Reincarnation

"Ayame, how's the classes?" An old man wearing an expensive aura spoke, as he eats from a plate like a badass. "It's great, father." I responded.

My name is Ayame Kurogane, in this world I guess. That man who spoke just now is my father, Tatsuya Kurogane. He's a duke of the Tenmei kingdom, and I'm kind of his only son.

He's said to be extremely powerful in the kingdom, one of the strongest experts in the world I think. And I'm a good for nothing son who can't use magic. That's why I'm forced to take sword classes.

He's been disappointed in me but he never really shows it. He's a good dad. Maybe too good, I'm being spoilt at this rate.

Another interesting things, my observe and manage skills.

[Displaying information...

Name: Tatsuya Kurogane

Class: Elemental Swordsman

Skill: [You are unable to view his skills]

[Puppet progress is 0%]

[You are unable to manage this character's traits]]

And with that, I decided to do a little experiment. I decided to sign a contract with myself. And the results was amazing.

[Ayame Kurogane is now your puppet.]

[Status information

Name: Suzuki Hikari

Class: Puppeteer

Skills: [Observe] [Contract] [Manage]

[Puppet progress is at 100%]

[Manage character]]

Yeah, I made myself into a puppet. I'm a fucking puppet.

Kinda cool tho, like a third person game I guess. But what's more cool is...

[Using skill "Manage" on puppet Ayame

View talents

View skills

View class]

With this, I can check on what my talents are... which is nothing. Not surprised. My skills I already know, and my class.

But the class thing is different. Once certain conditions are met, I can evolve classes. Unfortunately, Puppeteer does not have any evolutions.

And the talent tab. Ohh that's cool. There's an option to add and remove talents, meaning I can steal all the talents of my puppets. Cool I guess.

Talents aren't that powerful tho. They're basically aptitudes, they increase learning speed and proficiency of things. They're also pretty rare so...

Anyways, as the son of a duke, it wasn't hard to force someone into signing their life away.

Meet the Emi. Nakamura Emi, her family was pretty poor and raised in a bad part of the city. Our family helped them settle in as maids, so they could, yknow, eat.

Emi is their youngest daughter at the age of 18, a rather cute thing. Her attitude, however, could need a little fixing.

[Status information

Name: Nakamura Emi

Class: None

Skills: [Stealth]

[Puppet progress is at 23%]

[Manage character]]

The reason her puppet progress is at 23 might be because she's a maid. I checked all the other ones, their progress was somewhere between 50-60. They're obedient.

Emi, however, was annoying. I doubt she wants to do this job, and occasionally, jewelry goes missing. You attribute it to her stealth skill. The little bastard.

But her talents are more intriguing.

[Displaying information...

Name: Nakamura Emi

Talents: [Photographic Memory]]

...yes, I am going to make her sign her life away for the sole factor of obtaining better memory. But you don't understand how important that is.

Learning swordsmanship is difficult. In this world, there are varieties of stances and different attacks that I just can't remember for the life of me. So instead of practicing, I'd rather cheat my way.

That's a normal response right?

And as for how I plan to make her obedient... Well, you'll find out.

But a bigger concern is my classmates. They're all powerful, although their backgrounds are a bit dull. It seems I was rather fortunate with my rebirth.

But they're all getting strongest at an unfair rate. And not to mention I haven't ever talked to a single one of them.

I'm a bit of an outcast.

It seems they've all partied up and found each others identities... Well, that's great.

Except I'm the only weak bastard. It's not even my fault. But I guess I can't complain.

But rather, wouldn't puppeteering one of them grant me a shit load of benefits? Like, I'd be able to use an isekai protagonist as my bodyguard. That's overpowered.

But first, I need some influence. Some persuasion to make them sign it. And power to dominate them, I guess.

And so, we make a full circle back to Emi, my first stepping stone.