My Evil System

[BONUS]

I wonder if it was a bad idea to tell them that I was the Lord of this house. Based on the disbelief on their faces, I\'d say that it was.

Maybe it would be more believable if I said it was Florin. It probably would make a lot more sense because she was transported here months before us.

"How?!" Emi asked. I found her personally strong, and she gave off this aura of superiority.

"How did you manage to build all this?"

How indeed?

"It must be the Tokens," said Brago, and I was grateful for him saving my ass here. "You know, the one we have that could potentially help us to have our own territory."

"Or if we ally ourselves to a Kingdom," added Megu. "It was mentioned before. And some players kindly explained it to us."

"Still . . . You\'ll need a lot of tokens to build something like this in less than a month," Emi said, and I gulped hard when her piercing eyes probed me. "I heard that these tokens are \'extremely\' hard to find."

". . ." I understand that they were curious, but shouldn\'t they be friendly to the one who helped them?

<I say we kill them all and get whatever Tokens they have.>

All eyes directed at me were pressuring, so I was trying to formulate another lie.

"Forgive us if we have so many questions," Brago said. "But in this world, we have to be careful with the people we trust."

I could see that they were alert, holding their weapons tightly. Did they think that I would kill players to steal their tokens?

<You kind of did.>

It wasn\'t me!

"I know that all of you are suspicious," I started, "but rest assured, I got these Tokens when that creature destroyed this village. A lot of players died from the crossfire, and some of them left tokens on the ground. It wasn\'t just me who picked them up."

<Nice lie, Host. You\'re getting the hang of it.>

Shut it!

The others looked at each other.

"Is he speaking the truth?"

I heard Edgar ask, but he seemed to be an outcast seeing that no one paid him any attention.

"Players do drop items on the ground when they die sometimes," said Megu.

She was a beautiful mature woman, and she was also very kind.

<Is that your type now, Host? Not bad. An experienced woman like her is more appealing than your ex.>

I can\'t hear you.

"Aren\'t tokens expensive when sold, though?" asked Emi, still not convinced about what I said.

"It depends on the grade," I answered. "I only have low-level ones here working for me."

And before Emi could ask further, I said, "I know that you don\'t trust me. But there\'s only one of me, and there\'s six of you. I\'m also a newbie like you, so I don\'t think I\'m the threat here."

The others looked at each other again before they shut their lips tight.

Sheryl was the one who broke the silence with her more than screeching voice, "Can we just stop, pause, and talk about this some other time? We should get ourselves a bath first. Or have you forgotten that we look like shit right now? Even a corpse is better looking than us."

Ford sighed and agreed with what Sheryl said, "She\'s right. Not to mention that we need to do something about these rashes."

I looked away when Ford scratched his hand and blood quickly poured out from his wound, as if his skin was too soft that the slightest touch could peel it off.

"There are two bathrooms upstairs," I said and guided them upstairs.

"Can this disease be cured?" Sheryl asked worriedly.

I would be, too, if my face were full of puss-filled warts. "Hopefully. I have some medicine for skin disease, and I think it would work?"

Emi frowned. "You think?"

"Well . . . I don\'t have a chance to try it on myself to see if it works."

"Can we apply it now?" Sheryl asked, her voice desperate.

"I think you should get the rain off your body first," I told her.

​ "And the medicine would only be washed away if we apply it now, genius," mocked Emi.

Sheryl only shot her a sarcastic smile as she extended her middle finger.

I miss conversing with humans again! I said to myself. Mind the sarcasm.

Eventually, the women all took a bath inside my room while the guys took turns on the common toilet above.

On the other hand, I was getting the medicine from the cupboard and waited for them to arrive in the living room. Since I didn\'t have any clothes or towels, because I didn\'t have the machine or tools to make them yet, I bet they\'d still be wearing the same dirty clothes as they have now.

Unless, of course, they happened to get some clothes from shops.

<Or if they killed some player.>

I ignored it.

They seemed like nice people. Brago and Ford seemed dependable. Emi was a little intimidating, but she was only prudent and cautious. Sheryl was a little spoiled, but I think she was only acting her age. Megu was kind, and Edgar . . . let\'s not think about him.

<Host is fooling his self again~>

I sighed. It was already too late to stop this anyway. They were already here, and it was not like I could just ignore them when they desperately needed help and shelter.

<You\'re doing a good job of ignoring the System, though~>

". . ."

The girls finished their baths first and came out of the bathroom, descending the stairs in nothing but their inner garments as they carried their robes and leather armor in each hand.

I was sure that they were all naked underneath those thin cotton shirts and shorts. The sight of their beautiful bodies made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Their skin was so soft and smooth. Every inch was toned and well-maintained.

And then there was Megu. She had this aura around her that told me that she was different from the rest. Her body was just as attractive as the others, but hers was more mature than them.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)