Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain

"Now let's go get ourselves a Goddess." 

[Don't you want to see her reactions to your lies first. Might give you an idea on how to talk with her.] 

"Well, whatever. Show me."

[Loading… 

Rio watched as the system again started its loading🔁 sign, he waited for 10 seconds and it was still going on. He finally couldn't take it and spoke -"Why do you always waste time with this?"

[Host, do you wanna see all the notifications you got from every God, or do you only want to see Skuld's]

"No, show me hers first. I'll check others later when I'm free."

[Then just wait till I'm done filtering them.]

While the system went back to separate the notifications of Goddess Skuld, Rio looked around, watching the pitch black void around him, he asked -"Oyee system, why don't we change the space around us. I mean darkness is good and all, but all time black will only lessen my mood."

[Hmm what do you want, a beach🏖, city🌆, sunset🌅 or space🌌 . I got all kinds of themes.] 

"You've seen my memories right."

[Yes]

"Then bring out something from earth, obviously nothing that I don't like."

[Ok.how about this.] System said and after going through several images, it settled on one theme. The space around Rio transformed into a serene and endless park. Lush green grass spread beneath his feet. Trees of various kinds stood tall and proud, their branches swaying gently in the breeze. The air was filled with the delicate scent of blossoms, carried by the wind.

A little further, swings appeared and gently swayed back and forth, inviting him to relive the carefree joy of his childhood. The sky above was painted with hues of orange and pink as the sun gracefully descended towards the horizon. Birds soared gracefully across the sky, their melodic chirping created a symphony of nature, a soothing soundtrack for his mind. 

[This is good, right. And you always say I don't have any functions at level 0.]

Rio stood amidst the empty virtual park and looked towards the sky, it was peaceful too like the darkness, but in a different way. "It's perfect." He said as he took a deep breath and enjoyed the serenity it brought him. 

[Well, you're welcome] system said in its own honeyed tone, replying for a thanks it didn't get. 

[Here are the notifications from Skuld -

[Goddess of Norns feels intrigued about which God gave you the blessing of fate

[Goddess feels interested in what you saw in your fate

[Your lies makes the Goddess confused

[Skuld demands an explanation for your actions

[Me, asking for a favor, from you - The Norn sisters laugh at your audacity to boast

[Your actions deserves the punishment

[She feels humiliated at how some mortal dares to use her name with such shamelessness

[Her anger reaches higher as she watches the attention you brought upon her

[Your actions put her in the limelight she stayed away from -Prepare to die

[Skuld takes on her Valkyrie form to crush your skull

[The thought of darkness and infinite void, makes her shudder. The form of Valkyrie disappears

[Skuld decides to ask Goddess Kali to pay you another visit

[... 

[..... 

"Okay, that's enough. I think I have an idea of how mad she is now. Complaining to her, Is she a kid now."

[She kind of is, according to the plot, remember. And not like she can do anything to you with Nyx watching over you.]

"Well, let's hope so. It'll be easy that way. Time to wake up."

Rio thought and opened his eyes, the system space was gone and he found himself back in Artemis's laps. 'This is nice. I should disable the system space function. It's ruining my whole peaceful sleep by just talking.'

Artemis, who felt Rio moving, patted his head and said "Did I wake you up?"

"No, sorry I fell asleep. How long has it been?" Rio said as he lazily stretched his hand and sat down properly. 

"Around half an hour. You can sleep more if you want." Artemis said, her voice sounding a little sad that he woke up a little early. 

"I have classes, mother. Besides Amelia will be free soon if she sees me sleeping and skipping training, she'll throw another tantrum."

Artemis shrugged her shoulders and said -"I'll handle her."

Rio, who heard her words, just shook his head. He could guess what she was thinking, or why she was being this generous to him, but this wasn't something he wanted. He pulled her hands, and held them together -"Mother, I'm fine. It's not a big deal. You acting like this, this isn't right. Just be normal. Like we've always been. You want me to be happy, right?" Rio asked and when Artemis nodded her head in return, he smiled and said -"Then stop acting like something's changed cause nothing did. Whatever I saw will never happen, I won't let it happen. And besides, if I remember correctly -

Someone once told me that instead of living in the fear of our future, we should be pleased with our present.

Wonder what happened to that wise woman." Artemis who heard her own words quoted to herself, smiled and pulled his ear -"you've got quite a sharp tongue now, don't you?"

Rio pulled his head back and massaged his ears "Well I am your son, aren't I."

