4 Some family time

"I have 2 announcements to make."

Friedrich's voice broke the awkward silence which reigned supreme during this, even more awkward family dinner. Announcements that are made in front of everyone usually imply some great changes or important news, regarding everyone present.

While his family members + Alexander looked at him curiously, a butler brought a mysteriously glowing blue crystal ball and a latter, on a silver plate. Both items were carefully placed in front of Friedrich before his butler bowed and stepped back.

"My first announcement is this."

The archduke said while taking and holding up the latter for everyone to see.

"This is a request for marriage from count Drover, which I accepted."

"What?!"

"Pfft *Cough*"

Annabella first and Vivien later reacted strongly to his words while Dorian and Armin were too stunned to even speak. Alexander almost started laughing out loud though he barely managed to hold himself back while commenting in his thoughts.

'Poorly worded man, very poorly worded.'

"…eh? Does that mean I will get another papa?"

Mirabella's innocent question stemming purely from genuine curiosity almost send Alexander over the edge but with an inhuman level of self discipline he barely managed to hold on and not laugh at his father in front of everybody.

Archduke Friedrich, now noticing his poor wording had the sudden urge to stand up and shout but that would be way to unbecoming for someone of his status.

"*Cough* No, never. That was a faulty formulation, what I meant to say is that count Drover asked for a marriage between our children."

"Phew, thank the gods."

Annabella's blatant show of relieve about her husband and father of their children not being gay, forced Alexander to pinch his tights as to not laugh at them.

(AN: Don't mean to attack homosexualism, but a loving mother and wife really wouldn't want her husband coming out during family dinner with 'count Drover asked for marriage and I accepted…')

Vivien on the other hand automatically filtered all important information from Friedrich's statement and started thinking over something else.

"Your grace, about that marriage request. Am I right to assume that it's about one of our sons, since Mirabella is still too young?"

"Yes, indeed. This is regarding his daughter, Fiona Drover. Today, I had a short discussion with Alexander, who agreed to marry her."

"Alexander? Do you mean to say, count Drover would marry his daughter to an illegitimate child named Cloud?"

Now it was him, getting everyone's attention as they looked at him strangely. Armin lost all interest after pretty much a few seconds while Dorian and Mirabella eyed him curiously. Annabella was clearly uncomfortable, just by looking at his face. Only Vivian's expression was harder to decipher as she quietly followed her on line of thoughts.

'Strange. Rumours may portray her as timid and stupid without any socializing skills and that is while leaving out her speech disorder, but she is still a high-born noble lady. Marriage with a bastard who's last name is Cloud, is more than rudeness towards count Drover, who was always a loyal ally within Friedrich's faction.

It would be no different from an attack to his honour, stating that his daughter would only deserve commoners or scoundrels, so why not just reject Drover's request instead of making things so complicated? Is there perhaps something to this marriage, Friedrich couldn't refuse or reject?'

Vivian may not have known how accurate her analysis was and that she was spot on with her conclusion but she would become sure of it, after hearing her husband's next announcement.

"You may have questions regarding this marriage but I will not answer any of them tonight. Now as for my second announcement. From today on, Alexander Cloud will be granted our family name and status and shall henceforth be called Alexander von Stahl."

!!!

That was an immensely more important announcement than an illegitimate bastard, marrying some social outcast noble daughter. Armin, who had quickly lost interest in the prior announcement, now looked at Alexander as if he was a 3-headed unicorn, shitting rainbows on their table.

Dorian and Vivian were too shocked to speak and Annabella, who everyone sees as a kind and bubbly person, wore a deep frown instead of her usual smile. Only Mirabella acted somewhat excited.

"So, Alexander is now a real big brother, instead of a fake? Then papa, what about a sister? I already had 2 brothers, but now that there are 3, shouldn't I get a sister next? *Pouts cutely*"

"Ahem!"

