Sorry for those interested in my previous oneshot, but this is the idea I've been devoting more attention to. I was inspired by a combination of wondering on a story of Leon having to function without Luxion while also being forced to not be a Mob, but also by Balanced by dgj212 that focused on a more balanced 'game'. This is what I came up with. Warning, it will not be sticking so close to canon. Might be a good several chapters till the Academy at all.
Please forgive any minor mistakes. I'm aiming to use 1st person, but am more used to 2nd person. So , there might be a few wrong pronouns.
"This game fucking sucks. It sucks even more than my first playthrough. Why do I got to have to play while having these five handsome guys blush at me…and KEEP DYING!"
That was my true sentiment. Fostered from well over a day of having to play this otome game my sister had shoved off on me. My long-awaited free weekend that I could relax or play a better game -like a gal game- gone from her selfishness and blackmail. She'd dropped it off early Saturday morning, and now it was noon of Sunday and I was only starting the final route.
The reverse harem end.
Ugh.
I'd get her back for this. Oh, I would. This was all her fault. Her hiding her yaoi stuff in my room at our parents', refusing to claim them so our mother thought I was the one who bought it all, and then shoving this game off on me just so she'd tell them the truth. I had been scheming the entire time while playing this stupid game on how to pay her back.
Her sending me a photo of her on the beach with friends -busy with something important, my ass- only made it simple, and I sent said picture to our mom since I wasn't the only one she lied to on what she was doing.
That solved, it still left me having to finish this damned game.
"I'm back, with offerings of food."
I looked at the girl who barged into my room suddenly. A friend I'd called early into this hellish game to complain and demand pointers. She'd taken it as an opportunity for a gaming weekend, and shown up. It had made things better, admittedly. She was the one who told me early that the game's balancing was crap and microtransactions were required -the developers even needed to lower the prices due to complaints a month after it came out- and even split the costs of the most expensive warship and armor with me when I was reluctant to spend money on it. Even played some of it for me. I wasn't able to just leave it to her, the point of a gaming weekend was being able to banter and joke with another player, but she at least helped me endure this crappy game.
"Thanks. I didn't eat breakfast."
"I figured, since we ate everything in your understocked fridge yesterday."
"Still took you a while. I was figuring you weren't coming back."
"How mean, -, not trusting me. I was just preparing a surprise. Something I heard on the gaming digital landscape."
Ah, yes. The reason I had originally called her, besides her being one of the few old school friends I still kept up with. She was going into computer science. Game Development. Already in her final year of college for it. Unlike me, who just got an office job like the average underachiever. I was only even taking classes on the side because she was bugging me about being able to if I just stopped being lazy.
Damn, just thinking about this made me tear up again. Weeks of hard work at the office and schoolwork when off. My long-awaited free weekend to recover…Gone!
Trying not to cry, I instead spoke, "What's the surprise?"
"Not quite yet. We need to finish this. How far are you?"
"I'm on the True Route playthrough. Just starting."
"Oooh. Let me catchup on the walkthrough, and then I'll take over for a bit so you could eat."
After that, several hours were spent by us playing. Insulting or joking about the characters. Criticizing the balance. Just shooting the breeze.
"There! We are done," I declared happily, seeing the final cut scene of the protagonist with her five lovers.
"And at just three too."
"Would have taken longer if we hadn't bought Luxion so early."
"Yep. Good thing, as it allows us to move on to my surprise…Tada! The unofficial, developer's edition!"
I send her a dead look at those words.
"Hey, hey. Just listen to me. I remember hearing some rumors, so I spent a few hours this morning tracking it down. When all the early criticisms came out, they released it saying it explained a lot. It really hasn't spread much, but I had a few friends recommend it."
"I have half a day of my weekend remaining, and you want me to spend it playing through this shitty otome game…AGAIN?!"
"Hey, don't take that tone with me, -. I've been here too, giving up a day and a half of my weekend. Also, need I remind you how many times you wanted me to play through your gal games?"
"There's a difference. You like gal games."
"I like some gal games. Others suck, assuming you aren't only concerned with seeing some nice illustrations of the love interests. Now, are you really going to try to argue that you haven't made me play some of the latter?"
"…"
"That's what I thought." Her smugness was painful to witness. "Now, time for you to return the favor. Since this isn't official, we have to do it on PC."
"Fine. Now, what's supposed to be special about this version?"
"They say it was what they were originally developing. The main writer funded damn near all of it. She's supposedly the visionary behind it all. She ran out of money halfway through though, and they had to get some investors and producers. They demanded changes being made. Apparently, it wasn't even a dedicated otome game in the planning stages. It just had a female lead and multiple male romance options, so only otome producers jumped to fund the rest. With changes. They say this version has a ton of extra mechanics."
"Whatever."
…
It was painful to admit what was undeniable after several hours of playing.
It…it was…it was amazing.
Not the best game I'd ever played. Or one of my real favorites. That was more about taste though, and admittedly the odd setting that could be better with a few tweaks. It was still a game that any hardcore gamer, that didn't just wave it off immediately from the romance angle, would likely have been expected to play at least once though. I had to admit that.
