Chapter 3 – Geography and family.

Roland looked up at the ceiling, it was the same shabby ceiling that was there yesterday. He gave out a sigh and looked around, his mood dropping even further.

‘It wasn’t a dream after all…’

Just to be sure he thought about bringing up the status window, it appeared in a flash.

‘That ‘sickness’ status isn’t there anymore, I guess I’ve made a full recovery?’

The man in the child’s body strained his memory trying to recall what this kid normally did the whole day. Did he need to interact with his family? Did he have to act like a brat? Would they find out that someone else was inhabiting this body if he acted strangely? Were some questions that he was asking himself.

He also thought back to yesterday and to the woman named Martha, he tried probing her about the sickness. The woman didn’t know anything about it and the doctor didn’t look into it either.

‘Hm, maybe I shouldn’t have told her about that glowing mist?’

He muttered to himself, he felt that him telling the old maid what happened was not something that he would normally do. He was mostly mistrustful of others not really sharing his feelings with just anyone.

‘Are this kid’s memories affecting me or something?’

He knew the child’s original owner was very fond of this woman. He remembered that she was the only person that was kind towards him. No one else from his so-called family bothered with him and the other servants were also very cold.

‘Hm, don’t think she will do anything drastic.’

He went back to thinking about his next step, he needed to find some way to fit into this strange game-like world and maybe find a way back to his old one. The thought of murder trucks chasing him was still bothering him. While getting up from his bed he heard a knock on the door, his maid Martha walked in with some bread, water, and what looked to be meat.

“Young master, you should still rest!”

She placed the food on a nearby table and moved towards the child, concern on her face.

“I’m fine… the sickness status isn’t even there anymore.”

He replied while not wanting to go back into that bed, he spent an entire day there just looking up at the ceiling and his status screen. He was bored out of his mind and there were no such things like the internet in this world. What he needed is more information, he knew that this place had a library and as the son of the baron he was allowed to go through it. From the child’s memories, he knew that this was mostly what this kid did, probably this was why his intelligence stat was so high.

“Is that so… young master, your father wants to see you later in the day, keep that in mind, let me help you get dressed first.”

That was a quick change in attitude, the mention of no status effects was enough to deem a person cured apparently.

“He wants to see me?”

What was this about? He racked his brain and couldn’t recall any recent memories where his father paid any attention to him, could he be worried about Roland’s health? But why now?

“D-did he mention why?”

Martha placed her hand on his head and patted his hair. She was also helping him put on some clothes, it looked like some kind of tunic and pants combo, quite plain-looking.

“He probably just wants to see his youngest son, be happy young master, you have a chance to meet your father!”

The maid sounded really happy that the Baron wanted to see him. It made it seem like it was some kind of big honor that he was even allowed to see that man.

‘Is there some kind of etiquette for things like this? There is nothing in this kid’s memories about these things…’

“Finally Master decided you see you, this is your big chance young master!”

The maid named Martha was quite happy, in her eyes this was a joyous occasion. Roland, on the other hand, was quite skittish. He feared that he might act out of line and get himself in some kind of trouble with his so-called father.

‘He won’t order some kind of lashing if I act out of line, will he?’

The only thing about nobles that he knew was from history. They were rumored to be snotty and prone to violence and took their reputation very seriously. While Roland’s imagination was pushing him into a certain direction he finished eating and getting dressed. The food was quite plain, just some white bread, water, and a large sausage which tasted funny.

“Martha, I want to go to the library!”

The books in his room weren’t what he was looking for, he wanted to see where he was. He needed some history books or ones about geography, a map of where he was would be nice too. He wanted to know where he ended up, besides knowing the name he had no idea what this place was.

“The library?… think that’s okay, but be sure not to spend too long. You have to remember the Lord’s order.”

By the looks of it, this meeting couldn’t be avoided, his maid would probably drag him there even if he refused. He finally left his room and could stretch his legs. He was on the top floor in a side wing of the Arden family mansion. He was someone that had spent his life leaving in small apartments and lofts so this place felt huge.

‘Think a Baron is on the bottom of the noble ladder? I guess a noble is still a noble.’

He stepped outside, the door that led out of his room creaked as if he was in a haunted house. Thanks to the original Roland’s memories he knew exactly where the library was located. The boy was quite smart when it came to studying but he felt like he had holes in his knowledge. The process that passed the memories of the original Roland wasn’t perfect.

He could see some servants here and there but no one really paid any attention to him. He thought that as a young noble he would be greeted or receive a bow. This didn’t happen, the people looked in his direction but went on their way as if he wasn’t there.

‘I guess that’s how an illegitimate son would be treated?’

He remembered that he was a bastard, someone that was born from a commoner that the Baron had his way with. He still had no idea what his mother was up to, but he was sure that she wasn’t in this mansion.

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They finally arrived at the library, the doors were large and old and screeched when he opened them up as well. Inside he saw shelves with various books, the place looked very old and was dusty. The servants didn’t take care of it as the Baron focused more on practical things like swordsmanship.

‘Ah yes, the only bookworm of the family…’

Martha left, this was a place that the young Roland visited frequently. Most of the time he just took some books that were interesting, like fables and tales about legendary heroes. No one bothered him here and he didn’t need to fear his older brothers that didn’t seem to like him all too much.

‘Okay, I need to find some kind of map… where am I and how big is this country…’

He was short at about 105 cm, which was normal for a child his age. Due to this, he needed a chair if he wanted to reach the books that were placed on higher shelves.

‘Why do they have this library if no one even uses it…’

He rummaged through everything and managed to find some history and geography books, there was even a map with the names of the countries.

‘The country I’m in was called the Kingdom of Caldris…’

The map was a bit dusty and the ink was slightly faded but it was readable.

‘So I’m here…’

The map that he was able to procure wasn’t a world map but just of the continent that he was on. This was enough to get a general idea. His country had four other countries around it, which wasn’t good from a military standpoint.

‘Hope those countries don’t decide to invade us…’

He went through the books that he grabbed and soon found out the power of his fast learning and memory retention trait. He could remember most of what he had read on the previous page, his learning speed was astonishing.

‘I could have used this back at the college days… maybe I can become a scholar or a court official in this world? If they have anything like that…’