VAP - Chapter 43
Chapter 43: The Supreme Sage Hopelessly Obsessed with Beauty (2)
A maid outfit.
Lace-trimmed, a bow tie at the chest, a black dress with a white apron… a maid outfit.
Yue Du: “…”
She couldn’t bear to look.
In her twenty-odd years of life, she had been known in her industry for being dignified and serious.
Even though she had once seen an actress she managed wear a maid outfit to play a young maid on set, she never imagined that one day it would be her turn to wear such shameless clothing!
For a fleeting moment, the shock this outfit gave Yue Du even overshadowed the bewilderment of facing a strange environment and the surprise of having a body right from the start.
Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open.
The moment Yue Du heard the creak, she immediately composed her expression and looked up.
The person who entered was a blonde, blue-eyed girl with standard Western features, probably just having reached adulthood.
Yue Du noticed that she was also wearing the exact same uniform as her.
“Yue, are you feeling better now?” The girl seemed to have come in to find something. Seeing her sitting on the bed, she asked casually.
Yue Du had already installed the universal language pack for this small world, so she calmly replied, “Much better, thank you.”
At that moment, the girl found what she was looking for: a hair ribbon. She let out a sigh of relief and then said, “Then come listen to Lord Nord’s lecture. He hasn’t said much yet, you can still catch up.”
—Lord Nord, lecture.
Yue Du quickly agreed, “Okay.”
She followed the girl out of the room. As they passed a half-length mirror with a gilded frame, she paused for a moment, pretending to adjust her bow tie in the reflection.
The face in the mirror was still Yue Du’s own, only now there was a black and white lace headband in her dark hair, and a matching choker around her fair neck.
…Although the style was relatively simple and not overly ornate, it still looked awkward no matter how she looked at it.
Yue Du silently turned away and continued following the girl who seemed to be her companion.
Outside the room was a spacious and bright corridor, covered with a dark red carpet. At the end of the corridor was a tall, arched window, half-open, its frame carved with intricate and magnificent golden patterns.
Of course, they didn’t head towards the window but took a turn midway into another gallery.
Before reaching their destination, Yue Du had already discreetly opened the small world’s data pack, engraving all relevant information into her cognition.
Then she fell into deep thought.
The main body of this small world was a wondrous magical continent called Ayers, inhabited by four major races—Humans, Vampires, the Sea Tribe, and Magical Beasts.
Aside from the diverse, wildly growing Magical Beast race with all sorts of peculiar skills, a few members of the other three races possessed special constitutions, categorized as Mage, Warrior, and Summoner constitutions.
As the names suggested, those with a Mage constitution had an affinity for elemental magic and could learn magic;
Those with a Warrior constitution had the potential to become warriors, fighting with their robust physical strength;
Those with a Summoner constitution could summon any living being other than their own kind as battle partners, taming the summoned creature as long as their spiritual power was strong enough.
Among these, Mages and Summoners were rarer, while Warriors were more common, their numbers roughly exceeding the other two combined.
However, the reason Yue Du was lost in thought wasn’t because these settings were too much like a third-rate Western fantasy cliché, nor because the settings were embarrassingly full of chuunibyou vibes, but because…
She had seen this world-building before!
Yue Du used to work as a talent agent, specializing in managing artists.
The work of an agent was quite trivial, a combination of a senior advisor, a behind-the-scenes director, a nanny, an assistant, a friend, a partner, a merchant, a negotiator, and a crisis public relations expert.
One of the most important tasks was to vet scripts that came in, to see if they were suitable for the development of the artists under her management.
Back then, there was a script called 《Throne of Blood Origin》, which had left a rather deep impression on her—because it was a rare adaptation of a Western fantasy IP.
A male-oriented web novel, a four-million-word epic, set on another continent, with a cast of characters all having English names…
Honestly, this kind of IP was very difficult to adapt for film or television. There was a fear of burning money to produce a web series with cheap special effects, which readers would definitely not buy into, resulting in a huge loss.
But, such a script landed in Yue Du’s hands.
Perhaps knowing it was impossible to cast a popular A-list actress, the production team had their eyes on a newcomer Yue Du was managing at the time: an eighteenth-tier artist who had only played the fourth female lead in a teen angst drama but had performed exceptionally well, Xia Liang.
“Xia Liang’s temperament is a perfect fit for Emily!”
The assistant director had declared with absolute certainty.
Emily was a female mercenary who had once disguised herself as a maid and infiltrated the protagonist’s father’s household, becoming good friends with the protagonist. The two cherished each other’s company.
The role did indeed go to Xia Liang in the end, and Xia Liang was the very same young actress mentioned earlier who had filmed in a maid outfit.
Thinking about how she had teased Xia Liang back then, and then looking at her own current attire, Yue Du finally understood the meaning of “what goes around, comes around.”
Alas, it was too late for regrets!
The reason she thought of all this was because the situation in this world was exactly the same as the setting of 《Throne of Blood Origin》.
Although Yue Du’s memory of the script had become fuzzy, not as vivid as her memory of Xia Liang’s look of utter despair while wearing the maid outfit, she could still discern this point.
