Part 1

My name is Reign Osoric Cinage.

I am still ten years old.

Where am I now?

The Aran Estate in the Capital City of the Aorath Kingdom.

Why?

Papa is investigating the attack on the Signe Region with his finger pointed towards the Tyrat House.

Why am I here?

To serve as a primary witness for that incident.

But the time for that is far off, for now, I’ve been told to play around in the Capital City and the Aran Estate.

So play around I will!

“Hey, what are you doing?”

I approached two figures sitting on a table together

This room was Elaina’s room, it looked like a normal room almost like mine. There was a bed, a study table, a window, a shelf, a closet and a book-

…Where’s the bookshelf?

Oi, where’s your bookshelf?

Why don’t you have a bookshelf?

Leaving that aside, one of the figures replied.

“Help me, I don’t want to study-“

“No, you have to study.”

Elaina with her back was hunched over and leaning the side of her face on the table, facing towards me and grumbling.

The person who replied was her father, Runo Aran Cinage.

It looks like her father was teaching her.

“That’s right if you don’t study you’ll die.”

“Die?!”

I joked while taking a nearby seat and sat down beside Elaina, looking at her workbook.

…Is this, Arithmetic?

“Hm? Is there something wrong?”

Runo noticed me glaring at the worksheet and asked.

“No, there’s nothing wrong, rather, isn’t this too easy for a ten-year-old?”

This was simple addition and subtraction, where was the multiplication and division?

“What do you mean? This is the standard level for her age. What makes you think that?”

…What the hell was Cella teaching me when I was a kid?

I remember her exact words: “Mm, I’m guessing you know how to do simple arithmetic (Addition and Subtraction), so this doesn’t matter. So let’s go straight ahead into complex arithmetic!” (Multiplication and Division).

I learnt simple arithmetic on my own and through instinct the moment I learnt about numbers.

Cella then rushed me with complex arithmetic when I was 3, which I mastered the same week.

“O-Oh, I see, umu… Well, it’s just that I learnt all this a long time ago.”

I scratched the back of my head, letting out a sheepish laugh.

“What?!”

Elaina agitatedly jumped from her almost prone position from the table, completely standing up, her eyes darted at me.

“I see, then would you mind taking over my post for a while? Besides, tutoring isn’t my thing, Elaina’s teacher is sick right now so I had to take over for her, I’d be grateful if did something about that.”

Runo stood up, his things already packed.

…How did you pack your things so quickly?

Is teaching that unpleasant?

“Well, if it’s only for just today, I’d be honoured.”

Nodding, Runo shut the door to the room, walking back to his office.

Elaina and I glanced at each other.

I guess I’ll be her tutor just for today.

—

Ten minutes later.

“You don’t understand?”

“I’m sorry…”

…I didn’t expect her to be this stupid.

“C-Can you try answering that again?”

I pointed towards the easy questions on the worksheet.

Her eyes slowly followed my fingers, her face contorted when she saw the destination.

4 + 10

“I can’t do it!”

“You can do it if you try!”

I put my hand on her shoulder, comforting her as I gave my motivating phrase.

“F-Father told me to count with my fingers, s-so-err…”

Elaina put both her hands out and began counting.

“-There aren’t enough fingers!”

The table let out a slamming sound as Elaina clutched her head with both her hands, elbowing the table.

How am I supposed to teach someone who’s ten years old simple arithmetic, did Runo really say that this was standard level for her age?

Is this really standard level?

Lord Runo, is this another way of saying that your daughter is a tiny bit below average? …Probably not.

I should lower my expectations for the educational standards for 10-year-olds.

“Ahem, then, how about I teach you in my own way?”

Elaina looked at me as I pointed my index finger up and continued:

“-Look, if you’re counting with your fingers then you understand numbers, right?”

“Of course I understand numbers, you think I’m stupid?”

Good question.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Rather, that’s good, it makes this much easier.”

“What do you mean?”

I spent the next ten minutes explaining to her the basics of simple arithmetic.

After sweating and working it out, Elaina had a satisfied expression on her face.

“Aah, so that’s it? Simple Arithmetic was easier than I thought, just adding up numbers from each other? Come on, is this a joke?”

Aah, I’m glad, Elaina.

You’re no longer an idiot.

“Congratulations! You did it!”

I shoulder hugged her from the side as I examined the worksheets.

There were some mistakes but overall her results were satisfactory in an academic sense, though I would have gotten them all right in about two seconds.

“Yes! Now, I’m going to sleep.”

Elaina stood up as she held on to me grabbing my hand, as I was currently shoulder hugging her.

