The reunion with my younger brother, whom I'd sent to the Academy to broaden his horizons, was a disaster. He'd been raised well enough at home, yet he'd somehow fallen for a girl on nightmare difficulty mode.
'Terrifying. A human capybara.'
What made it worse was that he'd never shown interest in romance before. If it had been someone prone to that sort of thing, I could've just shrugged it off. But for someone I never expected to suddenly jump in like this? My reunion with my younger brother was truly a disaster...
"I'm glad to see you're doing well."
After wrestling with what to say in my complicated state of mind, I decided to just let it slide. No matter how obvious it was that my younger brother had barged into a race with a foregone conclusion, it would be pretty unseemly to meddle in his love life with unsolicited advice when he hadn't even said anything about it yet.
It's not that I thought Erich and I were on bad terms, but honestly, we weren't exactly close either. And frankly, even if we were close, wouldn't it be grounds for cutting ties if I suddenly told him, 'You're totally screwed' about his love life?
At my words as I patted his shoulder, Erich nodded with a bewildered expression. Irina, who had been watching from a step back, spoke up.
"But Karl... oppa, what brings you to the Academy?"
I could feel her sharp drift from wondering what to call me straight into 'oppa,' but I answered while savoring a small sense of satisfaction. After constantly hearing stiff terms like Director, bastard, son of a bitch, and crazy bastard, how refreshing it was to hear the youthful word 'oppa.' I ignored the fact that this was evidence of becoming an old man.
"I'm here on business. I'll probably be staying for quite a while, so say hello if we run into each other."
"Business? Are you perhaps a civil servant?"
Irina's eyes widened in surprise as she asked. A civil servant coming to the Academy on official business would be at least mid-level, but Karl looked far from mid-level—more like a greenhorn who'd just started drawing a salary.
"Yeah. A civil servant."
I almost added 'Don't you guys go into this line of work,' but shut my mouth. It would be troublesome if these future prospective civil servants were actually influenced by those words and really didn't join.
The more new slaves piled up below me, the easier my life became. Maybe someday the gears would keep turning smoothly even if I disappeared... please.
"Wow! I heard it's really hard to become a civil servant these days!"
The capyba—no, Luize's eyes sparkled at the mention of civil servant. Is it hard to become a civil servant these days? It shouldn't be. That would slow down the rate at which slaves multiply.
"I became a civil servant four years ago, so I'm not sure how it is nowadays."
When Luize looked like she was about to say something else, I hastily cut her off. She was already this world's protagonist, and now she'd even ensnared Erich. I was terrified of what might happen if I kept her too close. Of course, it's not like she'd done anything wrong... but still, I'm a bit wary.
Was this the pitiful jealousy of a civil servant toward a protagonist beloved by the world? Hmm, that seemed plausible.
"But weren't you on your way to class? You might be late if you stay any longer."
"We're still fi—"
"Ah, you're right. We should get going."
Irina cut off Luize, who looked like she still had more to say. She must have noticed I was itching to leave. Pretty perceptive of her. Was her instinct to stick close to the protagonist also a result of that keen intuition?
"Let's meet again if we get the chance."
After offering a greeting with the same meaning as 'let's grab a meal sometime,' Karl turned his gaze to Erich. He was still his younger brother, so he ought to offer some words of encouragement at least.
"There's a lot you can do at the Academy, so work hard and keep at it."
Of course, I had no idea what those things actually were. I'd have to have attended the Academy myself to know. What a load of crap.
With that, I turned and headed toward the main building, only to catch sight of a blond man in the distance walking with followers trailing behind him. I immediately changed direction. If I had to face that person right after confronting the protagonist and having the worst reunion with my younger brother, my mind would be shredded to pieces.
***
Watching Karl's retreating figure, Erich let out a sigh and wiped the sweat trickling down his chin. He hadn't expected to run into his uncomfortable older brother so suddenly at the Academy. And he'd said he'd be staying for a while, no less. It was like a bolt from the blue.
Seeing Erich's expression, Luize asked worriedly. His face was frozen stiff, cold sweat beading on his skin, his pupils trembling. Even a passerby could tell at a glance that something serious was wrong. Not asking after him would have been the real discourtesy.
"Erich, are you sick? Are you okay?"
"Ah, ah, yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry."
He smiled awkwardly, but Erich's inner state was far from fine. From the moment Karl had spotted him and approached, Erich had experienced firsthand what a frog must feel like before a snake.
"It's been a while. Have you been well?"
When those jet-black eyes—so unlike his own, taking after their father instead—looked down at him, when that deep voice quietly descended and coiled around him, Erich could barely manage to meet his gaze and respond. Karl's very presence became a heavy pressure that crushed Erich's entire body.
