Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~
005 Brothers of Ovenil
Six months ago, my father died.
Things suddenly changed around the spring of last year, so I extended the spring break at the academy I was studying at, and it hit my parents at home, but the results were unexpected.
Because by then, my father's aversion to alchemy had turned into disgust for me, and he refused all my discreet treatment.
Now I'm eighteen, too. Ten years ago, he used to be nothing but a listening alchemist, but now he is regarded by a prestigious professor to his successor. If that's how sick he is, he has cured many people in the Academy's internship, but my father did not accept the treatment as hard as he could. In other words, I left the Academy and almost returned to my parents' house, which had left just before, but the medical condition deteriorated dramatically when I happened to think I had sent them back to my neighbor's country.
Well, sometimes the pace of consuming slaves in radical human experiments was too early, so much so that my father, who endangered it, took me to church. Credit from him is already the bottom line. The medicine I put in place also looked like the poison I got from doing business with the devil.
Honestly, I'm not too sad. Speaking of my parents, I mean the parents of my previous life, and I feel the benefit of having them raised up to this point, but I lost that at least to an unhindered quote. On the other hand, this one's going to get snotty.
I think it's a thin thing to do. but honestly, that was the feeling I had to fake.
However, the problem was that the inheritance of the governor, which my brother was supposed to inherit sooner or later after my father's death, was overtaken by waiting from the court presiding over the lawyers of this country to see why. I asked Uni to look into it, and the cause seems to be me. Anything you hear alley rumors about Turius Shrounan Ovenil and they say it's not strange to chase down his brother and inherit Count status? … which has been misunderstood for a long time.
Was it as if greed in the eyes of the world that made money from buying and selling potions or selling the courtesy made in front of you at the academy? I just wanted the location of the research, the funding, the materials, the collaborators. My mentor, the professor, always said that it's hard to get people to understand...
Well, that worked out this time, too. The investigator who was looking into it seemed half aware of the misconception even on his part, and as he dissolved the other half he did various favors and asked the High Court to report that it was not an obstacle. By the way, the paperwork I saw also included a recent update on our former minister, so I also thanked him for his previous liquor lover and behaved as a homemade, extraordinarily fine drink. By now, you'll be savoring the comfort of rising to heaven too. What, that ex-generation knight is taking care of me a little too. So I stopped and thanked you.
Now, for some reason, my brother's tenure as the depositary is fulfilled, and I can enter into a thorough study with a divided legacy. It is Win-Win. Anyway, the alchemy department at the Academy has a small budget. On top of that, the surveillance eye was quite impressive because it was at first a state-run agency in neighbouring Zanktogaren. Complaints about the experiment have not come up once or twice. It was fascinating to have the help of a magician familiar with my extra-special field, but that's a story that can be managed even in the field if money is convenient. Now that we have the pooled funds, there are prospects for more advanced research outside that school than ever before. There are copies of the eye-catching materials over there, and the know-how that was lacking in self-study could be absorbed well. At the earliest, there is no untrained. And no worries about the future.
No, I should have...
"Brother, what now?
I turned to the new lord in the mansion's office, and I heard that. My brother called me here to do paperwork.
My brother stopped and raised his face his hand to rule on the paperwork, completely taking the chair my father had sat in until he fell.
"You didn't hear me? Then say it again. The demolition and restructuring of some of the villas that had been delegated to deputies within the home territory of our Count family. Together, I leave the Viscount to you. I'll give it to you. You go there."
And it is not a word like this.
I'll give you the title and the territory. At first glance, that would sound like a sweet word. You get your way as a nobleman on one end. Normally, you should cry and rejoice. But being a lord means going to the field in the name of his superior nobility, where he has to take up his affairs. In this medieval fantasy world it means going to insecure countryside on the inconvenience, abandoning the comfort of life in the King's capital, which is relatively well infrastructured and also protected by the Knights of Kingsguard.
Finally, what my brother is saying is that the second son of the grain crusher should be spoiled and let fall into the city.