It looked as though she was carrying a wounded knight from the battlefield with her shoulder as she walked towards her bed

Yes, I was that wounded knight.

“Aaah, nothing beats sleeping in your own bed after studying hard.”

I was laying right beside her, no, I was practically forced to lay beside her.

Her eyes shut almost right after she fell onto the bed, though she muttered some stuff.

“H-Hey, you’re touching me-“

I let out a quiet protest, Elaina drooled from her mouth as she used me as her hugging pillow.

She had a firm grasp of my shoulder with both her arms wrapped around me, both her legs were interlocking with my own.

…I’m not a hugging pillow!

The only part of my body that was free was my neck and head.

I looked at Elaina.

Elaina was snoring as she tightened her grip on me even further.

“How the hell are you fast asleep?!”

As I tried to wriggle myself out of her grip, I heard a weird clutching noise from the door.

“…”

Lord Runo stood there, watching the scene unfold. He had an annoying smirk on his face as he popped his head out.

As we looked at each other for a few seconds, he disappeared, reappearing with two other figures.

“-Look look, I’m not lying, take a look at this.”

Runo’s voice echoed throughout the hallways.

The person who obliged peeked into the room.

It was Papa.

“…Pfft.”

As he saw me being constrained by Elaina, the same annoying grin appeared on his face as he made a mocking sound.

Runo popped his head inside again:

“…Pfft.”

I’m going to kill both of you.

“Lord Lukyus, Lord Runo. What’s happening-“

Radyn walked into the room and paused once he saw the scene.

“-Alright, get out.”

Radyn pushed both of their heads out, shutting the door as he left too. Radyn was clearly a man with good judgement, unlike two other adults.

With that, we were left alone… No.

There was that maid about the same age as Aerich standing beside each other watching us, Aerich and that maid popped their heads out, with the maid giving out a very annoying smirk as Aerich remained expressionless.

Where was Aerich this entire time?

He was in the servant room talking with the other servants, I had gone down to get him earlier but the image of him being surrounded by and doted on by the other female maids of this estate practically made that impossible.

His face was red the entire time as he was surrounded with only 1mm space between him and the Older Sister-like figures, so that made it even more difficult.

So I slowly shut the door and hummed towards Elaina’s room.

But now, he’s here with that same maid we had first talked to when entering the Aran Estate. He’s escaped the maids.

I believe her name was… Emily, her name was Emily.

Her grin was annoying me, like everyone else’s.

“H-Hey, I need help, can you wake her up?”

I said as I tried to wriggle my way out of Elaina’s constraints.

“…Pfft.”

Emily made that mocking sound.

That’s it, everyone’s my enemy.

Part 2

After that display of humiliation from other servants who entered, I finally found a way out and made my way to another room.

That is, the Library.

With a mansion this big, it’s only natural the library would be of the expected size.

After asking for directions from maids who were working, and receiving a mocking grin, I stood at the entrance of the Aran Library.

Opening the door, there was nothing but books.

Volumes upon volumes of encyclopaedias, reference books, novels, everything.

Rows of bookshelves filled to the brim.

The ceiling extended upwards and had a huge dome made of glass, allowing for the natural light to enter.

Of course, I was enchanted by all this.

“Alright, allowing for estimates… Papa might stay here for a month or two, maybe more, and if I read here every day for about 10 hours, that’s about 300-600 hours to read without interruptions.”

I muttered as I browsed the encyclopaedia section of the library, what I was looking for was an encyclopaedia of monsters and insects, unfortunately, the one at home was too ill-descriptive.

After picking a good one, I made my way to the other sections.

I picked up the following topics:

Historical: Analysis of the Malignant Slayer King. Oriot’s Ship. Aoarth Kingdom’s Noble Lineage throughout Three Centuries.

Magic: Rebuild Magic Theory

Swordsmanship: Guide to Swordsmanship for dummies.

Novels: The Rise Of The Malignant Slayer King.

I’ll probably finish all of these within a few days.

With that said, I placed them all on a nearby table and began to read.

—

“[Earth: Magic Manipulation]”

I cast an Earth Manipulation spell, creating a miniature table on the very real and bigger table.

“[Wind: Hammer]”

I then cast a Beginner Spell, breaking that miniature table that cracked and crumbled into dirt.

Alright, now:

“[Earth: Rebuild]!”

After casting the Rebuild Spell I just learnt from the Rebuild Magic Textbook, the crumbled dirt on the table slowly moulded together, forming into its original shape of my initial Magic Manipulation.

“It works!”

Rebuild Magic was one of the many branches of magic, Radyn used a stronger version of the Rebuild Spell I used now to fix the Osoric Estate.

