Chapter 5: Oubeniel Brothers

Half a year ago, father passed away.

His condition took a turn for the worse last spring, so I extended my spring break to take care of him, but it did not turn out well.

That was because father’s dislike towards alchemy became revulsion towards me and thus, he completely rejected any treatments from me.

I am already 18 years old. I was a half-assed alchemist a decade ago, but now, I am recognised as a successor from a highly acclaimed professor. An illness of that level would not pose a problem to anyone who went through the trainings from the academy, and yet, father was resolute in rejecting treatment. At that moment, I was made to quit school and had to make a round trip home. Just when father thought I had gone overseas, I reappeared and, due to that, his condition suddenly worsened.

Well, my pace of expending slaves in my radical human experimentation was too fast, horrifying father so much that he brought me to church. The trust he has in me has reached rock bottom. The medicine that I had provided him with probably seemed like poison obtained by trading with the devil.

Honestly speaking, I am hardly sad at all. To me, my parents are the parents of my previous life and even though I feel indebted for him raising me, he treated my repayment with disdain and died in the end. On the contrary, I am the one being painted in bad light.

Even if I say so myself, I thought it was cold-hearted. And that was how I really felt.

The only problem that cropped up was that brother was supposed to easily inherit the family headship when father passed away, but the lawyers administering the country’s court were, for some reason, delaying it. I made Yuni investigate and it appears the reason lies in me. I heard wild rumours in the streets that someone like Talese Shernan Obeniel would have no qualms deposing his brother from being the next Earl. …...They are greatly mistaken.

Profiting from the sale of potions and selling equipment I made myself in the academy would project the image of avarice to others, won’t it? All I wanted was just a place to research, funds, raw ingredients and cooperative people. The lecturer who is my mentor often says, it is extremely difficult to gain the understanding of people……

In any case, this was handled amicably again. The investigating officer did realise himself that he had partially misunderstood and while resolving the remaining doubts he had of me, I took the chance to request a few things of him, so he reported nothing problematic to the High Court. Incidentally, the investigation log that I read wrote the circumstances of a former retainer from my family. Hence, partly because I am still thankful of him, I treated him, who loves drinking, to homemade quality liquor. Right now, he must be having the sensation of climbing up into the skies. I mean, that first-generation knight did take care of me in many ways. This is just my way of thanking him and silencing him.

Now that all is back to normal, brother finally became the head and with my share of inheritance, I can research to my heart’s content. A win-win situation. After all, the academy’s alchemy faculty has a smaller budget. Above that, it was also a governmental institution, so there was surveillance too. It wasn’t just once or twice that complaints regarding the research were directed towards me. It was an attractive prospect to have the help of mages who were familiar with fields outside my expertise, but I’m sure I’ll be able to work out something outside school as long as I have money. Now that I have amassed a large fortune, I am aiming to conduct a research more complex than ever before, even though I am no longer part of the academy. I have written copies of important documents from there and have self-taught a significant amount of know-how too. I no longer have any regrets about leaving. And thus, I have no worries for the future.

“No worries,” should have been the case……

“How are you doing, brother?”

I asked, facing the new owner of the office in the mansion. Brother called me into the room while handling paperwork.

As though the chair that was occupied by father before he was bedridden was completely his, brother stopped signing off paperwork and looked up.

“Did you not hear? Then I shall say it once more. Under one of our land, I plan to dismantle and reorganise a manor that has been acting as the prefectural governor. At the same time, you’ll be entrusted with the rank of a viscount. Since you have been given this role, you have to go there.”

This brief explanation at point blank.

I am given peerage and territory. At first glance, it probably sounds alluring. Since I can set foot on the path to success as an aristocrat. Normally, this would be something to cry about with tears of joy. However, being the owner of territory would mean I have to relocate to the actual region. It means that I have to abandon this relatively well-built city, abandon the safety of the capital behind the imperial guards and go to the countryside where there are many inconveniences and less public security.

Put simply, brother is saying that a good-for-nothing second son should be contented with fleeing the city.

This is no joke. A large-scale city like the capital, Brosenul, has the most optimum slave market to restock the crucial guinea pigs for my research. Furthermore, many goods circulate to the capital through the links to the highway. To be forced to leave this kind of place, I would have no choice but to reduce the scope of the experiments.

