Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Unfathomable Insight
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“I just can’t understand you, Young Master…”
Alkaido murmured, thinking of Adelrian even though he wasn’t there in front of him.
He was the heir of the family whom he had served since the days when he could barely walk, but lately, everything he showed was utterly incomprehensible.
Adelrian, born into a family famous enough that anyone on the continent would recognize the name if spoken, yet said to have inherited nothing from Kaiman except his looks.
‘To possess insight like this?’
If he weren’t assigned to a department directly under Kaiman, Alkaido would know everything about him.
For Adelrian to have such strong intelligence capabilities that he could read the continent from his seat?
“It shouldn’t be possible… but it’s happening, so I have nothing to say.”
Even without a drought, food shipments were increasing. The most severe case was the desert nation of Radeon.
‘It’s a country that imports food frequently to begin with, but the imports are rising sharply compared to the expected population growth.’
Not just food, but the overall circulation of monster byproducts had decreased, and mana stone production was plummeting.
The problem was that it was hard to discern the cause-and-effect.
In the case of food, circulation usually increases due to droughts, floods, or insect swarms reducing production, but lately, the continent had been peaceful.
Even with massive subjugations of monsters—several over the past few years that reached Alkaido’s ears—the overall byproducts were decreasing instead.
‘And the decline is only in areas along the mountain ranges?’
Each one might seem trivial on its own, but when put together, the overall trend was one of tangling chaos.
There hadn’t been a drought, but there were more average harvests than bountiful ones. If monster byproduct demand kept rising while supply dwindled?
‘The most serious issue is the mana stones.’
Mana stones—or magic stones as they were sometimes called—were an indispensable energy resource on this continent.
They enabled comfortable lifestyles, but depending on how they were processed, they also became materials for weapons that could claim countless lives.
For example, a single mana stone could cover most daily necessities and strategic goods.
But if their production was inexplicably plummeting?
‘War will break out.’
Some nations—especially those with production sites—might have already noticed.
A war over resources could erupt.
“It’s absurd.”
At first, he thought someone might be using Adelrian as a figurehead, but no one had secretly met with him.
Which meant Adelrian was somehow peering into distant places while sitting in this castle, through some unimaginable method.
Just as goosebumps rose on Alkaido’s arms, someone knocked and entered.
“Alkaido, sir. The Young Master is looking for you.”
“I’ll be there shortly.”
The eerie chill, like being doused in cold water, shattered, and Alkaido calmly regarded the servant.
‘I need to confirm this myself.’
And when Alkaido went to meet Adelrian, he became convinced.
“It’s a secret.”
He knew the way to save the continent.
* * *
“Why keep it a secret, Young Master? If the continent is stained by war and the family falls, it won’t be good for you either.”
“That’s true. But why do you think I’d tell Alkaido everything one by one?”
Cain and Luna had whined so much about how gross the green juice tasted that I’d brought in a glass jar of candy.
I shrugged as I took out a round candy and popped it into my mouth.
“Alkaido isn’t even on my side. Do I have some duty to reveal my hand to him?”
I rested one hand on the table and gazed at Alkaido, who was leaning against it at a slant. His face showed a hint of contemplation.
“Or are you going to switch to my side?”
To my teasing words, Alkaido replied in his usual flat tone, as if it were nothing new.
“I am always a loyal subordinate.”
Suspicious. He was subtly hinting at his own trait to build trust, no doubt.
I’d already been backstabbed by Alkaido once. The betrayal when he stole all my hoarded game money like a squirrel.
“Haha, good one. Did Father tell you to say that?”
But there was no need to openly reveal that I knew his loyalty trait belonged to the family itself.
To hide my dry mouth amid this subtle battle of wills, I mentioned Kaiman while rolling the candy on my tongue.
“You know it too, Alkaido. Even though I’ve become the acting head of a family that spans the continent, no one’s sent assassins after me or tried to bribe and use me.”
What thoughts was he turning over behind that unchanging face?
I needed to stay just a tiny bit ahead of what Alkaido thought.
Like a swamp whose depths you couldn’t fathom. An unpredictable, capricious being.
“Why do you think that is? Because the other blood relatives lack the qualifications? Or are they too dull to even think of it? Ah, that could be it.”
I laughed mockingly at them before opening my mouth again.
“But if it were me, I’d give it a shot. A kid who just came of age holding a ring that sways the continent? Worth targeting, right? So why hasn’t anyone done it?”
Pretending to have insightfully puzzled it out, I spoke as if it were the obvious answer.
“It’s all according to Father’s will.”
It probably wasn’t entirely wrong.
Brazenness was the answer.
I shrugged, straightened from my slouched position against the table, and slowly approached Alkaido until we were face-to-face.
“Father’s great and all, but he smothers me with overprotection sometimes, you know? It gets boring and tedious at times.”
Bored. I was so utterly bored and listless that I was preparing to leave this place.
“That’s why my true nature finds everything so dull. Even drinking or beating someone feels like a chore now.”
Thus, everything I’d been doing lately was just my whims, a petty rebellion against Father, and mischief that wouldn’t harm the family.
“And in the midst of that, I’ve noticed the continent’s situation is off. No matter how boring, it’s still home base. It can’t afford to fall, right?”
