Volume 1 Chapter 0.2: Prologue part2

prologue part2

TLN: I used Rion before for the synposis, but I'm using Leon now (and correcting the synopsis), since the site for this LN gives the official English spelling of the names for the main characters (the rest are still up for interpretation).

"──Ah, this is pretty bad."

My body lost its power like a puppet with its strings cut, and toppled down on the spot.

My body wasn't doing what I wanted it to, and it was the worst of luck to have it right before I was about to descend from the stairs.

The scenery in my field of vision was quickly changing as my body approached the stairs.

I didn't feel anything like pain in my body, but I recognized that my current state of vigorously tumbling down was dangerous.

"I can't...die...like this."

My younger sister had crushed my long-awaited break, and just when I think I'm free, I'm going to get serious injuries now. Actually, it's quite possible that my life may be at risk.

Thinking as such, I oddly──got enraged.

As the scenery around me dimmed and I gradually lost my senses, I had a thought during my final breaths──I had seen a scene that normally wouldn't happen even if one was in their last moments.

There was land rising from the sea.

An airship was flying in the air.

As I reached out to the sun in the blue sky and white clouds, my consciousness faded away.

◇

When I came to, I was on a slanted bank, with lushly grown grass.

There was the sound of grass scraping against one another, and the scent of plantation.

Lying down at such a place as my hand was reaching to the sun, I, "Leon Fou Baltfault", was attacked by a violent throbbing.

I wasn't sweating because of the sun's warmth, it was a cold sweat that wouldn't stop.

There was a pulsing pain in my core, and a unpleasant feeling as I sweated.

"W, what was that just now?"

Since I sat up in a panic, some of the grass that got caught on my clothes fell onto the ground. As the wind blew, the blades of grass drifted away.

As I thought of it as a strong wind, a giant airship passed through above me, blocking the sun with its large shadow.

This airship, which was wooden like a box, is one that periodically arrives at this territory.

I usually look at it nonchalantly, but today, I couldn't hide my eyes wide open in astonishment.

It feels as if I'm seeing this for the first time.

Clutching my chest, my heart was still pounding fiercely. My breathing wouldn't calm down either.

As I stood up, I looked at the direction the airship was heading towards, and there was a sea spreading beyond.

I feel a sense of something out of place, the sea looks different.

"What is this? Why does──"

I slowly walked forward, and then fell over.

Looking at my body, my hands and feet were strangely small.

I'm sure that this is my own body, and yet I strangely feel like I'm small.

Rather than worrying about this, I need to check the situation first.

I got up and walked, then gradually shifted into a dash towards the sea.

I have this uneasy premonition.

I feel like it took quite a bit of time with these child-like legs, but I got to my destination.

The location, which had a fence to prevent people from falling down, looked like the usual scenery.

"Right. It's just like usual──a floating island."

This was an island floating from the sea.

The island is still floating, but I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it. I had an image pop up about an island floating in seawater.

Though I shouldn't have needed to, I wanted to confirm it anyways.

Something's been strange for a while now.

When I reached my hand out towards the sun, an image popped up inside my head that seemed like someone else's life. It was the entire life of a man that didn't live here.

There was nothing prominent about it, but it still seemed enjoyable. It could be written off as a dream or illusion, but it felt vivid and strangely real.

Though I saw into that man's entire life, I don't remember his name.

I held my head against both of my hands.

It was such a vivid memory I saw and yet, why can't I recall his name?

I feel like I had instantly recalled the experiences of someone beyond my age of five.

I sat down, unable to understand what was going on. I feel like my current memories and those memories I recalled are blending together into a mix.

I looked up at the sky behind the fence.

"...What...what happened to me?"

Even I don't know who that question was directed towards.

◇

Since the sun was setting, I returned home.

I was reluctant to return, and I remembered that I had come to this bank to run away, but I wanted to get back before it turned to night.

I braced myself as I returned home, and my father was waiting there.

He stood there in front of the entrance, waiting with a daunting pose.

"You stupid son!"

He hit me on the head with his large fist, and I opened the front door while holding back my tears.

Then there was my mother.

"You've finally returned. Why did you run away on the day the wife finally came?"

My father, "Barcus," is a feudal lord──a baron.

Not long ago, an image about nobles had suddenly popped up, one where they wore neat clothes, and left more of a stingy impression. However, in that image, they were fat, whereas my father was a muscular giant that had grown out his facial hair. His attire was a shirt, tan pants, and boots, which didn't quite look noble-like.

My mother was a mistress named "Luce"──a woman of a knight family that serves the Baltfault household.

She didn't wear a dress, but clothes that would be worn by a town or village girl.

