Mage Manual-Chapter 606 - 490: Secret Talks in the Bathroom

Infiltrating the Imperial Palace turned out to be easier than expected.

During their brief stint working there, Igula and his colleagues not only surveyed the terrain of Nabistin but also discovered a crucial point: all the staff were Evangelists operating on behalf of others.

Even though some of the workers weren’t from the underground city and resided in Nabistin’s main violet flag, they were still "Evangelist employees" whose services were all about skill without a trace of emotion.

One could boldly infer that the servants in the palace must also have achieved 100% automation. Although there was a possibility laden with traditional nonsense that ’real human service is more prestigious,’ ’serving the royalty should not be entrusted to others,’ and ’serving Yisu like a dog should be cherished,’ this crude plan was a daring gamble, and uncertainties like this had to be wagered on the Yisu royal family not being so feudalistic.

Clearly, Hanna had gambled correctly. In the court banquet organized by the royal family, all service servants were "Evangelist employees," showing that the Yisu royal family had indeed fully embraced modernization. However, the palace servants were not recruited for part-time roles from the underground city; they were all full-time local citizens of Nabistin, and Ash and his colleagues could only sweep the streets of Nabistin, not the palace grounds where they weren’t qualified to tread.

But here was one issue: all ’Evangelist employees’ had their jobs arranged by the Gospel, and the palace did not interfere with personnel arrangements.

This was a massive loophole that could easily allow Purple Moth to slip in—don’t forget, just over a month ago, Hanna was in charge of an office that specialized in blaspheming the Gospel!

The actual operation was quite complex, but from Ash’s basic understanding, it involved Hanna swapping their shifts with those of the Imperial Palace servants—the palace servants took their place to sweep the streets, while they ventured to the palace to attend the banquet!

When Hanna patted his shoulder and boasted of how cleverly and spectacularly he had managed this crucial step, Ash suddenly had a strange thought—

Now that Hanna could switch their jobs, if the ’Evangelist employee’ system were extended to an ’Evangelist life,’ would Hanna be able to switch their lives?

Of course, Ash had no grievances against Hanna—who even high-fived Hanna when he came to claim credit. Besides, Ash’s thought was mere speculation, as the system of ’Evangelist employees’ was still confined to Nabistin and hadn’t even allowed all citizens to enjoy the pleasure of ’automated part-time work, let alone an advanced ’Evangelist life.’

He merely feared the hidden possibilities.

As for how the funeral folks extracted themselves from the ’Evangelist employee’ status, it was even simpler.

Because the ’Evangelist employees’ were not always in entrusted mode, for inevitably, there were emergencies that even the Gospel couldn’t handle—like in Belladette Joy World, if the staff were asked by a child where the bathroom was, they could respond instantly, but if asked existential questions like ’how can I get to sister’s heart’ or ’can you accompany me to swing,’ the Gospel wouldn’t overstep but would switch to manual service, allowing the employees to handle it themselves.

Hanna spent some Gospel Points to make the Gospel think they had encountered some troublesome clients, so all the funeral folks’ job statuses were locked to manual service, allowing them to maintain their consciousness.

After a simple disguise, Ash and the others walked right into the Imperial Palace, a process more relaxed and safer than any previous infiltration session. There was no Clan Leader of the Elf Clan wearing the Red Hat coming to beat them up, nor any blue-haired rich lady with Bluebeard forcing them to work. It was as easy as entering the neighboring community.

Swapping work, switching statuses... Although Hanna exploited these two loopholes at different costs, the core approach was the same: follow the Gospel’s rules, utilize the Gospel’s rules, and satisfy the Gospel’s rules.

"Deceiving the Gospel isn’t hard," Hanna once whispered to Ash, sharing her work secret, "It’s a lot like you, as long as you satisfy its needs, it’ll purr and lie down, letting us play with it."

At that time, Ash couldn’t tell if Hanna was being disparaging, flirtatious, or serious.

Although Hanna had refined every detail of the plan as much as possible, there were inevitably some slips in the actual action—

They couldn’t leave.

More precisely, they couldn’t leave their posts, as they had to faithfully fulfill their duties as servants during working hours.

According to the original plan, upon infiltrating the Imperial Palace, they were supposed to invade the Princess’s chamber immediately and aim to return to their hotel to celebrate before dinner; however, they were still stuck in the banquet hall providing manual services to the guests.

The reason was simple: the Gospel didn’t allow its employees to be idle. Although the Gospel allowed them to switch back to manual service, it didn’t mean that the Gospel had truly returned their freedom—just as a boss might occasionally come to the office to ensure you’re working hard enough, the nationwide-monitoring Gospel was hardly likely to watch its direct employees abandon their posts.