So, despite my flaws and secrets, I was still a decent card for ensuring the Kruger family’s perpetuity.
I subtly laid that foundation.
“What do you plan to do?”
After a moment’s thought, as if weighing his options, Alkaido probed gently.
“I’m not saying jump ship to me right now. You’re a loyal subordinate, after all, Alkaido. Just…”
By now, the candy had melted to smaller than my fingernail, and I swallowed it whole, exhaling.
“You’ll need to move for my sake too. For the time being, think of it as me being satisfied with you as a double agent.”
Beyond the shadows attached to my every move under the guise of guards, Alkaido was probably the one feeding info to Kaiman.
He couldn’t have failed to notice what I’d been preparing lately, so I needed to preempt any interference.
“The continent stays peaceful, our family grows even bigger. Father would like that, right?”
I extended one hand subtly, as if offering a handshake.
And Alkaido would know exactly what this meant.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he reached out and clasped my hand. I laughed out loud and shook it.
“So, one of Alkaido’s legs is now on my ship?”
“Of course.”
“Then bring the documents? I want to cross-check.”
With the data in my head.
Of course, Alkaido would imagine I had informants behind me.
‘Yeah. Nope.’
I’m just an old-timer who spent all day on wikis and forums, remembering this and that.
I bowed my head in greeting as Alkaido left the room, then even after the door closed, I sat there tensely in my slouched posture.
“He’s gone, right…?”
Aigo… Aigo!
My poor body.
It ached as much as after hours of horseback riding and getting drilled by Mark in the training grounds.
I staggered to the bed and flopped face-first onto it, groaning.
While I’m suffering like this, Dol Ikki and Rachel are churning out DLC… DLC, damn it.
Child-rearing or home-building content would hook female gamers, and arena duels for males!
Lost in imagining the DLC I’d demand when I got back, I stretched out even more.
“My energy’s just draining away.”
If not for that candy I’d scarfed mid-convo, I’d definitely feel a sugar crash.
As I groaned, the door opened, and Luna slipped in, kneading my shoulders and arms with her delicate, reed-like hands.
“I saw Alkaido leaving. He said you had work but to go have fun…”
Worry clouded Luna’s pink eyes as she spoke softly.
Feeling bad for making the little-sister vibe Luna worry, I played it off casually.
“Ah… yeah. What I set out to do went pretty well, more or less. Did you have fun, Luna?”
“Today too… I ran to the lake with Bess… and pulled carrots straight from the garden and ate them…”
I stroked the head of Luna, who was massaging diligently with her other hand, and her white ears perked up happily.
“Sounds fun. And then?”
I chimed in and responded to her words.
If I reacted like this and kept the conversation going, maybe her talking skills would improve bit by bit.
Man, her ears are so unique every time I see them.
They twitched every time she chattered happily, like she was in a good mood.
Once, I asked if it hurt since she tied them up sometimes, and she said it was about the same as crossing your arms.
‘Really fascinating.’
While blankly letting my thoughts wander as she massaged and I responded verbally, I casually opened a new topic.
“Cain was getting beat up good?”
“Potions… left in the bathroom in advance… came back…”
From her mumbling something like ‘arm dangling loose again,’ his arm was probably broken again.
Anyway, what a tough bastard. What’s the point of losing Tenacity? He’s doing everything on his own anyway.
Truth be told, the training Cain got from the assassin group was inhumanely grueling.
Yet here he was, doing it all solo in this cushy environment.
Eating rotten meat to tough it out. Hiding in reeds underwater for three days with one straw. Enduring torture without spilling a word.
Maybe I should be grateful he doesn’t do that kind of training.
‘Or maybe he just can’t think of those methods.’
Either way, those skills become useless later on.
Once you pick up a few more heroines for the party, food shortages or underwater survival get solved in one shot.
As Luna’s massage made me drowsy, I shook my head to fend off sleep.
“Don’t sleep… what would you like to eat?”
“Hmm… maybe. Tough call.”
I felt like I should eat something.
But craving recovery for my depleted stamina, I lounged on the bed a bit longer when a servant sent by Alkaido arrived with a stack of documents.
“Young Master, documents from Alkaido, sir. Shall I hand them over?”
“Nah. Just leave them there and go. I’ll look when I have time.”
Pretending no big interest, like they weren’t super important.
After waving him off and waiting for him to leave, I bolted up and started flipping through the papers.
“What… are those documents?”
“Stuff from Alkaido. Continent logistics indicators and such. Wanna look together?”
At my gentle coaxing, Luna smiled like she’d just crunched a carrot—and something else—and shook her head.
“I’ll get snacks… and tea…”
“Go ahead.”
After watching Luna slip away, I lay back on the bed, flipping through page by page and marking key parts.
‘Food shortages. Monster byproducts, mana stones…’
What was lacking, what was increasing.
Putting this intel together, the trigger for the upcoming continental war was…
“Hmm… this time it’s this, huh…”
Normally, starting the Innocent Saga uses the continent’s chaos as an opportunity, beginning from Cain’s perspective after he escapes the assassin group.
And that chaos had some consistent elements each new game, but others that changed…
“This is ridiculous.”
I chuckled and shook the papers.
What a trash game, seriously.