Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 21: He keeps following me.

Chapter 21: He keeps following me.

Kai woke the next morning with one clear goal: get rid of Elias. He packed his belongings quietly, pulled his hood low, and slipped out of the inn before the sun had fully risen. For a few hopeful minutes he actually believed he had succeeded. The streets were still quiet, the air was cool, and there was no tall, shameless assassin trailing behind him.

Then the System spoke.

[Warning: High-threat individual approaching.]

[Target: Elias.]

[Distance: Closing rapidly.]

Kai’s eye twitched. He turned just in time to see Elias step out from between two buildings as if he had been waiting there the entire time.

"Morning, beautiful."

Kai stopped dead.

"How."

Elias smiled, completely unbothered.

"I was just scouting then i saw you what a coincidence right?"

Kai stared at him for a long moment, then turned and started walking in the opposite direction. Elias fell into step beside him without invitation. Kai changed streets. Elias followed. Kai doubled back. Elias was already waiting at the next corner. By midday Kai had tried every method he could think of and failed spectacularly. Elias simply kept appearing, sometimes openly, sometimes from places that should have been impossible.

The System continued providing updates with increasing frequency.

[Warning: Target has reappeared.]

[Warning: Target is matching your pace.]

[Observation: Target appears to derive satisfaction from your reactions.]

Kai finally stopped in the middle of the street and turned on Elias.

"How are you doing this?"

Elias tilted his head.

"Doing what?"

"Finding me. Every single time."

Elias’s smile turned lazy and faintly predatory.

"I’m an assassin, Kai. Tracking people is what I do. You’re just more entertaining than most."

Kai used Arcane Eye on him, searching for any tracking spell, mark, or magical signature. He found nothing. That only made Elias more unsettling. The man wasn’t relying on magic. He was simply that good.

The System spoke again, quieter this time.

[Recommendation: Cease visible reactions. Target’s interest appears to intensify in direct proportion to Host’s irritation.]

Kai frowned.

You’re saying he feeds on it?

[Correct. Emotional responses appear to function as positive reinforcement.]

Kai closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, and decided to try. He stopped glaring, stopped snapping, and treated Elias with flat, bored indifference. The strategy lasted approximately four minutes before Elias leaned in close enough to nearly brush his hood and murmured something filthy about how good he smelled when he was trying not to react. Kai nearly punched him on principle.

By afternoon Kai had given up on escape and decided to put his frustration to use. He went to the Adventurer’s Guild training grounds determined to raise his compatibility with Infinite Strength. The results were immediately absurd. Even at 1.7 percent his strength was far beyond what his body should have been capable of. A single punch reduced a training dummy to splinters. A controlled jump cracked the earth. Equipment bent under his grip when he wasn’t careful.

Kai stopped and stared at the wreckage.

"This is a problem."

[Correct. Infinite Strength is limited by your current physical condition. Compatibility reflects the amount of power your body can safely contain and control.]

Kai exhaled slowly.

"So I have to train the foundation first."

[Yes.]

He began designing a simple routine: strength, endurance, flexibility, control, and reaction speed. He had no formal combat training, and that lack became obvious the moment he tried to move with purpose. Raw power without technique was just destruction waiting to happen.

Elias, of course, was watching from the edge of the grounds.

"You’re strong," he called. "But you fight like someone who only recently discovered his fists exist."

Kai ignored him. The System, however, did not.

[Observation: Elias is evaluating your movement patterns.]

[Additional note: His combat assessment capability is significantly higher than average.]

Elias waited a few minutes, then walked closer.

"I can teach you."

"No."

"You’ll keep breaking everything if you don’t learn control."

"Still no."

Elias leaned against a post and watched Kai destroy another dummy. After the third one, he laughed.

"Strength without experience is predictable. An assassin doesn’t care how hard you hit if he already knows where the punch is going."

Kai stopped. The words landed harder than he wanted to admit. He turned.

"Fine. One session. That’s it."

Elias’s smile was pure satisfaction.

"Deal."

The spar began. Kai attacked. Elias stepped aside. Kai attacked again. Elias was already gone. Kai tried to use his strength more carefully, but Elias read every movement before it fully formed. Arcane Eye showed Kai just how efficient the man was—no wasted motion, perfect timing, reactions that bordered on unnatural. Elias wasn’t overpowering him because Kai was weak. Elias was toying with him, the same way he had in the Guild the day before.

That realization made Kai furious. He stopped trying to be clean and simply swung with pure, unpredictable force. One wild strike clipped Elias across the shoulder. It should have at least staggered him. Elias didn’t even flinch. He looked down at the spot, then back at Kai with genuine interest.

"Not bad"

Kai was panting, frustrated, and exhausted.

"You’re not even trying."

Elias’s smile turned sharp.

"If I tried, this would already be over."

The System spoke quietly in Kai’s mind.

[Assessment: Elias is a highly suitable temporary combat instructor. Combat efficiency and threat evaluation place him well above current Host capability. Temporary partnership acknowledged.]

Kai scowled.

"I didn’t ask."

[Acknowledged. Observation still stands.]

Kai ended the session before he could throw something heavier than a dummy. Elias looked thoroughly entertained.

Later, in the main Guild hall, Kai noticed a growing crowd around the quest board. Adventurers were clustered tightly, whispering among themselves. He drifted closer out of curiosity.

"Did you see the reward?"

"That’s insane. What kind of job pays that much?"

"Must be dangerous as hell if they’re offering that kind of coin."

"I heard it’s out of town. Another city. Something the local branch can’t handle alone."

Kai pushed far enough forward to read the listing. The pay was extraordinary—far higher than anything else on the board. The details were deliberately vague, restricted to higher-ranked parties. He listened for another minute as the whispers continued, then stepped back. His rank was still too low. There was no point hoping.

What he learned later was more interesting. The mission needed infiltration, reconnaissance, stealth, investigation, and solid combat ability. Available adventurers were either unsuitable or already occupied. The Guild had considered asking Elias, but the assassin was notoriously selective and difficult to work with. He only took jobs that interested him.

Kai looked across the hall. Elias was already watching him, smiling like he knew exactly what Kai had just realized.

"No," Kai said immediately.

Elias’s smile widened.

The situation escalated when a senior receptionist approached Elias directly. The woman spoke in a low, professional tone, clearly making a formal offer. Kai watched from a distance as Elias listened, expression unreadable. Then Elias glanced sideways, met Kai’s eyes, and his smile returned with full force.

He said something to the receptionist. The woman’s eyebrows rose. She looked toward Kai, then back at Elias, then sighed the sigh of someone whose day had just become significantly more complicated.

A moment later Elias walked over, still smiling.

"I’ll take the job," he said, voice light, "on one condition."

Kai already knew.

"Absolutely not."

Elias tilted his head.

"Then I refuse."

The receptionist approached them both with the careful neutrality of someone who had accepted her fate.

"Elias has agreed to accept the mission under the condition that you accompany him. The Guild is prepared to make an exception for you as a documented survivor of the Emeraldwood incident. The reward remains the same for both parties."

Kai stared at her, then at Elias, then at the number written on the mission slip. The pay was absurd. Enough to fund months of independent travel. Enough to make the idea of tolerating Elias for a short time almost reasonable.

Almost.

Kai closed his eyes, exhaled through his nose, and opened them again.

"...I’ll hear the full proposal."

Elias’s grin was pure victory.

The System spoke one last time, dry and almost amused.

[Partnership with high-threat individual temporarily acknowledged. Survival odds: uncertain. Entertainment value: high.]

[Additional note: Target’s satisfaction levels have increased significantly.]

Kai decided he hated everything.