Once I gained sight, things became a lot more interesting for me on a day-to-day basis. Now I could actually watch and see the comings and goings of the royal family. You got a lot when listening, but there is a lot of body language and physical cues that get left behind. For example, I saw that Queen Malbella had a particular glare she gave King Odval whenever she wanted someone made into an example. I saw that Edvald was the spitting image of his young father, and that even if he didn’t have a sword in hand, he was usually the most intimidating figure in the room—and he knew it. I saw Vivi practicing late at night with Athella, her wild blonde hair streaming behind her as she sparred with the obviously much more experienced Athella. I wasn’t sure about her lore; to be honest, even though this seemed a lot like the light novels I had read and most of it lined up with the canon, there were lots of smaller details that only seemed to exist here. In any case, the only warrior I saw entering the throne room worth a damn besides Edvald was Athella.

  I would catch a glimpse of myself from time to time in a knight’s polished armor or shield. I was indeed a trashcan: steel, about four feet tall, no lid, nothing to set me apart from any other trashcan. ‘Unadorned with Minor Enchantment’ is what the voice that alerted me to level ups had called me, so I guess that tracked.

  Oh, speaking of the voice, it won’t talk to me. Seriously. Being from a world with these sorts of Isekai stories, I had all sorts of expectations about the mysterious voice of the ‘System’ of this world, where RPG mechanics were as natural as the laws of gravity. Every time I attempted to communicate with my mind, though, I got the same answer:

  INVALID USER. CURRENT LEVEL REQUIREMENTS DO NOT MEET MINIMUM FOR INTELLIGENT DIALOGUE. PLEASE MEET LEVEL REQUIREMENTS BEFORE ATTEMPTING COMMUNICATION.

  And that was all it would say. Ouch. I hoped that my intelligence stat wasn’t one of the ones that was below the requirements, because I more or less felt as smart as I had been when I had a meat body. Did I just not meet the minimum requirements because I was a trashcan, or was I a trashcan because I did not meet the minimum requirements? I had a sneaking suspicion it was the latter.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Regardless, I did get it to cooperate enough to show me my stats and abilities. They were pathetically low, of course. My skills were all self-explanatory—I could see, hear, and eat trash, trash being defined as anything inside my body. Appraisal let me see the stats of items inside me, but only inside me, making it basically useless as I was only ever occupied with trash. My efficiency skill meant that I would gain more experience the higher the skill leveled, which was a blessing as the requirement for leveling up seemed to require 50% more experience each time. Right now, it was taking about a year to level up on standard trash, and I couldn’t rely on Vivi throwing away high-value items for levels. Besides, even if she did toss another thirty training swords inside me, my level requirement would soon outstrip the value provided.

  I needed levels to escape my role as a passive observer, but my role as a passive observer kept me from getting my own levels. Truly, I was screwed. To make matters worse, one day as I idly observed the comings and goings of nobles in the throne room, I saw a face I recognized: Stelheim Mason, one of the heralds of Berith.

  In the canon events, Stelheim Mason was one of the key architects of the demon apocalypse. He was a beautiful young man with long silver hair and purple eyes, always wearing his signature violet robes. He was posed as a royal member of the house of the faraway nation of Germanen, sent here on a mission of peace to bridge the gap between nations. In reality, he was a vicious blood mage who would seduce the queen and use her to gain access to the kingdom’s treasury of magical items, stealing them away just before Duke Berith awakened so that the country of Aeternia was defenseless and the demon horde could slaughter unopposed.

  His being here meant that my estimated timetable for destruction was shortened. Stelheim had been undercover for five years; at my current rate of leveling, I would be lucky to be level 4, and something told me that level four Unadorned Trashcans with Minor Enchantment cannot get up and run away from an army of marauding demons. As I watched Stelheim bow and greet the queen and present gifts of silks and jewelry to the royal family, I mentally let out a cry of anguish.

  To my surprise, his purple eyes sharply glanced my way. He was mid-bow, his lips on the back of the queen’s hand, and he looked directly at me. There was suspicion in his eyes followed by confusion, and then it was gone, and he was telling the king and queen how honored he was to be there and how lucky he was to have this chance to foster peace between their nations.

  I felt the blood I no longer had run cold. I needed to get out of here ASAP. Fortunately, fate would soon hand me the tools to decide my own destiny.