Cryax Lighthold, he was a man with almost no future. Fate seemed to hate him, and his luck, well that was lost somewhere in Tartarus. At an early age, his parents had died in a car accident, one which he was a part of, he barely made it out alive himself but at the price of his legs.
He had been paralysed from the waist down and needed around the clock care, thankfully his aunt, as the amiable person she was, tried to help him by taking him in. Yet, not a week later, she suddenly tripped on her car keys and broke her neck.
The same thing happened with his sister, his cousin and finally his uncle. In the end, every family member of his thought he was cursed, they avoided him, wore gloves when they were touching him and abandoned him in a small apartment when he was 15.
They promised to send a living allowance m, which they did. But it was still very lonely, he only had games and anime as shelter, he grew a part of the community. On an unremarkable day, he had suddenly got into light novels, he binged read a lot of them, before he finally settled in reading a novel called Lord of The Mysteries.
After watching a youtube recap of it, he was quite excited. 22 Pathways which led you to Godhood sounded like an amazing thing, so he started the novel. When he was 30 chapters in, he suddenly choked on his water and died, just as he thought that everything was over.
Somehow, just somehow. He found himself in the body of Ardus Frey, a greedy and evil man, how do you know that, you ask? Well it was because he was currently in a Human Auctioning House trying to buy a slave, that and a lot of memories which made him vomit in his mouth.
He suppressed everything, his years imagining himself as an anime character coming into hand. Cryax noticed the armed guards and the greedy look of the seller, unsurprisingly Cryax had talked about this deal for a long time and if he backed out now. Well he was pretty sure, there would be an obituary about him in the papers tomorrow.
He had to suppress his inner disgust and buy a slave, maybe he could free him or her later. Cryax carried himself with the confidence and demeanour of Ardus, "Well these are the combat slaves."
The seller—Strenheim announced with a greedy face. Cryax quickly glanced over, three dozen trained men and women were chained down. Their bodies filled with scars, yet their muscles emanated a deep sense of strength.
"I'll pass, I want one for household labour, who's also cheap and obedient." Cryax answered tersely.
Strenheim seemed to consider his request as he turned and walked down, gesturing Cryax to follow him. "These meet your requirements but they aren't much suited for manual labour or combat."
"If I need them for combat I'll train them."
Cryax could see the lot, most were kids whose bodies were beaten and abused. Others were teenagers like him who were profusely bleeding, yet the person at the corner made Cryax sympathetic to them.
Her hands were tied to the floor with purplish scars on her wrists, her hands too were coloured the same, on the edge of being broken. While her skin was crystal white but was covered with scarlet red blood, and copious amounts of wounds.
The girl's eyes made him feel that she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. "You!, raise up your head." Cryax demanded, while inwardly he almost cried tears for her.
She robotically moved her head up, with little response being given. Strenheim sensed it was his time to make his move, "She's a quiet slave, who'll listen to all orders that are given without hesitation. Her previous master loved peace, so he, let's say trained her, to not disturb him. Her previous owner's all were very loving to her in let's say a bad manner so she hasn't learned any basic skills"
"I've decided, I'll take this one." Cryax said with a disgusted look on his face.
"...."
As the carriage rolled around to his apartment, Cryax had resolved a few doubts. He was in the Feysac Empire, currently it was December 26th of 1348. This confirmed something, he had transmigrated into the world of Lord of The Mysteries.
A smile landed on his face, This is going to be so fun, Cryax thought with glee. Yet his mind was in a dilemma about the Pathways he wanted to choose. He regretted not being able to read more than 30 chapters, and missing out on the meta knowledge.
Today, Cryax Lighthold has died, now only Ardus Frey exists!, he exclaimed in his mind.
Ardus departed from the carriage together with that person, turning towards her Ardus gestured her to follow him. Quickly entering his apartment m, Ardus could smell the blood in the room, the filthy trash littering the place was also disgusting.
Turning towards the black haired women, Ardus gave a slight tilt. Ardus gestured to her to sit as he leaned against the door, "Well, anyways you're free to go. I have no use for you, and I really don't like owning a slave. Here's 1650 gold hoorn."
Ardus pulled out about 300 pounds from his wallet as he placed it into her hands, "Congratulations, you're free."
She didn't move or blink, she just stayed silent. Ardus gave a slight sigh, "Hey, you can talk here you know. I'm not restricting you from talking or something."
But she was still in a daze, though she slowly muttered, "I have no family, and no place to go. I also have no ability in household chores, if I leave I'll just end up on the streets dying. Please let me stay, I'll do anything."
Ardus heard her plea and was surprised, she was probably slaved away at a young age and had learned nothing. If he let her go now, she would just end up as a random body on the street. She seems to have realised this and understood that living as a slave would be better than dying on the streets.
"You can't cook?"
"i tried cooking and I gave them explosive diarrhea for 3 weeks"
"Clean?"
"I tried cleaning but I accidentally somehow smeared black lines all over the floors, they thought the Underworld was rising up to swallow them and had a stroke."
"Wash clothes?"
"I tried washing them but I accidentally shrunk all the clothes, they didn't know and changed coats in front of their friends and they got bullied to death, so one of them took their lives. . "
Ardus's jaw dropped, she was more useless than a moth. He pinched his gabella as he tried not to laugh.
"Alright then, I'll teach you all the skills necessary to be a good maid, after that you can be free and go wherever you want. Go clean yourself up first."
Ardus gestured to the restroom, looking at her departing figure, he understood that she could be a world class model if she got cleaned up.
Ardus took a seat at the sofa as he stretched his arms, I wonder how long it takes before they abolish slavery. Now onto the more pressing concern, I need to somehow become a Beyonder because if that youtube video was right. There's going to be an apocalypse descending in this world in 10 years, and if I don't gain any power, I'll just die like a comment street rat.
Ardus noticed a slight glowing mark on his right hand, looking closer he could see three white dots which together formed a triangle. '
What is this?, Ardus muttered in his mind, he hovered his fingers over the symbol as Ardus felt slightly elated.
Just as Ardus's fingers made contact with the symbol a bright light flashed through the room as a reddish brown book with a gem in the middle suddenly appeared in his lap.
______
A/N - This is going to be similar to the rising of the shield hero alright. I created this at 5 hopped up on caffeine so if there's some spelling mistakes point it out. The cheat is basically copy pasted from I am breaking the dimensional wall in Lord of the mysteries, it's a good novel but it dropped off after like chapter 500.
Also do tell me what pathway you want Ardus to choose.