"First Family Council, sans Lyle—"
The Fourth Generation, halfheartedly, declared the meeting open before those assembled in the council chamber.
It wasn't something he normally did, but he'd decided to discuss the future without Lyle present.
"Now then, let's table the matter of Novem and decide what to do about Lyle's future," the Fourth Generation said, but the Third Generation cut in.
"Shouldn't that be tabled too? It's not like Lyle has any clear direction."
The Sixth Generation agreed, though he added his own preference.
"Indeed. Personally, I'd like him to take over House Walt."
The Seventh Generation felt the same.
In principle, the Sixth and Seventh Generations' opinions aligned.
The two of them had a tendency to be fixated on the territory.
"If Ceres is to inherit, we'd have to bring in a husband from another house. Surely everyone agrees that's unbearable."
The First Generation spoke up, picking his nose.
"Doesn't bother me."
That remark earned glares from the Seventh, Sixth, Second, and Fourth Generations alike.
"You're telling me you don't feel any bitterness about having the territory we built torn away from us?!" the Seventh Generation fumed.
The Third Generation pressed his temple and replied:
"Remember why the First Generation founded that frontier village? I hate to say it, but he never accomplished his original goal, so he's probably lost interest."
The First Generation denied this.
"Fool! I struggled plenty to expand those lands. Unlike you lot, I shed my own blood, sweat, and tears to build them. Of course I'm attached! But when I look at Lyle, you see..."
The Second Generation murmured:
"Those tears are the same ones you shed when your first love married someone else."
The First Generation coughed and continued.
It seemed they'd hit a nerve.
"I've always said the boy was scrawny, but he's got real talent. Hell, I don't understand how he can do all that yet still be such a pushover."
The Fifth Generation answered this.
He seemed to have no interest in the meeting itself. Perhaps that was why he could offer the most level-headed opinion.
"Being neglected from the age of ten means they either didn't follow an educational approach suited to Lyle, or his education itself stalled. He doesn't seem to have been taught anything important... Hey, did you change the educational policy from my time?"
The Fifth Generation looked at the Sixth and Seventh.
From the time the Fifth Generation earned the viscount title, the Sixth and Seventh had been working toward earning the earldom.
"We did omit certain things. For a grandson aiming for earldom, governance matters more than battlefield knowledge and experience. And frankly, there wasn't time."
The Sixth Generation said, and the Seventh agreed.
From the First Generation's perspective, House Walt had grown larger. In connection with that, anything deemed unnecessary had been dropped from the curriculum.
In its place, they'd incorporated the education befitting their social standing.
"In my generation, things stabilized, so while I had them taught the basics, I emphasized managerial methods."
The First and Second Generations were surprised to hear this.
"Sounds like proper nobility."
"In our days, field work, monster subjugation, and bandit suppression were all mandatory..."
The Fifth Generation sighed.
"Proper nobility, indeed. Once you become an earl, there will be opportunities for such experience, but doing desk work in the manor is more efficient than all that. Besides, stealing your subordinates' duties isn't ideal."
The Fourth Generation, seeing the conversation had drifted, steered it back.
"We've gotten off track. So, shall we keep Lyle's future as a pending matter? What a shame—we went through the trouble of building up his track record."
The Second Generation tilted his head, either not noticing or playing dumb.
"Building his track record? The bandit suppression clearly hurt his reputation. Besides, wasn't it partly meant to showcase how Lyle was overreaching against his own family?"
What was most frightening was not knowing what the other party intended to do.
At House Walt's scale, information about Lyle would flow in whether they sought it or not.
Even if they'd driven him out, he was still their son, and his movements mattered.
If he made any suspicious moves, pursuit might be sent after him. For the current Lyle, fighting a skilled opponent in personal combat would be difficult.
So he'd taken actions that would make the other party think intervention wasn't necessary. To make them see Lyle as an idiot son who could be cast out without concern.
Of course, they'd also considered the possibility that everyone might want to damage House Walt's reputation and assassinate him. But if that were the case, killing him from the start would have been more efficient.
Was the monster unable to make rational judgments, or was it simply not interested enough?
Either way, this matter would also clarify how the monster would move. That was the conclusion he'd reached.
The Sixth Generation grinned upon hearing the Second Generation's doubts.
"In Darion, his reputation may have dropped, but the fact remains that Lyle defeated the bandits. Reputation can be manipulated any way you want... Just as I manipulated the narrative that I was behind all of House Walt's misdeeds. Because of that, my grandchildren ended up hating me."
The Seventh Generation patted the slumped Sixth Generation's shoulder in comfort.
The Third Generation laughed as he spoke.
"Reputation can't be relied on anyway. In Darion, despite being a coward who scattered money he'd received as support against the bandits and was overwhelmed by more than six times their number—the fact is, he still subjugated the bandits. See, as long as nobody asks how he beat them, there's no need to explain."
