Mage Manual-Chapter 1473 - 1073: Ash’s Sin

The mansion is indeed large, but it doesn’t have many rooms. After all, it was initially meant for only Felix to live in, aside from the master bedroom, there are only two guest rooms.

Dedarose and Felix naturally don’t have the privilege to sleep in a room. These two Holy Sanctuary Mages are at the bottom of the hierarchy in this mansion. Logically, they were supposed to serve Ash at night, but the Sword Maiden and others kindly relinquished such rights for Ash.

Although Sonia and the others aren’t particularly concerned about ranks, if it’s the idol Dedarose, Sonia would be happy to squeeze in. However, there’s another issue — the sudden shutdown of Level Six of Hell from the Void Realm market has left demigod players displaced, but the Dream Stairs didn’t shut down!

You demigods have Ash to support you, but we gain nothing from it and can only continue training steadfastly in the Void Realm.

Mages experience intense panic with anyone nearby when logging into the Void Realm, regardless of who it is.

To put it metaphorically, having someone nearby when logging into the Void Realm is like being tied up, blindfolded, losing all ability to resist, and then packed into a gift box for someone else. Honestly, unless necessary, even the Sword Maiden wouldn’t accept Ash watching them log into the Void Realm.

Though currently limited in conditions, they still ensured independent spaces for logging in; Dedarose stays in the basement, and Felix has the exclusive use of the Video Room.

But with two guest rooms and four operators, after some discussion, they decided Sonia would sleep in the study, using the small sofa as a bed. Mainly, Sonia wanted to watch shows and didn’t plan to rest, so she offered the bedroom. Weiser, as a Divine Being, didn’t need sleep and continued researching her powers in the living room. Finally, Diya and Vishi easily secured the rights to stay in the guest rooms.

Closing the door, Vishi let the maid outfit she wore burn away into flames, leaving only the light pink lace underwear. Maintaining a suitable temperature all year round, Jiale City naturally had no temperature controls, but that didn’t bother Vishi. With a snap of her fingers, a flame ignited in the air, warming the room quickly.

She sat on the bed, opened a can of milk coffee, and recalled Weiser’s warning in the bath, snorting disdainfully, staring at the lamp on the desk, speaking softly:

"Don’t speak recklessly, it only exposes your weakness..."

To Vishi, the Silver Lamp’s warning was utterly pointless. She wouldn’t abandon her plans concerning Ash just because of their intimidations; nor would she give up if unfazed by a few harsh words.

The Silver Lamp’s actions only made Vishi realize they had no control over Ash.

If otherwise, there’d be no need to warn; they’d simply go beat Ash up, considering Vishi, no matter how powerful, is still a maid to the Master. If Ash, the Upper, is controlled, Vishi, the Lower, can’t stir up any trouble.

Nonetheless, Ash’s love life is the one area where the Silver Lamp can’t question him—he’s never had any chance if Ash weren’t such a person from the start.

The only person truly qualified to make such demands on Ash is the Sword Maiden. But even if the Sword Maiden were to lose her temper, she’d prioritize addressing the actions of the Witch and Silver Lamp before ever dealing with Vishi.

Instead, Silver Lamp should surreptitiously observe, rather than alarm Vishi with sudden warnings. The Female Mage who once devastated the entire Kingdom of Senluo with sheer force is now muddled in concern about trivialities over a mere man.

It’s not just the Silver Lamp; the Witch Sword Maiden, once a premier Female Mage of this era, found herself ensnared in Ash’s deep pit.

Clearly, if only they united, they could overwhelm Ash entirely, yet they instead began internal feuding, not even competing for benefits, but for intangible love... Some even willing to forgo personal growth, redirecting their resources to Ash... Utterly ironic—only by becoming stronger can you truly govern all you desire. If Ash is weaker, wouldn’t he be simply toyed with by you?

What a group of love-stricken fools... Vishi secretly despises these talent-wasting girls.

However, the Silver Lamp suspecting Vishi of scheming isn’t surprising, as Ash’s behavior tonight was indeed peculiar. His attitude hadn’t changed towards others, only towards Vishi.

To be precise, he wasn’t particularly leaning towards the maid, rather allocated resources reasonably based on individual roles, which still favored the Sword Maiden and Witch—both having three Wonders. Yet, "reasonably allocating resources based on individual roles" in itself was unreasonable.

Even Vishi herself realized she wasn’t trustworthy.