I could substitute the slaves with the local residents, but that would be a terrible move. By doing that frequently, it would create negative effects on the management of the land as the manpower of farmers and workers would dip and motivation of labourers would decrease too. To make matters worse, if I excessively convert commoners to slaves, I might be charged with excess misconduct and appear on the radar of the High Court of Justice that I tried so hard to avoid. At that point of time, it won’t even be about continuing the research; it’ll be my ruin.

Also, I hold control over the company that sell potions — my source of income. It would incur a heavy blow on me economically.

…...No way, no way! I cannot accept this at all!

“Please wait! I mean…...it has not been long since brother took over the role of family head? Hence, dividing the land might cause confusion to governmental affairs? Yeah? Why don’t we not do this?”

I summarised my points frantically, but brother simply snorted. Damn it, acting like this because he got his most desired position as the head of the family. Had I known it would turn out this way, I would have chosen the option of grabbing the headship even if I had to kill him. Though there are many risks associated with doing so.

“What are you saying. The royal court has already begun to move. If not so, I couldn’t have given you any peerage. If you object here, it would be cause of confusion instead. Surely you are capable of understanding this much?”

…...You were the one who made the royal court move in the first place.

Not everything is difficult. For this country — and other countries too — the title of viscount could be called vice-Earl, and is mainly a subordinate of the Earl. Even if it is a court rank that can be granted important roles, it is basically following orders of an Earl and its family members, not to mention that I am being made to follow those orders. In short, the right to appoint roles lies with the country, but with brother’s position, exercising his powers and influencing would be an easy task.

“T-That is true, though…...”

“Also, we can’t have the son of the glorious Obeniel family rotting away aimlessly at home all the time, can we? Shouldn’t you consider this an opportunity? Since it hasn’t been that long since your path to scholarship was severed. This is your chance for you to endeavour in a path fitting of an aristocrat.”

Such a solid argument. He then turned his around. A well executed way of cutting off my escape route. If I were to reject him now, I would be considered as neglecting my responsibility as an aristocrat, and society’s trust in me — even though it may not be high — would become zero. That is as good as declining a life where I can support myself in a feudalistic society in which social status and power determines all. Speaking in terms of my previous world, it is similar to a company which can no longer take loans. Nobody would want to deal with such a person. It would be problematic in discussing business with merchants and cut off the funds required for purchasing guinea pigs.

Nevertheless, is this how you treat a younger brother who has quietly held back over the inheriting of the family headship? I don’t expect him to be choked full of tears of gratitude, but he should at least have the generosity to support the dream of his adorable brother.

No way I could say that though.

“Brother…...do you wish to chase me out of the house that much?”

It was a question which I didn’t expect to be answered. I meant it to be the frivolous whining of a sore loser.

However, brother glared at me with flashing eyes.

“——Of course.”

He declared.

“How bad do you think the rumours about our family have gotten because of your blood-stinking experiments? It’s true that all of those you killed were slaves at the most. I’m not saying that it is run counter to the laws. However, surely there is a limit to everything!?”

He slammed the desk, stood up, abruptly walked towards the window area and opened the windows forcefully.

“Look, we can see the remnants of the cremation at the courtyard from here! Did you know that because of you doing all those things year in year out, except when you went abroad for studies, we weren’t able to hold any night parties at home!? Not only that, it has been more than once or twice that other households are creeped out whenever they see from afar a fire being lit in our courtyard. Do you understand how miserable we were then!?”

Brother appeared to be unsettled, as he gestured with trembling hands, and scratched his head at times. Moreover, he did it in rapid succession. He didn’t even give me the chance to squeeze in a few words.

What can I do? It seems that I have flipped a bad switch.

“In addition, do you know how old I am? Twenty-five. Not a strange age to be having children, right? Despite that, I am still single. That’s all thanks to you! All the families are afraid of you and don’t want to send their daughters here! Let’s not even mention my very first fiancee, whose parents came begging in tears to cancel the engagement! ‘No way are we allowing our daughter to marry into the Obeniel’s man-eating mansion!’ And that’s not all. The number of people in the house has dwindled shortly after you began your experiments to the extent where it isn’t even half of what it used to be! No matter how crude we are, we are still an Earl family aren’t we? Ehhh!?”

“Y-Yes…...”

“Do you know how much fear you brought to father? Huhnn!? Because of your poor taste in hobbies, father became sick, and also because you showed your face, father fell into critical condition, dying just like that. Did you know!? No, no, perhaps you were the one who laced his food with some unknown poison! Say it, truthfully. You were the one who killed him huh!?”

