Sabu Kyara - (Bakarina, RaphaelWalt!SI)

Full Title: Sabu kyara ni tensei shitanode jimi ni ikite miru (Reincarnated as a Side Character, I try to live a modest life) [Source: Google Translate]

Waking up with an unfamiliar woman crying over me was a surprise. Waking up in the body of a child with white hair and a little red lock of hair was also a surprise. Waking up after 'getting hit' by a fallen wooden piece of the rotting roof above our heads was actually perplexing.

One can be so surprised before logic sinks in and I start to realize that something was afoot. But let's start with a rather important aspect of this absurd narration: my (new) name is Raphael Walt. I am the illegitimate child of a Marquis and my (new) mother was once a maid to said Marquis.

Our home was a moldy place, expenses were cheap but we hardly had a certain income on either a daily or monthly basis, and I was...

Now stuck in an Otome Game.

It took me a solid day to realize this last bit as I had thought I had merely been subjected to an Isekai Reincarnation plotline.

Illegitimate child of a noble, I had a kind but poor mother, a situation that could be improved on all aspects and... wind magic. I had wind magic. Lots of it, and of high manipulation despite my young age. As my mother mentioned this to me, I thought how could it be to have it working with ease and that's when I produced a full-functioning Rasengan on my right palm.

After dispelling that highly-destructive sphere of wind energy, I pondered on what was going on, but I only found an answer to why this name and situation felt so familiar only as I tried to sleep in the little bed I shared with my new mom.

This is Bakarina. Either that series, or I was in its original iteration known as Fortune Lover.

If the former was the correct guess, then I wasn't the only reincarnated figure and, by all chances, I may be unwittingly pulled in her reverse harem which the FMC was oblivious of, and if that was the latter then I would be the potential 'harem target' of the original FMC.

Either way, the path to that situation was preceded by something non-negligible: my connection with Marquis Dieke and how magic-weak his son and heir was, which ultimately led the bastard to try and sacrifice me and my mother to empower little Raphael but...

Raphael would have taken over the boy's mind. A case of possession of a living being, a replacement of the being within the same dimension and... the development of Dark Magic. As much as that sounded powerful, the Dark Magic in this world acted on a more 'alive' manner.

It manipulated and corrupted, heavily inflating the inner darkness of inexperienced users that couldn't shield themselves from its ill effects. With that in mind, my first goal was one of survival: both economically and literally.

The former was solved after some heavy thinking, tinkering and plotting by the second day of being Raphael Dieke: my wind manipulation was, despite its flaws, a perfect tool for 'precision work' over wood. I had tested it around and, after some successful experiments, I decided to get a job at the local workshop in town.

The old man welcoming me was a grumpy guy that had a tough luck with interacting with 'soft-skinned' fellows, but he still gave me a chance to 'surprise him'. And I did surprise him.

The old table that needed a new patchwork was fixed within three hours. DIY works were something I always found refreshing, and using wind magic and other materials provided to me proved to be enough in having it fixed in working and optimal position.

The owner was delighted, and I was soon hired as an 'apprentice'. I learned a few 'old-fashioned' tricks in regard to manual techniques used by this world's common artisans to fix broken furniture, and I made a hefty business in fixing a lot of that for most citizens.

It even got to the point that, as work started to grow a bit scarce in regard to this limited sector, I offered to fix entire houses. My boss was skeptical, but I found myself loving this specific heavier job as it helped me train more my magic, and it make for a solid income source for months.

I also got the chance to patch up the home I had with mom, even using some material I bought to create two new rooms. The woman was ecstatic at the results, but nonetheless mortified and in need of a serious dose of 'hugginium' to deal with the feeling of being 'worthless'.

She worked at the market, but the money she made there was abysmal when compared to my income. But I made sure to tell her she was as fine as she could be and she didn't need to work. Which in turn translated in her spending more time at home and sleep more than usual. Her sleep bags were soon gone and she looked healthier due to the edible ingredients I would buy from the market.

Within two months of being active in patching up our situation, I felt like we were making good progress for my inevitable meeting with Katarina Klaes. And what I forgot was... the Marquis. I had been out training that day when I found myself 'noticing' that someone was watching me, trying to get closer and closer as I was 'distracted'.

Honing my affinity with Wind Magic had given me a sixth sense in regard to anyone entering a proximity area within my surroundings, and I was quick to realize this individual had ill intentions. Not even a blink, and I was rushing around into the foliage, surprising the hooded man as he realized that he had been caught as he tried to run away.

He was too slow. Physically-speaking, he could have gotten me, but I was hitting with magic and I easily stabbed my trusty work-knife through the back of his head. He tensed up, flinching, and then collapsed on the floor. He dropped his sword and I picked it before discarding it and... and then I noticed his sigil.

