Chapter 8: First Step
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 8: First Step
Baron Rasino, who made a vassal contract with my father, is a stingy man. Few of his vassals ever received land. Even my father only received a small manor after marrying Sophia, a distant relative of the baron.
It's likely not a simple matter of refusing to give land to those who aren't blood relatives. I can tell just by how Sophia took over the fief after my father's death, even though I am the rightful heir.
Such an outcome would have been impossible without Baron Rasino's tacit approval. Perhaps Sophia was a pawn the baron had prepared to reclaim the land under certain circumstances.
In other words, my real opponent isn't Sophia, but Baron Rasino. If I make a rash move against her, the baron will step in.
The son of a mere knight has no power to withstand a baron's displeasure. Even knowing the general flow of the future doesn't change that.
This means I can't give the baron a justification to interfere. To do that, I have to make Sophia leave the mansion of her own accord.
The important thing is how.
My plan is to cut off her limbs, one by one. At first, she'll just think the scoundrel is acting like a scoundrel again. But once all the supporters who follow her have been cut away, she will have no choice but to realize it.
That she is next.
Of course, I can't attack her directly because of Baron Rasino. My goal is simply to make her feel that way.
When that time comes, she'll have no choice but to flee.
Executing Neri was the first step toward this goal.
“Status Window.”
I organized my thoughts and opened the status window. Of the many commands I'd just tested, only 'Status Window' responded.
On the left side of the window was a full-body image of myself. My profile listed my height as 188cm, far exceeding the average for this era of poor nutrition.
My fair appearance, with its light blond hair and delicate features, resembled my late mother's. Both Aenya and I took after our mother's side. However, my condescending eyes made my handsome face, which was on par with Aenya's beauty, look like a back-alley thug's.
In any case, it was a status window identical to the one in the game.
On the right side were my detailed profile and stats. To use the game as an analogy, I was currently at the level of a veteran soldier. This was despite having received knight training since I was a child.
In truth, it was only natural, since I'd spent more time slacking off than training. At some point, even my swordsmanship teacher gave up and became a Salary Lupin.
Still, it seemed the training wasn't entirely meaningless. I had bonus stats remaining.
My fingers twitched. Here was a way to become stronger with a simple click of a finger. It was a temptation more intense than any woman I'd ever held.
In the past, I might have invested a point out of curiosity, but I managed to resist. I was also Jungwoo, the Korean who pursued extreme efficiency in games.
This world is not a game.
I couldn't afford to become a ruined character out of curiosity. Investing the bonus stats could wait until after I'd studied the status window more.
What caught my attention was the method of gaining experience points. I remembered the message that had appeared when I killed Neri.
[Calculating experience points. The opponent's level is too low. You have not gained any experience points.]
This meant I would have gained experience from a stronger opponent.
And if the system was the same as the game's, I should be able to gain experience through training and sparring alone. Of course, fighting a strong opponent with my life on the line was the way to get the most experience.
In any case, I had obtained another weapon.
Suddenly, training, which had always felt tedious and difficult, seemed appealing. It was already late at night, but I strapped a sword to my waist. I planned to visit the training ground located behind the mansion.
Come to think of it, it had been a really long time.
In the end, I didn't make it to the training ground. The moment I stood up, a visitor came to my room.
Bang.
The person who kicked the door open as if to break it was Aenya.
“Allen! You... you crazy bastard!”
“Aenya. What is all this commotion in the middle of the night? And I believe you promised to call me 'older brother'.”
“Is that what's important right now?! I heard you cut off the head maid's head! You even put it on display for everyone in the lower village to see!”
The villagers needed a warning, too. How dare they work my sister to the bone? They should consider themselves lucky I didn't display their heads next to Neri's.
“Didn't I say I'd take this chance to teach the inferiors a lesson?”
“I didn't think you'd actually take the head maid's head!”
Aenya stomped her feet, her face on the verge of tears.
“What in the world are you going to do? If Mother finds out…”
“It's just one dead serf who didn't know her place.”
