I Hate Systems



In a park situated next to a nursery, three kids huddled together, behaving like they were on a secret mission. Their actions seemed secret but not actually as the adults nearby had bright smiles while staring at their antics.

"I am…the hero of the sword!" The oldest among the trio, a twelve-year-old boy said as he lifted a branch and swung it, behaving like a swordsman.

"Save me, hero…" The girl among the trio acted like a damsel in distress as she clung onto a tree trunk, giggling while acting scared.

"I, the mighty monster will catch you!" The youngest strapped a bunch of leaves on his head to behave like a monster as he made swallowing motions towards the girl.

Walking on a path beside the park was a bickering group of women, with the one at the centre being a black-haired youth. He never took the initiative, constantly stuttering while failing to even form a cohesive compelling statement.

The bunch of women fought for his attention, arguing with each other while the oldest took charge of calming them down. The youth seemed to trust the older woman the most.

Upon seeing the arrival of the black-haired youth, the girl, named Grace, aged 11, lost her balance, screaming in fright as she fell from the tree and scraped her knee.

"Grace! Are you alright?" The youngest among the trio teared up as he saw blood leaking out of her knee.

It seemed their commotion caught the black-haired youth's attention as he slowly walked towards Grace and crouched before her, staring at her knee as he touched it, "Let me take a look at the wound."

Healing mana oozed out of his hand and caused her injury to close up instantly. Grace stared at the black-haired youth in amazement, "How…did you do it? It's amazing!"

"Of course, Ryutaro is an amazing individual." One of the women said proudly as if she were the one with the healing ability.

"Thank you for healing my friend's wounds," The oldest among the trio didn't seem bothered by the banter of the women as he stared at the black-haired youth with gratitude.

He then thought for a moment before saying in a hurry, "Please come to my house. I'll pay you for your help!"

"It's fine," The black-haired youth smiled gently, "I'm just helping my people."

"No, I must repay favours, no matter what. My mom stresses it all the time." The oldest among the trio pressed forth as he stared at Ryutaro, "Please allow me to do so."

"This…I…" Ryutaro was perplexed, failing to find words to refuse the offer, especially since the boy didn't seem well off, 'I can't receive something when his family clearly isn't doing well.'

"Boy," The oldest among the women accompanying Ryutaro sported a gentle, all-knowing smile as she patted the boy, "What's your name?"

"Eugene," The boy replied, blushing slightly upon staring at the woman.

"Eugene," The woman's husky voice resounded with tender care, "Ryutaro won't accept any repayment for his charity. You see, he never asked us anything too when he helped us."

"I understand," Eugene's eyes lit up as his gaze alternated between the woman and Ryutaro before focusing on her, "So, it was thanks to big brother Ryutaro's help that your husband is fully healed now."

"Eh?"

"Husband?"

"Whose?"

The women behind Ryutaro gawked in shock and confusion, wondering what Eugene was saying.

"I'm not married though?" The oldest among the women tilted her head in confusion, sweating mildly when she sensed Ryutaro's expression turn a tad colder.

"Isn't that your house?" Eugene pointed at a house visible from the park, "Two days ago, I saw you fighting with your husband in one of the rooms. The noise was loud. I ran away as I was afraid. Your voice was high pitched…"

"Enough," Ryutaro spoke curtly as he walked away.

"Wait, Ryutaro. I don't know what he's talking about." The oldest among the women said in a fluster as she chased after Ryutaro.

"I never thought Claire would be like this."

"She always seemed the most mature and proper among us. Didn't know she was like this behind our backs."

The women discussed in fervour as they accompanied Ryutaro. There was a minor crack in the sisterhood they felt towards Claire.

The house pointed at by Eugene was indeed Claire's house. And two days ago, Claire had asked Ryutaro to heal the back of a man who seemed to have been scratched by nails to almost cause bleeding.

Adding one and two, it seemed as if Claire had cheated on Ryutaro.

[Alright, the first seed of suspicion has been planted]

[Let's move on to the second plan immediately]

[We should move cautiously. All System Hosts are immune to instant death attacks. So, we have to gradually weaken his fate first. Once it's below us, he's fair game, even to instant death attacks.]

Eugene, Grace, and Otto discussed through Telepathy as they sensed the discord among Ryutaro's group.

The man healed by Ryutaro two days ago suffered from an injury thanks to Eugene who used a Puppet to do so. It was executed stealthily when he was spending time with a prostitute.

The man was then led to Claire coincidentally who then asked Ryutaro to heal him. But thanks to Eugene's lie, the sequence of events seemed different.

"You…cheated on me?" Ryutaro glared at Claire as his figure disappeared. His form flickered over the roofs of a few houses before arriving at a brothel house where the man he healed two days ago was having his fun.

Upon seeing Ryutaro, even though the man was stunned for a moment, his expression brightened, "Sir Ryutaro, it's a surprise seeing you here. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"The lady that wounded you two days ago," His throat felt heavy as words struggled to come out. Ryutaro strained himself and spat out the question, "What's your relationship with her?"

"Ahh, her?" The man recalled the prostitute from two days ago as he began to drool, "She's one fiery lady. She's not well known in the brothel house, but the experience was amazing. Even though I was injured by her, I might sleep with her again if given the chance…"

The man blinked in confusion, seeing Ryutaro's figure vanish. It was a miscommunication between the two.

Of course, everything was a setup taking the characters of Ryutaro, Claire, and everyone else involved into account, including the man and the prostitute.

And now, Ryutaro was seething in hatred at the misconceived notion that Claire had slept with someone else, conveniently ignoring the fact that he himself had a harem large enough to make a football team.