Wow, what a short peace! My second carefree life is my reward! - SplitGirl28 (2024)

Chapter 1: Mafia Don as Daughter of the Slums

Chapter Text

Sawada Tsunayoshi lived a dysfunctional life from start to finish with his friends and children.

First he was Dame-Tsuna, then Neo Primo Vongola—as a nickname, but his true title was Vongola Decimo. Reborn was right that he couldn't escape his fate, so he did better, that he made Vongola and its territories his personal playground making his side of Italy clean and safe to live in by handling dangerous cases while leaving the easy stuff to the local cops, and when Elections roll, he ensures only the good guys gets in, by rigging votes, and exposing wannabe, but corrupt ones that Italy as a whole, enjoyed the decades he was Decimo.

He also ensured no student in Japan and Italy will suffer like he did in his old Namimori days. He had Hibari and the Mist Duo on the job. He sadly, cannot cover the entire world. Vongola Famiglia is powerful, but not THAT powerful!!

To have influence in Japan for tasks Tsuna wanted done, Hibari and Mukuro’s gang muscled their way into the Government, securing powerful enough positions and Hibari opened the Foundation there. He is just annoyed that he had to work with Mukuro…and while they’re good at their jobs, they bicker, that Chikusa was PAID to douse them with Rain to cool their heads to avoid property damage, and Chrome who would hang them for spanking on his orders. She does the spanking, but…
…
He later heard from Ken it became…a kink Chrome grew to enjoy too much.

TMI, Ken!!

While the boys are Government Politicians while juggling another career—Hibari a Tokyo MPD Superintendent who overhauled the Police Academy Curriculum to make the next generation competent and dutifully law-abiding, Mukuro and his gang in PSB as its more their niche, Chrome works as an AV Model…to infiltrate the p*rn Industry to sniff out things like gross offenses for the Foundation to destroy.

While Tsuna can begrudgingly accept the fact that the Oldest Profession in the World endures, it is when children are involved that people need to be iced.

For this reason, her empty socket gained a similar-colored transplant that she can now see in both eyes, and has a very fair, flawless complexion she’d be popular in China and S. Korea, courtesy of lab treatments Vongola can buy. But she would only pose for magazines, and ensure she would never be made to do videos. Convenient with her powers.

Somehow, he gets TMI from the Foundation…the guys refuse to look at any other girl and are perfectly fine with sharing Chrome, taking turns. He once asked Chrome out of worry, and she said with a sweet smile,

‘Oh, nothing wrong going on, bossu…we just can’t imagine doing it with outsiders. It doesn’t help that with three Mists around(Hibari’s a Mist Secondary), we could sniff Gold Diggers that annoys the boys or wanting to use them to go up in rank in the political scene with our connections…and men towards me are self-explanatory due to my front job, sooo yes, our arrangement.’

Just for ‘stress relief’ in the sack, and all relationships platonic and with their idea of contraception that’s effective, she was safe. And his Intuition pinged so that everything’s happily consensual. But what if they fall in love?!

Reborn would tell him ‘None of your business, they wipe their own ass if it came to that. Only interfere if they’re out to ‘murder the hypotenuse’. Guardians of the same family should not kill each other.’ he lectured.

Hayato and Takeshi do Intelligence Work, and Oniisan and Lambo their muscle…well, Tsuna watched Get Backers and he figured they’d go great at that sort of thing. They act in Italy.

And when they found ‘something interesting’, that’s when he sends the Varia, after vetting it with the Vindice in case he wants a cessation of existence of their targets. He also forwards missions to Xanxus for individual assassinations or stealing highly-guarded stuff to keep them from getting bored. Both sides are balanced so well that nobody’s complaining and he is not playing favorites, but playing with all their strengths to get everything done effectively. And down the ranks, Tsuna assigns jobs fairly.

Unlike most mafia famiglias, he was not discriminative, remembering the sore points of his Storm. Everyone was welcome(as long as you’re not a double-agent) that Vongola grew in power and connections. CEDEF was noting down talented individuals that may apply in the future and investigating everybody.

His reign was what Giotto deemed ideal and wished his generation succeeded in as his famiglia are really bringing to life what they wished long ago in their poverty and crime-filled era. He just laments that unlike Modern Times, it wasn’t easy in their era no thanks to Royalty and Aristocracy they had to court just to get things done, and they care more about their personal interests and comforts than the grief of people in their domains.

Succeeding where he and his friends could not, made Giotto full-power the Vongola Gears with the agreement of his Guardians when they fulfilled their wishes in building a better world to live in. Beginning in two countries for now, at least.

Big things begin with small steps, and what they accomplish will inspire dreamers who, too, want to create a great country in terms of safety to live in and fight for it.

Tsuna eventually had to face a political marriage that he really envied Yuni who can choose any man she wanted due to how her famiglia works, dons aren’t so lucky and that’s where Fuuta comes in. Fuuta works with Basil in CEDEF. Basil succeeded his dad who retired to Namimori to catch up with his mom.

However, to quote him, his marriages will never last long but he would get children out of it. This is why he never married Kyoko-chan. She would DIE that she married a normal man in Japan and last he checked, she’s enjoying a normal life.

Since his marriages are political with assassinations from rival famiglias who wants an in with Vongola through marriages, they all had to play a dangerous game just to be publicly squeaky clean and everyone else looks bad that even Xanxus was impressed with him getting away clean.

He had five kids, all of whom, Skies, and half-siblings who were born when he was in his thirties. Salvatore, Mariella, Luciano, Dorothea and Patricia who was born when he was 39. He trusted Bianchi to raise them for him while he’s in office, and spends time with them off the clock…and his heir is his middle child.

The condition for his succession? Be chosen by the Sky Vongola Gear…in other words, by their Founder.

He gave them many options that he had them trained in the Varia, CEDEF, Foundation, and Vongola Leadership last. Stealth, Weapons and Combat, Intelligence and Technology, Political and Subterfuge, and Management and Leadership Lessons in that order before going to Mafia Academy at sixteen.

As for Guardians? His condition was, ‘Do NOT obtain a family member through politics. Do what we did…we chose to be with each other because we loved each other as family by choice, that we are powerful because of it and lived long to our senior years. Political Relationships never end well and your life is short. Anyone telling you to take a person in for benefits and convenience, shoot them between the f*cking brows.’

Tsuna felt his family must quit while they can at age 75, so he gathered his guardians, all of whom are as old as he is, with Lambo being 67. They may all have Cloud-Infused Collagen Treatments just to look younger than they should, blood vessels cleaned with Storm Treatments they never feared blood clot fatalities as well as arterial plaque build-ups in blood vessels and cancer, and with Sun and Cloud-infused treatments, their bones and joints are in top shape, but it does not change the fact that they are mafioso.

They can die anytime that they were always crazy-prepared.

Just like him, they are married. But unlike him, they were in healthy relationships.

Such are the consequences of being a mafia don that he protected his guardians just to let them choose their relationships and not end up like he did.

Hayato and Takeshi were married when LGBT Marriages became legal at 21. Old Man Tsuyoshi got the hint, when his son was bringing home Yaoi Manga even back in High School! Waaaay subtle in coming out of the closet!

Takeshi laughingly told the tale of his dad demanding:

‘Take-chan, you ain’t subtle. Remember who’s cleaning your room every week, so bring home your boyfriend and lemme see if he’s for keeps, or needs neutering. By the way, who tops and who bottoms? And our house has thin walls as it’s a machi-ya construct above our restaurant since your dear ol’ mom likes traditional architecture, so roll in the sack elsewhere.’

Cue hyena-ish laughter back in High School while Hayato, beet red, dope-smacked his boyfriend before meeting the father after school that same day. His first Guardians are the first to get married.

Oniisan married Hana who was told about his real job back when they were courting.

He had more balls than his father did who still wanted to keep his mother ignorant, preferring a world of lies. Then again, he too, became a liar by accomplice as even he doesn't know how she'd react. Hana was shocked that Kyoko and Haru are in the know about the Mafia because of the adventure they got into back in middle school…and the real reason her best friend amicably broke up with Tsuna when they were in a great relationship starting at High School for six years all the way into College, before breaking up at 4th year amicably.

For years, their relationship was sustained by his Mists' protection, keeping mafioso out of Tokyo where they went to College, so they could freely spend time together like normal teenagers would. And by graduation, all of them will go to Italy. So around the time they broke up, he had Irie and Spanner do CCTV Sweeps, erasing images of them together ever recorded. This was for her safety, so she could live a normal life for the rest of her years.