The "wife" that my mother was talking about was my father's legal wife.

"I'm, I'm...sorry."

Perhaps sensing that the aura around me was different from usual, my parents held complicated expressions as they led me to where I was staying──which was not a mansion, but a storehouse.

Thereupon, a woman wearing a dress was watching from the open front door.

There were cold gazes sent towards me, as I wasn't supposed to leave the residence.

With figures in dresses embroidered with jewelry, the eldest son, "Lutart," and the eldest daughter, "Merce," were holding themselves back.

Only those two are the wife's──the legal wife's legitimate children.

Behind them stood tall and neat-looking men wearing suits. Having long ears, they were male elves that were sneering at us.

"Good grief, this uneducated child is no different from a beast."

This woman, who was partially closing her eyes and had hair gathered together, gave off the exact image of a noble girl. My brother and sister were wearing valuable clothes, unlike me.

My mother apologizes, and my father takes me the the storehouse.

My father held a face of perseverance until we got to the storehouse.

"...Reflect on yourself in the storehouse. You'll get to eat afterwards."

When I nodded to what he said, there turned out to already be a guest in the storehouse.

The second son, "Nicks."

He was my older brother who wore clothing like mine, and was reading a book under the light of a lantern. My father and I looked at him with surprise.

"You're stupid as well. Just bear with it and those people will leave."

When my father saw my brother turn his sight back to the book, he hit him on the head.

"Nicks, help Leon with studying."

My brother made a face that seemed as if he was strongly opposed to that, but he made some room on the desk.

Once I sat down, he gave me a warning.

"If you fall asleep, I'll hit you."

Seeing that I nodded, my father left to return to the residence.

Now that it was just the two of us, my brother hands me a book to read.

I opened the book, which had been read so many times that it was getting tattered and had scribbles here or there.

I was inside the warehouse.

While warding away the bugs that were gathering around the light, I read.

I had this somewhat strange feeling.

My head was filled with this language that I didn't recognize. It's obvious that this language is different from what's written in this book I have. Actually, I feel like that language is easier.

As I was worried about such things, it seemed that my brother thought that I stumbled upon words that I had trouble reading.

"Think through it yourself for a bit. If you really don't know, then I tell you what it is."

Time quietly passed.

The persistent and annoying bugs were gathering around the light.

"──Hey, brother?"

My brother was slightly surprised that I had spoken.

"Brother? Didn't you call me bro in the morning?"(TLN: MC was using Aniki, Nicks notes that MC was using Nii-san in the morning.)

I tried to correct myself in a hurry, but my brother seemed to have seen through me.

"Are you at that period where you try to act older? Well, it doesn't particularly matter to me. Leaving that aside, is there anything you don't understand."

I shook my head.

What I was more curious about was our treatment.

I wasn't bothered by it until now, but doubts were currently popping up one by one.

I get that the eldest son is treasured, but how come we're the only ones driven away to a storehouse? There are older and younger sisters besides us.

Yet, those sisters aren't in the storehouse, even though they're illegitimate children like us.

"Why are we the only ones in the storehouse?"

My brother muttered to himself, saying "They said to me that it was only going to be until yesterday..." then he set aside his book and stared up at the ceiling.

"It's because the wife hates us."

"It's because we're the children of our mother?"

My brother put his hands behind his head, and leaned his back against the chair.

"Do you think that there's any other reason than that? Even though they're daughters of a mistress, it seems she's hesitant on sending the girls to the storehouse, but this is how us boys get treated."

From there, my brother explained the situation of the household in an uninterested manner.

Rather than talking to me about it, it seemed more like he was complaining about it to me, the youngest brother of three.

It seems that my brother, who's seven years old, had a lot to complain about.

The Baltfault family is a household that holds a floating island as its territory.

However, it was previously a knight household that had been classified as a semi-baron one. Not genuine nobles, but more or less in a feudal lord social standing.

It seemed that they were a family that lived relatively peacefully for a knight household.

As months and years passed by, they had realized that they turned out to become a household with warriors for subordinates. Knights showed up, wanting to serve them, causing the scale of their situation to get bigger.

As their territory progressed, the fields and need for work increased──and that meant the population they needed to support increased. The scope of their territory had caused them to barely reach the scope of a baron family.

...So that's how things got to here.

Investigators from the "Holfault Kingdom" come to our territory.

It seems that this is something from the time of my grandfather, but it seems that investigators had come before to judge if the scope of our territory was worthy of being for a baron family. Then they proceeded to talk about the process for ascending in noble rank, but my grandfather brushed over it in a rush, it seems. Anyways, becoming barons wasn't something intentional.

