Family Conference - Part 1
Graduating from university, landing a job at a small company, and then dying in a traffic accident—those stories from my past life feel utterly trivial now.
“Young master.”
“Chief Butler. What is it?”
The chief butler of the Franz Count family, Sven, had come to see me. He was one of my father’s closest aides, the man who managed nearly all affairs within the castle on a daily basis. As the second son, I had little connection with him, so speaking directly like this was rare. It wasn’t that our relationship was bad—we simply never had the opportunity. If he was here, it almost certainly had something to do with my father. Which meant this was likely the same kind of matter.
“The master summons you.”
“Father?”
Just as I thought. Still, I wondered what this was about. Had something happened recently? Even if it had, he had never called for me in the middle of my lessons before.
“Understood. Then, teacher, you may take your leave first.”
“Yes, young master. I shall see you next week.”
“Mm.”
The middle-aged man bowed politely and quietly withdrew from the room. After glancing at his retreating figure, I turned to Sven.
“Do you know why he called for me?”
“I believe it would be best for you to hear the details directly from the master.”
Sven spoke only what was necessary, his face completely expressionless. Since he treated everyone this way, there was nothing more to say. I closed the book on my desk. If I’d been summoned, I had no choice but to go.
As I stood, the servants around me began tidying up behind me. I left the room with Sven leading the way.
“……”
“……”
It really wasn’t that our relationship was bad. …Was it?
When I once asked my father if he had ever seen Sven smile, he had laughed and said even he had never witnessed it. So I suppose this was simply his personality. Unable to bear the suffocating silence any longer, I finally turned my head to look out at the garden.
It was a breathtakingly beautiful garden, meticulously maintained by gardeners of exceptional skill—my mother’s personal taste. Beyond it stretched the vast territory of our domain.
This was the Franz Count family.
I, who had once been an ordinary man from Earth, had been reborn in this barbaric world as the second son of a noble house.
-Knock knock.
After Sven rapped on the door, he stepped back and bowed deeply at the waist. Once I confirmed his gesture, I stood before the door.
“Father. It is Leoric.”
“……You’ve come. Enter.”
A deep, resonant voice came from beyond the door. Without permission, one could not open the door. This kind of etiquette had been drilled into me since childhood.
Sven opened the door for me. As soon as I stepped inside, the door closed behind me from the outside.
I turned my head and surveyed my father’s study.
“Brother?”
“You’re here, Leo.”
There stood a handsome man with golden hair and a gentle smile. The eldest son and heir of the Franz Count family—Aidan Franz. My older brother was here.
I immediately turned to my father and bowed. The middle-aged man, who shared the same golden hair as Aidan but wore it neatly swept back, quietly raised his head and gestured toward an empty seat.
“Leoric. How old are you now?”
“I will soon come of age.”
“You’ve grown up.”
I quietly lowered my head. I still felt like I had more growing to do, but in this world, that was considered fully adult. From the beginning, the line between minor and adult in this world had always been rather vague.
“What about Leo’s engagement? Is it still the Boran family?”
“We have been in contact with the Boran family, but they have long been tied to us by blood. I do not believe we need any more of that bloodline.”
“However, in the southern region, is there any other family of comparable status to ours besides Boran? Moreover, having no fiancée at this point might be rather harsh on Leo as well.”
“Hmm……”
I still had no idea why I had been called here, but judging from the current conversation, it seemed to be about my engagement. As my brother Aidan said, it was indeed somewhat unusual in noble society for someone my age to still lack a betrothed. After all, my brother had been engaged and even married at a younger age than I was now.
For now, I decided to stay silent.
“Leoric. What do you think?”
“Me?”
Suddenly asking for the second son’s opinion? Matters concerning the family bloodline and marriage were usually decided solely by my father. Even my brother would not dare raise objections to this kind of discussion.
Still, an engagement, huh. In this area, the only suitable candidate was the Boran family that had just been mentioned. We had met frequently at parties, and our relationship wasn’t bad, but…
“Lady Irina of the Boran family and I once danced together at a previous ball. She was incredibly beautiful.”
“……”
“Haha.”
At my words, my father simply stared at me in silence while my brother Aidan laughed softly. The Boran family was the only other house in the entire southern region with status comparable to the Franz family. The Irina mentioned earlier was their daughter. When I had seen her before, she still had a touch of youthful innocence, but she was undoubtedly a beautiful girl.
Since both families had healthy heirs, there was no real power struggle to be had. This would simply strengthen the bond between our two houses, wouldn’t it?
“Hmm. You……”
“Yes?”
My father suddenly paused mid-sentence. It was rare for him—a man of few words who only spoke when necessary and carried himself with solemn dignity—to stop speaking like that.
“You have no interest in power, do you?”
“Power?”
At my father’s words, I glanced at my brother Aidan. He was simply watching the conversation with a mysterious smile. Was it normal to ask the second son something like this in front of the eldest? I needed to choose my words carefully… I had no desire to get caught up in any pointless power struggles.
