How to Raise a Victim

When Nigel woke up again, it was the morning of April 283 of the kingdom calendar.

Unlike last time, Nigel didn’t wander around denying what he had been through. He was clearly aware that he had been killed by Inas and that time had returned. However… this time too, he couldn’t accept the whole situation calmly.

After waking up, Nigel discovered a very strange abnormality. In fact, saying he found it wasn’t actually correct. That’s because the ‘abnormality’ was everywhere.

Six hours later, Nigel was waving his hand in front of the butler, who looked at him worriedly. In the eyes of others, he must have looked like a lunatic. The concern on the faithful butler’s face deepened. Either way, Nigel reached out and waved his hand, this time in front of the senator1. The senator was concerned about what medication he should take for him to come back to his senses.

“I’m not crazy, so you can leave.”

Of course, a lunatic wouldn’t say he’s crazy. Naturally, neither the butler not the senator believed Nigel’s words. However, Nigel was stubborn, and they eventually obeyed their master and left the room with grim faces. Outside, the butler’s voice could be heard giving an order to the soldiers who were guarding the mansion.

Nigel licked his lips and looked at the empty seats after the two had left. The unclosed <Window> remained in the air.

“Am I crazy?”

In broad daylight, a senseless fantasy began to appear. Nigel stared at said window with a frown on his face.

Basic Character Information WindowName Georg LudenOccupation    ButlerLevel         8HP            21/21MP            7/7<View Status><View Skills>

If he wasn’t crazy, why was he seeing such nonsense?

Above the completely unknown sentences, such as HP and MP, there was an additional explanation that floated in front of Nigel.

HPHealth Point. Indicates the target character’s physical strength. When you are attacked or fall into a certain condition, your HP will decrease. This can be recovered by using recovery magic or items, a specific character’s skill, or using an inn. The more HP you have, the more advantageous it is for holding out in battle. When HP reaches 0, you will become incapacitated.MPMana Point. It refers to the mana of the target character. A certain amount of MP is required to use combat skills or magic. This can be recovered by using items, meditating, or using inns. The more MP you have, the more various skills you can use.

If he looked at those sentences alone, he could understand what they mean. But if he tried to understand the context, he couldn’t fully understand it. If all of that HP were to be reduced, did that mean Georg will collapse?

Nigel frowned and pressed <View Skills>. Then a new <Window> opened in front of him.

Skill CheckCombat Skills Basic Swordsmanship  Lv. 2  Duke Magnus Arcane Swordsmanship      IntroductionGeneral Skills  Mansion Management   Lv. 82  Liquor Discernment   Lv. 51  Observer’s Eye       Lv. 60

Nigel stared at the skill list that still seemed to have no meaning.

As he looked around the mansion, the higher the ‘level’, the stronger the force. Most of the employees within the Duchy of Magnus were similar to or lower than the butler, while most of the soldiers had levels between 30 and 40, and the knights between 50 and 60.

Judging from the context, ‘skill’ seemed to quantify the knowledge of skills that a person had learned. It was assumed that basic swordsmanship literally refers to the basics of swordsmanship. The butler had seen many of the knights of Duke Magnus train, so it was safe to say that arcane swordsmanship remained at the introduction level. As a butler, he must have high abilities in managing the mansion and wine cellar…

HP and MP should be as the window said.

When he pressed the <Observer’s Eye> skill—he didn’t know what it was just by looking at the word—an additional small explanation window appeared just like in the case of HP and MP.

Observer’s EyeThe ability to observe objects and judge their nature.This applies to both living and non-living things.

The butler was responsible for managing many things in the mansion. As an experienced butler, it was natural that the <Observer’s Eye> skill was high. It made sense.

“What makes sense…”

Refuting his own thoughts, Nigel wrapped his hands around his head. Not only did Inas’ actions alone gave him a headache, but he was also even having weird hallucinations.

Nigel sighed and recalled the contents of his own status window that he had checked first. If the descriptions in the window are true, then he had, in a word, garbage stats…

“No, I don’t have to worry about this crazy game.”

Even with that said, when he kept looking at it, he had no choice but to be concerned about it. Nigel was again engrossed in testing his bizarre abilities.

