Becoming an Extra in a Trash Game

Chapter 19

“Beth, are you feeling good today?”

When no one is around, my voice doesn’t tremble.

But strangely, when someone is present, I feel like my tongue stiffens and my breath quickens, so I keep speaking slowly.

Perhaps that’s why riding a horse in a place where there’s no one else is so enjoyable.

Sometimes, when I ride on Beth’s bare back without a saddle, holding its mane instead of reins as we gallop, I even feel like we’ve become one.

“Shall we split the carrot in half?”

As I break the carrot in two with both hands, Beth quickly licks my hands and takes the carrot. It’s cute.

Lately, I’ve developed a worry.

Yesterday, Young Master Adelian looked so exhausted that I couldn’t say anything…

“Will I be alright like this?”

I know. My usefulness was actually to receive the Young Master’s anger with my sturdy body until his anger subsided.

The previous personal maid had her forehead badly cut by a wine glass thrown by the Young Master.

But, how did this happen?

The Young Master has changed. As if everything before was all a lie.

And now, it even feels like he’s preparing for something big.

Yes. The Young Master is certainly preparing for something without anyone knowing.

It’s a bit scary, but from bringing in Kane, who grows stronger with each passing day.

He even converses with the terrifying Butler Alkaido.

And even that green juice with a terrible taste.

The taste is awful, but the more I drink it, the more I’m amazed by its effectiveness.

How much value would it be recognized if this were registered and sold at the Magic Tower?

But the Young Master is only bestowing this on me and Kane. Is there anyone kinder than him?

“That child will become the Young Master’s knight… Beth. Then what about me? Am I good enough as I am?”

When I was in the plains, I never worried about such things…

I want to become someone truly necessary to someone.

I resent this timidity that makes me shrink when others are around…

Little by little, step by step.

If I become strong enough to erase this trait someday…

“Then what will the Young Master call me?”

Will I be able to protect the Young Master too?

* * *

“Oh, you’re holding up quite well this time.”

“Umm… Before… It felt like I could see the sword with my eyes… But my body couldn’t keep up… Now I can see clearly… Predict and react.”

I exclaimed in admiration, munching on dried fruit while sitting in a prime spot on the balcony where I could see Kane rolling well.

“Wow. Didn’t the sword just bend?”

“Yes, the sword path… Curved in the middle… Like a snake… So I think that’s why… The technique name probably includes ‘snake’…”

He blocks that and counterattacks. This kid… He’s improved a lot.

At first, he’d be sent flying with a whoosh and have bones broken with a thud.

As I keep watching, I gradually get used to it, seeing the movement of the sword, and even distinguishing feints mixed with fake moves.

“Huh? What was that just now? I could only tell that Kane attacked.”

“Wow… As he swung the sword… In that brief moment… He accelerated the swinging speed… Entered the knight’s blind spot… And thrust in.”

Of course, there are still many things I can’t see often.

By the way, Kane. I’m not well-versed in swordsmanship, so it’s hard to say for sure, but this sparring now…

“Is Kane… Winning?”

“Yes… Ah, until just now… The difference in build and weight is… So big…”

Well, the opponent looks over 2 meters tall. The weight difference alone must be enormous.

Still, it’s something that he landed an effective hit. I mentioned the nickname I’ve been hearing about Kane lately, even reaching my ears.

“They say he’s called a monster these days, right?”

“Yes… Among the male servants… It seems so…”

“Then among the women?”

“A decent… Prospective husband…?”

I burst out laughing at the unexpected answer and looked at Luna.

“No, why? Kane treats women well when I’m not around?”

She shakes her head. Luna looks at me with round eyes as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“With Kane’s personality, he wouldn’t buy food or gifts, listen to worries, or have a way with words. So why?”

To my innocent question, Luna rolled her eyes and then spoke as if she remembered something.

“Um… Face…?”

That’s an answer I never expected.

I laughed, hitting the table, until I was short of breath and made choking sounds.

My goodness, come to think of it. I remember someone commenting, “How can one male protagonist be involved with beauties from every folk? Isn’t that kicking plausibility?”

“The face is the plausibility. Of course.”

