Mage Manual
Chapter 467 - 386: Servant Ash

Chapter 467: Chapter 386: Servant Ash

"I know you might not want to accept my gift... but what if I wear thigh-high stockings?"

Ash, dressed in a deacon’s outfit, showed no reaction as he continued to forcefully clean the window, while Yvalin lifted her skirt to her thighs, revealing a tantalizing expanse of white skin.

"I mean, if you’re going to use a honey trap, don’t stand outside the window. Through the glass, it’s no different from looking at a risqué picture."

"What if there wasn’t any glass and you actually touched me?" Yvalin pouted, pulling out her notebook to record, "When faced with thigh-high stockings, Ash Heath’s gaze became fixed and his heartbeat increased by 13%, showing slightly weaker resistance than with black stockings. It seems to belong to a Tier 0 preference... I’ve collected enough intelligence, now I’ll have an illusionist create an action movie starring you and Hanna with all the elements that make your heart race. You’ll definitely buy it."

Ash felt like he was struck by a bolt from the blue, "Are you threatening me?"

"That’s clearly seduction!"

"What if the young lady finds out? Besides, she isn’t really my type!"

"Is that so? But from yesterday’s beauty chart statistics, your heartbeat reaction was most evident when you saw Hanna. Maybe Hanna isn’t your type, but given your current status with her, she’s the type most likely to excite you, given that male desire is all about conquest... Oh, by the way, does that mean you’re interested in me too?" Yvalin clapped her hands lightly, her eyes smiling, "If you’re willing to accept my sponsorship, I’m not opposed to giving you a chance to pursue me."

"Please don’t make such disgusting jokes; I still have to clean the window."

"Witch." Yvalin’s expression suddenly changed, her right eye coldly fixing on Ash, sending shivers down the spine of the cult leader.

She opened the Gospel Book and with a flick of her right hand, pulled a tomato out of nowhere and slammed it against the window. The costly carmine juice, worth hundreds of Gospel Points, smeared across Ash’s view.

"No need to thank me. Since you love cleaning windows so much, take your time," she said.

After speaking, Yvalin left with an arrogant air, resembling a child who had just played a prank. Ash, faced with the mess before him, could only dampen his rag to deal with the unwarranted malice, then continued cleaning the windows, scrubbing the floors, and wiping the light fixtures... After busying himself for two or three hours, the cult leader finally had the corridor immaculately clean.

At 11 AM, break time arrived; Ash set down his cleaning tools and headed for the basement level dining hall, where several dozen servants were already dining, and they were just a portion responsible for the main building.

It was said that Belladett Manor had a total of eighty thousand servants. Servant dining facilities were scattered across the manorial forest, snowy mountains, wilderness, and Hell Zone, each with varying culinary preferences. The main building servants’ dining hall was of moderate quality, built above Hell’s molten lava, this dining hall had garnered rave reviews, making many servants specifically request duty in the Hell Zone.

However, none of this concerned Ash as he approached the serving window, confronted with a dazzling array of dishes: explosive cream giant prawns, basil seasoned red clam meat, charcoal-grilled razor clams, Eden Zero fat lala, teriyaki root treasures... Not only were these dishes intoxicatingly fragrant, their prices were heart-stoppingly high, with none less than triple-digit shell points.

Ash took out his Gospel Book which integrated an "Belladett Manor Card." His hard work that morning had earned him just 30 shell points, which could be used anywhere in Belladett Manor—the only accepted currency there; neither Gospel Points nor gold or silver coins would work.

Servants could eat their fill without worrying about the cost, but Ash had to budget carefully. Of course, he could also recklessly spend because his "Manor Card" had already activated the "Shell Pay" service, which would automatically deduct from his credit limit if he overspent.

And the maximum credit limit Ash could get from "Shell Pay" was... 1 billion shell points.

With no interest and a repayment term extendable up to ten years later, it meant Ash could spend frivolously as his existence in the Kingdom of Gospel in ten years, let alone Mongfera, was uncertain. Even Yvalin, no matter how powerful, couldn’t possibly travel through time to collect debts.