When Hanna and the others selected their fast-tracked part-time jobs through Ark Square, they formed a Contractual relationship with the Gospel, detailed by a labor contract even for part-time positions. Under the Contract’s binding effect, they couldn’t engage in activities unrelated to their work.

Here, it’s necessary to briefly explain what the Contract’s ’cannot’ entailed—it wasn’t about coercing the Contractor through mind suggestion, electric stimulation, or intimidation; it was very direct. The sensation was akin to when you’re holding back urine and realize that any untimely movement will cause a leak, so you clench your sphincter and dare not move or ’cannot’ move.

Whenever Ash tried to slack off, his entire neural signaling would send alarm signals, physiologically stopping Ash from taking further action until he returned to his post.

Since this belonged to the Deep Flesh realm, typically researched only by the Weak Faction, Igula, Harvey, and Hanna expressed their helplessness over the matter.

However, to prevent the worst-case scenario, Hanna had arranged very light duties for them, duties that required just a bit of cleverness to resemble normal employees, like Ash’s role as the "cake server"—who would eat cake at such an event!

So when Ash was dragged into a separate bathroom by Qinna, he was still very puzzled, "How did you recognize me? Even if I moved a bit slowly, you shouldn’t have immediately thought it was me."

Ash wasn’t pretending to be cute; he truly was confident.

Not to mention the "Distortion Mask" which could twist any form of reconnaissance, he also possessed the Silver Blessing "Observer’s Appearance" to lessen his presence, the "Golden Blessing: Listener’s Grief" to reduce hostility, and the "Secret Keeping Authority," which allowed him to seamlessly assume any identity...

Simply put, when you try to identify Ash, you must pass through four checks:

Did you use a Technique Spirit Miracle?

Yes, but the result was altered by the "Distortion Mask." No, next question;

Was your attention focused?

If not, "Observer’s Appearance" made you overlook Ash. If yes, next question;

Did your focus on him stem from hostility or goodwill?

If hostile, "Listener’s Grief" made your hostility fade. If only goodwill existed, next question;

Do his current actions mismatch his identity?

If they match, "Secret Keeping Authority" makes you believe he is genuine. If not, you might begin to have some doubts.

Honestly, in terms of infiltrating disguises, Ash felt nearly invulnerable, believing no one could breach his four lines of defense. Not just any Imperial Palace Servant, even if he wore the Empress’s new clothes, everyone would still think the new Empress’s features were quite anthropomorphic!

The only loophole was that Ash was always seen wearing a mask in front of others; however, Hanna amorously arranged the position of cake server for him, providing a sufficient reason for the mask.

Qinna locked the bathroom door, opened the Gospel Book and tapped a few times, speaking leisurely, "Violet Iris."

"Huh?"

"Violet Iris, top note of lemon, middle note of violet, base note of cedarwood, but infused with Hanna’s own body scent." Qinna glanced at him, "Your body is full of Hanna’s perfume; I smelled it as soon as I approached you."

"But it could also be Banjee or Igula—"

"Although you might not realize it, Banjee himself has a body scent, after all, he climbed the Weaving List fifty years ago as a Resonator based on his own beauty." Qinna adjusted her attire in the mirror. "As for the others... Hanna isn’t close enough with them to have her perfume scent stick to them, right? Furthermore, about sticking to the base notes, it can’t be done without many hours of prolonged, close contact."

Ash’s face turned pale, and he quickly explained, "I actually haven’t—"

"’Haven’t’?" Qinna emphasized the word, laughing, "I’m not blaming you, what are you explaining to me for? But this ’haven’t’ you used is quite clever, I can probably guess how you’ve spent these past few days."

Ash sheepishly replied, "I just didn’t want you to misunderstand..."

"Why should you be afraid of my misunderstanding? Because I am Hanna’s mother? Or..." Qinna stepped closer, Ash was forced against the wall, "...are you concerned about your image in my heart?"

Elf’s breath was already on his face, Ash’s whole body tensed up, no longer clear whether it was the Contract restraining him or just pure nervousness. He wanted to escape, but now he was the servant and Qinna was the guest, she could pull him into any room under the pretense of ’service’; moreover, Qinna had blocked all his paths of escape.

"This is not like that time in the Senheiser Building, nor like at Belladett Manor." The Elf’s voice, like tentacles, burrowed into his ears, "It’s just you and me here, no one else, and I just set up a silence barrier, which means whatever happens here, no one else will know."

"So..."

Ash’s heart couldn’t stop pounding as he watched Qinna’s right hand gently touch his neck, leaning in to whisper in his ear:

"Tell me your plan."

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