I'm not kidding. A slave market in a city as large as Brossenne, the king's capital, is the perfect place to buy the laboratory for my research. Besides, goods brought from all over the kingdom through the streets are in circulation. In the wings of leaving there, the scale of research is forced to shrink.
Slaves also have the hand of replenishing from local inhabitants, but this is a bad hand. Farmers and craftsmen are understaffed even if they do that frequently, and the willingness of those who work is reduced, which adversely affects territorial management. Besides, putting too many civilians into slavery can even cause the High Court, which was blamed for abusive behavior and pulled them into a corner, to come out again. Instead of continuing the research, it's ruin.
And the King's Capital Chamber of Commerce has a sales channel for selling potions that were my source of funding. If we are pulled away from it, it is also a huge economic blow.
... No, no, no! I don't care what you think, I'm not talking about swallowing!
"Please wait! There, you see... there's not even a brother or a man in office, is there? If you are divided into territories, don't you see confusion in your government? Let's not do this, shall we?
I'm desperate to say, but my brother just snorts delightfully. Goddamn it, you got the seat of the Lord of the Memorial, why are you on track? If this were to happen, you should have chosen to kill me but take it away. That's a big risk.
"Say what. The court is already moving. Otherwise, you won't be given a title. If we reject this, that's the source of the confusion. I don't understand that. Not you?
... you must be the one who moved that court.
Nothing is difficult. In this country - perhaps in other countries - alias the Viscount is called the Vice Uncle, whose main role is to subordinate the Count. Yesterday it is also a title given to a middle-sized court minister, but basically the Count delivers that he wants to appoint a subordinate or a gate, and still makes him appoint. In other words, the country has the right to assume office, but if it's my brother's position, it's easy to work for it to be exercised.
"Ha, sure, but..."
"And. Wouldn't it be hard for a flourishing ovenille boy to be flirtatious at his parents' house forever? Fortunately during misfortune, just a few days ago, the academic path was also turned down. Take this opportunity to encourage the duties you deserve as a nobleman."
What an argument. And the doya face of doing it. Brilliantly blocked escape routes. If I refuse this, my social credibility - though not even high - becomes zero as a man who has thrown out the responsibilities of kingdom nobility. Then in this feudal society, where identity and prestige speak of things, it is good to say that the art of living on your own will be rejected. In previous life, it's like a company that's been cut off from lending. Nobody would make a deal with someone like that. It also comes in the way of business talks with merchants, and instead of purchasing experimental platforms, research funding will not even be available.
But would this make him my brother, who honestly showed reluctance to the trail? Cry in tears, I won't say anything unreachable, but forgiveness enough to support the dream of a somewhat cute second son should be good to expect.
I couldn't help but say this.
"Brother... do you want to throw me out of the house so badly?
It is not a question of expecting an answer. Precision was meant to be a light-hearted mouthful of defeat.
But my brother never smiles at me.
- Naturally.
I've been assured.
"How much do you think your bloody experiments have discredited our reputation? Sure, everything I killed, it's just slavery. It's not against the law. But there would be a limit to things!?
When he stood up with a bang on his desk, he largely walked over to the window and opened it up with momentum.
"Look, you can also see through this window, the traces of the cremation in the courtyard! Because of what they did all year round, we never had a night club until you studied abroad!? Not once or twice, that's all, every time that fire lights up in the distance on the way out, you get spooked by someone else in the house, etc! See how miserable that was!?
A brother who shows two hands with a mess and his fingers trembling, scratching his head with those hands or curling in a restless manner. Besides, it's a fast arrow. I don't even have time to pinch my mouth.
What should I do? Something's not good. I think I pushed the switch.
"And you know what my year is? Twenty-five. It's not a strange year to have kids, is it? Yet I'm still single. That's your fault, too! Every house was scared of you and never gave you a daughter! Instead, he cried to his parents and asked them to dissolve the engagement, such as the first pardon!" There's no reason to marry an ovenille man-eater "! That's not all. The people in the house, too, have diminished instantly since you started experimenting, and now less than half the time! This is the whole house of the Count, humbly? Huh!?
"Ha ha..."