I closed the Rebuild Magic Textbook and leaned against my seat, stretching my back and curving my neck backward, doing that I saw a figure behind me.

“I sensed magic being cast here, didn’t think it’d be you. Well, Lukyus did tell me you could cast insane magic at an early age, so that’s not surprising.”

“U-Uwah-!!”

I fell off my seat as I examined the person who spoke.

Point 1 - Calls Papa Lukyus instead of Lord Lukyus.

Point 2 - Elf-features

Point 3 - Red Eyes

Point 4 - Noble clothes

Point 5 - Deep and charming voice

Lord Runo Aran Cinage, obviously.

How did he appear behind me without me noticing?

“Haah, you scared me, Lord Runo. Please don’t do that again.”

“Haha, my bad. Well it’s nine o’clock and you should be getting to bed now, Lukyus would be very angry if I didn’t bring you to bed at your proper time.”

Ah, that’s right.

I’ve been reading for the past 9 hours.

“Of course.”

I packed my things and walked with Runo outside the Library.

As we walked, Runo asked me a question.

“You were reading the book about Rebuild Magic, right?”

“That’s right, I even cast one of the simple spells.”

“Was it your first time?”

“Of course.”

“…Eh?”

Runo looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Is there something wrong?”

I raised my eyebrow, asking him that question.

“No… It’s just, when I bought that volume I wasn’t able to understand the theory, so the fact that you were able to cast it-“

Runo sighed as he massaged his forehead.

It looked like he had a lot of trouble with it.

He continued:

“-Well, it’s to be expected from the Magic Genius that I heard from Lukyus, he’s always bragging about you.”

Runo sighed again, this time deeper.

I felt a little proud of Papa and myself.

“Hehe…”

I let out a mischievous laugh as I looked towards a nearby hallway window.

Of course, I can’t let it get to my head.

The last time it did, Aerich almost died.

Since we were currently walking in the hallway of the large mansion, I was able to get a good look at the night sky outside.

I was reading in the library for quite a while.

The moon and stars were the same, with only a few strips of clouds to cover them.

And also… Eh? Why’s there a carriage in the courtyard? That wasn’t there before.

“Lord Runo?”

I signalled over to Lord Runo and pointed towards the window.

“Hm? What is it?”

Lord Runo walked towards the window and took a closer look, squinting his eyes to get a better view of the carriage in the darkness.

“What?!”

He jumped, grabbing my hand in the process.

“-Call everyone, tell them to get dressed, have everyone wait in the lounge room!”

Lord Runo called out to a nearby maid who flusteredly nodded and ran.

What was happening?

Runo’s eyes then glazed towards me.

“You brought good formal clothes with you, right? Run to your room and get dressed, and then wait in the lounge room.”

“Yes!”

I didn’t question Lord Runo and sped towards my living quarters.

I had no idea what was happening but it was probably serious.

Part 3

After dressing up, I found myself in the living room.

The living room was large with couches and seats everywhere, luxurious and expensive-looking paintings adorned the room.

There was one big cylinder mirror in the centre of the room, the cylinder mirror looked like a replacement for a pillar.

The ceiling wasn’t flat, it was a dome almost like that of the library, it allowed for sunlight to come in, but because it was night, only the half-moon and stars shown into the room.

The lounge room was lit with magical lights.

Instead of a living room, this looked like something belonging to the royal palace.

A bunch of people gathered here, but let’s summarise it:

Papa, Radyn, Aerich, Elaina, Elaina’s Mother and other house attendants.

Papa and Radyn were sitting adjacent to each other on the couch, discussing something.

Aerich was standing with them behind the couch, he sighed as if he was freed.

Though as certain maids glared at him from the corner of the room, his spine visibly shuddered.

Does he have some sort of curse that forces women to like him? Probably not, Justice Girl and Elaina didn’t seem to be that entranced by him.

Elaina and her mother stood in front of the large cylinder mirror lazily chatting, both murmuring lethargically.

I heard that Elaina’s Mother was a very lazy and indolent person, so I never expected to see her. It also seems like Elaina takes after her mother, they both look like complete twins with the other being older.

And naturally, her expression was listless.

“Papa, what’s happening?”

I approached Papa not long after entering the room.

“I don’t know, we were told to just wear good clothes and wait in the lounge room, though I wonder.”

Papa looked at Radyn, who silently shrugged.

I glanced over at Aerich, who also silently shrugged.

These two people really do have the same personality.

After getting nothing from Papa and Radyn, I walked over to Elaina, who was standing with her mother.

“Ah, is this Reign, the son of Lord Lukyus?”

