Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]

I stood at the edge of the ruined clearing, staring up at the two glowing idiots still facing each other above the World Tree. The pressure in the air was getting heavier by the second. Whatever they were about to do next was going to be worse than the last exchange, and the System had already made it clear that letting them continue was a bad idea.

I needed a way up.

”System,” I muttered under my breath. ”Anything. Flight, jump boost, temporary wings, I don’t care. Just get me off the ground.”

There was a short pause.

[Scanning available options...]

[Temporary Skill Borrowing is currently available.]

[Compatible flight-type skill detected from registered Candidate.]

[Candidate 001: Caelum Draven – Skill: Hover.]

[Duration available: 60 minutes.]

[Compatibility: Sufficient.]

[Initiate borrowing process?]

”Yes. Do it.”

[Initializing Temporary Skill Borrowing...]

[Establishing link with Candidate 001’s recorded skill data...]

[Extracting Hover parameters...]

[Adapting skill to Host’s current vessel...]

[Granting...]

A strange lightness suddenly washed through my body, starting from my chest and spreading outward. My feet no longer felt properly attached to the ground. The next breath I took felt cleaner, sharper. I looked down just as my boots left the dirt.

I was floating.

”Holy shit,” I whispered.

Around me, the watching adventurers finally noticed the white-haired guy casually rising into the air like it was normal.

”Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”

”Don’t go up there, you idiot!”

”Those two are SSS-rank! You’ll get erased!”

”Bold bastard... is he crazy?”

I ignored every single one of them. My eyes stayed locked on the two figures high above. The gold light around Elias was flaring again. The green aura around Lucien was thickening. They were seconds away from another catastrophic exchange.

I shot upward.

The wind whipped past my face. The ruined forest shrank beneath me. In seconds I was level with the broad branches of the World Tree, then higher still, until I was floating right between the two of them just as Elias raised his hand and Lucien’s staff began to glow.

”STOP IT, YOU LOSERS!”

Both of them froze.

The gathering light stuttered. The pressure in the air dipped. Two pairs of eyes — one gold-tinged, one green — locked onto me at the same time.

I hovered there, breathing hard, white hair whipping around my face, and pointed at both of them in pure irritation.

”The way you both are embarrassing as hell. I hope you two kill each other and give me some peace of mind.”

Silence.

Then, to my complete disbelief, Elias and Lucien looked at each other... and smiled.

They actually chuckled.

I stared.

”What’s funny?”

Elias tilted his head, still looking at Lucien.

”Do you think they bought it?”

Lucien’s mouth curved slightly.

”The audience. Do you think they bought it?”

I blinked, floating there like an idiot.

”Huh?”

I looked down. From this height the adventurers on the ground were nothing but tiny moving dots. Ants. There was no way any of them could hear us.

”Yeah,” I said slowly. ”Pretty much.”

Elias and Lucien exchanged another glance, then — I kid you not — dapped each other up in mid-air like a pair of teammates who’d just pulled off a successful play.

I felt my brain short-circuit.

”What’s going on here?”

The System sounded just as lost as I felt.

[Current behavioral patterns of Candidate 002 and Candidate 004 do not align with previous hostility markers. Recommendation: Request clarification from both parties.]

I threw both hands up.

”What the hell is going on?”

Elias sighed, the golden light around him dimming a little.

”First of all... where the hell did you learn to fly?”

I glanced down at myself, still hovering, and tried to look proud instead of confused.

”I got an elixir from the market. Fifty gold coins. It wasn’t cheap, you know.”

Elias raised an eyebrow.

”Oh.”

[Host’s deception has been noted. Efficiency: acceptable. Candidate 001’s skill remains undetected.]

Lucien floated a little closer, the green light around his staff fading.

”We should explain before he starts yelling again.”

Elias nodded.

What followed was the most ridiculous synchronized explanation I had ever heard. The two of them actually finished each other’s sentences like some kind of twisted comedy duo.

Elias started.

”The whole fight was planned from the beginning.”

Lucien continued smoothly.

”We needed a large, public display of overwhelming force.”

”Something big enough that the Red Ledger couldn’t ignore it.”

”Two apparent SSS-ranks tearing into each other in broad daylight, right on the edge of the city.”

”Every information broker and undercover agent in Veyrhold would hear about it within the hour.”

”The goal was to make ourselves look valuable... or dangerous enough to approach.”

I stared at them, mouth slightly open.

”That’s bullshit. What about the slur?”

Elias’s expression didn’t change.

”A means to an end.”

Lucien’s voice was quieter, but steady.

”We needed a real trigger. Something that would make the fight look authentic. If it had been too clean, people would’ve suspected it was staged. The word gave me a legitimate reason to lose control in public.”

I looked between them, still floating, still processing.

”So the near-city-destroying tree... the giant light show... the whole ’I’m going to kill you’ act...”

”Performance,” Elias said.

”Mostly,” Lucien added. Then, after a beat, ”The irritation was real. The cooperation was intentional.”

I dragged both hands down my face.

”You two are actually insane.”

Elias grinned.

”It worked, didn’t it? Half the adventurers down there are already spreading the story. By tonight the Red Ledger will know two high-level unknowns are in Veyrhold and not exactly subtle about it.”

Lucien glanced down at the massive World Tree still dominating the landscape.

”I should put this away before someone from the Guild decides to investigate properly.”

He raised his staff and murmured something under his breath. The enormous tree responded immediately. Roots began retracting into the earth with deep, grinding sounds. The trunk sank slowly, branches folding inward as the entire structure compressed and disappeared into the ground like it was being rewound. In less than a minute the World Tree was gone, leaving only the ruined clearing and a lot of very confused spectators below.

The three of us hovered there in the sudden absence of the giant tree.

Elias looked at me again, eyes flicking over the way I was still floating.

”Fifty gold for a flight elixir, huh?”

”Yup.”

”Must’ve been a good market.”

”The best.”

Lucien’s gaze was a little more thoughtful, but he didn’t push it.

Below us, the crowd of adventurers was already buzzing louder, trying to figure out why the two monsters had suddenly stopped and why a random white-haired guy was now floating between them like he belonged there.

I sighed and looked at the two of them.

”Next time you decide to stage a fake SSS-rank death match, maybe give me a heads-up so I don’t have a heart attack running across half the city.”

Elias laughed.

Lucien’s mouth twitched.

And just like that, the most destructive fight I had ever witnessed turned out to be the most ridiculous con the three of us had pulled yet.