2 Childhood Friend

After the eventful first morning, with his father still not present at the table for breakfast, Noir was now washing the dishes as he was thinking of some plans for the future. He has about a week before the original canon starts and wanted to make the most out of his situation.

'The original Mc had to go into the hidden dungeon to get granted the powers of creating skills, granting them onto others and being able to edit them. They all require life points which depends on how much satisfaction I receive with the member of the opposite sex and the like.'

If that's the case, unlike how the original Noir was dense with his harem, Noir could take advantage of the situations they get in and grind more life points out of it. That's why he saw his mother and sister as potential helpers for his cause as they'd always be around him.

'I don't see them as family members or even cousins or anything, which makes me disregard them as family in general. I'd still be nice to them and all, but I don't have that built-in feature to stop myself from wanting to get into a relationship with them.'

Just to clarify, back in his original world he did meet his extended family members and didn't want to create a relationship with any of them. The only reason he's even having this conversation with himself is that he doesn't feel any connection to them and because it'd be a convenient form of free lp.

'Anyway, the original Noir wasn't confident in his abilities, nor was he that smart. The girls all kissed him, said that they want him as their boyfriend yet he interprets that as "They're just good friends". I could take advantage of that all and rack me up tons of Lp but I wonder how many life points I could gain from just sex?'

Of course, he has to think long term. He could have one night stands after another to rack up in life points but that wasn't reliable as he could get himself into trouble or an STD. Not to mention he would damage his family's reputation if he was in such an establishment and the fact it costs a lot to have such services which make it impossible for the current him to enter.

On the flip side, having a girlfriend would help out initially, but over time the lp generated would decrease as it needs new stimulants, ie. women, to gain more points.

As such, having a harem is necessary to thrive in this world. At least for him with those skills. Luckily he's aware from Noir's memories that harems are legal in this country, though not many indulge in such activities.

"Thank you for washing the dishes, dear."

"No problem, mum."

After finishing with the dishes, he was thanked by his mother which he smiled in response before heading to the front door to put on his shoes.

"I'll go out for a walk now."

"Alright make sure to come back before it gets dark."

"I will!"

His mother waved him goodbye before closing the door. His sister, Alice, had left earlier to hang out with her friends so it was just him and his mother left at the house. He didn't want to be there while he was contemplating on what to do in this world, as such he decided a walk around the neighbourhood would do him some good. He wasn't sure what was the best thing to do him his situation.

To start things off, he has to figure out how to deal with his family.

'It feels weird having a mother now. In my past life, she died when I was too young to remember. My father died when I was sixteen in a car accident when we were on our way to an exhibition match. After about half a year of grieving and adjusting to my legs, I decided to become a streamer called "Error".''

Noir recalled his past life as he looked down at his legs. He had mixed feelings about this whole situation. He didn't know whether to feel nervous or excited about this all. He was a successful crippled streamer in the past and now he's in a fantasy world with a brand new body but with a poor family.

It was an odd feeling of gaining something, at the cost of many other things.

'Let's run to start things off.'

Although he was lost in what to do, for the time being, he was pumped. With such a mood, he began running around the familiar neighbourhood to see what his current body condition is like.

'Damn, this body is a lot more athletic than I would've guessed,' Surprisingly enough, even though he didn't have many muscles, his body was quite strong. Maybe not as powerful as when he was in his prime as an aspiring footballer but it was still good enough for someone who doesn't work out.

'Man, I missed this feeling!' The longer he ran the more felt like shouting out to the world. It was a sensation he's almost forgotten after all.

Luckily he wasn't the type of person that liked causing a commotion in public unless necessary, so he just enjoyed the feeling to himself as the fatigue was slowly building up in his legs again. While running, his thoughts were getting slightly clearer. As such, he started to formulate some plans.

'So a week from now I got a shift at the Royal Library. I'm kinda curious about what kind of place that is. The anime and novel didn't talk about it after the first episode,' Noir was curious about what kind of place it was. Libraries are usually an important spot for magicians and could store cursed objects and the like there.

The opportunities in a magic library are quite endless, but Noir shook his head after finishing that line of thought. That's an agenda for another day.

'For the time being, it's probably better for me to focus on getting stronger and getting the blue-haired chick's skill. I think her name was Olivia?'

Luckily there were many things he could do within a week. He could get a better grasp of the original Noirs skill, the Great Sage skill. A skill that grants the user answers to whatever their question is, but at the cost of a kiss, otherwise, the skill will inflict pain to the user.

It was a skill that lost its limelight due to the bad foresight of the original Noir, but the current Noir saw its hidden potentials.

But there's a big problem with that.

