"Truly, being seven years old is such a pain sometimes, as is being a noble" Theo complained as he sat on the floor in the library, surrounded by books. He had taken his shoes and socks off and left them by the door, they got in the way and he kept having to climb on chairs to get new books, so this was easier. Plus, the floor was carpeted anyways. That was also why he took his socks off, it was a very comfortable carpet. This was also how he did research in his previous life as well.
It had been about a month since his reincarnation, and he was finding that making the preparations he wanted was not so easily. First of all, he had to keep his movements secret from his sister as much as possible, or really just all of them completely. If she discovered he was making preparations and amassing power, she would make sure to stop him at any cost.
Secondly, he had to make those very preparations. This meant he had to acquire objects, ingredients, information, and of course allies. He would need plenty of allies, so he decided to do a refresher course on the main characters of the games, mainly their family histories, backstories, regions, and things like that.
There was a bispecled boy who entered the same year as the protagonists, Valyr Dezorin. He was one of the capture targets for the female protagonist, and could become either protagonist's best friend depending on the choices made. However, it was also possible for him to become an enemy. This is because he is searching for the ones who killed his mother, and suspects one of the dukes were responsible. As this happened seven years ago, Theo knew it wasn't his sister this time. He was fairly certain at four years old, even she didn't have that much power or ability yet.
In fact, Theo had actually solved that mystery in his second run of the game. It happened a bit by chance, as each run the location of the clues, and some movements and methods of those involved, change. However, only events that happen inside of the academy change. Things that happened before the game started were constants, so it should be the work of the Caestro Family. That said, the motives behind it were...unique. As it turned out, she had become a vampire, and was killed in secret to avoid a scandal. As they didn't know if the family knew and was involved, the Caestros secretly monitored them and interefered with anyone who tried to investigate to keep the secrets safe just in case.
That said, she never once actually killed anyone from what was discovered, so there were a few ways the conversations and evidence could go that resulted in Valyr becoming a villain. If he becomes the calamity, he turns into a Vampire and drinks the youngest, freshest blood in the Academy to signal the Cataclysm, and that would be Theo. Even if Theo is protected by that, his sister ends up killing Theo during the chaos and blames it on the Vampire, using it as a cover while she proceeds with her own plans.
If that can be avoided though, he can end up being a nice and sweet child who is very knowledgeable.
The other is the female knight, Cynthia Velmont. She is the fifth child of the duke, and therefore has plenty of freedom as no one really expects her to inherit, and they had two other daughters already so having a political marriage was not necessary. She is a capture target for the male protagonist, and a best friend candidate for both of them. She has strong principles of right and wrong, but isn't very patient. She also strongly believes in family ties. She is in constant conflict with Theo's sister, Pelria. She is a first year like the protagonists, and she has an older brother who is a second year. This brother suffered due to Pelria's plots and overall personality, so Cynthia, or Cyn for short, generally hates her.
And because they are family, she thinks Theo is on good terms with his sister, and is just like her. As such, she is actually an enemy for Theo due to these circumstances. As her brother is harassed more and more, she harasses Theo more and more, her sense of justice turning into a sense of retribution or further into revenge. Pelria knows this too, so she actually does it more in order to make Theo be harassed more as well.
If the protagonists can reveal the truth to Cynthia, she can end up becoming a valuable ally. However, if they fail tto find the evidence and testimony about their real relations, and they fail to convince Cynthia of the truth, she will eventually become so enraged, she ends up getting tricked and possessed by a Demon, kills Theo as part of the demon contract, and then the Cataclysm begins.
My issue is that both of these routes to my death are not triggered by my actions, but the actions of my sister, who I cant convince at all to stop that for the sake of my life. My sister also antagonizes Valyr for getting close to the protagonists in the beginning, and is part of the chain of events that can make him become a vampire. And I cant be certain the protagonists will take action, which also leads to my death.