…
"Cool. There are knight orders. You can even upgrade them as a force as well."
"Not to mention this warship modification system. Expensive as all hell, but I guess that explains what you're meant to do with all that money you pick up throughout the game and can't properly spend. Beyond buying a few more stock warships in the war period."
…
"Look at this! A country-wide strategy map."
"It really explains the warship resupply function properly, instead of just extending the mission time period. We can also take longer but safer routes that cost us time, or risk shorter routes that save time. A lot of factors at play here. Need to build up the best routes."
"Takes up a lot of time though. We're barely at the academy besides in mandatory times."
"Yeah. Most of the vacation and break events are actually gone. So, this is what they meant by the romance stuff being a mere side feature."
…
"Holy crap, aren't these war battles better balanced now that we can actually see our warship and armor stats, develop them, and even properly level up their crew's skills?"
"Not to mention the way they can be deployed and positioned even when we're at the academy. Lowers tension levels and encourages trade. Even allows us to travel faster along routes we've got them patrolling."
"Money is becoming pretty damned thin though."
"Action points and time too. So long as we get the bare minimum affection points with one love interest, there's really no point in spending extra time with them instead of doing the events like hunting down these sky pirates that will actually damage our patrolling units."
…
"Shit, of course that came to bite us."
"Still! We can actually use the extraneous affection points to modify their behaviors or teach them skills they wouldn't otherwise learn! Those just piled up for no reason in the main game. We can actually make them useful now!"
"Damn right. We can get Brad's AI to stop using that automatic Taunt skill, or its tendency to rush in and close to melee range against every enemy lower leveled then him because his stupid personality!"
"I actually want us to get some affection points with the others now."
"I know. Get Jilk to stop hovering around Julius and actually be avoid melee range as a proper long ranged unit."
"Or have Julius learn Taunt and stop using his stupid defensive skill. Stop using it when the enemy just ignores you afterwards, idiot! You either die from its stupid long charge up time, or they ignore your stationary, invincible ass in favor of killing everyone else as you watch!"
…
"Wow, we're actually able to talk to other people now! For more than one or two NPC lines. The main game only gave us a few randomly named units in the war period."
"Even recruit them as well. Hell, they aren't even just like the warships or knight forces under our control. They can join our personal battles, like the love interests, and even bring their family forces as well for the war battles. Shit, they even bring income which came be used to upgrade their own forces. Score!"
"They even tell us about a lot of the political affiliations and things like that. Can't recruit enemies, and certain areas on the country map become more friendly while others turn against us."
"They have a full class upgrade system too. Like Olivia's, but with varying talents."
"Not even the restricted ones of the love interests? Those guys. Their stat growth is higher, but we have to spend time earning affection points to alter their behaviors to make them actually beneficial for the battlefield. With the other things requiring time and events? If one wasn't necessary to open the final ship, it would probably be better to literally ignore them and recruit other allies."
"Pretty darn sure that's already the case. Even with them bringing their family resources, only reason they're necessary is the political influence they provide for the MC to do all this shit even as a commoner. We were locked into the most undeveloped knight forces and a limited range of small-scale war battle missions before we got enough affection with Brad. Even these new allies seem to require a sponsor of sorts."
…
"Oh, look. Even the villainesses have more lines now. Angelica is still a bit of a bitch though, it seems."
"Well, we are stealing her fiancée and will end up stealing the throne from her. Wasn't it stated that her family was forced to lead the doomed first counterattack attempt against the Principality after the duel event to break the engagement from being humiliated so? They all also die in the war period as we act elsewhere."
"…hey, by this point, aren't we just seducing these boys for political influence to actually do important shit?"
"I think we are."
"…Wonder what Angelica have said to us if we hadn't just rushed to gather affection points with Julius. Could we have delayed the duel event if we weren't going after her man? Didn't work in the main game, but might here if we talked to her. Look, we can even find her family's faction and start working to improve relations. It's harder than allying with the Frampton faction, but might have been possible if we hadn't already progressed this far."
"That's cool. Wonder how it all would have developed if we had stuck to the small-scale missions we were allowed without hitting that affection point stage with the love interests to do more?"
"Replay value~!"
…
The game finally ended at the middle of the second year, when the MC reached deep enough into the capital's dungeon to retrieve the Saint's Bracelet. A light flashed as soon as it was picked up. An odd tune also played as the screen went back, a developmental happy face page announcing that that further updates are necessary to proceed.
"…Is it me, or was that tune at the end rather ominous?" I asked, leaning back in my computer chair.
"It was, wasn't it?" – said in response at my shoulder, tilting her head before shrugging. "It's probably just that this starts the Saint's questline. If she had freedom to do a lot of different things before this, now she'd in the limelight. Figure the second half of the game would have ended up more scripted, regardless…the developer's might have added it on as well before releasing it since no updates will come. A sort of 'Sorry, but that's all you get' feeling."
