Chapter 3 — The Vanehart Inheritance [3]
It was my first time using one in person, but I somehow instinctively knew how it worked.
"I touch this, then press here..."
After a few taps on the glowing letters inside the orb, information about my family appeared.
The text was written in unfamiliar characters, but for some reason, I could read it effortlessly.
"The Vanehart Family... a baron's house... located in the outskirts of the Serenus region. Serenus, huh..."
The capital of the Arium Empire was Lysquare.
And Serenus was a remote region quite far from Lysquare.
If I remembered correctly, Serenus wasn't even part of the main storyline—it was practically insignificant.
'No dungeons, no good farming spots, no major trade routes... it was one of those places I barely ever visited in-game.'
The only thing that made the Serenus region special was that it was a protected area for other races.
That was it.
There was nothing else particularly special about that region.
'But wait—were there even nobles in Serenus? I'm pretty sure that area was inhabited almost entirely by non-humans, with hardly any humans living there.'
Questions continued to pile up, but I decided to keep digging into the details about the Vanehart family.
'Family members... what? None at all? No relatives either...? Seriously? I'm completely alone?'
That voice earlier had said I was the only heir and current head of the family.
And that wasn't an exaggeration—it was the literal truth.
I was the only remaining member of the Vanehart family, both heir and head.
No other relatives, no distant kin—I was the only person left with the surname Vanehart.
"Ha, you've got to be kidding me."
If I'd at least had a family, I could've hoped for some kind of help, but that faint hope was shattered beautifully.
So I tried to look for something else—any sign of hope—but the information displayed by the crystal orb crushed even that.
"There's a mansion, but no residents. No cooks, gardeners, servants, or retainers at all... damn it."
This wasn't a noble house; this was worse than being a commoner.
If I had something—anything—to work with, maybe I could've managed, but with just the title of baron...
"...Hm?"
I almost sighed again out of sheer hopelessness.
Almost.
Because I happened to read the section about my assets right before doing so.
"Wait, what? Why do I have so much money?"
My account—if you could call it that—was loaded.
According to the records from the Imperial Bank, my wealth was considerable.
And when I traced the source of that wealth through the crystal orb...
"Taxes from the non-human races?"
Apparently, the Vanehart family—still technically a noble house—governed Serenus, which was designated as a non-human protection zone.
Meaning the non-human residents there paid taxes to my family. And instead of using those funds, it seemed the taxes had simply accumulated for years.
Thanks to that, the Vanehart family's fortune—in other words, my fortune—was massive.
'This is about the level of an earl's wealth. Considering the economy here... I could probably live as a shut-in just fine.'
For a brief moment, I was tempted by the idea of resuming my familiar, idle lifestyle.
But then I scrapped that plan almost immediately.
After all, being a shut-in in a medieval fantasy world wasn't exactly practical.
If I at least had a gaming console, maybe... but this wasn't that kind of world.
"Well, whatever. At least I've got money, so I can probably do something. Anyway..."
I reread the information about my family.
And the more I read, the stranger it all seemed.
"There's absolutely no record of family members or history."
The lack of information about the Vanehart family was suspiciously thorough.
Rebuilding the family?
Since I already knew almost everything about this world, I was confident I could somehow manage that.
But the real problem was...
"She told me to reveal the family's secret, too."
The family's secret.
Something told me that uncovering that secret would have to come before restoring the family.
There was no particular reason for that thought.
It was just a gut feeling.
But I set that thought aside for now.
"Anyway, today's date is... yeah, just as I thought."
According to the crystal orb, today was the day of the Lysquare Academy entrance ceremony.
And the current time was 7 a.m.
Having gone through countless entrance ceremonies in the game, I knew perfectly well that the ceremony began at 9.
'Still got some time left. Guess I'll check my belongings.'
I walked over to a large box in the corner of the room.
Something told me my personal belongings would be inside.
And sure enough, when I opened it, I found all sorts of items neatly packed inside.
Clothes—both uniforms and casual wear—textbooks, cash, and then...
"Huh? What's this?"
There was a single sword resting at the bottom of the box.
A very familiar one.
"Isn't this... Mistcatcher?"
A black hilt, black guard, the entire blade a sleek obsidian shade.
A sword shaped like a katana—one I knew all too well.
Of course I recognized it.
It was the weapon used by my own defensive swordsman character—the one I had been playing before I transmigrated to this body.
"Why is this even here?"
That sword could only be obtained from a nation located far east of the Arium Empire, at the very edge of the continent.
I had gone through hell to acquire it for my character. So how could it possibly exist here, in this world?
If I had possessed my own in-game character, that would've made sense. But this Alex guy had absolutely nothing to do with that character.
"Hm."
I stared silently into the box, my mind spinning with questions.
And then, just as I was examining it closely—
"...Huh?"
A strange force began to seep into me.
I didn't know what it was—
"...Wait. What's this?"
—or at least, that's what I thought at first. But soon enough, I realized exactly what kind of power was flowing into my body.
'Predictive Counter skill, ten defensive sword techniques, two offensive techniques...'
There wasn't any kind of status window or system display in front of me.
But as that mysterious energy entered me, I could instinctively feel it.
The techniques and skills of the defensive swordsman I had trained—they were merging into me.
And at that moment, though I didn't know why, I suddenly knew what path I had to take.
'A knight. I need to become a knight.'
It was pure instinct—an overwhelming conviction.
Only by walking the path of a knight could I restore my fallen family... and uncover the hidden secret of the Vanehart line.
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[End of Chapter 3]