His sister's actions were guaranteed, and the protagonist's actions, as they were the player characters, are the least guaranteed of all since they were always controlled by the player.
As the biggest wildcards of all, they were a constant source of worry, despite the fact they should in the end be on Theo's side.
Theo looked over at some of the other books. There were a number of characters he would need to look into, but there wasn't enough time to look into them all right now. Furthermore, he couldn't investigate who they were personally at this time.
In two years, the rest of the main cast for the first game would be eleven or older. Theodore, Zuuki, and one or two others were the only exceptions. Incidentally, although there were capture targets, obviously as this was a game for wider audiences, all the romance stuff was just sweet, soft, innocent sort of things. The plan was for as the games went on, it would remain open to all but mature things a bit, and then there would be an epilogue at the end of the series that would go over how the protagonist's choices affected the ending of the series.
Of course, the later games didn't come out before Theo died in his previous life, so back then she had never been able to play them. Only about three had come out after all, although three had only just come out so she hadn't had the time to play it very much.
As such, his information on that one was highly limited. She hadn't even done all the routes in the first two, and with so much lore and possibilities he couldn't know everything.
But still, it seems like this wont be enough I think. Uhg. Maybe I should take a break and read a fun book.
There were not only historical books and reference books, but plenty of fun books like fiction novels. There were books of heroes, adventures, romance, intrigue, and everything in-between.
As he was thinking that, his maid, Paza, came in. She brought in a tray with tea and sweets as well.
"Ready to take a break, Young Master?"
"Yeah. Perfect timing".
He got up and went over to a chair with a table nearby, sitting in it as she put down the tray on the table.
"Young Master, I thought you should know, but your mother and father will be home soon".
"I see".
Although Theo answered like that, his expression was one where he bit his lip and started to play with his long hair.
"Furthermore, the position of head maid was decided. Pelria seems to have had some say in the matter, despite our own suggestions definentely reaching them first".
If they install a new head maid that is my sister's puppet, it will be hell for me again. She probably also wants to resume the embezzlement that was started, although it would obviously be harder since everyone is so alert for it now.
"Its possible mother got involved. No, that is almost certainly the case. Why didn't Zuuki bring me this news though?"
"He is running an errand at the moment".
In other words, investigating this new head maid for potential weaknesses.
The Head Maid had authority to help educate and instruct the children of a noble house, so they had some level of ability to ignore Theodore's orders and order him around instead. At least provided that education could be used as a reason, or an excuse. His health was another one of course.
The head maid however was under the head butler, and obviously the heads of the family. The head knight of the family of course was above her too, although she had been accompanying Theo's father on this trip. She was a very strong and capable woman, and a descendent of Sir Zarylia, who had been her grandmother. She had apparently had a beastkin lover, as her mother and her were cat beastkin.
The moment he heard that, he had made sure to ask Rowyn about it extensively.
He had said he would not go into such details with a seven year old boy, even if he was his master, and avoided answering. But the fact he saw Rowyn outside the door, bouncing with half excitement, half nervousness, said all there was.
Yep. He is totally nervous about meeting his granddaughter for the first time.
Apparently he died before ever hearing anything about this, so he had not been aware he was a father all this time. And the group of rotten nobles that discriminated against beastkin seemed determined to bury even the mere concept of Beastkin being such a famous hero, so who the father was had been buried in history.
That said, perhaps as an influence of her grandmother, but the head Knight was a compassionate, understanding person. In Theo's memory, she had been one of the few to stop Pelria's abuse when she could and protect Theo. In the game, that was what was written in history.
Roughly a week or two before the start of the game, Erica Zarylia has an "unfortunate accident" and died. Its discovered that it was hardly an accident, and in fact although never confirmed with hard evidence, it was determined that Pelria was behind it.