“None at all. Seeing how hard brother works makes me not want any part of it. I will simply fulfill my duties as the second son.”
At my answer, both of them quietly stared at me. Even if my brother Aidan became the Count, I wouldn’t suddenly be treated like an outcast. That wasn’t how our family system worked in the first place.
“You really are quite unusual.”
“Didn’t I tell you? Leoric is someone we can trust.”
“……I see. I had thought such a thing would never happen, but…”
A very faint smile appeared at the corner of my father’s mouth.
“With this, the future of our Franz family looks bright indeed.”
“Was there some kind of problem?”
Bringing this up at this particular moment… It made me a little nervous. I had no desire to abandon my position as a noble in this world. With magic power, I wouldn’t starve to death, but I had no interest in unnecessary hardship. The title of Count carried that much weight and authority.
“Do you know about the Muller family beyond Mount Gulan?”
“Ah, yes. Isn’t that the small territory near ours? I’m not entirely certain, but weren’t they a viscount family?”
I recalled they had recently inherited their title. I couldn’t think of any particularly memorable traits about them. Come to think of it, didn’t they also have two brothers?
“Now that you mention it, the Muller family also had brothers around our age, didn’t they? The older one was a few years ahead of us?”
“That’s right. And an internal conflict has broken out.”
“Internal conflict?”
…Holy shit. An internal conflict?
“They really went and did it, huh?”
I let out a chuckle, genuinely taken aback. At that, my brother Aidan—who rarely did so—burst into loud laughter. Surprised by his reaction, I looked at my father, but he was simply watching the two of us.
“Hahaha! It’s not exactly a rare occurrence, is it, Leo?”
“What? No, but brother—even so, an internal conflict? Mount Gulan sits at the edge of the Great Mountain Range. Noble families with Blue Blood are already short on manpower as it is. To waste the family’s strength so meaninglessly through infighting…”
In this world, the term Blue Blood literally referred to blue blood. It meant a power that transcended humanity—magic power. The stronger the magic power one possessed, the more the color of that power shifted toward blue. While magic power flowed through the blood and gave it a bluish tint, the blood itself didn’t actually turn blue. It was simply called that because of the blue-hued magic power residing within the body.
As that power grew stronger, the magic power would reveal unique individual traits. The same was true for our Franz family. In any case, bloodlines possessing such magic power defined the nobility, and in this world, one could not survive without the protection of such nobles. It was the duty of the nobility to protect and rule over the commoners who lacked magic power.
The more concentrated and abundant the noble blood within a family, the greater their power. Internal conflict that led to fighting among themselves was nothing more than a meaningless waste of that power.
And the Muller family… they were a viscount house, weren’t they? In that case, I could roughly guess the level of magic power they possessed. For a viscount family to fall into internal strife…
“Hmm. As nobles, they would be failing to fulfill their duty. It could very well come to that, couldn’t it?”
“Indeed. Just as you say.”
My brother Aidan nodded. This world was by no means a peaceful one. When a noble’s duty was to protect their people, if they were seen as failing in that duty, it gave neighboring nobles legitimate justification for war.
“You are correct, Leoric. A noble should never have allowed things to reach this point. Or rather…”
“They should have ended it before other nobles noticed—or before they could raise an army even if they did notice.”
“……So you’re planning to start a war.”
A chill ran down my spine. War was rather terrifying. I had no experience with it. Of course I had undergone combat training, but still. Looking into both of their eyes, I could tell they were completely serious. It didn’t seem like a lie. But war…
“Is that really acceptable?”
The justification for war worked both ways. If we grew weaker, others might target us instead. Of course, in that case, the place we would need to be most wary of would be—
“We have already made an agreement with the Boran family.”
“Hmm.”
As expected. The discussion had already been settled long ago.
“I have already spoken with Count William Boran. Instead of us raising our army directly, the Boran family has agreed to keep the other surrounding families in check.”
“Count William Boran…”
I remembered him as a large, boisterous man from our previous meeting. He had kept insisting that alcohol was wonderful and kept offering me more, leaving me to suffer from a terrible hangover the next day.
“We also revisited the topic of the engagement, but he said their eldest son has just had a child. There is no longer any need to force an engagement.”
“That is certainly something to celebrate.”
“Mm. He mentioned he plans to hold a celebratory banquet.”
Noble blood itself was a strategic weapon. One of the duties of nobility was to produce children. While protecting their people was also considered a duty, the difficulty nobles faced in having children was another reason. I didn’t know why. This was also why nobles hurried to arrange marriages for one another.
“So while we have some time, you are now approaching adulthood as well. Isn’t it about time you started getting to know women? Is there any girl who has caught your eye?”
Women! Of course I’m interested! Damn it. I’ve held back so desperately at this age! I feel like my lower half is about to burst!