Idyllic

Slicking his hair back, drenched with sweat from yet another round of intense exercising, Anoteros was sitting on the edge of his bed with only his lower body garbed in clothing, red pants that were ample enough to pose no problem no matter what sort of movements one was performing.

Although it was a bit odd that every piece of clothing that was considered of good quality here had to be of a colour that was neither white, grey or black, Edrick wore them with much poise nonetheless.

Checking his body, it had certainly improved since he had taken over it, not solely because he was already an expert on how to build muscle mass, but also because the constitution of the late Zixuan was just made for this, as was evidenced by the ample strength and flexibility he possessed even as a pale, skinny good-for-nothing.

It would take a little while to really push himself to the peak, but considering that the equipment and alimentation he had access to were rather limited, it was still exceptionally quick.

For now, Edrick decided to take a look at the bits of information he often received after performing acts his system liked, which seemed to include the indirect torture he inflicted upon Linmin, that guy was growing seriously anguished and anxious as his lord went further and further.

A stifled groan came from behind him.

"Silence, I went easy on you so be grateful" without turning around to even check which one of his latest orders had produced the noise, he skimmed through the rewards.

'Money, money, money…' he wasn't sure how the economy would handle all that money that was definitely being created without anyone's consent, but he had gotten coins and such from various places, alongside some valuable objects whose precise value he had no idea about.

Not interested in arguing prices just yet, more interested in all those little bits of information, the system told what they were about in vague details, so Anoteros began with what he deemed general intel, he had already pulled some of that out of Linmin and the various ladies who had graciously gotten into his bed.

Apparently, Edrick was currently on the fringes of a kingdom called 'Leynlornd' a name a bit far from the clearly eastern-like architecture and attires but that's besides the point, Irandelle had not been joking when she talked of huge and illogical fantasy worlds.

Unless all nations were the size of a village, the continent he was on, Cangea, was larger than Jupiter by a long shot, this idea was confirmed as Edrick consumed the information, which felt like inhaling a gas through his nostrils.

'Mmh' he didn't have much of a reaction, but truly, it seemed like someone with knowledge of everything had come up with an infinite amount of concepts and decided to put them all into a single place without care to whether or not some overlapped or if some conflicted with one another.

The main way of power, which was a fancy three-letter term for how one wanted to grow stronger, around this continent was basically forming something inside of your body, which sounded like consented tumours to Anoteros, but what did he know?

This all certainly held some interest to Edrick who had arrived without much prior knowledge, but this was just publicly available information, the rest of the wisps of intel were all about the so-called scripts that governed this world.

He was probably getting those from his system because of the goddess, not that he was particularly enthusiastic about doing her bidding, but Anoteros felt like they had a similar concept of having fun anyways.

Inhaling more knowledge, his expression turned sly.

"Heh…" visibly- But also audibly amused as he began chuckling, scaring the few still conscious women behind him senseless.

He had just been made privy to just what sort of narrative Zixuan Elt had been supposed to be a part of, and which Edrick had invaded, having thought that Irandelle was not speaking quite as literally as that.

Or at least, it seemed like this scripted world had some pretty odd scenarios to offer.

The 'hero' that Zixuan was supposed to be a minor inconvenience to was similar that Edrick in the sense that he had not originated from here in the first place, being a denizen from a similarly magicless world that was reincarnated as the protagonist of a story he had died while reading.

So basically, this little fellow was going to live his best life, thinking that he was changing the script of a story he had read without knowing that he was now a part of a story himself.

The overall 'plot' of this guy was a bit foggy, Edrick only learned little crumbs of intel, such as the how anyone could somehow convince the spineless fool that had been Zixuan to actively antagonise them, which was simple really, by being an absolute bastard, or even worse, a bastard ignorant of their acts.

Indeed, the protagonist seemed a bit too content with his status and was convinced to always be doing the right thing, even when knowing absolutely nothing of any situations or people he was involving himself with.

Though, with Edrick's intervention, this supposed misunderstanding would not be one at all, as he had already taken dozens of women for himself, three of which were right in bed with him at this instant, the rest mysteriously missing.

The question was what he should do about this guy, he probably wouldn't want to die easily and was probably prone to sudden power-ups pulled from the depths of his unwashed hole, since he thought that everything would be the same, he might just not realise who Edrick was supposed to be, after all, it was words that he had been reading, it was dubious whether or not a minor antagonists that wasn't even an actual threat would be remembered in details.

"Linmin! Bring your ass over here!" stretching his arms, Anoteros stood up.

His loyal servant quickly arrived, albeit with a different cadence in his steps than before.

"What can I do for you, My Lord?" he asked, making Edrick smile.

Truly, no matter what he did, it didn't seem like Linmin would lose loyalty, even as he was forced to pretty much send women after women to their death, everytime with specificities that did not allow for him to be even a little bit secure about it.

Otherwise, only random vagrants would have been lured in this place to ensure that the lord's reputation was not stained, or for anyone to learn of his new… Hobbies.

Alas, Edrick revelled in the fear and misery he caused, even if no one could yet affirm to what his actions were, it shouldn't be too long until then.

"If anyone asks you, Zixuan Elt didn't actually change name alright? Tell everyone that Edrick Lucien Anoteros is actually the new lord, also, spin around a little bit" Linmin simply nodded and twirled like he had ordered.

"Understood, My Lord!"

That servant of his hadn't even pushed back when ordered to dress up as a maid from now on, which was far from the black and white attire Anoteros had in mind, but he understood why Zixuan was so fond of Linmin.

And also why Zixuan's parents had not given him a maid, they had actually tried to be nice to their son before realising that he was a lost cause, it was just that Linmin looked the part without even trying.

"By the way, I want to read up on cultivation techniques and whatever else… Can you find me some?"

"It is a bit difficult in the region, but I will do my best!" it almost looked like he had grown even more enthusiastic since being forced to crossdress.

"Also, prepare to dispose of bodies as usual for tonight" he reached for his belt fashioned from white fabric.

"All three?"

"All three"