So when Hana heard of that from Oniisan, she figured ‘Let the gold diggers get the bullet or poison or bombs in her place. Good thing those two made a great choice.’ Hana was NOT as soft and defenseless as Kyoko due to her career as Lawyer. She was good at her job and she gets death threats and gets into trouble! Apparently back at Lawyer School, Martial Arts Classes were mandatory. And are obliged to own firearms and have training that Oniisan gladly helped her get...in Mafia Land. She eventually became a Vongola Lawyer and trained by Bianchi in navigating the waters before she can walk around on her own. She has three children with Oniisan. A boy and two daughters.

Lambo? He married a girl he met in hospital Lussuria ran after training his successor in Varia to succeed him before retiring and became a Mafia Hospital Director, and the other Varia Members now work as Instructors in shaping up fresh meat. She was a neutral entity by contract. Anyone can come here as long as you’re a mafioso and like Mafia Land, neutral! Start sh*t or have secret allegiances when your background is checked when trying to get a job there, you earn a suite in Vendicare!

He and the nurse began dating and in eight years, married. He has four boys.

Chrome? Errr she’s not married, but she did have children with their friends, all of whom are half-siblings and bear their father’s surnames. They had to do a DNA Test because of their Polycule every time the kids were born Shamal had a field day teasing the Foundation Branch. While Hibari managed his kids well, the problem in the beginning was Chrome herself, and later the Estraneo Three.

Chrome’s parents neglected her because she doesn’t know how to be a good mother and was deeply afraid Kyoko was the go-to for help, leading to reveals of Chrome’s past none of them knew till they were 25 and she was pregnant.

Her boyfriends razed her stepfather’s company and mother’s career by foul in revenge.

She quit being an AV Model as a result, and after obtaining qualifications, became a Headmistress of an All-Girls’ Elevator School so she can raise her children in Foundation’s Hidden Base after her day job. And P.E in the school she's now principal in, was intensive physical training during Junior High, and Martial Arts come High School.

Tsuna helped the trio out as they listened to him more than anyone else, and they don’t know what parents should be like either, being lab rats since they were five.

Hibari is fine with two children as both are boys. Mukuro has Quintuplets Chrome barely survived from and all are daughters he doted on and the quintuplets are the youngest of all Decimo Generations’ Children. Chikusa also has two boys, and Ken has one boy and one girl. And Chrome has recovery resources money can buy that she quickly recovers in health, but needs counseling and therapy due to her issues and fears until she gets better, and becomes a better mother to her children.

In order: Chikusa’s first son is the eldest child born when Chrome is 26, Hibari’s sons are second and third at 28 and 30 respectively, Ken’s children are born when she’s 33 and 35, and Mukuro’s quintuplets when she was 38.

‘You know, normally I would say that thanks to Medical Advancements using flames, we would live as long as famous biblical characters, but we are mafioso that we don’t have that luxury.’ he said snarkily.

‘And all our children are adults now. I think we all earned it.’ he continued. ‘My instincts tell me we should retire while we still safely can, and hand the reins to our now-adult kids. Let’s not make the same mistake Nono did.’

‘Yeah, he refused to retire when the going was good. The end result, his sons got careless and got iced.’ Mukuro snarked. ‘By letting our kids take over, they’ll be responsible and be vigilant.’

‘Sooo where do we retire? Mafia Land like the Varia did and enjoy the beach all day?’ Lambo asked him.

‘The peaceful countryside in Japan sounds good.’ Tsuna then took out a list. ‘Let’s agree on one place.’

They all looked at the list and blinked. The names of the locations...

‘...Tsunayoshi, they’re all mountains.’ Hibari pointed out.

‘Yes. We pull a Genkai, yes?’ Tsuna chimed that the japanese guys imagined a certain anime. ‘So the question is, which mountain?’

So pros and cons are discussed…they settled in Hokkaido, used fake names to have a traditional estate built there to their standards, while they themselves built everything else underground.

By the time they were centenarians around 105s, they died one by one in peace. Hibari was the last to die by the time Tsuna was on his deathbed and Hibari said he’ll activate the self-destruct function before he himself, croaks in a few days as he too, feels his body fail him slowly. The ashes of their retirement home, their tomb.

They were all proud to accomplish so much and die in peace in their home, not by murder.

He thought he’d be peaceful.

So why is it that after death, he’s a baby again in what looks like a filthy shack and the air is nasty?!

AND WHY A GIRL?!?!

Then he felt a weird throb.

I-it hurts!

So hot! Like someone dunked him in onsen after being out in a blizzard for hours!

His skin is bubbling up and…is he seriously glowing?

And this glow is not flames at all.

He followed all his instincts and intuition to suppress his new power that is NOT flames at all…it was something else entirely that thankfully, it obeys his will.

“Phew…I’m fine…for now…” he sighed. “I’ll experiment when I’m a bit older.”

He later learned his new name is Myne. His toddler sister is Tuuli. His new parents are Effa and Gunther.

But the language isn’t any Earth Language at all.

Poor they may be, but the parents loved their daughters.

And while dealing with occasional power bursts that he suppresses and compresses away, he grew up normally and in a great home life despite poverty.

"Come to think of it, I wanted normal so bad...is this my reward after long years of grief being a Mafia Don entails?"

Suckling milk. Eating oatmeal as first solids till they were four…but when its time to eat those soups and stews his parents eat?

…
…

Needless to say, Tsuna, now Myne, had to do something, dammit.

But first...get used to being a girl, and his new name...

Chapter 2: Mafia Don's Poverty Life and Punishing Pedoes leads to...

Chapter Text

Tsuna...no, Myne knew there had to be a reason she binged on anime in her retirement among other things...

Her intuition was pinging on her so. And she nagged her family to watch with her as they had nothing else to do anyway, and research some stuff as her Intuition is non-stop pinging!

Her Intuition was a 'threat' they took seriously over the years when they graduated High School as it was always eerily accurately right and never failed them all, that even Tsuna treated it like gospel that the Decimo's Reign was extremely defensively and economically powerful.

How was she to know that she'd be reborn as soon as she died to a medieval world?

She hopes her friends are OK...

But for now, filthy life be damned, she was determined to live normal.

Its also cold here that even in summer, it's still chilly. They somewhere up north?

Winter? Ohhhlala Hokkaidoooo!

Myne compresses this new power as when she compresses, she finds that the new gold energy regenerates to fill the vacated space that it refills eventually, adding to what she tucked away, compressed into concentrated form.

She can compare it to fog that eventually becomes a pool of water if enough fog gathered enough to condense into liquid and eventually pool up, filling the vacated space. And the space grows bigger each time she compresses.

Thus what Myne does, was compress it all into a dense form, imagining it as tightly-packed sand.

Due to how poor they are, they too, work. Tuuli has to forage for free wild edibles outside, but as its still snowing, she gets firewood instead.

Tuuli began foraging outside at age five, leaving Myne home alone, not wanting to go to a babysitter's place as she was too young to forage.

'I'm not staying with strangers while everyone's gone! I'm staying home as long as there's lunch!'

With her family out, Myne decided to experiment.

Loosening her compressions, carefully merging all that power together, she created a small ball of energy on her finger. '...fire.' by her will and imagination, it became just that. 'Gone.' and it's gone. Another ball. 'Wind.' the glowing ball became a micromini whirlwind on her fingertip. Her intuition pinged. It seems to have come with her from her old life, and merged with her mana that she realized what this power is. 'I'll be, it's magic. Then...' she grinned, and used stronger energy to coat her house with it, and used Telekinesis to gather all dust and grit in the house except for the fireplace, and it was...a shocking amount to say the least, enough to fill a bathtub. She chucked all that outside via window.

Bugs found in homes thankfully do not exist here. No spiders, roaches, mites, lice, bedbugs...brrr...

"Well, house is dust-free now, at least!" she thought. But the house is so stained over the years, that it's unlikely her cleaning would be noticed, but she left it alone. She also took care of her sticky hair, making it considerably less greasy-sticky and dirty that was was left was how a person who went on No-Poo looked. She also ensured the pillowcases are also less sticky, and erased the scent of 'unwashedness' that built up over the years.

But this body hasn't had a bath since this body was washed off birthing fluids when Myne was born.

