15 Leon Lazaruz

Count Vladimir Lazaruz is an outstanding person, since the age of 12 he has not stopped producing invention after invention, strange metal plates with engravings that allowed copying books without the need of magicians, a wonderful liquid capable of curing diseases, a drink with a wonderful smell and taste that helped fight fatigue, new ways of making glass, paper, ink, dyeing fabrics and countless wonders that changed the world.

But due to the civil war that threatens his native land Tarrazzca, the count was forced to flee, as he does not want his wonders to be used for war purposes, settling in the quiet kingdom of Karris, a country that has almost a century of peace among its neighboring nations.

Obviously these wonders are very common things in my original life, being simply, the printing press, penicillin and coffee, these new manufacturing methods are the fruit of lifetimes of research to replicate how things were in my original life.

In reality, Vladimir Lazaruz does not exist, he is a character invented so that I can play the role of his son Leon Lazaruz.

If Leonora was a person who thrived on hard work and was considered a saint, Leon was an arrogant bastard who lived off his father's money and name, although he had inherited his prodigious mind and possessed a monumental talent to do everything he set his mind to on the first try, he hated hard work and people he considered inferior.

A much more fun and easy life to live.

Since Leon didn't have to do much, from my time in the duchy, I planted the seeds of Count Lazaruz's identity, founding a company that manufactures my inventions, so as long as I create something new from time to time, I can live off the money produced, leaving complicated things like production, administration and marketing costs to others.

For now, the company is still in its infancy, but I siphoned off a good amount of money from the duchy all these years, and even if the company were to fail, I have enough money to live on without having to worry about working.

That's why now while Irma interviews employees for the mansion, I take a little stroll through the streets of the city of Quarel.

Quarel, or the old city, is one of the most curious places to say the least, you visit the city slightly during the game, being where the murders started, but the strange city always gave a lot to talk about among the fandom.

According to the developers, Quarel is based somewhere between France and India...

There is a castle transformed into a tourist attraction simulating the Taj Mahal, and the tower of Quarel simulating the Eiffel tower, in a corner you can see a bakery selling baguettes and croissants right next to a curry store, there are people walking around with berets next to others with turbans, in fact the r of Quarel was pronounced in the French way, and it was pronounced Quarill, very strange...

Why did I decide to live here? Have you never heard of a place so weird that you would like to live there? Well, I'm just saying that now I'm eating a croissant stuffed with curry, and it's better than it looks.

I finish eating and I go for a walk, I have been here many times, but the city still fascinates me, so I decide to go to the Quarel tower.

While I was about to go up to the lookout tower, something unexpected happened, the scarecrow was in Quarel.

Johan Johansen, was the third son of Prime Minister Maximilian Johansen, the king's right hand, and one of the targets for capture, Johan was a boy with pale blond hair eternally tousled making him look like he was made of straw, one of the reasons for the comparison with the scarecrow, the other reason is that Johan was a bit slow, to put it nicely.

Johan was not really dumb, but he was an average person, which was bad enough if compared to his father or his older brothers who were prodigies in their respective fields, and poor Johan was forced to try to learn lessons of much higher grades than he should know at his age, in the game although it seems that he does not give importance to that fact, the reality is that on several occasions the protagonist discovers him crying at not being able to understand the content of the classes.

And now, he is in front of me, buying tickets to go up to the viewpoint, accompanied by a servant, it was strange to see him here, in the capital the king's birthday festival was not over yet, in fact the big party should be tonight, and being his father the prime minister it was very strange that he did not take his whole family to the party.

It was an anomaly, a variant that I had not yet seen, although I prefer to avoid the characters in the game unless it is completely necessary, the idea of investigating an anomaly was too tempting to pass up, so I got behind him in line, and followed him at a safe distance.

We go up to the lookout, and Johan gets excited about the visitors, from the top of the tower you can see all of Quarel, it's a fascinating view, there's no doubt about it.

For my part I sit on a bench, and start nibbling another curry croissant, supposedly looking at the scenery but without losing sight of Johan.

At some point Johan turns around noticing me, I don't look away as I continue eating, implying that I wasn't paying attention to him, and was just looking in his direction.

