4. Degenerate Creep (1)
"Luu!! Let's go and play~!" A child's voice echoes from the door of Lucian's room. Kate Bentley, daughter of Lucian's neighbor, Layla Bentley.
Both Lucian and Kate are now five years old. Since that day, Lucian accepted his new family and buried his old one. Since then, the relationship between the Mikaela's and Bentley's had become closer than ever. Thanks to that, Lucian and Kate, who are the same age, would be pushed together at all times.
Kate had blonde hair like her mother and emerald green eyes like her father. If the genes are true, then as long as she didn't break her body herself, she would be an unimaginable beauty like her mother. In Lucian's words, it's a 2D woman.
Despite the energetic call, Lucian stayed silent in his position; he was busy playing with Misha's tablet and ignored her call.
Mother only gave me 30 minutes to play the tablet, I had to use it as efficiently as I could, Lucian thought, knowing he could lift Kate's mood later.
Of course, Kate, oblivious to all this, wouldn't stay silent either. She ran toward Lucian and started to pull her playmate.
"Luu! Play!" She made a small hop while pulling Lucian.
"Not now, later. Just give me a moment," Lucian declined straight away. But will Kate understand? Of course not.
"Sob…" Kate's eyes quickly filled with tears.
Hu…, a child's tear glands really work wonders.
Lucian sighed and gave up, swiping the tears that were slightly out of her eyes.
It's not like I could ignore her anyway.
Last time he ignored Kate crying by herself, Misha came and bonked him on the head, confiscated the tablet, and prohibited him from using it for a few days.
"Don't think you can be selfish all the time." Lucian used his finger and made a soft knock on Kate's forehead. He made a silent protest at his friend; there wasn't a trace of tears on her bright smile.
"Hehe." She giggled very brightly.
Lucian had thought that he was reincarnated into a rich house. They all had what they needed, and looking at the toys bought by his parents was also another proof of it. He didn't know what his parents' job was, but what they did felt loaded. It was until… he visited his neighbor.
Kate's house.
Lucian's own house was already giving the feel of more than enough. Like a private room, shared room, never once did he feel there's not enough space.
As for Kate and Layla's house… you could call it a mansion at this point. It was more than three times larger than his own.
Their front yard was even bigger than his own house. There were many guards and sentries dressed uniformly in black suits and black glasses every day. It even made others question whether they were hot in those outfits. But what raised even more questions was… how the hell Misha and Clive could be their neighbors.
If Clive could be called the main hero from an RPG game, then Layla's husband, Kate's father, would be the hero's muscular companion, the only other guy in the usual harem party.
There was even a scar across his right eye. The person in question explained that it was caused by a car accident, but….
Even a child wouldn't believe that.
A huge mansion, a hell of bodyguards, and then the scar on his face — it literally screamed his identity. I'm the Mafia Boss! or something like that, and his name was Paul, Paul Bentley.
It was Lucian's impression.
Next was the new family. Kate had a new little sister. She was younger than them by two years. She was named Ella Bentley. She looked similar to Kate, but the only difference was her blue eyes, taken from Layla's eyes.
Using the tablet, Lucian was busy gathering information. He was currently checking the world history. he wanted to make sure if it was just a parallel universe with the same name or his world altogether.
Something had happened, and it made Lucian, who believed he reincarnated in the same world, question it once again.
It was Lucian's own body. He didn't feel much when he was still a baby, but now that he had become more mobile and capable of doing whatever he wanted as a child, he realized something.
In the past, playing with babies' toys for at most five minutes was enough for him to get bored to death. Then, to get rid of that boredom, he spent his time moving his small body. He tried to walk and run using his still undeveloped muscles.
The problem was his stamina was increasing at an unbelievable rate.
For him, who is just five years old right now, he thinks he wouldn't lose in comparing his stamina against a 10-year-old child. And it's not just his stamina. His other physical abilities are also the same.
Lucian felt like there was some kind of parameter, or proficiency, or even an achievement meter on his body, and once he got past that, in game terms, he had enough proficiency or exp to go from level 1 to level 2. His physical abilities got a leveling-up bonus.