The clothes never saw laundry either. Well what was the point? A peasant's jobs will make it dirty again! But Myne hopes they at least wash clothes once a week or bathe after work...its a miracle they haven't skin problems yet! How, is baffling.

Not only that, the underwear of this world is mini-pantaloons, almost covering as much as women's gym shorts. For Myne she's used to this as she wore boxers in her old life, so not much difference there, but had it a woman who was in her shoes now, the changes would be jarring, being used to form-fitting, snug undies.

How do they deal with THAT, then? Oh well, she'll magic her way out if their methods don't satisfy her.

Women use pads or tampons.

With er, mini pantaloons, pads clearly will not apply. Tampons would most likely be seen as obscene here. Medieval people would...think differently. She can imagine that already.

For now...she waited for Tuuli to bring home stuff...which wasn't much as snow just thawed that she was more into bringing back firewood, and their parents handle the shopping and cooking for now.

'Tuuli, you brought back just wood but they're still wet...I don't think they're any good now.' Myne would say to Tuuli who put down her basket backpack.

'Nah, we can!' Tuuli chimed, unloading her load of wood, to empty her basket. 'The Gate Soldiers dry it for us, so it's very useful! They take it to a room, wait a few minutes with whatever they're doing to make it dry faster and it's good enough for cooking!'

'Huh?!' Myne went to grab a large branch in the backpack and its...in good condition!!

To quote the anime Tensei Kenja no Isekai Raifu, firewood has to be a certain level of dryness and moisture content to be of any use before cooking. Too fresh, makes a lot of smoke. Too dry, fire burns too hot.

'See? Just right! Be back for more!' and Tuuli ran back out with her basket.

Once Tuuli was gone, Myne went to magic work quickly.

'Appraise!' she appraised the unknown vegetables in the room. It's spring now, first day actually. No leafies and other stuff for now that what's present in the containers, are root crops they eat as stews and soups with preserved meats. There's sausages but its delicious somehow compared to sausages in Earth. All co*cktail-sized, pure pork with some salt and other flavorings. Other than sausages, there's potted meat, and smoked, dried bacon.

She waited four effing years, dammit, just to do this!

Well, she now knows!

Seasonal vegetables last kinda longer than it should...at least, a month or two into the next season before it no longer becomes available for sale.

And common sense here is, when it's plentiful it's cheap. But when scarcity happens, prices rise. So for poor people, they hoard as much as they can. And the reason it lasts long, is because of the magic keeping it fresh for a bit while longer.

All vegetables and fruits, have a small amount of mana that's enough for the job. Just a teeny-tiny enough for a small bead big enough for those seed-bead bracelets girls wear in Elementary to look cute. Not enough to affect errr muggles and magicals.

Yet what was weird was mana regenerates over time and never stops, that when the body is too full, it causes pain and crazy fevers that to relieve herself, she compresses it away, and adds it to her compressed stash. And she hasn't any reason to use magic much as she has no idea how people of this world react to magic users, so she has to conceal it. And compress it away.

But food contains mana that acts as preserver to keep them fresher for longer...because apparently, mana is also fertilizer.

So magicals manage by pouring out their mana to feed to crops?

Then to manage herself safely, she would have to inject mana into every edible plant she finds! Easy-peasy, after compressing herself for sooo loooong!

"Maybe I'll go with Tuuli when snow melts..."

She was conscious since she was born again.

Compressing since then, even! That she is four times more powerful than when she effing started!

She let her Intuition reach her spirit.

The stronger she is, it also grows stronger. It was like that at home when her flames are at its peak, doubled by wearing the Vongola Gear. When she no longer had it, giving it to Giotto's Chosen, she was back to her original level. And just like previous leaders, her imprint is recorded and will only appear at her confirmed death, appearing at the age when they are at their strongest. She was at her strongest when she was fresh out of University. YOUNG!

But here...it grows based on how strong her mana is that she can now cover more than a damn city that she is aware of danger within and to presences she can count on when things go south.

She however, is catching up to someone.

If she is Level 50 now, this guy is a Level 100. Who is this person?

Humans who have no magic, are all Level 1 in her senses.

Weaker magicals in the northern city side rate at least Level 10-15, Average ones rate 20-38, and the somewhat-strong ones are 40-50, and one 63. Ratio of these three ranks is 3:4:1 in that order. It seems there's a hierarchy of magicals based on MP Capacity?

All magicals are hostile towards each other, while the weak ones are afraid of the strong ones. There's a divide among high and middle-rankers, with the bad guys more in numbers with those against the bad guys fewer.

But this...this MONSTER is flat-out 100. Yet its benevolent, but also feels beleaguered, stressed, wary, exasperated, annoyed...gee, what's this person's deal?

But at least, she can go to this one, provided she can bargain with it...

As she is now, she is as strong as one of the most antagonistic presences in this duchy. She has to get stronger against this one and that means compressing some more.

Next day...

Myne managed to use her charms to let her parents let Tuuli take her for experience, and wore her hair in a low ponytail in contrast to Tuuli's braid. If Mukuro can do it, why can't she?

'Gee, how long before snow melts anyway? Sure takes its time.' Myne quipped to her sister.

Tuuli introduced Myne to boys she was introduced to by their dad. Ralph was their relative thru their dad, and Fey was a relative through Ralph's mom. Both are Tuuli's age and just started foraging. They are supervised by Ralph's older brother by two years. He'd be baptized this Winter, so he would be their guide to edibles while he still can. OK, that's three cousins now with them. Lutz, a boy her age is still at home, tasked to cleaning up the chicken farm at the attic above where they lived.

'It can't be helped, we live up north.' said Tuuli. 'It'll definitely be cold in the northern half of our duchy so snow is slow to melt up here.'

'Booo...'

Meanwhile, Myne is rapidly casting Appraise where she looked. So many edibles more than where Sieg pointed at. What a waaaaste!

Some ripen this Spring.

Some ripen in Summer.

Some ripen in Autumn.

She formed strings of mana that she made invisible to her sister and cousins who have no mana and liquefied in form for flora consumption, and gave trees and plants plenty of mana to gorge on to full.

Flora they can eat.

Flora to get materials from.

Their parent plants are given so much mana by injection to full levels that plants and trees are reacting accordingly, to prepare to flower aplenty to fruit aplenty in ripening season. With her range and all of them working close to the gates, she managed to fill what's useful on the left side of the woods outside the gates. Using her magic to locate everything within her reach like a Searchmap and being specific in what she wanted or needed. She can fill the left side for now. So later in spring, there will be plenty for them to gain and eat.

Her family is malnourished from poverty...they're all skin and bones!

When snow is gone by the end of first month...

It was then that there's plenty of flowers everywhere. While a pretty sight, it was useless to the poor who would rather have food. Would beauty feed you? This wasn't Earth where beauty would land you a career. Prostitution/p*rn? Oiran? Geisha? Chinese Courtesans? Model? Pop Idol? Actress?

But this was highly-anticipated by the children as more flowers, means more fruit as they were taught. Desire and greed reflected in those tiny eyeballs everywhere.

And when fruit happened a month later, the kids are in utter delight. So much to get!

'Myne, focus on daily Firewood! I'll get the food!' Tuuli squealed in delight as she gave Myne her knife and Tuuli ran off with the other kids.

'...yare yare.' Myne chuckled in bemusem*nt. By the end of it, Tuuli picked so much they were sure they have enough to last days in having them. She balanced out food and material. They need oil. They would learn from their mother how to extract oil...even if Myne long knew HOW.

Well, to avoid obvious sibling issues...she'd do it.

And when so much fruit around, Myne would gladly process fruit juices for her family to drink.

Sure there are weird foods, but some things don't change.

Salt can be harvested from a particular tree, not just the ocean...but if from trees, its a lot costlier than it'll be from the sea, but its a bitch to import. Using psychic suggestion magic, she had her mother 'learn' how to do it much more efficiently to make the most out of a single fruit. With Myne's knowledge, a teaspoon of salt can be gained, if its done right. Salt is precious for preserving meat after all, and doing conversion and a bit of round-off, it's 159 fruits to a kg of salt.

As for oil to avoid it smelling so strongly, Myne suggested the Salting Out method to gain higher-quality oil.

They also pluck off culinary herbs that are dried at 'that room' in the Gate Barracks. Drying them preserves the herbs to one year and will not spoil if carefully-stored away from any moisture. So spring is actually...condiment season. Salt, Culinary Herbs, Oil, Honey if one is brave enough...and one fruit called Clan.

