Chapter 12 Reaping Money[2]

Keara and me are eating in the table. Well, I'm eating but Keara still have her head lowered.

"You should eat, the foods will get cold."

I said.

Looking at me, Keara picked up a spoon and took a bite from the food in front of her.

Her eyes widened.

"This is so good!"

She exclaimed.

Keara's honest thought made me smile, I'm a human so it's normal that I like being praised.

"Really? That's good to hear."

Keara looked at me.

"You cooked all of these?"

She asked, taking a bite on every food on the table.

"Yes, I did."

I replied with a light nod.

"You're..shoo...gooshd..at cooking!"

Keara's cheeks were expanded as her mouth is full of foods.

She's really cute. Like a hamster or a squirrel.

"Slow down, there's enough for the both of us."

At my words, Keara got embarrassed and lowered her head again.

After she calmed down. Keara looked at me.

She's fidgeting.

"What?"

I asked her as I eat.

She was pretty hesitant to talk, but in the end, she asked me a question.

"Are you gonna leave me now?"

I stopped eating and looked at her.

Keara's question is serious, you can feel and see her worries and fears through her wavering voice and slightly watering eyes.

Actually, Keara can't do anything if I decided to just leave her after a one-night stand. That's because she's a halfling, and halflings doesn't have a real value based on the societies as all of them are being pushed away.

With a calm voice, I replied to Keara with my own question.

"Do you want me to?"

Keara who have her head bowed, tightly closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Then, why would I leave you?"

I asked and drank some water.

Though Keara's next reply caught me in surprise.

"Because you already got my first time?"

"Keouk!"

I choked at what she said. I calmed myself and looked at Keara.

"I will not."

I said, looking at her in the eyes.

'I'm not that kind of a scumbag!'

After letting out a sigh, I spoke again.

"But you can leave me whenever you want."

Bam-

"Why would I do that?!"

Keara got agitated by my words. She stood up and slammed her hands on the table.

Not minding her actions, I replied with a shrug.

"Because I'm not that a good person."

Keara frowned at me at my words.

"I'm a very greedy person."

I said.

Greed is normal to humans, so did to me, I want to get everything I want, and I don't want to let go any of what I got.

I want Keara to know how greedy of a person I am so she wouldn't feel guilty at leaving me.

So with a sly smile.

"What will you do if I suddenly made my own harem?"

I jokingly said.

But Keara's next words almost made me choke again.

"isn't it fine?"

She said like it was normal.

My mind got complicated, but shaking my head, I remembered what I did to the story.

In this world, polygamy is normal, many high ranking heroes and important people have more that 2 wives or husbands. I did that for the protagonist, Alec, for his harem of beautiful ladies.

But just thinking about myself having a harem, it's weirding me out. Now I'm questioning my past self why I did that to the story.

"If you got your harem will you neglect me?"

Snapping me out of my imagination is Keara's question.

Glancing at her, I let my honest thoughts out unconsciously.

"Well, no."

I shrugged.

"As I said, I'm greedy, once I have something I can call mine, I'll never let go of it if possible."

"So if I did have a harem, I'll love them equally so they'll never leave m–"

In the middle of my proud and stupid speech, I suddenly frowned.

'It's like declaring I'm gonna have my own harem.'

Chills ran through my spine as I cringed at my own words.

"Then it's fine, I'm just an halfling anyway. Worst case is someone will force me to be their concubine."

Keara said while smiling bitterly. Seeing her lowering her value with a bitter smile, beat the shit out of my conscience.

I frowned, things like that really do happens.

Some of Keara's case got forced to marrying someone by making their parents go to debt or by pushing them into the edge where they couldn't do anything else but to agree.

In the end, they'll be left with no choice but to marry that someone.

Because the society, and even the otherworlders doesn't care to halflings.

Imagining those things happening sparked anger deep inside me. At that time, I added a new goal for myself with a clear and solid resolution.

'I need to fix what I did.'

I thought, tightly clenching my hands into fists.

"You know..."

I just calmed down when I heard Keara's voice again.

