Chapter 3

"..."

In what could be called a form of sleep learning, I awoke immediately after obtaining information about Vendelin in a dream, and was eating breakfast in the manor’s dining room with my other brothers who had also woken up.

Even though it was a manor, it belonged to a poor lower noble. There were a fair number of rooms, and there were also a study, a storage room for food, valuables, and weapons, but in my perception, it was no more than a wealthy farmer's house with a few extra touches.

In this house, only the head of the household, Artur, aged forty-five, his legitimate wife, Johanna, aged forty-four, the eldest son, Kurt, aged twenty-five, and the second son, Hermann, aged twenty-three, had their own rooms.

The rest of us, including myself, were crammed into one room. The third son, Paul, aged nineteen, the fourth son, Helmut, aged seventeen, and the fifth son, Ehrich, aged sixteen.

It was truly a sad state of living in a shared room, a setting often found in old novels.

Moreover, Leila, the thirty-one-year-old concubine, usually lived in a secondary residence of the village head’s family, along with the sixth son, Walter, aged fourteen, the seventh son, Karl, aged thirteen, the eldest daughter, Agnes, aged eleven, and the second daughter, Corona, aged ten.

Although their names sounded grand and noble, the reality was no different from any other place. According to the information from yesterday’s dream, the manor did not have enough rooms for such a large number of people to live in, and the relationship between the legitimate wife and the concubine was poor, as it often is.

Additionally, the children of the concubine did not need to receive the education required for nobles like us. Therefore, there was little interaction with the children from the other side.

In my memories, I had only met Vendelin a few times.

It was also something to consider that the current head of the household, Artur, and his wife had no dealings with the heirs of the village head, a powerful figure within the territory. However, since I was not going to inherit, it didn’t matter to me.

The servants who maintained the manor included Abel, the butler who had served since the previous generation, at seventy-one years old, and four maids. To prevent the young maids from being impregnated by the family planning zero father, Artur, all the maids were elderly village women.

There were also vassals who commanded the army during wartime, but they usually worked as farmers, craftsmen, hunters, and blacksmiths in the village, commuting from their homes within the village.

In such a poor border village, the separation of soldiers and farmers was nothing more than a dream.

In times of crisis, they would raise an army to serve the lord to whom they had sworn allegiance. For this purpose, they were given land, albeit small, but it seemed that there had not been a war for over two hundred years.

The current lord, Artur von Bennau Baumeister, governed the Baumeister Knightly Domain, which was located at the southern end of the Helmut Kingdom.

The current hypothetical enemy of the Helmut Kingdom was the Arkart Holy Empire, which almost divided the Lingaia continent into north and south. Furthermore, both countries were investing a lot of money and labor in developing unexplored territories, the Helmut Kingdom in the southern unexplored areas and the Arkart Holy Empire in the northern unexplored areas.

In other words, neither side had the resources to wage war.

However, about two hundred years ago, there used to be a call for the lords' armies every few years. But due to the reasons that it only consumed people, money, food, and resources without any benefit, they had determined the border and signed a ceasefire treaty.

Moreover, trade between the two countries had also begun, and now, except for a small number of hardliners, no one even mentioned the word "war."

It seemed that I would not be called to war, which was a stroke of luck in that regard.

"Sir, what is the matter?"

A soup made with only salt, containing pieces of vegetables and meat, served with black bread.

It was a rather tasteless meal, but apparently, being able to eat meat in the morning was a sign of nobility. Nobles ate three meals a day, while peasants ate two.

There didn’t seem to be much difference in the menu of bread and soup. The hard, crumbly black bread might turn into soft white bread, and it might come with jam, butter, cheese, and tea. The soup might have poor or luxurious ingredients.

There seemed to be a significant difference depending on whether you were in a rural area or an urban area, but from what I had heard, that was the situation. To really know the truth, one would have to visit other regions.

However, it was a rather disappointing announcement that our Baumeister Knightly Domain was quite poor.

"The establishment of an adventurer guild branch was flatly refused."

"Well, there are plenty of jobs, aren’t there?"

"There are many other places that are more open, with better transportation, and equally profitable."

My new father, Artur, had a bitter expression as he looked at the soup bowl that was half full.

It had been confirmed that magic existed in this new world, and now it was confirmed that an adventurer guild also existed. I had thought that if magic existed, there would be creatures like monsters, and there would be adventurers who hunted them for a living.

"Our territory’s monsters are tough..."

"Father, we should gather an army and hunt them all at once."

"Kurt, that’s not possible. I don’t want to repeat the mistake of the Count of Breichreiter."

The eldest son and heir, Kurt, suggested gathering an army to hunt the monsters in the territory, but it was rejected by Artur.

"Father...?"

"What is it, Vendelin? There’s no more soup, you know."

According to the information from yesterday’s dream, I was the eighth son and currently six years old. Moreover, I was seven years younger than the seventh son. My seat at the dining table was at the far end, and the family was poor. Just by asking a question, I was suspected of begging for more soup, which was a clear sign of the family’s poverty.

"No, it’s not about more soup. It’s about the Count of Breichreiter’s monster hunting army."

"A few years ago, he asked for the monsters in the Baumeister Knightly Domain to be hunted in exchange for certain rights..."

It seemed that he had made a desperate request in exchange for significant rights, but by sending a large army to the monsters' territory, they unnecessarily provoked the monsters, and the Count of Breichreiter’s two thousand troops suffered a devastating blow.

Immediately after, the Count of Breichreiter passed on his title, and the new head’s first task was to rebuild the devastated army, which was a significant loss.

"The new Count of Breichreiter said, 'Receiving rights from other territories is not appropriate for a noble.' In other words, he will not involve himself with the monsters in our Baumeister Knightly Domain again."

It seemed that I would have to spend my childhood in a terrible monster-infested area. Thinking about it, the soup I had just eaten suddenly tasted terrible.

In reality, it was not a very tasty dish, as it was only seasoned with a small amount of salt.