Elaina’s mothers' name was Fyrell, Fyrell Aran Cinage.

She had long blue hair and had the exact same features as her daughter, with no difference besides the age and hairstyle that was left flowing down.

There were black circles under her eyes, she waved towards me as she loudly yawned.

How are you tired? Don’t you sleep all day?

“Yes, Lady Fyrell, I’m honoured to meet you.”

I did a noble’s greeting.

“…Please don’t act so formal, you’ll force me to put in the effort to replying.”

She spoke in a very low voice to the point where I could barely make out her words.

“My bad, I’ll talk casually.”

I nodded my head before turning towards Elaina.

Despite having the somewhat same personality as her mother, she put in some effort into how she looked.

Her side ponytail was extra taken care of, her blue hair itself looked less scruffy than it was earlier during the day, her clothes looked ironed and her skirt less crumbled.

“Is there something wrong?”

She took a step back, probably weirded out.

Well, I was staring at her body and examining her clothes for a few seconds. That reaction is only natural.

“No, you just look better today. Is it your clothes? Your hair? Is this so serious that you had to put effort into your appearance?”

I haven’t known her for long but I knew her long enough to grasp her personality: She wasn’t the type to put in any sort of effort in her appearance, only if necessary and forced to.

And I’m assuming her side ponytail was forced by her father.

“W-What? You’ll get nothing by flattering me, if father worriedly tells me to get dressed and go the lounge room, it’s probably very serious.”

Ah, so duties overlap your laziness, huh?

Well, that doesn’t apply to the scrubby-looking mother to the side.

The lazy gene was being passed down weakly.

Just before I could reply, I heard the door to the lounge room opening.

What came before it was two significant figures.

After seeing one of them, Papa and Radyn immediately knelt.

Eh? Papa’s kneeling?

Aerich looked at me with a puzzled expression, though I had no idea what was going on.

I’ve never seen Papa kneel before, sure, I’ve seen him bow, salute or even lower his head to figures who’ve helped him or have done some significant deed.

But never kneel, I’ve never seen Papa ever kneel to anyone.

That means that the person who walked in was a pretty significant individual.

Following Papa was the rest of the room, everyone knelt and dropped their heads.

“I wasn’t expecting you to arrive, Lord Segast.”

Papa lifted his head and spoke eloquently to the figure that walked in.

The figure was an old man, but despite looking old, he gave an aura of fierceness and absolute power.

The man had a mix of black and grey hair combed to the side and had his chest puffed out, his hands behind his back like a veteran soldier.

His beard was the same as his hair, a mix of back and grey and his eyes were sharp and fierce.

He wore a modest noble’s attire, but the simplicity of it only made him look more fierce.

Despite looking somewhat at his 60’s, he had steel-like shoulders and a fit body.

He looked very intimidating.

Segast?

Where have I heard that name before?

After scouring the room with his eagle-like eyes, he settled his gaze onto me.

A wave of killing intent rushed through my body.

Feeling that, I immediately followed Papa’s actions and knelt.

Seeing me prostrate myself, his gaze left me.

“Rise.”

He raised one of his arms and ordered us to stand back up, it looked if as though he was casting a spell.

We all stood up.

“What’s the occasion today, father?”

Papa approached the man, Lord Segast, and inquired.

Father? Is this Papa’s father? Then doesn’t that make him my grandfather?

I examined Segast even further.

Point 1 - Sharp and scary aura around him

Point 2 - Is he a lion?

I can’t believe someone like this is my grandfather, where is the resemblance between Papa and grandfather…

Oh, I see it now.

They look like each other, actually, Segast has the same green eyes like me.

Hm…

Maybe we are related after all.

Papa stood at attention in front of Grandfather, like a conscript army soldier in front of an Army General.

“Tell me about what happened.”

Grandfather Segast paused for a bit before replying in a very low but loud voice, his voice echoing the room.

With that said, Runo silently told us to leave.

Which left Runo, Papa and Grandfather alone in the lounge room.

Part 4

“Who was that?”

I stood with Aerich and Radyn in a small room adjacent to the lounge room, hearing the conversations between Papa and Grandfather from the walls.

“That was Segast Art Cinage, the Head of the Cinage House.”

Radyn replied.

H-Head of the Cinage House?

Not Head of a branch?

You mean the boss of the boss of bosses?

‘That’ Head? ‘That’ Boss?

If that’s the case, then he’s one of the strongest figures in the Capital now.

