The Status Effect Count - Chapter 37

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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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Abnormal Status Count 037
An older knight, who seemed to have more experience than the others, spoke awkwardly.
“My apologies. Those fellows have quite a lot pent up inside them.”
“I understand. You’d have every right to be upset.”
“What can we do? All those knights are children of nobility…… So please be careful yourself.”
Huh? Be careful?
Ann’s eyes widened.
“Even though I have access to the Imperial Palace?”
“Yes. Especially toward those of low standing, they tend to nitpick from time to time. As long as you stay with us at the Eastern Fortress, there shouldn’t be any reason for you to encounter the 1st Knight Order, so it should be fine.”
With those words, the knight retrieved the lunch box, offered his thanks, and patted the other knights’ shoulders vigorously before heading back toward the mission site. He took the sandwich Ann had given him along with him.
‘The Imperial Palace knights have it rough too. Must be all those nobility. Well, I doubt I’ll ever have reason to go there anyway.’
Ann shrugged.
* * *
But several days later.
“Where is this place?”
Ann glanced around. Towering trees surrounded her on all sides. The vitality of weeds was something else.
Ann had clearly cleaned the area around the Capital’s 2nd Knight Order headquarters just days ago, yet it had already reverted to a dense thicket of weeds.
Ann was clicking her tongue when she spotted Spring’s Golden Fibers sprouting once more among the undergrowth, and her eyes brightened.
The ones she’d harvested days before had sold for an excellent price and proved useful in paying off the Temple’s debt.
With another opportunity for pocket money appearing before her, Ann eagerly pulled up the weeds and the golden fibers.
As she pulled and pulled and pulled, before long she found herself in an unfamiliar place.
Just moments ago, the training grounds had been visible.
The knights who had been jogging in formation had passed her with salutes not long before.
‘What in the world am I doing out here?’
She’d been carefully pulling weeds only around the knight order headquarters.
She hadn’t realized she could get lost in such a dense forest in broad daylight, without a single shaft of light breaking through.
“Hello! Is anyone there?”
Ann called out loudly, but the forest remained silent. Only the sounds of small creatures that might inhabit such a thick woodland could be heard.
The trees were so tall that even the Imperial Palace, which should have been visible from anywhere in the Capital, was nowhere to be seen.
Ann began to walk.
She tried to retrace her steps, searching for her own footprints, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Why in the world is there a forest like this in the Imperial Palace?”
Fearing she might only get more lost, Ann stopped in her tracks.
[You have satisfied the Prerequisite Condition for the third Quest.]
[The next Quest will open first.]
Prerequisite, what?
A new panel suddenly appeared before she could finish her thought.
[Third Step]
■ Find ■■■■ and ■■ it (1/4)
Reward: ~Measuring~]
What is this?
Ann tilted her head.
“Hey…… you haven’t even completed the second one yet! Why are we moving on to the third?”
Ann couldn’t help but press the issue.
[The existing Quest is in Suspension status due to an Error.]
[The third Quest, which was waiting, is now entering Overdrive.]
“Hey, you…… swindlers! Give me my reward, now! You said you’d pay off my debt!”
After all the work she’d done for that!
Ann pulled the Laundry Cudgel from her Inventory and swung it about wildly.
Whoosh, whoosh! The panel disappeared and reappeared with each swing.
“Huff, if I’d known this would happen, huff, huff…… I wouldn’t have worked so hard!”
Ann gasped for breath, her face flushed as she shouted.
“And something’s wrong, isn’t it? The letters aren’t showing up!”
Before it had displayed “Error” and “Suspension,” but this new Quest was covered entirely in black squares that made it completely unreadable.
“If you’re going to give me a task, tell me properly what it is!”
Ann dropped to the ground with a thud.
Having exhausted herself swinging the cudgel in frustration, all her strength drained away.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and closed and opened her eyes, but the panel before her remained unchanged, stubbornly hovering in place.
‘Are they seriously going to push this new Quest on me as it is?’
How infuriating! Ann glared at the panel with wide eyes.
They didn’t even show me what the quest was about. And I haven’t received my reward yet. Besides, why is one of the four already marked as complete?
Drowning in endless questions, Anne tentatively rubbed the black-painted section of the tray with the edge of her sleeve. She wondered if something might be stuck there.
But the black square didn’t come clean.
And instead.
Ding.
A clear chime sounded, and a new tray appeared.
[Navigation activated.]
Jae-ryong-i, who had been perched demurely on Anne’s shoulder, suddenly launched into the air.
