Resurrection of Duke Werstein ~ I Didn’t Hear Anything About Being A Middle-aged Man ~ 47

"...... The Demon Kingdom, Nello Zeeks?"

I said the country name that came to my mind from the Spirit King-san's words as if I were repeating it.

It is a country located on the continent across the sea from the Kingdom of Lunamilia.

It's a country that Augusto-san knows we don't have much contact with, but since it's a friendly country, ships sometimes come to this land.

It's a land of demons, so the people are a bit afraid of it, but it's a rich country and the people live long, so the quality of trade goods is very good, and as a result, a lot of things are sold at high prices.

The only thing we know about this mysterious country is that the quality of its textiles and art is very high.

I don't know what kind of people they are, so I only have an image of them as people from foreign countries like America.

I've heard that the spy-san has their blood flowing in him, but I don't know because I've never actually seen a glimpse of them.

Worshipping strong people seemed to be just another personality trait to me, as I had only seen spy-san

'There is a strong belief in spirits in that land.

That land is richer than anywhere else in this continent.

There are many beautiful demi-humans living there, and I think they are trying to invade and enslave us.'

While wrinkling his beautiful eyebrows, the words of the spirit king, who spoke with a feeling of disdain as they remembered, made him feel sick himself.

Hhm, what’s with that, really pisses me off.

"So you're saying they're targeting this country as a stepping stone to that?"

’That’s right, I'm sure they're planning to usurp this country just as a starting point.'

"Then the curse…"

I tried to ask her to be sure, but she seemed to be asserting something.

This is probably because I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

It's possible that the Spirit King-san has also caught up by the obvious expression on her face, but I'll leave it at that for now.

'I'm sure it's one of the ways to take over the country down without making foreign countries distrust you.'

"Hmm, I see, but if that's the case, how do you plan to explain the sudden attack in the last war?"

I was a little annoyed because it sounded like a conversation that was meant to be a simple confirmation of information.

We were talking about something very important, but why was the atmosphere like this?

Perhaps sensing this, the Spirit King-san chuckles with an expression that might even make her look like a little devil.

‘Even though you said it was a means to an end, impatient children are disliked, you know?'

I'd be confused if a beautiful woman said that to me!

Huh! Hang in there, me! Steady mind! Try to be normal!

Forcing myself to suppress thoughts that were too out of place, I had the strange feeling that my calm self was looking at me with cold eyes.

I wonder what I'm doing.

"I beg your pardon for that.

If that's the case, am I correct in assuming that this is all a plot to undermine the country's power?"

'Yes.

If it works, you can usurp the country as a defeated nation, but if it doesn't, it doesn't matter.'

"You mean the casualties over there are just pawns?"

It was like I was asserting myself again.

Somehow, I think this is a habit of Augusto-san's when he talks.

It’s just a feeling.

’Seems like that was out of their expectations, you know?

They didn't expect the wise man to be so powerful.

They were unnecessarily flustered.'

"Hmm... I see... So that's why the curse is still on the people's bodies."

I'll leave Augusto-san's habits aside for now and try to summarize some information.

The neighboring country's intention is to invade the demon country and gain wealth, rich land, and fame as well.

It's a demon country, and there are demons living there.

The neighboring country is ruled by priests.

It's an exclusive country where their religion is absolute and human beings are supreme, and they seem to have a strong rivalry with the demon country.

I can ask spy-san to look into this later, or I can ask the spirits of the wind.

Once that's out of the way, the people in that country that Augusto-san had a conversation with once were disgusting.

They were narrow-minded people who said that it was natural for them to be poor because they were clergymen, but they couldn't tolerate other countries being rich.

If they are all like that, they would probably be angry if the land of the demon tribe they looked down upon was richer than anywhere else.

However, in order to invade a demon country, you need a reason.

In addition, since the Kingdom of Lunamilia is located across the street from the Demon Kingdom, it is classified as a friendly country in terms of trade with the Demon Kingdom.

If you think about it, the reason for taking over this country would be a sacrifice in order to attack the demon country with impunity.

The curse and the war will reduce the country's power and let it rot from within over time.

That bastard is probably a pawn for this purpose.

After that, they will spread the same curse again as an epidemic, and this time, after eradicating the survivors and reducing the population, the neighboring countries will help them like a savior and make them indebted to them.

It's a huge favor that is hard to resist.

For example, miraculously curing the illnesses of royalty and great nobility in such a way that the whole nation would be convinced.

This way, the foreign nations can claim the land and people as their own, with the justification that they usurped the country not to take it over, but to save it from destruction.

To finish, they can announce that the curse was all the work of the demon kingdom, and then they are done.