"How hard do you think it took your father? Ahem!? Because of your bad taste, I developed a disease, and because I saw your face, I became seriously ill, and you died!? No, no, maybe you served the poison you didn't know you were good at! Say it, be honest. You killed him, didn't you?
"A boulder is a wet suit, brother."
My heart effort would have affected me somewhat, but my diagnosis shows that my father's illness depends heavily on his decadent life. Diabetes mellitus, gout, hypertension, and many other lifestyle diseases were associated. I'm sure you wanted me to share your fortune, but there's no reason to bother killing someone who's dying soon, even if you don't lay down your hands.
"... what the heck!?
To the objection I made, my brother crossed the desk with his eyes lifted and flew over. Within what I'm saying, I must have gotten totally exaggerated.
Gripping fists fly in. At the same time, my courtesy automatically activates and unfolds a magically knitted transparent barrier. I took my brother's fist.
But my brother doesn't even notice it, and he comes punching me in the fist over and over again.
"Don't cut white! You bastards! You killed him! My mother died giving birth to you, too! You demon! The Parent Killer Devil!! How much do you care how much you take away from me!? Answer me, Turius!!
"Please calm down, brother. Your fist is broken, isn't it?
When I praised him and urged him to do so, he finally left me. Blood dripping from your fists dirty the floor. The warning seemed too late.
"Oh man, I can't help it..."
I couldn't help it, so I decided to treat it. It's a healing magic I've literally gained from years of human experimentation until I broke a bone. Magic other than alchemy is mediocre, but I am confident in hanging it.
My brother wandered off when I took his hand.
"Don't move. When you go crazy at hand, you distort your bones, right?
"Shut up."
"Well, if it does, it'll heal if I operate."
And I advise you. So he seemed to finally hear me out, stopping me from making the perfect move.
Upon prompt completion of the treatment, my brother flipped himself to shelter the hand I touched. It's a reaction like touching a mold. Damn, he's rude.
"... I never thought my brother hated me so much. And on top of that, he showed kindness. Let's take this story."
"... Huh! I wish I had done that from the beginning."
Saying, my brother sitting back in the chair again. The boulder is the countess owner, already recovering from a state of exasperation and restoring some calm. The bad feelings for me won't change. [M]
"From the beginning, if that's what you mean, I would have liked you to talk to me about it in advance. Then let's move on to specifics. So, where do I go?
"Here."
When my brother widens the map while remaining on the top of the Buddha, he points to one of them. What's your place name, Marlan? I've never even heard of it. The area to which it belongs is the corner of the Province of Voldan, the territory of the Ovenil family for generations...... or really the corner. It's the corner of the map.
The location is about 350 km southeast of this king's capital. My feeling as a former Japanese is that I will leave from Tokyo to go around the northeast and Lake Biwako to the west.
It's a long way from home.
"Nevertheless, it is also a border with neighbouring countries. As for himself during his presidency, is it a land that he wants to leave to the trustworthy?
What an empty thing to say to me, this guy. It is true that this Marulan - on the contrary, the province of Voldan, a territory of the Ovenil family modernity - borders with its eastern neighbour, the Federal Kingdom of Zanktogaren. but in fact the great mountains of division lie between the two countries, and it is further north that we can continue to pass by. Besides, as such a location suggests, the boundaries of the territory are wider than we thought, but mostly mountains or forests.
... is finally de countryside.
"Oh, speaking of which... you were once famous as a copper region"
My brother says that to comfort me, but I could see that my heart was not caged.
Once upon a time, when? Anyway, it's about the land this guy pushes, there must be only an unearned copper mine with a dry mineral vein.
It's what I was prepared for, but it's depressing. What the hell can you do when you're pushed into a place like that? Wait, the land? And the Viscount?
There was something in my heart that I was supposed to do secretly. But you can't enlighten your brother about it. He deliberately creates a dark look, while laying face down to avoid being seen through, and continues to question.
"... what about your predecessors?
"I will remain under your command. Use it well."
What do you want me to do by sticking one young man in the territory of vested interests?
"Where's the hall where you do your affairs?
"Allow it to be built anew. You're one of the main branches, and the corner mansion doesn't dress like a deputy."
