The Status Effect Count - Chapter 28

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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 Count 028
Ann had many younger siblings. When they lived in the Temple, her little brothers and sisters would constantly pester her to read Fairy Tale Books to them.
Not just a plain reading either—she had to change her voice and perform it convincingly, or they’d reject it outright.
Back then, she’d thought her siblings were simply too picky.
“Show me your true form. I wish to face you properly and have a real conversation.”
“……Insolent fool! I am already standing before you!”
She never imagined her old trick would be put to use like this.
As she constricted her throat to produce the sound, a strange metallic ring burst forth from Ann’s voice.
She’d mimicked a dragon’s cry, monsters, even a witch’s voice this way. Her siblings had always grown tired of the repertoire, saying she did it constantly.
‘I am a fairy now. A fairy.’
“Look below the Waterfall!”
The voice ringing out from the water-filled spring sounded all the more otherworldly.
Though Ann herself was frightened by the sound she was producing, Nadan didn’t bat an eye as he turned his gaze toward the center of the spring.
His blue eyes slowly descended, following the cascading waters beneath the Waterfall.
“……A stone?”
“A stone, you say!”
Ann sharply corrected him in an indignant voice.
“Look at it from any angle—it’s clearly a fairy!”
“A fairy?”
Nadan folded his arms.
From his perspective, it was merely a stone statue in the shape of a person, no taller than a small child. With flowers adorned on its head and something else attached to its back, he naturally assumed those were merely decorations.
“……You’re telling me that you are a fairy?”
Don’t be ashamed, Ann Marita!
Ann, who called herself a fairy and was the source of this mysterious voice, squeezed her eyes shut.
“……Yes. I am a fairy!”
“Please refrain from such nonsense. Fairies do not exist in this world.”
“How arrogant, boasting that you understand everything with that meager human knowledge. How presumptuous.”
“Well…….”
Nadan’s words caught in his throat.
This was her moment.
“I am the second daughter of the Fairy King! I descended to the Human Realm to see the world, but while fleeing from the Evil God who fell in love with my beauty and seeks to destroy the world, I was turned to stone!”
“What?”
Ann knew exactly how to make an outrageous lie land well.
‘Spill it out without hesitation!’
In other words, the art of bewildering the mind.
Ann made full use of the books she’d read over the years to suit her siblings’ tastes.
“Ah, this endless night—this day of sorrow that has persisted! With no way to return to my homeland, and the Evil God who still yearns for me threatening to destroy the world, I have no choice but to sacrifice this body of mine to protect the Continent!”
“…….”
“My beautiful form has been transformed into cold stone from that very day!”
“…….”
“The Evil God, captivated by the beauty of this little fairy…….”
“…….”
“T-threatened to destroy the world! So I had no choice but to seal myself away—”
“Enough. Let’s leave it at that. If I listen to any more of this absurd prattle, I fear my head will break.”
Nadan deliberately averted his gaze from the small fairy’s statue and pressed his temples. His expression showed he wanted nothing more than to turn back and escape from this nonsense immediately.
‘That won’t do!’
“Though I have become stone, the tears of my sorrow never cease, and the water that pools has formed this sacred spring. The place where you stand is the supreme spring created by me, the second daughter of the Fairy King!”
“In any case, please stop.”
“You are a hero of the Continent. Yet seeing you cursed and on the brink of death, I took pity and chose to lead you to my spring to heal you. How dare you doubt me!”
“……My life?”
The rules of fairies. The first is presumptuous, and the second is equally presumptuous.
And then.
‘Now……!’
In that instant, a dazzling cascade of multicolored light burst forth from the Waterfall.
The third and final part was the special effect.
She’d learned about it while cleaning. The thing erupted once every hour.
While Ann laughed silently to herself, Nadan squinted his eyes.
As the brilliant light filtered through the cascading waters, an otherworldly power seemed to emanate from the fairy statue standing before it.
Nadan stared at both the spring and the statue with a gaze as though facing a mortal enemy.
For a moment, it seemed as though his glare alone could crush not just the statue, but the entire spring itself.
“You’re dying. Surely you know your life is nearly spent?”
Nadan’s fingers twitched involuntarily.
His hands were stiffening, hardening by degrees. Writing with a pen was already difficult—and when he gripped a sword, his fingers would go numb, forcing him to drop it again and again.