No, it's finished.

You don't have to do that.

In addition, Augusto-san's too keen intuition even gave me the stamp of approval that I was almost right, so I really hope the neighboring country will be destroyed.

Ah-, I see-... …… There’s a limit to being selfish, so fucking infuriating.

"… It’s ugly enough to be nauseating"

'Yes, and that's why the spirits hate the entire land.'

I know exactly how you feel.

I'm so angry that I have the urge to blow up the whole place.

'So, what are you going to do? You're boiling over it, aren't you?'

"If I could, I'd destroy it."

'Why don't you?'

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not that simple.

"People are messy, and they need a reason to be."

’Not being able to move without a good reason, is annoying huh'

I couldn't agree more.

I really want to destroy them!

I want to impose economic sanctions and destroy them from the inside!

I don't know how to do that at all!!

If I think about it, I'm sure I'll come up with a lot of ways to do it, but I'm not in the mood for that right now, so let it be.

'But you're not going to do nothing, are you?'

Ah, we must first identify and condemn those who are connected to the neighboring country.

But there is something I must do first."

'Hmm, you mean this place?'

"Do you know anything about it?"

It's a pain in the ass, but I've got to do something about it, and apparently the Spirit King-san knows about the problems happening in Augusto-san's territory.

'Didn't I tell you there's almost nothing I don't know?'

She's been saying that, but I don't want people who have only been watching from the sidelines to brag about such things because it makes me angry.

Anyway, let me say one thing.

Don't make that smug face.

I have a memory of my previous life.

Perhaps because of this, I could easily understand that I had fallen into the situation of being reincarnated into another world, which was very popular before I was born.

But before I was reborn, I was just a normal college student.

Even though I graduated from high school in a very normal way, my close friends dragged me into the otaku circle, and I ended up being a bit of a flamboyant otaku.

I remember having brown hair, a perm, black-rimmed glasses, and talking in a wayward manner.

I remember being called the prince of Otasa (lol) and laughing.

Yeah, I was not popular.

I was probably just a normal college student with a little bit of nerdiness. Maybe.

I said it twice because it's important.

There are no bad guys who think they are normal college students, right?

Maybe I'm biased, but don't people who are not normal think they are normal?

I'm not sure I'm normal at all!

Anyway, my lack of confidence in myself as a normal person puts me in the relatively shallow end of the otaku spectrum, and I've always been a fan of RPG games.

Among them, I was addicted to a RPG, which was one of the top five most famous.

Now, for some reason, I can't remember the title of that supposedly famous game at all.

However, I remembered the contents.

Even though it was a home console game, I remembered the contents of that god-awful game that had four discs and various endings with different branches, as long as I played it.

I don't remember how or when I died, and I don't even remember what my name was, but I'm sure the shock of my death made me forget.

To be honest, I can't even remember my friendships, but what I can't remember, I can't do anything about.

However, such a worm-eaten memory was telling me something.

This is the world of a certain game.

I realized this when I got a foster family who wanted to take me in, who seemed to have some kind of ulterior motive.

He had a smiling face and seemed to be a good person, but there was no way that I, a modern person who could read the air, would not have noticed his scent, and the moment I saw him, I thought he was suspicious.

Because he looked just like a person who was involved in religion, multilevel marketing, door-to-door sales, or something like that.

Well, I'll leave the stinky foster parents aside for now, but more importantly.

I thought I had just been reincarnated into another world until I found a foster family.

I think the main reason is that I didn't feel any game elements at all.

In this world, I'm a beautiful-looking orphan with silky silver hair and blue-purple eyes.

My parents are unknown, and one day I was abandoned in a church as a baby boy.

I am now a beautiful boy, and will be a handsome man in the future.

I was about four or five years old when I remembered.

Suddenly, I realized that I had memories of my previous life.

Holy shit, I'm a reincarnated cheat ━(゜∀゜)━ ! !

What an idiot I was at that time.

I thought that if I had been reincarnated, I might be in a world where I could use magic, so I checked with the sisters, and sure enough, after a lot of trial and error using my knowledge of my previous life, blue flames came out of my hands.

It took me a long time to be able to do it, but I guess it can't be helped.

After all, there are many other orphans in the church besides me.

In other words, it's a group life, and there is little time for solitude.

The orphans live in groups where they take care of each other and are taken care of by each other.

There was no time for training at all.

Because I was a child, I would fall asleep easily at night.

So there was no way I could get up in the middle of the night to train in magic. I had fifteen minutes in the evening when everyone was asleep before I fell asleep, and fifteen minutes in the morning when no one was awake.

