Episode 103: Dream in the game becomes reality

26. Strange events (5)

Not long after Arcia and I returned to the Marquis' lord's castle, we welcomed a guest who came in a hurry.

"Isn't this the first time you two have visited my territory?"

They have the same last name as Lawrence… … .

No, it was my biological father, Viscount Rayford Lawrence, who passed down Lawrence Castle to me, and my biological mother, Viscountess Sylvia Lawrence.

Although the world says they are enjoying a prosperous life thanks to their outstanding son, they are protecting their fiefdom by rejecting love calls from many central nobles for fear of harm to their son.

In particular, my father has cut off interaction with nearby lords and completely withdrawn from social activities. Perhaps due to regret and guilt for not being able to protect me and my mother due to lack of power in the past, he is self-reflecting without asking.

Weiss, my former bodyguard, and William, the leader of the knights, visited with my father and mother.

Since I couldn't visit my parents' house because I was busy only talking on the phone or texting, everyone was very happy to see me.

Weiss and William had visited my domain before, but this was my father and mother's first time, so I showed them around the castle and guided them to my study.

"What could be more disgusting than coming to your child's castle and interfering with this and that?"

"You don't need to worry too much about what people around you think. "There is no big person in this country who would harm my father."

"Thanks to you, right?"

"It's all thanks to me and my late teacher who studied magic with me."

Of course, by the teacher I meant, I meant Archduke Lucas, not the publicly known Duke of Riverdale.

However, except for Arcia, it was a line that everyone would think of as the Duke of Riverdale.

"You decorate yourself well. After all, it's a permanent castle in a big city, so it's incredibly large."

My mother was more interested in my environment than me.

I guess he was curious about how his son lived.

My mother must have wanted to come again and again, but she held back.

I think the father was trying to stop his son, who was starting to take off, saying that he should not bear the burden of family.

There's no need to do that.

"sure. "He has a higher rank and is richer than my father."

"Yes, yes. "My son is handsome."

At the same time, my mother, who had taken the seat across from me with Arcia, slapped my back.

It doesn't hurt at all.

Even though his mother was a handmaiden, due to his talent, his tenacity was at a level comparable to that of a high-ranking knight, so he could not join the attacking team of Jeong-dong.

Nevertheless, I pretended to be sick.

"Huh… … ."

Is it shocking to see us like this?

The maids around them covered their mouths with surprised expressions.

My father noticed this to my mother, but I grinned at the surprised maids, asking if that was necessary.

"Is it surprising that a mother can hit her child?"

"S-sorry."

The maids blushed and walked away quickly, and my father shook his head and said.

"Aren't you doing this because you are notorious?"

"yes?"

"Even though he looks like this, he is a lord of name and color. "There are quite a few rumors."

Because he had done so many things that would spread notoriety in the noble world, I had no idea what he was hearing about.

"How nice of me to you. If you look at my online diary, there are a lot of ordinary people cheering for me."

"Cheering through a screen is different from watching someone in person. For the maids, it's like serving the most eccentric nobleman in the country. "People don't like things that are outside of the expected range."

Oh, is that so?

I felt like the more everyone told me to behave comfortably, the more polite I became, and that seems to have been the reason.

I scratched the back of my head.

Combined with my memories from my past life, my father and I can be said to be of similar age.

However, I lived a total of 42 years, from 22 in my previous life to 20 in this life, but unlike me, who had a much longer life as a child and teenager, I don't think I can ignore the fact that I spent a long time in social activities as an adult.

My father and mother looked at me embarrassed and smiled, wondering what was so good about it.

"So what's going on? "You two are always welcome, but isn't there a reason for your urgent visit?"

In response to my question, my father erased the expression from his face and asked me seriously.

"I heard there was going to be a civil war."

It's surprising.

I thought they wouldn't know yet because they had cut off ties with the outside world, but the news came quickly.

I nodded obediently.

"I heard His Majesty the King is thinking of abdicating. His Majesty Luke has no intention of just watching this quietly. "Orders will probably be given to the viscount and baron just before the start of the operation."

I, too, can be seen as having my own faction, although it is not large in scale.

There are three families involved, including my marquis, the Earl of Arsia, and my father's viscount.

"You will be at the forefront of the Second Prince faction, right?"

"His Highness Luke told me to be his second-in-command. So, you will be ahead of the commander, the Marquess of Hammington. In the case of Arcia, he was even part of a guerrilla unit."

I tilted my head, not getting the gist of what my father was trying to say.

My father spoke even more seriously about my actions.

"If His Majesty's direct troops appear on the battlefield, do not fight them."

"His Majesty's direct troops?"

It doesn't seem likely that the king will step forward, but even if he does, I plan to betray the second prince and join the crown prince anyway, so there was no reason to fight with the king's faction.

The king was in a position to support the crown prince.

However, since my father was still unaware of the betrayal operation, he seemed to think that he might end up fighting against the King faction.

However, I could see that the reason my father said these words was not just because of loyalty to the king.

"His Majesty the King is a scarier person than everyone thinks. Definitely not the old guy in the back room."

I tilted my head and asked my father for a detailed explanation.

This is because even his son, Prince Luke, has never heard that he should be careful about the king.

"No matter what the Prius Republic is like, any powerful country will have at least one arrangement for the continuation of the royal family and the imperial family. And it's no different for us at Reinharts."

"Of course it is. "Will that be enough to have an impact on the general trend?"

I thought that what the king should be most wary of were the nobles who supported him and remained neutral until the end.

But my father said that what we really had to be careful about was the arrangement, so I couldn't help but have doubts.

