Chapter 5 – Preparation for the worst...

"Because the situation is changing, maybe you need these people," said my mother who suddenly entered my room.

 I felt like I had heard or experienced this incident before.

 Didn't it just happen.. earlier?

 It was late at night, wearing her pajamas. My mother walked towards me who was lying on the bed while carrying a pile of papers and then gave them to me.

 "What is this?" I asked while taking the paper my mother gave me.

 "Someone useful enough to be on our side, Karl.. choose one of them!" my mother ordered.

 I looked at the paper leaflets one by one. There were several portraits of women engraved and their biodata.

 Their names sounded familiar, in my previous life... I had met them occasionally.

 For a certain purpose.

 Traders, illegal arms dealers, drug concocters, linguists, military observers, political experts, and several other professionals were in it.

 Yep, they were my teachers in my previous life.

 But, why did my mother give me this?

 Maybe... I should have absorbed their knowledge earlier. In my previous life, I had studied with them and it helped me a lot at that time.

 But what about now?

 My mother climbed onto my bed. I was currently relaxing after a day of learning how to fight as an adventurer.

 Thanks to that, I was able to throw Chiyuki to Myria to train.

 Then what about me?

 Of course, I contributed to their training advice from my perspective.

 The result? There are currently several adventurers under my command. I intend to make them my eyes and ears to monitor the surrounding situation. Incidentally, the territory of the 'Duke of Flora' is much larger than the territories of other nobles.

 The larger the territory, the greater the responsibility. One problem that occurs within will affect other territories. Such an incident has happened before... I mean before I died.

 "Can I choose all of them? Choosing one of these extraordinary women would be very detrimental. I will try to steal their knowledge and build connections in their network. What do you think, Mother?"

 "..."

 "Since when did you become this mature?" my mother asked.

 "What do you mean?" I replied.

 "After that incident, I think Karl started to slowly change and become more sensitive to his surroundings."

 "..." I couldn't answer it.

 What would happen if I answered it to survive longer?

 My mother would think I was crazy and worry about my mental health.

 "I just feel.. someone wants to destroy our family's happiness," I replied.

 Since when did I become this melancholic?

 "Karl..." My mother looked at me with a warm gaze.

"Don't worry, I will protect anyone.. this little family is very precious to me. I don't want to lose my family again."

 "Again???" my mother asked in confusion.

 Ah!

 My mouth accidentally slipped into an incident from my old life.

 I thought hard to divert the question.

 "The servants who hide their fangs behind their uniforms, isn't that an attempt to kill our family's happiness? I don't want to lose our happiness by their dirty tactics again. Maybe they've done something bad without us realizing it."

 "So that's what you mean, since when are your words hard to understand? You seem to have become a grown man in an instant."

 "Hahaha.. it's just your feeling, Mom" ​​I replied.

 "Therefore... Mom will sleep here."

 "HUH??" I panicked a little when hearing that.

 "I don't want to miss out and see my son become an adult overnight! I still need the childish and spoiled Karl!"

 "So what if I grow up overnight?"

 "If that happens... Mom will start a matchmaking audition for my sweet son."

 Oh, no..

 Besides my little sister.. it turns out my mother is like this too.

 Since when did my family have a hidden side like this?

 "Then.. good night, Karl" At that moment, my mother immediately hugged me and locked my movements with her hug.

 I could only surrender to my mother's warm embrace and...

 This is deadly!

 I can hardly breathe!

 Someone help me!

 [...]

 I woke up from my deep sleep with a body full of pain.

 Oh, I'll correct you a little. Not sleeping but fainting.

 I woke up from my deep fainting with a body full of pain.

 Well, that's more fitting for my current condition, right?

 The tight hug was like a rope that locked me. I could feel my skin being pulled all night. Even though I planned to fill this night with designing a new magic mechanism for Mercedes, I was forced to sleep by my mother's tight hug.

 It was a little disappointing indeed and this incident was beyond my plan. But thanks to that, I had a little more energy after experiencing fatigue in the previous heavy training.

 Well, maybe that's the reason my body felt sore. The lack of exercise made my body very weak. I prefer to save my energy and devote the rest of my energy to running my brain to manage the situation.

 The personality and habits from my previous life are very difficult to change.

 I even rarely get time to sleep and rest.

 Is it because I now have a younger body than before that my body is more energetic?

 Maybe...

 I immediately let go of my mother's hug and rushed out of my room.

 Suddenly someone bumped into me and it was my little sister.

 "Chiyuki?"

 "Onii-sama?"

 "Are you okay? Sorry I didn't see you earlier" I immediately pulled Chiyuki's body that was still on the floor. Her hair and face were still messy, maybe she rushed to my room to wake me up.

 I guess, I have to get used to waking up early after we lost some extra manpower to take care of this house. The cleaning we did was professional and managed to reduce the manpower of this house by 88%.

 Our family is very intolerant of betrayal. Any form of connection that leads to the perpetrator can be an indicator of the spread of betrayal behavior. Just like a serious infectious disease, if it has already damaged and spread then it will be very difficult to treat and our family takes a disease prevention scheme.

 "Want to take a bath together?" I asked.

 "Huh?!!" Chiyuki was surprised when she heard my invitation.

 Ah, yes.. joking around in the morning is refreshing. I didn't expect Chiyuki's expression to turn bright red and awkward.

 "Is that okay?" Chiyuki replied.

 Oh, no.. don't tell me she took my invitation seriously.

 Suddenly we were surprised by the appearance of Sebastian. The only butler left in our family. The rats seemed unable to get Sebastian to join their colony.

 It was an advantage for us because Sebastian's family was very loyal to us. Thanks to the honesty serum I made, we managed to gather several professional and loyal subordinates.

 "Karl-sama.. Mercedes-sama has arrived" Sebastian saluted me.

 Finally, something I had been waiting for arrived. Someone I needed to create several small loyal spy units.

 "Ah, welcome her with the hospitality of the Duke of Flora family and make her feel comfortable in this environment, Sebastian!" I ordered.

 There was nothing special about it, it's just that... Mercedes needed to know the situation we were in. That way, negotiating with her would be a little easier.

 "Ready to go, Karl-sama" Sebastian saluted me once more and hurried off to greet the important guest I needed.

 With this.. some initial drafts of the plan for our family's urgent preparations were fulfilled.

 "Chiyuki.. we'll be busy today."

 "Em!" Chiyuki, who was originally still sleepy and looked messy, suddenly gave off a serious aura.

 I don't know what was on her mind, but her enthusiasm made me excited too.

 We have to clean ourselves first before meeting the guests.

 "Onii-sama? Mercedes is a woman, right?" Chiyuki asked.

 "Yes, why you ask like that?" I replied.

 "It's okay, can I be with Onii-sama all day?"

 "Of course, is that so-"

 I didn't have time to finish my words. I could see Chiyuki's smile and eyes filled with a dark aura.

 Unconsciously, I swallowed my saliva and realized how dry my throat was.

 This fear...

 And this oppressive aura...

 It made my morning goosebumps, not because of the cold weather but because of my little sister's scary other personality.

 It seems like... I have to get used to Chiyuki's terrifying aura soon.

 [...]