༺ I’m a Civil Servant (1) ༻
It happened 5 years ago.
“Who are you?”
“KYAA! YOUNG MASTER!”
“A doctor, call a doctor right now!”
“Young Master, are you okay? Can you see how many fingers I have extended?”
In five minutes, I was shocked three times in total. The first time was when I found myself in the center of an unfamiliar room. The second time, I found myself surrounded by people I didn’t know. Lastly, the third time was from the reaction of the person I asked the identity for. That was the first memory of my possession life.
I could feel my eardrums ringing when I remembered that tune. But thinking back, they had a reason to react in such a way, so I felt sorry. The first thing the eldest son of the family collapsed, and the first thing he said after waking up was something that made everyone think he might have amnesia. If I had maintained that attitude, a few servants would have been made responsible, and their necks would’ve been cut.
“Are you really okay…?”
“Yes. I just felt dizzy for a moment. That’s all.”
Thankfully, the memories of the original owner of the body came back to me, and that incident was considered solved. Thanks to that, I was able to kick everyone out of the room. I’m not sure if it was because of the desire of the original owner to protect the attendants that had served him. Or it was because of the generosity of the one who’d put me here. The second one probably wasn’t the case. After all, if that were the case, that being wouldn’t have put me here.
“Why me…?”
Returning in time, possession, reincarnation. All of these tropes used to be new and fresh, but as time passed, they became so cliché that it was hard to find a novel without them. And among all of these, I became in charge of possession. Woah! How fun!
The problem was that I didn’t know why I was chosen for this. I had never finished reading a novel, I hadn’t written a draft of 5,700 characters, the monitor didn’t suddenly shine, and I wasn’t hit by a truck. After I went to sleep, I suddenly woke up in this world.
Let’s say that up to this point, it was understandable. Possession was always something unreasonable and sudden. So trying to guess a reason made no sense. It wasn’t that other possession protagonists did so because they wanted to.
‘You should have picked up an avid reader, at least.’
The biggest problem was that I had reincarnated in a novel I knew nothing about. No, to be more precise, I knew it. But I hadn’t taken my time to go through it properly.
The title was ‘The Esteemed Daughter is in Love’… or something like that. After reading the news that a popular novel had been made into a webtoon, I read the free chapters. But that was it.
It didn’t suit my tastes. I quickly forgot about it since I found other more interesting novels.
Although I felt bothered by the fact that I had woken up in a novel I knew nothing about, I realized it wasn’t that bad once I thought about it. It wasn’t that a Demon King trying to destroy the world would appear. There was also no risk of plague appearing because the characters of a romance fantasy novel would probably be busy by showing a sweet romance.
Huh? Didn’t I wake up in a world where the author made sure it was easy to profit from? Not only that, but the body I possessed belonged to the eldest son of the Empire’s Earl. He was a noble with blue blood. I’m not sure who you are, but thank you for waking me up in such a body…!
“I unlocked an easy-mode life.”
As I organized the memories that came back to me, I couldn’t help but laugh. The original owner of the body, Carl Krasius, was a 16-year-old boy. He was the eldest son of the Krasius family. He wasn’t a genius or someone crazy out of control. He was just a normal noble boy.
This meant I didn’t need to act in a certain way or show how I changed positively. I could just live a happy life as a noble.
The only thing that bothered me was what had happened to the body’s original owner. But I decided to think that he died. Because, after all, I had no way to return it to him. So from now on, I was Carl.
That was how I began enjoying my life in another world.
“Our family’s riches came from the grace received from the Imperial Family.”
Just for a year.
On the second day of the year I would become 17 years old, the Patriarch summoned me. I subconsciously nodded to everything he said.
“In reality, our family’s blood used to be red instead of blue.1Blue blood refers to nobility while red refers to commoners But 300 years ago, our ancestor made a huge contribution to the Apels Invasion.”
“That’s why Emperor Amanka offered our family a territory and a title. That’s how we were able to become nobles. The one who followed him, Amnaka 2nd, made the Krasius family Earls of the Empire. The Krasius family’s descendants have never forgotten that.”
