Damned System

Chapter 93. Compounding Interest (3)

In Bihar, it was customary for the leader to command the knights of the main family, while the deputy leaders governed the knights dispatched to the branch families.

Accordingly, Silvia Perlota, the third deputy leader, was responsible for the knights sent to Habon with Rashar over the past two years.

Today, as she completed her usual routine, Silvia paused on her way to meet Rashar at the mansion.

She stopped because she noticed K approaching from the opposite direction, set against the backdrop of the darkening sky.

On closer inspection, she saw black blood staining his equipment and clothes, suggesting he had been to the corrupted area.

‘Really diligent.’

K, whom she had observed for nearly a month now, lived a truly diligent life.

It seemed as if he divided the 24 hours of a day into minutes to operate efficiently.

Silvia had never seen him waste any moment of his time.

‘I’ve never seen someone plan their rest so meticulously.’

Such diligence translated into a rigorous self-management.

Observing K’s lifestyle, Silvia, who had led a life of continuous training and thought herself quite diligent, found herself awestruck.

Today, it seemed, he had returned from hunting at a corrupted area.

She stood still for a moment, observing K.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, K, rubbing his neck and trapezius area as though tired, noticed Silvia while approaching the mansion.

“Oh, hello.”

“…… Hello, K.”

“Are you by any chance going to meet Rashar?”

“Yes, I have something to report.”

“Great, I was just about to head up there together too….”

K, being familiar and cheerful as usual, suddenly trailed off mid-sentence.

“Ah, I was going to go with you, but I guess I can’t.”

His gaze landed somewhere, and Silvia nearly sighed seeing who it was.

That familiar back of the head, accompanied by a couple of knights, was unmistakably—

‘Allens Hogel.’

The person K had been engrossed with for some days.

Did he perhaps sense K’s persistent gaze?

Allens, upon turning around and spotting K and Silvia, visibly flinched, his shoulders trembling.

He looked noticeably haggard after so few days of torment.

Though Silvia felt conflicted watching him, she showed no reaction and averted her gaze.

Instead of meddling in their affairs, she decided to leave the place as quickly as possible.

“Well then, I’ll head in first.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”

Barely finishing her farewell, desperately avoiding the scene, she heard—

“Ugh!”

Allens’ scream followed by a now familiar laughter.

While she wished to ignore it, her gaze involuntarily turned towards the source.

Turning back to look, Silvia witnessed Allens soaked in black ink.

‘… Ink today.’

The day before it was mud, yesterday rotten eggs, and today it was ink.

‘When does he prepare all that?’

Truly, diligence even in pointless aspects.

Silvia shook her head, somewhat fed up.

In recent days, K was devoted to tailing Allens.

He went as far as throwing horse dung and finding Allens’ room at the knights’ lodge to pour filth over it.

“Ahhh! Just stop it already!”

“Come on, I’m not doing anything.”

Of course, Silvia remained a bystander throughout all of this.

This was because Rashar had instructed her not to intervene in their affairs.

Rumor had it that Allens had been the one to provoke K initially.

When Silvia first heard this story, she intended to formally punish Allens.

It was K who prevented that outcome.

“I don’t mean to ignore your order, but it’s just that my stomach hasn’t settled, you see.”

“I’m not saying to let it go permanently, but maybe for a month or so?”

“If you could just give me until the New Year. Let me vent enough, then I’ll say something.”

Initially, hearing those words, Silvia harbored slight resentment towards K.

However, understanding the meaning behind the one-month period changed her perspective.

‘Walter is an exceptional talent.’

The difference between being punished as a squire versus as a knight ordained was significant.

‘If he’s expelled as a squire, receiving knighthood would be almost impossible for life.’

Realizing that the month-long period K mentioned was time bought for Walter, Silvia had developed quite a fondness for K.

However, at the moment, all she could see was…

“Hey, let’s go together, huh?”

K was following Allens, covering the back of his head with ink, nonchalantly.

With a complex expression, Silvia turned her head.

In recent days, she had glimpses of K’s petty and obsessive sides.

Despite these not being favorable traits, her opinion of him remained relatively unchanged.

In the corner of the hall, a young apprentice servant squatted in a place where servants passed through—he was part of the reason why.

“That’s strange… he should have been back around this time.”

Just as she was about to climb the stairs, Silvia noticed the child and approached.

“Are you waiting for K?”

When she spoke to him, the child, fidgeting with his hands on the floor, jumped up from his spot.

Clearly flustered but pretending not to be, Silvia gave the child news of the one he was waiting for.

“He went towards the knights’ quarters.”

The child did not take long to be grateful before running in the direction Silvia had pointed, carrying a paper bag almost as big as his head.

Inside that paper bag would likely be cookies or bread-like treats for K.