I did this every day for a total of seven years, without fail, and then one day I was able to do it.

I am 11 or 12 years old, that is, this year.

The biggest mistake I made was when a little shit found me starting the fire, and the sisters found out about it.

That's why someone heard there's a kid who can make blue fire! and a stinky foster parent showed up with a hushed smile.

A child who can use magic is a typical example of a child who can be spotted by bad people, so I did my training without being noticed, but now it's ruined.

But now that I was in this situation, I had no choice but to use the knowledge and experience of my previous life to do something about it, and for the time being, I was trying to prepare myself to live somehow for the future.

Until then, I had been so desperate to survive that I hadn't paid any attention to the economy or the nobility.

I was only somewhat aware of the level of civilization in the Middle Ages or thereabouts.

But now that I think about it, I can't help but wonder what I was doing.

From today on, you are Silva.

Silva Werstein, that's your name.

The names sounded familiar.

"A kid who can make blue fire, that's a good find.

You'll have fun making money with this."

The foster mother muttered, pulling my hand with a smirk and a sly grin.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"What's that?"

"Who's Werstein?"

In response to my question, the woman made a troublesome face, clicked her tongue, and said, as if it were obvious.

"You don't know, how useless.

Listen, Werstein is the duke of this country.

And your silver hair and blue fire are proof."

“What?"

"Proof that you're the duke's illegitimate son."

The woman's words sent all sorts of thoughts racing through my head.

This guy, he's trying to blackmail the Duke for money.

I wondered if Duke Werstein was the same as the pig in that game.

I also had a flash of inspiration that the name "Silva" is the same as that of Christia's squire, who was my favorite character in that game.

I didn't get to see much of his face in the mob, but I think he had silver hair and blue eyes.

Then I finally thought that the name of this country, Lunamilia, was the same as the country in the game, and I realized the reality of my situation, albeit belatedly.

Well, yeah, it's really too late now, isn't it?

But it can't be helped, can it?

There's no way that an ordinary kid would know that much about the nobility, much less an orphan.

Daily life starts with cleaning the church, taking care of the children, helping the sisters, running errands to get food, cooking, and then sleeping.

That's about all a child can do.

Even if I wanted to gather information, I had no intention of getting involved with the aristocracy, so I just ignored it.

In other words, it was natural that I didn't know.

The time line of that game was five years later.

I could have predicted that if I had thought of myself as that squire.

My favorite character, Countess Christia Laurist, was almost the same age as her squire, Silva.

I liked her so much that I memorized the character introduction in the manual, but in the game she was 17, I believe.

And now, I'm 11 or 12 years old.

In five years, the miasma will spread throughout this world.

There's nothing I can do about that, so I'm okay for now.

It's not something that I can do anything about.

More importantly, the fact that Christia was 11 or 12 meant that she might be able to stop the outrageous behavior of that biting pig of a duke.

Because of that duke, the cute little girl, Christia, has become a doll lady with a lecherous temper.

This fact is revealed in the story of the hero who enters Christia's love route in the game.

Many male players were knocked out by Christia-tan¹, who gradually opened her heart to them.

Then, one step before they became lovers, she told them the truth while crying.

Does the hero really love me like this?

At the end of the explanation, the painful still picture of Christia smiling fragilely while crying made my tear glands collapse.

I'll kill that biting pig! I had no hesitation in going down the road to the Duke's demise with murderous intent.

If I'm not mistaken, the incident was supposed to happen this year.

I want to stop it if I can.

I didn't mind that she would be in a different setting than in the game.

She's an innocent little girl.

She shouldn't be traumatized.

She should be raised in a warm and cozy family.

I made up my mind.

I would save her, and if I could, I would fall in love with her! I thought.

The boy who calls himself Silva Werstein is supposed to appear in the game as Silva, the servant of Countess Christia Laurist.

He doesn't know.

He doesn't know that the Duke Werstein has become a wise man, and that the incident that was supposed to happen hasn't happened.

He does not know.

He doesn't know that his actions are completely meaningless and futile.

He does not know.

That he was just a college student on Earth who had been "implanted" with memories of being a college student by God's whim.

God watched him with a smile on his face as he began to act desperately.

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//Melki: As a reminder, the Demon Kingdom of Nello Zeeks is a neighbooring nation that is located across the sea from the Werstein territory, it's first mentioned in chapter 14. Also for some that may remember, the name Silva Werstein first makes a appearance in chapter 17, in a document that Augusto is given, which happens to be a background check.

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[1] : たん - a even more cute or affectionate variant of -chan. It evokes a small child's mispronunciation of that form of address, or baby talk