As Theo enjoyed his tea and snacks, he had nothing but worry and concern. On one hand, Pelria killing Zarylia was one of the cornerstones tto building a case against her. As Erica knew what Pelria was like, and was extremely capable, it was already tough to get her. However, a week before school, a lot of evidence pointed to it being a rush job. Apparently with both Theo and Pelria in school, she had been planning to go into a full blown investigation into Pelria, as she couldn't and didn't have to monitor Pelria twenty four seven, and Theo would be safer in the academy, so she didn't have to focus as much on protecting him as well. She couldn't enter the academy normally anyways, so it was the best time to do such an investigation. Because of that, Pelria did a rush job as she had no choice when she learned of this.
On the other hand, saving Erica Zarylia was not only the right thing to do, but she was an incredibly valuable ally, and no one could be sure where her investigation would end up. It was possible that Erica might be far stronger alive then dead.
The second felt morally better, and would increase his allies during his school years even if she couldn't regularly be on school grounds, but it was riddled with unknowns. It would also make it harder to take down his sister.
Still, its not really a choice. I have to save her. Letting things progress like normal leads to my death anyways, so the unknown is better. At least in this situation.
Theo was nervous about changing too much, as it would make his sister less predictable through his game knowledge. the random elements in the game already would make it difficult, but if he changed too many core things, his advantages would decrease as well.
It was a very fragile balance that he had to maintain.
In the meantime, his search for the Scholarly Owl had stalled.
It might be for the best not to get him yet. I know there is one in the Academy that I will be able to lure out easily, but with my current limits, I don't think I could handle a second Guardian Spirit right now.
In the game, the base amount of Guardian Spirits a Spiritualist could have was three. There were ways to expand that, and you got an extra slot for every twenty Spirit points. As such, with one taken by Rowyn, he had three left. However, whenever Rowyn used his actual power, Theo was pretty much crushed by the pressure. He had been working on expanding his skills, but during their last test, Theo still was incapable of moving while Guardian Knight was out.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He had managed to speak a little bit though, so he was getting better.
Theo also managed to use the Spirit Equip ability to bring out a Spirit Sword, and Rowyn helped teach him a bit, but it was clear he was better suited to ranged combat with wands. They still trained for emergencies though.
His Spirit Magic was also coming along. He could summon lesser spirits, which had no personality or ego and were more like natural creatures or just natural properties of the world. And his Celestial Magic was also fairly good, he was becoming skilled at using the Star Shower spell.
At this rate, Theo would have far better self defense abilities by the time he entered school in two years.
Once he was done with his break, Rowyn and Zuuki came in.
"Theo, your parents have arrived!"
"They want to meet all of us. It seems they have interest in me as well".
"You did make a flashy entrance" Zuuki pointed out, as Theo got out of the chair. He went over and put his socks and shoes on.
"Very well then, lets go meet them".
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"Esteemed Father, Esteemed Mother, I greet you back to Heartmeadow Manor".
"Well done Theo. Your greeting was flawless" Theo's father said, seeming quite proud.
"I see you are properly doing lessons. Keep up the good work".
Once that was done, Theo's father suddenly picked him up and gave him a piggyback ride, causing everyone to look warmly on the situation.
"D-dad?!"
"I have been gone for so long, and we have no visitors aside those already we were contacted about, correct?"
"N-no!" Theo said, as he tried to keep steady.
"You seem quite nervous Theo. You didn't accidentally mess up the garden while training, did you?"
"Not at all!" Theo proclaimed, and then shot a look towards Rowyn. He gave a thumbs up, confirming the garden was in a good state.
Theo didn't lie, he didn't mess up the garden. Rowyn on the other hand last night, while doing some late night practice swings, got ambushed by six of Pelria's knights that had been sent to harass Theo. Rowyn kept them at bay wonderfully, so they tried to ambush him at night with six to one numbers. They had used magic tools to even get by Rowyn's senses until they attacked, so he got a bit surprised and forgot to hold back all of his strength. The result was the garden becoming a mess.
It seemed Rowyn had them fix it, and it worked out.