“That is quite a far-fetched accusation you made against me, brother.”

He might have been affected by anxiety to some extent, but when I examined him, I could tell that he had become as gravely ill as his depraved lifestyle. After all, he had all kinds of illness caused by lifestyle like diabetes, gout, high-blood pressure and etcetera creating complications for his health. Certainly I had hoped that he would part with his fortune quickly, but still, there was no reason for me to kill a person that was already at death’s doorstep.

“......What!?”

At my rebuttal, brother flew off the handle and climbed over the desk. He was completely enraged.

A clenched fist flew over. At the same time, my equipment activated automatically, and I became enveloped in a transparent barrier weaved with magic. It received brother’s fist.

Nevertheless, brother did not seem to realise it and continuously rained punches on it.

“Stop feigning ignorance! You bastard! You were the one who killed him! Mother died from giving birth to you! You demon! You parricidal demon!! Just how much, how much are you going to rob me of until you are satisfied!? Answer me Talese!!!”

“Please calm down, brother. You will break your fist, y’know?”

I shrugged my shoulders and urged him. Brother finally stepped back. Blood dripped from his fist and stained the floor. My warning came too late.

“Oh dear, it can’t be helped…...”

Because it can’t be helped, I decided to treat him. It was the recovery magic that I have trained to analyse up to fractures, from my long years of human experimentation. Apart from alchemy, my skills in other magics are mediocre, but I still have much confidence in it.

Since brother slightly stirred when he took my hand, I said, “Please do not move. If I make any mistake here, your bone would become crooked, yeah?”

“Shut ——”

“Well, with my surgery, I’ll get it patched right away though.”

I cautioned. He seemed to have understood and stopped fidgeting.

As soon as the treatment was done, brother swiped his hand away from me as though he wanted to protect the hand that I was holding. A reaction as though he had touched germs. Really, that was so rude.

“......I didn’t think brother hated me this much. And this is how you repay my kindness. I shall humbly accept what you have said.”

“......H-Humph! If you were like this from the start, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.”

Brother said as he sat on the chair once again. As expected from the head of an Earl family, he has already recovered from his rage and has, to some extent, regained his composure. His animosity towards me hasn’t changed though.

“‘From the start’? I would have wanted you to discuss this with me beforehand. So, let’s talk about the details then. I can go anywhere I like?”

“Here.”

Brother put on a sour look as he spread out a map and pointed to a spot with his finger. The name of the place was, umm. Marlin? I have never heard this name before. It was in the region of Volden, which has been the territory of the Obeniels’ for generations, and was located in a corner…...it’s really a corner. Isn’t it just at the corner of the map?

It’s roughly 350 km southeast from the capital. From the perspective of a former Japanese, it would be Tohoku travelling north from Tokyo or the Lake Biwa area if travelling west.

“That’s quite far isn’t it.”

“Anyways, it is also the border with a neighbouring country. For a head of family who had just started, this would be a land in which he would want to place his most trusted men, yes?”

Such hypocrisy. It’s true that east of Marlin or east of the Volden region, which has been part of the Obeniel family for successive generations, is Sankt Gallen Federation. However, in actuality, a chain of mountains divide the two countries so the common way to pass through is further north. Not only that, as pointed out from the map, the boundary lines of the territory were wider than I imagined but it was mostly mountains and forests.

…...In short, the remote countryside.

“Ahh, speaking of which…...it was once famed for its rich copper deposits.”

Brother said in an effort to comfort, though it was plain as day he didn’t care about me at all.

‘Once’ was when? In any case, since he is forcing this land on me, there is no doubt that the copper veins have been exhausted and the only ones left are unprofitable.

I mentally prepared myself but this is depressing. Being forced into such a place, what in the world can I — do? Wait a sec. Land? Viscount?

It was something that I secretly looked forward to in my heart. However, brother has yet to realise it. While intentionally making dark expression, I lowered my face so as to not be seen through, as I continued asking for more details.

“......How about the previous prefectural governors?”

“They will be put under your command. Handle them well.”

What’s he trying to do by throwing a newbie into a sphere already dominated by vested interests?

“How about the mansion where government affairs are conducted?”

“You are allowed to build a new one. You are the sibling of a head too, it wouldn’t look good if you are using hand-me-downs from the previous prefectural governor.”

‘Allowed’ only huh. So he wouldn’t be backing me with cash huh? Is that right?

