Becoming an Extra in a Trash Game

Chapter 13 

The flow of goods contains more information than one might think.

If a place sells a lot of herbs and feed, it’s likely raising livestock on a large scale.

Conversely, if a place sells a lot of livestock and food, it means it’s a terrain where even people don’t have enough to eat.

Or if a lot of ore and mana stones are sold, it would be a place with developed manufacturing.

If luxury items like artwork or spices are developed, one could think it’s a city with a lot of consumptive activities.

‘This is strange.’

In that sense, the ledgers scattered messily on the table now made Alkaido lost in thought.

“About the last 10 years or so.”

It’s not exactly the same. Sometimes drought, sometimes floods.

Although the economy changes with food consumption and trends of the year, causing things to sell more or less, the indicators on the documents in Alkaido’s eyes were strangely heterogeneous.

“But it’s an incomprehensible flow.”

If imports of food and weapons increase in adjacent territories, it would mean the entire territory is on the brink of war.

If the whole country is rushing to stockpile goods and secretly gathering ore and weapons, one could anticipate a civil war.

But flows with no clear connections, neither adjacent nor sporadic stockpiling across the country.

And the gradual increase in slave hunting along with the reduction of slash-and-burn villages.

Alkaido, who had picked up on several disturbing trends, stroked his Kaiser beards.

“It wasn’t just a random statement after all.”

Alkaido also knew about Adelian’s Trait.

It was he who had delivered the note secretly sent by the priest from the temple to Caiman, so it couldn’t have been changed in between.

Although the Trait wasn’t an absolute indicator, it was a universal indicator that could easily detect at least minimal talent, so it would be unreasonable for Adelian, who didn’t have even a single positive Trait, to grasp the continental situation from where he sat.

‘There are largely two possibilities.’

Either someone is controlling Adelian from behind.

‘Or the Young Master was really deceiving everyone.’

Alkaido’s eyes sank coldly.

* * *

“Please spare me, Young Master. No, Master!”

“What kind of weak words are those?”

After thoroughly crushing upper body workout with Mark today, I was enjoying a cool glass of juice with Luna when this scene unfolded.

As Luna shyly hid behind me, Harlon grabbed onto my pant leg with a crying face.

I shook my leg as if trying to shake him off and looked down at Harlon sprawled on the floor in a pose like a tragic heroine.

“I can’t… I can’t do it anymore. Just tell me to run around the training ground or swing a sword until I collapse from exhaustion.”

“No, Harlon. That suits you better, you know?”

“I don’t think so? How could that be! Even if I die and come back to life, wielding a sword is my job!”

[Harlon Devlin – Adelian’s Chief Secretary]

Representative Traits: [Discernment(S)] [Dexterity(B)]

Hidden Traits: [Paperwork(S)] [Intelligence(A)] [Business Acumen(B)]

Yeah, I’m right.

In the first place, even your title has changed to my chief secretary now, so it seems the system acknowledges it too?

And your business acumen Trait has gone up in the meantime.

I smiled kindly and patted Harlon, who was sitting down and pleading, then tried to forcefully make him stand up, but lacking strength, I just flicked my hand telling him to get up.

“Harlon, do you remember our contract?”

As I spoke as if recalling a distant memory, Harlon’s tear-filled eyes moved slightly to the side.

“But… But Young Master…”

“The subordinate does what the superior, I, tell him to do diligently without complaint. Huh?”

“Then… Then please give me at least an assistant. I’m telling you, I’ll really die from overwork if I have to do everything alone…”

As Harlon grabbed my pant leg again and lamented his situation, I rolled him back as if shaking my leg, and he rolled backward without resisting my strength, seemingly reading the mood.

He’s good at social life…

“Well, I’ll think about that.”

As I finished my juice and spoke like an evil boss responding to a request for more staff, Harlon clung to me again.

“Please really give me one. Young Master. No, head of the family. Please!”

Well, since he’s handling all the basic tasks that Caiman should be doing, the importance is high, so I can’t just let anyone sort the documents.

It must be hard working alone.

I’m sure Caiman is taking care of the really confidential documents on his own, but there must be quite a bit of general work too.

I opened my mouth in an arrogant tone, borrowing the power of the Trait, and with a very generous attitude:

“Alright. I’ll send you someone good when I see them later.”

“Really? Thank you! Then I’ll be going to work now. Young… No, Head of the family.”

Look at him running away as soon as I agreed, afraid I might cancel on a whim?