There, some knowledge from recalled memories rushed to my head.

Shouldn't ascending in rank be something worth enjoying? Furthermore, is it really that simple to decide on it based on territory scale? For something like rising in status, isn't it necessary for more achievements, like military feats or something, to be accomplished? Those were the questions I had.

"Is it bad to ascend in rank?"

It seems my brother doesn't know this, but I could sense that father's not happy from his expression.

"There were complaints about how troubled it would given its short notice, and how some wanted to be a baron household through contributions appropriate for them to become one. That's the reason why we don't have much money."

The kingdom wants earnings that match our family status.

One piece from the recalled memories comes to mind.

A household that was barely at the scope of being a noble family, and a noble household with a lot of leeway.

The household with leeway has no issues, but the household that doesn't has a hard time making contributions. So, despite our scope of territory being enough for a baron household, it seems we're called a silent kinda-baron family.

Anyways, we became a baron household that are feudal lords of the countryside in an isolated island.

Wanting to behave in a way befitting of his family's status, father married a woman with a high status.

However, the woman he calls his wife is normally not in this territory.

The eldest son and eldest daughter also only come here occasionally.

"...Fath──Dad and his wife are married, right? Why is she not usually here?"

"That's normal for women in baron households and above. Pretty unlikable. If I get a wife, then I absolutely want one that's a semi-baron or lower. Well, a high status woman would think nothing of us anyways."

"That's normal?"

"You too should start studying at once. If not, you won't get married in the future, even when you're twenty years old. If you can't get married while in the academy, you're likely going to be a leftover-husband of a woman past her prime. That's not good, right?"

...I could not hide my surprise.

There are a lot of things I want to ask, like about the academy and such, but...above all I want to ask about that word, leftover-husband. Isn't it usually women that have to get married by a set age?

"H, hey, bro?"

"It's fine if you call me brother. Anyways, what is it?"

"...Men are usually the center of the household, right? Or rather, what do you mean by being forced to get with an older woman?"

My brother tilted his head.

"It's just like I said. There are woman who aren't married, had their man run away from them, or otherwise don't have a husband. They get a lover in name only so that they don't lose face. So, there are lots of old women and women past their prime that would take in youthful men as a leftover-husband."

My brother answered my question in an awfully firm manner.

"It's usually men that are in the upper position, right?"

From my recalled knowledge, I vaguely remember that men usually were the ones in charge for these kinds of situations. However, it seems that's not the case.

"If you look at dad, you'll know that the women are the ones in charge. You'll also know that he can't oppose that jer──his wife."

Seeing how he corrected himself by saying "wife" instead of "jerk", it seems that my brother thinks of her as unpleasant.

I had gone and heard something outrageous.

"Something's strange about you today."

I made a bitter smile towards my brother's suspicions while turning my line of sight back to the book, I was oddly sweating though.

How strange...this world is strange.

Due to this strange knowledge I got, I feel a sense of discomfort.

I read my book in silence for a while. Then I recall the words of my brother.

These recalled memories, wherever they came from, left a very strong impression.

"Academy...Holfault Kingdom? Then there's the wife's servants, which were elves? Huh? Could it be...?"

As I was muttering to myself, my brother made a complaint about the noise.

"What happened?"

"U, um, those suited guys. Those elves were lovers of the wife, right?"

My brother had a look of indifference, but was shocked.

"Don't ask something like that. Look, just study."

Those elves, which are part of a sub-race, are the wife's lovers, or more accurately, close servants that attend to her...I understand that. Or rather, I remember about this very clearly.

I slumped over on my desk.

"...This is the world of that otome game."

The cloudy memories gradually became clearer.

As that happened, I had realized that this terribly frivolous setting was of that otome game.

My brother slapped me on the head.

"Don't fall asleep! What's seriously going on with you today? Did you hit your head?"

I lifted my head and looked at my brother.

I raised a stiff smile, causing my brother to back away a little in surprise.

"W, what is it?"

"...Brother, this world is outrageous, isn't it?"

"...A, ah, it is."

My brother, troubled in his answer, turned his sight back to his book, as if wanting to escape from me.

I never that I would experience being reincarnated into another world.

Furthermore, a world of swords and magic...but I didn't hear about this otome game world being one where women are placed above men, or something like that.

I held my head against both of my hands.

"This is the wooooorst!"

My brother made a complaint to me, who had gone and shouted.

"What is with you! Someone shut this guy up!"

I, Leon Fou Baltfault, am a former Japanese man who reincarnated into the world of an otome game.

...I wanted to reincarnate in a more normal world.

It would have been better than an otome game...give me a break.