“-He’s also your grandfather and your father’s father. He was a Military General in his day, during the Malignant Wars, he commanded large bodies of armies and raised his rank up to Field Marshal, with that he led entire armies and eventually won the war. But he’s retired now though he does visit the military camps occasionally to help those who need advice. I’m sure that say’s a lot about his skills in leadership and commanding.”

A retired high-commanding general?

“Ah, I remember. Papa told me about him once.”

It was a few years ago, Papa told me about him but he didn’t go into full detail.

Actually, Papa never told me about Grandfather’s carrier as an Army General!

That would explain why he seemed so intimidating.

I continued:

“-What kind of person is Grandfather?”

Raydn took a deep breath and replied slowly.

“He’s a scary person but is kind to his family, but even so, he doesn’t hesitate to discipline others for their mistakes.”

After saying that, a hole appeared in the wall.

Out of it, Papa flew out.

“Arggh!”

“You fool! To leave the fighting to your Head Butler, forsaking your wife as you were foolishly tricked. Did I anoint you as a Head of your own house for this?!”

Papa’s face had a smack mark on it, his nose was bleeding.

Did that slap force Papa into the wall, breaking it?

G-Grandfather is strong.

Even so, not long after being smacked, Papa quickly prostrated himself.

“Of course not, father, it was my foolish mistake-“

“Then never make that mistake ever again!”

Grandfather crossed his arms and glared at Papa who was prostrated.

“Yes, father.”

After earnestly replying, Grandfather Segast followed up with a comment.

“Well then, despite the situation, I will not get involved. I will leave this to the two of you to deal with. You will defeat the Tyrat House as punishment for this cowardice, and you will not disgrace the Cinage name. I will not allow you to beg for help from the other branches.”

“Of course, father.”

Papa replied.

This was the first time seeing Papa acting so servile and submissive.

I assumed he was the type of person who would say, “Of course, ma’am’ to a male higher up in a joking tone.

Actually, I think he would really do that if the person disciplining him wasn’t his father.

“So the Aran House is involved too? I understand…”

Lord Runo also heard this and replied too as he walked through the large hole in the wall, smiling bitterly.

He then continued:

“Father, it’s dark and Lukyus has told you everything that’s happened. My servants have prepared your private room, please allow yourself for some rest. It’s not good to stay up late.”

Lord Runo clasped his hands and rubbed them meekly as he dropped his head to the side.

Why did Lord Runo call Grandfather father? Wasn’t he joking when he called Papa brother?

From the side, Aerich went close to my ear, whispering:

“Lord Runo is the adopted son of Lord Segast, so they’re not blood-related.”

Ah, I guess that makes sense.

“Hm, that’s good.”

Before turning to walk with Runo, Grandfather Segast glanced at me.

Noticing this, I immediately recalled Radyn’s mixed lessons.

“Good evening, Lord Segast. It’s an honour to meet you.”

Fell to one knee, doing an upper-class noble’s greeting.

Seeing this, Grandfather Segast’s attention completely focused on me.

His sharp eyes pierced through my body, it felt very intense.

Like a hand grabbing onto my spine, laboriously convulsing it.

“That’s good manners, I can tell you’re a bit of an intelligent boy too, be faithful in your studies…”

His green eyes glittered as his expression remained stiff and serious.

In contrary to what I thought how he was going to act, Grandfather Segast took a few steps forward and put his hand on my shoulder.

Also, just like Papa, he seemed to have the ability to read other people accurately, telling me that I’m an intelligent boy.

Being able to read people just by looking at them, that’s just like Papa, so they really are related?

I guess so.

After speaking those few words he said something else:

“Radyn, fix this mess.”

“Of course, Lord Segast!”

Radyn earnestly puffed out his chest before casting a more advanced Rebuild spell to that I had cast, fixing the wall that Grandfather Segast made.

At this time, Papa was already standing up, right beside Runo with a normal smile on his face

After Grandfather Segast left with Runo and Papa.

Papa and Lord Runo flanked Grandfather, almost like they were his lackeys.

I got up from my knee and sighed heavily.

“Is he scary or is he not?”

I muttered to myself.

He’s not scary, he’s just intimidating.

…That’s the same thing!

Well, it’s only expected for someone as the Head of the Cinage House, to become very strong you must also have a strong personality.

With that said, I made my way to my bed.

“Uwah!”

Laying in my bed, I gathered my thoughts for my plans for tomorrow.

Should I go to the library again? What about playing outside?

Hm…

What’s with Grandfather Segast’s sudden visit? From Papa and Runo’s reactions, it looked like he arrived unannounced.

Well, that doesn’t matter now.

But I’ve decided.

Let’s play outside a little tomorrow.

I shut my eyes and turned off the magical lamp, going to sleep.