The information this time was much more detailed than in the last small world. She didn’t know if it was supposed to be this way, or if it was because the system knew she had read the script and thus didn’t bother with extra concealment…
Of course, Yue Du leaned towards the former.
If the latter were the case, the Main System could have just chosen a small world she knew nothing about. Why go to all this trouble?
Just then, the view before her opened up, and they arrived in a small, empty hall.
As she stepped into the hall, a familiar mechanical voice echoed faintly in her mind:
“Issuing a separate system mission. System 0996 is required to make contact with the designated host of this world within three Holy Days and persuade them to bind. Upon completion, a reward of 600 points will be granted.”
A Holy Day was a unique cyclical dating system on the Ayers Continent. A cycle consisted of nine days, with each day being a Holy Day, symbolizing the nine magical elements of the continent.
After hearing the mission, Yue Du: “…”
She walked towards the group of girls in the same uniform in the middle of the hall with a straight face, while complaining internally.
Although she knew the Main System sometimes issued bizarre and annoying missions, this was taking it to a whole new level!
Weren’t systems supposed to exist as ethereal data, crossing world barriers to directly locate the host, entering their mental space first before even talking about binding?
This time, it had inexplicably issued a separate mission for the system itself. Excuse me, do you still remember that the role of a “system is to be a mission assistant, a golden finger”?
…Although Yue Du hadn’t played the role of a golden finger yet.
But no matter what, getting points was always a good thing, so Yue Du didn’t dwell on it.
She followed the girl, found her place in the line of maids, and stood properly, her hands folded over her lower abdomen like the others.
In front of them, a man in a tailcoat was giving a lecture. He saw two people appear at the back of the line but didn’t react.
It seemed this was “Lord Nord.”
Yue Du noticed that both the group of girls in maid outfits and the butler-like man giving the lecture were very good-looking.
Especially the girls. Not only were their features delicate, but they also had different hair and eye colors, which could probably be compiled into a comprehensive color encyclopedia.
For some reason, most of them seemed pessimistic and depressed. Despite their best efforts to hide it, it still showed in their dull eyes.
Nord the butler had clearly noticed this as well. At the end of his lecture, he scanned the room and said in a deep voice:
“I don’t want to know what you’ve heard outside, but Lord Galor is not the despicable figure the rumors make her out to be. If I hear anyone gossiping, believe me, you will be punished for your disrespect.”
The girls all perked up and answered in the affirmative.
Then they filed out to have lunch.
After blending in with the girls for half a day, Yue Du finally understood the current situation.
They were maid candidates who had been bought at a high price and were currently undergoing training for a subsequent selection.
Yue Du herself was an orphan from the East, adrift and alone. Her name was pronounced “Yue,” and she was selected for her rare black hair and eyes and her exotic features.
This morning, she had suddenly felt unwell, which was why she had taken leave to stay in her room.
The man named Nord was the butler here, and the girl who brought her was Lika, one of the few with an optimistic attitude.
Since they were maids, there must be a master. Who was the master here?
That was the question.
This was the castle of the number one Dharma Saint of the Ayers Continent—Nai Yin Galor.
To say it was her castle wasn’t entirely accurate. In fact, this was merely the residence for apprentice servants, an annex to the annex of the servants’ quarters attached to the castle.
Considering the exquisite patterns on the walls and the seemingly gilded mirror frames, it was hard to believe this was just where apprentice servants lived. How extravagant must the Dharma Saint’s own castle be?
Yue Du should have been happy, because she was now at least close to her host, which greatly increased her chances of completing the mission.
That’s right, the host of this world was still a max-level boss-type villain: the continent’s number one Dharma Saint, Nai Yin Lin Galor.
She could basically be crowned with the title of the world’s strongest!
Under normal circumstances, becoming a servant to the great Dharma Saint should be a joyous occasion. For an ordinary person without special talents, it could even be considered the highest honor.
As maid candidates, if not jubilant, they at least shouldn’t be fearful, depressed, and melancholic, right?
However, Nai Yin Galor was an abnormal case.
Legend had it that she was over six hundred years old, had a strange temper, and was a hideous old woman.
Legend had it that she lived a life of extravagance and excess, bathing in the most expensive red wine and the rarest powdered jewels, completely ignoring the hunger and cold of her servants.
Legend had it that she had a penchant for beautiful people, regardless of gender, and all the handsome young men and beautiful young women sent into her castle never left alive.
Because the Dharma Saint also enjoyed playing games of torture!
Galor even had dealings with the evil Vampires, the Sea Tribe, and Magical Beasts. This was unacceptable; she was simply a cancer to humanity, a lingering dark cloud that constantly hung over the human empire—
With such terrifying rumors, who would be willing to enter the castle for some ethereal glory? Wasn’t it good to be alive???
Yue Du, who had learned of the entire situation: “…”
She searched her mind for keywords related to the villain Nai Yin from the script.
Glamorous, powerful, a half-vampire who was steadfastly trying to cause trouble for the protagonist.
Oh ho.
Now this was very interesting.
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