"Are you?" Artemis replied as she made a thoughtful expression, like she was really thinking about the past. "I lost consciousness after delivery, so I don't know?"

"Low blow mother. Not fair." Rio, who heard her exaggerated joke, actually felt a little bad hearing that. 'She's playing dirty.'

"Well, now you know better than to tease me." Artemis just shook her head, gave no reply. As she ignored that topic and hugged him, while saying -"I'm proud of you, son. Really proud"

As she hugged him, Rio couldn't help but tease her with a playful remark. "I'm proud of me too," He whispered with a mischievous smile. 

However, his moment of jest quickly turned into a yelp of surprise as Artemis tightened her embrace a little.

"Ouch, ouch!" Rio exclaimed, his voice laced with a mixture of pain and laughter. "Sorry, Mother! I promise no more jokes!"

Artemis loosened her grip, a sheepish smile appearing on her face as she gently patted his back, expressing her apology. "Off you go then. Whose class is it now?"

"Eckart's etiquette class, I hate that the most. I mean, seriously, learning how to eat, drink, walk, sleep... It's exhausting. And today, he's going to teach me how to dance! Ohhh I can already see a headache coming." Rio said as he remembered his classes. The rest were still fine as they were either training him in something useful, or teaching him about Arcadia. But this idiot was teaching him how to chew his food & what should be the size of his bites. ' I've been eating & sleeping 5 years more than that guy, and he's teaching me now.' 'Damn nobility.' 

Artemis smiled watching his troubled face- "It's amusing how you can handle so many other things but struggle with a single noble's etiquette class. But this is important too, being a noble isn't just about fighting monsters in towers, or clearing out dungeons, you gotta keep appearances in social circles too. Your every action should be full of elegance and grace, it's about commanding respect and representing our family."

After giving him the serious talk, Artemis took her usual mood and started teasing him again -"Since you're my son, you'll always be the center of attention, so you should just man up a little. And besides Rebecca's birthday party is coming up -who knows how many girls will line up to dance with you. So you better make me proud."

"Oh, great, just what I need more pressure! I'll be stumbling all over the dance floor." Hearing her teasing words about Rebecca's party, Rio replied in his playful tone. He had made other plans for Rebecca's party, but he totally forgot how that'll be the first time in years, when he'll have to attend any social gathering. In his last years on earth the most people he was surrounded by were on subways, otherwise he always ignored crowded places. And now somehow he will have to attend a princesses birthday party, with eyes from all over the world watching him. 

After all even if the Blake family didn't announce or celebrate his awakening in grand manner yet, but with the influence Blake family has, and how fast the news reaches everywhere -probably every important person on Arcadia must've gotten their own reports about it by now. And Rebecca's birthday will be the first time he goes out of his home -even more pressure. 

"Rio, what scared already?" Artemis asked as she watched Rio lost in thoughts and his expression getting worse every moment. She really wanted to laugh now -'how could someone who can smile & be worry free after watching his own fate, but get this sad over a tuition class. Kids, they're always the same.' 

As that thought crossed her mind, Artemis finally couldn't stop, and smile a little. Making Rio doubt again about why the novel story never mentioned her character was like this? In the novel, Artemis was kind of like a villainess boss character. But now this boss is just bullying both her children all day long. 

'Sigh author really ignored the villain's family until he needed something dark in the story huhh - I bet he must've even wanted to name us the 'Black family' with how much nonsense hate we get. I should really find this author and give him a beatdown someday… 

[Host, please back on track. We have a goddess to deal with. You remember that right?]

'Ohh yeah. That ' 

"Okay, bye mother. I'll go , don't you dare stress over anything." Artemis watched as Rio hurriedly kissed her cheek and dashed out of the room, leaving her momentarily lost in the moment. 

"He's growing up so fast," she whispered to herself, she knew the world they live in wasn't something where she could always protect him. And he'll have to face his own troubles himself, but she never knew it'll be this early. She picked out the training format she made for him before, and threw it in the trash. 'Well, let's raise the difficulty a little.'

Rio, who was nonchalantly roaming around the hallways, suddenly felt cold all over his body. 'What the fuck, did something bad happen.'

[Host, your room is here. Let's head in and start her summoning process.]

"Summoning my ass, you're just telling me to bootlick her till she comes here."

"Fuck them Gods and their egos."

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A/N - next chapter time to be a bootlicker. And meeting another goddess.