"True."
Both of us stayed silent for a moment, before laughing. – moved and collapsed onto my couch, seemingly exhausted. It made me check the time.
"Damn, it's midnight. We spent more time playing half of that game than doing a full route of the main one," I groaned out.
My weekend. Gone. Even if that was a fun nine hours or so, I still had to be at work in eight hours.
"It was worth it though," – claimed, and I could hardly disagree. "I can see why the developers released it. The producers ruined that game."
"I think the developers did a bit as well," I said immediately. "Let's face it. They did the bare minimum in converting it into a 'full' otome game as they could. Didn't rebalance it or anything. Just forced to drop so many of the grand strategy elements in favor of more romance scenes, they left it as if you did nothing."
"Hehe, I think I can just imagine their thoughts," – said, giggling. "Producers were probably fine since it made the microtransactions necessary. When people complained though, the developers were probably just screaming 'Of course it's damn impossible to beat! Your MC spent two years flirting and only doing the bare minimum, plot-necessary war aspects instead of putting time and effort into developing war forces, making allies, and solving festering issues that would only get worse!' It's basically one of those challenges where you have to finish a hard game's end portion with a character as limited in levels, equipment, and skills as possible."
"That main writer definitely had a vision for the world on what could be done," I added, chuckling darkly in sadistic amusement at the realization. "It appears going full otome game MC is a very bad method to survive and win. The main game is basically when a sly MC caring only about seducing several rich and handsome guys gets tossed at a doomed war and told to pull off a miracle to win because she happens to be the Saint."
"Hehe, it really does explain a lot," – said sleepily.
"Hey, don't fall asleep. Don't you want to go to your place?" I asked, shaking her.
She just ignored me and rolled over, saying, "I'm tired, and hungry. I plan to solve at least one of these problems right away. If you don't want me to sleep, feed me."
"But my fridge is empty?!"
"Then run get me something. The choice before you is clear."
Sighing as it was clear then that she decided to sleep, I stood. I started moving to my futon, before a thought struck me. I was hungry too, and my fridge was empty. Neither of us had eaten since she brought lunch, and we wouldn't be less hungry after a night of sleep.
I told myself to just delay the problem.
She'd just have to suck it up in the morning like me, since she's the one that decided to sleep here.
…
"Dammit," I eventually muttered, turning around to my door. Better to just pick up some easy food. Some breakfast, alongside a snack for me -who didn't fall asleep right after finishing! – before bed. "Fine, I'll get you some food."
"Thank you," she called back at my announcement, drowsy enough there was little doubt she'd be dead asleep by the time I got back.
Feeling my body lock up and vision waver right as I started down the stairs though, seeing my vision go sideways as I tipped, it was clear my generous decision was very much the wrong thing to do.
At least I had several hours of playing a good game instead of the crappy one my sister shoved off on me.
One death, one revival, and ten years later.
I was not really pleased to have had my memories of the circumstances of my reincarnation into said game world come to me upon awakening.
It wasn't exactly a new thing though. If anything, it wasn't even exactly a rare event. I'd long since had to write down the details of the game, ten years since 'awakening' as a five-year-old having blurred the details, but the bulk remained oddly clear. That final day. That unfortunate weekend. It all stayed with me more than any other weekend, in either life. Sometimes resonating with me more intently, creating days where once again I had to wonder at the circumstances of my second life.
Being reborn in the exact otome game I'd been playing beforehand.
What a cruel twist of irony. Making me aware of just what sort of woman-favoring world I was reincarnated into. Not even some good memories of that damned game were able to erase what soon became apparent.
Running through some early wakeup routines, I was soon striding outside the outlying house -more a barn, really- of the main mansion. I sent a glare at the mansion, but forced myself to move on. Taking note of the slowly lightening sky, I got moving.
I was soon jogging across the slowly wakening rural landscape that constituted my family's patrimony. Just like me, others were already starting to waken. Years farming left one starting their day right as the sky started to lighten. I was up a bit earlier, people even noting my form and waving. Only natural, as
I'd been living here for ten years now. Spent my days working the fields right alongside them.
Being reborn as a prince or with some cheat power – Not for me.
Oh, I knew it could be worse. I was actually born into a noble family. My father a baron. I could have ended up with one of those edgy main character given the backstory of bring an orphan and having the orphanage burnt down or some shit. As I wasn't able to properly display filial piety to my parents in my last life, I was quite glad to have a family that seemed quite ordinary in many aspects.
I even hated my sisters in this life as well.
Unfortunately, it could be much, much better as well. My mother was my father's mistress. So, maybe not so ordinary by my old world's standards. This world was also women-favoring. This meant that Zola, the legal wife, held all the real power despite this being the land of my father's family. Zola spent near all her time living in a fancy mansion in the capital on our family coin, being little more than a parasite for this land in return. Whenever she came too, she was able to take over the residence. Only my sisters were able to stay there when she was here; my mother, my older and younger brothers, and myself had to live in the outlying 'house' that was really more a barn-like storage facility. Nothing could be done about this either, as not having a suitably 'noble' wife would be a death sentence to a poor, rural family like ours.