“She wasn't just a serf! She was the head maid Mother favored! She definitely won't let this go when she returns.”
I led the restless Aenya to the bed, then hugged her and gently stroked her back.
“She'll react, of course. But it's nothing to worry about. I am the rightful heir, acting as the lord's proxy. No one in this manor can blame me, and that includes Mother. So at worst, she'll just pull some pathetic tricks behind my back.”
In truth, I was waiting for Sophia's reaction. Before getting started in earnest, I needed to clearly distinguish friend from foe. An unexpected enemy is more dangerous than a known one.
“How long do you think that heir position will last? Mother will surely exaggerate this and report it to Father. You're already on bad terms with him. If Mother gives birth to a son, you'll be stripped of your position as heir in an instant!”
“Are you worried about me?”
Aenya flinched and avoided my gaze.
“…You said the only ones we can trust are family, right?”
The corners of my mouth twitched up on their own. It was hard to understand my past self, who had detested such an adorable little sister.
“That's right. The only ones we can trust are blood-related family. But... was worry the only thing you felt when you saw the head maid's head?”
“What? What do you mean?”
I grabbed the back of Aenya's neck as she peeked up at me and met her eyes. I could feel her breath as I stared into her reddish-brown eyes, which were fixed on me.
“She was the bitch who took the lead in tormenting you, using all sorts of excuses under Mother's orders. You couldn't have only felt worry seeing that head with its tongue lolling out. Weren't you, in fact, happy?”
“That's…”
Aenya's pupils trembled minutely.
“Those who pretend to be saints of the church say that revenge is empty, that you should love your enemy as you love your neighbor. That's just sanctimonious drivel from people who've never been victims.”
I gripped Aenya's hand tightly and lifted it.
“Next time, you'll do it with your own hands. Then you'll feel a pleasure on a completely different level from what you feel now.”
The only person to come after the head maid, Neri, was Sophia. As if realizing this, Aenya swallowed hard.
“But before that, you have a promise to keep with me, don't you?”
“Uh, y-yes…?”
“Didn't you promise to grant me one favor in exchange for making you a dress for the party?”
Aenya scrunched up her face.
“I couldn't go to that party, you know? So it's void. Void.”
“My promise was only to make the dress. Whether you went to the party or not is irrelevant.”
“Ugh, what are you going to ask for…? I'm telling you now, I don't have any money to lend you. And it can't be something beyond my abilities.”
“It's something you're more than capable of, so you don't have to worry.”
“What on earth could the favor be…”
I turned my gaze to the fireplace. I could hear the crackling sound of splitting wood. The firewood was burning brightly, but the room was still as cold as a freezer. Fireplaces were inherently inefficient at heating.
When winter comes, we'll have to move the bed closer to the fireplace and raise it higher to avoid the cold from the floor.
“It's already autumn. But your room doesn't even have a fireplace, does it?”
When I visited Aenya's room to help her make the dress, she didn't have a fireplace like this one. It was a wonder how she'd survived the winters until now.
“It's cold, but that's normal, isn't it?”
The only heating devices were fireplaces, wall-hanging curtains to block drafts, or heated stones placed under the bed at night. Of course, none of that was enough to fend off the biting winter cold.
Therefore, the cold wasn't something to be conquered, but something to be endured. Until recently, I thought so too.
The only downside to regaining my past life's memories was that the cold I'd once taken for granted no longer felt normal. Ever since I was Jungwoo, I'd despised the cold.
In a hospital where the temperature was kept constant, feeling cold meant something was wrong with my body.
The problem was the lack of other heating devices. Even the king supposedly endured winter by hugging his dogs, which said it all. Aenya's reaction wasn't strange.
“I hate that 'normal'.”
“Aha, I know what you're up to. You're going to ask me to tend the fireplace all night so it doesn't go out, right? Fine… I'll do it. But only for a week. Deal?”
I shook my head.
“I need a living heater more than that.”
“Huh? Did you prepare a heated stone or something?”
