Surviving As An Obsessive Servant

Being familiar with the structure of this place, Evo skillfully guided me up to the outdoor deck.Even here, there were no broken stone tablets, and people had already tidied up the disarray from earlier.Compared to other floors, there were noticeably more nobles here, creating a calm and quiet atmosphere.It made sense—unlike shopping for goods, examining these required focus and concentration.‘These people probably tried to evacuate in a dignified manner during the chaos earlier.’While I idly observed my surroundings, Evo immediately called for his attendant to bring him his glasses.I glanced at them absentmindedly and was inwardly surprised.They were the glasses Manellano had given him.‘…He’s taken really good care of them.’Mine had countless tiny scratches, but his were so pristine they could almost pass for brand new. He had clearly treasured them.Well, it made sense—those glasses were still incredibly rare and highly functional, even now.In a way, Evo wasn’t exactly unlucky.Even in both the original story and the current timeline, having a rival like Manellano provide him with such an exceptional item seemed almost ironic.Evo, now wearing his glasses, turned to me with a somewhat expectant tone.“Aren’t you going to wear yours?”“I was just about to.”I pulled out my glasses case.But as soon as I put them on, Evo’s voice turned doubtful.“…When did you change glasses?”“I got a new pair recently.”“Are these functional too?”“Yes. The young master got them for me. They have special features as well.”Of course, that was a lie.These were just ordinary glasses with prescription lenses.Since I no longer needed functional glasses, I had declined the young master’s offer to have them engraved with special properties.When I had only examined northern stone tablets underground, I hadn’t noticed, but now, looking at standard tablets outdoors, I realized I could interpret them just fine with my own eyes.It seemed I had been trained through my past experiences. That was a good thing for me.However, I wasn’t sure if I would need to decode stone tablets again in the future, so I decided not to reveal this new ability to Evo just yet.I strolled across the deck with Evo at a slower pace than before.Even now, I could read the content of the tablets just by glancing at them from a distance.The letters even shimmered slightly as if I were wearing functional glasses.‘…Are these foreign tablets different in some way?’Each tablet had intriguing engravings resembling whirlwinds and flames.Seeing them triggered a sudden thought.‘…Wait. Didn’t the young master say he saw something similar when he took the duke’s test?’Since I had been healed through the young master’s scent and breath, I had suspected that I was influenced by him.Now, after experiencing similar incidents a few times, I was almost certain.‘So… my illness wasn’t entirely a bad thing after all.’Not once in my life had I ever thought of my illness as a good thing. It had been a nightmare, tormenting me dozens of times a day.But life is long, and in the end, it wasn’t all bad.Because of it, I had met the young master, built precious memories, and even gained this rare ability.‘I never imagined I’d think like this one day…’Lost in thought, I had nearly finished exploring half of the deck when Evo spoke in a regretful tone.“The one you’re looking for doesn’t seem to be here today either. Is there anything else you want to see?”“No. Let’s head back to our rooms.”Honestly… more than anything else, I was distracted by the young master, who had been following us this whole time.Rather than letting someone who wasn’t feeling well strain himself any longer, it was better to return and make sure he got some rest.So, I stopped looking around and started heading toward the opposite staircase—only to notice a large group of nobles gathered in one area.I was about to pass by without much thought when something caught my eye, glimmering faintly.‘…What is that?’I froze in place, unable to look away.Unlike the other tablets, this one was so transparent that I could see right through it—even past the people standing in front of it.And it wasn’t just one or two of them.There were multiple fist-sized, white, rectangular crystals embedded with small blue dots.Intuition told me that those blue markings were undoubtedly a type of stone tablet as well.Could this be similar to what happened when the young master took the duke’s test in the past?‘Back then, he said the tablets were stacked together, making multiple patterns visible at once…’With that thought in mind, I took a few steps closer and peered over the nobles’ shoulders to get a better look.However, atop the luxurious carpet, only one tablet was displayed at a time.Unlike what the young master had described, they weren’t stacked together.And yet, to my eyes, each tablet clearly had two distinct properties.A white rectangular crystal with a blue stone embedded in it…The tiny embedded stones were barely the size of a thumbnail, but faint, blue aura-like wisps rose from their surfaces.