He gets nervous when he sees me but it's understandable, after all I have a snake engraved on my face, people usually have that reaction, from that moment on he tries to look at me out of the corner of his eye every so often, and turns immediately when he sees that I'm still looking in his direction.

I thought it was a good way to start a conversation, so I approached him.

(Leonora) What are you looking at, brat?

(Johan) eh... I... this....

Johan became very nervous, but the servant who accompanied him stood in front of him.

(Servant) excuse us please, we are not from here.

(Leonora) Whatever, I have better things to do.

I turn around and go down the tower, the servant will not let me talk to Johan, so I must try to get rid of him.

From a distance I watch the flow of people in and out of the tower, while waiting I started to think about what events led to the anomaly.

Due to his father's position, he would not miss the king's birthday, so I doubt that the rest of his family is in Quarel, although it is true that Johan is constant compared to his brothers, his parents really love him, and in the game although they had lost hope that he can make something useful of his life, they had not planned to banish him or hide him, so far I can deduce, he is alone in Quarel, and his family is in the capital, what remains now is to find out why.

Finally I see them coming down from the tower, and from a prudent distance I get ready to follow them, they visited several places in Quarel but little by little I realized that Johan was not entirely comfortable, so tempting my luck I get as close as possible to listen to what they say.

(Johan) I'm tired, can we go back home?

(Servant) Aren't you having fun?

(Johan) Yes, but... I want to go home.

(Servant) Oh that's a pity, but if that's your wish.

I was narrowly missed, but I could get a lot out of their slight conversation, Johan is definitely not comfortable with this person, he keeps a little distance, and avoids looking him in the eyes, besides it seems that the idea of leaving was the man's, and not his, all this led me to think that there is something fishy going on here.

I considered several possibilities.

Is he visiting a relative?

No, I know all the family around Johan, and I don't recognize that man.

He didn't want to go to the king's party and preferred to visit Quarel?

No, Johan is not the capricious type, besides, even though he has servants with him, I have had the misfortune of knowing his mother, and she would never let him go alone to another city.

Kidnapping?

It's possible, his father is a Marquez and his family has a lot of money, Quarel is a city with a large number of people coming and going due to trade and tourism, it is the best option to go unnoticed or to escape, another reason why I chose that option.

I followed them to a house a little away from the center of town, the man looked in all directions before knocking on the door, maybe he knocked in some kind of code, it only opened slightly to let them pass and then it was slammed shut.

From my hiding place I looked at the house, it was two stories, with only a couple of sales protected with bars, I only found one door which indicated a single entrance and exit.

I left my hiding place and went back home, Leon qualities are not appropriate to go unnoticed, it is difficult not to notice a child with a snake in his face, so today I took too much risk, maybe Lionel or Lyona would be better for this job, but I'm not going to change character at this point.

On the way home I considered if I should get involved, it is an event that I had not seen and that can give me a lot of information that I can use in future lives, but I already had all the information that Johan or his family could give me, I really do not need the support of the Marquis for the Lazaruz company to move forward, and rescuing him would be too much effort without reward, and more when that woman is involved.

I returned home and Irma greeted me, despite the fact that she was capable of tending the entire mansion alone, a mansion with only one maid would draw too much attention, so I had spent the afternoon hiring staff, on behalf of the elusive Count Lazaruz.

(Irma) young master I have finished the selection of the employees, I will start training them first thing tomorrow morning.

I knew that Irma's training was brutal, and I felt a little sorry for the poor suckers.

(Leonora) Very well, anything else to report?

(Irma) For the moment nothing more young master.

For now the lord of the city must be in the capital, but when he returns he will want to have an audience with the count, I must prepare for that.

I took a little tour around the mansion, and I started to think about the reforms that I would make, finally I got bored and I told Irma that we would have dinner outside, I had worked all day and I was not going to make her cook.

On the way I thought about Johan again, he was my favorite in the game, but it had long since lost its grace, however, the idea of an event that I had never done was too tempting.

(Leonora) Irma, after dinner would you like to infiltrate someone else's property?

(Irma) It would be an excellent exercise young master.