The Status Effect Count - Chapter 41

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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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An Abnormal Count — Episode 41
Most of the regular knights came to the dining hall, ate their meals on time, and left, but there were occasions when deliveries became necessary.
However, the kitchen was just as short-staffed as the Knight Order itself, so knights often went without their meals or received them late.
In the midst of all this, the newly arrived Anne proved invaluable.
“I hate to keep asking, but would you mind taking this delivery too?”
Anne always accepted Rosanna’s requests gladly. And for good reason.
[Sudden Quest triggered!
Deliver Ham Sandwiches to the knights (0/3)
Reward: 4 XP]
That was why.
“Of course!”
Anne smiled brightly and accepted another basket.
The two baskets weighed differently, causing her arm to tilt to one side, but it didn’t matter.
She could simply dump them into her Inventory the moment she left the kitchen.
Leaving Rosanna’s thanks behind, Anne exited the kitchen, stowed the meals in her Inventory, and called out to Jaelong.
“Jaelong, search the route to the Training Ground for me. And make sure it’s the main road — no shortcuts.”
[Current Location → Training Ground: Navigation via main streets will now commence.]
Jaelong took the lead. Anne followed leisurely, her eyes on the bird’s adorable little tail.
In this way, Anne completed countless errand quests and…….
leveled up.
[Lv. 3 Maid Anne Marita]
The day she’d nearly died in the Garden and barely made it back alive, Anne bombarded Jaelong with questions.
She could no longer pretend not to understand the strange words she’d been glossing over.
As she sorted through them one by one, Anne came to understand the Inventory, Levels, and Skills.
Among wizards and priests, those who reached higher levels of attainment were classified by rank, and this “Level” system seemed to work similarly.
The difference was that those rankings usually placed 1 at the top, whereas this Level system started at 1 as the lowest state and counted upward from there.
‘So basically, I’m third from the bottom in terms of usefulness.’
When she’d met Crown Prince Rwendalin, she’d only managed to climb to Level 2, but the Sudden Quests had made it easy enough to reach Level 3 shortly after.
Tasks that used to be simple errands back then became Sudden Quests now, cropping up intermittently here in the Imperial Capital.
And whenever she completed an errand and finished a quest, something called “Experience Points” would accumulate.
As those points built up, her Level would rise, and with each rise, she moved further away from being utterly worthless.
She still didn’t understand why the work she’d always done suddenly came with “Experience Points” attached.
‘Don’t overthink it! You’ll get a headache!’
Anne decisively shut the thought away and opened her Skill window.
Once her Level increased, she could now use something called “Skills” — magic that made her life considerably easier.
Anne deftly activated the Swift Feet skill she’d acquired upon reaching Level 3.
Her feet grew light, and her walking pace quickened. Even moving at a leisurely stroll, she was practically running.
‘If I keep climbing higher and higher, will I become the finest maid on the entire continent?’
Imagining such a future, the Sudden Quests that popped up regularly no longer felt so tedious.
“There’s no harm in making a good impression on the castle staff.”
But Anne had no way of understanding why, or how, she’d come to be doing all this in the first place.
When she’d pressed Jaelong on the matter, the bird had only spouted off [Please set a new search term] repeatedly, and eventually its entire body began crackling.
A small bird that broke apart and reformed — what a grotesque thing!
Terrified by the sight, Anne had hurriedly wrapped Jaelong in a blanket and shoved the bundle into a wardrobe.
All night long, bizarre sounds of [Searching, searching] echoed from inside that wardrobe.
It was genuinely frightening.
The next day, Jaelong returned to normal, and Anne made a mental note to be slightly kinder to the bird going forward.
And then this appeared as well.
“Affinity.”
A long window suddenly materialized.
Below Nadan’s name, beneath a newly formed silhouette of a person, someone’s name had been written.
[Crown Prince Rwendalin O Denata]
The Crown Prince’s name.
[You do not understand this person.]
‘That’s about right.’
Every time she looked at the name listed there, a chill crept across her shoulders.
‘This is… something I want to pretend not to know about for the rest of my life.’
Anne quietly closed the Affinity window.
* * *
After completing his inspection of the Northern Checkpoint, Nadan returned and suddenly issued Anne an utterly absurd order.
“From now on, you’re forbidden from running errands for anyone else.”
“I beg your pardon?”
But then I won’t be able to take on any quests.