‘A single tablet with two different properties… Is that even possible?’Moreover, the placement of the blue stone varied for each tablet.Some had it in the center, others at the upper left, some awkwardly positioned near the bottom… They appeared to be arranged at random.Just then, a young merchant scanned the gathered nobles and confidently spoke.“Now, as for these stone tablets—these are rare and extraordinary relics, crafted from the very rocks of an ancient magical kingdom that has long since perished!”These weren’t ordinary research tablets. They were rare collectibles, nearly impossible to find.Blessed by divine power, they shimmered brilliantly when exposed to sacred energy.Because of this, nobles often kept them as status symbols or melted them down through a special process to embed them into weapons and armor.But that alone wasn’t what had me so stunned.“Our merchant group’s ancestors preserved these with the utmost care on private land, safeguarding them for generations…!”“Lobel.”I was so absorbed in observing the scene that I nearly bumped into another merchant who was trying to slip away from the crowd. Evo grabbed my arm and pulled me back just in time.“Lobel. What’s going on?”Even then, I was still lost in thought.It wasn’t until Evo shook my shoulder and questioned me again that I snapped out of it.“What are you staring at? Do you want one that badly?”“Brother, come with me for a second.”Instead of answering, I pulled him toward a quieter corner with fewer people.And then, without hesitation, I asked,“Does this place have a bounty reward system?”Evo hesitated for a moment, clearly thrown off by the unexpected question.His instincts immediately told him something was wrong.I looked up at him with a bright, reassuring smile, as if telling him not to worry.Of course, it had no effect.Knowing me too well, Evo’s voice only grew more uneasy.“…I haven’t heard of one yet.”“Aha. So that means you haven’t heard that there isn’t one either, right?”“…Well, that’s true.”That was all I needed to say for Evo to start piecing things together.Rubbing his temple in mild frustration, he lowered his voice and asked,“What exactly did you just figure out?”“Evo, can you see that over there?”Following the direction of my finger, Evo blinked in confusion.Honestly, there was nothing remarkable to see.All he could see were the backs of nobles admiring the supposedly ancient stone tablets.‘So, Evo can’t see it either.’But through my eyes, which had inherited some of the Dif tribe from the young master, the view was entirely different.It was as if I could see straight through the nobles, revealing the strange properties of the tablets clearly.But that wasn’t even the most important point.“These glasses helped me notice it. The tablets they’re selling there have two different properties.”I didn’t need to go into more detail.For now, I went straight to the main point.“In short, those so-called magical rock tablets—they’re all fakes.”“…What?”“They melted down genuine ones and layered them over counterfeit tablets, then let them harden to create multiple forgeries.”“Lobel. I want to believe you, but… Everything that guy has sold so far has been perfectly fine.”Evo was still struggling to accept it and started listing counterarguments.He mentioned that recently, nobles who had reforged their weapons using those tablets had worn them to the temple, where they successfully reacted to sacred energy.The brilliant radiance they emitted had captivated other nobles, making them envious.“So your theory must be wrong. If they were fakes, that wouldn’t be possible.”Sighing, he continued,“Melting down a tablet and forging it into a weapon won’t erase its ability to respond to sacred energy… But if it comes into contact with any material other than a weapon during the process, that property gets completely destroyed.”Evo’s logic was sound.To this day, no one had been able to fully uncover the true nature of the light that responded to sacred energy.That was why every past attempt to counterfeit the tablets had failed.Even if a forger could melt them down and create convincing replicas, making them actually react to sacred energy was considered impossible.“Besides, that merchant is trusted to handle the western distribution of Denkart’s newly discovered resources. He’s even been authorized by the royal family to conduct various research and experiments with those materials…”Evo trailed off mid-sentence, as if something had just clicked in his mind.“Yes. That part bothered me the most, too.”I looked at him and let out a dry chuckle.“It seems like, during their research with the resources the young master discovered… they must have figured something out.”