21st Century Archmage - Chapter 69: The Battle of Haiton Village

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

After his death, Aoi Hiroto is reincarnated as a beast-like race, similar to Ghislaine's race, but with the memories of his past life intact. Now, torn between his animal instincts and human rationality, he tries to find his place in this new world. While Rudeus continues his journey, the protagonist forms new connections and learns more about this new world.Warnings:- The MC is like Rudeus, he doesn't know the world of Mushoku Tensei, for him, this is a new world with magic and swords, but he has seen other known animes.- Rudeus will still exist in this timeline, but the chapters that will show his point of view will be very rare, unless he is interacting with the MC.-The confirmed members of the harem so far is only Ghislaine.I do not own the cover image or any characters or references taken from the work Mushoku Tensei.English is not my first language, but I will try my best not to make mistakes.

Dropped

My name was Yuan Junyao, a name my grandmother gave me, meaning “beautiful jade”, although I was not beautiful at all. Actually I was ugly.

I was told that I grew tumours on my face since I wasn’t even 3 months old. My parents had me examined in hospital and the doctor said it was a fibroma and it was benign. It couldn’t kill me but I couldn’t get rid of it because if I did, it may develop to be fatal. My father divorced my mother for this, and not long after, my mother died.

To make a living, I had to do three jobs.

One day I messed with the wrong people and they had my younger brother have a car accident and become a vegetable, and I also lost all my jobs because of it.

I tried to find a new job and happened to know about live streaming. I clicked on it and a man was live streaming in an old ghost-haunted house. The ambience was terrifying.

I followed him online and he didn’t see a real ghost even by the end of the stream. But the ambience was so real it spooked the audience. So he had many watchers who sent him lots of gifts while they watched. I was a little inspired by the idea. Nobody wanted to see the face of the host of a ghost live streaming, which suited me very well…

- Description from Novelupdates