I recognized it as mother had shown me her old outfit with the insignia on it and-

And I realized that she was in danger.

Without hesitation, I rushed back home. The door had been broken down and there was no one around. Gritting my teeth, I fetched myself a cloak I had bought for cold times, and marched towards the Marquis' home.

The path was clear up to its gates. The guards keeping watch of the keep's entrance sounded the alarm as they spotted me but... I was too fast. I jumped over the lifting bridge and slid down through the falling gates before it could crush me.

Several guards appeared, but none of those was able to use magic. They were well-armored and well-armed, but I was a 'precision worker'. Spotting the small openings in their armor, I bolted left and right, cutting and stabbing until I had decimated that first batch of troublesome bastards.

I paused momentarily to get one of the swords littering the ground, knowing that my knife alone wouldn't work well in the long-run. There were a few more guards as I continued to butcher my way through the halls of the manor, and I ultimately found my mother.

The woman was unconscious, lying on a magical circle as the few magicians there tried to rapidly subdue me at the order of their lord. The marquis was also able to use wind magic, but it was clear to me as I rushed around and dispatched the mediocre magicians that he was a lousy user considering his sloppy rong-ranged attacks with a wand.

Right as he tried to rush to my mother and use her as an hostage, he found his plans ruined by the knife I threw at him. The flying weapon found its target in the forehead of the noble, killing him. His wife screeched at me furiously, readying a blast of fire but... I was too fast and decapitated her.

It was only then that I saw my 'brother'. Sirius was red-haired. Shy, and timid, and also weak in magic. Despite this wimpy display, he couldn't hold himself to say something that forged his fate.

"I-I will kill you!"

These four words may have been uttered in the heat of the moment, but within my tense and uneasy mind, one that was pragmatically cynical in the handling of potential threats, I saw this in a more serious matter. I couldn't let this kid live if revenge against my family was in his mind. I couldn't let him be a constant problem for me and my mother.

"Then... I am sorry, brother. But this is the end."

I felt genuinely regretful that it had to happen. I felt genuinely saddened that there was no other way within that current mindset, but Raphael was given no chance to rebuke. The sword I had with me piercing through his chest and through his heart. His wide eyes were showing fear of dying. I stared at his slow death as a memento to what was to come.

Where Katarina and Mary had plot-armor in handling some of this shit...

I did not.

I had to take it upon myself to make sure that I didn't get killed by stronger entities. I was less than them, both magically and politically.

My mother would wake up back at home, panicking and then checking on me. I had patched up any wounds I found on her and also the few cuts I got on myself. She remembered being kidnapped, but I told her that I had taken her before the Marquis brought her to his home to hurt her.

She initially believed it, but then skepticism appeared on her face as soon as the news that the marquis' manor had been ransacked and his family killed had reached the entire fief. Some of the mayors 'grieved' the passing of Marquis Dieke, but it was clear that no one saw his death as a true tragedy. The same dissonance didn't spread with his family.

The extermination of the main branch of the Dieke family opened a month-long investigation fetched by the king himself. I had left no proof of my presence there and the staff was unable to identify me due to a trick I developed with wind distorting my facial traits within a hood.

The Marquis was also hated by most of his subjects, so the list of suspects was too elevated to predict who the real culprit was. Yet, what I had thought would have resulted in a new unlanded noble house to be assigned this fief, I was stunned when a royal messenger was welcomed inside our house by my mother.

I thought that was a pretty big 'red flag', even though I had cleaned up after the assault I hurled against the Marquis' keep, but I was pleased to hear it was something else altogether: letters had been found confirming the Marquis' infidelity, and that I was his soon.

This would have been a dangerous detail to be made known if the Marquis or anyone of his family had been alive, but since I was the only surviving Dieke, I was to be made Marquis and... my mother would act as a Marquess-regent.

The news was controversial. I didn't doubt that the royal court would be soon assailed by traditionalists lamenting this decision, but I had to admit that the king may have done so to spare himself a bigger headache: a new house that could add more chaos to the feeble balance within court.

With that being said, things were not going to follow a sudden introduction. Taxes were to be temporarily lowered by a fair margin at the request of the king's own concerns, and we were to fill up the now lessened garrison manning the castle. The fact that some of the servants had called quits with the keep meant that we would have to deal with that too.

Despite all those issues, I had a feeling I could make this work and... prepare for what was going to be a school life of death and harem flags.

AN

Raphael: (Tries to dodge fellow insert) Lay low, lay low.

Katarina: (Female!Insert notices dodgy male target) Man, he looks hot~!

The Rest of the Harem: The fuck?!/He kind of does~.