How to Raise a Victim

He didn’t know what to answer. He was unable to immediately understand the current situation.

One thing for sure was that Inas can see the information window. Perhaps from the very first time Nigel remembered, or maybe since even before that, all this time.

Just as Nigel observed Inas, Inas also observed Nigel.

“Don’t tell me, do you remember?”

“Wh, what…”

There was no subject in his words1, but he understood immediately. He didn’t have time to pretend. As soon as Inas spoke, he panicked and his body stiffened. Inas’ eyes, examining Nigel’s reaction, became sharp.

“If you can’t remember the previous round… Who the hell are you?”

“… Inas.”

“Is it a bug?”

Inas frowned. And without reciting a spell, a large ice spear appeared behind his back.

“I’ll have to give it a try.”

“What? Wait…”

“It’s okay, it won’t hurt.”

Nigel eyes widened and he tried to resist, but Inas was faster. An ice spear lodged itself in Nigel’s head.

“See you again, Nigel.”

Crazy bastard! He wanted to shout that like that. But there was no time to swear, no time to feel pain, as everything went dark once again.

***

Nigel jumped up from his seat. He felt his once-pierced head and found that, of course, he was perfectly fine. But Nigel’s mind was shattered and torn apart.

“I, Inas… Inas.”

Nigel trembled with a sense of betrayal and muttered the name of the man who killed him. Now he knew when today was without having to check. It would be April 283 of the kingdom calendar.

With his teeth clenched, Nigel jumped up from his seat and pulled a pistol out of a drawer. He had poor shooting skills, but it was better than nothing.

Obviously, Inas had a clear understanding of what had happened to Nigel. So he would appear in front of Nigel soon. Inas might be somewhere else now, but it wouldn’t take long for him to get here. Warp Portal. Even magic that transcends space was perfectly mastered by Inas. Not only the Warp Portal, but a lot of other magic, all of them.

And indeed, Inas came to Nigel without giving him time to breathe.

A man in a uniform and an ankle-length cape proving that he belonged to the Duke of Magnus protruded out of the empty space.

Seeing Nigel aiming a pistol, Inas smiled briefly. His handsome face was something he had seen every day for more than a decade, but the look on his face, mixed with faint madness, was unfamiliar, as it was the first time he had seen it.

“You really do remember the previous round, Nigel.”

At the same time, as if finding it very interesting, Inas’ gazed at Nigel. Nigel shuddered without realizing it.

“Since when did you remember?”

“Inas. Inas, you… How can you…”

Nigel’s hands trembled like mad with the sense of betrayal. He wanted to shoot Inas in the mouth, who was speaking nonchalantly, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t make much difference. What with the overwhelming numbers that made other humans look inferior to ants2.

Did Inas look down on Nigel as well?

The moment he thought about it, a fierce sound resounded from Nigel’s mouth. Even the fear that he might die once again from rebelling like this couldn’t stop Nigel.

“Calm down, Nigel.”

“Shut up. Why did you betray me?”

“I didn’t betray you.”

“You, killed, you killed me…”

Nigel gasped heavily. It was a bad sign. Nigel, who had been weak since childhood, would often faint when he got too worked up.

Inas approached Nigel, who had dropped his pistol without realizing it. Unlike his relaxed expression until now, Inas’ face now was full of worry.

“Nigel, breathe slowly. It’s okay, that’s right…”

It was ridiculous. Pretending to be worried about him being unable to breathe when he had blown the same person’s head off just a while ago.

It was funny how Inas looked like he was genuinely worried about Nigel, which made it even more strange. Nigel pushed Inas away, vowing not to be fooled by his appearance.

“What do you mean, it’s okay? You, you blew my head off!”

Inas didn’t even budge. Instead, he gently patted Nigel on the back. The familiar scent emanating from Inas, the touch that had always calmed Nigel, they acted like a drug. His vision was darkened by anger, but soon he calmed down bit by bit.

“Let, let go.”

“Don’t get too worked up, Nigel. I didn’t kill you in the normal sense of the word.”

“What?”

He shouted in a fit of rage making his head spun. Inas patted Nigel on the back again.

“Listen, Nigel. Murder is completely ending a life. But you returned anyway. Collapsing in banquet hall became something that never happened. Weren’t you having a problem having to deal with it?”

Inas said as if he knew everything. Nigel was momentarily speechless because what he said was correct. In the meantime, Inas made the decision as if he was drawing a conclusion on his own.

“It’s all fine now.”

That attitude made him even angrier. Originally, Inas was the one who listened to Nigel, not the other way around. This sense of separation that felt different from his previous image was in line with the feeling of betrayal towards Inas.

“Don’t be ridiculous! But even if you were to ki… kill me, did you really have to blow my head off?”