But Ash only ordered a 10 shell point curry paste and a 5 shell point bread, holding his tray with a quick glance at his companions—they were the pariahs among the servants, the only few eating mush in a dining hall filled with delicacies.

"Where are the young lady and Banjee?" Ash asked as he sat down.

"Hanna has been assigned to the prairie area, Banjee to the snowy mountains. Apparently, they’ve each got high-income positions that can earn a lot of shell points," Igula mentioned, "It seems like Yvalin is planning to break us down one by one."

"Uncle Harvey," Liss inquired, "Is that all you’re having?"

Harvey’s meal was even more pitiful than Ash and theothers—he had a bag of bread crusts and a cup of water, chewing the bread like a pigeon.

Igula instantly understood, "Harvey, what did you buy from Yvalin?"

"...A skull."

"A skull?" Ash was stunned. "We could just knock on any grave and borrow one after we leave this place, was it necessary to buy from Yvalin?"

"You don’t get it!" Harvey said earnestly. "It was the most standard human skull I’ve ever seen—perfect zygomatic arches, brow ridges, supraorbital margins, infraorbital foramina, nasal spines, nasal cavities, alveolar processes... not a single defect, no injuries, never had cosmetic surgery, just filled with the seamless beauty of death. I’ve never seen such a gorgeous skull in my life, if I had this kind of skull earlier, I could have saved a month of study time!"

"If it were before, I’d be willing to spend 10 gold coins to buy it, but now it only costs 50 shell points, I just couldn’t talk myself out of it!"

"And now you can only eat the crusts of the bread." Igula looked extremely displeased. "Lucky for you that you can still work, otherwise we would have to support you financially."

Although Harvey was nearly paralyzed from the waist down due to the Female Mage’s magic, he could manipulate his own body using necromancy, which seemed to have no impact on his daily life and work.

"Harvey is useless now, his weaknesses have been thoroughly exposed by Yvalin, you can’t expect him to save money for emergencies anymore." Igula looked at the other two. "You probably haven’t been squandering money these last few days, you’ve saved some shell points, right?"

Ash and Liss looked at each other and fell silent.

Igula had a bad feeling. "Were you also tempted by Yvalin?"

Liss hesitantly opened her palm; in the palm of her half-finger glove was a mirror that she could knead arbitrarily without breaking or deforming it. "Sister Yvalin said, this is their company’s specially designed flexible mirror glove, you can’t find it anywhere else, selling it to me for 50 shell points was a real steal..."

Igula knew the importance of a mirror to Liss and her sisters; he sighed deeply and turned to Ash. "And what did you buy?"

Ash nonchalantly ate his porridge. "I... I actually haven’t bought it yet."

Though it was porridge, it was full of ingredients—mashed potatoes, carrots, and beef, enough to fill one’s stomach with bread.

"But you plan to buy?" Igula accurately read Ash’s subtext. "Has Yvalin already got to know your preferences, preparing to tailor something for you that you can’t refuse?"

Ash asserted righteously, "Don’t worry, Igula, no matter how Yvalin tempts me, I absolutely won’t fall for it, I’m not some coquettish cheap trash like Harvey."

"You certainly aren’t coquettish, you’re just cheap trash."

Igula looked resigned. "So, all three of your shell points are gone..."

"I haven’t bought it yet!"

"I believe you, Ash, in disappointing others, you never disappoint." The Swindler massaged his forehead. "You even had the nerve to tell me earlier, to trust you guys, to consult with you on matters... a bunch of idiots!"

The three of them shuddered, realising the Swindler was seriously angry this time by calling them out directly without his usual sarcastic twists.

"Aunt Bokin, I just spent my savings, I didn’t use any shell points!"

"Yeah, I still have a few shell points left to buy bread crusts, and even if worst comes to worst, I can eat grass, no problem."

"Igula, next time you curse at us, could you add a ’s’ to make it plural? The way you say it makes me think you’re just scolding me."

Igula sighed. "Do you guys even understand our situation? Do you think you can avoid the corruption of her ’Dominion Faction’ just by not accepting Yvalin’s gifts and not spending shell points?"