Take running for an example: the first milestone is 100m. Once Lucian ran for 100m, he reached the milestone or leveled up, adding a bonus to all of his physical abilities. Then the milestone became 1km or even 10km. It's still a hypothesis, but according to the information Lucian had right now, it's the most appropriate answer.
Thanks to this irregularity, he once again sought to clarify his world.
"Let's go outside!" Kate held Lucian's hand. she couldn't wait to have fun any longer. However…
"Okay, but before that we have something to do first," Lucian replied with a smile, holding his ground and not letting Kate pull him away.
"Muu!" Kate knew what Lucian meant, but that didn't mean she agreed with it. She pouted her cheek, gathering as much air as possible to protest.
Lucian let out a small smile at her cute gesture. "Oh, did Kate forget or just don't want to do it?" He played along with her cuteness. "Then also forget about playing outside." Lucian added, and Kate's expression turned to despair in an instant.
"Aaa! Kate remembers, Kate remembers!" she repeated, holding Lucian back before she accompanied him and took a seat beside him.
Seeing her bloated face, Lucian poked a finger on her cheek. "Puu~" All the air blew out.
"Hahaha," they laughed together.
Each time I did this, her mood recovered. Sometimes I even wonder if she's deliberately pouting for me to do that… she must have.
"Okay then, let's begin," Lucian began leading their routine.
""A B C D E…"" They both started singing together while Kate swung and swayed her body and feet.
Did my body influence my mind?
Lucian was in doubt because he also started swinging and swaying his body and legs like Kate.
There's a saying that a man is always a child in his heart. Perhaps it's true.
He decided not to care too much about it and continued swaying and singing together.
Thankfully, they were in a private quarter. If they were in public, someone might faint while screaming, "Must..! Protect..!"
"Then next is…"
""One two three four….""
""Twenty!!"" Lucian and Kate high-fived in unison. It's one of their habits too.
"Then, Kate, what is that?" Lucian pointed to the door.
"Door!" she replied with confidence.
Seeing her confidence, he couldn't hold back from teasing her. "Nope, it's a poster." He pointed to the poster plastered on the door.
"!?" Kate was shocked for a moment, then she realized there was no way of knowing which one was the real question. "Muu!!" She pouted again, with a questioning gaze at Lucian.
"Puu~" She was poked again.
"So how do you spell it?" Lucian asked.
"Which one?" she asked for confirmation, which got her a gentle pat on the head.
"Hehe," Lucian chuckled. "Kate's getting smarter. How do you spell Door?"
"D-O-O-R."
"Correct!"
"Ehehe," Kate smiled cheerfully, happily accepting the pat on the head.
"Then,... 1 + 4 is?"
"5!"
"5 + 3?"
"8!"
"Okay, then last one. 8 + 9 is..?"
"17!!"
"Good job! Kate is very smart." She got another praise.
"Hehe," she brought her face closer and made her nose touch Lucian's nose.
It started like a year ago. Kate just happened to see her parents doing that; her curiosity made her want to try it, and once it happened, it became a habit because she kept wanting to do it.
Lucian understood he was a creep, but even for him, looking at the 5-year-old girl didn't interest him. Sure, he thought of her as a cute thing to protect, but in a sexual way? He's a creep, not someone sick in the head.
Thanks to his physical body, he also didn't feel much looking at 2D women like Layla.
Misha?
Once again, he's not someone sick in the head.
As for the studying, it started with Lucian being unable to play with a child's toy, nor Kate, for more than 30 minutes, lest he got bored. He thought it was much better to just sleep. At the beginning, the purpose was to make Kate reluctant to play with him, then slowly shifted to him not having to care much about what to do when teaching something that might be useful for her.
Then it shifted again.
Her looks, added with high intelligence, perfect physical abilities, and also elegance, which could start later when she's more grown up…
Lucian thought maybe she might become the most idolized woman ever.
Is it considered grooming her…?
In the end, Lucian is still a degenerate creep.