"The fact that you are considering my feelings and you doesn't discriminate against me means that you're a good person."

Keara added after a short pause.

Her words are too kind that it's hurting me, so I decided to rebut again.

"But there's a lot more better person than me. More handsome, more kind, more—"

"But it's you that I want."

But my rebuttal was cut by Keara's words. Then she blushed at what she said.

Her words were honest and sweet.

'This... You're just not used to being given care that's why you're so attached to me...'

Keara is weak to kindness because of her past. I got complicated expression and it's the same in my mind.

I'm hiding it but I'm blushing a little. Normally I'll call this cringe, but when I heard it from Keara and I'm the subject of such sweet words, the corner of my mouth twitched and threatened to rise.

Acting annoyed, I grabbed my cutlery and spoke.

"Suit yourself. Let's continue eating."

Keara did as I instructed, she happily eat while grinning at me ear to ear.

Keara who is weak at the act of kindness toward will surely be taken advantage sooner or later, so I decided to stick with her for it to not happen.

'I'll be by your side then until you realize that it's not me that you want and until you can tell if someone is kind or they're just acting.'

I'm not doing this for Keara, I'm doing it for myself. It's to relieve my guilt even just a bit.

'Okay it's decided, I'll spoil Keara with kindness so when she leave my side, she will have a higher tolerance against kindness.'

I nodded my head proudly at my genius plan.

***

I placed the dishes in the kitchen sink after Keara and me ate breakfast.

And as I was about to enter the bathroom to take a bath, Keara pulled my hand and stopped me.

Looking at her.

"What?"

I asked.

"Umm..."

Keara is hesitant to talk. So I urged her.

"What is it?"

But Keara's face just reddened.

Seeing this, I noticed something.

My brain immediately worked and pointed out to me why Keara is acting that way.

When I reached a reasonable answer, I spoke.

"Look, tomorrow I'll go back to the Lunar Academy."

Keara's mood worsened, so did her expression.

I smiled at her reaction. Her reaction means that my guess is most likely correct.

I slouched near to Keara's ear.

"So... Do you want to take a bath with me?"

I whispered.

Keara suddenly looked at me and got embarrassed. But then, she slowly nodded her head.

With that, we both entered the bathroom.

It took me longer on taking a bath today than usual.

***

"So is it safe to say we're lovers?"

Keara asked me.

She was about to leave for work. It's Saturday but she still have works to do in the City Hall.

I also have my own plans today so I'm getting ready too.

"Well, the development is indeed fast, If my life is a novel, many readers will be triggered, especially those who are toxic and romance haters that just doesn't receive enough love."

I said looking at Keara. She looks confused.

"But I don't really care to them."

Even in the past world, there are readers like that so I just ignore them, they just annoy me.

"And I'm not a fan of a one night stand."

I added.

A relationship with Keara wouldn't affect the story, she's an extra like me too anyway.

Keara just smiled. She was about to leave, but I spoke again when she was about to exit the room.

"I'll wait for you tonight."

Keara halted for a moment, but she didn't say anything and just left. Though I can see her ears being rosy.

'Cute.'

After a while, I stood up from sitting to the bed, I dressed up in a formal attire.

I have now 2 black rings. One is the [Ring of Gluttony] and the new one is the [Celestria], I reformed it into a ring.

I thought of putting it in the spatial storage but decided against it as putting it in and out is a waste of time in case of emergency.

With that, I also left the hotel and went into a big building nearby.

[Sunshine Hotel]

It's a luxurious 50 floors tall hotel that have the highest rating in the internet because of it's room being comfortable and the staff being attentive.

There's a lot of people coming in and out from the hotel and no one is taking note of my presence.

I planned to rent a room here, but didn't as I need to save money. I don't have a stable income yet.

But, that's why I'm here.

For my stable income.

I entered the hotel holding a envelope.

As soon as I entered, a staff greeted me.

"Welcome to the Sunshine Hotel."

I just nodded and walked toward the reception area.

Looking around, the hotel is super luxurious, everything is sparkly that it made me frowned.

I like clean things and surroundings but, this is just too much.