The honey is made by bees obviously. But instead of a beehive, they live in a cavern! The entire cavern is their nest. Powerful enough to dig through rock, that they classify as monsters. Commoners avoid this place with good reason. Those stingers are the size of f*cking umbrellas. And unlike bees in Earth, they don't lose the stingers when stabbing you. Its a stab, or a tackle attack. Bees even coordinate which makes them dangerous.

If the average human in this world because of Malnutrition is 5'7(they had more to eat despite the sh*tty method of cooking, but Appraise don't lie) as her own father is 5'3 and her mother 5'0, in those Knights, the worker bees are the size of Irish Wolfhounds and the Drones, double that in length and height.

Only nobles can harvest honey and wax safely, usually done by Laynobles, working in teams and carrying large barrels and crates. Thus while honey is expensive, beeswax is not, but needed for candlemaking. Honey is then extracted out of the honeycombs, before the emptied combs is then melted into wax.

But Myne wondered if Royal Jelly is magical in nature...? She'll sneak in one day to try getting some when she's tall enough and recovered enough of her magic. Otherwise its crazy to go in with half the ammo in an AK-47.

But the Laynobles can only go as far as 20 feet deep into the caverns. Any further is suicide for them as their mana levels are very low. If she was 10000, they were 500 at most in MP.

When Myne spread out her senses to have a look-see, the Laynobles are the weak ones she sensed...and she then possessed one to gain their knowledge. Knowledge of Noble Culture and how it works.

And thus, she dared to go out to possess nobles with better knowledge resource...and when she went to the Temple as a spirit...it was no better than a den of debauchery by the High Bishop and Blue Priests.

Myne shook her head at the pedophilia going on here. Not that different from Earth then...so to save these victims, she decided to curse all Blue Priests and the High Bishop indulging in the crime by speeding up their aging rapidly.

Just in time for the visiting Sovereignty coming to take Blue Priests after the end of war, only to deal with rapidly-aging ones and clearly, a lost cause upon investigation that there are only seven Blues left, not just the High Priest who cannot be taken.

Ehrenfest was thus, controversial at Spring Archduke Conference as the incident was reported and for some weird reason, why is the First Lady Emeritus blaming the High Priest for her brother's death?

To which the Seventh answered, 'Its been like that as long as I remember...ever since father took home my half brother as a little boy, everything wrong in her life, blame him. He is always harassed to the point he retreated to the Temple after graduation.'

'What?! And your father the Sixth allows it?!' an enraged Aub Dunklefelger howled. 'Archduke Candidates are worth more as they are our successors! That is a treasonous crime!'

'Come now Aub Dunklefelger, are you not hearing Ordoschnelli's Laments coming from Ehrenfest? Chaoscipher and her Acolytes reigns supreme in that duchy with her husband as her High Bishop that what she wants, she gets, and nobody can stop her even after he ascended to the heights. Those who defied Chaoscipher are forced to the heights. They are neutral in this war because they are already on the verge of imploding by themselves.' said Aub Drewanchel sarcastically.

'And nobody can defy the Aub's wishes and orders as per our laws that Chaoscipher exploits by using the weight of the Dark Gate behind her back to get her way.' Aub Ahrensbach went crimson at his words. 'It seems her punishment is the death of Chaoscipher's Priests in the Temple.'

'Aub Ehrenfest, you succeeded your father, how have you not taken care of this?' Zent Trauerqual is not amused.

'I would have, if my son wasn't taken as soon as he left the cradle! He has never known Wiegenmilch's warmth, and embraced in the branches of Trombe!' a hostage! Cooperate, or he dies is what's clearly unsaid. 'My father allowed mother when she said she wanted another son to dote on...we couldn't do anything. This was because I didn't marry a proper Ahrensbach Lady as she wanted of me, I married the woman I truly loved!'

Indeed, he was known in the academy for his pursuit of Lady Florencia of Frenbeltag. Veeery memorable!

'I see. Aub Ahrensbach, how do you intend to deal with your...errant relations?' Trauerqual asked Aub Ahrensbach who was looking constipated where he sat. 'Its known that your grandaunt married into Ehrenfest, wanting to be a First Lady when she clearly could not qualify, but your predecessor indulged her.'

When picking a First Lady, factors are considered...her Mana Level as a child's strength depends on the mother. Reputation. Her place in the Social Circles. Abilities. Quality of Education as an Archduke Candidate. Benefits she could bring to help her husband's political power and connections.

Lady Gabriele was born with Archnoble-Level Mana. That alone, she disqualified in, along with having a stained reputation and she didn't bring any benefits. But the previous Aub Ahrensbach broke rules deliberately and took advantage of his Greater Duchy status. In short, Ehrenfest was oppressively forced into the deal and it was an all-take and no-give.

But no-go is a no-go. While she did get to marry her target in her ambition to pursue the status of First Lady, said target was demoted to Archnoble Status 'to match her'.

He became the first Count Groschel and the Groschel Province was created. And due to a huge gap in their mana, invoking Entrinduge was difficult and painful, to say the least! That Count Groschel easily had children with his two other wives than with Lady Gabriele that it took when she was 25 to birth her eldest son Brighton who did not survive his first job as an Apprentice Knight. Lady Veronica was born eight years after her eldest son's death, and two years after her, Bezewanst who was born with low mana. And she did not survive his birth. A befitting life and end for one who is overreaching for status.

'Yes, I have known of it, and there are even Magical Contracts written for the record.' said Aub Ahrensbach. 'My Third Wife has a lot to say about her family. What she has done has brought immense harm onto my family that my hands are tied as well as I have to protect my family not involved with the crime, as in cases like this, one's mistake stains all.' he griped bitterly. And now that this came out, they all thought, its as good as stained anyway as his relatives committed heinous crimes.

'Then what will you do, to amend this? Verbergen has decided to deny protection.' said Trauerqual. 'Not even Zent nor any Royal will break laws our forefathers wrote down, and Aub Aldrecht mocked Gebordnung.'

'...I will take back the Asylum and with it, the weight of our Dark Gate to take away the power she wields, and I will cut away trade with Ehrenfest. The source of her power to oppress. Its a start.' Aub Ahrensbach declared. 'I will also close the Borders of Ahrensbach to her and her Retinue, never to have ties to their Ahrensbach Relatives ever more, and I will reinforce this even in the Academy. Contact between students and teachers of our duchies is hereby forbidden for two generations, so regarding Highbeast Classes, someone else will have to be Ehrenfest's teacher in that class.' he declared. 'Is this satisfactory, Aub Ehrenfest?'

'It's indeed a start, but it'll take a while for the blood of our duchy to heal.' said Sylvester. 'Karstedt, leave me and quickly take my son back!' he ordered his Guard Knight urgently. 'I have no idea what will happen when mother gets wind that she can no longer use my son! Stay by my family's side with my brother, and order Lord Bonifatius to wield the might of the Knight Order! Call upon Flutrane and wash away Ewigeliebe!'

'But...'

'Go! I'll handle myself!' Karstedt reluctantly left the meeting room in haste after politely dismissing himself to the Zent and to his Aub in that order.

'Perhaps after this, you should take two more wives, Aub Ehrenfest.' Trauerqual 'advised', but its clearly an order. 'To prevent this from happening again. Ehrenfest is in the worst state of Mana Crisis out of all duchies. You only have one wife, one unwed brother and three children, and other candidates forcibly demoted, unless you restore back their status. The Foundation is an ever-greedy device that sustains a duchy. You need many suppliers. You can't handle that with too few people now, especially as your duchy's Blue Priests have their threads woven so fast it frayed till they snapped. What entity or God have they offended that Dregarhnur had Ventuchte fray their threads so before snapping?'

'...understood. But as we have no resources to make equal deals right now, I'd have to marry local, or restore some of my relatives' their former statuses and have more children just to compensate.' Sylvester squirmed as he very reluctantly obeyed. 'Perhaps with this, I can finally repatriate my brother as well.' he said wistfully.

'Then what of his marriage? He once was engaged to my Third Queen before and nary an arrangement since.' the Zent's statement made Aub Dunklefelger twitch and scowled for some reason Sylvester worried about...does he even wanna know?

'Probably any who wish to be his Light Goddess fear to be forced to the heights, aware of Chaoscipher's reign in Ehrenfest.' Aub Dunklefelger snorted. Some of the other Aubs did a double-take at his words.

