Chapter 8: New family member

Few days after new year noble debut, our grandfather was supposed to come for visit, but my siblings made it sooner.

„Leo, I heard you went and destroyed two ducal families in the short time you was here… thanks,“ brother Gavin said with evil glare.

„Am I unaware about something?“

„Gavin’s fiancée is first daughter of duke Glemburg. And in order to not lose their prestige, King proposed lighter punishment for Pigheads treason by having his sons marry in matrilinealy so only one who can inherit the position of the duke is Gavin as fiancée of his oldest daughter.“

„And other nobles are noisy ‘couse I am supposed to inherit fathers title as well.“

„So they want you to choose between your family and your fiancée. If you choose family, they will speak badly about you and if you choose your fiancée it would be the same.“

„Right on the money Leo. So what would you do?“ Gavin asked.

„First, why did you choose her to be your fiancée? And why did she agreed to it?“

„I can answer that if you want,“ said female which just came down from carriage. She had black long hairs tied in one bun on back of her head.

„Mia!“ Gavin turned red for a moment.

„Gavin darling, I want to hear his opinion. He seems to be smart for someone who’s only ten years old. And to answer your question, I fell in love with Gavin here, nothing more and nothing less was in that.“

„I see, then in that case, do you want to be duchess of your father’s land?“

„Never. I always wanted big brother to take the position as he was Father’s boy. You see, us girls were only seen as tools to improve relationships with other nobles. I was something of an exception as I said that if he doesn’t let me marry who I want then I will leave the house permanently without looking back at him. ...well I did blackmailed him a little as well, but it was nothing beyond what normal noble would do.“

„Then let one of your sisters take the position. Tell them that you don’t need anything and apoint one in your place. Wouldn’t that be easier?“

"Fufufuu, I see that you are really something little brother." catched on what I meant and continued: "I could pick little Tamara or Rita, even though they are not really suitable for it. But what about Nina?"

„Who?“ I tilted my head.

„So you‘ve already forgotten me?!“ angry voice escaped from the carriage and girl poke her head out.

„Oh, you! Sorry, I forgot your name…“

„YOU!!!“ Nina seemed really angry as she disembark the carriage in hurry and grabbed my collar.

„Do you miss your family?“ I asked and continued: „Someone might say so from this display.“

„Humph... …only one I would miss is sister Mia,“ Nina said and loosen her grip.

„Then it’s fine. Also, I thought this will be family visit so did she came to accompany her sister?“ I asked and turned my head towards Gavin, but he just redirected me to my father. Nina finaly let me go and was shown by mother to her room.

„As she is one of three underage kids of the former duke pighead she would have to go to noble orphanage here in capital. But becouse that orphanage is recieving heavy donations from other lords, mainly from opposite factions, the king is worried that they would pull out their protection, which would make it harder for him to maintain it,“ father explained.

„In the end it’s all about nobles prestige and pride right?“

„Yes, that’s true. So the king said ‚You were the cause for this so Netrose family should take care of her,‘ and pushed her on us. So she will be adopted by my brother, Frontier count Gal Netrose. But before she will meet him, she will be living with us for some time as the territory he governs is still in phase of rebuilding after last war against Beastmen kingdom two years ago.“

„I understand, I will go to my room before diner. I’m sure, you have a lot of catching up to do yourself,“ I bowed and left the room.

Back in my room I read a book for some time until my nurse maid Tina came to fetch me.

„Sir Leo, your grandfather came to see you. It seems it’s about your rewards and badge from guild hall.“

„Oh, I forgot that it’s today. I will see him immediately.“

I took on shoes and vest and run to the dining hall where everyone was.

„There he is! Leo come here and explain to us how exactly did you defeated that Room boss class monster!“ mom yelled at me the moment I opened the doors while grabbing my shoulders.

„Um, well~ I kinda did? Who would’ve thought that Dimension cut would be able to take it down so quickly…“ I said with a smile.

„Don’t ‚I kinda did‘ me! That monster can destroy five platoons of knights!“

„I got lucky I quess? It already had some wounds on it so it probably wiped out previous challengers...“ I tried to maintain my smiling face, which stiffened a little.

„Yeah, when we investigated the area, we fund half eaten archer and few steps away was a knight and witch. Both of them were turned to stone which was probably due to some wandering monster. We are alredy investigating it, although it seems like someone found them first and took their armor. They were practically naked when we found them,“ grandpa added.

So someone took rest of their equipment after I left huh? Well, they can't be turned back anyway so no need to worry about that.

„If you say so father…“ dad said.

„Yeah and also! I brought your badge and rewards.“ With that grandpa started took out several pouches full of coins.

„Umm, isn’t that a little too much?“ I asked.

„Not at all. Five hundread cores of toads and their drops are equal to six coppers per pair. That is equal to six thousand coppers that means sixty silvers. Next are Fake lily cores, those were one hundread. One of these is worth one silver. So 100 silvers, you had some mead on you, but you decided to keep that so nothing came from that. In total you make one hundread and sixty silvers from regular monsters. And here’s your and the two slave’s Blood red badges. And lastly a reward for that core from Water measurer boss.“

Grandpa took out another bag and smiled: „The size says that it was in mid thirties so the reward is one hundread and twelve gold coins.“

„I’m at comlete loss for words…“ father said and fell to his chair.

„Haha… our little brother is trully abnormal…“ Gavin said with sour face and Hima nodded.

„So… Leo, let me ask you, what is your plan for future? With this kind of power you could overthrow the king anytime.“ Mom got really serious, loosening her grip gently.

„Well, for starters I want to get a little more stronger I can feel that my magic needs refinement. After that I will atend royal academy like my siblings and after that I’m not really sure. Probably utilize what I learned in school and continue my adventurer path. And do I really need to say that I wouldn’t rebel like that? That’s too worrysome. And more importantly I want to learn more about skills. For something that is so closely tied to our lives we know really little about them.“

Mom and dad exchanged a look and father sighted, „Well you are third son so your chance of inheriting my title is little to none. If you don’t do anything crazy, you should be able to easily become adventurer in future.“

„Thank you father,“ I bowed slightly and then I left the room. Completly exhausted I fell to my bed and slept till morning.