I can see a lot of colorful things everywhere I look. I personally like things more simple.

It's also crowded with people and it's noisy!

Upon arriving at the receptionist, he, the receptionist, talked first.

"Hello Sir, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to do business."

I replied immediately as I don't want to be in this noisy place for long.

"Business?"

He asked.

I nodded and whispered only for the receptionist to hear.

"Yeah, I have a business proposal for the [Paradise]."

[Paradise] is an underground organization and a black market.

The receptionist remain silent. He tilted his head like he knows nothing about what I'm talking about.

I scratched the back of my head and spoke with an annoyed expression and tone.

"Look, I don't know [Paradise]'s secret code, I'm new."

I don't know the code because I didn't put any.

To be exact, in the novel, Alec can enter the [Paradise] because he have a VIP card that lets him in freely. He got it after killing a majin.

Majins are people who made contracts with demons. By contracting with a demon, they will be able to utilize a bit of the demon's power they contracted with, their stats will also increase.

Anyway, the problem is that I don't know the secret code to enter the [Paradise], but I know there's one.

I made it like that after all.

[You're the author but you don't know the code? Are you stupid?]

The system appeared, mocking me.

'Shut up, how the hell will I know that I will be transported inside my novel?'

I inwardly said to the system, it will read my thoughts anyway.

Looking back at the receptionist. He's just looking at me blankly.

I frowned and suddenly activated <Monarch's Presence>. I then focused the skill to the receptionist.

I'm a little taller than the receptionist, so I'm looking down at him.

With cold eyes and voice.

"Contact the owner, I don't have that much of time."

I commanded him.

The receptionist flinched and unconsciously reached toward the phone.

But that's all he did as he stopped moving and frowned at me.

"What did you just do, Sir?"

He asked me intimidatingly.

Looking at his stats, he's <C> rank, not too high, not too low.

I said that but he's 8 rank higher than me.

'He just unconsciously obeyed me because he was caught off guard, but now he can hold himself without any problem under my skill.'

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue.

"I know a location of a dungeon, that the [Heroes Federation] doesn't even know yet."

Then I spilled the beans of my business proposal.

"If you guys don't want it, then I'll just call the federation and make the proposal with them instead."

I said in still annoyed tone.

When I mentioned those, the receptionist's eyes widened.

He remained motionless for a brief moment. But then made a call in the end.

[Heroes Federation] is a organization filled with heroes that's not part of any guild or clan.

They are what you can call the goverment among the heroes, they exist so the balance can remain.

If they doesn't exist, guilds or heroes might start doing crimes and no one can stop them openly.

Like I said, I can make the business proposal with them instead, but the process will be annoying considering my age and identity.

That's why I went to the black market, but it's still annoying me.

Anyway, the receptionist is still talking to the phone. When the call ended, he looked at me and bowed his head.

"The master is waiting for you, please follow me."

His attitude changed immediately!

I was annoyed but I followed his words. He started to walk away.

"What a fucking waste of time."

I muttered to myself. I took a deep breathe and followed him.

We entered a VIP only elevator. There's no button to press to change floors inside, instead there's a card scanner.

The receptionist pulled out a card and put it in front of the scanner.

Beep-

After that, the elevator's door closed and started to descend.

"Is it okay to leave the reception area just like that?"

I asked. The elevator is still ongoing.

"A new staff will naturally fill my spot."

The receptionist answered without looking at me.

"Cool."

I'm not really interested. I was just bored.

***

After a while, the elevator stopped and the door opened.

"Follow me."

Following the receptionist, we went out of the elevator.

We entered a small room, and at the middle of the room, there's a portal.

Portals are rare so I looked at it with amusement, I'm getting excited as I tried to study how it works.

Unfortunately, I don't have much time as we entered the portal.

I frowned as a familiar nauseating feeling enveloped my whole body.

After a while, the discomfort was gone. Fortunately, I didn't vomit.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a completely different place.

The place is beautiful, it's like you are in an underground city, luckily, I maintained my calm.

People are scattered everywhere.

There's a lot of structures and stores too.