“When do I depart?”

“Tomorrow.”

Hey, hold up a sec.

His reply caught me off guard and my cheeks couldn’t help but twitch, but I endured somehow.

“......That soon?”

“Due to hiccups like the investigation by the High Court, the succession took a far longer time than expected. Consequently, before I became the head of family, much of the governmental work in our territory froze. That is the situation we are in. In order to resume work, this has to be hurried.”

For someone who is describing a serious problem, he was enjoying himself too much. How dare he say something like that so shamelessly. And ever since father became bedridden, he took over the job to some extent.

There were many other things I want to add but I have to swallow my complaints and stay silent. This guy wants to dump the difficult problems onto me and make my life difficult. However, I don’t have to listen to his every bidding.

“Yes, I understand. In that case, since we are short of time, I will make my preparations now.”

“Wait.”

As I was about turn my heels, a stiff voice kept me in check.

“What is it?”

“You have been bestowed with peerage and even though the land is in the outskirts, you are still a person who will be managing that land. I will not allow anymore of your profligate behaviour.”

“I know. You are telling me to stop my alchemy research and lock up my underground lab, right?”

I was already planning to do so. I am not that bold a person to leave my vault full of secrets as it is.

“Good. …...And, one other thing. The preparations have been made for you. I won’t accept any failures regarding the job. If you do something unpardonable, don’t blame me for making a painful decision as a brother.”

From a glance, I could see bloodthirst inside brother’s eyes.

Unlike the childish exasperation earlier, it contained a level-headed and refined purpose.

Grasp the opponent’s weakness and denounce him publicly once something happens. Use not the sword but authority to slaughter, that is the murderous intent of an aristocrat.

“......I think I am trembling in excitement. With my meagre abilities, I will do my utmost best.”

I said and completely turned to face my back at him.

What I have been granted was a cage. A cage meant to lock out wild beasts.

Feed them some crude bait so they don’t become violent from hunger, weaken them gradually and finally kill them when they expose a chink in their armour. This is what has been prepared for me.

…...Still, how naïve.

That he specifically reminded me of that basically means he doesn’t have the resolve to kill me.

Time is an alchemist’s friend. While brother hands out his business cards and strengthens his determination, I will be able to prepare a new countermeasure.

A land that presents problems in procuring slaves. An area cut off from the cities. A place with nothing but hills, fields and forests.

What can I possibly do in a place like that? At most, it’s just a place for people from the capital to go sightseeing, isn’t it?

I hid my snickle, lowered my shoulders and exited. As I put up a feint, I pondered what to do with the new toy brother has given me.

Speaking of which, when was it that I had a similar conversation with father?

I left the office and by the side of the door was Yuni. Brother hates my slaves, so there was no way I could let her in. With no choice, I told her to stay outside.

“Good work, master.”

“It wasn’t to the extent of work. What about you? Thanks for enduring.”

I said and wiped her mouth. My fingers became stained in blood. Most likely, Yuni must have resisted her instincts to barge in when brother was trying to hit me. And thus, she must have bit her lips to bear with it. There were no scars left behind since she was at least capable of healing herself.

“I am truly unworthy of such kindness.”

She lowered her head deeply.

When I was studying abroad in the magic academy, Yuni had unnecessarily protected me on the spur of the moment and instead created a bigger commotion. This child is sometimes inflexible. Well, since she was able to put up with it this time, she does have the wit to not repeat her mistakes, so I doubt this would be a problem.

“Anyway, were you listening?”

As I whispered into her ears, I twisted my stained finger into her lips. Before the sensation of hitting her front tooth, my finger was wrapped in the softness of her lips and then, the finger was cleansed comfortably by her warm and moist tongue.

“Un…...buhaa. …...Ues, make the preparations before our departure and lock up the lab, right?”

Yuni replied while carefully wiping the finger, which has been pulled out, with a handkerchief. It might been because of the regretful parting of the finger from her tongue, that she was unable to pronounce, “Yes”. It’s not like I was doing this in the corridor during the day and there’s nothing to argue about if she used her own handkerchief. Well, this falls under skinship with subordinates. It is quite the sexual harassment, but if the other party doesn’t mind then that isn’t contradictory I guess. Yep.

“Exactly. Get them ready fast.”

“I understand. …...M-01, 02, 03.”

The moment she called out, three women silently appeared and kneeled.

