Since I thought we might be late today, I told Rachael and Sharon earlier not to wait for us.
Consequently, those two had already fallen asleep by the ti we arrived at the villa late at night.
Now, Charlotte and I were the only ones at the dinner table.
It was then that Charlotte, who had been humming quietly throughout the way back so as not to disrupt my thoughts, spoke up.
"Master, can I ask you sothing?"
"Hmmm..." I nodded and kept eating.
Delighted, Charlotte asked with a sly grin.
"Master, do you like that girl, Sylvia?"
’Cough! Cough!’
Hearing those words, I nearly spit out the food I was eating, and wanted to reprimand this idiot for asking such a question so out of the blue.
But despite the rollercoaster in my mind, my body and face remained calm.
Putting the spoon back down on the table, I looked Charlotte in the eyes and asked back.
"You have any problems?"
"Should I reply truthfully, Master?"
"You want to lie to your master?"
To my instant reply, which was outside of her expectations, Charlotte’s face inflated like a balloon, and she pouted like a kid.
"Mo! You’re no fun anymore, you don’t even quarrel with like before."
Folding her hands around her breasts, she made a depressed face.
Nonetheless, her antics had no effect on , and I asked straightforwardly.
"You like quarreling with you?"
To which her eyes widened in disbelief.
She dramatically placed a hand on her chest, and with a vibrant voice, she exclaid,
"Nah-uh! But you seem to have beco smarter now, Master... I like you more now."
"Are you saying I was a fool and you hated before? Charlotte, are you insulting your master?"
My eyes were sharp, and my voice cold as I looked at Charlotte, who got imdiately flustered by my words.
"Uh?! ... No, no, what are you saying, Master? I never thought like that... I swear on my Coke."
"But you don’t even drink Coke these days."
"Ah, that’s not the point... The feelings... Yes, it’s the feelings..."
There was a cold sweat on Charlotte’s forehead, and she hurriedly waved her hand, trying to justify her words with nonsensical blabbering.
The corner of my mouth twitched as I watched her antics.
But knowing what a complete idiot the old Adrian was, I couldn’t even scold her.
Charlotte continued to explain, and I focused back on my food.
It was then, as if a bulb lit up above her head, that Charlotte rembered sothing.
"Master!!! I did a good job today, right?"
She asked excitedly and with anticipation, as if she had completely forgotten her previous predicant.
Witnessing her cute antics and changing expressions as naturally as breathing made chuckle inwardly.
’This girl.’
It was also that ti, I was done eating.
So, I wiped my face, and nodded to her.
"Yes, today you really did a good job blackmailing Sylvia’s mother and holding that nurse until the right ti."
My sincere praise made Charlotte smug all of a sudden.
Her nose was high, and her hands held the spoons like chopsticks, pointing at and moving them up and down.
"You don’t know, master. Improvisation is the key. Improvisation."
Charlotte emphasized the word "improvisation," as if she were a philosopher giving a lecture.
’Is this girl now trying to teach ? It looks like she needs to know who her real teacher is.’
Suddenly, an ingenious and interesting idea that would also help ca to my mind.
So, this ti, I didn’t respond to her.
Instead, my hand sprang into action like a flash of lightning, and I grabbed Charlotte by the ears and pulled hard.
"Ahhh! Master!"
As a high ranking player, Charlotte could have avoided my hand.
But instead of evading, she let do it, and was now pretending to scream like a child.
It really made want to face palm myself.
And I seriously doubted if she had a hidden masochistic tendency that I wasn’t aware of.
In any case, it was sothing that would be revealed later anyway, so for the ti being, discipline this misbehaving girl.
"You were saying improvisation, right? Let show you so improvisation."
"Huh?"
At that, Charlotte stopped screaming, and looked at in bewildernt.
Unfortunately for her, I had already pulled her outside with by the ti she realized I was up to no good.
...
Soon, a scream and heavy breathing sounds disturbed the villa’s garden.