It was exciting.

It's not called [Paradise] for nothing.

But not long after looking at the same place for about 5 minutes, I got bored and just followed the receptionist quietly.

"Are you sure it's your first time here? First timer tend to admire this place."

This time, the receptionist asked with a curious voice.

"I did admired it at first. But I got bored after looking at it for a while."

I answered in a calm voice.

"Why so?"

"I just easily lose interest on things that isn't mine."

"Hoh?"

The receptionist looked at me weirdly. I just shrugged and we continued walking.

I don't have the reason to explain things to him, I just answered because he answered my questions too earlier.

I'm also on my guard, Majins are also in here. This place is filled with heroes and majins as anyone with the secret code or pass can enter [Paradise] disregarding their races and other else.

There's also different races and maybe there are even some demons mixed in the crowd.

But fighting here is prohibited, and in case a fight broke out, all the individuals connected to it will be attacked.

Not just by the guards, but also by the customers and bystanders.

Why? Because you'll get a reward if you caught a rule breaker.

Though I know that rule, I didn't put my guard down even a bit.

After walking for while, we reached a house.

'Nothing bad happened, good...'

Looking at the underground house.

"This is good."

I mumbled, the house is simple but stylish.

Well, the whole [Paradise] is really impressive. But I find this place more comfortable.

We entered the house.

Just like on the outside, the inside is also simple, anyway, I didn't see any person but I sense someone's aura, they're incredibly strong.

After that, we entered a certain room, where I can feel the aura.

Creak-

After entering, we got greeted by foxy enticing woman sitting on a sofa.

She have red-blood coloured hair and ruby-like red eyes. Her body have the right curves and her big bosoms unconsciously attracts my gaze(I'm fighting it!).

Her lips are rosy and her whole figure is alluring.

She also have a unique aura, which made her more seductive.

But that woman, I know her.

She's an <S> rank hero. She's known as the most beautiful hero.

Her name is Ruby Skye.

Well, it's her english name. I made her character a mystery, I plan to slowly reveal it as the story progresses but in the end, I couldn't, so even for me, she's somewhat mysterious as I don't know her past or her current life.

I just know her basic details and habits.

And currently, she's a professor in the Lunar, looking at her not wearing a mask or even trying to hide her identity. It looks like she doesn't know I'm a student in Lunar, she just sees me as a possible business partner.

Maybe like Keara said, I gave off an mature aura that makes people think I'm older than my actual age.

Well, I'm actually 29 years old. And this situation works just fine to me.

Looking around the room, there's plenty of people dressed in maid's or butler's uniforms. They're ranging to rank <E> to <B+>.

Then the receptionist I followed approched and stood behind Ruby's seat.

My eyes met Ruby's.

Her gaze makes me want to hug her but I just looked at her calmly.

"May I sit down? Walking is such a pain."

I said.

Ruby then smiled with a hint of interest.

"You may."

"Thanks."

Sitting on her opposite. I crossed my legs and relaxed.

Looking in the front, I can see Ruby still looking at me.

I frowned.

"What?"

I asked her.

Her smile grew larger.

"Nothing, just all men usually gets flustered just by looking at me."

"Look at the men in this room."

Ruby said.

Looking around again, I noticed all the men, no, even the women are blushing.

With a shrug, I spat out my honest thoughts.

"That's because you're beautiful, when I saw you earlier, my heart raced and my body grew hot."

I don't like to hide what I'm feeling, so if possible, I always let out my honest thoughts.

"Hmm, so are you saying you like me?"

Ruby asked in a playful voice.

"Well, not really."

Which I replied in an uninterested voice.

"You're indeed beautiful, but I'll never like or love you just because of that."

I declared. All people in the room displayed shocked expression, Ruby just widened her eyes after smiling again, in a more sly manner.

'I don't know why, but the people inside this room are all weird.'

Raven thought.

'And when I said 'all', I'm included...'

~~~~

[Drei05]: Hello guys, thanks for supporting my story, I'm really happy because of that. And also, I would like to make a request that if you can, please leave a review. I would really appreciate it!