Dol-i-kki, who rarely left comments or even author’s notes no matter how chaotic the comment section was, said that.

The reason there are so many heroines is because of Kane’s face, he said.

‘Wait, now that I think about it, Dol-i-kki. Isn’t he one of the heroines too?’

If Rachel was one of the production team members of the Innocent Saga, then the original author, Rolling Dol-i-kki, is likely to be one of the heroines as well.

“Haa. I’m going crazy, really. My stomach hurts.”

“What are you doing sprawled out like that?”

I was laughing so hard I didn’t even notice Kane coming back from sparring.

I lay stretched out on the terrace chair, just raising my hand as I spoke.

“Welcome back, decent prospective husband.”

“Pfft…”

“What nonsense is that?”

Whether Kane frowns or not, I’m just too amused right now.

Once again, this time giggling with Luna, I finally calmed down and pushed the green juice and dried fruit towards Kane, who had sat down in the empty seat.

“I heard your nickname these days is ‘Monster’. Did you know?”

“…I’m just working hard, that’s all.”

“Take it easy sometimes. At first, when people see someone worse than themselves, they want to help, but when that gets reversed, jealousy coils in their hearts like a snake.”

“If the gap is ambiguous, that might be true. But when the gap widens to an unreachable level, from then on, they start to follow.”

Is this something he saw or experienced when he was a black mage’s test subject?

That episode is from the early part of the original work, even if we count it as such.

It’s not in the game at all, so it’s hazy, but I decide to try and scrape it out of my head later as I open my mouth.

“But for now, aren’t you an easily trampled sprout?”

“If someone tries to trample me, I’ll pierce their instep.”

“That’s right. That’s fitting for the prospective knight that I’m sponsoring.”

Such confidence, as always.

I shrugged and stood up, now habitually spinning the Kruger ring with my fingertips.

The subspaces spinning in one corner of my mind.

It might be annoying, but it feels natural, like recalling memories.

“Today, let’s read this…”

I took out a book related to trade from Adelian’s show-off library, opened it to a part with a brief but illustrated map, sat down, and rested my chin on my hand.

‘Let’s see… Is the desert roughly here?’

After looking at the materials I received from Alkaido, I was dumbfounded.

Among the reasons that usually plunge the continent into chaos, in the case of the Evil god cult related to Kane’s past, it acts up with 100% probability.

And there are 5 random encounter main streams that derive from them as the center.

War with the beast-men, plague, monster wave, imperial throne usurpation civil war, and the rise of the undead.

But now, there are as many as 4 events that can be read from the current data.

The indicator that food entering the desert has increased.

Plus, Kane heard rumors in the village that Suin slaves had increased.

This is 100% related to the war with the Suin race, and the flow of medicinal herbs is probably related to the plague.

Monster by-products are obviously related to the monster wave event, and magic stones are probably related to the imperial civil war.

Then the remaining event is the rise of the undead…

“4 out of 5 have started now, with only one missing?”

I pray inwardly that at least this one is missing, but my intuition is already sending signals that it’s caught.

Probably in my memory, when Kane escaped after stabbing the black mage who used him as a test subject.

There was about a 30% chance that the black mage didn’t die, and it seems that case has occurred.

‘Then he’ll choose to become a mere low-level lich instead of the high lich he wanted, just to survive.’

And of course, his anger towards Kane will reach the skies and his revenge will begin…

I unconsciously grabbed my head with both hands.

“Whew, this shitty game.”

Seriously, don’t they do balance patches?

Usually 2, and very rarely 3 events occurring at once were what we called hard mode among ourselves.

I’ve experienced up to 3 events happening together too. Plague, beast-men, civil war.

‘But 5? 5? Are you kidding?’

Even in the community, there was only one person. What comment did I leave on the proofshot posted by someone who got 4 events?

‘Wow, Korean difficulty.’

Indeed, you shouldn’t mock others.

What goes around comes around.

With 5…

‘Get a grip.’

Kang Soo-ho. Get a grip.

Adelian. Seriously, get a grip.

There’s no new game button, so we have to solve this somehow.

In the game, it was random encounters, but in the original work, they all came out at once, so that’s right.