“It didn’t hurt, did it? And if you remember, you’re afraid of blood. I thought it would be better if you didn’t see any.”

“…”

It’s all true, but… He didn’t know whether he could call it being kind or crazy. Perhaps the latter was more correct. His voice as so calm that he would have fallen for it if he had been distracted. Nigel, who had been caught up for a moment, frowned.

“If you can make it not hurt… Then do something right now… My head hurts.”

Although he didn’t pass out, his chest felt tight, his head hurt, and his hands and feet were numb. Inas sighed lightly and placed his hand on Nigel’s forehead. As a refreshing breeze blew past Nigel’s head, his body felt a little lighter. But he wasn’t completely cured.

“Do a little more.”

“It can’t be made completely painless.”

“… Why, what’s going on? Are you killing me?”

It was only then that Inas looked embarrassed. Nigel felt a little refreshed seeing him be at a loss. Inas let out a low sigh towards the grumpy Nigel.

“It’s not like that… Back then I gave you paralytic poison to completely block the pain. I can’t use that now.”

Nigel gaped.

“Really… Just get out…”

Honestly, he should have said, “You’re crazy,” but he’s a person who could pull someone’s head off like pulling radish, so he held back his mouth. Of course, from his words, it didn’t seem like he was going to kill Nigel again right away, but… It was hard to feel relieved…

Nigel hit his chest3 as the situation was funny, absurd, and unfair at the same time. Then Inas took Nigel’s hand and gently lowered it.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do I look like I can stay calm? I don’t understand. You, really, How many times have you killed me like that?”

Even if he wouldn’t die… How could he have pierced his chest and blown his head off without hesitation?

Nigel bit his lip, feeling upset. It sounded selfish, but it would have been better if Inas’ killing hands were directed at others. Or he would have understood the situation if he had betrayed him or started to hate him.

He was still loyal, still cared about Nigel, yet he brought death on him… From Nigel’s point of view, it was simply incomprehensible.

“Don’t take death too seriously, Nigel.”

Inas spoke in an uncharacteristically light voice. As if the whole thing was just a joke.

“I love you, Nigel. But your life has no value.”

“… What?”

“After all, even if you die, things will reset to its original state.”

“What the hell are you… What are you talking about?”

Nigel trembled lightly. A chill from fear crept in and engulfed Nigel. At the same time, he instinctively realized.

<Protagonist>.

That this was a story related to the bizarre situation he saw back then.

“How should I say this… I’ve said it dozens of times already, but you’ve never heard it before4.”

He wanted to shut Inas’ mouth, but at the same time he wanted to keep listening. Like the main character in a scary story, it was a moment when he had no choice but to step in, even though he was afraid of the things beyond the darkness.

Inas looked at the nervous Nigel quietly. Inas blinked a couple of times as if trying to shake off his anticipation. With calm eyes cleared of emotions, Inas opened his mouth.

“There’s some slight error, but for the most part, I’ve been living in this game world while repeating the time from April 14th to March 27th of the following year.”

“…”

“This world is fake, and you’re just data.”

Like a guide repeating the same words hundreds of times, words that seemed to have been prepared flowed calmly from Inas.

The word ‘fake’ terrified Nigel. He couldn’t write it off as nonsense. <Protagonist>. He vividly recalled the words in the information window that made him feel sick just thinking about it.

His stomach felt nauseous. Nigel pushed Inas’ hand away, got up from his seat, and leaned over. He tried to vomit several times, but nothing came out. If he could, he wanted to pour out all his guts to completely erase the words he had just heard.

Inas grabbed Nigel who had his head down. Nigel raised his head as if he were being pushed by a strong force. Contrary to Nigel, who was in pain, Inas’ face was filled with delight.

“You understand what I said… Nigel.”

Inas’ eyes sparkled with joy.

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T/N:
LET’S GOOOOO NIGEL FINALLY LEARNED THE TRUTH OF THE WORLD!!! See guys Inas isn’t so bad. I mean he was even thinking of Nigel’s fear of blood when killing him. He’s so considerate  Lol anyway yeah Inas is just unhinged. Endless regression does that to a guy I guess.

Do tell me if I seem to have made any mistakes like typos and such, or if it feels like there’s some missing sentences. Most of the times I post without proofreading so there’s bound to be mistakes here and there.

1 As in, Inas didn’t specify what he was talking about.
2 If you haven’t guessed, Nigel is talking about Inas’ crazy OP stats.
3 No clue what prompted him to hit his chest all of a sudden. Initially gtl translated it to ‘Nigel’s heart was pounding’ but then the following sentence wouldn’t make sense. If I have to guess, maybe he’s doing that gesture where you pat your chest as if to calm yourself down.
4 Meaning he tried telling Nigel before but he always got blocked by the system so Nigel never heard him properly.