The Youngest of the John Nassen Family
“Hahaha!! Baron! It's been far too long!”
“You've been well yourself, Margrave?”
“Oh, I'm always the same. And you look exactly as you always have! Hahaha!!”
The Margrave's defining traits: boisterous, helpless against praise, and hopelessly devoted to dad jokes.
Things only someone who'd read the original novel would know—except, no. Not even close. The John Nassen barony simply sat close enough to the Margrave's territory that such details rubbed off naturally. Kyle hadn't even properly finished the original novel to begin with. Who could have guessed he'd end up transmigrated into a regression-and-possession romance fantasy?
If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should've baked a few cookies.
Water under the bridge. Regret never fixed anything. What mattered now was hitching a ride on the original plot as fast as possible. Spending the rest of his life as secret friends with a barbell in the barony was not an option.
“And who's the young man beside you?”
“My youngest. Kyle. Greet him properly. This is the Empire's Margrave.”
“It's an honor to meet you! Second son of the John Nassen barony, Kyle John Nassen!”
“Haha! Bright lad, this one! Pleasure!”
“It's a privilege to stand before the Empire's greatest spear and shield!!”
“Kehahaha!! Come now! Greatest spear? This old rusted body?”
He said the words, yet his face showed not the slightest displeasure. Remember that. Nothing else mattered. All Kyle needed was to catch the Margrave's eye. The man himself was neither calculating nor petty; he valued loyalty and open-hearted friendship. Simply hearing him say he would grant one request would be enough.
Fortunately, Kyle still remembered this stretch from the original. Once the Margrave left the barony, he would be ambushed by an ogre—nothing like the orcs people first pictured when they heard “fantasy.” If an orc was a monkey, an ogre was King Kong's nephew. The beast would chew the Margrave's horse down to the bone and then set its sights on the man himself for dessert. That was when the wandering swordsman Ian would appear, defeat the ogre after a desperate fight, and earn the Margrave's recommendation to the Academy—along with Tisha, who happened to be staying in the Margrave's lands at the time.
There's still one recommendation left. That's mine. Mine! Absolutely mine!
An Academy Recommendation Letter was not handed out lightly. Even a marquisate struggled to secure one. The Margrave's post was so grueling that the Empire had granted him the privilege as one of his special authorities. Unless the imperial household itself rejected the nominee, the letter was almost always accepted. No one used such a precious thing on just anyone; if the recommended student caused a scandal, only the recommending house would be dragged through the mud. The law of equivalent exchange already operated perfectly well on that fact alone.
“Baron. My back's been acting up lately.”
“There's a good method for that. Allow me to show you.”
Right in the middle of tea in the reception room, Dagon John Nassen suddenly sprawled on the floor, demonstrated a stretch, and invited the Margrave to copy him. One moment they had been sipping tea like civilized nobles; the next… Even more absurdly, the Margrave flopped down without hesitation. Looking at it, Kyle was almost certain the Margrave had come to the barony because he needed a trainer.
“Ohh… I do feel a little better.”
“Please refrain from training until your back recovers. If your balance collapses, it will become a serious problem.”
Of course, of course. The core was vital—whether in the gym or in the bedroom.
“Monster numbers have spiked lately. A real headache.”
“As it happens, our people have been bagging quite a few themselves.”
“Any damage here?”
“Would there be?”
Baron Dagon John Nassen laughed, “Haha,” and tossed the question back. The Margrave answered with his own booming “Hahaha!” and clapped him on the shoulder.
“I'm just grateful you lot aren't enemies of the Empire.”
He meant every word. If the John Nassens had ever turned against the Empire, the Margrave's own head would have rolled—roughly twenty thousand times over.
“Escort him safely as far as the border, Kyle.”
“Don't worry, Father.”
“Safe travels, Margrave.”
“You take care as well, Baron!”
At last the moment arrived for the Margrave to leave the barony. Just as he had requested of his father earlier, Kyle had been given the duty of seeing the guest off. Eyes sparkling, he scanned the surroundings. He did not know the exact time or place the ogre would appear—only that it would, and that it would target the Margrave.
I don't need to take the ogre down. Just keep the Margrave safe!
Rescuing Princess Margrave from the King Kong demon king would be more than enough. After that he could leave the rest to the wandering-swordsman protagonist who was supposed to show up any second.
Where the hell are you, you damn King Kong bastard.
Unlike orcs, with their stench and distinctive snuffling, an ogre possessed remarkable stealth for its massive size. It could mask its scent, move fast, and excelled at ambushes. No wonder the Margrave and his guards had been caught completely flat-footed the first time around.
It's here.
The instant they left the baronial lands and crossed into the Margrave's territory, an ominous presence rolled out from between the trees. The unmistakable aura of a predator. The thing was choosing its prey.