"Kyaaahhh!!!"
"Huff hufff... Master!!!"
"No more, Master."
"Stop lazing around Charlotte, and continue to run!"
Despite her reluctant expression, she obeyed and continued to run.
Still, she couldn’t help but ask aloud as she ran.
"But Master, why are we running?"
"Don’t you know? It’s an improvised way to digest our food..."
"!!!"
Charlotte almost lost her balance and fell at my words.
Whoops-!
Fortunately, she was quick to recover and regain her balance.
But before she could relax, I pulled her back with .
To which she started throwing tantrums like a kid while running.
"I don’t want to run anymore, my legs hurt."
"The maid who cooks food was also saying the sa about her hands, should I tell her to not make food for you from tomorrow?"
"No! Master! You cannot do this to ."
Charlotte kept making childlike pleas, but I stopped responding to her and kept on running.
There was only one reason I was running laps around my villa.
’Daily exercise and training.’
Due to my 50 mana stats, which suggested that I belonged to an exceptional class, people believed I was powerful, but I knew that wasn’t the case.
Nothing I possessed could aid in combat or make stronger directly.
All I had were auxiliary skills and traits.
Even my stats were just above average, and the 50 mana were only 9 now.
That was why, I had to grow stronger.
Not only to maintain this strong image, which would be extrely helpful to in the future, but also to defeat the protagonist.
And, of course, survive the end of this world.
For that, even I didn’t know how strong I had to be.
I had no ti to waste.
’Training cannot be neglected.’
My Revered Physique and Rapid Growth were cheats made to increase stats through training, and my Pride wouldn’t allow to waste even a single day.
It was then that I called while running.
"Charlotte."
"Huh?"
"We will be training like this daily. In the morning, and then before going to sleep at night."
"WHAT?!"
Instantly, Charlotte stopped, turned around, and looked at incredulously.
I also stopped and looked at her, calm as ever.
Then with an expression of looking down on her I made full use of my pride and taunted her.
"Why are you so surprised? Aren’t you a high level player? Are you saying that you can’t even keep up with a level 1 player like ?"
It was a self harming tactic, but it was the only way to motivate Charlotte and trigger my Pride to break my limits and push through the training.
For the first ti, Charlotte’s face turned serious.
And it didn’t take long before I realized the consequences of my actions.
’Fuck.’
I couldn’t help but curse myself.
My legs were numb, screaming in pain to , and my heart was beating erratically inside my chest.
So loudly that I could hear it outside.
Even walking was impossible.
Nonetheless, my body urged to move forward, even with trembling legs.
Still, even though my heart was beating quickly, my composure (A) kept my breathing steady.
Which was the only fortunate thing in this unfortunate situation.
My Nobility and Pride forbade from bending my back in exhaustion and bowing my head.
This was a downside to this Pride.
It was a serious miscalculation on my part.
But I had already shot the bullet, and now I had no idea how to stop it unless Charlotte herself admitted defeat.
Which seed impossible considering the determined look on her face.
’Shit!’
I cursed inwardly.
And that was the last thing I did before darkness covered my eyes.
Fortunately, Charlotte had sharp senses, and she quickly picked up on the anomaly, caught before I fell, and gave a recovery potion for stamina.
It wasn’t until I chugged that whole thing that I started to feel better.
"Master, I think this is enough for tonight."
"So you lost?"
Charlotte’s eyelids twitched at those words, but at the end, she still nodded her head.
"Yes, I lost, let’s go to sleep now."
’My Charlotte, you’re an angel.’
Even though I wanted to rush over and give her a bear hug and so sloppy complinting kisses, I just nodded and got to my feet.
"You’re right."
The Stamina recovery potion had helped regain so strength, and my legs were no longer shaking as I walked.
Then after a relaxing bath, and drinking a Health potion to boost my muscle recovery, I tightly cuddled Charlotte and drifted off to sleep.
