It has been about three months since I possessed Regif Habsderk.
During these three months, I’ve thought a lot, and no matter how much I contemplate, there’s only one conclusion I can draw about this family.
‘It should fall. This kind of family.’
The Count Habsderk family would be better off collapsing.
Some might say:
-You’re spoiled. Enjoying all the benefits as a noble young master while wishing for your family’s downfall?
It’s true that I’ve become Regif Habsderk, the seven-year-old eldest son of the Count family, and that I’ve reaped enormous benefits from it.
If I had become some boy named Zeke, the seventh son of a serf named Jake or Michael under the Count’s domain, I might have had to beg while starving, with no food for tomorrow.
-This family isn’t in debt, and it’s a well-established noble family within the kingdom?
The Count Habsderk family is quite wealthy.
Despite not having blood ties with other families, the Habsderk family has managed to amass wealth over several generations.
-In 10 years, even if you just manage the territory, you’ll have a foundation strong enough to swallow the entire kingdom?
Should I say the talents in this family are exceptionally capable?
Or is it that this land itself is incredibly fertile?
‘It’s a place where they reap benefits by hunting monsters.’
Just a little beyond the outskirts of the territory lies a monster-infested area teeming with beasts.
These beasts, when slain, leave behind hides, materials, and ‘magic stones’.
-Are you going to give up this hunting ground?
In modern monster lore, this would be called a ‘core’ or ‘magic stone’.
-The magic stones you farm from the hunting ground will give you strength.
These shards embedded in the heart, these mana-concentrated gems, fetch a high price in this world where magic exists.
-The reason you’ve accumulated more mana than any other seven-year-old is due to the influence of the Habsderk blood and environment.
It’s no exaggeration to say that three-tenths of the Habsderk family’s income comes from selling magic stones.
-You need to make the most efficient choices to survive, don’t you?
Thanks to that, over the past three months, as a being living in this world, I’ve been able to efficiently utilize the foundation to build strength to struggle against the fate of impending apocalypse that looms over this world.
Nevertheless, I plan to bring down this family.
“Brother, are you studying magic in your room again?”
“Seia.”
“Yes, Brother?”
“Magic stone.”
“Here.”
As always, Seia, who came to visit my room, handed me a magic stone she secretly brought, without any hesitation.
“Mother didn’t catch you, right?”
“Yes, she didn’t.”
Seia pulled out the magic stone she had hidden in her clothes and handed it to me.
The rough-cut raw gem looked like it was hastily split, much like the granite or basalt samples stored in a wooden box in a science class.
Originally, it should have been covered in the blood or flesh of a monster.
However, all that filth had already been cleaned off, and now it was a ‘product’ ready to be delivered to clients like the magic tower or trading companies.
“Mother didn’t ask what it’s for, did she?”
“Nope!”
I’m secretly siphoning off more than my allotted amount of these products, using my younger sister Seia, who might one day become an angel.
“She asked where I was taking it, so I said I was bringing it to you, Brother!”
“…Hah.”
“Huh, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I was trying to use Seia to handle more magic stones than my official allowance, but it seems that the movements of a seven-year-old are easy to detect within this family.
‘At least Mother seems to be watching from the sidelines, allowing me to just barely get by.’
Three months ago, I declared to my parents that I wanted to learn magic.
And through the family’s excellent mages, I learned basic magic.
If you ask how a modern person like me could learn magic…
‘In this era, the “common sense” is that anyone with a body responsive to mana can use magic.’
While my soul and mind are those of a modern person who has cleared this game a thousand times, my body is that of Regif, a human in this world.
It’s no different from learning to ride a bike, swim, or drive a car.
At first, I struggled because the sensation in my body felt unfamiliar, but in just three days, I successfully mastered one basic spell.
“Then…”
Today, I’m once again training with basic magic.
I grasp a piece of the red magic stone.
The moment I think about moving the strange energy gathered in my heart into my hand, mana immediately starts to flow through my veins and gathers in my hand.
My mana seeps through my skin and resonates with the magic stone, and the mana infused into the stone activates a magical spell.
“Fire spell.”
I extend my arm forward, aiming it out the window.
“Ignite.”
Snap.
I snap my fingers.
As I visualize flint striking together and manifest my magic, a flame bursts into existence in midair with a flick of my fingers.
“Wow!”
Seia claps her hands in delight as she watches the flame I’ve conjured.
“That’s amazing!”
“Is it really that impressive?”
“Yes!”
Seia is thrilled by the flame magic I’ve created, but the one who truly has a talent for magic is Seia herself.
The Count Habsderk family.
The founder, “Persian Habsderk”, was an extraordinarily talented individual.
A Sword Master and a Grand Mage, an S-rank Magic Swordsman who reached the pinnacle of both fields.
This talent was passed down to his children, and the skills that had been split in two were interwoven again and again through the “Habs tradition”, spiraling down and mingling.
One had a talent for martial arts.
The other had a talent for magic.
And sometimes, this talent would be concentrated in just one of them…
‘Seia is like that.’
Magic Swordsman Seia.
Seia not only has much greater talent as a magician than I do, but she also possesses excellent skills as a swordsman.
If Regif has only been able to master the basics in these three months, by the time Seia starts seriously learning magic at age ten, she’ll have at least C-rank, if not B-rank, combat power.
Seia is a genius.
Of course, Regif is also a genius.
“Seia, I want to try ‘that’ again today.”
“T-That? O-Okay!”
At my words, Seia immediately sits primly in the chair, ready.
“Alright, I’ll start right away.”
I sit directly in front of Seia, facing her, and hold up one finger in front of her eyes.
“Phantom Flame.”
Fwoosh.
A flame of an unusual color, tinged somewhere between gold and dark, yet also bearing shades of black and gray, ignites.
Unlike the attack magic of ignition, this flame flickers gently on the tip of my finger, like the flame of a candle.
“Focus on the flame.”
“Okay….”
Seia’s eyes grow dazed.
Her once bright and clear pupils slowly start to turn the dull color of the gray flame, and the strength in her hands gripping the armrests begins to wane.
“Seia, you’ll listen to what I say, won’t you?”
“Yes….”
“If you listen to me, you’ll be a good girl. So listen carefully and keep it in your heart, and I’ll call you a good girl.”
“Mm-hm….”
Seia’s eyelids nearly close.
Although I’m trying to “brainwash” her with the hypnotic flame, it seems like there’s a slight resistance in her mind.
“I…”
“If you listen to your brother, you’ll become a good bride in the future.”
“Bride….”
The moment I mention the keyword, Seia’s resistance weakens.
Hypnosis involves reducing mental tension and requires trust in the caster, so if there’s resistance against the caster, the hypnosis is bound to fail.
“Okay… I’ll be a good bride….”
Success.
Seia closes her eyes gently, and I keep the gray flame burning for hypnosis as I whisper into Seia’s ear.
“Seia, deep down, you think it’s best not to follow the traditions of the Habsderk family.”
“Mmm…”
“Because your brother, Regif, wishes not to follow the traditions of Habsderk.”
“Mmm….”
“Until you become an adult, you should also be a ‘good girl’ in front of our parents, right? In front of them, I’d like you to keep pretending to follow the family traditions, just like you’ve done up until now.”
“…”
Seia doesn’t respond.
“And when you become an adult, you’ll have to make a choice. Will you sacrifice yourself for the family, or will you choose for yourself?”
If I tell her not to follow the traditions outright, she might resist, so I plant a suggestion instead.
“On your 20th birthday, you’ll decide. Will you live as a member of the Habsderk family, or as Seia, a woman making her own choices?”
“…What do you think I should do, Brother…?”
She mumbles like she’s talking in her sleep, but it feels like she’s asking me, which sends a chill down my spine.
‘The hypnosis spell is working well, though.’
The magic isn’t the problem. The problem lies in the environment of the Habsderk family itself.
‘Maybe it’s too difficult to gaslight a five-year-old by injecting new information.’
Having been taught from birth that following the Habsderk traditions is the right thing to do, Seia can’t easily accept my sudden suggestion to abandon those traditions.
It’s fine. Hypnosis and gaslighting aren’t things that work in just one go.
“Listen carefully, Seia.”
And this Regif, a mid-boss in this world…
“I want you to make the wisest, most correct choice, one that’s for yourself.”
Though average in swordsmanship and offensive magic, I’m a specialist in hypnosis and brainwashing, unmatched by anyone.
“Then you’ll become the most beautiful bride in the world.”
“…Okay.”
Fwoosh.
The flame flickers quietly, and a faint smile spreads across Seia’s face.
‘Habs is no good, Habs is no good.’
At least, not with me.
* * *
I did end up using a brainwashing spell on my one and only sister, who is also a heroine.
And yes, I did make it sound like breaking the Habsderk traditions was a way for her to become someone’s bride.
‘But that doesn’t mean she has to end up with the protagonist. That’s definitely not it.’
After all, she’s my little sister.
Even if we’re blood-related, we’ve spent about three months together, and knowing how she’ll grow up in the future, I can’t help but feel it’s too precious to just hand her over to the protagonist.
‘I can’t just send her off to a guy who charms not just women, but men too, and make her suffer emotionally.’
Players may call the protagonist a “man of irresistible charm,” but the idea of him enchanting countless women, especially someone from my own family, is unsettling and unpleasant.
There are ten years left until the original story begins.
I have to prepare as much as possible in that time…
“Young Master. A guest has arrived.”
“A guest? At our house? Who?”
“From the Silverstar Trading Company.”
“…”
It was at that moment that I began to vaguely understand the cause of the Habsderk family’s downfall, something that wasn’t mentioned in the original story.
The Silverstar Trading Company.
The Merchants of Death.
“Does our family owe money to that company?”
One of the heroines is the heir to that company, and they’re the kind of people who can easily bring down a noble family if it’s profitable.