'First, how do I convince her to kiss me and allow me to make a harem?', A certain blonde-haired girl came up in Noir's thoughts. She was his childhood friend who was an actual noble. She comes from a baron family and both their parents know each other thanks to his father helping them out when the demon beasts attacked the city.

She also had a crush on him from a young age and was the one who discovered how Noir's original skill was meant to be used. Convincing her to be his girlfriend shouldn't be difficult, but starting a harem was a different matter entirely.

It wasn't just starting a harem that was the issue. A harem was necessary for a reliable pool of lp but managing that harem would cause a huge strain for Noir. A harem that's surrounded by one person would be like a friend group that only has one person as the anchor.

'Aka, hell for the mind and even physically. Tending to one girl is difficult enough, so having multiple would be hell.' Noir recalled some of his friendships in the past being the same. Whenever he'd leave the group for a moment he'd see his friends become silent and not even speak to anyone. It was then he figured out that no one had anything in common unless he was there, which ultimately ruined the friend group.

'So for the harem to work out, everyone needs to be comfortable and friendly with each other,' That was Noir thought process for a polygamous relationship. There would be light yuri action but that would be about it.

And of course, no males were allowed in the harem. He didn't have any of that cuckold fetish after all.

'As humans are selfish creatures in nature, it doesn't make sense for someone to share their special someone with another person without a good cause for it. The whole notion of "If we all love him together then it's okay~" Just doesn't work at all.'

That was a cliche that always bothered Noir. He would enjoy a trash harem less whenever that concept was introduced. It felt like cheap words to him instead of cute/wholesome.

'So I gotta make them comfortable and close with one another. I know this is an anime world, but I can't just skip out on the character development stage and call it a day. Otherwise, the harem wouldn't last long, I'd be dead emotionally and everything would spiral down and collapse.'

Unlike the casual anime watcher, Noir in his past life yearned for a true harem series where the protagonist would use his head instead of being naive and dense, and for the girls to have 3-dimensional personalities and not easily fall for the main character.

Is it too much to ask for? He got sick of seeing the mc being so clueless yet getting all the girls while being an absolute wimp. It's like an insult to all the people that try, but can't get anything in return but heartache,

However, did that stop him from watching that trash?

Nope, it didn't. just like watching Isekai's with the same plot.

"Ding!"

As Noir was lost in thought while running, he was brought back to reality by a loud chime coming from a bell tower. Since he wasn't looking around during the run, he looked up to explore the city, but that's when he stopped when he noticed something off about it.

'15 numbers?' Noir had to recount the numbers he was seeing around the clock tower. He thought it was him just imagining it but it was there. An extra three numbers amongst the 12-hour clock.

'Damn, this really is a fantasy world. So I got more time than I thought. So that means a single day is about 30 hours,' It was then he recalled how different this world's time was to his old world. A week was about 8 days, a month was about 5 weeks and a year consisted of 10 months.

'Alright, this world's time is gonna be tough to get used to,' Noir sighed as he tried recalling any other information from his host, but nothing else was coming to him.

'Seems like these memories are all situational. Guess I should've expected it. Anyway, since I have the Great Sage skill, I should start by convincing Emma to kiss me… Then after getting the location of the dungeon. Maybe I should get her comfortable with the idea of a harem before that?'

He thought to himself as he entered a park nearby. He was kinda relying on his protagonist's luck to get through with the harem part, but he tried coming up with some plans he could potentially use. Some are genuine, some are slightly underhanded.

'I'm gonna get myself killed in the process aren't I?' Noir smiled wryly with that thought as he slowed down to a tree before leaning against it.

He swiped the sweat off his forehead as he felt the breeze of the wind. This was his favourite part of working out. When all his muscles are sore and sensitive, things like the wind blowing or the icy weather become a lot more comfortable.

It was also the time when his head was the clearest, making him plan for things better. He closed his eyes to increase that feeling of bliss. He almost fell asleep from how calming it felt.

"Noir! What are you doing here?", Whilst in the middle of enjoying the gentle winds he suddenly heard his name being called out by a voice he recognised. She was already here.

'I forgot in the anime she has crazy perfect timing,' He thought to himself as his field of vision was obscured by a giant pair of breasts in front of him.

"Congrats on getting the librarian job, Noir. We'll be working together from next week onwards!"

The voice said as he looked up the mountain to see a blonde girl with hair ornaments and blue eyes standing there. She was wearing a shirt and skirt with white and red as their main themes, black socks and brown boots.

He immediately recognised her as Emma Brightness. His childhood friend and the one who started the original Noir's journey.

"Hi, Emma. Thanks for the congratulations. I'm just enjoying the breeze and thinking," Noir replied with a calm smile as he adjusted his seating position when she sat next to him. He could feel his heart beating when she got close to him, but he forcefully fixed his breathing with the techniques taught in the past.