That night I had a strange dream of Charlotte licking my face and smiling shyly while looking at .
*
The next day, early morning at sunrise.
Even before the alarm could ring, my body clock woke up. I turned off the alarm and called out to the red-haired, sleeping beauty in my arms.
"Hey, wake up."
"Ugh, Master... Nom nom, one... second... more."
She was Charlotte, who was more like a kid in an adult’s body.
....
Others might have found the morning to be a revitalizing start, but for , it signaled the beginning of another torturous training session.
Training was necessary, but I had learned my lesson from last night, so I created so rules.
"The race will last for an hour, and the winner will be the one who completes the most push-ups, squats, and other exercises during that ti."
To this, Charlotee replied with a smug smile on her face.
"Don’t regret it, master."
"We’ll see."
I replied confidently, with my usual pride.
The result?
On that day, I experienced what overwhelming defeat ant.
That too, when Charlotte was being lazy.
’Was she taunting and taking revenge for the morning?’
My mind was filled with unanswered questions.
Nonetheless, Charlotte’s attitude challenged my Pride all the more.
"Charlotte, you have so decent skills, but you need to perform much better or I’ll soon surpass you."
My expressions were as if I were looking down on Charlotte and teaching a young kid not to be conceited and overconfident.
"Nah! It will never happen."
Charlotte replied, acting haughtily, and instinctively, my hands moved towards her ear.
Giving them an even tighter pull.
"Ouch ouch! Master, I am sorry, you will surpass soon. My ears... Ah! Master, I am sorry."
With that, fortunately, I was successfully able to teach Charlotte who the boss was.
But this girl was still pretending to be hurt and rubbed her ears, which weren’t even red.
To be honest, I was a little pissed off after seeing that, but since Charlotte had already been disciplined, I decided to focus my wrath elsewhere.
’System I am genuinely curious, tell sothing.’
[What does the host want to know?]
’You nad my traits based on this body’s characteristic data, right?’
[Yes host]
’So, don’t you think Shalessness (A) would have been correct instead of Pride (A)?
[...]
[...]
[...]
’Bastard, are you acting ignorant now?’
[The characters Axel and Adrian were both written by the host. ]
’Fuck You.’
In my head, I swore and declared war on the System.
The result?
Defeated by this bastard who doesn’t even had emotions.
’Why do I feel unlucky since last night?’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I recalled my pitiful 4 points of Luck.
’It looks like the effect of those points is almost over.’
’Sigh! I need to quickly get so UC and upgrade myself.’
Thinking of that, I ca out of my thoughts and turned to Charlotte.
"Charlotte."
"Yes?"
Charlotte responded, no longer pouting and acting more normally.
But I still decided to cheer up my cute shadow’s mood a little.
"You like the ga we played with Sylvia, right?"
Hearing about the ga put a huge grin on her face, and she answered with enthusiasm.
"Yes, master, I enjoyed it very much. Are we playing again? Are we targeting Sylvia?"
"Indeed, the main focus is her, but there are also other characters this ti."
"Who? Those girls that bullied her?"
"Very smart."
For so reason, Charlotte’s brain works the fastest when talking about such things.
She was definitely a character fit for the Villain Camp.
"Bring your ears here."
Carlotte eagerly leaned in, and I leaned down to whisper my plan and assign her a task.
The more Charlotte listened to , the wider her smile got, and by the end, she was beaming with joy.
"Wonderful, don’t worry, Master. Cracks and Guild investigations would be hard for , but with Sharon’s help, I’ll do it as soon as possible."
"Good girl."
I smiled and scratched the top of Charlotte’s head, and she began to purr contentedly.
’Now, in only a few days, I will be able to taste our Sylvia and then visit the Quick Instance world.’
Just imagining the look of utter hopelessness on those girls’ faces and Sylvia throwing herself into my arms made smile sinisterly in my mind.
’Hehehe.’
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