'The more I try to get used to it, the worse it gets.'
Perhaps as Erich's own abilities improved, he'd become able to sense an intimidation he couldn't perceive before. A person who walked around radiating pressure—were they really brothers who came from the same mother's womb?
Actually, it hadn't been like this when Erich was younger. Their relationship as brothers hadn't been particularly close, but they'd still shared the level of affection typical of other families. They'd played together moderately, fought moderately, apologized moderately, and then played again. Just a normal brotherly relationship, with a quiet older brother. At least until Karl was sixteen and fell unconscious after being thrown from his horse.
Naturally, the mansion was thrown into chaos at the time. The Count's heir had lost consciousness—anyone with even the slightest responsibility was on the verge of wearing a poisoned canteen around their neck. Fortunately, he woke up healthy not long after, but from that point on, Karl showed a different side of himself.
Karl, who had been close to introverted, became lively. It was a bit puzzling, but since he'd nearly died and survived, it made sense that his personality might change. However, no matter how positively one viewed it, Karl after the age of seventeen bore no resemblance to his former self.
As Karl came home from work, his expression grew increasingly rigid with each passing day, and at a certain point, he stopped coming home at all. The period was too long to simply think he was busy, and the last glimpse Erich had of Karl showed him utterly haggard.
Then, two years after Karl became a civil servant, when Erich turned fifteen, Karl finally returned to the mansion. The estate was in an uproar over the heir's return, and the sight from that day still lingered vividly in Erich's mind.
"Well done. You are the Krasius family's masterpiece."
Karl and Erich's father. Yet calling him 'father' felt strange—he was the head of the Krasius family. He was an excellent loyal retainer, an outstanding noble, and a decent lord, but he was not a good father.
He viewed his two sons merely as objects to carry on the Krasius name, as cards to be raised and utilized for the Emperor and the Empire. While he treated them well enough to make them useful, he gave them neither affection nor attention. That was the kind of person the family head was.
However, welcoming Karl home after so long, the family head smiled broadly and laughed loudly enough to echo throughout the entire mansion. Even the head butler and chief attendant, who had served the family head for a long time, looked clearly surprised, apparently seeing this side of him for the first time. Only Karl remained unfazed, bowing his head and responding to the family head's praise.
"I merely did what needed to be done."
The family head was even more pleased with that answer.
Only after the family head, who had been laughing with satisfaction for quite some time, left could Erich approach Karl. No matter how distant they were, it was only natural to welcome a brother he hadn't seen in so long. But as Erich approached Karl, the look in Karl's eyes made his skin crawl.
Karl's gaze resembled the family head's. It wasn't simply looking at a person as a person, but rather an appraising look, as if checking to see how much he'd grown. Karl patted the frozen Erich's shoulder a few times, then left, and Erich remained standing alone in that spot for a long while.
And today, two years after that day. Today, Karl's gaze was the same as it had been then.
***
'At least the kid's growing up well.'
After taking a detour around the main building to avoid the blond man observed from afar, it took some time before I could push away my complicated feelings and recall Erich's well-grown appearance. Though barely ten days had passed since the entrance ceremony and he'd already shown a pathetic, pitiful state of seemingly being ensnared by the protagonist, he was still growing up healthy.
I felt deeply sorry toward Erich. A family head who wasn't like a father. A mother who either wouldn't or couldn't object to the family head's methods. And me, who had taken over this body in place of its original owner. Caught between this fantastical triangle, young Erich had essentially been forced to grow up alone.
When I took over this body, Erich was twelve years old. From that point on, Erich entered complete independence. At least for the first year, living in the same mansion, I could greet him in passing and look after him a little, but once I started my civil service life, even that became impossible.
When I finished the northern affairs and returned to the mansion, how my heart ached to see him grown so much despite everything. With a proud heart, I patted his shoulder a few times and quickly turned away. The kid seemed a bit stiff, probably awkward about seeing his brother after so long.
Today too, he seemed to have grown in the time we hadn't seen each other, and moved by such sentiment, I placed my hand on his shoulder—and he stiffened again. Indeed, family should live together and see each other often. The kid's becoming a stranger to his own brother.
'I should take this opportunity to meet with Erich more often.'
If Erich knew, he would be horrified and seriously contemplate between withdrawing from the Academy and continuing his school days with Luize.
Conversely, if Karl knew that Erich regarded his gaze as similar to the Family Head's—one that looked at people like chess pieces—he would have been equally horrified.
The brothers each possessed weapons capable of inflicting psychological damage on the other, though in entirely different ways...