Lord of Charm

Chapter 2 1 – A Chosen Man

?Gale Stormborn was on his way back to his mansion after finishing his usual charity tour. Waving and nodding to the commoners greeting him with affection, he made his way toward his home.

"My father only has a few months to live, maybe a year. I must find a solution to my social status before that, or I will have to start my life as a commoner. However, I don't even have a profession to help me live as one."

Gale murmured his troubles as he suddenly noticed a wide area ahead being cleared of people. Looking ahead, he saw a tall, muscular man walking down the avenue, his head held high as he passed through with an aura of nobility around him, enjoying the respect of the commoners who made way for him. He had short, fashionable, and well-maintained black hair accompanied by blue eyes.

"Hello Naron, I hope you've been well."

Gale greeted first, ignoring his superior status as a son of an Earl while Naron, although being an heir, was only the son of a Baron. Naron was Gale's childhood friend, however, in recent years, Naron has stopped initiating any contact with him, probably because of his bleak future in the noble society.

"Thank you, Lord Gale. I've been doing well. I'm in a bit of a hurry, please forgive me".

Gale sighed. Even those who used to butter him up in the past have stopped regard him with any importance.

"Greetings, Lord Gale"

A young pretty maid greeted him as he entered his chambers. She had white hair, pair of pink eyes, and a curved body. Her breasts weren't big but perky nonetheless, while her thighs were quite a sight to behold, her butt would often make Gale's eyes go astray when she was with her back to him. In front of Gale was a big room, with a king-sized bed in the middle. Next to one of the walls, there was a large desk with a few shelves filled with books above it, and next to another wall was a large closet. The walls had some paintings Gale has taken a liking to and a few swords for decoration.

"I already told you, Nina, you don't have to address me officially when we are alone."

Nina smiled and nodded "I know, Lord Gale."

Nina served Gale his dinner, and they ate it together, against etiquette. After dinner, Gale suddenly started feeling dizzy.

"Weird, I'm never so tired that early."

Gale decided to take a quick shower and go to bed, thinking this must be the result of cumulative fatigue. He quickly lay down and fell asleep.

Gale opened his eyes and saw he was laying on a soft, pleasant carpet. He looked around slowly, confused, and took in all the views in front of him.

As a noble, he immediately understood he was in a throne room, however, the grandeur of this room far outstripped the throne room of his king. Looking up at the throne, he saw a man sitting on a large golden throne.

He tried making sense of the man's look, but could only see a blur, unable to see through the man. Yet, he somehow knew this man was beyond handsome.

His charm was so high that Gale couldn't stop the urge to please any desire of this man. He didn't know it, but he was able to keep her senses only because the god held back his aura.

"Your Majesty, may I know where I am?"

The man gave him a satisfied nod.

p??d?`no??1`?o? "You're quite sensible, accepting your current situation and being careful with your words. You are in my palace, so allow me to play the host. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Thank you, Sir. I'm unworthy of such treatment. May I ask what I'm doing here?"

While Gale knew he can't do much to resist someone who brought him to his palace without letting him even notice the trip there, he preferred to be as careful as he could.

"I summoned you. You are about to lose your power and influence, aren't you?"

"I am"

Gale frowned. Since the man already knew his circumstances, there was no use in denying it. Thinking quickly, he reached the only conclusion he could come up with - This man must be trying to recruit him to act as a spy for him with a tempting promise.

"I'm not trying to recruit you."

"Wha-what? I-I never said you were!"

He panicked, was this man a powerful mage who could read minds? Did mages who can read minds even exist? Unfortunately, he didn't know much about the subject.

"I'm also not reading your mind; your expressions are simply easy to read."

Of course, that was a blatant lie, how could a face of a noble from birth be easy to read? But the god didn't plan on explaining in depth the calculative abilities of gods.

"I'm the God of Charm, for reasons that you don't need to know, I need someone pure-hearted and kind to succeed me. As long as you're willing, I will gift you with some of my powers, those powers will allow you to stand on the top of your world."

Gale narrowed his eyes suspiciously, this gift sounded too good to be true.

"Why would you pick me? There must be other kind-hearted people and most of them with better talent than me. After all, I don't even have any talent, to begin with."

"This is precisely your redeeming point! My powers are far beyond the talent of mortals, their talents can only hold it back, not boost it. As for why I didn't choose a commoner, it's because you have a better starting point to reach success, and I know you already had a taste of power and remained uncorrupted."

Of course, the man didn't mean the last part, he simply believed Gale remained kind all these years because he didn't have much to lose by being kind, and he wasn't tempted by a greater power and potential he couldn't have. Until now, that is.

"A god though? How can I believe it?"

However, even Gale knew he was lying, he couldn't explain it, but he felt smaller than dust, meaningless as a pebble when he looked at this man. Besides, he couldn't even see this man properly, and the man could read his mind! He decided to move on.

"Can I say no?"

"No"

"What if I choose not to do your tasks later?"

"I've never planned on giving you any tasks, you're free."

"What if I don't plan to even try becoming a god and succeed you?"

"As I said, the choice is all yours."

It was too fishy, but it didn't seem like he had much of a say in the matter.

"Then I shall accept your gift with gratitude, Your Majesty."

A light suddenly enveloped his body and pain excruciated his whole body, making him fall to the floor. He could feel his bones crack and heal, his skin being torn and grow again, his muscles getting filled with tears and heal back. Even his nose seemed to change somehow.

A few minutes later an extremely handsome man stood up and checked his own body. His skin felt like velvet, softer than a princess's skin. His color was slightly tanned, and he had well-defined muscles, but not ripped. Right, the man was Gale. Gale felt like his body was much lighter than before, a result of a healthy body, and had much more power and stamina than his previous sickly body.

"Would my family even recognize me? Will they let me back into the house? Wait, How can I get back? Will he even let me go back?"

Gale mused to himself as he checked his body.

"Your body is not truly here; I've only summoned your soul. That's the source of the fatigue you've felt before going to sleep."

The God of Charm showed off his ability to read through Gale.

"Can't read my mind? Isn't this lie a bit too obvious? But if this isn't my real body, does it mean this new body won't follow me to reality?"

"I wasn't reading your mind; I simply calculated your possible responses. Your current body is a representation of your real body, so yes, this body will follow you to reality."

The god kept answering his thoughts. Gale gave up on trying to hide anything by this point and decided to just live with the fact someone can read his mind.

"All right, that's enough. Shoo, shoo."

Gale was suddenly banished from the palace and felt the recognizable comfort of his bed as he woke up and opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling.