Part 1

The Capital City of the Aorath Kingdom, Osefore.

After we passed the bulky and reliable-looking gates, we were greeted with a landscape of buildings that I could only see illustrated in the books I read.

Houses and shops made out of stone and wood stretched out pretty far, notable buildings like the adventurers guild and churches looked rich and esteemed.

Right in front of us was a paved road, going further inward, a population of stalls filled the area.

I was told this was the shopping and resident district.

Of course, there are other districts that I’ve yet seen like the merchant district, the solider’s district, the inn district, the entertainer district and so many more.

But there wasn’t enough time to walk through all of them.

Guards suited in full plate exquisite-looking armour marched the streets, keeping the peace.

The people around were chatting happily, children were playing around cheerfully.

These people wore more or less higher-grade clothes than commoners but weren’t close to being nobles.

Is this what they call, the middle class?

Furthermore, people who looked rather eccentric walked around with unsheathed swords, bows or staffs.

They were wearing combat gear and also cheerfully chatting.

…They’re adventurers!

I read a lot about adventurers from the novels belonging to Papa’s library, more specifically one of them being “The Emerald Dragon Slayer” which featured a lone man tackling an Emerald Dragon and defeating it unscathed.

You could say I sort of admire adventurers.

Further down was another set of walls comparable to that we just walked through, but it looked more silverly and rich, taking delicacy into account than defence.

Inside would probably be the noble’s district.

But the most spectacular building of note was the huge castle in the middle of the city.

There’s no doubt about it, that’s the Royal Castle.

The Royal Castle was by far the biggest human-made spectacle I’ve ever seen, it was extremely vast being wider than it was tall.

The looks of it were antique and silvery gold tips with polished silver-like stone as its base material.

The walls surrounding it looked reliable to an allied view but brightly intimidating to an enemy.

Also, putting our sights back in front of us, I noticed a small trend.

Some people with animal-like were walking around with collars on, following humans.

I’ve read about this before.

Demi-humans.

A species of humans that inherit characteristics of beast-men.

According to a history book, I read there was once a couple of a human female and full beast-man male race who got married and had children.

Those children had the characteristics of Demi-humans, which was something very new during the time.

Their children had other children, and their children had other children again.

This cycle continued.

This resulted in the general populace of the Demi-human population being born.

According to this theory, that means most of the Demi-humans here are more closely related to each other than normal humans are to ourselves.

Some had cat-ears, dog-ears, cow horns, goat horns and such.

But they were enslaved.

Why?

The Human Continent was conjoined with the Forest Continent, Humans to the north and the forests to the south.

The Beastmen and Demi-humans made up most of the Forest Continent.

The Human Continent was made up most of Humans.

The farther north you went, the more humans hated beast-men and Demi-humans, same applies vice versa, the more south you go, the more the Beastmen and Demi-humans hated humans.

Of course, this hatred began with simple discrimination to segregation and then slavery.

The Aorath Kingdom was appertained in the centre of the Human Continent, so it was acceptable to have slaves but the hatred wasn’t as bad as countries to the north, like the Regiel Theocracy.

The Regiel Theocracy sat in the northern tip of the Human Continent.

So they, of course, despise Beastmen and Demi-humans.

Also, according to the book I was reading, cow-race Demi-humans are most likely to have a higher amount of muscle mass if they are a male and a larger percentage of body fat if they are female.

But the cat-race Demi-humans are more likely to be skinny than fat even without regard to gender-

“Aah! I’m thinking too much! What the hell am I going to do with this information?!”

Clutching my head, I crouched down and softly shouted.

Recently, all I’ve been doing is thinking.

Comparing knowledge from books I’ve read to the real-life counterpart.

Revising spells and their theory.

Silently practising Arithmetic.

Devising possible plans against the Tyrat House even though I have no intention of doing anything, you could say these plans are just fantasy.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been sitting in a carriage waiting for an entire week.

Well, Cella’s lap felt warm and soft, so I didn’t mind.

“Is there something wrong? Young lord?”

Aerich lowered his head over to mine.

“No, there’s nothing wrong. By the way, just call me Reign.”

“Understood, Young Lord. Anyhow, we’ve arrived.”

What’s being understood here?

Papa and Radyn shared glances seeing how Aerich and I acted.

Cella giggled a bit.

When I looked out the window, I caught a glimpse of a very big mansion.

It was the same style as the Osoric Estate but much grander and bigger.

The main difference was that it looked more like a castle than a mansion with those intimidating and thick walls.

The gate opened, allowing for the carriage to enter.

It led to a magnificent-looking courtyard, being very vast in space and full of grass and other outdoor furniture.

On the courtyard stood multiple figures.

“Welcome! Those of the Osoric House! Welcome, Lukyus!”

The man at the head of the group welcomed Papa as we left the carriage.

He had long blonde hair and red eyes.

His attire was that of the same as Papa’s, very noble-like.

This person had features of an elf but was surely human because of his rounded ears.

His body was well-built but was still leaning towards the skinny side.

Muscle quality over quantity?

“Runo!”

Papa approached the man with a gleeful smile.

That’s right, this man is Runo Aran Cinage.

Who is he?

Head of the Aran Branch Family of the Cinage house, his branch family is considered the second strongest branch in the Cinage house while Papa’s Osoric Branch Family was the weakest.

Right beside him was a girl about my age.

She had the same features as Runo but had blue hair.

I heard that she was the daughter of Runo Aran Cinage, called Elaina Aran Cinage, or Elaina for short.

She was the only daughter of Runo.

“Allow me to introduce my daughter, Elaina Aran Cinage. The rest of the people here are my honourable servants.”

Runo patted the back of his daughter, urging her to step forth.

“Yo.”

She gave a lazy and bored greeting, following this she heavily sighed.

Her arms were crossed and her eyes trailed upwards in the horizon, clearly uninterested.

If Radyn saw me do this, he wouldn’t hesitate to smack me.

A bitter smile appeared on Runo’s face but reverted to his usual charismatic grin, it looked like he was used to this sort of attitude.

“Then, this is my beloved son Reign.”

It’s my time to shine!

I stepped forward and placed my left arm on my lower back with my right hand on my heart, deeply bowing.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lord Runo, Elaina.”

Radyn drilled this greeting into me, a noble’s greeting.

“Eh? He’s nothing like you when you were a kid, what’s with this noble greeting? Why is he so kind? He must have the genes of his mother.”

Runo surprisingly reacted to my greeting, taking a step back with a frightened look on his face.

“What do you mean? I was always kind and loving when I was a child, I see no confusion.”

Papa haughtily raised his head with a sarcastic grin on his face.

“Someone kind and loving don’t give bruises to noble classmates.”

Runo gestured with his hands as he giggled.

I feel like I’ve been given a small insight into how Papa acted when he was a child.

My theory: Very violent.

“Putting that aside, here’s everyone else:…”

Papa then introduced the rest of us, leaving aside the unimportant house servants.

Runo knelt and looked me right into my eyes.

His red eyes truly were something.

“Since you’re your father’s son, can I ask you a tiny question?”

“Yes, Lord Runo?”

“Are you violent?”

“No.”

“Then that’s good!”

Runo stood back up and walked back a few steps, raising both his arms.

“Welcome! Welcome to the Aran Estate, please makes yourselves home!”

With that smile, he welcomed us again.

Part 2

So, allow me to explain the situation.

Not long after being welcomed, Papa left with Radyn to go somewhere, it’s most likely related to the Tyrat House.

Because of that, Aerich and I were sitting beside each other in the lounge room of the Aran Estate.

First off: The Aran estate is huge!

It’s so big!

It felt like you could run for an entire hour around the house and only cover half of the total length of the hallways.

Everywhere you went, there was always a hallway or small room leading to another place.

It was so unnecessarily but coolly large.

You can easily tell that there were at least fifty rooms altogether in this mansion.

Compared to the already large Osoric Estate, the Aran Estate looked like a castle.

Actually, it wouldn’t be an understatement to call this a castle.

As expected of the second strongest branch family of the Cinage House.

When we entered, Papa told us to play around for a while and relax while he was gone.

By the way, Aethet Mort, Papa’s old friend had rented a room somewhere in the capital with Papa’s money.

Apparently, he’d be practically useless because no one of higher status would listen to him in the first place, and since he’s Papa’s friend there’s no point in keeping him here.

Useless in the same way Justice Girl and Ariel were useless.

So with a “See ya, kid” he tapped my cheeks and left.

Cella and the other house servants that arrived were sent to the servant chambers in the Aran Estate, getting to know the other servants.

Runo Aran Cinage, or Lord Runo sat opposite to us on a single cushioned chair.

“Come to think of it, Lord Runo, I didn’t see your wife anywhere. Where is she?”

I asked Lord Runo, who gestured his palm towards the ceiling had replied.

“Oh, she’s not the type to talk to others a lot. So she only goes out when necessary, if you were thinking that she was sick then you don’t have to worry.”

“I see, thank you, Lord Runo.”

“…You know, you don’t have to be so formal. You’re technically my nephew.”

Eh?

Nephew?

“Forgive me, I don’t understand.”

I don’t remember anyone telling me this.

“You didn’t know? Well, I guess that’s little Lukyus for you. He’s the type of person who acts serious on the outside but likes to joke around. I’m not smart or anything but since you’re apparently a prodigal genius, he must have wanted to surprise you a little bit and kept the fact that I’m your uncle a secret, and if you didn’t know he also must have ordered the house servants and Radyn not to tell you either.”

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Lord Runo shrugged his shoulders and dropped his head sideways, leaning his back against the chair while giving that very in-depth explanation with a know-it-all tone.

And you worked this out how?

Well, Lord Runo seems to know Papa very well.

He would have figured it out by studying Papa’s character, using present and past information and deducting from there.

Nothing that unnatural, I can do it too if I tried.

Actually, it should be a skill everyone should have.

If you didn’t have it, I would be very disappointed in you.

Because of this, I had made another theory on Papa’s personality when he was a child.

Theory Two: Violent, carefree, funny but is diligent to keep up with appearances.

“-And if that’s the case then, little Lukyus must be a tiny bit embarrassed about his parenting skills. I mean, if he were to put such an effort to surprise you then I take it that you don’t get surprised often? Or is he just stressed? Maybe both?”

Is Lord Runo the type of person to think out loud? Besides that, Runo is calling Papa “little Lukyus” then he must be his older brother.

“I think it’s both, Uncle Runo. And if father wanted to surprise me, he certainly failed. But it was still a tiny shock to learn that you were my uncle.”

“Is that so? Well, you’re surprisingly easy to trick despite being Lord Lukyus’s son.”

“Eh?”

What does he mean?

“Hahahahah! Nope, I’m not your uncle! You know, your Papa was a very critical person back then. He didn’t let anything past him, so I sort of expected you to see past my lie, and every time I lied to your Papa when we were kids, he would punch me.”

Uncle Runo shrugged with a satisfied grin on his face as he reminisced about his time with Papa when he was a kid.

…I’m not Papa.

“I-I see, I’m sorry for not living up to your expectations.”

“Don’t apologise, it was just a joke. And you can drop the formalities… Well, leaving that aside, I want to hear from the boy beside you.”

Lord Runo ironed his gaze towards Aerich.

“Yes, Lord Runo?”

Aerich quickly stood up with his hands beside his thighs.

Right now, Aerich was in his butler’s attire, as he’s always in.

“Radyn’s son looks like quite the lady-killer, please don’t touch my maids.”

Aerich was quite indeed a lady-killer.

He killed a girl named Ariel by being as dense as an iron bar.

I remember one time Ariel was crying because Aerich didn’t understand her approaches towards him.