As for Theo, he was with his dad. In public, he was a stern, strong willed person who gave off the air of authority, intimidation, dignity, and power. However, he was in truth a doting father who loved his children very much. Unfortunately, this made him unable to believe his daughter would be torturing Theo when he was not around, but at the same time, no one could overly harm or harass Theo in his presence either.
His father then looked over at Rowyn. Although his appearance was an eleven year old, he was shorter as he was a Cat Beastkin, not a human, so he had to look down quite a bit.
Or at least, that was what a noble would normally do, but he bent his knees and body and got about eye level with Rowyn.
"Ah, you must be my son's new friend...and his new apprentice guard knight. Thank you for helping to protect my children. Please, so long as we dont have any company, dont feel the need to be so overly formal. I look forward to seeing what you and my son will show when you both enter the academy, I bet you all will do great things!"
Theo had roughly known from his memories that it would be like this, but he was far more used to the Duke Cromwell in the games. He always seemed so serious, strict, dignified whenever the protagonists met him. But it seems when within his own home, he was like this. In fact, in the game whenever the Duke appeared, Theo practically clung to him all the time.
"Ahh...thank you".
Rowyn looked quite surprised, but also very pleased.
"What the hell? Even to me, he was like that? He is nothing like from the memories of the game".
"Yeah, I thought he would be a jerk or something, but it seems even the minor impressions from your mind and from the game were not good to judge him on. This guy is absolutely his grandfather's descendent".
His father then looked over at Zuuki.
"Still got those strong, fast legs? They look quite lean and fast!"
"Ahahahaha. Thanks for the compliment, I am still working hard!"
"Well remember you are a kid, so make sure you spend plenty of time playing and learning as well".
"Rodger that!"
He then turned to Paza.
"Thanks for always taking care of my son. I hope you continue to show such capabilities as his personal maid".
"Of course, Lord Cromwell".
In truth, it wasn't too surprising that it was different from Theo's and Rowyn's memories. As he possessed only surface level knowledge of the Duke, who while made a number of appearances was overall a minor character. He often praised the protagonists for their deeds when they did well, and reprimanded them for any trouble they caused. The former would increase the desire for the villainess to crush them, and those associated with them, such as Theo.
Meanwhile, Theo was struggling with the emotions of his previous life. She had been bothered, pestered, occasionally stalked, and things like that by older guys. She was even killed by one of those types. Technically Rowyn was an older guy as well, but Rowyn at least looked like a young boy. But Theodore's father, even though he should be in his thirties, was pretty much a gorgeous pretty boy, or a pretty man. Tall, handsome, pretty, reliable, with a large back.
The only reason Theo was surviving was his own memories of his father, otherwise being suddenly picked up like that might have overloaded Theo.
That was the real reason why Theo was nervous when dealing with his father.
"Alright, lets do a lap around the garden! Theo, flap your arms like a dragon, and maybe you will even fly!"
"Ehhhhhh?!"
Suddenly, Lord Cromwell took off with his son in a very heartwarming manner. However, this whole time, Rowyn saw the mother look on with disdain at Theo, as well as sadness.
There is definitely something about this mother that feels off.
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After all the fun they had, and all the travel time, August Cromwell decided to take a bath with his son in the large bath. Rowyn and Zuuki were also invited to join, so they joined in as well. The maids helped them all get undressed and then took their dirty clothes away, going to get clean clothes ready for them in their place.
The bathtub was so large, it was like a small pool. As such, they were all easily able to get in it.
"Ahhh, this hits the spot" Rowyn and August said in unison. Even if Rowyn looked like a young boy, he had been several decades old when he died. At least forty. As such, he and Theo's father seemed to have the same reaction when they got into the bath.
Theo otherwise had the flexibility, muscle health, bone health, and other things of an eleven year old boy though, so Theo was not quite sure exactly what the bath was relaxing.
At some point, we should probably look into that cursed poison. I am kind of curious on the specifics. Apparently, it didn't stop growth so much as permanently stunted it, or something like that. Thats how Rowyn described it anyways.
