If it was going to be this easy, why did they bare their fangs and make such a fuss...?
"Thinking that I've gained a reliable son warms my heart, darling."
"Hahaha! See that? It all depends on how you make up your mind."
"......"
I almost cursed again.
I have no idea why they were bulging the veins in their necks fighting over this.
Not when it was going to be resolved this easily.
Ah...
Well, my father did put in some hard work.
Wait, no, he seemed to enjoy it...
Ugh!
I'd better stop thinking about this.
"Alright! Now that we've settled what to call each other, let's talk about family matters. Bellun, starting today, you'll be taking the Silverstone surname."
"What about the Thomas surname?"
It wasn't easy to bring up.
It's like the toughest, sturdiest cord tying my father and me together.
Is it really okay to throw away the name Thomas so easily?
"That? Toss it. I changed my surname too, didn't I?"
"...Excuse me? You're throwing away our family name that easily?"
That's an answer I never imagined.
Is that really okay?
"Son, I never had a surname to begin with. I only made one up because the late lord told me I needed a surname to become Captain of the Guard. They said I needed one to receive the rank of Centurion, so I just picked something at random. That Logan brat in the guard is using the surname 'Thomas' after me too, you know?"
"......"
Did I just accidentally uncover a family(?) secret?
That has to be the most pathetic-sounding family secret in existence.
"Fine, whatever. Anyway, Mother, since when did you like my father?"
"Hmm... Probably since I was thirteen?"
"......"
What did she just say?
Back then, my father would've been around twenty-three.
Wasn't that the year my mother passed away?
"You have no idea how sorrowfully he cried back then. So I told him. I said I'd definitely marry him when I grew up. My father was against it, though. He finally gave his permission on the day he left for the expedition."
"......"
That sounds like a lie.
If the late lord had given his permission for them to marry, he would've told me...
"!!"
He didn't need to tell me!
My head is spinning again.
When I was cursed by the Lich and became a skeleton soldier, they said the late lord tied me up so I couldn't budge an inch.
The reason I say 'they said' is because I had no memory of when I first fell under the curse.
I only came to my senses after the Lich died.
When my memories picked back up, the priests and mages of the expeditionary force were swarming all around me.
After that, even though the people in the expeditionary force ostracized me, they always nagged me in passing as if by habit, saying, 'Treat His Excellency the Commander well, you bastard who deserves to be hacked to pieces.'
The late lord always kept me by his side and went to great lengths to teach me one thing after another.
Was all of that... because I was my father's son and had become a new member of the Silverstone family?
His Excellency the Commander of the Demon Realm expeditionary force, the former lord of this territory... that old man really is making me tear up even after he's gone.
"Why is this brat digging into someone else's love life? Alright, that settles everything, right? From now on, you're 'Bellun Silverstone.'"
"Yes, well, if that's how it is, I'll accept it."
Leave it to my father to completely ruin the mood.
My tears dried right back up.
After that, I had to sit through a long talk about the territory's affairs.
All I can do is sigh.
These are things I already knew, but hearing about them as someone else's problem versus my own problem feels completely different.
"This really is a dirt-poor territory. Wait, we have debt?"
I frowned.
I never heard anything from the late lord about having debts.
On the contrary, he told me there was money owed to us, so where did debt suddenly come from?
"Yeah, the debt is giving me a massive headache. Even paying the monthly interest is tight. Starting tomorrow, I'll have to go hunt monsters again. Still, things should be a bit better now that you're back. Looks like you trained quite a bit in the Demon Realm. To think you've already surpassed low-rank Expert."
My father sized me up briefly and marveled.
Our territory is a bit unusual.
Because we teach a Mana training method even to regular soldiers.
However, rather than teaching the Mana training method from childhood the way knights treat as standard practice, you only earn the qualification to learn it once you turn seventeen.
That's due to the Silverstone Barony's tradition that training Mana is most effective after the physical body is built up to a certain degree.
Instead, until you turn seventeen, you have to endure brutal abuse disguised as physical conditioning like crazy.
I ended up going on the Demon Realm expedition the year I turned seventeen, and since I became a skeleton soldier, I couldn't train it directly.
Instead, I was able to learn the completed Mana training method from the late lord.
The 'Divine training method' that allowed the lord to reach the realm of a Master even after he was past his prime.
Wait!
My thoughts are wandering off track again.
He's going around hunting monsters just to pay off debt?
"Who do we owe money to?"
"We owe two thousand gold to the Garcia Barony. We're paying twenty gold in interest every month. I admit they lent it at a low interest rate, but paying twenty gold every single month is breaking our backs. At this rate, there's no end in sight for paying back the principal. People don't know what we're going through and just envy me for becoming a noble."
"...I'm sorry."
My father let out a groan, and my young stepmother bowed her head.
