The Status Effect Count - Chapter 6

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

Abnormal Status, Count — Episode 006
“…… A maid?”
It was Belentche, the head chambermaid, who emerged from the second floor corridor.
Her usually immaculate hair hung in disarray, and her neat uniform was thoroughly soiled.
Belentche’s wavering gaze gradually steadied, and what surfaced in its place was a question.
“An Marita. What are you doing here?”
“I… you were looking for me, ma’am…….”
Despite her disheveled appearance, her eyes were sharp as frost as they fixed on An’s figure.
“…… Where is the housekeeper?”
“Ekuem, she…….”
Before An could finish, Belentche clicked her tongue.
“They’ve all fled.”
‘Surely not.’
But Belentche’s expression was one of absolute certainty.
An turned her head in confusion, peering down the stairwell.
‘But just moments ago, they were down there……!’
Yet from where she stood at the top of the stairs, the Mansion held not a trace of anyone—only a chilling silence permeated the space.
‘I’ve been duped.’
An reeled as if struck from behind. They’d promised a bonus, then abandoned her alone and fled.
Belentche didn’t give An time to recover from the shock.
“Why didn’t you run as well?”
What was she supposed to say to that?
Belentche, who had no patience for delays, pressed her.
“Don’t bother fabricating lies. Tell me the truth.”
“…… You said you’d give me a bonus.”
An answered honestly in the end.
“Work no one else will do commands a high price. And I need the money.”
A single small, gleaming coin.
An knew well how much weight such a trifling thing could hold in one’s palm—and how many lives it could sustain.
Did she think An was mad for money?
Glancing up cautiously, she found Belentche wore an expression that said, ‘As expected.’
“You’re right. Work that no one else can do merits compensation befitting its value.”
At those words, An’s head snapped up.
“Therefore, An Marita, you are now a Senior Maid.”
“Pardon?”
Just like that?
An absurd promotion, occurring in an instant.
But the chambermaid didn’t answer and simply turned away.
An rushed up the stairs to follow her as she disappeared into the second floor corridor.
‘A Senior Maid, she said?’
Me, who’s been here barely a month?
It had to be a passing remark. She was too stunned to process what had just been said.
But the moment the chaotic state of the second floor corridor caught her eye, all else was forgotten.
The corridor was saturated with that familiar viscous fluid.
Oozing from the gap between the tightly sealed door of the Count’s Bedroom, the liquid pooled abundantly across the floor.
What in the world was happening to the Count?
With no time to contemplate, An found herself already pulling at the bedroom door alongside the chambermaid.
“Marita! Pull harder! We have to save the master inside!”
‘I’m trying!’
An groaned and strained, her face flushed red as she yanked the door. But it wouldn’t budge.
‘We need at least three more grown men for this!’
Through sheer effort and her face burning scarlet, the door that had seemed immovable began to yield, opening slowly.
Creak—
The viscous fluid that had filled the gap poured forth in a torrent.
Only after the liquid had finished oozing out for some time and the door quieted did the interior finally become visible.
The room’s interior appeared no different than before.
Save for one thing: a massive stone formation sat in the center of the room.
‘What…… is that?’
Without hesitation, Belentche approached the object and began to tap it.
Tap-tap!
“My lord. You must wake up!”
An Marita’s eyes flew upward to examine the object above her.
A familiar sight hovered above the stone mass. An ornate golden tray, marked with strange symbols.
A golden tray inscribed with unfamiliar characters floated above the stone.
‘Count Preneta!’
A young man with broad shoulders and a sharp, composed face now stood rigid, staring into empty space.
Like a figure from an old tale—someone who had glimpsed something terrible and turned to stone.
“Marita. We need to move him.”
“What?”
Move him? Like this?
Her employer’s body was not only stone-hard but covered entirely in a sickly green ooze.
The head maid’s resolve was unwavering.
“To the bathroom.”
Yes. That made sense.