It’s not like I can be pleased just playing with Yuni, so I created a sound barrier on them to maintain private conversations. The barrier I created couldn’t completely shield sounds from inside, because it was a lower-class magic. However, its upside is that it is easier to conceal the existence of the barrier itself. For magic other than alchemy, I am more well versed in pony tricks like this and recovery magic. If I was better at those gaudy offensive magics though, I would use them.

“M-01, here.”

“Same for you M-02, come here.”

“You too M-03, here.”

All of them produced the same clockwork expressionless face as their names were called. On their necks were the glimmer of a silver collar. And on their bodies were the same maid attire design. Despite the differences in their facial features and physique, they were this symmetrical. It might feel eerily discomforting to others.

They were the “products” of manufacturing based on the experimental data I got from Yuni. They were the fallen products of slaves which I held expectations for. People call them (I don’t though) the M series. Incidentally, the M stands for the M in maid. …...Please don’t call them cheap, that would hurt me.

Simply speaking, they were mass produced Yunis. Of course, making each and every one of them as multi-talented as Yuni would require long term training, and that would be unrealistic. Hence, applying the same technique to manipulate the mind, basic functionalities are inserted directly into the brains and later, medicine would be administered to further boost their abilities. Naturally, I have to at least configure their brains to prevent rebellion.

Their abilities on the battlefield goes no further than average, but they are more than sufficient for normal maid duties and helping with research. While we were at Sankt Gallen, these girls were good enough to entrust with the sale of potions.

Also, these girls do not have names. Unlike Yuni, the Super Dollfie of a product, the M series set forth mass productivity as the prerequisite. I don’t have such a good naming sense to name each and every one of them. For the time being, if there is an inconvenience with the lack of names, I allow them to call themselves by their real name before their restructuring.

“Tomorrow, the master has to leave. Do the preparations quickly. You know what has priority for moving right?”

“Yes, Chief Maid. According to the third emergency manual, the appropriate measure to take is to quickly move the rare C rank and above tools and materials. The rest are to be shredded and discarded.”

“A question for the Chief Maid. Regarding the raw ingredients that are currently being mixed, may I request in-depth instructions for the settings?”

“Answer to your question. Activate those that are in their final stages and have have completed the Opus 02 setting. The rest are to be disposed of regardless of their priorities. Understand?”

“Yes, Chief Maid. We shall do as you have said.”

“Good. So then, after relaying the same message to B-01 and B-02, quickly proceed to work on your assignments. Over.”

“““Yes, Chief Maid. Over.”””

Replying in unison, the three maids from the M series backed down.

Hmm, this conversation. Rather than being in a middle century fantasy world, it was more like a modern military or a near-future dystopian science fiction. This doesn’t match with current state of the world. The one who created this amusing scene was me though.

By the way, B-01 and B-02, who are not present, were a different model — the butler type B series model. Of course, B stands for the B in ‘butler’. Tough men were picked as raw materials for this series, hence, their speciality was that they were better at combat. This means that their B could stand for ‘Battler’ too. Despite being cheap, they were not much different.

In any case, I was looking at Yuni. Looking at Yuni shoot orders to her M series subordinates, from the perspective of the person who altered her brain, I can’t help but feel that she has grown significantly. Gallant and imposing. That I was able to raise such a beauty was something that I couldn’t imagine when I first set sights on her at the slave market. I remember noticing during the bone reconstruction operation that her bones were well-shaped, but I had no idea that it would like this after growing up.

I am experiencing the same deep stirring as I did four years ago when she was completed. Even so, no matter how many times you taste something good, they will still be good.

While I was lost in thought, Yuni looked at me with some anxiety.

“What happened, master?”

“No, nothing much. I was just thinking, Yuni is so beautiful.”

I declared without reserve. She submits to me fully. Thus, there is no need to lie. Frankly saying what I think is of no concern. Ahh, how wonderful a relationship without lies is.

Yuni blinked her eyes in a moment, but immediately bowed elegantly.

“These words are more than I deserve. I am grateful, master.”

For some reason, I felt stimulated by that reply and nodded once to her.

A perfect maid. A truly perfect maid.

I have known her for ten years. She has gone a long way to become this complete.

As long as I hold this greatest trump card, I have no need to fear something like the malice of an Earl.

I am being immersed in the feelings of omnipotence because I have my prided “product” serving me. No, this can’t do, this can’t do. I have to remind myself that letting your guard down is your greatest enemy.