Records of the Weakest Emperor

"Guess, what we're going to play today?" Grace asked with this cheeky smile on her face.

"Grand Turismo?" Calvin replied almost immediately. The answer that he stated was the most obvious one given that the Daylight Bride, the Mortician, and Stephanie were playing the game right now.

"Yup~ But there's a twist!"

Grace leaned over to Calvin and continued, "You'll have to play by yourself and you have to defeat all of us if you want to take the victory!"

"What?" Calvin furrowed his brows, "What are you planning this time making me play a game that's heavily stacked on me. Do you think that I am stupid to play a game like that when I'm more likely to lose? I'm going to refuse this time."

Calvin rolled his eyes at her and shrugged.

"No!" Grace took his arm and held it between her chest, "Can we please play the game?"

"Not today, I've got to go and sleep! I've been so tired in the past few days, at least give me some proper sleep." Calvin shook his head.

"Did you already forget the effects of the Heavenly Abode Visitation Pass?" Grace asked Calvin with confusion visible on her face.

"What are you talking about?"

Calvin asked, "Is there some kind of a hidden condition whenever I use the Heavenly Abode Visitation Pass?"

"No, no, no..." Grace hurriedly denied the allegations, "It seems that you actually forgot that you are physically in my Heavenly Abode..."

"Wait, really?" Calvin stared at Grace in shock and delight, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, go and take a look at the item description." Grace nonchalantly replied.

Calvin tried to summon the Ascension System, but an error prompt popped up.

[Version Update is in progress.]

[System unavailable.]

[Please check back at a later date!]

A sharp pain immediately assaulted Calvin's words as the transparent system notifications vanished in a blink of an eye.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked in concern.

She seemed to be somewhat nervous.

It was understandable since Calvin was the very first mortal to step into the Heavenly Abode of a creation Goddess. Even though Grace had made sure that the environment was safe for a mortal being, accidents could still happen in accordance with Murphy's Law.

"I'm fine, but what is this so-called Version Update?"

Calvin could vaguely remember seeing the words, Version Update back in the Village of Tulog but he couldn't remember it properly due to the bout of headache attacking his nerves at this moment.

"Ah!" Grace exclaimed in enlightenment and shock.

She immediately raised her hand and Calvin's headache disappeared as if it hadn't even happened in the first place, "I'm so sorry!"

Grace looked apologetic.

"What is it?" Calvin asked with a frown.

"I forgot the Version Update!"

"I was supposed to complete it last Friday, but since you didn't arrive I decided to postpone the final version that was already in production..."

"But now that you're complaining of headaches, I finally remembered what I have forgotten last week! This is really not my fault, all right? It's the fault of your friends!"

"They are too pure and innocent! They had no idea what the world of gaming was, so I had to educate them!" Grace painstakingly explained.

"All right, it's okay, it's okay... Can you just finish the Version Update already now that I am here?" Calvin asked.

Grace abruptly froze.

"Well, that is not entirely impossible but there is one thing that we must do first before that."

"Please tell me..." Calvin replied.

"We've got to play a round of Grand Turismo with your friends!"

"Let me guess, the conditions are still the same?"

"Yup~"

Grace proudly stated, "You're quite good at the game, so it's just normal to let you have multiple opponents to even out the playing field."

"Even out the playing field—my ass!" Calvin glared, "I told you that I won't play a game like that!"

"Wait if I don't use my cheats?"

"Not enough!" Calvin shook his head.

'What if I gave you a reward?"

Calvin thought for a long while before he asked out of curiosity, "What kind of reward are we talking about?"

"I will use some of my stored-up divinity to pretend that I'm doing some maintenance on my Heavenly Abode. But instead of actually doing some maintenance, I am going to manipulate time and space to make it so that a year here is only a few hours in the outside world..."

"Then, I'll let you stay so you can train here for the entire year..."

"Of course, you'll be a year older when you come out but there's always a way to make you look like you just woke up from sleeping."

"Oh?" A smile was finally on Calvin's face.

A year of extra time against the invaders sure was valuable.

This was indeed a hard-to-refuse offer.

But Calvin knew that he had an advantage against the Goddess who desperately wanted to play with someone else other than herself.

"All right, that sounds good. But during my entire stay here, I must be able to ask you questions."

"Okay, feel free to ask whatever you want to know. However, I will still retain my right in refusing to answer..."

"After all, I don't want you to ask me about private and lecherous things..."

Grace turned her gaze away from Calvin and the latter couldn't help but bitterly smile.

'As if I'd do that and willingly become an enemy of the Great Chief of War and Infighting!'

'Hmmph!'

Calvin couldn't help but criticize in his head.

"Are you ready?" Grace asked with a smile.

"Wait," Calvin interrupted, "What will happen to the Mortician, Daylight Bride, and Stephanie? Will they be able to withstand your divine might once you start using it to disguise some maintenance work on your Heavenly Abode or something?"

"It's fine," Grace casually said, "I'll make them stay in your Blood Stone whenever I am trying to maintain that disguise, so rest assured."

"All right, if that's the case, then I won't ask anything about it anymore. I doubt that you'll even harm them in the first place considering the fact that you've basically converted them into members of the cult of gaming in just under a week."

Calvin lightly chuckled, "To be honest, I would've been impressed by this feat if there's actually something else that we can do other than gaming in this mansion."

Calvin shrugged.

"What are you talking about? Is there even an activity out there that's worthy for a Goddess like me to do, other than playing games?"

"How about a bath?"

Calvin raised a finger and proposed, "A true gamer would dedicate most of his or her hours into gaming, but basic hygiene must still never be forgotten. It would be terrible if you lost a duel due to an itch that you just had to scratch caused by not taking a bath for a long time..."

"That makes sense. Okay, I'll make us a bath."

Grace nonchalantly replied, but just as she was about to wave her hand and create a bath.

She suddenly paused and stared at Calvin in doubt, "Is this you hinting that you want to take a bath with me?"

"No! Get your mind out of the gutter, Goddess of All-Encompassing Light! My goodness!"

Calvin almost immediately replied in a half-scolding manner.

But Grace remained unaffected by Calvin's words...

Instead, she even winked at him and smiled, "I don't really mind it though~" 

'Fuck...'

Calvin cursed in his heart.

Before he could even verbally say anything though, Goddess Grace already disappeared from his sight. 

'The Goddess of Compassion and Light... '

'What a troublesome woman.'

Calvin could only sigh.