Watching them like that makes my blood boil.
"What a son of a bitch."
"What was that, brat?"
"I wasn't talking about you, Father!"
Please only butt in when it's about you, Father!
I immediately focused my awareness on the Core in my lower abdomen and guided Mana to my ribs.
My father and stepmother wouldn't be able to see it, but a small subspace opened right in front of my hand.
I have no desire to let the two of them know that I can use subspace.
Because explaining the subspace would mean having to tell them that I died, turned into a skeleton soldier, and came back to life.
Pretending to rummage through my bag, I pulled out a single document.
My job in the Demon Realm was serving as a walking 'warehouse.'
The items the late lord entrusted to me were a promissory note and a single ring.
Specifically, a promissory note for three thousand gold stating that it had been lent to Baron Garcia.
And a signet ring symbolizing the Silverstone Barony.
"This is a promissory note for the three thousand gold lent to Baron Garcia."
I slid the signet ring and the promissory note to the center of the table.
My father picked up the promissory note, checked it over, and handed it to my stepmother.
Then he locked eyes with me.
"Are you saying my wife and I have been deceived all this time?"
"That's why I called him a son of a bitch. For a debtor to pull a scam claiming he's the lender, it makes you wonder if he's even human. And you're part of the problem too, Father. Didn't you even check the promissory note with Baron Garcia?"
It really makes my blood boil.
A debtor claiming he lent us money and collecting interest is infuriating enough, but paying out interest without even checking the promissory note isn't normal either.
"How was I supposed to know Baron Garcia would throw away his noble honor and lie? Wait, no! None of this would've happened if the late lord had left the promissory note behind in the first place!"
"The late lord thought Baron Garcia was in a tight spot and had no intention of pressing him for the debt. He said that if Baron Garcia's circumstances still hadn't improved by the time we returned, he planned to turn a blind eye and let it go."
Huh?
Thinking about it as I explain this to my father, it hits me anew just how many things the late lord confided in me.
"That filthy son of a bitch! He scammed us? I'll kill him!"
Having checked the promissory note, my stepmother ground her teeth and shouted.
Right, this is the real personality of Big Sis Ilia... no, my stepmother that I remember.
The girl who had zero interest in girls' games growing up and always played war with the boys.
"Calm yourself, darling."
"Ah! I got a little worked up for a moment. I'm sorry."
At a single word from my father, my stepmother immediately calmed down and acted demure.
Whoa!
My father's charisma is no joke, huh?
"Since we have the promissory note, you should lodge an official protest with Baron Garcia, reclaim the interest he wrongfully took, and collect the principal as well. That's the proper way to deal with an ungrateful bastard like him."
I laid out my argument reasonably enough.
Even if I slipped a curse word in the middle.
However,
"No, the lord and I are going to Baron Garcia's castle ourselves."
"Don't tell me..."
"Yes, exactly what you're thinking. I can't let this slide. Do you have any idea how high and mighty that bastard Baron Garcia acted? And he's the one who borrowed money from us? I'm going to kill him. That son. Of. A. Bitch!"
"......"
"......"
Not just me, even my father couldn't say a word this time.
Because an icy blue light practically seemed to shoot out of my stepmother's eyes.
"Let's go right now."
"W-Where to...?"
"......"
My stepmother sprang up from her seat.
Faced with her ferocious intensity, my father stammered while I just glanced back and forth between them.
"To beat the shit out of that bastard Baron Garcia."
""......""
Stepmother... It hasn't even been half a day since I got back to the territory.
Could you please tone down that temper a little?
***
Marcel Garcia.
He was in a great mood.
Because word had suddenly arrived from Baron Silverstone.
Saying he was coming to ask for a slight extension on this month's interest, as well as an extension on the principal repayment date.
At least, that was what had been reported through the communication mage.
'The harder you squeeze them, the more money comes out one way or another.'
When total pushovers were crawling over on their own, how could he not be in a good mood?
On the day he went to the Silverstone Barony to pay back the money he owed, how shocked he had been to unexpectedly hear that Baron Silverstone was personally leading his soldiers on the Demon Realm expedition!
That was when he changed his mind.
When the lender himself was heading off to the Demon Realm, why bother paying back the money now?
So he claimed he had only dropped by to apologize for the delay and kept the money.
Because the loan was strictly between the two of them.
People said the Holy Kingdom had put together an expeditionary force of heroes to slay the Demonic Dragon, while the rest were just tagging along for show.
Even so, what if things went south and Baron Silverstone died in the Demon Realm?
Then there wouldn't be a single soul left who knew about the debt!
'Now nobody knows the truth. Still, seeing how steadily they've been paying up, they've got more staying power than I thought.'
He couldn't help but laugh.
About half a year after the expeditionary force departed for the Demon Realm, news of a wedding came from the Silverstone Barony.