"Even if there is a Grand Master?"

"yes?"

The Grand Master is classified as the Grand Wizard of the 8th Circle.

It is said that the sight of him running while wielding four Force Swords with Auror Blades at the same time was terrifying, but unfortunately, among the five Grand Masters on the continent, none were from our kingdom.

There are two members of the Brigham Empire, one member of the Elysian Alliance, one member of the Croisen Empire, and one member of the Chase Kingdom.

A saint is also a grandmaster-level warrior, but just as a saint is different from a wizard, he is also completely different from an ordinary swordsman, so he was excluded.

There is such a precious Grand Master in our kingdom?

It's an incredible story.

"I'm not sure. "I learned this not long ago when I was sorting through your grandfather's data and found a hidden diary."

"hmm… … ."

His grandfather, former Viscount Lawrence, was a former butler who worked in the palace interior.

Although the position of head of the house ended in my grandfather's generation, our family was a family that served the king within the palace for quite a long time.

But one day, my grandfather suddenly died unexpectedly, and our family's advancement into the royal palace was cut off.

That is why my father had to marry unreasonably for the sake of his weakened family.

Could it be that such things happened because my grandfather had access to royal secrets?

In various cases, I couldn't just ignore my father's story.

"You must keep in mind that as the world is large, there are more hidden secrets than you think."

"All right. I'll keep that in mind. "Don't worry, if something happens, we will definitely run away."

It was surprising that a Grand Master might be included in the King's direct troops, but even if he did appear, there was no need to worry too much.

"Yes, go ahead. Honor is important, but more important than that is life. "Even if something goes wrong, if you survive, there will be many places looking for you."

"But somehow it feels like you're talking about someone else. "My father is also a member of the Second Prince faction, so joining the war is a decision, right?"

But the shocking story did not end there.

The story that followed was even more shocking than the fact that there might be a grand master under the king.

"me? "I don't plan on participating in the war?"

"yes?"

If you turn around at a critical moment after me, the credit will be considerable.

So much so that if the forces hostile to the crown prince are eliminated and a vacancy arises on the earl's throne, he can occupy one.

"Sylvia is pregnant. So he doesn't plan on doing anything that will shock him. "I want to stop you from going forward, but it won't be easy."

For a moment, I picked my ear because I couldn't understand what my father was saying.

'Pregnancy, pregnancy... … . My mother. huh?'

Mother twists her body as if she is embarrassed, and Arcia drops the cookie she was holding.

And when I saw my father clearing his throat as if embarrassed, I belatedly understood what he meant and spit out the tea I was drinking.

"Cough! "What?"

"He's dirty!"

"It's been three months. "September 20th is the expected date of birth."

I'm twenty.

No, it's my birthday soon, so you could say I'm 21.

But a younger sibling is born to me like this?

A younger brother who is almost as old as your child?

"Really?"

"Are you really going to joke about something like that?"

I blinked in embarrassment.

My father responded as if making an excuse.

"If there is no successor, wouldn't Viscount Lawrence disappear? "It just worked out well."

It is clear that my roots are Viscount Lawrence, but I cannot inherit my father's title because I already have a higher title.

Basically, in the Kingdom of Reinharts, a title can only be inherited by the lord's direct lineage, but if there is no direct lineage to inherit the title, the title and territory are returned to the king.

In that sense, there is no better option for the survival of the author... … .

I don't know how to react to this.

"Congratulations. "Father, mother."

Still, I couldn't disappoint my parents, so I congratulated them first.

Now that I see it, I think the warning to be careful of the king was justifiable, and the purpose was to spread this news.

"Mom, you look so young, I don't mind, but I think you need to take care of your dad, right? "When her younger brother becomes an adult, won't he become a great grandfather?"

"I think it would be okay for you to use recovery magic regularly?"

"All right. Okay."

While I was talking, I used the 7th circle recovery magic on the two of them.

7th circle recovery magic has no adverse effects on the fetus.

Rather, it was a method frequently used by high-ranking nobles because there was a possibility of developing magical talents if one was frequently exposed to great magic.

"Our second child is truly blessed. Her older brother is an Archmage and her step-sister is an Auror Master."

"Are you saying it's your daughter?"

"I don't know yet, I just have a feeling."

I feel like something is going on.

I calmed my confused mind and smiled.

I think this might be the most embarrassing moment in recent times.

I think we need to end the war quickly.

* * *

"A younger brother to the Marquis of Lawrence? Haha, congratulations."

A quiet place in the royal castle that I secretly visited after receiving a call from the crown prince.

When I revealed what happened today to lighten the mood before starting a full-fledged conversation, the crown prince congratulated me with a cheerful expression.

"That's why your father doesn't want to participate in this war."

"All right. "It can't be helped."

Even if it is true that I am the family, honestly, from a third party's perspective, it may not be understandable that my wife does not participate in the war because she is pregnant.

But the crown prince laughed it off coolly.

"The difference in strategy between me and Prince Luke that is revealed on the surface is quite large, right? "I have something to reveal to Marquis Laurence, who may be anxious about the current situation."

"I will listen."

"There are comrades within the Second Princes faction who will join us in our operations, besides Marquis Lawrence."

And the crown prince told the story he had expected.

I nodded and pretended to be surprised.

"Are you the Marquis of Trenton?"

This worked so well that the Crown Prince's relaxed expression showed surprise.

"Did you know?"

"I predicted the next move from the crown prince's perspective. "I'm glad that's true."

I just said whatever I could, but the crown prince was greatly impressed.