A butler comes into the office. He is a demon with red skin, white horns, and a muscular build—but not bulky.
The butler: "Yes, milord?"
Dariush thought: A demon? Now I am completely sure. I am in another world with many things that I don't know.
Dariush said to the butler: "Collect these clothes and send them to the kingdom of Emara, along with a message." (He pointed at the envoy attires from those he killed.)
The butler clapped his hands, and two maids came. They grabbed the clothes and left.
The butler said: "So what is your message, milord?" (Pulling out a notebook to write.)
Dariush paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, and then said: "Send them a letter and say: 'These envoys you sent disrespected me and my wife. That's why I killed them. If this happens again, I won't forgive the Emara kingdom and will even destroy it. But I'll forgive you this time. So be careful with your behavior next time.'"
The butler nodded and finished writing: "Done. I will send this letter as fast as possible to them."
A few days later, when this letter arrived at the kingdom of Emara, the king and queen shuddered and shivered as they heard the letter. When they saw the bloody attires, they were stunned and started sweating visibly.
Back to real time. Dariush is in the library, already reading books.
Dariush thought: A few days later, the letter will arrive at the Emara kingdom. I just hope I managed to make them scared of me. (He focused more on the book in his hand.)
The language of this world I am in is a mix of German and Persian. Hopefully, I am from Iran and I know how to speak German too. The world that I am in is World 99. (His eyebrows twisted.) I just can't understand—the whole world name is Tetramor, but it looks like World 99 is in it. But still, I can't remember fully why that is.
(He gritted his teeth.) But I can't do anything either. It's just the first day that I reincarnated into this new body.
While he was thinking deeply, at the same time, he read three books too.
Finally, he put the book away and thought again: I just found out about the country that I am in right now. Its name is Nari. It's a mid-level empire. Neither very big nor small. Neither very strong nor weak. But still, it's a respectful empire. And my power in this empire.... is very low. Even though I am the Duke of Autumn, because my estate is always cold and even sometimes snowing.
But whatever. My political power is low now. I am currently the weakest duke in Nari among all the dukes.
He stepped out of the library and continued thinking and walking: First step is gaining the trust of the people in my estate. Hopefully, I am a very important person in Nari—being the only person who keeps the peace between humans and other species. But people's trust in me is low now, because this body did a lot of bad things. And on top of that, everyone sees this body as a real villain. So I need to show some redemption. That way, the people might start trusting me.
He stepped out of the mansion with a black coat. The outside was cold, but sunlight was shining too. He started walking and surveying his estate.
The city name is Lamnia.
It's a very big city with technology of steam mixed with a little electricity and a strange energy he couldn't fully remember. The city was bustling and crowded, with people and carriages that didn't have horses but all had steam technology on them.
The people's clothing style was like a mix of 1950–1990, or in short, classic style. But it felt normal. At the same time, some people were human or other species like elf, dwarf, demon, and so on...
The sky was a little bit cloudy. At the same time, as Dariush continued walking, some people paid respect by bowing or opening the way for him, and some people didn't dare to look at him. But Dariush just continued walking.
When Dariush was walking, suddenly a little elf boy came into Dariush's path. His pupils were green and his hair was black. He then said: "Mr. Dariush, this is for you, because I admire you." (The little boy offered a beautiful red rose innocently. His hand was slightly injured and scratched because of the rose's thorns.)
Everyone else kept watching breathlessly. And some even started praying under their breath for the boy.
Then Dariush did something that no one expected. He knelt in front of the boy and took the rose gently. He gave him a warm expression: "Thank you, little one." (He ruffled the boy's head gently.) "Now, can you tell me why you admire me?"
The boy slightly blushed and said shyly: "Because you are both strong and handsome. On top of that, I can live here in this city because of you. And I have a lot of friends. And I am very happy because of you."
Dariush chuckled heartily.
The boy continued and said: "But recently, you became a bad person. Please don't do anything bad anymore. I know you are a good person. But please change. I still have hope in you, Mr. Dariush." (The boy's eyes glistened with tears that didn't fall, but he was looking at Dariush innocently.)
Everyone else didn't say anything, but their expressions showed a slight hope while looking at Dariush and waiting for his response.
Dariush's expression softened more, and he said: "Thanks for having hope in me. And because of that, I will change myself—for both myself and others who have hope in me. But it will take time. Until that time when I've changed everything, just wait. And you will see everything is going to get better. I promise." (He smirked faintly, and his gaze was warm.)
The boy's eyes lit up and he smiled widely and said: "Yes!"
Everyone else sighed softly in relief and looked at Dariush with newfound respect and hope.
Dariush stood up, put the rose in his coat, and started walking again.
After that little event, the rumors started spreading extremely fast. The people now started to have hope and respect for Dariush. But they were still skeptical too.
The next day, when Dariush was in his office and grabbed the reports, he saw something interesting that made him whistle lowly. And he thought to himself: Previous day, all of the workers were slow. Today, their speed improved by 20%.
He smirked: Looks like the previous day's little event had an effect on the whole estate. Even though my estate is literally 15% of the Nari empire. — He chuckled under his breath: Looks like improvement doesn't always come from hard work. Sometimes I need to be smart and honest.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door. The butler's voice came and said: "Milord! The prince is here! And he's not happy!"