I—Laguna Ver Brave—was currently drowning in the administrative drudgery expected of a rural noble.
"Dammit! Shit, shit, shit! How the hell did it come to this?!"
I kept scanning the documents, scrawling my signature wherever required.
There was no end to the handover paperwork. It was a mind-numbing, incredibly tedious process. If we had something like personal stamps, the situation might be different, but that culture simply didn't exist here. We had sealing wax, but that was reserved for things like confidential letters.
"Where’s the damn inkpad?! This is a world of swords and sorcery—you’d think we’d have developed something that basic!"
In this ridiculous fantasy world, we didn't even have a stamp pad. Had literally nobody noticed how inefficient this was? You'd get carpal tunnel doing this.
Actually, I already had carpal tunnel. I was just cheating the system with Recovery Magic, working day and night without a wink of sleep. My senses were starting to go numb. It reminded me of the time I’d been bitten by an ant monster with paralyzing venom.
"You damn old man, you absolute piece of shit... Why did you have to go and die on me?"
I spat out curses at the desk while facing down the mountain of paper.
The reason I’d ended up buried under this unfamiliar workload traced back to about a month ago. An enemy nation bordering our territory had invaded. As luck would have it, a monster stampede occurred at the exact same time. My old man was killed in action before I could even provide reinforcements. To make matters worse, my eldest and second-oldest brothers were killed in the same battle.
And so, as the surviving third son, I was forced to inherit the lordship of this frontier.
"I was supposed to become an adventurer and live a carefree life!"
Once noble brats turned fifteen, they were all required to attend the academy in the Royal Capital. However, that usually only applied up to the second son. As the third, I should have been exempt.
But now, I had to manage this pain-in-the-ass territory while simultaneously juggling academy life. It was impossible. Beyond impossible. This world actually had dungeons; I wanted to be an adventurer! I wanted to hole up in a dungeon and live a wild, chaotic life.
There were already some legendary figures among my generation. I was currently delaying my enrollment due to my family's funerals, but couldn't I just leave it at that? Couldn't I just pretend I forgot and decline the invitation?
"No, I probably can't..."
If I broke a tradition like that, I’d lose the support of other nobles. The Brave Territory was rich in resources, but the trade-off was that it was crawling with monsters. We were right next to an enemy country, so small skirmishes were a daily occurrence. Because of that, we had plenty of monster materials and a high population of adventurers, making the businesses catering to those drifters quite lucrative. However, our capacity for self-sufficiency was nonexistent.
"Even if we clear the land near the forests for farming, Goblins or Orcs just come along and trash the place!"
You need food to survive. Looking through these documents, I realized that we relied on other nobles for those vital supplies. It was a "we'll hold back the monsters and the enemy army if you feed us" kind of arrangement.
"Anyway, I guess I have no choice..."
Managing a territory while sucking up to the spoiled heirs of other nobles at the academy... could I really pull that off? I’d been trained from head to toe for one purpose: killing monsters and enemies. This was a blood-soaked land.
I knew exactly what other nobles called the Brave Territory. The Abandoned Land. That was us. I was starting to depress myself just saying it, but that was the reality. In the Brave Territory, human life was cheap. I couldn't even afford the time to mourn my father and brothers.
"Young Master Laguna, there is an important matter to discuss."
The door swung open while I was powering through the paperwork at a furious pace, grumbling all the while. The man who appeared was Sebas, the butler of House Brave. Are all butlers named Sebas? I’d always wondered, but in his case, it was just his actual name.
"Help me out, Sebas. Also, it's Lord Laguna, not Young Master."
"Since you haven't officially succeeded the title yet, I shall refrain. Besides, these are documents the Lord himself must review; it would be improper for a mere vassal like myself to intervene."
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue reflexively.
Well, I knew he was busy in his own right, handling the funerals for the previous lord and my brothers. I also had him dealing with the other noble houses we were connected to. Thanks to him, I’d been able to avoid the absolute nightmare that was holding formal audiences. I knew I couldn't really ask for more.
His condescending tone still pissed me off, though.
"So, what is it?"
"I am simply surprised to find that the Brave bloodline actually contained someone capable of such extensive paperwork."
"Did you come all the way here just to say that?"
My old man had definitely been the type who couldn't handle this kind of work. That was why my brothers had split the duties, supported by specialized staff. However, they were almost all dead. Dammit!
There was no point in being bitter. It was something we’d always been prepared for. I felt the sting of grief, but we’d been raised to believe this was our fate. Whether it came sooner or later was the only variable.
"Actually, a marriage proposal has arrived for you, Young Master."
"A marriage proposal? Isn't that a bit sudden, even for us?"