It wasn’t just people that would cause the <Window> to pop up. When he waved his hand in front of an object, something called <Item Window> would appear, and the <Item Window> showed the price and description of the item.

There were many antiques in Nigel’s room. Some of the history behind them were familiar to Nigel, but others were completely unknown to him. Nigel frowned in front of the pot which came from the Southern Continent that he cherished.

Lemad Kingdom Style Pot (Forged)A forged pot made in imitation to the style of the Lemad Kingdom in the Southern Continent. It’s very sophisticated, but because it’s a counterfeit, it loses its value.Price    5 rubels

Nigel’s expression wrinkled.

5 rubels, that’s equivalent to the daily wage of a commoner. Nigel bought the pot for 2,000 rubels. 2,000 rubels was not a burden for the finances of Duke Magnus, but it made him sad to think that he had thrown away his money to the ground just to buy a fake. Nigel, who wanted to smash the pot, managed to hold himself back and put it back down.

“I better take some medicine for now…”

It would be foolish to be possessed by useless thoughts and destroy a Lemad Kingdom-style pot. Nigel picked up the medicine that the senator had left behind, saying it was good for recovering from fatigue, and ate it all in one mouthful. When he wakes up, he had vague expectations to no longer see any strange fantasies.

Laying on the bed and falling asleep, Nigel remembered what happened when he bought the pot. Inas, who usually wouldn’t stop Nigel from anything, advised him not to buy the pot, worrying about excessive consumption. Thinking about the friendly voice at that time, he felt emotional again.

“Inas…”

His vision was clouded with tears. Rubbing his chest that had been pierced twice, Nigel burst into tears.

Right now, Inas should be in a small estate in the south on behalf of Nigel. It happened before his damn regression. He had about ten days left until he returned from his schedule. Also, Nigel had to do something before Inas came back so that he didn’t die.

Preoccupied with complicated thoughts, Nigel fell asleep.

***

In the end, until the day of Inas’ return, Nigel was not able to prepare much. Because he was so busy with what was happening.

The strange <Window> phenomenon continued to show up. After he realized that he could manipulate the window with his own will without having to wave his hand like a lunatic, Nigel started looking around.

The mansion he had been poking around was truly spectacular.

Nigel had planted people inside other noble families’ households, so he knew that other nobles must have also planted people in his. In fact, some of them he already knew of their identities as spies. However, there were more spies infiltrating the mansion than Nigel had imagined. He knew there would be more than he had managed to figure out, but seeing it in person was quite shocking.

Of course, it was entirely thanks to the character information window that he was able to identify spies that he never would have imagined. It would say <Occupation: Spy>, so he couldn’t not know even if he wanted to. After filtering out the visible spies, Nigel interrogated them based on the information obtained through the information window. In the end, he confirmed the fact that everything the window told him was all true.

The information window told the truth.

So, the status window would be able to reveal the identity of Inas. If Inas was a spy, he would be described as a spy, otherwise he would just come out as a knight. That way, Nigel can decide whether to oust Inas at will, or to keep Inas with confidence.

Nigel waited for Inas, who had left for the south, feeling impatient, fear, and some anticipation.

A week later, Inas arrived at the duke’s residence in the royal capital. The knight who rode on horseback went to see Nigel as soon as he washed and changed himself.

“Nigel-nim, I’m back.”

“Welcome back.”

Although they had the relationship of master and knight, they had known each other since childhood, and when there are only the two of them, there was no formality. Thanks to that, he was able to satisfy his self-interest from an early age. With half joy and half excitement, Nigel stretched out his hand towards Inas. There was a time when Inas acted like Nigel’s older brother, so Inas tended to accept his master’s childishness.

Nigel clung to Inas as he hugged him. Instead of leaning into Inas’ warmth as usual, Nigel concentrated his mind. Inas’ status window, which he had wanted to check so much, appeared in front of his eyes.

Basic Character Information WindowName        Inas EdenbachOccupation  KnightLevel       41,435HP          91,419,291/91,419,291MP          79,103,653/79,103,653<View Status><View Skills>

 

T/N:
1 I don’t know if senator is the correct word but based on what I understand from the context, since Nigel is the Duke of Magnus in the north, then the ‘senators’ would be people who manage smaller territories within the Dukedom. Of course, I could be wrong about this, so feel free to correct me.