“You keep wandering about, and it’s become inconvenient for me.”
“But I have nothing else to do?”
I’d already polished the master’s office until it gleamed the moment he arrived, and organized all his documents neatly!
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
A thick book suddenly dropped onto Anne’s lap with a thud.
“Sit and read this.”
“I beg your pardon?”
The cover of the hefty tome, so weighty she could barely hold it with one hand, bore the words “Court Etiquette” in bold script.
‘Is he saying I’m rude?’
Anne pouted and grumbled under her breath.
“But I’m only a maidservant.”
“There’s no harm in learning.”
Nadan’s blue eyes rolled slowly toward her.
“Especially since you’re my maidservant and move about the Imperial Capital. If you slip up, it’ll reflect poorly on me. So study hard. I’ll test you once a day.”
“A test?”
Where did such a rule suddenly come from!
Anne stared at Nadan with an aggrieved expression, but he’d already retrieved the documents he needed from his desk and, without so much as a glance in her direction, turned to leave.
He paused at the door and drove the point home with one final remark before striding out.
“I said don’t wander around.”
The door clicked shut, leaving Anne alone in the suddenly silent office.
“Ugh. He’s a tyrant, that’s what he is.”
Anne grumbled and opened the book. It was so heavy she spent a good while just arranging herself to be able to read it.
But contrary to her expectations, Anne found the etiquette book quite engaging.
She’d been worried—thick as it was and printed in archaic script—but the content itself wasn’t difficult.
The proper way to walk.
The correct way to sit.
The neat way to eat a meal.
Anne read through the book as though it were a tale from another world, its pages laid out like instructions for a child about things one could live perfectly well without knowing.
That nobles had to follow all this.
‘Aristocrats really do live complicatedly.’
“Heh.”
Anne stifled a laugh.
Scattered throughout the pages were marginal notes that matched her thoughts exactly.
The etiquette book the Count had pulled from the shelf was clearly used.
Perhaps someone like Anne had read it before. Between the lines of proper conduct ran annotations—rebuttals to the very passages printed beside them.
└Who cares about this stuff.
└Why do you lot get to decide this anyway.
Yeah, I agree.
Seeing comment after comment made her keep laughing.
Whoever wrote this clearly had an unfiltered personality. And they seemed rather clumsy with a pen.
‘I thought at first the Count had written it.’
Since he was the one who’d brought out the book, she’d naturally assumed Nadan was the author. But the handwriting she knew from him was elegant and precise.
Then whose could it be?
Definitely a child who absolutely detested learning etiquette.
Anne pulled a pen from her pocket and added her own reply beneath one of the notes.
└Aristocrats really do live complicatedly.
└I’m so grateful I’m not one.
This is how I’ll study—by having fun with it.
Anne hummed to herself and turned the page.
<How to Politely Decline Another’s Proposal> was a chapter absolutely filled with complaints.
Anne read through the marginal notes one by one, clutching her stomach in laughter.
* * *
In a corner of the kitchen at Preneta Manor, servants who’d finished their day’s work chattered away.
“Speaking of which, the Victory Celebration will be held soon.”
“The whole town’s in an uproar. The shop owner’s been asking everyone to place orders in advance if they need anything.”
“Oh, me! I need to buy new shoes. I can’t dance in ones with holes in them.”
“Do you have a partner?”
“Just get one if you need to!”
The Victory Celebration commemorating the Unification of the Continent was the grandest event held in the Capital.
Since the war began, all parties and gatherings had vanished entirely, making this the only festival worth its name.
Among the servants buzzing with excitement, only Ann sat in silence, picking at cookies.
Sonya turned to her suddenly.
“Ann, what about you? Do you have a partner?”
“Me?”
“No, wait—do you at least have proper clothes to wear out?”
Sonya’s eyes narrowed slightly.
She’d just realized she’d never seen Ann in anything but the countess’s maid uniform.
Ann shrugged.
“I don’t have any, but there’s no need to buy them. I’m not going anyway.”
“You’re not going?”
“Why on earth not? It’s supposed to be an enormous festival. There’ll be plenty to eat, singing, dancing—everything!”
Peter and Jack’s eyes went wide. They couldn’t fathom why Ann would refuse to attend.
Ann bit into another cookie with a crunch before answering.
“What’s the point if I enjoy it? If I go to the festival, I’ll just spend money.”
Silence fell over the kitchen.

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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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