“Ugh… Is it morning already…”
I wake up to the sound of small birds chirping.
As I open the curtains and the wooden door, bright sunlight floods into my view.
—It had already been a week since I regained the memories of my previous life.
I don’t have a thermometer, so I have to rely on my own senses, but my fever has finally gone down, and my condition is starting to stabilize.
However, it seems that not getting proper nutrition is causing my recovery to be slow.
I didn’t expect my recovery to take this long. Considering what lies ahead, improving my diet is urgent.
“I’m feeling down, but… I guess I have no choice but to go…”
Now that my health has improved, I’ve been told to properly attend family meals starting today.
Honestly, I don’t have many good memories with my family in this life… However, since they’re taking care of my food and shelter, I can’t afford to act too rashly.
“Kuhn, are you feeling better now?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
As I enter the dining hall, someone at the so-called birthday seat calls out to me.
He has a relatively sturdy physique; he is Latz von Belzeart.
He is the head of the Belzeart Viscount family and my father.
To be honest, I can’t think of this guy and my mother, Sara, as my real parents.
“Is that so? From now on, try not to cause any trouble for our family.”
…Well, if I’m constantly being told things like this, it’s no wonder I feel no affection.
I don’t think that’s a suitable thing to say to a sick child, but even after hearing my father’s remarks, my mother says nothing.
Latz has quite a temper, and once he gets angry, there’s no handling him.
By the way, when Latz hits me, Sara also turns to violence out of stress.
And the brothers who grew up witnessing such scenes accept it as a matter of course.
Until I regained my memories, I also thought it was just normal.
Expecting me to consider these people family is a fundamentally impossible expectation.
I decided to finish my meal quickly and leave that place.
Today’s meal consists of thin porridge like gruel and a salad made of leafy greens.
There’s no grand delivery of fresh vegetables by noble power; it’s just the usual homegrown stuff from the garden behind the house.
You can probably guess from this meager meal that the Belzeart family is quite poor.
Despite being nobles, it’s rare to have meat served at meals; it’s basically just porridge or hard black bread.
Having a salad today is relatively extravagant.
By the way, there’s no fancy dressing, so we eat it with salt, making it very grassy-tasting.
“…”
During the meal, there’s hardly any conversation.
Even when Latz tries to engage in conversation, everyone keeps their replies short to avoid angering him.
Latz sips his wine with a bored expression.
Naturally, he has a bad habit with alcohol.
From what I hear, he seems to be in debt as well.
He’s like a distilled essence of a man’s flaws.
For someone like him to call himself a viscount, it’s the end of the world.
The Belzeart viscountcy is actually quite vast.
In terms of territorial area, it’s comparable to the territory of the Duke of Satherend, known as the southern powerhouse.
So why is it so poor despite having such a large territory? Because there has been hardly any development.
The viscountcy is surrounded by forests on all sides.
To the west lies a place called the Cursed Forest, where fearsome monsters dwell, and the other three sides have forested areas where moderately strong monsters appear, though not as terrifying as the Cursed Forest.
There are no notable special products, and with forests inhabited by monsters on all sides, and considering the considerable distance to other noble territories, it’s not easy to travel, making it unlikely for anyone to come here willingly.
As a result, our viscount family hardly engages in trade with others, and merchants don’t stop by; the villagers are merely marrying and slowly increasing their population.
“Father, about that…”
As I listen to my eldest brother Zach repeatedly talk about yesterday’s events, I reflect on our situation.
In the Lark Kingdom, where the Belzeart viscountcy holds its title, patrilineal primogeniture is the norm.
So if all goes according to plan, the eldest son Zach will inherit the title.
The second son, Pardo, is a spare, and the third son, Row, is another spare.
The fourth son, Burglar, and the fifth son, me, Kuhn, have no value as spares, so we will be kicked out of the house as soon as we reach adulthood.
I am currently five years old.
In this world, adulthood is reached at twelve years, so in seven years, I will be kicked out of the house with nothing but the clothes on my back.
I have to somehow strengthen myself by then.
In this sword-and-magic world of the Dover continent, where monsters appear, I need strength to survive.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Finishing my meal quickly, I decided to head to my study.
In this country, books are relatively inexpensive.
It seems they can be mass-produced to some extent with some kind of transcription magical tools… but as a child, I don’t know the details.
In any case, I’m grateful that I can easily pick up a book like this.
“Basic Magic Studies… This one looks just right.”
In fact, many poor noble families like mine exist.
This is because the monsters in this world are quite strong.
No, to put it correctly, weak monsters are eradicated, so only strong ones remain.
The areas that humanity has developed are limited to regions where not-so-strong monsters lived, and the territory inhabited by monsters is far more extensive than that inhabited by humans, which is the reality of the Lark Kingdom.
However, thanks to these rather dire circumstances, this country is always in need of immediate manpower.
As a result, books related to magic, which is humanity’s means of resisting monsters, are subsidized by the state, allowing noble families to receive them for free.
The reason why even our poor family has a decent collection of books is because of this.
By the way, it’s a side note, but magical books can be purchased quite cheaply even in small villages, so the literacy rate in this world is very high.
“Magic, huh… It’s starting to feel a bit exciting.”
There’s no boy who wouldn’t feel a thrill at the mention of magic.
Imagining myself unleashing flames or lightning to overwhelm my enemies brings a smile to my face that’s uncharacteristic of a child.
I don’t dislike studying. In my previous life, I studied hard even the classical literature and classical Chinese that seemed useless in real life.
If studying properly can give me the power to fight, then I’ll do it as much as I need to.
“Since there’s a time limit, I have to dive into my studies.”
I slowly opened the thick, leather-bound book and began reading the magic tome.
