Chapter 17

I woke up again today, recalling and ruminating on yesterday's events.

(Haaa... Did I mess up...?)

I threw a stone into the surface of life, creating ripples.

I have no idea how this will turn out.

The maid probably won't talk, and I trust her, but I'm still worried.

(Well, there's no point in worrying...

I still have the advantage of being able to use magic!

It was a blow to lose one card, but I can still turn things around.

It'll eventually run out, so don't worry about it.)

I forced myself to think about something else.

(By the way, I didn't know there was such a thing as a dogeza.

I almost blurted out, "Are you a samurai?!"

I thought it was a cultural relic from Japan's good old days, but when I thought about it, it makes sense that it would be a way to show sincerity in an apology...

I was surprised to see someone do a dogeza to a baby.)

She must be thinking deeply about this family.

(Really, Father hires some amazing people.)

After thinking about it, I decided to go to the study to read a book.

To be precise, I'm carried there, which is quite awkward.

After the awkward time, I arrived at the study and thought about what to read.

(Well, it's got to be a magic book.

There are a lot of spells I want to learn, and I want to learn level 2 water magic too.)

Just as I was about to reach for the magic book,

"I'm sorry, Master Rain, but I'm not allowed to let you read magic books."

The maid gently grabbed my hand and stopped me from proceeding.

"?"

I looked at the maid in surprise, speechless.

(Oh, right, there was that agreement.

That's what caused all this, after all.

I thought it would just be one of those things that gets forgotten over time, but she's really sticking to it.)

In response to my discontent, she emphasized, "The order has not been rescinded."

We stared at each other for about three seconds (I was just looking at her), and I looked away first.

There was no way I could win.

(No, it's impossible.

She's looking at me with such intensity.

I already stammer a lot, so there's no way I could win.)

So, with no other choice, I decided to look at a different book.

God said the book distribution rate here is worse than in Japan, but this is a duke's house, after all.

There are not an excessive number of books, but most types are available.

There are still many books I haven't read, so I decided to look at those.

Thanks to this, I gathered a lot of information about this world.

I learned a lot of useful information for adventurers, such as the hierarchy, types, and variations of monsters.

I also started reading military-related books out of interest from my previous life.

The ratio of interest to seriousness is about 7:3, but it's not entirely useless.

There are a few things I want to say, but never mind.

This Pornesia faces the sea, so of course there is a navy.

The proportion of the navy in the military, which I didn't know in my previous life, is about 30% of the total, and Pornesia has about 30,000 navy personnel.

It was quite fun to learn military knowledge that was a bit different from my previous life.

Four months passed, and I could finally speak and was mentally prepared to talk to people for the first time since coming to this world.

By the way, Mother came to see me three days later, hugged me tightly, and apologized.

(I'm not angry anymore...)

I tried to act like a baby and play around.

So, we made up.

A month ago, I started laying the groundwork by saying "mama mama," and today, I tried to speak properly.

I mustered the courage and spoke in front of Mother and Father.

"O, okaa, okaachama."

(...I stuttered naturally, which was embarrassing.)

It's not hard to imagine that both parents were delighted.

I wanted to convey that I can finally speak and that I didn't understand anything four months ago.

I wonder if they understood.

If possible, I want them to smile.

I don't want them to worry about me. I feel guilty.

The reason I left then was that I finally understood after thinking about it carefully.

I had misspoken and regretted it afterward.

It's something that happens to everyone.

I thought, "Anyone would realize that, it's not something to worry about."

So, when I understood that, I was disappointed again.

"Can't you even realize that?"

Because I already feel guilty enough toward them.

That's why I want them to smile.

I don't want them to look sad.

In this hierarchical society, I think a place like this house is very important.

I've heard stories from the maid, and I think Father is an amazing person.

I respect him.

That's why I wonder if I, a person from another world, am worthy of inheriting this house.

At first, I thought I would leave the house to one of my other siblings and become an adventurer.