But no one was meant to know that.
Yet the fairy spoke as if she had glimpsed everything within him.
“Your senses are petrifying, are they not? Not just your fingers, but soon your arms, your whole body, even your heart will turn to stone. Like that night!”
“……!”
The memory of his body hardening like stone, of slipping toward death. A moment when the end had been so near.
Nadan stared at the fairy statue, its form wavering in the luminous haze.
So little time remained. And he would suffer the same fate again.
Even now, Nadan barely held his ground—sustained only by the sheer force of his will.
And then came this impossible vision, this voice claiming to be a fairy. It was temptation too sweet to resist.
A gentle smile seemed to flicker across the stone fairy’s face.
“Do not fear. I will save you.”
“…….”
The fairy’s words carried an echo of someone else’s voice.
Nadan took a slow step toward the statue.
“Then… what do I need to do?”
“Bathe!”
‘Please, just get in the spring! I swear I’ll save you!’
Ann pleaded silently.
She’d exhausted her theatrical arsenal, and she certainly couldn’t force him bodily into the water.
“…….”
Ann pressed herself deeper into shadow, tensing. Would he bark at her again?
As she deliberated, Nadan began to slowly disrobe, slipping the gown from his shoulders.
As the count approached the spring and the white fabric parted to reveal his lean, sculpted frame, Ann quickly averted her gaze.
‘I’ve seen it countless times, so why does it suddenly look so… dangerous?’
Ann pressed down hard on her thundering heart.
Then she released the breath she’d been holding.
‘Maybe I really do have a talent for acting? I thought he’d be furious—called out for being so presumptuous and arrogant—but…’
Yet Nadan, though his fists clenched, said nothing at all.
Soon after, a floating window materialized above Ann’s head.
[Count Nadan has been invited to the Fairy’s Wish!]
[You receive an Additional Effect.]
[Health Recovery +100%
During the duration, Status Abnormality (Poison) Recovery +5%]
[Bonus for 2-Participant Engagement: +20% Experience]
Finally!
‘I succeeded, didn’t I?’
The messages were dense with difficult phrasing, but there was no doubt—the quest had been completed.
More than that:
The troublesome request that had been gnawing at her had finally shifted to an ‘In Progress’ state!
[Make the Count Spotless (0/1) (In Progress……)]
The quest window’s infuriating text had finally changed!
Debt repayment and lifetime employment were drawing closer.
Ann crept toward the edge of the waterfall and peered down.
Through the roiling mist, in the one gap where the hot spring lay exposed, she glimpsed his broad back submerged in the water.
The count lay with his body relaxed, leaning against the stone around the fairy statue, eyes closed.
His cheeks had flushed pink from the warmth of the water, and droplets fell from his wet hair that hung loose outside the towel—drip, drip.
Gulp.
Ann felt as though she were witnessing something she shouldn’t, and squeezed her eyes shut.
‘But… this is… well, I’m just checking that the count is recovering properly.’
Her wandering gaze drifted back to hover above the count’s head.
[Nadan Preneta: Status Abnormality (Poison) Recovering……]
It was working!
All the ominous portents—the shadow of death, the deadline, the counting days—had vanished.
In their place, a new elongated cylinder had appeared below.
A golden line shimmered along the scale inside the empty bar.
‘What is that?’
Looking closer, she saw small numbers written at the end of the cylinder.
[■□□□□□□□□□ 10%]
Could it be…?
Ann’s eyes widened as she glared at the cylinder. A moment passed.
[■■□□□□□□□□ 20%]
The instant the golden area of the cylinder expanded, Ann nearly gasped aloud, forgetting even that the Count must not discover her.
‘It’s measuring time!’
The cylinder was filling slowly, in sync with the passage of time.
Until it reached the top, Nadan would need to remain in the bath.
Perhaps another thirty minutes or so?
‘But the Count finishes bathing so incredibly fast.’
Whether because he was a knight or because of long years living on the battlefield, Nadan’s speed at washing was extraordinary.
It seemed less like bathing and more like he simply plunged into the water and emerged.
And yet, surely—not now, when he was trying to heal from his illness. Surely he would stay in longer.
Ann poked her head out again, cautiously.
The Count, whom she’d thought was lying still in the water, was shifting about restlessly.
That expression—so clearly irritated!
As if he wanted to leap from the water this very instant.

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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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