Extra's Supremacy: Rise of the Forgotten Background Character-Chapter 225: Rael Getting Pushed Into a Corner!!! Hard!!!

Rael looked at the god trying his best to act cute.

He didn't fall for it, not when the person in front of him was probably hundreds of thousands of years older than he was, no matter how convincingly he wore the face of a child.

"So tell me," Winter continued shamelessly, "what could a poor little spirit fragment like me possibly offer the great successor of the mythical Trickster?"

"All I can give you is…" He paused dramatically. "…my undying gratitude."

"Cut the act, Winter."

Rael interrupted him outright.

He was literally getting shivers watching someone be that shameless.

How could anyone even do that?

Naturally, as long as it wasn't him doing it, Rael found the level of shamelessness completely unbearable.

"I'm really not acting." Winter said calmly. "That was the truth." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

His gaze sharpened.

"The one putting on an act here is you. Seriously, did you actually think I would fall for that?" A faint smirk appeared on his face. "I spent countless years with that sly and whimsical Trickster and even if I'm nothing more than a shadow of my mortal days now, I am not that easy to fool."

He continued, his voice measured but cutting.

"Yes, you are clever and you definitely deserve the title of his successor, your acting alone proves that."

Then he tilted his head slightly.

"But you're not at his level yet."

The smirk widened just a bit.

"Maybe if you were a thousand years older… or a little more, I might have fallen for your lies."

"Tch…"

Rael clicked his tongue.

"Since none of our acts are working, let's just be honest." He said in annoyance. "I am not giving you my card unless I get something in return and that's final."

He met Winter's gaze without flinching.

"The deal you made with the Trickster is his problem. What are you going to do, sue him? Or sue me?" Rael scoffed. "I'm pretty sure that bastard made you sign some shady contract anyway and the chances of you breaking it are close to zero, whether I give you my card or not."

He shrugged.

"So tell me, why should I?"

Knowing Winter couldn't harm him, directly or indirectly, Rael felt no fear of retaliation anymore.

"Rael… oh dear Rael."

Winter shook his head lightly. "You're right, I did sign quite a few contracts with him, but…"

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"…most of them were conditional. They only held value if you helped me revive my father and if you turn your back on me, the contract becomes void anyway."

The grin widened, losing any trace of playfulness.

"Of course, I still can't kill you even if you refuse because you are far more important to me than you realize." His gaze hardened. "But I can lock you up here and keep you trapped until you hand over the card which doesn't even cost you much."

He tilted his head slightly.

"So… what's it gonna be?"

"Tsk…"

This was the first time Rael truly felt cornered.

Up until now, most people he had encountered even those far older than him had been easy to read and easy to deceive.

Gods, however, were a different breed entirely.

He was only realizing that now.

The only reason he had managed to trick Hel back then when he negotiated his death was probably because the Trickster had been quietly backing him from the shadows and there was also Hel's straightforward nature which had helped him.

But facing a god alone, especially someone like Winter, whose entire mortal life had been spent alongside that sly bastard, Rael stood no chance of fooling him, at least not right now.

The last time he had been pushed this hard into a corner was by Astravore, someone whose intentions he couldn't understand and now… Winter was the same.

Rael couldn't tell whether Winter was bluffing or telling the truth.

A part of him believed it had to be a bluff, he trusted the Trickster to have scammed Winter back in his mortal days and yet, the confidence on Winter's face made that belief waver.

In the end, Rael couldn't be sure.

"Fine…" He said at last.

He exhaled slowly before continuing,

"I will give it to you but in return, I want at least a few useful artifacts from this treasury."

Winter's smile returned. "Good choice, big bro."

Then he added casually, "But yeah, no. I wasn't lying when I said I don't have any of that."

Rael blinked.

"My main body, as powerful and glorious as it was in its prime, left me with nothing but one responsibility to revive my old man."

"Huh?!" Rael shot back. "Then what about the artifacts in this treasury? Aren't they yours to begin with? Can't you just lend me a few?"

"Ahh, about that…" Winter scratched his cheek. "Those artifacts actually belong to the Heavenly Principles. The deal only allowed me to exist here while everything else including every artifact inside this space is their property."

He gestured lazily around them.

"I can control the space and can send you to the appropriate trials but you will be the one completing them and earning the artifacts yourself."

Rael didn't speak for a moment.

The novel didn't have this information as it only talked about how God of Forge made a deal with Heavenly Principles to let his Divine Domain exist in mortal plane and it never talked about why such a deal was made or what were the specifics.

"So… you are basically useless, huh?" Rael muttered flatly.

Winter didn't get offended and instead, he nodded eagerly. "Yep. Completely and utterly useless except for being a cute little manager of this place."

Rael sighed.

If only some other good god had picked this kid up instead of the Trickster… Maybe then he wouldn't have turned out this way.

Rael knew Winter wasn't actually a child but he still couldn't help feeling a little bad because being molded by that bastard's nature from such an early age had clearly left its mark.

"Okay… fine." Rael finally nodded.

He decided to take a strategic step back.

He already had a shit-ton of divine enemies and adding a god as an ally didn't sound like the worst idea especially when the price was only one card, something he could eventually recover once his skill grew in rank anyway.

"But, you send me the artifacts I want after we are done and you tell me everything you plan to do with that card."

"Absolutely, big bro." Winter nodded eagerly and then his smile widened. "Now then… shall we begin?"