Leko explored the house. Ignoring the flickering green and pink notifications that would appear and disappear. If he paid attention to the two moronic gods, he’d get a headache. He made that mistake for the first few minutes and watched two supposed ancient beings spiral off into one of the pettiest arguments he’s ever seen.

Were all gods childish? Ah no, according to the novel, they were also psychopaths. Was that the measurement he’d need to use now? From childish to psychotic, where does the god stand?

“It’s like a clinic,” Leko murmured to himself as he passed what would be patient rooms. There were several of them. Most furnished the same. A single bed, with a table next to it. A cupboard, two seats, and a door leading to a private bathroom. There was a lot of white. Leko never understood why it was always white.

Laika praises the smart hunter.

Jaika agrees. Her hunter is smart but tells Laika to back off.

Laika has updated information on the Healer’s House.

“Ah,” Leko sighed, “show me information on the Healer’s House.” It belonged to him now. Best to have all the information he could get his hands on.

Healers House.

Owned by Leko Hosyn.

The Healer’s House was once the home of Galia Terry. He used it as a base to take care of and heal those who came to him with injuries. Galia was a lover of experimenting and expanding his craft. He wrote books estimated in the hundreds, most kept in his study.

The update had information he already knew, but still the house was a gold mine. Leko grinned. He wouldn’t sell it. Having a house that boosted healing was great to have. He could imagine people running around like headless chickens if they found out he had this in his hands. He wouldn’t let the information slip, not yet anyway.

Leko made his way back to the office, or study, as the system called it. He needed a healer. Having the house was great, but it would be better if he had someone to work inside the house. The runaway daughter of Marquess Zith was a fantastic healer, and Leko wanted to pout. She was one of the main character’s future party members. If only Leko sighed. He needed someone decent that wouldn’t affect the main character if Leko stole them. This was a big world, and the main character’s party wasn’t the only decent people around. Hell, even a few villains had some pretty impressive healing abilities.

Leko sat up with wide, excited eyes. He glanced at the bookshelf, and an idea formed in his head. There was one person. Leko cackled. It wasn’t impossible. He knew the man’s personality well. Leko wouldn’t even have to waste time looking for him. If Leko played his cards right, the man would come running to Leko. All he would need to do was lay out some bait and sit back.

Leko leaned back in the chair and chuckled under his breath.

Jaika is curious about what her hunter is thinking

“Shame,” Leko muttered. His pleasant mood vanished, replaced by annoyance.

Laika is laughing at Jaika

Honestly, he was almost curious about the problem these two had with each other. Did all gods act like this when interacting? Leko frowned as he thought about it. There wasn’t any mention in the novel of gods interacting. Certainly not in front of Hunters or via notifications. Calen never experienced this in the book.

Something that wasn’t in the book was happening again. Leko tilted his head as he watched the green and pink notifications come and pass at a stupidly fast pace. He wondered what this would mean for his future. Leko breathed out and tilted his head back. Letting it rest against the chair. In a bit, Leko needed to go to see the Duke about his schedule. Leko’s eyes flicked to the bookshelf. He’d need to add in his own schedule to it for his private studies.

The chair screeched as Leko got up. It was best to start heading back now. He didn’t want to be late.

Leko held the flimsy paper in his hand. He sat with a stiff posture as the Duke shifted through his paperwork. Leko held back a grimace at the action. He felt a tad sorry for the man with the mountain of work piled up on his desk. Leko’s resolve to not be a head was strengthened. In the future, he refused to sit in that seat.

“I picked your teachers myself. I won’t have someone whose skills I’m uncertain about teaching my son.” The Duke said, glancing up from his work.

Reading through the schedule again, Leko wanted to frown. Instead, he looked up at the Duke with an impassive face.

“It’s very… loose,” Leko said.

“Yes, as a hunter, giving you a solid schedule would be useless. You’ll end up spending hours on quests and missing most of it. You have specific times and days blocked out for training and learning. Still, it’s geared to the hunter lifestyle. There are open slots for when you need to do something that involves quest work. When you leave, most of your teachers will pack up and follow you. So you can work with the schedule even while traveling.”

