How to Raise a Victim

He had to confirm it regardless. As the Duke of Magnus, who stood above others, he was not in a position to believe in nothing but experience, so it couldn’t be helped.

Nigel decided to support Kay’s party to prove what Inas had said. According to Inas, if the protagonist, Kay, and his group were killed by a monster, time would rewind.

There might be a way to kill him right away and check whether he was the <Protagonist>, but it was impossible to prove Inas’ prophecy-like words. As Inas said, Nigel would help Kay and his party go on a stable adventure at a level that did not deviate from normal. Nigel was lucky to be able to give that covert support.

“I called you here because I heard that you had solved the difficult situation Count Rudio was entangled in. The young lady of Rudio that you saved is also a distant relative of mine.”

“We just did what we had to do.”

“There are a lot of people in the world who don’t do what they should be doing. You’ve done a good enough deed. It’s something to be proud of, and it’s enough to be rewarded for. I want to give you a small and humble reward.

Seeing the favorable attitude, there was a noticable amount of relief on the faces of the three people who had been imagining all sorts of disturbing thoughts when they came here. Kay, who had the most obvious change in expression among them, shook his head.

“No, thank you. We were just doing the right thing.”

“I heard that you turned down the knighthood that Count Rudio wanted to give you.”

“I have no intention of becoming a knight… sir.”1

“I’m not trying to make the same offer. I heard you guys are on a journey… I’m just trying to give you a little help, so I hope you will accept it.”

When Nigel winked, a servant brought the rewards that had been prepared in advanced and handed it to him. Kay, who was about to refuse until the end, was startled.

The prepared rewards were items necessary for battle, such as weapons and potions. They were good quality items for Kay and his party who are still novice adventurers, but also not expensive enough that they can’t get their hands on them. From the start, he thought they would refuse if he gave them too much, so he prepared the necessary items within an appropriate boundary.

At the party’s hesitance, Nigel laughed kindly.

“At least take this much. You have a healer, but in battle, they will still be things you need.”

“Then we’ll receive it gratefully.”

When Kay answered, Lana jabbed Kay’s side with her elbow.”

“Kay!”

“Ah, what’s the matter… It’s not even money. Besides, they’re not expensive…”

“That’s right, these aren’t expensive items.”

It was awkward to pretend that he didn’t know about what was going on, so Nigel intervened. Lana closes her mouth with an awkward expression.

“Of course, I don’t mean to give you cheap items, but I couldn’t prepare anything too extravagant because it’s a common sword and staff used by my family’s knights. I want you to accept them until you get better weapons.”

It wasn’t a big deal. Nigel opened his item window and checked again, leaving the three people to converse with their eyes behind it.2

Sword of the Knights of Duke Magnus(Spare)A common sword used by the knights of the Duke of Magnus. Although it is a sword made by a craftsman, the sharpness is somewhat lower than the original design because it is mixed with impurities. This sword is not officially provisioned to the knights, but rather become a spare, so there is no mark of the Duke of Magnus.Price 30 rubels

… Obviously, he had never ordered it to be manufactured with impurities, but there was something strange with it. As a result, the value had also fallen considerably from the original. The price of this completed sword is only 30 rubels, but originally, the cost of the materials alone exceeded 30 rubels.

However, he didn’t know why the blacksmith who had cooperated with the Duke of Magnus suddenly added impurities. It would have been more beneficial for him to take on the work given by the duke faithfully instead of siphoning off the ingredients for nothing.

Normally, he would have questioned the officials right away, but now he didn’t feel very motivated. As Inas said, even if Nigel corrected everything, time would rewind.

While Nigel was thinking to himself, the three had put their heads together and hesitated for a moment whether they should accept the rewards or not, before finally deciding to recieve it.

“Then, we’ll thankfully accept them.”

“Great. So, when are you planning to leave?”

“We’re planning to leave tomorrow after finishing our preparations.”

“Then how about staying here for a day?”

“Ah, that…”

Hesitation appeared on Kay’s face, who had been happy the whole time, as if he thought they had already been given too much. Nigel intentionally smiled brighter and softer.

“There are many rooms in the mansion. I’m just giving you some of them.”

“But we’re on a journey…”

A journey3 to the Holy Land of Glarus was the custom for those who dream of becoming adventurers. It was an impossible trip for Nigel, since it forbade luxury and would require him to walk around the contintent on his own two feet. In any case, it was a predictable rejection. Nigel smiled brightly and kindly to make it difficult to refuse.

“A day or so should be fine. I’m a bit weak, so I can’t even dream of travelling… I also want to hear about what travellers do. I hope it’s not too difficult for you.”

“… Tha, thank you.”

Kay’s face, which fell for the kindness, turned bright red. He was such an innocent child.

As soon as the three of them were guided out of the room by the butler, Inas entered the room. He was going to point out the rudeness of appearing from thin air instead of the door, but Inas’ expression wasn’t very good for him to say a word.

Inas, walking closer to Nigel, knelt on the floor, took one of his hands at will, and kissed the back. It was a common knight’s oath, but strangely, his face heated up.

Inas, who was staring at Nigel while still holding his hand, turned it over and placed his lips on the palm of his hand. The touch of his lips that were gently pressed onto his palm and his hot breath tickled Nigel. Surprised, Nigel shook Inas off with all his might. However, Inas only smiled pretentiously, showing no signs of his dark mood, and didn’t let go of Nigel.

“Don’t smile so beautifully. You’ll pass it.”

“… What nonsense are you talking about?”