That was also an issue. Despite the family supposedly being nobles, we lacked anywhere near the funds to both support Zola and live as really anything but farmers with some extra authority. I had spent the past ten years familiarizing myself with the harsh, toiling work of farm life. Scratching out a meager life from my own efforts.
Oh, one might wonder how I hadn't managed to change that. Even I had such thoughts occasionally. I'd read enough manga in my past life, including the isekai trend that had been ongoing when I died, that I had at times assured myself that I'd be able to use my knowledge to get rich and make everything better. That was how it was supposed to go, right?
As if!
Bessemer Process for steel production – What was I, a steel factory worker?!
Concrete – Who knew how to make that from jack?!
Penicillin – Are you freaking kidding me?!
I was an office worker, slowly working my way through high education! I knew more how to handle computer programs than anything valuable as a farmer, and I was now in a world without computers. I'm not sure about those overly optimistic portrayals of isekai uplifts, but I didn't have an encyclopedic knowledge of industrial revolution inventions that would be of use in medieval world.
Plus, this wasn't just a medieval setting. It was a weird magic and fantasy one that also had cannon-loaded airships and powered armor. Things were weird here!
Magic did a lot of stuff. They also weren't totally lacking in technology, although there wasn't a large divide between mundane and magical technology. There was electricity in the main mansion here, and I'd heard from my family that they had it available to everyone in the capital or richer settlements. Gunpowder was discovered, alongside magic to further refine it. There are bolt-action rifles and magic bullets or grenades. Even the uniforms. I hadn't questioned the academy uniforms much when playing the game -it was a bloody game!- but they were weird! Velcro, artificial textiles, magnificently dyed. Schoolgirl uniforms were good civilization, but why the hell were 20th century clothing available in a setting like this?!
My occasional attempts to actually follow through and make things better never worked out as I might have wished. The idea of becoming an adventurer and finding treasure had dimmed as the day-to-day grind got to me. Training in the morning, working the fields throughout the day, and studying when night falls. It didn't leave much time for training beyond what everyone was doing. Trying to figure out improvements, minor and major, and get people to actually take a risk on them was no mean feat either.
That shit took energy!
As I had jogged while having these little recollective thoughts that always seemed to pop up when I had dreams of my death, more people started getting active around me. Most just waved. Some did more.
"I still blame you for this chore, Leon!" One man only several years yelled at me while crouching by a large box, shaking his fist as I passed.
"How mean! Blaming me when all I possess is a sincerely helpful spirit," I called back, not stopping.
"As if! I see you taunting spirit laughing at me. Literally!"
Woops, let my inner feelings show on my face.
As I sped up to escape that, I had to acknowledge that not all of my efforts failed to bear fruit. Even if not in the way I might have envisioned. Even a broken clock was right twice a day.
The setting might have outright industrial agricultural knowledge or practices, but they also weren't lacking in crop knowledge for me to suggest real crop packages since the Holfort Kingdom I lived in didn't have rice. Best I could do was recommend several grazing crops for the fallow fields like clover or alfalfa.
My main focus had turned to something else. Fertilizer. Of course I hadn't known how to manufacture fertilizer, but even I knew that nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. I had hoped that magic could be used to just…you know, skip the other necessary parts.
…It was one of my first ideas after reincarnation, when I still wasn't used to all the hard work, and isn't my most well-thought-out attempts.
I was the broken clock though, and so it was this that actually turned out useful. I had been planning to magic it all up myself, this was before I realized magic was hard, but my father had replied that fertilizer was made. Most richer nobles had their own factories to supply their own lands. Naturally, poor nobles like us had nothing like that. There were independent producers, but our land was poor enough that it wasn't bought. I'd argued otherwise. The first year my father merely humored me and got me a bit to try out, and even that got me some criticism for using our limited funds. It had spread over the next several years though to become one of the barony's main imports.
My other main success was much more thoughts out…and the way it turned successful much more embarrassing.
I did know germ theory. While magical healing made it rather unnecessary, I had remembered several other ways it could be used. Pasteurization was a huge development. I had just needed an efficient way of doing it. While I had learned enough magic to fully realize that just wishing something to happen was the inane magical hopes of a child, one could create more complex magic by inscribing magic circles or runes. For two years, starting from when I was eight, I had tried to develop such a thing. A way to heat substances in a container in a controlled and efficient manner. Even expanded it to cooling, deciding frozen foods was also good.
I'd gotten nowhere with it by the time my older brother, Nicks, had stumbled on my efforts. He'd told my father, who then explained to me that the capital already had such things. Yep. My years of effort. Pointless.
He'd also explained further that they weren't suitable for us. These magical devices ran on the power of magic stones. To poor nobles like us who only had a single building with electricity, of course there was no way we could afford to buy enough magic stones to make use such things on any wider scale.
My work hadn't been for nothing though. I'd been focusing on a design that instead stored magic from people to use. It would require frequent 'recharges', but would remove the need for magic stones. Not an avenue that was convenient to those with the money to purchase magic stones, but potentially game changing for those like us who couldn't.
It hadn't been anywhere close to finished, but my father had been intrigued. Hired someone to modify an existing example to test it out. Eventually that had spread too throughout this barony. It had very much helped in our dairy and alcohol production.
It was also an annoying chore to charge them though, and I had become the target of ire for that.
And I was merely trying to help. Improve their lives. They were totally wrong that I always ended up laughing when watching them.
I was a sincere boy, merely cheering them on.
Coincidentally, my weird trip down memory lane roughly finished as I reached the hallway point in my run. A cemetery. Even now I had to acknowledge it as a bad way to start the day, a jog to the cemetery, but it had still become part of my routine for the last month.
Primarily for the grave I was visiting.
Balcus Fou Bartfort
Baron, Father, Son
Did His Duty Defending His Land
"Hey, dad," I started, shuffling as I stayed standing there. "It's been a month, already. Nicks is still here. Really pushing himself to handle everything. I'm glad. He's much better at this than me. Mom is always saying he should have returned to the Academy, but she's relieved. She's better since he got back. I'm glad for that too. Jenna returned a week after the funeral though. Probably for the best. She's useless, so not like we need her here. Oh, I guess Rutart and Merce also left. Not a surprise there. Zola is still in the mansion too though. Just barking the occasional order though. Another reason its good Nicks is back. Keeps me from having to talk to her. I know you'd criticize me for that, but…damn, I hate that woman."
O trailed off, just thinking again.
This time about something more relevant than summarizing my second life so far.
It was weird how little things could have a big effect. What I'd managed to accomplish in the territory had often felt like very little. It was stuff the richer territories already had, and it never quite changed the daily grind. If anything, it had made things harder. An extra chore for anyone with magic, and more to harvest and transport. My father had cautiously admitted that we were starting to get out from under the debts we'd had beforehand, even enlarged as they were for the initial investment that had previously prevented it before my push, but it wasn't a big improvement in my daily life. Sure, the territory was receiving some immigrants working to serve as farmhands and the docks had gotten a bit bigger to account for increased import of fertilizers and export of foodstuff. It had never felt like I had stopped needing to toil everyday to eke out a living, even as a noble, though.
Apparently, it had made a difference.
Between the extra trade coming and going, it appeared we had become prosperous enough for people to bother to rob.
Sky pirates.
Because I couldn't have anything nice.
Rutart, Nicks, and Jenna had been at the Academy in the capital. Weeks of merchants starting to report ships coming at them. A few coming, claiming to have been robbed. One airship even disappeared entirely. As soon as help had come, my father had headed out to do his duty as Baron.
It had cost him his life, and now everything felt like it was about to change.
I just stared at the gravestone silently. I wasn't the closest of us kids to our father. Nicks got that honor. I had been the one here though. Potentially able to pilot an armor in that battle. It had also been my attempts to help that had caused all this. Drawn the sky pirates. Yet, even if I was far from eager to dive into a battle, I'd been left behind even having just turned fifteen.
And my father died.
Some display of filial piety.
Ruffling my own hair with a sigh, I eventually said, "We'll manage. We even have a meeting tonight with all the local knights. We're going to decide how to proceed. I'll figure something out to help."
Not able to think what else to say, I turned and left. Started jogging back, although shifting a bit at the end. Most of the populace was now up and getting to work. I was part of the small group that spent the mornings doing something else.
"Did you go visit him again, Leon?"
I was greeted at the end of the job by my mother. Possessing auburn hair and amber eyes, she also still had the slightly pale, puffy look of a woman that had been having a hard time. At her side was Colin, my little brother. Colin had our father's coloring, black hair and irises.
"It helps center me in the mornings," I replied casually.
"It keeps making you late to training, big bro. Nicks was complaining," Colin pitched in cheerfully, not as sensitive to the graver tension.
"Maybe that's the point. Only smart to avoid chores when possible, right?" I said with a wink at him. "In fact, speaking of chores. How is it going Finley?"
The response from my younger sister was a chilly glare. While lacking any red in her light brown hair styled in a bob cut, her amber eyes were all mother's. It was shameful, but it was one advantage my sisters had over me. Their eyes provoked the instinctive shiver of any naughty child that had often been scolded engraved onto my mind.
"You suck," Finley said simply after glaring for a bit, crouching by a shed. Her hand was on it, charging the magic circles engraved on it. She then pulled her hand away, declaring, "In fact, you do this! You're better at it, and I'm the one that should be able to avoid chores."
"I'll pass," I said immediately, walking away closer to the training area. "I wouldn't deprive you of being able to take pride in your dedication."
"What pride?!"
"You're such a child if you still can't even take pride in doing your chores dutifully," I said with a melodramatic sigh.
"You're the one who just talked about avoiding chores!"
Mother just sighed at the argument breaking out between Finley and I, a common occurrence when I was around my sisters.
I just ignored it in favor of looking over my shoulder with a refreshing smile and telling her with a wave, "Might want to get on that, Finley. Wouldn't want the treats in there to melt, would we?"
Her growl of anger and frustration was music to my ears.
The ice sheds and heating boxes really were chores. There was very much a reason why using magic stones was the mainstream method of powering them. Magic wasn't innately physically demanding, but it could tire someone out in a mental sort of way. Too much, and it even did start leaving one's body weak. For a rural land like this where magic was generally limited to the most basic of techniques and usages, it was harsh for people who often already worked hard before.
At least most of the people understood the use. They might teasingly blame me, but they knew the value. My sisters were spoiled though. My family wasn't innately magically talented in most ways, but any innate ability with magic tended to float upwards into knights and the nobility. At least in terms of sheer magic power, our family was the best in the barony. None of us could not pitch in to this communal chore. Jenna and Finley had always complained on that, and actually blamed me though!
Such cruel sisters, I had.
It did mean I needed to take the harsh task of disciplining them. Not giving them an inch. Making sure that they embraced this troublesome task. It was harsh for me, as a kind brother, but necessary for them as people.
It helped that Finley was not the type to give up any luxuries, like ice for drinks or even an occasional sweet treat, and so would follow through if she couldn't get someone to do it for her.
My good mood was quickly ended though when something collided with my head.
"Ah ah ah, ouch," I let out while grasping my head and glaring mulishly at the one who hit me.
"You're late," the man said, unbothered by my glare.
"Only by a bit, Uncle Luca," I complained, although he didn't listen.
My mother's younger brother, he naturally looked like her. A bit browner hair, but the same amber eyes. He was averagely built, maybe a slight bit on the shorter and leaner side. He'd also gained a bit of a paunch as he hit middle age.
He was still the authority figure though. I hadn't been too close with my mother's family before, my uncles never quite happy that she was a mistress -not even a Second Wife-. With the recent issues though, the family had consolidated. My maternal grandfather had died alongside my father. My other uncle, Landon, was the younger of my two uncles and was still patrolling as the more warrior orientated of the two. Uncle Luca had more stepped in to assist me and Nicks in try to lead the territory, and provide the male authority figure.
"Doesn't matter if it is by a bit or not. Nicks is already here, and training," uncle said as he nodded towards where Nicks was working.
Nicks quite a bit like father. Like Colin, he had inherited the same black hair and eyes. His hair was a bit smoother though, and he was overall less rough looking as he inherited mother's slimmer figure than father's bulkier one.
Honestly, I would have preferred looking the same. It wasn't like the people of this world actually looked like the ethnicities of Earth -especially the array of hair and eye colors-, but Nicks and father had looked comparatively Japanese. I was the only son to get mother's coloring and father's build though. Auburn hair and amber eyes. A bit taller and stronger looking. Not even really handsome either. Maybe less average looking, but that was it. My looks really didn't matter to me, and I didn't hate how I looked either, but not even ten years had been enough for me to not feel like the reflection I saw was someone else entirely.
"Nicks is dedicated. I respect him for that. We all know I'm not," I eventually replied to my uncle's words, admitting that with a wide smile.
"Leon," he started at my words, shaking his head. "Just because you're more talented doesn't mean you can just coast by. Not now."
"I think your idea of talent is skewed, uncle," I grumbled back.
My father had generously called it 'killer instinct.'
Other had less generously called it an 'eye only able to see the weaknesses of others', and an 'unabashed glee for picking at that weakness.'
I just thought that they didn't really get what talent really was. It was the exact lack of talent that made me act in such a way. Only someone talented can take someone on where they are strong, after all.
"Well, if you aren't talented, then you need to get to training," my uncle said, tossing the wooden sword at me. "Lukas, spar with your cousin."
My fourteen-year-old cousin, son of Uncle Landon, came at me eagerly with that to start whacking at me. Not even any hesitation! He had become oddly fixated on beating me for whatever reason. Why was I always so unfairly persecuted?
I still was able to fend him off.
Until two minutes later, when uncle called out again, "Leon, switch! Turk, you join in with Lukas against Leon."
I quickly dropped the wooden sword, and caught the wooden club uncle tossed at me. Just in time for me to react as one of the knights serving our family joined my cousin, and they started a double assault. This time defending was not as easy.
And so it went. Just as what Nicks had been undergoing, uncle forced to face an array of opponents from all the knights that came together in the mornings to train together. He also forced frequent switching of weapons.
No one in the territory was a master at anything. Why would any of us? I hadn't trained in kendo in my past life or anything, and they were as much farmers as knights. We didn't have the time, energy, or funds to spend years practicing one weapon under a master or doing something inane like trying to cut a flying swallow. Learning the basics of what weapons we can, and then sparring in a variety of scenarios was the best we could manage.
Hell, the first 'training' I'd received was throwing rocks I could find on the ground at a target.
For anyone who would start monologuing on the battlefield with eyes closed or disregarded such a simple tactic as an enemy throwing a fist sized rock at their face.
"Ah, that hurt! What the hell, Nicks!"
"You were late! You made me endure this alone!"
"So you attack me!"
"You'll survive!"
It was after a good hour of such hard sparring that it ended. Actually a bit early. It made me look over to see uncle eying an approaching figure in military uniform.
Ah. Doing what I could to straighten myself, I joined Nicks in walking over to the arriving person.
"Captain Avor. Apologies for the mess," Nicks quickly said to the person.
"No, it is my intrusion, young Bartfort," the man quickly said back, shaking his head good-naturedly. "I would have preferred sending warning ahead, instead of interrupting your training."
"We are happy to talk with you anytime," I said at this point, and not just referring to being able to end sparring early. "The entire Bartfort Barony owes you and the Green Wings for aiding us in our time of need."
Captain Avor was a commander in the Green Wings Knight Order. They'd been crucial in driving the sky pirates back, despite the losses my family suffered. Initial reports had indicated potentially three airships held by the sky pirates. Our barony had no airships of our own. We had armors and it was possible for us to rent an airship, but it had been too unbalanced. The Green Wings had been the first reinforcements to answer the call that had been put out. Provided two airships that had met two sky pirate airships, crippled one and driven the other off. They'd even stayed a month afterwards to continue patrolling the airways.
"We are just doing our duty," Avor said back at my words, nodding in thanks. "And our duty now brings us elsewhere. Lady Zola refused to meet with me again, and I can justify delaying our departure no longer."
That made me grimace.
The Green Wings had been the first to respond, but that wasn't really surprising. It also didn't mean they were a prestigious Knight Order. In fact, it was arguably the reverse. Most Knight Orders were sponsored by and served richer and power powerful nobles. Some even by the Royal Family or the kingdom as a whole. The Green Wings lacked such sponsors, arguably being the knight order for poor, rural nobles. Those like my family, too poor to entice a more prestigious force and yet also judged by the kingdom as responsible for its own affairs as nobles.
I remembered the proper version of the game, where Knight Orders played a role. The Green Wings were arguably the 'beginner' Knight Order. Desperate enough for allies or money to react quickly. No major prestige hurdles. They were lacking in equipment though, and of low prestige themselves. It was possible to change that, provide financial support and improve the force's stats through battles. With money precious and limited in that version though, it had driven one away from them. It also didn't help that the love interests provided far superior Knight Orders that were financed by their own families once one reached a certain affection level with them.
Basically, they were the Knight Order available early but eventually dropped for new options arising since building them up was a hassle and a half when those resources could be put elsewhere.
Now living this though, I realized the human element that had been excluded there. How much such aid could actually mean. They fought alongside my father because we couldn't handle it alone. While they'd managed to claim enough loot in armors from the nominal victory to make it arguably worth it, it was clear they had hoped for an actual ally in the Bartfort Barony. Father's death had ruined that, and Zola had apparently deemed them not even worth talking to. Not at all those she wanted to associate with, from the view of court nobles at the capital. Even though they had stayed longer to continue patrols for a full month.
It was honestly infuriating.
"I apologize for her behavior," I told him with a small bow.
"You have nothing to apologize for, young Leon," Avor quickly said, holding up his hands. "You all also have plenty of work before you. It is the hopes of the Green Wings that your Barony prosper. Your father was a courageous man who saved no small number of my men. It was an honor to fight alongside him."
"We are honored by your words."
"We shall leave tomorrow at noon. Any final issues you wish to discuss with the order should be done beforehand."
"Of course, Captain."
"I'll need to give one last check of our armors," I said. The Green Wings hadn't only taken the armors claimed from the sky pirates for themselves, but presented some to Barony as compensation for our losses. The one now 'mine' in particular was troublesome, and had needed some work with the Green Wings' armor mechanics.
"That is of no issue. Just ensure to do it tomorrow morning. Farewell, you two."
As Avor walked away, Nicks announced grimly, "We're going to have to discuss this at the gathering tonight."
I just nodded along, knowing what he meant.
Once the following day's work in the field was finished, the knights of the Barony gathered together again. This would normally happen in the mansion, but Zola had little interest in these affairs. So, we all just met in outside uncle's residence. The few dozen forming a rough circle, anything suitable for the task dragged close to serve as seats. We all had to make do to allow a proper discussion regarding the defense of the Barony.
"The Green Wings are leaving?"
"I knew it would happen, but I hoped they'd keep extending it by a week."
"That leaves us no airships to patrol against any sky pirates returning."
Such were the exchanges of the gathered knights when Nicks announced what Avor had told us. The departure of the Green Wings had been the opening announcement. It naturally wasn't good news, after all.
This was a world of floating islands. Airships were absolutely paramount to do anything. The military was effectively limited by how many could effectively be transported and deployed from airships. It was possible to defend the close airspace utilizing armors or airbikes, but not even a million soldiers could do the job of a single airship in terms of patrolling the further routes or defending the merchant vessels coming and going.
The lack of any such airship hit us all far more intently now than it had in the years before, now that we had learned we were apparently tempting enough to target.
"Has Lady Zola said anything? You met with her earlier, Lord Nicks?"
"I did meet with her, and there is some good news," Nicks said, looking split. "If nothing else, she managed to present our case at court. Get it heard. Some royal forces will be dispatched to start irregular patrols of the area."
That was enough to earn a sigh of relief from those gathered. It was this reason the noble wives that were otherwise parasites were arguably necessary. Rural nobles needed a mansion in the capital, someone familiar with the politics there. Just to present issues like these. Without that, they might as well be invisible to the court except when it came to taxes or collecting military obligations.
It had been two months since the sky pirates started to appear. It had taken a week for my father to put out a call for help. Two weeks for the Green Wings to arrive. The battle happened a month ago. Only now was the capital moving.
I wasn't the only one to remember that either, as another started with fading relief, "That's good, but it's not enough. We'll be lucky if they stay at it for a month or two before leaving. It might even be just one airship, coming infrequently. Far from good coverage. Or something to count on."
"I will at least buy us time. Any other update from Lady Zola, Lord Nicks?"
Nicks looked rather constipated here, sending me a look as he said, "She seemed to have little interest further, saying she did her part. She instead seemed more interested in other matters. Primarily…she mentioned planning to marry Leon off soon."
Okay, that got a scowl from me, and I quickly said, "Like hell I'll accept that. The Academy is off the table now, but I'm needed here."
"It's still in the future," Nicks claimed with a helpless shrug. "We shouldn't expect anything more from her though."
"That means we have to handle it ourselves," Uncle Luca declared. "We can't do nothing. It is clear that the prosperity of the last few years hasn't gone unnoticed. Without commensurately increasing our military power, sky pirates will inevitably return once the royal forces leave. We need to use this time. We need an airship of our own, at least. Preferably two."
"Easier said than done, uncle," I said at that.
"Indeed. It isn't like we can purchase one outright. We have nowhere near the funds," Nicks claimed.
"There are ways." I announced, considering. Considering what I remembered, starting to tick off fingers on my hand. "Claiming one in battle would be the most efficient, but also arguably the most difficult. Buying one is the simplest, if with some significant funds raised beforehand. The issue is that looking at it only in terms of airships is too narrow-minded. There's more necessary. Gaining additional armors. Getting the funds to also maintain an airship. Hell, we need to improve our own capabilities. We're not exactly a force ready and able to take on any comers. We need more combat experience, and personal equipment."
"How on earth would be manage all that?" one of the older knights asked with a scowl. "We're still struggling from when your grandsire was promoted to baron. It's not like overcoming the challenges is just something we do."
"Except we are in a better position," my uncle pitched immediately. "We're at this point because this land has grown. We've got traders coming and going. This is a different problem we're facing right now, and it isn't solved by decades of further cultivating the land or increasing the population. We can do this."
"I agree," I said, mind racing. This would be a drag, but things would only get worse if this wasn't handled. "It's not a simple path, but we have some numbers. We have enough people here to challenge harder dungeons, accruing battle experience and gathering funds. Nothing short of a major find would be enough to purchase an airship, but it would still prepare us. We could hire an airship temporarily to hit sky pirates. Maybe even contact the Green Wings again for assistance. Claim an airship that way."
"Challenging dungeons? A good number of us? What are we going to do about the land here?"
"We have more farmhands working than ever before. I'm sure that the land will be able to manage with some of us gone," I pointed out. "Especially if the ones that remain pick up the slack."
That drew some groans.
"We have to make the commitment now though," Nicks declared. "We need to make full use of the time the royal forces will be here. It will mean some hard times and risks, but I'm not sure we have any choice."
The knights didn't look excited, but none protested. Everyone realized the situation. The details of the plan still scarce, but that wasn't what was being discussed here. Just acknowledgement that doing nothing was not an option.
"I suppose that's it then," I said as I stood. "We've got under a year before Rutart graduates, and potentially starts to micromanage us. We need to build our military forces before that…Let's start figuring out the specifics."
Most of this second life, I'd been content enough. I had no role in that otome game. My family, our land, my looks. I'd be a mob. That had been something I had acknowledged.
I didn't have a choice to just stand back though. Not anymore. This was a task that needed to be done, for my home. Without it, I would have no peaceful life.
There was also a different version of the game. One that did focus more on building up forces just like what was needed. It would have been convenient if I remembered Luxion's location, but I wasn't able to remember enough to write it down. Maybe if I had last played the 'proper' game, but the developer's version hadn't reached that far yet. I felt more familiar with the dungeons and other strategic elements that had been part of that version than the main version.
I couldn't find myself too angry about that right now though.
After all, if I was in a game world, at least I could play it like the version of that game I had actually enjoyed.
Hope this served to entertain and catch your interest. I'm hoping most chapters won't be this long. This just served an an introduction, and explained some of the divergences.