Who would've thought the breathing techniques he used before playing an important football match was being used when talking/sitting next to a girl.

"Oh? Something on your mind?", Emma noticed Noir's change in breathing and asked out in worry. As someone sensitive to the air, she's used to picking small details that an average person wouldn't have thought of as important.

"Hmm, it's something strange. You willing to hear me out?" Noir asked as he started staring at the sky. He's gotta have her kiss him, start a relationship with him and get comfortable or aware that he's going to take the harem route.

Should be easy enough.

"Of course! What are childhood friends for?" Emma said as she gently punches him on the shoulders, symbolising that she'd be there for him when he needed her.

Noir smiled for a short bit before briefly explaining what he wants.

"You see… I want to get stronger…"

"You do? Why?"

"Well, I don't want to just rely on having a librarian job. I want to get into the hero academy."

"Heee? The Hero Academy?"

And just like he expected, Emma was surprised from hearing his words. The original Noir was a lazy youth without much aspirations in life. He gave up on the way of the sword when he was young and had no talent in magic. As such he used to always trap himself in the world of books and indulge himself in fantasies.

It's no wonder she looked at him like he was saying something crazy. Certainly makes you wonder what got her so infatuated with the original Noir when he was so uninteresting.

"Mmm-hmm, I just randomly felt like going into it. Conflicting, isn't it? Since I'm a coward and all. I figured I wanted to do something with my life," Noir said whilst scratching his head with a wry smile.

Of course, this was just to make it seem like something the original Noir would say. He didn't want to stay with such a meek personality for a long time.

He was a little worried if he overdid things, but those worries were all for nought.

"I don't think being a coward is bad. As long as you're strong at where it counts it doesn't matter," Emma suddenly held both of his hands together as she looked at him in the eyes with a serious expression.

"Haha. Thanks, Emma," Seeing her taking this all seriously, Noir had a big smile on his face. All according to plan so far.

"No worries. Is there anything else I could help with? I'm a good listener."

"Well… This part is hard to say…"

The easy part was the get her support in his journey to get stronger. Now is to get her to kiss him so he could access his Great Sage skill. But he can't just outright ask her if she wants to kiss him. Since he doesn't know what route he should go through, he decided to take a more roundabout way of saying it.

Hence the long pause.

"C'mon, say it. It can't be that bad," Feeling a little impatient and wanting to help encourage her best friend in whatever they're trying to do, Emma leans in closer.

'He's never tried doing anything after he received his Great Sage skill. I don't know what's gotten into him but I don't want to stand still and just watch,' Those were the thought process of Emma, who wanted to help her childhood crush of nearly 10 years.

"Uh…"

"Say it!"

"Alright alright!"

Noir felt a little pressured by how aggressive she was getting to help him. He wondered if that was because of his current host being a wimp or because he's not used to people as straightforward as Emma.

"So I want to test out what's the best way to use the Great Sage skill. It's been eating at me that I don't take advantage of such an amazing skill…"

The condition for using it was to get a kiss from someone but after the original Noir discovered that he didn't even bother editing his skill to see what was all the conditions it could've had. Heck, he didn't even try asking the Great Sage about ancient historical sites or any legacies that are nearby that are left hidden to the world.

The potential of questions that could've been asked made Noir annoyed at the original host.

"Are you sure? You had a headache for days when you tried using it for your school test," Emma looked at him with worried eyes once again. She was there when they were in the middle of the test after all. He received the mockery of both teachers and children that age when he tried cheating in class.

"Don't remind me of that day. I got so many bad looks from it," Remembering that day pained Noir as he shivered. It was the event that caused him to become reclusive after all. Before that, he was the average carefree student enjoying peaceful times.

"Anyway, I want to know what's the best way to use the skill by asking the Great Sage. If I can learn it, then we can get ourselves a lot of answers to our questions and maybe an efficient way to get stronger too," Enthusiasm started speaking towards the end of what he said as he started thinking of various questions he could ask and how to take advantage of it to it's maximum.

"Oh, I get what you mean. I've always wanted to suggest it but I didn't want you to do it if you're against it," Emma said as she got up in excitement. It was his first step towards a better life after all.

"Thanks, Emma. Should we try it here or try it somewhere else?" Although he wanted to try it out immediately, Noir had to pause himself. He didn't want to sound hasty or desperate after all.

"Hmm, how about we go to your place? It sounds like the best option," Emma suggested as her place was busy currently. Plus, if it was in his house, it would make tending to him easier than having the maids deal with it.

"Sounds good to me," Noir agreed before standing up. It's going to be a long day, isn't it?

"Alright. Let's get going!"

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