I chuckled as I watched the back of Harlon’s head as he hurriedly opened the door and left, then swallowed the last bit of juice left on the floor.

I guess I can just send someone with decent Trait sprouts while walking around with Kane.

Since it would be a waste to use a divine contract, one person with decent ability should be enough to manage.

“This is delicious, Young Master.”

As Luna slowly emerged from behind me after Harlon left, I patted her ears and rested my chin on my hand as I spoke.

“Luna, is there anything that doesn’t taste good to you?”

“Green juice.”

“Ah…”

That’s right?

Come to think of it, I asked something too obvious.

I put away the empty cup and watched Luna bringing cookies from somewhere, then gestured towards the balcony as if suggesting we go there.

“It’s more fun to chew while watching something interesting, right?”

“…Pardon?”

“Let’s eat snacks while watching Kane get beaten up.”

“Eh…”

As we sat on the balcony, we couldn’t hear the voices clearly, but we could see the training ground in the distance.

I popped a cookie into my mouth from the plate Luna had placed on the outdoor table, watching Kane once again enthusiastically receiving a beating disguised as sparring.

“I told him to just receive basic training.”

At first, some of the knights might have been too harsh on Kane due to resentment towards his parachute appointment, but the reason he was still rolling around like that today was Kane’s own greed.

He should be busy learning just the basics of swordsmanship day by day, but he keeps asking to spar and learn a move, so how could he be a match?

It might be different if he just did it moderately and said he learned well.

He keeps charging until he faints or is too exhausted to get up, so later the knights who got fed up started pushing him harder to drain his strength faster.

As a result, it ends up becoming a beating.

“Oh, that must really hurt.”

“Ugh, even I… Feel pain watching that…”

I can clearly see him getting hit in the solar plexus with a wooden sword even from this distance.

He’s either coughing or gasping for breath as he curls up his body.

Yet his eyes seem to still be watching his opponent’s sword as he painfully rolls to the side to create distance before aiming his sword again.

Although he’s grown a bit taller and his nutritional state has improved since coming here, his body still looks like a stick compared to the knight with a large build.

“Ah, should I feed him more chicken breast?”

“If you make him eat more than now… Won’t he throw up?”

“Make him do more weight training too, I’m telling you he really has muscle potential.”

“What kind of monster are you trying to create…”

If he has the talent of Kane, I think a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger is possible!

As I was getting excited about a man’s dream, Kane was still clearly showing the gap in skill after exchanging a few blows.

Even if he blocks luckily, his body gets pushed back just by the force, is there any meaning to this?

‘He’s overconfident.’

No matter how much of a genius one is, they can’t surpass time.

These are people who have trained their bodies and learned how to kill for at least a decade or more.

Talent can overcome effort, but it can’t overcome time.

I clicked my tongue, wondering how many potions I’d have to use, when suddenly Kane’s body disappeared.

“What the.”

“Wow…”

No, it didn’t disappear, did my eyes that were watching casually just fail to follow?

“I guess letting your guard down is indeed dangerous…”

Did he grab the blade of the wooden sword that came in for a thrust, pull it to enter the knight’s embrace, and instead of swinging the wooden sword from a blind spot, hit the face with the hand holding the sword?

I think that’s what Harlon with the Dexterity Trait did.

And by the time I roughly understood the flow, Kane was hanging limply after being headbutted while grabbed by the collar.

“Looks like he fainted?”

“Yes, it seems so, Young Master.”

Come on. After struggling so desperately, he at least managed to land a scratch today.

A sound that could have been either admiration or a dry laugh escaped my lips, and I put the cookie I was eating back on the plate as I lost my appetite, then stood up.

“Let’s bring him in and give him a potion.”

“Yes… Shall we… Use strawberry flavor today?”

As we leisurely walked to the training ground to work off the snacks we ate, we saw Kane, who seemed to have regained consciousness, roughly wiping his bloody face and talking.

“Thank you again today.”

“You were quite sharp this time. Pretty keen, but still a long way to go. You know that, right?”

The atmosphere is more heartwarming than I expected?

Well, although they might have disliked him at first for being a parachute appointment, since Kane works hard, they’re not evil people, so they must be impressed by his passion.

“Did you lose pathetically again?”

And having a common enemy helps with unity too.

I approached Kane with a grin.

“You’re not doing anything properly. Get up. When are you going to earn your keep?”

“…Young Master. May I say something?”

As he opened his mouth as if to defend Kane against my words, I’m the villain right now.

“No, don’t say it. Let’s go, Kane.”