Just to test the waters, he attended the wedding and brought up the money.
Sure enough, the newlyweds Kaiel and Ilia knew nothing about the loan.
Seeing the two of them wearing the happiest smiles in the world while saying they knew nothing about it had made his blood boil.
The territory's people cheering with all their hearts at the wedding of a shabby, penniless barony...
Watching the couple receive the heartfelt blessings of their people—something he could never obtain no matter how hard he tried—left him both envious and furious.
When they were nothing but paupers!
Out of spite, he spun a tale about them owing him a debt, and because they knew how close he had been with the late lord, they didn't suspect a thing.
If they had asked to see proof, he would've laughed it off as a joke and let it drop...
Now, though?
He didn't have the slightest intention of telling them the truth.
They didn't have the stamped promissory note he had exchanged with the late lord.
Just a little more squeezing, and once the deadline to repay the principal arrived, it would all be over.
'The Silverstone territory will fall right into my hands.'
A greedy smile crept across Baron Garcia's lips.
He had already forged a promissory note.
Unless someone verified it with a magic stone, it would never be exposed.
And there was no way a verification would ever happen.
'Those fools would never dare suspect a close friend of her late father.'
"Hehehe... Showing up on the very day I'm hosting a party—are they trying to announce to all the other nobles that they're in debt to me?"
Chuckling pleasantly, he walked toward the banquet hall where the party was being held.
The Great Hall on the first floor of the lord's manor.
'Clueless fools, they can't even read the room. If I were in their shoes, I would've turned right back around just to hide my debt from the other nobles.'
Baron Garcia wore a smug smile.
He looked over at the three people sitting at a table, unable to mingle with the other nobles.
Two of them were Baron and Baroness Silverstone, while the third looked to be somewhere between a boy and a young man.
With a well-built physique and a remarkably handsome face, perhaps?
Since he resembled Kaiel Silverstone, who had recently become the lord, he was presumably a younger brother or a son.
After all, Ilia had married a widower with a kid in tow.
"Hahaha! Thank you all for attending the Garcia Barony's party. Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest, and I hope you take home only fond memories."
Entering the banquet hall, Baron Garcia spread both arms wide and laid on the charm.
Then he gave a light nod to acknowledge the guests' greetings.
Deliberately drawing the eyes of the invited nobles, he walked over to the table where the Silverstone family was seated.
"Have you been well, Baron Garcia?"
"Oh! Who do we have here? Isn't it Baron Silverstone? It really has been a long time. Good to see you after so long too, Lady Silverstone. Might you introduce this strapping young lord here?"
Putting on an exaggerated show, Baron Garcia greeted Kaiel warmly.
It was a deliberate ploy to draw the attention of the surrounding nobles.
At that, Bellun rose from his seat and bowed from the waist in accordance with noble etiquette.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am 'Bellun Silverstone,' the eldest son of the Silverstone Barony."
"Ah! So you're the heir to the Silverstone Barony. How enviable, Baron Silverstone—to think you already had such a reliable heir even before ascending to the title."
Receiving the greeting, Baron Garcia beamed brightly.
The nobles belonging to the County of Griffin who were watching the scene snickered under their breaths.
They were nobles who knew full well that the true blood heir to the Silverstone Barony was Ilia.
Their laughter mocked her for taking an old man with a grown son as her husband, and mocked the incompetence of a man who had given up his own family name to take the Silverstone surname.
"There is a reason we came to visit the Garcia Barony today despite not having an invitation."
"Hmm? What does an invitation matter between us? Haven't our families built a friendship since the previous generation? Speak freely."
Kaiel had deliberately lowered his voice, but Baron Garcia replied in an easy, unhurried tone.
Though since the nobles in the hall were all straining their ears to listen in on their conversation, lowering or raising their voices hardly made a difference anyway.
"Things are tight for us this month, so we were hoping you could grant us a short grace period on the interest for the debt we supposedly borrowed from the Garcia family."
"Hmm? You came all this way just because of the interest? Well, so be it. Shouldn't our families grant each other at least that much courtesy?"
Baron Garcia gave a grand, benevolent nod.
Hearing the exact words he had wanted right in front of the watching nobles made him feel like he was walking on air.
Because of that, he completely missed the peculiar nuance in Kaiel's phrasing of 'supposedly borrowed.'
""Murmur... whisper... murmur...""
Hearing that the Silverstone Barony was in debt, the watching nobles began whispering among themselves.
'Very good! That secures all the justification we need to absorb the Silverstone Barony without any blowback.'
With everything playing out just as he wanted, Baron Garcia wore the smile of a man who owned the world.
Right then,
"Feel good? Baron Garcia, you fucking bastard?"
Bellun glared at Baron Garcia as if looking at something pathetic.