I looked at Sebas with suspicion. I understood that becoming a lord meant these offers would start rolling in, but everyone usually avoided the Brave Territory like the plague. It was a place as dangerous as it was loathed.
"The fiancées of my older brothers wouldn't even show their faces after the news broke, right?"
"When I went to deliver the news, they looked remarkably relieved, in fact."
"...Should I just kill them?"
I gripped my pen until it snapped in two. I felt as though the pride of my brothers, who had died protecting the people, had been spat upon.
"You mustn't, Young Master."
Sebas produced a replacement pen with suspicious speed. He shrugged his shoulders with a weary sigh.
"We cannot survive without connections. You mustn't talk of killing people just because they've offended you."
"They were probably women who couldn't be offloaded anywhere else anyway, right?"
That was why they’d been sent to our house in the first place. No one would have complained if I’d killed them. They might act angry for appearance's sake, but they’d be secretly relieved that I’d disposed of their faulty goods.
"We're getting off track. So, what kind of 'messed up' type is this new proposal?" I asked, returning to the main point. "As you can see, we're drowning in work here. You get it, right Sebas? Can't you just use that as an excuse to turn them down?"
As Sebas said, I’d have to think about a wife eventually, but didn't he think this was a bit premature?
"Once I'm done with the cleanup here, I have to go to that academy far away from the Brave Territory. I’ll be busy sucking up to nobles there and then rushing back here during breaks to manage the land. I'm at my limit. I don't have time to be married to some random woman."
"Let's reject it. Yeah, tell them I've declined with 'the deepest of regrets.'"
"Rejection is not an option."
He shot me down instantly. He could have at least been a little more tactful about it.
"Sebas, I don't have time to rest. In a year, the monster population will spike again. Plus, there's the chance that the enemy country will have licked their wounds and come back for more because they never learn."
"Young Master. Regarding this proposal... it comes from House Oldwood. They are a Ducal house that provides us with more weapons and food support than any other noble family."
"HUH!?"
I accidentally dropped my new pen.
"Ah, the new pen! Wait, that makes no sense! Sebas, tell me our house's rank again."
"Rank Five of the Upper Court, a Count. Technically, marriage with a Ducal house is possible."
"Add 'Frontier' to that title! Frontier Count!"
If you just heard the rank, it sounded respectable. But that "Frontier" prefix changed everything. Because of that—and only because of that—the Brave Territory was known as the Abandoned Land. It was a rank essentially created for the sole purpose of dealing with monsters and border skirmishes. Even if it was technically possible, there was normally no way a high-ranking noble would ever agree to such a match.
"Why would a Ducal house... wait."
It was then that I truly remembered what kind of world this was. I knew this world. It was exactly like a game I had played in my previous life.
Yes, an isekai reincarnation.
In my previous life, I’d lived in a country called Japan and died somehow. I couldn't remember the cause of death or even my old name, but I remembered the facts. The memories had come flooding back when I was three years old, right after an Orc had knocked me unconscious with a blow to the head. At first, I’d been confused by the strange memories, but the moment I heard the name of the Kingdom, I knew.
Ah, this is an isekai reincarnation.
I’d completely forgotten about it. I’d been so excited about being reincarnated in another world initially, but the reality had been so far removed from my imagination that the thought had slipped my mind. My family started teaching me how to hunt monsters and kill people at age three—of course I’d forget about games. Every day was a struggle for survival against monsters and the occasional enemy soldier. By the time I’d finished desperately trying to stay alive each day, I was suddenly fifteen.
"It’s true... it was around this time... and the generation matches..."
"Young Master? Do you know something?"
"It's nothing!"
I clutched my head as Sebas tilted his in confusion.
If I remembered correctly, it was an otome game. You know the type: a commoner protagonist gets her talents scouted, heads to the academy, and ends up in a whirlwind romance with princes and other high-spec heartthrobs. Why was I playing an otome game in my past life? I had no idea; that part of my memory was a blank. But I was definitely a guy back then.
Anyway, back to the game plot.
About a month ago, the protagonist and the prince should have had their fated encounter. The prince had a Duke’s daughter who had been his fiancée since childhood; she was the villainess who bullied the protagonist for getting too close to him. Those harassments were exposed pretty early on, leading to a duel over the prince. The Duke’s daughter lost, resulting in the major event where her engagement was annulled.
It was a classic trope. Afterward, the disgraced Duke's daughter was forced to take responsibility for the scandal and was married off to some backwater noble on the frontier, where she eventually died. That was how the lore went, but...
"SO THAT WAS US!?"
My scream echoed throughout the modest mansion.