It has been roughly a week and a half since Simon gave his ultimatum to the rest of the realm. In the span of 2 years and a few months, Simon had been reincarnated twice and conquered the world. The pacing does seem rather off, almost as if not of a conventional life. It did not seem conventional one bit, every step became faster and everything fell into place. Simon"s story suddenly became a series of snapshots and a worrying jumble of events.He himself noted that life did not really have a plot. And that is what his story became, a series of events that mostly bore no correlation to each other and only drew on his decisions and not the fate given to him. He became in control of the story and he went through it like a speed run.
Many details were quite literally left in the dust as he steamrolled through his obstacles. Many things became irrelevant and his long for sense had long since dwindled. Now 18, Simon had only a handful of tasks left for him to complete in his current realm.
He had long since ignored the system. It was useless to him, with its sole use being a chat app; long since being demoted to a bundle of cosmic software.
If he was to describe the last two and a half years, he would have to say that it did not really fit what a book would have. Things lost relevance after a month and many people he met have not been in contact with him for years. There would not even be a static theme or end goal to his life, it always seemed like he was working through a checklist and moving on as soon as he ticked something off.
"Finally, I have finished my new novel!" Simon yelled with joy.
He held a thick book on his chest and hugged it as if it was a child needing some love. "Hahah... I have proofread it, checked the pacing... and I have even made a neat cover! I should show it to little Dahlia later, I am sure she would like the cover at least."
Simon got up from his chair and left his study room, energetically taking a right and moving onwards to Malece"s throne room.
"Dear wife! Where is my daughter?" Simon strolled into the throne room with a hint of gusto, clearly in a good mood.
"Hmmm? This is the first time you have genuinely smiled at me. Can you smile more from now on?" Malece said with a hint of excitement.
"Maybe. I am just in a very good mood today, so much so that I do not feel unhappy when I look at you. Now where is Dahlia?"
"She is playing with your group of "disciples", those kids might be much older than her, but they seem to be getting along just fine."
"Good good, this calls for a reward. Meet me in the dining room for dinner with everyone, I am going to cook a meal which no one can ever forget."
"Oh? You are actually inviting me for a meal?" Malece confined with her face exhibiting a look of surprise.
"Yes? Do you not want to come? I need you there otherwise Dahlia will not eat." Simon responded, slightly annoyed.
"Hmmm... this is the kindest he has ever been to me." Malece smiled warmly as she went back to her room and rummaged through her dresser.
Knock knock
Simon knocked on the door to the training hall twice, making sure to infuse a sense of urgency into each knock.
"Who"s there?" A childlike voice asked through the door.
"Your master, now open the door, we have work to do." Simon spoke.
The kid opened the door from the other side, staring upwards to where he thought Simon"s face would appear.
"Ah, Jack. Why are you always so close to the door? Shouldn"t you be with the other children?" Simon patted the child on the head gently and smiled.
"The other kids do not work hard. They keep on playing "tag" with master"s daughter." Jack said with a hint of disappointment.
"So you stay here and train alone while everyone else is playing?"
"Yes! I want to make master proud alongside Tyrone! We spar every single day and practice those techniques you taught us last week. Together, we can beat up 10 of those other kids!" Jack praised himself and Tyrone.
"What about James, Mich.e.l.le, Sienna, Mark, Sam, and Simon?" Simon asked.
"Well, James got so much stronger after you flicked his forehead. He can now beat up 5 other kids on his own. But he does not work hard enough, he spends half of his time talking with girls. I don"t understand him."
"Mark has been coming over every once in a while a sparring with me and Tyrone, but he goes back to hitting dummies afterwards."
"Sienna and Mich.e.l.le are training together but Mich.e.l.le keeps on trying to bring Simon into their sparring sessions even though he would rather train with me and Tyrone. You have to help Simon! He is being bullied by Mich.e.l.le and I don"t think he can take it!" Jack pa.s.sionately begged Simon to help Simon out.
"Are you sure it is bullying?" Simon asked in relation to Simon.
"Yes. Mich.e.l.le keeps on chasing after Simon and tackling him to the ground. She keeps on saying that "this will be us sooner or later"." Jack complained.
"That"s not even the worst part... Simon is getting bullied so hard that I think he"s starting to enjoy getting bullied." Jack quivered in fear.
"Will I become like that if I get bullied too hard? Master! Please make me stronger so I don"t get bullied until I enjoy it! I want to be able to protect everyone and become like master!"
Simon chuckled under his breath as he finished listening to Jack. After two years, he knew exactly what was happening. This is how much he had grown. At the very least he understood people a little more than he did before.