Everyone nodded, looking at the Third Generation.
As the head of House Walt who'd died in battle, the Third Generation was famous among the general public as a righteous general who'd succeeded in a desperate retreat.
In reality, though, he didn't seem like such a figure at all.
"When you say it, it carries a lot more weight," the First Generation said with irony.
The Third Generation smiled. "Does it?"
Then the Third Generation spoke about Lyle's future.
"Whether Lyle succeeds as an adventurer or returns to House Walt, it all depends on his own will. More importantly—about that monster the First Generation mentioned? It's starting to feel real."
The others pondered this as well.
The reason was that Lyle had been more capable than any of them had imagined.
After hearing the skill descriptions and undergoing training, he'd managed to master them within days. It was still rough, but it was nothing short of astonishing.
The First Generation puffed out his chest.
"That's what I've been saying! And if Lyle can't beat it, then Ceres is going to be something truly terrifying."
Everyone present felt that Ceres was even more dangerous than they'd imagined.
Her first actual battle. Even fighting goblins, Lyle had remained calm—with allies at his side, certainly, but still.
Against the bandit boss as well, he hadn't panicked.
Despite various shortcomings in experience and issues with stamina and magic power, his talent was extremely high.
And the monster that could defeat even such a Lyle—House Walt had created it.
"The territory aside, the country is going to get rough too. After all, no one can predict a monster's actions. Because of that, my grandfather's generation had an incredibly hard time."
[Monster Ceres]
That was becoming a major problem for the successive heads.
At first, they'd thought Lyle was the problem too, but given the neglect he'd suffered, it made sense that he hadn't been properly educated.
If the standard of comparison was someone absurdly beyond the norm, then that meek personality was understandable too.
Enduring that environment for five years deserved recognition in itself.
But Lyle was genuinely capable.
And then there was Ceres, who didn't even acknowledge that—calling her a monster didn't seem unreasonable at all.
They needed to come to terms with the existence of the monster the First Generation had spoken of.
"Overwhelming power, combined with an unpredictable personality. Troublesome," the Fifth Generation said, and the Sixth agreed.
"If Ceres goes on a rampage, House Walt will be destroyed. Thinking about it, it's actually fortunate that Lyle was cast out. The bloodline will survive."
The First Generation agreed with this too.
"True. If he becomes an adventurer and makes some money, maybe we can found another frontier village? This time, we could move outside Banseim. Novem and Aria are there, after all. We can't let them be put in danger..."
However, the mood wasn't entirely one of acceptance.
Everyone present wanted to do something about it if they could.
"What path Lyle chooses is what matters most. Though, I have to say, I'm a bit concerned about Novem."
At the Third Generation's words, the Second Generation scoffed.
"Still on about that? You think a girl that wonderful is secretly plotting something sinister? She's an innocent girl who took Lyle's lies at face value!"
The Third Generation was a little exasperated at the Second Generation's earnest attempt to believe.
But the Fifth Generation also agreed with the Third.
"If Novem has her own thoughts, she won't harm Lyle, so why not leave it be? If she intended harm, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths. Besides... could we really drive Aria out now?"
At the Fifth Generation's words, everyone present looked troubled.
Her father had been connected to the bandits, she'd been enslaved and sent to the mines. On top of that, she'd lost everything and been driven from her home.
The First Generation had a complicated expression.
"The living image of my first love marrying into my descendant's family... that feels pretty bizarre."
The Seventh Generation spoke.
"This is all because you made Lyle do unnecessary things! If you'd just cooperated from the start, we wouldn't have to worry about all this."
The Fourth Generation steered the conversation back once more.
"Then, we'll keep Lyle's future as a pending matter until he decides on his path. Thank you all for your time."
The First Generation, left alone in the council chamber, sat cross-legged on his chair with his arms folded.
What occupied his thoughts was Lyle.
"In terms of pure talent, there's no doubt he surpasses us all."
It had all started with a single remark the First Generation had made at a banquet—a family precept.
That had polished the blood of House Walt... or perhaps it had.
Lyle's abilities, though still hampered by inexperience, held the greatest potential of any head in the family's history.
"This... this easily surpasses my prime."
Muttering this, he sprang to his feet.
"Well, well. Add the seven Jewels and his own Skills to the mix, and what kind of monster will he become... If anyone can genuinely stop Ceres, it might just be Lyle."
Walking toward his room, the First Generation—Basil Walt—allowed his expression to soften.
"Perhaps it's time I got serious about helping. He might even master the third stage someday, so I should train him for that. ...It probably won't take that long either."
The First Generation opened the door and entered his room.
"It won't take that long to finish teaching him either..."
The door slowly closed.
No one remained in the council chamber.