An Marita grimaced and seized her employer in a tight embrace, hauling him forward.
‘At least… he’s still alive.’
Cold and slick, hard as stone though he was, she could hear his heart still beating beneath it all.
The two women dragged the Count—now a massive stone mass coated in viscous slime—across the corridor.
Each step was a struggle; the weight left them gasping.
Even after they finally shoved the Count into the lavish bathroom, An Marita’s vision spun and her breath came in ragged gasps.
While An Marita stood clinging to her employer, unable even to catch her breath, Belentche moved with purpose the moment she entered—rummaging through the bathroom, she produced a bottle from somewhere within.
Then—
“There!”
Belentche poured the bottle’s contents over the Count’s body.
Colorful liquid cascaded across him. A pleasant fragrance rose above the stench, mingled with it, and created something altogether stranger.
“Is it… all right to do this?”
“You’ve scrubbed clothes covered in this filth clean enough. How did you manage it then?”
Laundry was An Marita’s specialty.
Most of the garments from the Count’s room came back with stubborn, sticky masses clinging to them—a nightmare to wash—but in An Marita’s hands, they fell away clean.
Her method for removing them?
Well, naturally…
“I soaked them in lye water and soap, scrubbing hard, then rinsed them again and again…”
“Exactly. But we can’t soak a nobleman in lye and soap. However, there is this.”
The ornate bottle Belentche held bore the label: “Premium Cleanser.”
“Dissolves grime instantly and washes it away as if by magic.”
Or so the description promised.
“My lord does seem better after his regular baths.”
So their only option now was to scrub this enormous stone thoroughly clean.
An Marita’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“Won’t they arrest me for insulting a nobleman?”
“They will overlook it.”
“Those who make the effort…”
“…receive a reward.”
At those words, An Marita moved like lightning.
She poured the remaining liquid from the bottle and scrubbed the stone—no, the Count—with a brush, vigorous and thorough.
As if she were cleaning not a man, but a dog or a horse, or perhaps a moss-covered monument centuries old.
Belentche paused at the sight of An Marita’s hands.
It was, in fact, extraordinarily disrespectful to a nobleman.
‘But there is no other way.’
The head maid turned the water on without hesitation. The current gushed down like a waterfall.
“Marita!”
“Yes!”
The sticky, waterlogged slime began to peel away under the force of the bristles.
The man sat motionless, silent.
He did not complain of pain or insult. His face bore an expression as though he had sunk into profound despair.
‘Why does he look like that?’
An Marita wiped sweat from her brow. Her hands, her forearms, her legs—her entire body ached.
Living in this grand mansion.
Using fine things as she pleased.
Never knowing hunger, never wanting for food.
Left alone in the world, her face heavy with despair.
‘Don’t give up. Don’t you dare give up!’
He seemed to let go far too easily of something someone else was struggling desperately to hold onto.
She was furious.
‘I’m making an effort, and this has nothing to do with you!’
‘I’m doing this to save you!’
That was when it happened.
Ding!
Something bright rang out and sprang into the air.
“Whoa!”
An Marita tumbled backward with a heavy thud.
Before she could register the pain, her eyes fixed on what had suddenly blocked her vision.
▎▚▊04 Not▛F⑉█d⑆⑇
Incomprehensible, bizarre characters flickered and shifted across her sight.
They moved so fast her eyes couldn’t follow them.
‘What is this?’
An Marita stared, slack-jawed, as the symbols appeared and vanished in an instant.
“Marita!”
The Senior Maid’s voice sounded strangely distant, as though it were calling from very far away. Everything around her seemed to recede further and further, until the whole world felt impossibly remote.
In this space, there was only An Marita and the frantically moving, incomprehensible ‘something.’
The ‘something’ blazed with pure white light and coalesced into a single form.
It became a white, square Golden Tray. Upon it, letters materialized with a clear, ringing tone.
≫ Do you wish to restart?
“What?”

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