Picking up Girls With My System

The capital of the dark lands. A place called Khazijar. Arthur did not know the reason behind the name but did not care either.

It looked like any other major city, with sturdy walls, many buildings, and a vivid atmosphere of people buying and selling goods.

“Look! I told you this place is awesome,” Deulara said, looking at Arthur’s face, which had no expression.

For him, it was just like any other city. “Let’s go.”

A line of people waited to enter the city. Those who went walking managed to get in faster, but the merchants had to have their merchandise checked by the guards, and if anything were wrong with it, they would meet in trouble.

Arthur was sure that most of these merchants carried illegal stuff with them, and the guards had a blind eye to it.

He and Deulara quickly entered Khazijar. The guards barely checked anything from them, so one could tell how lazy their work was.

“Can I stay with you until I am settled here? This place scares me,” Deulara said.

“Sure. Let’s go buy a residence here.”

The plan Arthur had was to spend some time inside the capital of the dark lands, raise his power, and maybe convince their leader to leave toward the central continent.

It was not a plan with a great chance of success, but if it did not work, Arthur would make all of them surrender.

Buying a house was not a complicated matter, and there were tons of available homes as many people that lived inside the capital did not have the money to buy them. Arthur and Deulara went to a building that specialized in selling these houses and browsed through their catalog to see if anything was interesting.

“You want to buy a house?” The attendant said, shocked.

For her, people usually went there to browse the houses and not buy because of the high price. She thought Arthur would do the same, but his serious expression made her believe otherwise.

There were countless houses available, but one caught Arthur’s attention. It was a two-story villa with a vast courtyard and a research lab. The amount of mana in the area was not that bad. It seemed that they used mana stones to increase the amount of mana in the atmosphere so that their mages could improve faster.

Arthur could guess it was because of the war. They were trying to increase their strength as fast as possible, and Arthur would not be a fool not to make use of that.

“I will want this one,” Arthur said. He tossed a bag filled with gold coins, the necessary amount for the villa he wanted.

Within a few minutes, the place was already in his name, and the keys were in his hands.

“You are so rich, Akhur. Maybe you could invest in my weapon shop?”

“No, thanks.”

After they left the building, it was time to go to the villa in person. Arthur had seen pictures of it made of magic, as accurate as photos from Earth, but it was better to see it in person.

The streets were crowded with all kinds of people, but the tense atmosphere within the capital was clear. A rumor about their army being wiped out by a single elf spread through the dark lands, and they were worried they would be the next target.

“Did you hear about the elf? They are calling him ‘Death.\'”

“It’s been a few days since I’m not getting proper sleep with this madness. What will we do if he comes here? Death single-handed killed our army.”

“All we can do is pray for the best.”

These were the conversations Arthur heard along the way about him.

“Arthur, did you hear about this elf as well? I was scared that he would show up in Misty Town too!” Deulara said.

She had no idea this elf who turned into a legend was right in front of her. Even Arthur could not believe his acts would grant him the nickname ‘Death.’

The two of them passed through the city’s poor areas until eventually reaching a neighborhood of villas belonging to mages.

It was where Arthur bought his villa as well.

“This place looks nice.”

When Arthur looked at his villa, he was pleased with what he saw. The main building was a two-story building made of stone that was quite beautiful, reminding Arthur of the modern houses on Earth.

The only thing the villa did not have was a protective formation, which was something Arthur wanted severely, considering he was inside enemy lines.

Not only protective against attacks but also from spies who would try to sneak in or hear his conversations using mysterious ways.

“You can stay in one of the rooms until your shop is running well,” Arthur said.

Deulara was astonished by the place, as it was a fine house she would never be able to afford, even after working for decades. Arthur was kind enough not only to her until the capital but also to let her stay in the house for some time.

It was something she would never be able to repay.

For her, it was only kindness coming from that youth, but Arthur had different ways of thinking.

“It is a good thing she is here, being someone truly from the dark lands to make me look less suspicious. Now, let’s start putting some formations.”

While Deulara was inside the mansion, trying to choose her favorite room, Arthur was busy putting the formations around his villa to make it less porous.

He did not only study spells in his free time but also formations, as these were quite useful. One of the perks of not having to sleep was free time to learn all sorts of things.

Also, his mastery and mana pool was way more advanced than the other mages, which proved to be quite helpful in creating the formations as well.

Arthur had even tried to put some essence on the formations, and they did increase the power, just like with the spells.

“You are new around here? It is nice to see a fellow dark elf.”

A dark elf approached Arthur’s villa. He had short black hair and red eyes and looked relatively young. It was one of the other mages who lived in the nearby estates.

“It is indeed. I am happy my neighbor is a dark elf, too,” Arthur smiled.

“I am Jhazaken, and you?”

“Akhur. I just moved, and this place looks incredible.”

“Ha, I thought the same back when I moved here.”

Arthur kept creating his formations while chatting with Jhazaken, which brought his attention.

“You are quite skilled with magical formations; that is impressive. I am trying to reach the fourth circle but am stuck at it….”

“You are this young and already at the third circle? Don’t feel bad about yourself. Even though I am skilled with formations, I am a mere second circle mage.”

“Still impressive. You looked as young as me. I do think we will get along pretty well.”

“I do too!”

Arthur felt it was best to lie about his power rank to these people he did not know yet. Mages could tell the position of others by sensing their mana pool, but Arthur got to know it was an easy task for his system to hide his level of power.

He took the chance to try his best to get closer to that elf. A reliable contact inside the capital would prove to be valuable. Arthur knew that well.

After he was done with the formations around the villa, Arthur went inside his mansion to see Deulara preparing dinner for them.

“I saw your hard work there, so this is the least I can do,” she said.

“Thanks. Did you choose your room already?”

“Oh, yes, I did. There are four bedrooms on the second floor, and two have balconies. I chose one of those… but don’t get mad at me; the biggest room is still yours.”

Deulara felt strange for having chosen one of the mansion’s best rooms, and the thought of upsetting Arthur did not leave her mind the entire day.

Arthur did not care what room she picked. “I don’t need even to sleep anymore,” he thought.

“Don’t worry about it. Hey, I will be right back.”

Now that everything was settled inside the capital of the dark lands, Arthur went to the laboratory of his villa, preparing to send a message through his devotee’s connection.

He sat cross-legged, trying to make the connection with his devotees, but it did not work. Nothing happened, no matter how hard he tried as if the link was cut.

“Maybe that is because I am injured? Or because I overused the celestial power, and it needs some time to recover.”

Seeing that it did not work, Arthur tried to send a message through his connection with Sully, and it worked.

“What? You idiot, why didn’t you send the message earlier? You know I can start the connection if you don’t want to.”

“I was injured, you stupid wyvern, and it probably made the connection shatter. Anyway, warn everyone that I am already inside the capital of the dark lands, disguised as a dark elf called Akhur. I even have a nice villa here,” Arthur said.

“You? Hahaha, you are dead.”

“What do you mean, Sully?”

“You live in a mansion while your wives are in the middle of the forest, living in tents while looking for you. You know that Jane and Wisa will kill you after I say it to them.”

Cold sweat dripped from Arthur’s body, and he said, “could you please take the mansion part off? I can giv-“

Sully cut the connection before Arthur could finish it.

“I am dead. I am so dead.”