Do you just forgive me? Don't you accommodate the funds, do you?
"When will you leave?
"Tomorrow."
Hey, wait a minute.
My cheeks are drawn to words I didn't expect, but I can manage.
"... that's sudden"
"It took an unexpected lot of time to inherit because of the High Court investigation in the example. As such, many territorial policies were frozen by the time I assumed office, and remain in place. We need to hurry to get back to work."
He looks like a lot of fun to talk about serious issues. How dare you say so? Ever since my father fell, to some extent, I would have represented him in government.
I have a lot to say, but I'll swallow this place in silence. This man wants to embarrass me by pushing difficult challenges. You won't even have to go right and left according to that.
"Yeah, I get it. Well, we don't seem to have much time, so let's get ready."
"Wait."
A stiff voice pulls me back on my heels.
"What?
"You have also been awarded the title to run the territory, even though it is the end of the site. I will not tolerate behavior as unpleasant as before."
"I know. Don't do alchemy research, and you're telling me to shut down the underground lab, right?
I'm going to do that even if they don't tell me. I'm not a bold person enough to keep my secret safe. [M]
"Good then.... and. I made you a meal so far. I won't allow you to mess with your duties. I am prepared to make a slightly more painful decision as this brother if there is anything unnoticed."
My brother's eyes are killing me.
Cold and sophisticated will, different from the naive anger of earlier.
Exploring and gripping the weaknesses of their opponents, ringing nonsense if anything happens all morning, slaughtering them with rights, not swords, is the intention of the nobility.
"... it's a thought of a samurai tremor. Exquisite, do your best."
Say, turn your back completely.
What I was given was a cage. It's a cage that traps the Beast.
Feed him crude bait from hunger, gradually weaken him, and kill him if he exposes the gap. I guess it was prepared for that.
... but sweet.
Seems like you're going out of your way to enlighten us about that, like telling us you're not ready or ready to kill us yet.
Time is on the side of the alchemist. By the time my brother aligns his hand and stomps, I can have my new wife ready again.
Land where it is difficult to replenish slaves. A place disconnected from the economic base. A border with only mountains and forests.
What can I do there? [M] Let's have a look at it from the King's Capital.
He leaves while hiding his damned smiling expression and showing him to drop his shoulder. While I was dressed like that, I went through the math inside to see what I could do with the new toy my brother gave me.
Speaking of which, remember when you had a similar interaction with my father.
Out of the office, by the door, Uni refrained. My brother doesn't like the slaves I set up, so I can't let him in. I couldn't help but let him stay here.
"Good day, sir"
"I haven't done enough to get tired. You put up with that, didn't you?
Say, wipe her mouth. There was blood on my fingers. [M] Maybe Uni was struggling with his desire to break in when his brother was beating me up. So did you even bite off your lips while eating and tying your teeth? The wound doesn't even leave a mark already, but she also has enough skill to heal that much.
"It's a bad word."
She bowed her head deeply.
When I was studying at the Magic Instruction Academy in my neighboring country, Uni took refuge in me even though there was no need to take refuge, and that made a fuss of rejection. Sometimes this kid has such an inconvenience. Well, as you enjoyed it this time, the same mistakes are not repeated, so I am not particularly willing to make it a problem.
"You've heard more than that, haven't you?
Whispering in his ear, he screws his dirty fingertips into Uni's lips. Before it gained the feel of hitting his front teeth, he was wrapped in soft lips and cleansed comfortably by his hot, wet tongue.
"Mmm...... Pfft.... hey, you're going to shut down the underground lab while you're ready to leave?
Uni answers as she carefully wipes her removed fingers with a handkerchief. The part of "yes" is a tongueless pronunciation, either because he was stuck out of his tongue remnantly. Nothing. I don't have to do this in the hallway in the daytime. I'm talking about using my handkerchief, but, well, this is also in my skinship with my men. It sounds a lot sexually harassing, but I don't think it would conflict with that if they didn't hate it, yeah.
"Exactly. Get on with it."