'Erm, after Queen Magdalena, nobody dared to try because of that and after graduating, he retreated to the Temple immediately during father's funeral, but even then that wasn't enough for Her.' Sylvester informed him. 'And who on earth can match him now in level? Only my granduncle in Ehrenfest can sense him anymore and that's barely! And given our grave situation, he said, I quote and am willing to undergo magical tests of truth, that due to our situation, he will handle Temple Duties lest we all starve. So he is now High Bishop of our Temple and his eldest Retainer appointed High Priest. Who'd be willing to marry him after that? He's voluntarily single by his own choice just so we can all eat!'

Silence ensued.

Things are that bad!!

The Lord of Evil voluntarily remains in the Temple lest the duchy truly implodes from within through Mana Crisis after dealing with their other problem!!

'To think my cousin pushed the situation to this point...I am deeply ashamed of our blood ties now.' Aub Ahrensbach swore in vexation. Veronica's people in the Temple were more numerous than the neutral priests, seven of whom, are left that the Sovereignty understandably, cannot take after that!

'List down their crimes.'

Sylvester did so...with evidence to match. Apparently, he had good reason that he came in with luggage it took him and his Guard Knight to carry it in...that chaos ensued when he showed letters last...

Chapter 3: A Satisfying Resolution

Chapter Text

Oblivious to the chaos she caused by killing Pedo-Priests, Myne moved on.

She watched over the laynobles working on the honey caves.

In the hierarchy, Laynobles are justifiably neutral. Well, some not, in exchange for benefits even if it meant committing crimes in exchange for protection, but the not-so-bright ones didn't stop to think.

What usually happens if their masters are caught? They'd be used as patsies while the master will do anything to avoid punishment.

The Laynobles hate their lot in life.

They are poorer than even wealthier commoners, even if being a noble gives some excuse to look down upon them in contempt simply for their status, but contempt also because they are richer than nobles themselves! Ironic that commoners have more money and better residences and decor is a sting to a Laynoble's pride as a Noble.

Considering a Noble's career is based on three Professions, a lower-ranking noble can only work for either the government, or serve as a Retainer for a higher-ranking noble. They cannot be in flexible professions like commoners, even if their salaries are in gold coins. Minimum Wage aside, their wage increase depends on their worth to their master if they work as Retainers. Scholar-Officials earn more than Retainers do.

But given the political climate, that is not an option for most of them, that they had to get creative.

Lest their children die.

To get around that, the strongest are chosen among children, the rest left to the Temple where they serve as Blue Priests for the rest of their lives.

Poor nobles cannot prepare magical tools for all of their children. It costs 5 small gold or 5 million lions.

Magic Tool aside with an initial set of feystones, replacement Feystones also add up to the costs. And quality of said feystones depends on the mana of the child using it.

Then there's livelihood expenses and taxes. Thankfully, it's the Aub answering the costs of school supplies. The rent of student rooms, uniforms and standard annual Library Fee however, are the problem of the families when its time for the Royal Academy for their children, that students whose families are strapped for cash often have families negotiate with each other in who'd be their child's roommate just to split-even costs between them all.

And for having low mana, for survival's sake, they have to show submission, no matter what and be socially and politically-sharp, so they'd know who to turn to for protection in exchange for their service/loyalty.

So Myne selectively chooses which to aid and which not, and implant subconscious suggestions while taking great care not to be too invasive and avoid risk of dyeing. Thus a small amount of magic is used. Veeeey small. But she can only help those underage. The adults are beyond help. Thus she scopes out situations as well and chooses who to, and who not to aid. Especially among children.

Well, good deed done for now. Some people are deserving, some not.

Back to normal life she goes.

Sylvester took a deep breath.

He's done it.

But to pay for freedom, the costs are steep.

This should have been his father's to pay, not him, but to quote a disgusted Aub Jossbrenner, his father got away scott free from his crimes and made someone else pay for it. His own son has to pay for HIS crimes while at least, his wife can pay for hers while alive.

His brother-in-law current Gieselfried Aub Ahrensbach is to grill the still-alive Predecessor to pay for gross twisting of Gebordnung's Laws as decreed by Zent regarding his daughter's marriage to Ehrenfest, and the families of Lady Gabriele's Retainers for damages their relatives caused and accrued.

The standing orders are:

- Marry two more wives and have two more kids. ASAP. But because Sylvester stated why he can't, he really has to compensate. Thing is, who's WILLING to marry him?? He ain't stupid, that the next best thing, is having as many kids with Florencia, and reinstate his granduncle, cousin, and brother, and elevate his nephew Cornelius.

- Give restitution to families harmed in the time of Sixth Aub.

But the problem was, how? The second condition is impossible as he doesn't have resources for that now, that Aub Ahrenbach will make the relatives of those Retainers pay reparations equivalent to money they embezzled over the years to lavish themselves and Veronica with Ahrensbach Luxuries. Even he would have to pay off the family coffers for the trouble Gabriele and her children caused, on the condition that while Ehrenfest can do 'whatever' with the Retainers and their families, he gets Veronica for his wife's...grievances.

When he got back, there's apparently, a party going on while his son looked like he saw a ghost. And to think they don't know the other half yet of the verdict...

'...I take it Wilfried knows the truth now?' he asked his wife with a pained grimace.

'He does.' said Florencia with a sad smile. 'He's shocked, but I had to dispense Grammaratur...because she clearly didn't teach him anything for obvious reasons he now knows. I'm just glad I have our son back, and away from danger and his future ruined by her. We can still save our son's prospects. He's still four after all.'

'Riiight...' Sylvester sighed feebly. 'Are the Veronicans where they should be?'

'Yes. Imprisoned and apparently, beaten black and blue and bones broken...our people had taken out years-long sought for revenge.'

'I have an announcement to make as well, so I better send a ton of Ordonnanzes around...'

Sylvester summoned all clan heads and his family to the Castle to announce the Verdict on Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach.

'Regarding the Incident in the Temple leading to exposing Geduldh's Lament to the Highest Seat...the Zent made a decree I'm sure everyone will take delight in.' Sylvester began as the nobles gave him their full attention.

Current Aub Ahrensbach will send them through Sovereignty reparations he will squeeze out off of families of Gabriele's Retainers equivalent to monies embezzled over the years. And as Gabriele and Veronica are related to the Archducal Clan, he would have to squeeze his predecessor's retirement funds. All of which, split absolutely evenly to be fair to victims of Water Goddess Marriages. The money from Aub Emeritus would go to the Groschel Clan. Families invaded with Water Goddesses gets reparations from their wife's relatives.

That's GOT to be astronomical.

But! There's a catch. Because Georgine did not leave in peace, hurling vitriol at her parents, audience-be-damned in Starbinding in Sovereignty, he aims for Veronica to be shipped out to make his wife happy.

Nobody's an idiot.

Given Georgine's anger, she really will enjoy having her mother over.

Well, while Veronica would be happy to go to Ahrensbach, things won't be as she imagined for sure. Before her departure, she will be drained dry of her mana as extra precaution.

Ferdinand got his Noble Status back...but due to his own choices, no woman would be willing to marry him due to the reputation of the Temple, even if its existence is a necessity lest they all starve. And by his rank, he is now Knight Commander of Ehrenfest, but he also has to deal with the fact that because most of their military was taken by Sovereignty, they had to deal with accepting Knights with less than acceptable mana even by Laynoble standards that they'd all scrape the bottom of the barrel if they have to just to cover their duchy...and the Winter Lord.

That, and Sylvester is 'advised' to marry two new wives after Florencia, his current First Wife.

But given the new rules for Starbinding between Archduke Candidates, it'll be a hard sell as the current Ehrenfest has literally nothing to offer the duchies of two other brides this time, that he and Florencia will have more children, and restore Bonifatius', Karstedt's and Ferdinand's former status that they lost no thanks to Veronica.

Because Eckhart and Lamprecht hasn't gotten Archduke Candidate Course, it falls to Cornelius now who has yet to attend school thus he'll be elevated. This was the only way they can compensate. As for other families, they must also have more children and with new wealth heading their way, they can afford it!