The Kane in the original work solved it by rolling to death, so the current Kane too…?

I glanced at Kane talking with Luna on the terrace and sighed.

“It’s okay. There’s still time…”

But I’ll have to move up the plan to leave after ripening Kane a bit more.

‘Now I have to discard the sense based on the game.’

In-game time, there was easily 2 years of leeway left, but this is reality.

‘Should I lie to Kane like Alkaido, saying I have foresight, and tell him everything even now?’

No. One thing might become a trigger and change unpredictably.

Besides, the moment I say that, I’ll openly become a guide.

Then the probability of Kane’s tree getting tangled increases…

I started organizing priorities in my head.

The civil war won’t happen right away anyway. The same goes for the war with the beast-men.

There are ways to prepare for the plague, and in the case of the undead, it’s ultimately a matter of just growing Kane, so…

‘Then what’s left is the monster wave.’

This is the encounter that can be dealt with immediately, relatively speaking.

The problem is that in my memory, this was the 2nd wave in the game, but now it’s the 1st wave timing-wise.

‘Surely in the original content, Rachel stopped the 1st monster wave.’

Can I trust Rachel and leave it alone?

But this chill running down my spine is clearly warning me not to.

‘Well, trusting that hot-tempered lizard alone is risky since Rachel herself is a bundle of variables.’

“For now… I should buy food.”

It’ll be useful in many ways.

I was considering going to the auction house tomorrow to scrape up food when I hear someone knocking.

“What is it? What’s the matter?”

“Young Master. The manager from the auction house has sent some items.”

Auction house?

Items?

I forcibly suppressed my body that was about to jump up and told them to come in.

“Oh my, Young Master. It’s me. Your faithful dedicated manager!”

I shrugged at the goblin manager who was bowing and rubbing his hands together.

“Just give me the items and go.”

“How could I not?”

He seemed to open a subspace by rubbing his thick gold ring with his hand and then started placing items one by one on the table.

“This is a multi-user random teleport scroll. As per your request, instead of 65 pre-saved safe destinations, it’s completely random, so…”

“You mean it’s dangerous? I don’t intend to use it myself.”

When I smiled playfully, he had a face that said, “Looks like you’re planning to torment someone?”

Yeah, actually I’m going to use it. Surely I won’t die. Even if it’s called completely random teleportation, I know there’s some coordinate correction.

Surely it won’t hit coordinates in the middle of the sea or in the sky, breaking through that low probability that’s been corrected?

“And this is living metal from the Regios school.”

Something that looks like mercury is sealed in a flask slightly larger than a fist.

I picked it up and shook it, and what looked silver showed a slight purple tinge as it moved.

“And this… Was difficult to obtain.”

I looked at a pendant that had no particular pattern, rather faded and looking very old, as the goblin manager spoke in a lowered voice.

“They say it perfectly blocks magic, curses, and even general physical attacks once a month, but only for a single hit.”

Ah, that?

I felt my mouth corners trying to rise, so I pretended to rub my chin while pressing my lips.

“Well, at most it might block an assassin’s blind dagger once.”

“That’s right, isn’t it? As you say, Young Master, the Lord of the Halderon region was selling it at the auction house, calling it a Family Heirloom.”

His eyes seemed to say, “How do you know about a Lord from a far-off place like Halderon selling their Heirloom?”

I smiled, pretending not to know.

“So did you check it?”

“What do you mean…”

“The item I asked you to get actually appeared on the market, and its effect is blocking attacks. There’s no way you’d bring it to me right away without checking?”

At my words, the goblin manager rolled his eyes slightly and then smiled casually, rubbing his hands.

“Oh my, it’s an item for you, Young Master, so of course we checked for any defects. Not too much, just a tiny bit, since it’s so old and might break?”

“How much is a tiny bit.”

“About the sword energy of a Sword Expert?”

To that, I pretended to brush it off as if it was nothing.

Once a month, so they would have checked its effectiveness just once before bringing it to me.

Since its appearance is old, they couldn’t have used too strong a magic scroll or the like.

‘They probably don’t think it can block even a meteor, though it’s only once.’

Of course, after blocking that level of impact, it would break immediately, let alone once a month.