Closfia watched as Lady Greed's expression continuously shifted and smiled as she reassured her,
"Relax, I won't force you to do anything that would cause extreme resistance within you… After all, you know just as well as I do that such 'commands' would likely backfire and weaken the hypnosis."
"But I also know that my threshold for resistance will gradually lower… If this continues, I'll eventually become completely obedient to you," Lady Greed said bitterly. She deeply regretted not having been killed by Closfia earlier. The thought of becoming a mere puppet under someone else's control was unbearable—but worse than that, she couldn't even bring herself to desire death anymore.
"There's no need to be so pessimistic, Ksenia. I have no intention of taking further control over you—after all, you are still a descendant of the Jacob family… Though Jacob has long declined, and you never walked the Marauder pathway, a noble bloodline that traces back to the Fourth Epoch surely retains some hidden heritage. If I strengthen the hypnosis too much, someone might notice the flaw."
As she spoke, Closfia took out a robe and handed it to her. After all, Lady Greed was still completely naked after reverting from her dragon form. While it was certainly aesthetic, it was ultimately inappropriate.
Ksenia instinctively accepted the garment, but as she did, she suddenly realized something in Closfia's words and asked in shock,
"How do you know I'm from the Jacob family…?"
Midway through her sentence, she abruptly froze before glaring at Closfia.
"You read my memories?!"
Closfia spread her hands innocently and said,
"Hypnotizing you required me to break through the defenses of your mental island… and since your mind was already laid bare to me, accessing your memories was hardly difficult."
Ksenia's face twisted with mixed emotions. She stared at Closfia for a long moment before finally exhaling deeply, as if resigning herself to fate. She then put on the robe and said,
"I believe now that you won't make me do anything I strongly reject… After all, my mental island is already defenseless against you. You could have simply silently controlled me—there was no need for you to tell me all this."
"Maybe this is just part of the hypnosis," Closfia replied with a half-smile. "Don't you think your attitude has already softened a little?"
"I refuse to believe that I wouldn't be able to distinguish between my own will and a manipulated one!" Lady Greed declared firmly.
Closfia merely smiled meaningfully at her and didn't press the topic further. Instead, she asked,
"Where's your Magic Mirror?"
"I don't know… Ever since I entered this nightmare island, it disappeared. Otherwise, even with your help, I wouldn't have been able to escape Greed's influence so easily," Lady Greed replied with a shake of her head.
"Hmm… It looks like it was using you after all. That Sealed Artifact may have undergone further activation for some reason," Closfia mused.
"Miss Sloth, you seem to know quite a bit about the Magic Mirror?" Lady Greed asked, puzzled. "But the Magic Mirror isn't a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact entrusted to me by the Council—it was something my teacher brought back from Intis as a spoils of war."
She didn't seem to realize that her wariness and hostility toward Miss Sloth had significantly decreased… and that her tone had become noticeably more casual.
"It's not me who's familiar with it… It's your teacher—the previous Lady Greed—who knew it well," Closfia corrected her with a shake of her head. She then pulled out a book and held it in her hands.
The black cover of the book featured a tightly shut yet unnaturally wide mouth, resembling the personality masks used by the Psychological Alchemists. Its very design exuded greed.
"Teacher…? This is something my teacher left behind? You obtained it?"
Lady Greed hesitated as she stared at the book's cover. After a moment, she furrowed her brows and said,
"I've seen this book before, but back then, it didn't have the engraving on the cover… I remember it was called The Book of Conspiracy. It contained various mysticism knowledge and modified spells. It was also something my teacher brought back from Intis as a spoil of war."
"The Book of Conspiracy? Heh, that name is quite fitting… but now that it has fused with your teacher's Dream Weaver characteristic, it should be called The Book of Greed and Conspiracy instead."
As she spoke, Closfia flipped open a page of the mystical book and showed it to Lady Greed. The page contained detailed information about the Magic Mirror, its influence on its holders, and the possible times and locations where it could manifest.
"This page suddenly appeared in the book yesterday—otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to subdue you so easily," Closfia said with a smirk. "It seems that even in death, your teacher was still obsessed with the Magic Mirror."
She then turned her gaze back to Lady Greed and asked with a smile, "Aside from this, do you have anything to add? For instance, do you have any idea where the Magic Mirror might have gone?"
Lady Greed pondered for a moment before answering uncertainly,
"When it was luring me in and enticing my greed, I think I sensed a faint spiritual fluctuation from it… It seemed to be looking for someone… Hmm, I believe the term it conveyed was 'Master'?"
"But the spirit within the Magic Mirror is utterly deranged. It lost its sanity a long time ago—so whatever it was trying to communicate might not be reliable."
Almost falling into a trap set by a mindless Magic Mirror, nearly turning into a puppet controlled by a fabricated persona… I suppose that's fitting for someone named "Greed."
Could this be an inherited flaw of the Jacob family?
Thieves, by nature, are rather greedy…
After contemplating for a few seconds, Closfia instructed Lady Greed,
"For now, leave this nightmare island and return to Indore Port. Stay on standby… As for your student, I'll keep an eye on her—I won't let anything happen to her."
Just as she finished speaking, something seemed to come to mind, and she added,
"Oh, by the way, I've already decided on your first task."
Hearing this, Lady Greed remained outwardly composed, but internally, she felt a hint of unease. She cautiously asked,
"What task?"
"No need to worry, it's nothing difficult. I just need you to exert some influence over a property transaction—ensure the process is completed quickly without attracting attention.
"Your family has been operating in secret within Feysac for centuries, if not longer. I trust you have more than enough influence to make this happen." Closfia smiled.
Lady Greed let out a small sigh of relief. This was well within her capabilities. With that concern alleviated, she casually asked,
"What kind of property transaction?"
"A mountain hot spring resort."
.....
At the entrance of a courtyard, bathed in the faint glow of twilight, two figures materialized—Ebner, clad in his Doctor Strange-style robes and red cloak, alongside Jane.
Ever since he had modified Roselle's Golden Armor Spell, allowing him to freely alter the appearance of his conjured armor, Ebner no longer had to worry about the awkwardness of transforming into a bear and losing his clothes.
Jane, on the other hand, seemed a little flustered, avoiding eye contact with Ebner. But this was simply shyness, a normal reaction, rather than any lingering issues from her recent "therapy."
Standing ahead, already waiting in his armor, was Dunn.
As soon as he saw Ebner and Jane, he stepped forward to greet them. After briefly summarizing his earlier experiences, he said solemnly,
"Lady Closfia used this environment to completely heal the last remnants of my mental affliction. After that, she instructed me to fulfill our agreement with her on my own when you arrived… It seems she has other matters to attend to."
Ebner took a deep breath, nodded firmly, and then asked,
"The speaker… No, the phonograph—did you bring it?"
According to Closfia's script, their entrance into the dream realm was supposed to be theatrical—like an opera, complete with theme music for each character.
So… basically, a background music (BGM) system?!
Good thing Miss Sloth picked decent tracks… If she had chosen something like "Nicholas Zhao Yun's Melancholy Elegy"… the entire scene would have turned into a farce.
Suppressing the urge to laugh at his own thoughts, Ebner heard Dunn respond hesitantly,
"My armor… Ahem, to be precise, Lady Closfia's husband incorporated a 'singing' function when he crafted it…"
(End of Chapter)