End result: Lamprecht is Linkberg Head after this! Eckhart is a son-in-law to his wife's family so he's marrying out with both men keeping the Linkberg name and their Archnoble Status despite their high mana levels. Cornelius' name will have to change to 'sohn Ehrenfest' as a result so his education will change accordingly, and move into Northern Building ASAP for his education. Elvira also has to deal with new changes as she is now the First Wife of an Archduke Candidate that she also has a name change, and her Rank-Up immensely pleased the Leisegang Faction. They can keep Sylvester in check!

(In Linkberg Mansion, Cornelius felt a shiver go up his spine)

Lastly, the new Duchy Rankings.

Because Scharfer, Trostwerk, Werkestock and Zausengas, the duchies where the losing first and fourth Princes and their Queens came from is 'wiped out', there are now 21 Duchies. Those lucky to be spared after supporting the losing Prince Faction are chucked down to the bottom of the rankings, as well as taking other factors into account such as Economy, Trade, Accomplishments in the Academy, etc.

• Klassenberg - never changed due to its long history of Royal Intermarriages. Source of Feystones, Metals, Jewels, Honey and Wax everyone from high to low uses.
• Dunklefelger - never changed in rankings due to historical records of great feats. Third Queen by choice much to their annoyance, is Magdalena. Even Sylvester caught on when he got wind of it and Aub Dunklefelger's disgust and contempt when her name is mentioned, especially when people lampshaded by virtue of status she should have been First Queen, but the Aub's disgust says it all that clearly, she had no backing from her Duchy as a result other than customary Bridal Wealth befitting a Rank 2 Duchy, but that's it.
• Drewanchel - never changed its rank due to historical records of research breakthroughs and numerous inventions that improved quality of life for centuries.
• Gilessenmeyer - shot up the rankings because Ralfrieda is Trauerqual's First Queen.
• Hauchletze - shot up the rankings because Clementine is Trauerqual's Second Queen. Panicking as after the death of Zent Waldifried that they really curse the First Prince with their rage, their Water Gate has closed, leading to the shrinking of the oceans and with it, their maritime economy! They weren't the only ones complaining, however...
• Gausbuttel - Holds the major trade route between Klassenberg and Sovereignty.
• Jossbrenner - Klassenberg's breadbasket.
• Kirschnereit
• Immerdink
• Lehmbruck
• Lortzing
• Ahrensbach - their rankings plummeted as punishment for the Previous Aub Ahrensbach for breaking laws regarding his daughter's marriage into Ehrenfest, and the crimes committed by his daughter, children and Retainers. They also were the precedent for a new set of rules regarding Interduchy Starbindings, to prevent abuse and exploitation by a higher-ranking duchy to a lower-ranking one. In terms of political benefits between both, it must be witnessed by Zent and at least, two Greater Duchy Aubs. Due to their status, this was as far as demotion can go to a Greater Duchy.
• Losrenger - acts on a wait-and-see basis to see to whom Dunklefelger will side with
• Ehrenfest - because of their neutral status caused by civil implosion caused by Sixth Aub and his wife as well as numerous crimes, deaths by murder and terrible economy, not even the accomplishments of its Archduke Candidates can pull them from the bottom if the war did not happen. They were merely moved up to punish losing Duchies who are now at the bottom in their place. Not to mention out of all duchies with good reason, they have the smallest number of nobles that they have to compensate! Hence out of all Neutrals, they ranked the lowest, until certain requirements are met to rise in rank.
• Berschmann - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince
• Frenbeltag - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince
• Neuehausen - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince
• Lindenthal - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince
• Ossvault - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince
• Quandtreeb - Demoted for supporting a losing Prince

Ahrensbach, a duchy they came to HATE, is severely punished by standards, much to their glee, and will have to endure humiliation that a number of Middle-Ranking Duchies are above them now and they have to lower their heads to them!!

This gave the aggrieved families immense vindictive pleasure!!

'Any concerns regarding the reparations?'

'One: the children and two: Namestones.' said Ferdinand. 'We need to sort out who are loyal and who are forced. As it is now, any more deaths will make our situation worse.'

'Right, the children...under the Memory-Searching Tool, indoctrinated children will be imprisoned and drained of their mana alongside family adults, but separated from them. The mana obtained will go to Emaciated Geduldhs in the form of Large Chalice for at least ten years all over Ehrenfest in all domains.' Sylvester declared. 'The innocent ones who will not follow the path of their families will go to the Temple as Wards of the State, and will perform duties expected of Blue Priests when not in Royal Academy, before inheriting their family's estate if they are children of conquered families.'

'Otherwise, other innocents will stay with their fathers, with records of what's in their heads to prove they aren't trouble. Speaking, who are victims of Forced Nameswearing? State your case now before mother decides your deaths to spite us all and you all forced to ascend to the heights without warning. Lord Bonifatius knocked her out, but we don't know for how long.'

Chaos ensued. Again. So many raised their cases! Panic and anxiety went at an all-time-high.

By the Seven! They had to hurry!

As Ferdinand has the highest mana in the duchy, breaking into Veronica's rooms was easy for him. They searched for Namestones, all of which are in cocoons of her mana.

Ferdinand had to become the Master by conquering Veronica's mana to takeover, as only the Master can free the Namestones. The Names are then returned to the Forced, but he kept the Names of the Veronican Retainers so Veronica can't kill them to serve their sentences as Mana Slaves. It was the only way to save half the duchy and he forbade them from escaping their sentences by all means, or he would punish them painfully.

Understandably, Ferdinand was crazy powerful that the process caused immense pain to the owners of the names, before he could remove the cocoons.

And now with their new sources of Mana, Sylvester began the sentences.

'Sigh, this means I have to fly over the provinces again carrying that big, bulky thing alongside a sack of filled feystones...' Ferdinand complained.

'Dregarhnur is impatient. I'm sorry about this.' Sylvester apologized. 'But some of our provinces are about to go Arid. We can't wait any longer now.'

'Oh boy.'

In the meantime...within the year...upon receiving reparations, all families are at work to have children again.

Laynobles that gained 'subconscious ideas' began Compressing anew and intended to never stop until their capacity stopped increasing. This also caused the end of current engagement arrangements when they no longer matched. After all, Laynobles wish to get their lot in life better, and decided not to tell anyone.

But because of these increases that they can no longer sense their fiancees, arrangements had to be broken, coming as a surprise to many Laynoble Families regarding their child's growth that was the cause of losing their arrangements within the duchy. Due to twenty Laynobles having their mana growing quick, all underaged are tested...some had to be adopted into higher-ranking families willing to take them in, and some became successor to their clans due to Law of Mana Seniority, be it Primo or Ultimogeniture.

Back to the Lower City...

The abundance of food and materials got families overjoyed and they all wanted to horde as much as possible, that every morning, Tuuli and Myne focuses on food and material each girl, and after lunch, its firewood.

'Man, we're busy with alternating schedules these past few weeks now...' Myne griped as their baskets are laden with fruit, nuts and other things. They were walking home for lunch break, while enduring the burdens on their backs. For children their age, it's weight is already very heavy for them. And anything that goes wrong will be worse, due to their current states of health.

'It can't be helped, it's rare to have it plenty.' said Tuuli. 'Rutrebs have to be left alone as a rule for Shumils, so there's free meat by Spring.'

'Riiight...they eat only that?'

'They eat many fruits and plants, but Rutreb is their favorite for some reason after coming out of Hibernation.' Tuuli reasoned before snorting. 'Not like we'd know why anyway. And for those who can hunt, they only hunt largest males to keep numbers up.'

'Maybe I should be a Soldier in my future job since lady Knights exist.' Myne snorted. 'This way we can get free meat outside too.'

'Our parents are gonna protest.' Tuuli sweatdropped.

'Hey, its not fair only the boys get free meat!' Myne huffed. 'Maybe we should ask dad to make us that bow and arrow thingy.'

When they did come dinner several hours later...

'...a boy and a girl's strength is on different levels no matter the age.' said Gunther as Effa put food on the table. 'And pulling a bow and arrow is already hard you'd need strong arms, elbows and shoulders as well as a strong grip.' he said. 'Its plain impossible as you girls are now. Even apprentices wait until age 14 to be allowed Archery Training!'

'Did you get it at that age dad?' Myne asked her father.

To put it frankly, Myne as Tsuna before, learned the hard way in what NOT to be as a parent, that she preferred Effa and Gunther who are nurturing, supporting and always present in all ways that mattered. But also right amount of strictness that instilled a sense of responsibility and explaining everything for easy understanding and acceptance, otherwise living in a medieval world like this will be...difficult, to say the least.