“Huh?”
After circling once overhead, Jae-ryong-i didn’t settle back on her shoulder as usual. Instead, he hovered in front of Anne’s face, wings fluttering.
“What’s wrong with you?”
No matter how much Anne called or tried to touch him, Jae-ryong-i just kept flying in place without responding.
‘What’s gotten into him?’
She narrowed her eyes to look closer, and noticed something dangling from beneath Jae-ryong-i’s tail feathers.
“A thread?”
A long yellow thread stretched from Jae-ryong-i’s tail all the way to the ground.
She looked up at Jae-ryong-i again.
[Guidance beginning.]
Oh!
Jae-ryong-i, who had been hovering motionless before her eyes, now beat his wings and moved forward.
When Jae-ryong-i had flown roughly five paces away from where Anne stood.
Anne realized that the yellow thread trailing from Jae-ryong-i’s tail had grown long and taut.
“What is this?”
And the end of that thread stretched tightly between her feet and Jae-ryong-i.
Anne tried to grab the thread with her hand, but it had no substance — like golden sunlight itself — and she couldn’t feel anything.
‘Is he telling me to follow?’
Anne took a step forward, treading along the yellow thread.
As she drew closer, the thread grew shorter, and Jae-ryong-i came nearer.
When Anne reached Jae-ryong-i’s side, he flew a short distance ahead once more and stopped.
Only then did Anne grasp his meaning.
“You’re guiding me! You’re showing me the way!”
Anne’s face brightened and she clasped her hands together in delight.
He’d noticed that his mistress was lost! He was offering to guide her — how thoughtful!
She had never found Jae-ryong-i more precious than in that moment.
“Good boy, Jae-ryong-i! Let’s go!”
Anne stowed the heavy bundle in her Inventory and eagerly traced the yellow thread ahead.
* * *
“How much farther are we going?”
“Chirp—”
Though Anne had expected to escape the forest quickly now that Jae-ryong-i had taken the lead, she found herself wandering through the woods for much longer than anticipated.
She crossed hillocks and forded streams.
‘On the way here, I never saw any hills or streams like these. Are we really on the path to the Eastern Fortress?’
Whether Jae-ryong-i knew of her doubts or not, he flew cheerfully ahead at a brisk pace.
‘What if the Count has already returned?’
Though the Count was often away on business, being gone for this long would surely earn her a scolding.
‘Isn’t it about time to prepare his meal?’
The dense forest blocked out the sky, and she couldn’t judge the time at all.
He’d said he was going to survey the roads in the Capital today and would take a while, but still.
“Chirp—”
“Finally?”
When Jae-ryong-i stopped, Anne’s face brightened. Her legs were beginning to ache anyway.
But the place where he’d settled seemed decidedly odd.
In the middle of the forest, a tall fence stretched endlessly, barring the path.
“This is the destination?”
“Chirp.”
“Surely you don’t mean I should climb over that fence?”
“Chirp.”
Apparently, that was the answer.
Anne stared up at the towering fence with a helpless expression. How was she supposed to get over this?
It was far too high for her to jump, and it looked like a place one absolutely should not cross.
Anyone could see it was practically screaming “do not approach!”
“Wait, let me think about this again. Are you absolutely sure this is the right way? You’re telling me you came through here before?”
“Chirp.”
There it was again—that blank, innocent expression!
I had a sinking feeling we’d gone the wrong way.
But to turn back now meant wading through the dense forest stretching behind us, with no guarantee of finding our way out.
This fence alone was the first structure I’d seen in what felt like forever, so I was certain that if I retraced my steps through those woods, I’d wander lost forever.
‘So what on earth is a forest this massive doing inside the Imperial Palace?!’
I suppressed the urge to demand answers from anyone who’d listen and stared desperately at Jae-ryong-i.
“There’s really no other way?”
“Chirp.”
“Can’t we just find a different path?”
[Search is unavailable while Navigation is in use.]
Oh, for heaven’s sake!
As I lingered before the fence, Jae-ryong-i fluttered over and pecked at my cheek repeatedly.
A clear message: go through.
“Wait. How am I supposed to get through there alone?”
“Chirp?”
Jae-ryong-i tilted his head, then slipped effortlessly through the gap between the fence posts.
“Right, because you’re a tiny bird and can just—”
Crunch.
The moment I gripped the post lightly, an ominous sound echoed out, and the wooden pillar I was holding crumbled and fell away.

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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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