“I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Seeing Kane bow politely, comparable to me, fills me with mixed emotions.

Who would think that Kane would become a human-hating slaughterer in the future?

Removing his Indomitable trait was indeed a masterstroke.

In a good mood, I impulsively opened the Trait window of the knight who was looking at Kane and me alternately with a stern face.

[Dave – Regular Knight of the Gold-beaked Raven Knight ]

Representative Traits: [Stamina(A)] [Toughness(A)]

Hidden Traits: [Mental Strength(B)] [Wind Spirit(D)]

That’s unexpected.

I just opened the Trait window on a whim since he caught my eye, but there was something curious.

‘Wind spirit… Wasn’t that an elemental?’

I gestured to Kane, whose clothes were a mess from roughly wiping blood with his sleeve, to go wash up, then sat down in a chair.

“Luna, bring some green juice.”

“Just… One glass, right…?”

“Since you mentioned it, bring two glasses including yours, Luna.”

“Ugh…”

After watching Luna leave with her ears drooping dejectedly, I took out and read the Traits I had organized right after waking up here, which I remembered.

‘That’s right, elemental.’

That’s unusual, does it mean physical Traits like stamina and toughness can coexist with elemental power?

In the case of Hidden Traits, they weren’t originally confirmed in the game.

For units that joined as mercenaries or through random events on the road, most had Traits that matched their profession.

“Well, I guess it’s rarer for people’s talents to fit perfectly into categories.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, you startled me. Make some noise when you approach.”

I thought my heart was going to drop.

Although he seemed to have washed up, as the blood stains on his face were gone, his face was already swelling and bruises were starting to spread, which wasn’t a good look even for Kane.

“If you’re back, drink some potion.”

As I nodded towards the strawberry-flavored potion that Luna had prepared on the table to Kane, who was looking at me with suspicious eyes, Kane reached out and grasped it.

“Strawberry flavor, so it’s a product from the Pronin Alchemy Tower.”

“Now you even memorize which tower produces which flavor. Which tower makes the tastiest ones?”

“Young Master, I’m back… And I like the mint chocolate flavor from the Pasian Tower…”

“That’s really too much…”

Mint chocolate is a bit much, isn’t it?

I shook my head at Luna who had returned with two glasses of green juice, and raised my hand to signal them both to quickly down their drinks.

“Ugh…”

“This taste doesn’t get any easier.”

“Haven’t you heard that what’s bitter for the mouth is good for the body?”

At my words, both of them made hook gestures, so I shrugged and smiled, resting my chin on my hand.

“It seems you’ve become quite friendly with the knights now?”

“Thanks to someone, they all pity me. It seems like you’re doing it on purpose, but could you tone it down a bit?”

I tilted my head as I watched Kane add, ‘It would be difficult to win their hearts at this late stage.’

I’m not the real Adelian anyway.

So I have no intention of expanding my influence to take over the family, and the current position is better if I’m going to move around with Kane anyway.

A superior who has nothing is worse than not having one.

A troublemaker.

‘Besides, if it really comes to a point where I need power, the chances are high that the continent will be in chaos.’

We have a lot of money, but if we need help from the knight order inherent to the Kruger family rather than mercenaries?

Then it would be an issue swept up in the mainstream affecting the entire continent, and at that point, whether I like it or not, the knight order will have to move.

“Why bother? I told you. It’s not them who are in the same boat as me, it’s you.”

As I piled on the pressure, implying that he should grow strong enough to surpass a whole knight order, Kane sighed.

“I want to be helpful too, Young Master…”

“Luna, don’t feel left out, of course, you have to come with me.”

Actually, if we’re being precise, Luna and I are the ones who boarded Kane’s ship.

As I said, I’m the bus driver and Kane is the bus itself.

We need to reinforce the bus so it doesn’t get smashed when it collides with the mainstream, which is like a deer doing a body slam.

And should I put Luna in the passenger seat? Please prevent drowsy driving.

“Then work hard until your birthday.”

“Yes, if you’re lucky, you might even get a swordsmanship Trait.”

[Kane Raynare  – Survivor with Ignited Spark]

Representative Traits: [???] [Genius(S)] [Appearance(A)] [Physique(S)] – Unimprinted

Hidden Traits: [Misfortune(F)] [Toughness(A)] – Unimprinted

That Trait marked as ‘???’.

‘I’ll find out when we check at the temple.’

I couldn’t hide my anticipation and raised the corners of my mouth for the day of scratching Kane’s lottery ticket, which was set for the near future.