Kyle tensed, waiting for the perfect chance to seize the Margrave by the scruff. Pulling him out without a single scratch at the most dramatic possible moment was what mattered most.
Ssssshh—!
Now!
Fortunately, his insanely trained body did not betray him. The ogre's hand was already closing around the Margrave's head when Kyle's fingers locked onto the man's collar first.
“Wha—?!”
Hurled backward, the Margrave still had no idea what was happening. He started to shout a protest—then saw the ogre and clamped his mouth shut.
GWOOOOAR—!
Enraged that its dinner table had been flipped right under its nose, the ogre lunged for the Margrave's horse instead. Cold-blooded Kyle denied it even that consolation prize and yanked the horse clear as well.
“Diet control is non-negotiable, Kyle.”
Meat he himself was not allowed to eat freely—and this monster pup thought it could just help itself? What I can't eat, you can't eat either!
All right! Come on out, wandering swordsman! Your turn!
He had drawn the ogre's attention and rescued both the Margrave and the horse. All that remained was for the gray-haired protagonist to appear and finish the beast. Yet the hero who was supposed to arrive with his ash-colored hair streaming behind him never showed.
Fuck?! Where the hell did this bastard go?! Why isn't he here?!
Kyle's plan had been flawless: save the Margrave from danger, rack up points, then convert those points into an Academy Recommendation Letter. Classic cliché, yes—but clichés become clichés because they work. There was one detail even Kyle had failed to account for: the protagonist still needed more time to arrive.
“Aaaargh!!”
Robbed of every single mark it had chosen, the ogre went berserk. Easily over three meters tall, its entire body was pure combat-compressed muscle. Even the Margrave's bravest soldiers found it no simple matter to subdue a monster that lived for the sole purpose of eating people. At this rate the whole operation was going to collapse into chaos. He had saved the Margrave only for the protagonist to be missing, and now pandemonium reigned in every direction. On top of that, staring at that muscle-pig of a monster made Kyle's blood start to boil.
“You once asked me why our family is the way it is. Listen carefully, Kyle.”
He remembered the night his father had promised to reveal the barony's secret, lighting candles and seating him with solemn ceremony. Honestly, Kyle still had no idea why the candles had been necessary.
“We are cursed never to be able to restrain ourselves when we see something strong. Human, demi-human, monster—it doesn't matter. The power of John Nassen is the strongest in the world! That pride flows through our veins together with our blood.”
What kind of ridiculous curse is that? Kyle had wanted to ask. Perhaps the doubt had shown on his face, because Baron Dagon John Nassen had simply smiled and continued.
“When the time comes, you will understand the nature of the curse on your own.”
Today, he finally did.
That thing looks insanely strong. It looks ridiculously tough! Therefore I want to smash it to pieces!!
“Form ranks at once… I say, Kyle! Kyle, where are you going?!”
He had not lost consciousness. No second personality had awakened. He simply, suddenly, wanted to test himself against that ogre!!
Gwor?
The Margrave was not the only one startled. The rampaging ogre also thought, What the hell? when a lone human suddenly charged it. Perfect size for a single crunch, bones and all. When food came offering itself, of course you ate it. So the ogre turned its attention from the soldiers and fixed its eyes on Kyle.
“Uh… uh?”
“Y-Young Master Kyle?!”
The knights and soldiers called after him, but it was useless. Kyle closed the distance and locked hands with the ogre in a pure contest of strength.
KWAANG—!
Grrraaah?!
If the ogre had been capable of human speech, it would have said something like: What the fuck is this crazy little shit?!
Grrraaah!!
The ogre's body was forced backward, inch by inch. The arms gripping Kyle's hands were being forced open. The monster that had been radiating pure menace now poured on more power in pure panic.
“Hooo…”
This ogre's physical condition was actually pretty solid. For a monster its body-fat percentage was low, the muscle placement impressive, the balance good. Of course it had never suffered through the hellish iron training Kyle had. The thought only made the fire in Kyle's chest roar higher.
At the very least this bastard never had to diet!
People, horses—whatever it wanted, it had eaten. Meanwhile Kyle had never even been allowed to look at anything “unhealthy.” The second reason he wanted to reach the Academy was so he could finally eat as much as he damn well pleased!! Pork! Beef!! No more chicken breast!!
“Uraaaaaah!!”
Before the ogre could even process that this human had truly gone mad—
CRACK—!!
The ogre's arms, strong enough to tear other monsters apart, snapped clean. As the beast screamed, Kyle seized it by the throat and slammed it into the ground with everything he had.
Monster presence.
The gray-haired wandering swordsman Ian sprinted toward the site of the disturbance. When he finally arrived, the scene that greeted him was this:
“Uryaaaaah!!”
A young man pile-driving a massive ogre into the dirt.
“…?”
For a moment he found himself genuinely unsure which of the two was the monster and which was the human.