Shima stood there, paralyzed.
He'd put in the work-he'd spent months bleeding in the dirt, convinced he was ready for this. But Tauro, the eldest son and a year his senior, was in a league of his own. That 'Knight' ¹ skill made him untouchable. Then there was Jiro. A year younger than Shima, sure, but a 'Priest-Warrior' ² was a high-tier combat class. The kid was a beast.
Still, Shima figured he'd be fine against Ryu, the third son. Ryu was three years younger, and Shima had the advantage in both build and raw stats. At least, that's what he'd told himself. In reality, he hadn't even been able to lay a finger on the boy.
Grandpa and Dad weren't kidding, Shima realized, his face burning. The Landmark family is on a whole different level!
He felt a deep, twisting sting of shame for his own arrogance. Right then and there, he vowed to turn over a new leaf. He wouldn't just work for them; he would serve the three brothers with his life.
Ryu, meanwhile, had no idea this existential crisis was happening. In fact, once he'd cooled down, he started worrying that beating an older kid-especially one destined to serve his brother Tauro-might have been a massive blunder.
On paper, his 'Jack of All Trades' ³ skill was supposed to be a dud. Using it to dominate a fight felt like he'd pulled a dirty trick on the guy.
He'd heard Shima actually possessed three distinct combat skills: Sword, Spear, and Martial Arts. Ryu wondered if he'd just shattered the poor guy's confidence. Or worse, if Shima was currently off somewhere fuming about being "cheated."
While he was pacing the hallway, agonizing over how to apologize, he ran right into him.
"Ah...!" Ryu gasped, freezing in his tracks.
"I am incredibly sorry about what happened during practice, Young Master!" Shima barked.
The second their eyes met, Shima snapped into a deep bow. The apology came out like a gunshot.
"Huh?" Ryu blinked, his mind going blank.
"I was looking down on you. All of you. I see the truth now," Shima said, his voice thick with resolve. "I'm throwing my pride away-I'm a new man. From this day forward, I live to serve the three of you!"
And just like that, despite being the younger one, Ryu had officially gained an underling ⁴.
"Oh... uh, sure. Glad to have you on board," Ryu managed to mumble.
It wasn't even close to the reaction he had rehearsed. Ryu could only watch in bewilderment as Shima straightened up, his eyes shining with terrifying loyalty.
* * *
"As expected of the Young Master! You're a natural, sir-ssu!"
Shima had tagged along for Ryu's walk to the forest, and he was currently gushing over Ryu's hunting prowess. It just so happened that none of the traps had caught a thing today, so Ryu had decided to bag some birds on the fly. Shima had mentioned he was useless with a bow, so Ryu had stepped in and sniped them himself.
"Is there anything you can't do, Young Master? You're incredible, sir-ssu!"
Turns out Shima has the soul of a natural-born henchman, Ryu thought, adjusting his gear.
It wasn't like Ryu actually wanted to play the "big boss" role, but apparently, he didn't have a choice. His older brothers had cornered Shima earlier that morning.
"Ryu tends to wander off on his own," Tauro and Jiro had told the newcomer. "We're worried about him, so make sure you stick to him like glue."
Which led to this.
My brothers totally dumped this guy on me, didn't they?! Ryu realized.
He knew they meant well, but Shima's constant brown-nosing was already starting to grate on his nerves.
Well, he's not a bad kid. I guess I'll just have to suck it up, Ryu told himself.
After securing a few more birds and tossing them into his Magic Storage ⁵, they made their way toward the farms. He had a specific farmer-a man who had been drowning in debt until Ryu stepped in-working a hidden field to stabilize the production of Kohin beans ⁶. Today was the day to see if the investment was paying off.
"We managed to transplant the wild Kohin trees from the forest without losing any," the farmer reported, wiping sweat from his brow. "The section where we sowed the new seeds will probably take another two or three years, though."
"Makes sense. It'll be a few years before we have a steady supply line," Ryu noted.
"Yes, sir."
"Don't worry, I'll keep the subsidies coming until the production line is solid," Ryu said. "Until then, we'll make do with the wild harvests and the transplants."
"Do you... do you think we'll actually find buyers?" the farmer asked.
That was the man's biggest fear. He'd put everything he had left into this venture.
"Oh, don't you worry about that," Ryu said, a small, sharp smirk tugging at his lips. "The Merchant Guild ⁷ I'm contracted with is already hounding me for more of 'the product.' Fufufu."
In his previous life, a line like that probably would've ended with a SWAT team kicking down his door. But it was the truth-the wild harvests couldn't keep up with the demand. The processed Kohin powder was a massive hit with the nobility; it vanished from the shelves the moment it arrived.
"The... 'product'?" the farmer asked tentatively.
"Ah, I mean the beans. Or the powder," Ryu corrected himself. "Though I guess calling it 'powder' sounds a bit... 'hot,' doesn't it?"
"Hot?! As in 'stolen' dangerous?!" The farmer looked panicked, clearly catching the criminal undertone.
"Oh, just talking to myself. Don't worry about it," Ryu said quickly.
"If you say so..."
The farmer still looked a little shaky, but things were looking up for the first time in years. At this point, he had no choice but to trust the boy.
Summary:
Shima, defeated and humbled by the Landmark brothers, pledges absolute loyalty to Ryu. Ryu unintentionally gains a 'shatei' (underling) when his brothers assign Shima to watch over him. The chapter shifts to Ryu's coffee bean business, where he manages a debt-ridden farmer and navigates the growing demand for his 'product' among the nobility.
Trivia:
- Shima is older than Ryu and was supposed to be his superior in status initially.
- Ryu's 'Jack of All Trades' skill is perceived as weak by the world but used effectively by him.
- The 'Kohin' beans are a parallel to coffee, treated as a luxury drug/good.
- Tauro and Jiro are the ones who actually assigned Shima to Ryu.
- The farmer is working off debt to Ryu
Character Insight:
Shima displays a 'might-makes-right' loyalty typical of delinquent archetypes. Ryu shows his past-life yakuza habits through his business terminology and his slightly manipulative handling of the farmer.
Behind the Scenes:
The author uses the term 'butsu' and 'powder' to intentionally lean into the 'secret side business' (yakuza/drug dealer) aesthetic of the series.
TL Notes:
1 ↩ Knight: A high-ranking combat skill specialized in defense and swordsmanship.
2 ↩ Priest-Warrior: A hybrid skill combining holy magic and physical combat.
3 ↩ Jack of All Trades (Kiyou Binbou): A skill that allows a little proficiency in everything but mastery in nothing; usually considered useless for specialists.
4 ↩ Underling (Shatei): A specific Yakuza term for a junior 'brother' in the hierarchy.
5 ↩ Magic Storage: A spatial magic skill used for storing items in a sub-dimension.
6 ↩ Kohin: The story's equivalent of coffee beans.
7 ↩ Merchant Guild: The centralized organization governing trade and commerce in this world.
Notes:
• Shima - Ten-year-old boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Grandson of the butler Sebastian. Hired as a servant and training to be a future butler.
• Tauro - Ryu's older brother. The eldest son of the Landmark family. He has the 'Knight' skill and is proficient in various melee weapons. Described as kind and supportive of his younger brother.
• Jiro - Ryu's second older brother. He has the 'Priest-Warrior' skill, combining martial arts with healing magic.
• Ryu - Formerly Yokohama Ryusei, a yakuza. Reincarnated as the third son of the Landmark family. Has red hair and blue eyes. Possesses memories of his previous life and the ability to see names of objects.