Chapter 2

"Another boy... This is the eighth one."

"You know, he's such a lively boy. We should give him a name that suits him."

"Yeah. How about Vendelin? Although the chances of him inheriting the Baumeister family name are almost zero."

Falling back into the world of dreams due to a sudden drowsiness, I witnessed a strange scene. It was as if I was watching a scene from a movie, seeing the moment when the baby, who I believed to be the small boy I had transferred my consciousness to, was born.

It seemed that I was born as the eighth boy in the Baumeister family. Or, more accurately, I had taken over the existence of this child.

As the conversation progressed, I learned that the Baumeister family was a minor noble family that governed three small villages with a population of two to three hundred people each. The current head of the family, Arthur von Bennno Baumeister, was a rather ordinary man in his forties, and he had a wife from a minor noble family and a mistress who was the daughter of a local landowner.

Between his two wives, there were eight boys and two girls, including me, Vendelin. This became clear along with their names.

However, for a minor noble who governed a population of around eight hundred, having ten children seemed excessive. I seriously wondered if they understood the concept of family planning.

From the information I had gathered so far, I understood that the world I was in was very similar to medieval Europe. Not all children would necessarily survive to adulthood.

It wasn't as if I was an only child, and there was no guarantee that the main wife would always be able to bear children, so having a mistress made sense.

But, this number of children was too much. It could potentially cause family disputes.

Excluding the children of the mistress, the main wife had given birth to six boys. According to the memories of this body, the mistress had two boys and two girls. The boys were planned to become heirs to local landowners or marry into wealthy farming families that had no sons. The girls already had their future marriages arranged.

Their futures were already decided, so I didn't need to worry about them.

The crucial issue was the remaining six brothers, the sons of the main wife. I had assumed that, being the eighth son, I was one of the mistress's children, but it turned out that I was the child of the main wife, born when she was nearly forty.

I really wish she hadn't been impregnated at such an age. Given the likely poor state of the territory, it was probably impossible to take on a new, younger mistress for financial reasons. On the other hand, it was good to know that the couple had a good relationship.

"You know, Vendelin might have talent in swordsmanship or magic."

"If that's the case, he might be able to make it on his own."

Based on the memories and information of the small child I had taken over, I gradually understood my current situation.

First, I had been reincarnated or transferred into the body of Vendelin, the eighth son of a poor noble family, at the age of five (or six by Japanese counting).

Born into a noble family, but with so many children, there was no way I could inherit the territory. In fact, it was highly likely that I wouldn't even be able to live as a noble.

In a normal family, the eldest son would inherit the family, the second son would be a backup, and the third son and beyond would have to find their own way to survive. For a large noble family with vast territories or a hereditary noble family with important positions in the capital, it might be different, but for a poor minor noble family like this, it was futile to expect any prospects for the third son and beyond.

Therefore, I had no time to worry about what had happened to my original self, who should have been sleeping in my apartment in Japan, or to get excited about the mention of 'magic.'

I had to acquire the skills to survive on my own by the time I reached adulthood in this world, the age of which I didn't know.

"(I shouldn't panic, but if I just play around because I'm a child, my life will be over...)"

From then on, I reviewed Vendelin's life in a third-person perspective, gathering information diligently to avoid being seen with suspicion by my new family when I woke up.