As Theo thought that, he looked around...and then as if he didn't realize it before, now did.
His father was now having a bath with his son and his friends, and such a thing felt very embarrassing for Theo. Because it was obvious what was going to happen next.
"So, you boys have been getting along well right? Anything interesting or hilarious happen? You can tell me, the servants will probably just tell me anyways".
Yes, this was his father probing for juicy and embarrassing stories about his son while he had been away!
Theo quickly gave them a look, but Zuuki had already fallen for the bait and began to detail two weeks ago, when they had to bathe in the river after a class on nature got interrupted by a giant slug attacking them. Giant slugs are not very strong, but they are quite disgusting and their ooze provides a number of debuffs. They generally weaken their prey into submission and then slowly consume them.
It was really embarrassing because Zuuki wouldn't spare any details in his story, including how the slime felt as it went inside their underwear. Rowyn of course, beat up the slug, but even he hadn't been able to avoid getting slimed. This made them take off all their clothes, wash them all, bathe them, and dry themselves and the clothes in the sun for a few hours. Rowyn proceeded to use this time to then educate them about human anatomy, which was another embarassing story in its own way.
August got a real kick out of that story, but that wasn't all. There was also the midnight cooking incident. Theo had gotten up a few times in the middle of the night feeling hungry, so he went to raid the servant kitchen as he was familiar with it the most. However, as he went in, some looming shadow was vaguely seen, and the sharp and fierce sharpening of a knife occured, which caused Theo to believe for a moment the kitchen was haunted. This caused him to scream in terror, only to discover it was in fact his own Guard Knight, Rowyn, who was the one responsible. Apparently he also wanted a late night snack, and thought the kitchen knife was too dull so he sharpened it before using it. Incidentally, it had been sharpened too much and cut right through a cutting board. Rowyn was too used to sharpening swords, so he held knives to an unreasonable standard it seemed.
Then of course there was the magic practice incident. That was a more simple one. Theo accidentally messed up a spell, and instead of it being attack magic, it ended up making the entire garden bloom with flowers, and even made flowers grow from Theo's clothes somehow the entire day.
"Sounds like you had lots of fun while I was gone".
"Please forget everything you just heard".
"Nope, sorry Theo, but I have committed it to memory and will even put it in the family journals".
"Please have mercy!"
Such a father-son conversation with friends continued as he suddenly managed to scoop up all three of them into a big hug, making everyone embarrassed.
"Seriously though, thank you for being friends with my son. Please continue to look out for him and support him. He can be so soft and unlucky sometimes, that I worry about him. Especially with his sister gone, who always looked out for him".
Uhg...he has such good will, but he also doesn't at all realize its because of my sister. He really does dote on both of us equally, but I wish I could get him to see the truth about her.
He would just play it off as sibling rivalry, or think of it as some elaborate joke or prank, or Theo's overactive imagination. He was so reliable and listened well to all other matters, but when it came to his children, there was a blind spot.
Meanwhile, Theo's mother only had a blind spot for the daughter.
Once the bath was over, they got dressed and had dinner together. It was a large table, so even Zuuki and Rowyn were invited to sit down. So was the head knight, August's personal guard knights who he seemed very close to, and mother's head servant and her own personal guard knight.
Incidentally, August had made Theo sit on his lap while he ate.
"Your memories regarding how your father was...it seemed I really didn't get a good sample".
"Yeah...Theo is still young and he was away on business a number of times, but I guess this is how he is like in reality. I was so used to the game I didn't really realize it myself".
They ended up eating dinner like this, as Theo spent time enjoying the company of his father and friends.
Once dinner was over, that was when August decided to tell everyone about the new hhead maid. He proceeded to describe how she looked and a bit about her personality first. She had black hair and black eyes, and seemed to be in her mid thirties. She seemed very normal and plain. She could be quite strict, and came from a very traditional family, but she was extremely capable, obeyed the rules and law to the letter, and was very loyal. This would help ensure to avoid the previous situation repeating, although he mentioned that due to her traditional values, she might have difficulty getting along with their family, which leaned more progressive and towards flexible thinking.