It made sense. Filling in the empty slots with training when he doesn’t have quest work would be fine as well. Leko scanned the schedule again. Flexibility training with Faier. Followed by strength training with Kurio. Leko didn’t know they could teach. He wondered if there was anything else they could teach him. They would need to be interrogated, eventually.

Poison study with Tor. Something Leko had not thought of at all. Combining Poison with his arrows would be fantastic. Tor? Leko didn’t recognize the name. There was no mention of him in the novel.

“Tor?” Leko prompted.

“A chef and an expert with poisons.”

Food and poison, what a combination. Leko hid a grin. The chef sounded useful.

“They would overlook him. Thinking he’s a personal chef when I travel,” Leko murmured to himself. It was ideal; having hidden trump cards was always handy.

Dance with Friar, Weaponry with Lance. Leko hid a grimace. He wanted to tell his father that he would rather not work with the knight, but Lance was a reasonable option. It was only for two years. Leko would smear the knight off on Calen when the protagonist arrived.

Stamina with Kurio and Faier, HIIT, and parkour had slots too, but not teachers. Leko would have to do it himself. He already handed a rough sketch of the design he wanted for the parkour arena to the Duke. He should drag Kurio and Faier in and teach them parkour. Leko needed them to be stronger.

Stealth with Buni, another name Leko had no recollection of. He tried to think back on the novel, but there was not a single Buni throughout the entire thing. Did this one also have a useful skill set?

“Buni?” Leko’s eager eyes focused on the Duke.

“We train the chief servants in a secondary specialty. His is assassination. As a servant, he’s a butler.”

Poison and assassination. The cool gaze that met his sent a shiver down Leko’s spine. Better not to question, it was fine as long as he got stronger. Leko now had access to two useful people he could use in the future. He had to work on their loyalty. Leko would rather not have his every move reported to the Duke.

There wasn’t much on the schedule, but the few things that were, would take up most, if not all, of his time, anyway. Leko still had his own personal studies he wanted to do. He had a lot to learn about this world. There were his plans, too. He was going to be busy for the next two years. Thankfully, after that, he should be decently strong, and he could leave the rest to Calen.

“All your teachers, other than your mother, will serve under you. Where you go, they will follow.” The Duke said.

Leko frowned and pointed out an obvious problem. “Lance is the captain of the Knights.” And Leko didn’t want the knight around him too often. That was Calen’s future best buddy. Leko would rather steer clear as much as possible. Getting lessons from him was already too much.

“And there is a vice-captain who works almost as well. Lance will not lose his position. It is his job to watch over the future of Hosyn,” the Duke said.

“I don’t want to be the Head.” Leko shook his head.

He had immediately understood the Duke’s words. As the official heir, Leko was set to be the head of the family. He was, by rights, Hosyn’s future. Only he’d rather not. Leko felt like he was repeating himself. He hoped this would not happen often. Mohara was going to be head. Leko refused to accept such an annoying title.

It would be nice if he could shove Lance on Mohara, then shove them both on Calen in two years. She’d gain valuable experience, and the Duke would see how wonderfully perfect she was for the position. Leko only needed to deal with the pesky issue of her death.

The Duke watched him with cold eyes, not saying a word about Leko’s statement. It made Leko iffy. He wasn’t reprimanding Leko for his words but not denying them either.

“Tomorrow we can talk about traveling. For today, I hope you rest well, Leko.” The Duke dismissed him.

Leko held back a miserable sigh. It would be so much easier if the Duke accepted Mohara as head. Instead, he was giving Leko work to make sure the woman got the title, anyway.

He’d need to get his claws into one of the princes. He’d use them for Mohara’s future.

“Thank you, father.”

Leko stood from his seat and bowed. He kept it for the respectful three seconds before lifting himself and leaving the Duke’s office. Plans formed in his mind. Some he discarded as soon as they popped up, others he put aside as potentially possible with some more work. He sighed as he walked down the halls. Tomorrow would be his first day following this new schedule. Leko hummed to himself. He also needed to work on the bait for his healer. There was a lot to do and a lot to think about. He should sit down and write. His mind would be too jumbled with all the different things running through it. There was too much to focus on.

He groaned as a headache started pounding his skull.