“Yes, so you remember it well.”
‘Someone who can’t remember something he hears every week isn’t worthy of being called a person.’
I brushed past it while looking at the Patriarch’s satisfied expression. He was probably going to say something like, ‘work hard for the Imperial Family from now on,’ and then he’d probably send me back. It was obvious.
“An opportunity to answer to that grace has come.”
“Yes?”
This was an unexpected development.
Regardless of my inquiry in surprise, the Patriarch took out a document.
“An incident has happened in the North. Naive people that don’t know how scary the Empire can be have been causing a stir. The size of that stir isn’t one that can be ignored. So the Emperor has called us.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yes. That’s why the Krasius family, as vassals of the Emperor, have decided to contribute to rooting out the troublemakers that have been bothering him.”
“Are you moving?”
The Patriarch nodded. The Krasius family members were direct vassals of the Emperor. They had the title of Earl of Tileglehen.
If the Patriarch took the soldiers of Tileglehen and decided to contribute to calming down the situation in the North, the Emperor would accept. He was probably going to ask him to administrate the Earl’s territory while he was away.
‘Well, it’s nothing important. The butler is going to do most of the work, after all.’
Successor, Earl’s representative. The only thing he had to do was to stamp documents. Even the Earl left most of the work to the butler. Because the topic of the conversation changed suddenly, he became worried. But it wasn’t a necessary one in the end.
As if the patriarch had read such thoughts of his, he changed the topic once again.
“It’s about time you become a government official.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes. You know that at 17 years old, one can choose to attend the Academy or become a government official, right?”
“If I’m not here, who’s going to deal with the Earl’s work?”
“Most of the work is done by the butler, so it doesn’t matter.”
You low-ranking lord, how can you say something like that with your mouth?
“I already found a position. You just have to go there, and they’ll teach you.”
‘You bone marrow Emperor’s follower…’
It was possible to become a government officer at 17 years old. But it was preferred for someone to go to the Academy.
What would a 17 years old who’d just become an adult do even after becoming a government officer?
It would be better for me to go to the Academy to learn about numerous things, become friends with other noble family’s sons and daughters, and build relations with capable normal people.
But the Patriarch was trying to ignore that and send him to the government. Why? Because the Emperor had a headache. So he had to use the family’s workforce to help him.
And then he would confidently say, ‘Our family’s heir, who just became an adult, already became a government officer to serve the Imperial Family and the Empire!’ It was obvious how the Emperor would receive that news.
‘I guess it might not be that bad…?’
Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. Academy? In his previous life, he’d gone through primary school to the university without taking a break. Thinking about how he lived before being taken by the postgraduate school made him not want to go there. Even without going to the Academy, most important nobles receive private tutoring. Not only that, but they also have the opportunity to build connections before and after the 3 years that the Academy lasts.
On the other hand, this was a job given to him by the patriarch of the Krasius family. There was no way the Patriarch of Earl’s family, that served the Emperor of the Kefellofen Empire directly, was waiting for a 17 year old to achieve many things.
Because of my background, I am probably going to be able to work comfortably… It sounds good.
“I’m going to work with everything I have for the Emperor.”
The Patriarch smiled upon hearing my words, and I too smiled in response. However, the reason each had was very different.
The Patriarch joined the forces that were in the North. And I went to warm up the comfortable place the Patriarch had found for me.
4 years had passed.
“Fuck, I should’ve gone to the Academy.”
The job the patriarch had found for me wasn’t a comfortable one. It was a position where you couldn’t help but shed tears and blood. A place where you could hear people agonizing.
These past 4 years had been enough to turn a naive and innocent 17 year old into a 21 years old adult that already dreamed of retiring. For example, I had just spent two hours listening to the Minister scream at me for two hours.
“This damn civil servant life.”
Will the Academy… Accept someone who’s 21 years old…?
Footnotes:
1Blue blood refers to nobility while red refers to commoners