If Vishi were distributing, she’d only give herself one of the two Soul Wonders; granting just enough to perform a Wonder with optimal quintessential knowledge not exceeding 30%.

Ash treated her with both wariness and reluctance, and despite slightly improved recent relations, he still kept a tight grip on Vishi’s chains without a moment’s lax. His fear wasn’t merely of a maid’s retaliation; he feared committing an irrevocable error—much like his words last night in the basement, the maid’s sins are the Master’s sins; if Vishi commits any malevolence again, it’s due to Ash’s inadequate oversight.

If Vishi’s sin is living, then Ash’s sin is Vishi.

Moreover, unlike outside rumors, Ash sincerely acknowledged his fault here—a difficult truth for someone who doesn’t even admit being wrong for loving many girls—hence Ash’s willingness to talk about burying Vishi with him knowing well that removing the chains would unleash a demon, continuing to let someone like Vishi thrive would only drive up the cost of rice.

Publicly and privately, Ash should thoroughly suppress Vishi’s strength, ensuring she remains unable to perform any evil, for both Ash and Vishi’s benefit.

Yet, what did Ash do?

In a nutshell, he granted Vishi the same level of treatment as other operators!

Even Vishi herself was baffled. She began questioning whether Ash was secretly plotting against her with staged entrapment, putting out bait for her to take, otherwise Ash’s actions were difficult to explain... Could Ash actually trust her like he trusts the Sword Maiden and others?

Or perhaps there’s something wrong with the two Wonders? Concealed some Self-Destruction Technique, leading to a soul explosion upon activation?

Or use her growth in skills as a pretext to assign her to suicide missions?

Vishi lay in bed hugging the covers tightly, legs clenched, her smooth pink hair cascading over the pillow, mind racing through various schemes. Yet whenever associating these schemes with Ash, an absurd sentiment always lingered like seeing a Ra Ra Fat turning into a demigod—plainly laughable.

Wait!

Suddenly revitalized, Vishi considered an incredibly unexpected possibility—could Death Mad have informed him that a future Youmo transformed into a world-saving, morally upright person, leading him to reevaluate his perception of her?

The more she thought, the more plausible it seemed. After all, last night Ash was still coldly stern, but today awakened offering morning kisses—the sole variable being Level Six of Hell.

He must’ve obtained intel concerning the future in Hell, thus altering his view of me!

However, would I indeed become a good person in the future...?

Tilted head in deep thought, Vishi’s expression turned extremely complex, as though struggling to imagine a nonexistent creature. Mainly because she never considered herself bad, most evil people don’t consider themselves bad, simply believing they follow some transcendent rule beyond secular morality, such as survival of the fittest.

Likewise, Vishi felt no qualm in killing and soul-refining, seeing it as better use for those doomed lives as stepping stones for herself.

Would she change this view in the future...?

Vishi pondered for a good while yet couldn’t convince herself, refusing to delve into meticulous details any further. Now, the focus was how to leverage this opportunity!

An idea surged forth effortlessly: capitalize on Ash’s trust, conquer his heart, dominate his soul, thoroughly turning him into my slave!

Task him with scouring Hell for resources to elevate me to a Six-winged God, then seize his Supreme tail feathers... leaving him a bit. Once I defeat the Supreme Star and become the world’s mightiest Supreme of Magic, it’s not inconceivable to allow him to become next to me, the second Supreme.

The more Vishi thought, the more she realized this was a golden opportunity, requiring swift action to avoid setbacks from prolonged inaction. Her consciousness delved into the Magic Temple, discreetly activating the "Soul Reflection" Wonder.

Ash’s assessment was rite; these two Wonders were indeed quite suitable, given that she possessed similar Wonders in a past life!

Despite numerous detailed modifications, Vishi had completed their deconstruction during bath spare time while incidentally discovering special usage techniques.

With Vishi closing her eyes, her shadow quietly distorted, splitting to release a small dark shadow slipping out of the guest room. This stood as one application of "Soul Reflection," enabling the soul to nest in shadows for clandestine operations, precisely filling Vishi’s reconnaissance shortcomings.

Granting such exclusive faction Wonders to a millennia-old demigod is certainly dangerous behavior.

The small dark shadow meandered along edges, sneaking into the master bedroom, Vishi raised an eyebrow—Ash wasn’t in the master bedroom.

At this late hour, where did he go?