15 The World x Giving The News x Truth

"So you're telling me to not call you Lord, because you don't want me to?"

"For the umpteenth time, YES!"

"But then what am I supposed to call you?"

"We've already... UGH, just do whatever you want"

These were Shizuka and I arguing on her calling me Lord. I didn't want her to, but she insisted with teeth and bone on doing so. Hence, I gave up and allowed her to do as she pleased.

'How am I going to explain this at home... fuck it, I'll just say it directly'

*

We spent the better part of the next three hours talking about my duties as a Campione. Shizuka explained to me that the territory I ruled over was the same territory the Knights of Favonius were dispersed in, and that meant the entire "country" I lived in. The place was in where the US and Canada should've been, the northernmost side of America. But neither the US, nor Canada, nor America existed. The continent was called Westeria, based on its location on the west side of the map and the country was called Northrend. Besides the medieval naming sense, the culture was the same as that of modern worlds, but there was a fact that I couldn't ignore when we reached the topic of the world map.

'This world is fucking HUGE!'

I could only guess how big, but I would've said around twice as Earth if asked. Common folk were ignorant of that fact, as their knowledge was restricted by Campione and other organizations to just the world I used to know. The areas outside of the regular map remained unexplored for the most part, since all exploration teams disappeared upon arrival, leaving nothing but remains in the coast.

I hadn't even begun performing my duties and I was already fed up. Hadn't it been for the fact that I wouldn't be too involved in actual ruling, as Northrend had its president and everything, I would've already ran away by then.

Luckily for me, my duties only involved me with the higher parties if there were any issues that went beyond their comprehension. That meant that I would only get involved if the Knights couldn't solve the problem but, as I was still technically their leader, someone wanted to push her work on me.

"You don't get to run away, Shi-zu-ka~" I said as I caught her by the back of her collar, dragging her to her chair and leaving her in front of the pile of paperwork she had to do.

"Please Lord Bennet, be merciful of this poor soul and allow me to rest from this hellish task"

Sighing, I told her to begin quickly unless she wanted a punishment. Only after she began doing it -albeit reluctantly- did I bother to sit down beside her and helped her. I wasn't going to be a tyrant, by all means. If I was going to "rule", I was going to do it fairly. Still, being a Campione didn't really feel like I had to do many things. Just protect the territory, give a hand here and there and voila, your job is done. Once things had been arranged and everything had been talked about, it was time to check on my family.

*

I had arrived at my house after being away for an entire day and night. The first thing I received was a tight hug from Alexis and Cameron, and then my parents welcomed me. Nobody asked were I had been or what I had been doing, probably thinking that invading my privacy was the last thing I wanted from them, after all that had happened. Some things, though, can't be changed.

"Big bro, why didn't you come home yesterday?"

Trying to be a mature person, I decided to simply say things straight. When we came to the point where I mentioned Magic and Gods and all of that "impossible stuff" they didn't believe, of course. Hence, I simply created an ice sculpture of Alexis, which this time was made so that it would never melt, thanks to my Divine Authority. They were quite shocked when they realized that I was some sort of ruler to the entire country.

We were a well off family, though not rich, so they were used to being able to get many luxuries that others couldn't enjoy. But being able to ask for something as, say, diamonds, and have them bought for you, was not something they could do.

Being the good brother I promised to get Cameron a lot of toys and games. He, being a little child, was more than ready to accept that his big bro was an awesome person capable of doing real magic. Alexis on the other hand had a complicated look on her face, probably thinking about the fact that I did mention that Megan had been with me the entire time, as I was dating her. I was then sure that she felt something for me different than familial love, and before I could shake the thought out of my head, my "mother" asked to talk with me after dinner.

*

Around 11 PM I was going down from my room. This was the time I had told mom that I would be able to talk, since I still had to study a bit about the relationship between the different countries ruled by Campione.

I found her sitting on a chair while silently drinking tea with my father. They looked worried and almost reluctant to have this conversation, which made me think of the multiple possibilities of what they wanted to say. Not sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate, but one of those possibilities was right.

"Alan... we have something important to tell you. It's about... your actual birth"

I had thought of this many times before. I had reasoned that this could be one of the possibilities for why I was treated the way I had been before. Still, it was hard to accept when you heard it yourself. Then again, something clicked inside of me. Now it made sense.

"Alexis already knows, right?"

Mo... Jen just nodded silently. Albert, who I used to call dad, had a grim look on his face. I just didn't know how to process it at first, but then I couldn't help but laugh. Once I calmed down I realized they were looking at me weirdly.

"Nothing... can you tell me anything about my real parents?"

This time it was dad who talked. He told me how my parents were extremely good friends with them and something about an accident during their research. Apparently they were scientists, and extremely good ones at that. The surname "Takeba" was one I had come up with during my research on this world, and it was also a surname I knew from way before.

The only problem was that this surname came with a stigma. A deep relationship with the Kirijo Group.

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The first person to tell me were the surnames "Takeba" and "Kirijo" come from will get to choose the next member of the Harem. Basically, the one who reads this chapter first and googles faster. Unless any single one of you already knows.