contrast, Hayden’s expression twisted as if he’d bitten into something foul. He opened his mouth, then closed it, and finally released a grand sigh.
* * *
Hayden. Lord Hayden.
Ann recalled the name without difficulty from what she’d heard before.
‘Hayden, who guesses everything right!’
After the war, a novel had become wildly popular.
It was a hackneyed tale of a hero aiding the Crown Prince to unify the world.
Everyone knew that its main characters were ‘Nadan Preneta’ and the Crown Prince himself.
The novel was entertaining, and its characters were beloved.
‘Hayden’ was the name of one knight among those in the story.
A knight who wielded a massive longbow with remarkable skill.
The most famous tale about him was how he’d struck down a general standing five hundred meters away on the far side of a city gate.
‘That must be an exaggeration.’
If it were true, it would mean an assassin dressed as a maid—someone capable of killing a dozen enemies in a single instant—actually stood at the earl’s side.
‘Even so…… reality is quite different from what I imagined.’
The Hayden in the story had been a rather polished, handsome man. But this one.
“Oh? Are you leaving?”
Ann asked when she encountered Hayden.
Hayden, his disheveled hair tousled further, chuckled dryly.
“He said I’m useless now and noisy, so off I go.”
“……My.”
Had the poor man been severely scolded?
“Ah! No, I mean, I’ve been through the wars with Lord Nadan—I mean, with Nadan—so when I’m around him, I tend to be a bit rough around the edges.”
She hadn’t even asked, yet this knight seemed to know what she was thinking.
‘He’s really not a mind reader, is he?’
Even as Ann eyed him suspiciously, Hayden smiled warmly and extended his hand.
“I’m Hayden Tragger.”
“Ah. I’m Ann Marita. I’m the earl’s personal attendant.”

Ann quickly clasped his hand, and their joined hands shook vigorously up and down.
What strength, and her grip was strong too!
“I understand. You’re quite eager, I hear? I look forward to working with you, Miss Ann.”
“I’m not a ‘Miss,’ though?”
Ann’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Just call me Ann. You outrank me anyway, Hayden.”
Hayden, who looked nothing like a nobleman, laughed with easy charm.
“Come on. I was a commoner just like you until recently. I still can’t quite believe I’m a nobleman.”
“Even so. Please, call me by my name.”
“All right then. That works for me. Ann—I was getting goosebumps from all the formality.”
He’d switched to informality in an instant.
Ann blinked. Hayden grinned and snatched a cup from the tray.
“This one’s mine, right?”
Hayden drained the cold water in one gulp.
Then he casually pocketed several of the cookies that had been set out as refreshments!
Those were mine! I’d only sacrificed them a little for my employer!
“Ahh, that hit the spot. Well, I’ve got to see Belanche, so I’m off!”
The man moved like wind and vanished into the distance in an instant.
What remained was merely an empty cup, an empty plate, and Ann.
No matter how she thought about it.
“He’s like a good-for-nothing.”
Ann muttered to herself.
* * *
Splash—
“Ah, this is heaven.”
Sinking into the warm hot spring water, Ann melted like warm wax.
The night sky was visible between the leaves. An open-air bath where the cool early evening air brushed against her skin was a luxury she’d never imagined possible.
If only that annoying Quest panel wasn’t floating beside her.
[Second Step (2)
-Raise the Count’s Favorability (0/1)
-Remove the Count’s Status Abnormality (0/1)
Time Remaining: D-19]
The first digit had become a 1.
Ann wiped away the water trickling down her cheeks and sighed.
“I really did try my best.”
These past few days, Ann had exerted every effort to get the Count into the hot spring.
* * *
Ann had subtly suggested outings to the Count, or proposed changing bathing chambers for a change of scenery.
‘That way, I could naturally tell him about the spring’s location!’
But the Count’s response to her efforts had been cold.
‘I’m busy. Go alone if you wish to play.’
‘Do you need additional work? It seems you lack sufficient tasks. Here, sit beside me and help me stamp these documents with the official seal.’
Every attempt had been swiftly rejected.
Her second plan had made her more confident.
Through her friends, Ann had secretly spread rumors about the hot spring—that there was a Magical Hot Spring within the manor that cured anything.
It took no time for flesh to grow on the bare bones of that rumor.
Stories bloomed that the previous lord of House Preneta had summoned a sorcerer to create it, or that he’d hidden it for fear the King would claim such a prize, and the whispers swelled like a snowball into an unprecedented sensation.
The knights gossiped with delight.
‘They say it even reattaches severed limbs!’
‘Nonsense. I heard it makes true love bloom!’
Though somehow, the rumors seemed to be drifting further from her original intent……
The knights, pleased by these stories, busied themselves opening every bath in the manor and searching the grounds, often earning scoldings from Belanche in the process.
The search grew so frenzied that Ann began to worry the knights would find the spring before the Count did.
And there was good reason for that fear—the spring was located right behind the manor!
Before they could discover it first, Ann cautiously broached the subject of the magical spring with the Count himself.
“Such a thing exists? In my territory?”
“So they say!”
“Hmm.”
Rarely, Nadan showed interest in her words.
Ann was about to quickly tell the Count that she’d found the magical hot spring.
Unless he was telling me he’d changed his mind.
“There was something similar in the Southern City. There was a famous fountain where throwing gold coins into the center supposedly made wishes come true.”
Gold coins?
A goddess statue carved into a massive fountain—if you tossed gold coins into the tiny basin within it, your wish would supposedly be granted.
Anne found herself thinking of all the gold coins that had fallen into that fountain.
She wanted to collect them.
“Everything in that fountain belongs to the realm. Stealing it would land you in prison for theft.”
“N-no, I wasn’t thinking that at all!”
How had he known? How could he possibly know what she’d been thinking?
Anne asked the question while hastily covering her face.
“So what happened? Did you succeed?”
“No. By the time I went, the war had already destroyed it.”
The fountain, shattered to pieces by war, had lost not only the statue of the goddess but every last gold coin as well.
Of course it had.
A bitter taste coated her tongue. Nadan continued without hesitation.
“If it truly had such power, it wouldn’t have vanished by human hands. It was all just an illusion people created.”
Nadan, who knew all these details, could hardly have been fooled by the rumors Anne had spread.
He dismissed it, saying the knights were probably just bored enough to entertain such fantasies, and told her not to expect anything of it.
All of Anne’s plans had been scrapped.

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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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