At that time, He never knew any better.

Until he was a Don Trainee, met people and learned what truly mattered...and given his life as a Serial Widower, Bianchi was his children's maternal figure as their nanny while juggling her actual job in their R&D. And he swore to never be anything like Iemitsu and Timoteo as a father to his children.

One was distant in all ways, other very utilitarian and not trusting enough that as a result, he lost all his sons to death, and through trust. He averted their failures that his children succeeded in all ways imaginable he could retire peacefully with his Guardians and their wives. Hana joined them in their retirement home in Hokkaido after all.

'Yeah. And to think at 13 we had intensive upper-body training by your jerk of a grandfather. He works as a Training Instructor when he was too old for Field Work.' Gunther huffed, earning him a dope-slap from Effa. 'We can't stop even if we whined and Archery is really a hard-sell! But we have to do it as sometimes, there are jobs that needed that skill and you can't always rely on a specialist. What if they're assigned elsewhere in your time of need? That'd be bad.'

'Grandfather?'

'Yes. My father.' Effa smiled before it changed to a sad version. 'But like any soldier, he went out in line of duty....it was supposed to be a Training Exercise for apprentices for hunting weak monsters.' she began. 'But nobody saw coming a wagon of slaves which is illegal, transported by Slave Traffickers. It had to be dealt with, but they were nobles. And as they weren't known faces, they can be attacked. Father's group fought, while the apprentices freed the slaves with an order to run back and call for help. But by the time help came...the adults were dead. But at least, all slaves that are mostly girls, rescued. It was reported, but nothing came out of it.' she said gloomily. 'We never knew which noble did it.'

'Orphans are vulnerable to that sort of thing, so we hid the girls in the Merchant Guild, and put to work as maids to the Guildmaster's Family where they lived in safety for years, with paid work.' Gunther continued. 'Effa was rewarded with his posthumous rewards as the last member of his family so she could live to adulthood by herself and that was before we married.'

'Heee...'

'Myne, to be a Soldier means to do the right thing, even if it meant sacrificing yourself.' Gunther warned Myne. 'While a man will gladly do so, as a father, I can't let you go even if lady soldiers do exist. Only military families like your mother's go for it.'

'I couldn't survive the training. I was the youngest and weakest, so I became a Fabric Dyer while part-timing as a Seamstress.' Effa added. 'End result, I'm the last of my family. And your dad who's from a Woodworking Family has him as their weirdo as he chose the job.' Gunther and their daughters sweatdropped.

'Honey~~!' Gunther whined as their daughters laughed at his expense.

But despite his laughter, Myne was struck hard as there's a shadow in her laughter.

"Dad, I know full well what it means to fight and sacrifice for family. I've done that, more and worse."

Chapter 4: What We Can and Can't Do

Chapter Text

Because Myne fed all her mana to the forests at the first month of spring, she is now weak and being weak means no threat of those deadly fevers, and an estimated replenishing time of one year.

Had those fevers kept happening and repeated, she would have developed mana clumps in her body which will stunt the flow of mana and with it, her biological growth and make her frail, and the cure is out of reach to peasants like her. That Jureve Potion, the equivalent of Final Fantasy's Elixir.

As an Archduke-Class Magic User when she compared herself to nobles up north, she is currently as strong as the current Archduke, Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest, a man who is derided by all nobles because of his parents who are...terrible rulers of their duchy that everyone damned hated them, and hated him as he was 'raised in a certain way' that he was his mother's puppet and an extension of her rule as she was Aub in everything but name no thanks to her husband.

Which means, Mana-Matching. By adolescence where Mana Sensing occurs and she ends up being sensed...yikes. While she has no qualms murdering any who attacks her, the fallout will be on her family. That would mean a massive body count as she had done in the past. Nothing new there.

While the other nobles will be glad for killing their problem, they would also be on a watch and see basis with her and be wary of her as well in turn, if there's a peasant with enough magic that can kill an Archducal Member. Which means she's stronger than ALL OF THEM.

Mana-wise yes.

Magic? Thanks to years of binging on anime and research on how to make it work? Hell yes.

Fighting and Combat? She is extremely superior in weapons mafia uses to their disposal. She may not have experience with swords and archery which is why she hopes to be a soldier one day, but alas, her dad...

Maybe she should become a bachelor for life...she seems destined to this. First Serial Widower and now to get married she has to become a Noble? No way...

Right now, Tuuli turned six, she five.

Birthdays here, work seasonally.

No matter when you're born in any season, be it early, middle or late, you will always officially age one year older on the first seasonal day of that season in official laws. Its not like Earth where you're born on a particular Date, then your birthday comes a year after on that same day and time.

Waterday - Spring.

Fireday - Summer.

Windday - Autumn.

Earthday - Winter.

They were summer babies and now a year older in the eyes of the law.

In a way, Foraging Work is its own bodybuilding training in a way. Endurance, Resilience, Stamina, Core Strength. Leg Strength. And a bit of Arm Strength since they do get firewood...

And now, Myne wanted to try cooking.

Their mother taught them to cook their first soup, but...WRONG!

You do NOT throw away that umami and nutrient rich broth!!

So now, Myne took it upon herself to cook first.

'You want to try cooking Myne? Sure I guess.' said Effa. So they let Myne cook breakfast. All her cuts were bite-sized in vegetables and meat and all are cut evenly. But she did not scald. 'Oh, you forgot to...'

'Wait a minute mom. I want to taste this first.' said Myne, carefully skimming the scum from the surface of the broth, before tasting the broth as a show. 'Mm? Mom, Tuuli, taste it!' she yelled in alarm to sell her act as the puzzled older females went to taste the broth and choked.

'I-its good?!' Effa gasped out, unable to comprehend something so delicious can exist.

'Then why were we scalding it all these years?!' Tuuli asked her mother, baffled. 'We're actually throwing away deliciousness and compensating with salt and vinegar!' she moaned in dismay. They could have had delicious food forever and yet they were doing things wrong for years!! They endured salty-sour soups and stews for years without knowing any better!

They wouldn't know, if Myne hadn't foregone scalding, and instead removed the scum which was what Scalding was for. She was a bit shorter than her sister that she can't lift the pot for scalding.

'Well it was to throw the filthy thing that comes out when boiling meat and vegetables...' Effa croaked out. 'That was how I was taught by my mom who was taught by her mom and so on...' she then looked at Myne. 'So you scooped out the scum instead?'

'Yeah. The pot is too heavy and too much of a hassle for me, so why not? I also wanted to know why we throw away the first boil to see if its bad or not by tasting a little...its actually good...'

'Guess we were wrong for centuries about this one...' Effa scratched her head. 'Well for now, we'll change by not scalding from now on when making soups and stews!' she decided.

But really, this should have been done sooner.

This world's foods have intense umami and nutritional benefits thanks to feeding them mana as fertilizer dammit...that there's almost no need for condiments. That, and taste and nutrition aside, they also release colors that soups and stews turn to look interesting.

How these people think is insane troll logic to say the least.

Fermentation techniques were widespread because alcohol, cheese and vinegar existed and were accessible even to the poor.

Until Myne's stunt just now was accepted, the commoners and nobles alike had been used to thoroughly boil soup and discard the first boil.

One reason for discarding the boiling water was that it could contain small debris or sand, second being scum, but the main reason was that commoner chefs believed that this would lead to poor children being born and children not being born. AND HOW?!?! Who decided on that insane troll logic??

The fault lies in the imbecile who came up with that notion, and messed up future children as a result. May the God Cuococalura curse you!

Well, things change now. The path to nutrition has begun. But she has to magically reinforce the small intestines' ability to absorb nutrition for the body to heal from malnutrition.

'Heee, so that's what happened today.' Ralph gasped out as Tuuli told their cousins about Myne's discovery.

Morning foraging for Summer this time, is wild vegetables and summer fruits, if Spring is culinary condiments.

'We tried it out and it's really good!'

'We'll try to give it a try at home. The problem is mom.' said Lutz. 'Would she believe us?' he wondered aloud.

'Yeah, gotta tell my mom too about that.' said Fey.

'Well, tasting is believing.' Myne shrugged. The boys exchanged looks. But the hurdle is indeed, their mothers. Tasting is believing, is it?

Thus the boys had quite the time trying it out, as parents are at work. And the girls are proven right! Things change for them now!!

And it was also in summer, that Myne used up what little mana she had, to clean their house again.