“I think the flag has already been raised…”

What the hell was a flag4? Nigel tilted his head at the word he had never encountered before despite having had the information window for several days, causing Inas to sigh.

“It means that Kay seems to have a crush on you.”

“What? Don’t be silly.”

Kay was 17 and Nigel was 23. The age difference is quite long. Nigel hated it, thinking he was being ridiculous, but Inas’ attitude was still serious.

“No, Kay has fallen in love with you about a hundred times so far.”

“… Really?”

“Yes. Most of the time, I killed him…”

It seemed to be a sincere remark. Although his life was not in danger, a cold sweat ran down Nigel’s back with the foreboding feeling.

“Don’t kill him.”

“We’ll see for now.”

What do you mean, for now… Nigel glared at Inas uneasily. He disappeared on his own for a few days, and then suddenly appeared and said something like that.

A knight’s duty was to become the master’s sword. The previous Inas was a model of a loyal knight who gave everything to his master, as if he was willing to give up his life at Nigel’s orders. What he meant was, he was never the type to act like this.

If you were going to ignore your master’s words as if they’re bullshit, shouldn’t you just give up your knighthood? Up until now, there had been times when Inas would ignore Nigel’s orders in small ways—such as when giving him medicine he didn’t want to take—but never like this before.

Normally, he would have said some harsh words, but it wasn’t so easy now. Level 3 and level 40,000. It was like an ant attacking a human. No, the ant attacking a human might have a slightly higher chance at winning.

What could he do? Until now, Nigel had been able to say whatever he wanted because he had the upper hand. If you were weak, then you should stay quiet. Nigel decided to take this opportunity to do some mental training and hold back what he wanted to say.

“… It doesn’t matter if he’s in love with me in the first place.”

But due to Nigel’s personality, he couldn’t stand it completely. Although he had a firm image of being weak due to his illness, Nigel was also the Duke of Magnus, famous for having a short temper from generation to generation.

Shouldn’t he at least hear the reason why he would stab people to death? Despite his slightly sharp voice, Inas’ expression was calm as usual.

“Isn’t it a virtue of knights to catch the flies that try to get entangled with their master?”

The corners of Nigel’s mouth twitched. He wanted to see Inas jealous. It wasn’t a very pleasant answer.5

Instead of pointedly expressing his displeasure, Nigel timidly slipped his hand out of Inas’.

Be patient, endure it. Nigel persevered and drew reason. He tried to gather information to make up for the disadvantageous situation in many ways.

“In the first place, what is a flag?”

“It’s kind of a game term.”

“Game term…?”

Inas pondered for a moment, finding it difficult to unravel and explain a word he had used so naturally.

“Well, it’s necessary for forming some kind of relationship… It’s like a condition.”

“Relationship?!”

He had no intention of dating, but what kind of dating condition was he talking about all of a sudden? As if Nigel’s startled attitude was very desirable, Inas nodded his head with satisfaction.

“I also think it’s ridiculous, but Kay is the protagonist. Whoever he wants, as long as Kay likes them and there’s a certain level of favorability, they can become a couple in the ending.”

“What’s with that?”

Was he saying it wanted him to be in a relationship with a 17-year-old who hadn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet? Nigel was appalled, while Inas shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘see?’.

“That’s why I had no choice but to kill Kay.”

Indeed, he was the protagonist. The person who was the center of the world. Because the game that Inas was talking about was not a simple story that proceeded according to a determined sequence, but could have changes in a wider scale.

Of course, Nigel, who would be swept away, couldn’t just take it so calmly. Nigel shook his head, rubbing the goosebumps on his skin.

“… I know what you mean, but don’t kill him anyway.”

“Yes. Now, looking at Nigel-nim’s reaction, it seems like he’ll fail to satisfy the favorability requirement. It’s a relief.”

It really was a relief. He didn’t want to see Inas killing children.

He had intended to secretly talk to Kay before he and his party left… But he thought it would be better to refrain from doing that this time, lest Kay would die without a sound.

Nigel, who swept a hand across his chest, looked at Inas with a sudden thought.

“By the way, was there a time when Kay liked you…?”

Inas frowned at Nigel’s question.

 

T/N:
Idk why but the image of Nigel wanting to be a brat but can’t because he’s too scared of Inas is so funny to me. He’s been a pampered young master for all 23 years of his life so having someone actually defy him to his face like this is probably a culture shock for him lol.

1 From what I understand Kay seem to be speaking informally, before switching to speaking formally, albeit a bit delayed.
2 Papago and gtl translated the sentence to ‘leaving the three people rolling their eyes behind’/’with the three people rolling their eyes behind him’. I think it’s a Korean expression that doesn’t translate well to English literally. Looking at the context, I think it means that they’re having a silent conversation by gesturing things with their eyes and not literally rolling their eyes in a sassy way lol. And while the party is busy with their silent convo, Nigel decided to check the item window.
3 Actually this word has been tl-ed to ‘pilgrimage’ by both papago and gtl. I forgot about this bit of information so I thought it was just a regular case of mtl taking a translation literally, so I adjusted the word to ‘journey’ which kinda fit a rpg game setting. If this word makes any relevance in the future I’ll go back and edit everything, but for now I’ll keep it as journey going forward.
4 Again, loanword. Also Nigel wouldn’t know what it meant anyway since Inas doesn’t mean a literal flag.
5 My boy Nigel probably wanted to hear something like “I killed him because no one can love you except for me” or some shit equally ‘romantic’ and not that he did it out of obligation lol.