"Got it. … M-01, 02, 03"
At the same time she calls, three women appear before us without sound, kneeling.
I can't just play and be happy with Uni either, so I put up a damping junction that wrapped them around for the sake of secrecy. It is a lower level magic with less effect than a silent junction that completely shields the sound inside, but for that matter it has the advantage of being prone to deceit into the very existence of the junction. Magic other than alchemy makes these plain tricks my specialty alongside recovery. I can use flashy attack magic if I say so.
"M-01, here"
"M-02 as well, here"
"M-03 as well, here"
They are as faceless as they have pushed in their judgment. On the neck, silver collar glow. And it is all made-up clothing of the same design that wraps it. This uniqueness, even though it has a different face and physique. Some people may find it terribly uncomfortable.
They are the 'products' based on experimental data obtained from Uni. This is the end of the transformation of the expected slaves. Call me (I'm the only one). It's the M-Series. By the way, M is the maid M.... I don't want you to say it's cheap or anything, because I'm hurting you.
Simply put, it's a mass-produced uni. Of course, it is unrealistic to train each person to be as diverse and long term as Uni. Therefore, he taps basic skills directly into the brain with the application of mental manipulation, and later, he bottoms up his abilities with drug administration. Of course, brain modification aimed at insurgency prevention is fundamental.
Strength in combat is only there, but enough for manpower in regular maid work and research. When we were studying in Zanktogaren, we left it to them to buy and sell potions.
By the way, they don't have a name. Unlike Uni, a one-off model 'work', the M series is because mass production is the premise 'product'. My sense of naming isn't as good as being named to all of them. For once, if it is inconvenient not to have a name, it is allowed to name the real name before the modification.
"Tomorrow, your husband will be out. Get ready as soon as possible. You know the priority of unloading, right?
"Yes, chief maid. Rapid unloading of equipment and materials above the C-rank of rarity according to the manual for Class III emergencies and according to prescribed procedures. Follow the steps to destroy the rest."
"Ask Chief Maid for questioning. Please provide detailed instructions on how to handle the currently adjusting primitives."
"Answer the question. Launch after setting the command to Opus 02 in the final adjustment phase. Other primitive bodies shall be disposed of without regard to priority. Do you understand?
"Yes, chief maid. Follow the response."
"Good. Now, after communicating similar instructions to B-01, B-02, we must move to work immediately. Over."
"" "Yes, chief maid. Over" "
With a voice aligned reply, the three in the M series went down.
Hmm, this interaction. This is more of a modern military or near-future distopia SF than a cross-world medieval fantasy. It doesn't suit the world view. Though I was the one who set it up funny.
B-01 and B-02, by the way, refer to another mass-produced, modified slave, butler type, B-series, who is not here. Of course, B is Butler's B. Because it has a stubborn man as its vegan body, it is characterised by a higher ability to fight than the M series. That means B is also Battler's B. It's cheap, but it's no different.
Nevertheless, I saw Uni. Her appearance in skipping directions to the M series under her command was very similar, even from me working on the modification. Refreshing and refreshing. I could not imagine growing up to be such a beauty because I had never seen it in the slave market before. I thought the original bone shape was quite neat during bone restoration surgery, but if it lasted, it would be unexpected.
Four years ago, I felt a similar emotion when she finished, but the good ones are still good no matter how many times I taste them.
If you think about it, Uni will look at you somewhere.
"What have you done, sir?
"No, anything. It's just that the uni is beautiful."
I said it without any objection. [M] She is absolutely obedient to me. Therefore, there is no need to lie. You just have to be honest with me. Oh, how wonderful a relationship without lies is.
Uni blinked for a moment, but immediately gracefully saluted.
"I appreciate what you have to say. Your husband."
I was inspired by the satisfaction of nothing in that reply, and I show one.
It's a made-up. Really a slave.
I've met her for ten years. Well done. You've finished it so far.
As long as we have this best trump card, it's not enough to be afraid, such as the Count, who was willing to kill out of disgust.
Even as I immersed myself in the all-powerful feeling of pride in my "work," I was the one who admonished myself with the great enemies I shouldn't have been caught off guard.