"It seems I have to do some voluntary work, little by little." she thought. They always harvest enough to last a week anyway. 'Tuuli, tomorrow is an Earthday, right?'

'Yeah, so?'

'...do we wash our clothes and sheets?'

'...we ask mom?'

When they did, Effa said they only ever do it at the last week of summer due to so much work to do by Autumn if they want to survive winter!

'Do you want to do laundry Myne? You can only do small things for now by your age.' said Effa. 'Basically, your and Tuuli's clothes. Leave the big ones to me like mine and daddy's clothes, and our bedding.'

'Alright. I do our laundry and small things this week.' Myne decided. 'Tuuli can handle the foraging this week.'

With that decision made, Myne has plans.

When Sieg taught about plants, he taught what's useful, edible and not.

One tree he pointed at that makes white clusters of fruits is in fact, Soapberries. Obviously it's bitter and they have no idea what else to use it for. But she does. That when foraging began, she secretly went back to this tree, plucked berries and gave them enough mana to grow into a full tree and systematically planted it close by to each other on the sly, that by present time, they were now saplings, and growing up consumes the mana she gave it. She supposed it'll be fully-grown and very fruity by next year, that she swore by autumn she would replenish its mana to have more soapberries.

If peasants can't afford soap, they'd know how valuable this tree is.

Plants can be around year round, but rare. Some cannot endure the cold and go bare. Soapberry is a year-round tree, thankfully. And because nobody is harvesting its fruit, it remains up there and fresh year-round that the mana its trees have never decrease. Species of this world is unlike that of Earth's, as Soapberry in Earth, can't stand the cold, and thrive in warm climates. Mana keeps plants happy, she supposed.

She plucked a cluster enough for a bunch of grapes, before heading to a nearby river. She then crushed the fruit with a rock, filled a tub with water, and mixed the crushed fruit in to make it...soapy.

She then dunked the clothes in and let the fabrics soak in the soapy water for a good hour, before churning it with her hands as stains, dirt, dried sweat and oils come out, staining the translucent-white waters. Then rinse it with clean water and voila! Clean clothes!

She saved underwear and socks for last, then take off what she currently wears and make it join the tub. It's an Earthday so she's fine being in her birthday suit out here so she can bathe at long last.

Ahhhh! A baaaaath!! She can finally clean her poor skin and hair! And the soapberries lather very well!

After a bath, she could rinse the last of the clothes, and instantly dry her outfit so she can put it on, but she has to go through the Gate Guard to officially dry all else.

Apparently its normal as well as firewood. But finding time to do laundry is hard as people tend to prioritize survival among the poor that every little bit counts.

And due to how poor they all are, they own few clothing that she could wash the entirety of children's clothes, except for what Tuuli had on.

'Wow! So clean!!' her mother and sister are stunned. They've never seen such clean clothes!! 'How?!'

'Well remember that white fruit tree Sieg deemed useless?' Myne told them. 'No one can eat soap!' she exclaimed. 'It's a soapberry tree!'

'You mean that tree?!' Effa and Tuuli squawked out as in their memories, they were told about 'that useless frothy bitter fruit' that nobody wanted. 'It's soap?!'

'Yup, that one! I washed myself too and I felt really great!'

Indeed, Myne was...very clean. Very clean!

'Crush the berries with rocks and churn at least, five crushed berries or more in a tub of water, more to wash, more berries. Once it's all soapy and foamy with pale white water, dunk the clothes and let it sit for an hour while you guys take a bath to spend some time to wait it out. One berry is enough to clean a kid my size, but two for an adult. Once the water looks murky, meaning all dirt and stain left the clothes, churn the water to get more out and throw the water out, then rinse the clothes in clean water until water coming out is no longer murky. The clothes are clean then.' she said. 'As for our hair, since we never washed all our lives, it'll take a bit more effort until its no longer sticky and greasy. That's what the second berry for adults is for.'

Effa and Tuuli exchanged looks and next thing Myne knew, they took the bedsheets, blankets, pillowcases, and at least, a few pieces of clothing with Tuuli taking a fresh set of changing from Myne's basket and ran off. Did they bring a comb in their excitement?

'...looks like I gotta finish lunch...they were halfway done cooking.' Myne sweatdropped as she set to work in putting away hers and Tuuli's clothes properly, before finishing lunch.

Her mother and sister made two trips. One for their parents' clothes, and Tuuli came back clean.

Effa who hasn't bathed yet, would go alone next, and took a spare change of clothes, along with their unwashed bedding going out alone this time, and came home with her father. He too, was very clean with a fresh uniform change.

'That was quite the discovery Myne.' said Gunther. 'I never felt so clean in my whole life!' he exclaimed. 'We should tell everyone!'

'Er dad, that's the only one tree we got that if we tell everyone now, not everyone will get enough berries for laundry and a bath. There will be a vicious fight among housewives.' said Tuuli anxiously. 'But there are new trees growing, but too young to be useful to make everyone happy.' They imagined one heck of a brawl and shuddered.

'Right...guess we keep quiet until there's enough Soapberries to make everyone happy. 'Who knows how long those trees grow, so let's just make people think we can afford soap.' Gunther gulped. 'We should keep this in house among family only.'

'So will you tell Deid and Carla?'

'I leave that to the girls who in turn will tell their boys on foraging days. We're too busy...while Effa can afford an Earthday, Soldiers, Carpenters and full-time Weavers can't enjoy Earthday much.' said Gunther. 'Tell me what the boys think afterwards. Deid would probably have something to say since his workplace sells furniture they make to Merchants so he should have a grasp on the atmosphere.'

'So this tree is for that...how could we have known?' Sieg mused as they looked up at the tree in question in astonishment. What they thought useless for years, is actually poor man's gold. 'But Myne, common sense is what we get from the soldiers who in turn learn from the Nobles since Scholars are Nobles who usually discover new species.'

'They clearly didn't study enough then.' Myne scoffed derisively. 'I tested a drop of berry juice on my skin, did not hurt so its not poison. When I rubbed, it reacted like they say soap would and when I wiped my skin off the bubbles, it's clean, so I thought it's soap! Free soap for us poor folk!' she said. 'It doesn't smell herby like any plant or soapy like what's sold in markets. It has no smell at all so they couldn't figure this out.'

Even better, it's perfect for skin and unlike chemical-based soaps and shampoos in Earth, it does not strip away natural oils in skin and hair, preventing dryness and what comes after that. But it lacked antiviral trait Earth has. Probably because viruses thankfully don't exist here. Bacteria does, because foods spoil over time if not stored properly and wounds can get an infection, leading to illnesses.

'No kidding, a soap bar is 2 small silver.' Ralph shuddered. 'With 2 small silver we can buy enough food to last us a month. And food finally improved our moms accepted the new technique.'

'We could finally eat delicious food...' Fey gushed out. 'We thought only the rich can eat well. Not anymore!' he grinned.

That was common sense for the boys' large family, Tuuli thought dryly. They got six members compared to their four, five of which are boys that eats more and girls don't eat much! 2 small silver nets them two months' worth of cheap food!

'For now we focus on foraging. We can just do the laundry and bathe ourselves after Pork Processing Day and after we clean the floor of our house to make being clean actually worth it.' said Sieg. 'We need materials and its annoying that stuff we need for winter only grows in certain times of the year, clock's ticking and we got competition all around us.' he said. 'Let's move it!' and the cousins scattered off to get working.

Materials are more needed than food. Especially oil. They harvest plant and animal sources of materials that insulates the house and for Winter Handicrafts. That's after they amass enough food for winter storehouse.

Then they have to hear from Deid...

...and Lutz paid his girl cousins a visit after that.

'We can't talk about the Soapberry Tree because its a threat to business?' Tuuli burst out. 'How?! Only the rich can afford soap, what about us poor folk?' she cried indignantly.

'But people would rather buy it for free.' Lutz pointed out. 'If the Soap Guild finds out about this, they'll destroy the trees than lose customers, and Myne, the discoverer would get in trouble with the Soapmaking Guild. Even the rich folk can't resist free wares.'

'Vested Interests...huh.' Effa huffed. 'Its competition all around after all...I guess we keep these trees all to ourselves then. We'll have to move in secret unseen. Pluck some berries and then use it when no one's looking for a bath and laundry.' that was all they can do.

'Does Fey know?' Myne asked Lutz.

'Ah, Ralph ran to warn Fey's family.'