What a criminal.

I hope he doesn’t become a serial lady killer.

“Of course, Lord Runo.”

Aerich didn’t understand the joke.

Oh well.

“Then, I’ll be trusting you. I have a lot of work to do, so please make yourselves home, I’ll have a maid escort you to your rooms. Don’t seduce her, she’s only 15.”

After Uncle Runo clapped his hands, a maid standing at the entrance approached us and guided us to our rooms.

Her face was red the entire time.

And Aerich was as dense as usual.

Why did have to comment that last bit, Lord Runo?

—

“Well then, Young Lord, what do you intend to do now?”

After we sorted our belongings out, Aerich and I stood outside the hallway to our room.

“Isn’t it obvious? We talk to other people our age!”

With that said, I went to a maid to ask for directions.

“Hi, where’s the room of Elaina?”

I approached the same made who escorted us to our rooms, I held both hands on my back, bowing it a little bit as I pointed my head upwards towards the taller maid.

According to a book, this is a very cute stance for a little boy to take or even a little girl to charm others.

…If I were to dig into my mind, the name of the book was: “How to get what you want”, I only read one chapter though.

In that chapter, the technique I was using right now was to appeal to “…The maternal instincts of a woman” or if I was a girl “…Appeal to the fatherly instincts of a man”.

I don’t know why I’m practising something like this.

Maybe because I’m bored?

She looked at me for a bit and after taking a glance at Aerich she blushed.

Please forget Lord Runo’s words, my good Aerich isn’t a playboy.

And you’re supposed to blush for me!

So that technique was rubbish, well, I’ll try it out on other people to see if the failure is consistent.

“A-Ah, then, follow me.”

Aerich and I followed the maid as she led the way, and since this was a pretty big mansion it took about two to three to reach the room.

“Here it is, hm?”

The maid stopped and carefully examined the door.

“-It seems like she’s not in her room today, my deepest apologies but you’ll have to search the entire mansion if you wish to speak with her, the Young Misstriss is pretty unpredictable.”

“Oh no, thank you for helping us. We appreciate it.”

With that said, we gained a new quest:

Find Elaina Aran Cinage!

Part 3

And so, we scoured the entire mansion.

First: The Kitchen.

No signs of the target.

Second: The small lounge room.

No signs of the target.

Third: My leg hurts.

We’ve been walking around for too long.

“Aah, this place is too big!”

My voice echoed through the vast empty living room, Aerich and I were standing there alone.

We had just entered this room.

“It’s no use, we can’t find the target.”

Aerich sighed as he took a seat.

“Hm, if we can’t find her then we might just have to go outside and find other kids to play with, what do you think?”

“I think we should have done that first.”

Aerich stood back up and adjusted his clothing.

I paced around the large living room and found an interesting couch.

I circled it to take a seat.

“…Sshshhh.”

Someone laid there, making weird noises.

“…Is this the target?”

Aerich stood beside me, looking at the figure I too was looking at.

“Looks like it.”

There was a girl with dark blue hair napping on the couch I was about to sit on.

Her posture was horrible, her mouth was wide open and her legs were spread out with her arms flaying outwards.

She wore a small grey dress with a buttoned white shirt and had her hair was tied up into a side ponytail.

This was Elaina Aran Cinage, the daughter of Runo Aran Cinage.

After looking at her for a while, she opened her eyes.

Like her father, she also had crimson red eyes.

“…Huh? What do you want?”

Signifying she had enough sleep, she sat up and crossed her feet, leaning her head against her hand.

Is she the lazy type of person?

She looked to be the same age as me, ten years old.

“Hi, I’m Reign. This is Aerich, we’re the people who visited today.”

I introduced myself and Aerich.

Aerich slightly bowed as his hands leaned against his sword.

“Hm? Hi I’m Elaina, are you here to sleep with me?”

Elaina shuffled over to the side and patted the room she made for me.

“No, I didn’t come here to sleep. Since we’re new here, can you play with us?”

