Now that their audience with the king was over, Garm and Cain returned to their residence in the capital. The two of them remained silent throughout the entire carriage ride. When they arrived at the mansion, they found Sarah and Reine waiting outside for them wearing anxious expressions.
“Sorry for keeping you two waiting. We have some news to discuss,” Garm said with a serious look. He entered the mansion. Cain followed after him with an exhausted look on his face.
The family gathered in the drawing room. The butler, Sebas, and the maid, Sylvia, were not present; it was just Garm, Sarah, Reine, and Cain.
“First, Cain was conferred with a noble title. At today’s audience with the king, he became a baron. He was also granted an estate and some money as a reward.”
“Oh my! That’s amazing! It seems the king is grateful to him for saving Her Highness’s life.” Sarah said.
“Cain, that’s amazing! You’re set for life now!”
Sarah and Reine were initially happy about the news, but Garm’s next words caused them to immediately freeze.
“Here’s the problem. This still has yet to be made public, but it has been decided that Cain is to be betrothed to Her Highness Princess Telestia and the second daughter of Duke Eric, Miss Silk. “
Cain, who had been staring down at the ground this entire time, trembled.
“…Please explain the situation, Cain,” Reine said in a cold tone. It was completely different from how she usually spoke to him.
“It appears they were quite taken in by the bravery Cain showed in saving them and fell in love with him. His Majesty and Duke Eric have already approved their engagement. It can no longer be overturned.”
“Cain was going to get married eventually, this just came a little earlier than expected. I didn’t expect you to get married to those two, though.”
Unlike Reine, Sarah was still in a good mood. Since she was the second wife, her own children could one day revert to becoming commoners. She had worked hard to raise Cain well, and now he had been conferred an independent noble title. On top of that, he was going to marry someone from the royal family and someone from a duke’s household. As his mother, this was the best news she could possibly receive.
“I can’t help but wonder, what exactly happened in that carriage?”
Cain’s body instinctively reacted to Sarah’s innocent question.
“I believe you know they shared a room at the inn, but within the carriage, it appears Cain had one flower in each arm. The two girls were clinging onto him as they traveled to the capital. His Majesty and Duke Eric are already aware of this. For them to go so far as unmarried women, they cannot possibly marry any other man and Cain must take responsibility… That is their stance, at least.”
Garm continued. “Cain ended up accepting their demands. I don’t believe this news will be made public any time soon, but the matter has already been decided. His Majesty summoned me and then rebuked me: ‘Is your son a lady killer?!’”
Reine began to sulk. The little brother she had doted on was now betrothed—to two people no less! A lonely feeling seemed to enter her heart.
“Since they feared he might have returned to Gracia after the debut party, they also bestowed Cain with his own estate here in the capital. He will move there once things calm down. Since he’ll be staying here in the capital, you can meet with him whenever you wish, Reine.”
Reine’s expression immediately brightened.
“So, I can see Cain whenever I want! Fine then, I’ll cheer up.”
“So, here begs the question. Cain, how are you so strong? Even if I did acquire tutors for you, you started at level 1, correct? Whether it be your performance in the sparring sessions in Lamesta or your recent victory over the orcs, your strength is simply unbelievable.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Cain began to sweat.
“Can you show me your Status? Just how much has your level increased?”
Cain could not reveal his current Status, not even to his family members. If he revealed his Status right now, they would see his unmodified Status with level 10 skills and blessings.
“I’m sorry, Father. I cannot reveal my Status at this time. However, due to my blessings, I’ll likely improve at a much faster rate than others. I also secretly sneaked into the forest to hunt for monsters in the past.”
Cain bowed his head but refused to reveal his secrets.
“Well, fine. A lot has happened today. Maria, Djinn, and Alec will return in the evening. It has been quite a while since you last met them.”
“Yeah. Djinn and Alec have been in the capital for so long, I only met them for a short while when I was extremely young.”
“Yeah…even I only have memories of meeting them when I was little,” Reine said.
“You are free to rest until evening. I’ll have someone bring you to your rooms.”
A maid led Cain to his room. He leapt into bed, then looked up at the ceiling.
“Status.”
Status
Name: Cain von Silford
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 10
Titles: Margrave’s Third Son, Reincarnator, Disciple of the Gods, Prodigy, Natural Enemy of the Forest of Monsters, Destroyer of Nature, Dragon Slayer, Lady Killer
Level: 285
Health: 4,897,240/4,897,240
Mana: 94,573,490/94,573,490
Rating: SSS
Magic: Creation Magic Level 10, Fire Magic Level 10, Wind Magic Level 10, Water Magic Level 10, Earth Magic Level 10, Light Magic Level 10, Dark Magic Level 10, Spacetime Magic Level 10, Everyday Magic
Skills: Appraisal Level 10, Item Box Level 10, Military Arts Level 10, Martial Arts Level 10, Physical Tolerance Level 10, Magical Tolerance Level 10
Blessings: Blessing of the God of Creation Level 10, Blessing of the God of Life Level 10, Blessing of the God of Magic Level 10, Blessing of the God of Earth Level 10, Blessing of the God of War Level 10, Blessing of the God of Technology Level 10, Blessing of the God of Commerce Level 10
“Yeah, I really can’t show this Status to anyone…”
There were no two ways about it. His Status was extremely over-tuned. He had leveled up even more after annihilating that horde of orcs.
He was able to get out of revealing his status, but it was only a matter of time until his family members started to have their suspicions as well. Cain sighed.
He had thought that as long as he managed to hide his status until he came of age, he would be able to become an adventurer and live however he wanted. However, he had been given a title and was now an independent aristocrat himself, which ruined his original plans.
Cain decided he needed to go consult with the Gods at the church again.
As he rolled around in bed and stared at his Status, a knock sounded at Cain’s door and Sylvia entered the room. Cain immediately closed his Status window. He pretended as if nothing was wrong as he turned to face Sylvia.
“It’s almost time for dinner. Lady Maria, Sir Djinn, and Sir Alec have returned.”
“Got it. I’ll go now.” Cain got out of bed and left his room. He followed Sylvia to the dining room. Sarah and Reine were already there, waiting. Cain sat down in the seat next to Reine. A short while later, Garm, his first wife Maria, his eldest son Djinn, and his second son Alec entered the dining room.
“You’ve gotten a lot bigger, Cain.”
Cain’s two older brothers looked at him with a smile. His brothers and Maria had already left for the capital by the time Cain turned five. His only memories of his siblings were when they played together when he was little.
“Elder brother Djinn, elder brother Alec, long time no see.”
Cain had wanted to live here with them, but that was before he had been given a new estate. Now he would only be staying here for a short while before he moved to his own place.
As they dined, the topic of how Cain had been given a noble title and his own estate naturally came up. It wasn’t normal for a ten-year-old to receive these things, so the people hearing it for the first time were understandably shocked. Garm then dropped the news that Cain was also already betrothed, which surprised Maria, Djinn, and Alec even further. Barons were lesser nobles, so marrying a princess and a duke’s daughter was even more impossible.
Excited, Djinn and Alec assaulted Cain with question after question.
“Cain, since you’ve got your own place, are you planning to live there?”
“Yeah. The royal family is supposed to arrange servants for me.”
“If you’re close by, we can visit each other whenever we want, which should be comforting. I have to say, though… a princess and the daughter of Duke Santana…? That doesn’t sound like it’ll be easy.”
“…It probably won’t be.”
The two of them could only offer sympathetic smiles.
As the entire family had finally reunited, they had a lot to talk about. Dinner went by in a blink of an eye.