By the way, it's not surprising, but there are indeed monster hunters, or adventurers, in this world.

The adventurer ranks range from E to SSS.

And the monster ranks range from low to divine (reference: "How to Be an Adventurer").

Even so, I don't mind, but I'm concerned about the second wife.

That's not an option. I can't let this house go to her.

If it did, it would be a disaster.

This land would be ruined.

It's not a matter of duty; I just don't want it to happen.

As the eldest son of the Orion family, I don't want to give it to her.

If I do that, I'll definitely be assassinated or something, which is a hassle.

I don't want that either.

Even if I'm not here, I think there will be trouble anyway.

That's also a hassle.

What am I saying?

I don't know!

To put it simply,

Is it okay for a child from another world who can't fully act like one (in various ways) to inherit this house?

Should I become an adventurer?

But then I'm concerned about the second wife.

The easiest solution is for me to inherit it.

But that will definitely lead to assassination or other troubles, which is a hassle.

Even if I'm not here, there will be trouble.

In the end, this house will show signs of collapse.

Should I help my siblings? What? Are you talking to me? I can't work with people...

Then, it's better for me to inherit it, right?

(...Why is that!)

Who am I talking to? Me!

The more I think about it, the more I end up with this conclusion.

I don't think about killing anyone.

It's not that I don't want to kill people, but I don't want it to be that easy.

I don't think a person who kills family can prosper.

I've heard that Oda Nobunaga's land was in turmoil after he killed his brother, but I don't know the full story...

Family and strangers with unknown names are different.

I want this house to prosper.

For example, if I become an adventurer and work hard to get rare items, I can prioritize them for this house.

But then, the second wife will be a hindrance.

I get stuck in this infinite loop.

Well, I still have time, and I'll keep thinking about it, but it's complicated.

So, I want to improve my combat power, especially in magic, but the maid gets in the way.

This is the biggest problem right now.

I want to get the ban on magic books lifted from my parents, but if I do, they'll look sad.

Then, I can't ask.

But I can't get past the maid.

(Damn, if I could use attack magic...

I could stop the maid with tentacle attacks.)

About half a year ago, when I first saw the magic book, I was flipping through it casually.

That's when I found it.

A tentacle spell at level 3 of dark magic.

I'm not into tentacle play, but I wanted to try it once.

So! So I memorized it word for word and cast the spell the moment I reached level 3!!

"XXXXX!!!" (self-censorship)

But!

But it didn't work...

Tentacle spells are apparently attack magic.

I ended up shouting, "Why the hell not, dammit!!!" and the maid woke up in the middle of the night, which is a secret.

Damn, I got off track.

Anyway, since I can't learn any more magic, I've been reading other books, mainly tactical books, monster encyclopedias, and adventurer guides, and memorizing them.

At the same time, I've been continuously leveling up my magic and physical abilities.

By the way, here are my current stats.

{Rain Duke de Orion / LV 13}

{2035/4500} (late bloomer)

{Male / AB / 6533 / 7 / 8}

{Human / Orion Duke Family}

{HP 56/56}

{MP 2450/2450}

{STR 48}

{VIT 45}

{AGI 52 (+104)}

And when I looked at the Magic King with my Divine Eye again,

Fire Magic Lv 3

Water Magic Lv 3

Earth Magic Lv 3

Wind Magic Lv 3

Light Magic Lv 3

Dark Magic Lv 3

I realized there's a definite wall between levels 3 and 4.

No matter how long I use them, they don't seem to level up, so I gave up.

So, I decided to max out all my magic at level 3.

Then, I noticed that my MP increases by 10 for each level of magic.

In my case, it increases by 80.

So, my MP will increase significantly.

Regarding levels, I think I did a good job considering I only get one experience point at a time.

I really did use magic non-stop, even sacrificing sleep.

If I could get a thousand experience points from one goblin, I would declare war on this world.

I would start a revolution! From today, I would be the revolutionary Rain!

I would show that my efforts were not in vain.

...Well, that's a joke, but time passed like that.