"My wife recommended her to me. Her name is Amelia".
Uhg...that's not a good sign.
"She will be taking her position starting next month, so please make sure to keep that in mind. We made sure to use a different referral source as well this time, since clearly they did not choose well last time".
Its time to nip this in the bud.
"Actually, my personal maid, Paza, has been handling that very well since then, so perhaps it would be best to have Paza keep up her duties, and she can just focus on the other duties she would need to be. I am a bit confused on why we cant just promote one of the maids here to head maid anyways, since they would have more experience?"
"Ah, well your sister took the best choices with her, and she already has experience in leadership. But I see your point. I have gotten reports from the head butler that your studies have improved in the last month, so I think that is acceptable".
His father accepted this, so that would help ensure Theo's safety at least from being made to do embarassing physical exercises and countless medical tests.
Theo hoped that, if she was an enemy, that would prevent her from tormenting him for a good while.
After dinner, August took Theo into his office. It was a nice and large office, with comfortable chairs, a good desk for playing at, and of course plenty of records and books.
"Theo, the Grand Party at the Summer Hall has officially been scheduled. Since your sister will be at the Academy this year for it, I will be counting on you to have some good socialization. You got sick the last few times, both during and before the party, so you either were unable to go or had to leave early. To be honest, since you are old enough, its worth telling you now...there was poison involved in those cases".
Theo was not at all surprised.
"There are still noble houses that view us as enemies. Whether it is the fact through our deeds and merits, we have gained considerable power, or because the entire Beastkin population might as well be on our side more or less, many see us as a threat. And those who disagreed with our thoughts and ideas hate us, often out of ignorance. To be honest, I have some concerns about this time as well. There has been some brewing conflict the past few years. Apparently, they will have some young new pop singer there to help lighten the mood, and lots of security, but still. I want you to be careful, okay?"
Theo nodded.
Actually, those poisonings were almost certainly my sister...well, I cant say for certain some of them were not our enemies. But my sister was responsible for most of them at least, especially when I got poisoned here before the party.
Theo decided to make an attempt at suggesting something.
"You think the head maid might have been responsible for some of them? She was closest with my sister though, so it seems odd she never noticed anything, unless..."
August pat Theo's head, messing up his hair.
"Now now, I know your sister teases you, but we are family. There is no way she would be involved in poisoning. And she definentely would have mentioned someone embezzling our money from the duchy".
August treated it as simple kid talk, and it was clear to Theo that it wasn't going to be possible to convince him right now.
"In any case, it is scheduled in about three months, so I want you to make sure you study up on the noble houses and keep at it. Especially Duke Vaspien. From the information I have gathered, he holds human superiority in high regard, and not just Beastkin, but Elves and Dwarves also are discriminated there heavily. They cant even leave because there are heavy taxes for trying, which most are never able to afford. Even though the law forbids it, they have it so that it can be excused by a Guard Commander on a case by case basis, and somehow, only humans ever seem to have their cases dismissed, although they always come up with some excuse".
Theo knew that name well. Duke Vaspien had two children, Caroli Vaspien, and Dethris Vaspien. Both of them were antagonists in the game, either major or minor depending on some choices taken. They were twins like the protagonist, and they fought with each other a lot. The Vaspiens are very old blood with lots of old connections, their family having been around since the founding of the empire, back when it was still a kingdom, and survived the recent hardships that made some wonder if it was even still an Empire anymore.
Rumor has it there were secret plotlines regarding them in the games, but Theo had never found them in his previous life, and spoilers about secrets were strictly forbidden from being posted online. That didn't stop some people, but it made them harder to find at least.
Either way, it seemed there was something to keep in mind about regarding the future.