After hearing me say, “play with us”, Elaina’s face contorted into a cringed expression.

“Eh? I don’t want to, ask someone else.”

With that said, she turned around towards the inner part of the couch and curled herself into a ball.

“Now now, little Elaina. My younger brother’s son went through the effort to ask you out, what kind of woman declines that?”

Papa’s not your younger brother.

A voice from behind me appeared, it was Runo.

Runo was smiling, but that smile didn’t go to his eyes.

After hearing that familiar voice, Elaina shuffled and turned, heavily sighing.

“But Papa, I don’t want to.”

“There’s no room for excuses, you’ve been promising me for years that you’ll make friends somewhere and somehow. Now’s your chance.”

Runo clapped his hands.

I response, Elaina sighed tiredly and sluggishly got up.

“I’ll change my clothes…”

She said as she walked out of the living room.

When the door closed, Runo heaved a heavy sigh and looked at us with a relieved expression on his face.

“Thank you for doing that, my daughter has the same personality as her mother, she doesn’t like to talk to others and is always tired. It’s about time someone played with her.”

“P-Please, it’s nothing to be grateful about, we’re just looking for other people our age.”

I replied.

Also, Aerich stiffly stood there as always.

“I appreciate it, then, I’ll be expecting a lot. Goodbye.”

Waving his hands, Runo walked out of the living room with a content expression on his face.

“Well then, let’s wait somewhere.”

—

Aerich and I sat on a curb in the courtyard, waiting for Elaina to show up.

We arrived here about ten minutes ago.

But after waiting a little bit longer, she finally showed up.

“Yo.”

…She didn’t dress up at all.

Elaina still wore the same dress and buttoned-up shirt she wore while she was sleeping.

Her blue hair was still in that sideways ponytail.

“H-Hey, didn’t you say you would change?”

I pointed out the most obvious thing I saw.

“Hm? You thought I’d actually do that? I just went back to my room to sleep for a bit more.”

Ah… This hurts me a little.

We waited here for a long fifteen minutes only to learn that she was sleeping.

Of course, Radyn had taught me not to let dissatisfaction show on my face.

So I replied with a gentle voice.

“E-Eh, anyways, let’s play, what do you want to do first?”

I walked towards Elaina and grabbed her hand.

Charm technique number 2: When dealing with others your age, make reasonable skin contact and look into their eyes.

(This technique doesn’t work if you’re older, and the effects are minimised if you’re younger.)

“E-Eh? Well then… Do you want a tour?”

Elaina rotated her head sideways a bit.

Her face was red, she was blushing!

Oh yeah! I did!

The book didn’t lie!

I silently clenched my fist, praising myself.

“Then, I’ll be relying on you!”

—

And so, we were toured around the super-huge mansion.

She went to each room and said, “This is the X-X-Y-X”, in an uninterested tone her eyes were half-closed as she also introduced the house servants.

Once that was done, it was the afternoon.

“Aah, I’m drained.”

Elaina fell onto the grass floor of the courtyard we returned to after the touring finished.

“No, you’re not.”

I said as I grabbed her hand.

“E-E-Eh? What are you doing?!”

“Lord Runo! I’ll be stealing Elaina for a bit and visit the city, is that fine with you?!”

I looked over in Lord Runo’s direction, who looked back satisfactorily.

“I don’t mind, just come back by sunset.”

Typically, he should have said no. Daughters of prestigious and strong noble houses are juicy targets for ransoms or slaves.

But after being informed by Papa that Aerich was a High-Class Swordsman, Lord Runo placed all his trust in us.

And he needed to rehabilitate his daughter from her slothfulness too.

“Alright, your Papa said it’s okay. Let’s go!”

“Wait no-! Aah!”

While holding a firm grip on her hand, I ran out past the gates, the gate guards looked on with smiles on their faces.

It looks like they too are happy that the daughter of the lord they’re serving is finally going outside albeit forced by another person.

Let’s go exploring the capital!