Aenya's eyes widened as she looked around. I just stared down at her silently. As she glanced about, she soon realized the meaning of my gaze.
“D-don't tell me... me…?”
“Yes. You will have to become my heater.”
“Wh-what? What nonsense is this? You want to sleep together?”
Aenya was appalled. Making the party dress had closed the distance between us a little, but even I thought this was pushing it. However, I feigned nonchalance and replied calmly.
“What's the big deal about family sleeping together? I heard even the king endures the winter by sharing body heat with his dogs.”
“I-is that so?”
Aenya, who had never been properly educated, had a poor grasp of common knowledge. Still, she seemed hesitant, as if feeling an instinctive repulsion. I changed the subject before she could think about it any further.
“Of course, you'll need to wash up before that.”
“Wash? Why?”
I wrinkled my nose and pinched it with my fingers.
“You stink. It's overwhelming.”
“I can't help it. They say bathing too often causes infectious diseases.”
“Nonsense. It's not washing that makes you sick.”
“Hmph, that's what a scholar said. Surely you're not going to say you're wiser than a scholar, are you, brother?”
“That scholar is on his deathbed from an illness.”
“Uh…”
At a loss for words, Aenya averted her gaze. Fidgeting with her fingers, she looked like she was desperately searching for an excuse not to wash.
“You're not a child. Don't tell me you just don't want to wash, Aenya?”
“But if I wash in this weather, I'll freeze to death!”
I sighed softly. Seeing her live in a room without a fireplace, I should have guessed she bathed in cold water, too.
“Don't worry. I'll have them bring hot water.”
“Mother said I shouldn't make such requests because it uses a lot of wood and is too much trouble for the servants.”
“They're paid to do such things.”
I immediately summoned the servants. A servant's eyes widened upon seeing Aenya with me.
“The smell is unbearable. Wash her thoroughly.”
Aenya glared daggers at me, so I quickly added.
“Use warm water when you wash her.”
“But…”
I smiled at the servant who was about to protest. My hand was resting on the hilt of the sword I'd strapped on to go to the training ground. The servant immediately shut his mouth and bowed his head.
“Understood.”
“Ah, and it would be best if she bathed every day.”
It was a task that consumed a lot of firewood and was very labor-intensive. The servant's expression soured at once.
I took a silver coin from my pocket and tossed it.
“Once a month, you will be paid a price like this.”
The servant's face brightened as if he'd never scowled, and he left with Aenya. Fear was a powerful motivator, but it was volatile, and its effect diminished with repetition.
To earn loyalty, one needed the carrot as well as the stick.
“The problem is, I don't have much money.”
The storage I checked yesterday was empty. If I kept spending recklessly like before, I could actually go bankrupt.
And as the lord's proxy, I would have to bear that responsibility. It would be like handing Sophia a justification to attack me on a silver platter.
Among my regained memories were many ways to make money. The problem was that treasure without the power to protect it becomes a curse.
This was an age of barbarism.
If you couldn't respond immediately, there was no way to catch someone who killed you for your treasure and fled. Putting a bounty on them wasn't very effective either. Therefore, building up my strength came first.
Aenya returned a good while later. Her hair was wrapped in a towel, revealing the nape of her pale white neck.
I had also washed in the meantime and was lying in bed. Aenya immediately burrowed under the covers.
“Ugh, washing with warm water made it feel even colder!”
A strange floral scent wafted from Aenya. Was it the servant's good sense, or the power of money? The important thing was that Aenya, having shed her grimy appearance, now looked much more appetizing.
I gently pulled her into my arms.
“You're warm.”
Aenya flinched, her body stiffening. I did nothing but hold her, and soon she seemed to relax, fidgeting in my embrace. Then she pushed against my chest, trying to get away. Of course, I didn't allow it.
Aenya scowled up at me.
“This is uncomfortable. Move your leg.”
“My leg?”
“This thing. This.”
Under the covers, Aenya's hand grabbed a part of my body. I guided her other hand to my leg.
“My leg is over here.”
“Huh…?”
What Aenya had touched was not my leg.