While she wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, none of the children at the mansion disliked K.

‘This alone tells you he’s not a bad person.’

If he were indeed a bad person, none of the children would have gone out of their way to take care of him.

Watching the direction the apprentice servant had disappeared to for a while, Silvia resumed walking shortly thereafter.

She had initially been en route to Rashar’s office for a report.

She couldn’t delay further on other matters.

‘The dissolution of the Resistance leaves little room to breathe.’

Thanks to the autonomy granted by Rashar, Bennett Family knights were now partially supporting the troops being reorganized around the order.

Silvia was heading to Rashar’s office to submit a list related to that.

However, it seemed like today was not the ideal day.

Before reaching the office, she encountered Chandler hurrying down.

“Oh, sir Perlota.”

“Butler, is there an urgent matter?”

“I heard K has returned, so I’m heading to escort him.”

His words made Silvia unintentionally glance back.

Feeling anew, many people seemed to seek K out.

“It would be best to check the training grounds or the lodge.”

She omitted mentioning he was obsessively harassing Allens there.

Given K’s consistent behavior over the past few days, there was no need to articulate something so obvious.

“Oh, do you know where he is?”

“Yes, I just saw him.”

“Goodness, thank you. Guests seem to be arriving shortly, so I will head there first.”

“Yes, take care on your way.”

Chandler passed by Silvia before she finished speaking.

Being left there alone, Silvia cocked her head while watching Chandler go.

‘Guests?’

Who could be seeking him at this late hour?

* * *

While I was once again repaying interest to Allens today, Chandler came to find me.

“Guests?”

He informed me that a guest had arrived to see me.

Before I could even ask who it was, a boisterous voice rang out.

“Outsider!”

For a moment, it felt as though the entire ground trembled.

Though not actually shaking, keeping one’s balance was difficult.

Not only for me, but most of those present in the training grounds staggered.

It was a sensation as if the very foundation of one’s body was quaking.

Looking around to ascertain what was happening, my expression hardened instantly.

“Indeed, a peculiar scent.”

What first came into view was a black nose, followed by strikingly blue eyes.

Although they were definitely blue, a strange intensity flickered within them.

It felt as though I was meeting the gaze of a beast eyeing its prey.

In front of him, I couldn’t even lift a finger.

Fortunately, the bizarre phenomenon didn’t last long.

“Lord Horfe, you’re here.”

Chandler had stepped between us, effectively breaking the eye contact with those blue eyes.

Thanks to him, I knew who the sudden arrival was.

‘The renowned king of the Beastfolk, is this Horfe?’

Certainly, his appearance was similar to the two Beastfolk I had seen before.

Except for slight differences in stripe patterns and hair color, he bore all the traits of the tiger tribe’s Beastfolk.

If there wasn’t another person by that name, this man truly was the king of the Beastfolk tribes.

‘Why in the world is the leader of an entire race here?’

The instant the question formed, Horfe shoved Chandler aside and addressed me directly.

“Step aside; I have business with the Outsider.”

Once having crossed the barrier known as Chandler, he extended a hand toward me and spoke.

“Give it to me.”

Though the object was omitted, given his outreached hand, it was clear.

Something that could make someone who barely knew I existed come to demand.

‘Catnip.’

Nothing else I could provide a tiger tribe Beastfolk seemed probable.

Judging by the blatant request, it seemed rumors had spread among them.

I didn’t need to ponder where such rumors had originated from.

“There, ke! It’s K there!”

“Indeed, indeed, it’s Ke.”

Breche, holding Berta, who was on his way over, was probably the source of those rumors.

‘He must have caught Horfe’s attention with the catnip he had.’

I discreetly glanced over the three tiger tribe Beastfolk and clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘None of them got caught in Mana Detection.’

This phenomenon wasn’t exclusive to the Tiger tribe’s Beastfolk.

Most people at the training grounds appeared as if their mana was shrouded in mist.

‘It wasn’t like this the first day…’

Was there a malfunction with the Mana Detection magic?

Whilst mulling over the thought, I scrutinized Horfe again.

He was still holding out his hand to me.

‘Should this be called having a my-face?’

There hadn’t been a single formal introduction when meeting the tiger folk.

I had encountered three from the tiger folk, yet each time, their names were conveyed through others.

It was juxtaposing but gradually started to feel like the norm.

They had no need for a name exchange.

‘They all identified me by scent.’

Berta, Breche, and Horfe.

They confirmed me entirely by scent.

This is a different way of interacting compared to humans, who confirm existence by exchanging names.

‘They probably lack even the concept of name exchange.’

For the first time, I felt a tad bit of understanding toward the tiger folk.

“Do you really not have it?”

Horfe, still with hand outstretched, urged for the catnip.

Instead of giving him what he wanted, I extended my empty hand.

Damned System.