Friedrich cleared his throat in an attempt to regain everyone's attention. Out of them all, it was him, who was most eager to get it over with before going back to ignoring his illegitimate, now turned official, child.

"Again, you might have many questions but I don't want to discuss this now. The legal procedure was already started by me, this afternoon and all that is left would be Alexander's acceptance into our ancestral register and family tree."

"Wait just a moment! Shouldn't this be discussed-"

The bluish crystal ball started to levitate before it moved in front of Alexander. Friedrich continued his explanation completely ignoring everyone's objections.

"Put your right hand on it, while calling yourself Alexander von Stahl. If your blood resonates with this crystal ball, it will vanish and your entrance into the von Stahl main family will be completed."

Everyone was looking at him. Some angry, other uncomfortable or just plain curious. They all probably had a hundred questions to ask but Friedrich already announced that he would answer none tonight.

Under his family's watchful eyes Alexander touched his father's crystal ball, while loudly calling his name as if to proclaim it.

"Alexander von Stahl!"

It happened. A bright flash of light erupted before it vanished right under his touch.

"It is done now… son."

Friedrich spoke. He made a face as if he just bit into a lemon, before practically spitting the word son but Alexander couldn't care less.

'Whatever, I make the exact same expression just by thinking about you. God knows how many years it took to get rid of that habit.'

Was what their newest official family member had in mind, but of course letting them now that would be plain stupidity. Instead he bid everyone a formal goodbye, but this time without bowing his head, before finally getting out of there and retreating into a guest room that was temporarily prepared for him.

"Finally!"

Awkward dinner, strange mood, and sudden tension. Paired with everyone's (-Mirabelle) dislike for him, he doubted that spending more time together would turn out any more pleasant than that.

Instead it would feel a lot better to throw oneself onto this super comfy king sized bed and let today's worth of stress and fatigue seep out of your body by itself.

'Before going to sleep I should check my status just one more time. Ron, would you be so kind?'

[Name: Alexander von Stahl]

[Age: 18]

[Sex: Male]

[Main-Class: Primordial Necromaster]

[Level: 1]

Seeing how his name changed to a proper family name, was all he wanted to confirm. Getting rid of his clothes, he finally went of to sleep, dreaming about crazy adventures as a respected, overpowered necromancer with legions and armies of undead.

Next Morning.

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Young master Alexander? It is me, Isabelle. Could it be that you are still asleep?"

Isabelle had knocked quite a few times on Alexander's doors, eventually forcing him to wake up. Still somewhat groggy from a long night of sleep and weird dreams he reluctantly shove away his blanket and got up to let Isabelle in.

"Good morning to you too."

A very sarcastic greeting, paired with a shit eating grin was his response to Isabelle's persistent knocking before she was let in.

"…"

"No greeting me?"

"… Good morning to you too, young master Alexander."

For some reason, Isabella felt that her young master's face looked very punchable right now but being a senior maid in the famous von Stahl palace, she snapped out of it and reprimanded herself.

Without dwelling too long on such matters, she pushed the breakfast cart in before helping him washing his face and change clothes.

"Fuuu… efficient as always."

Alexander exclaimed, satisfied by her expertise.

"So, how come you persistently kept knocking to wake me up?"

"Oh my, young master Alexander makes it sound like I did it on purpose, just to wake him up."

"…No, wait, it was pretty persistent, so that was too obvious to shrug off like usual, don't you think?"

"Whatever could you mean, young master? I did knock and call you but only for an appropriate time to check whether you were awake or not."

"…"

Speechless. While her retort was quite appealing for a useless discussion, her seemingly upright demeanour left him speechless until a small, decorated package landed in his hands. Isabelle gave it to him before getting to serve breakfast.

"… I heard his young lordship was finally granted a family name and status as an official von Stahl's son. Though it might be seen as impudent to give such a cheap and useless gift, this old maid sincerely wished to somehow congratulate you, young master."

That took him by surprise. Though they were quite close with each other, never before did they give away gifts. As mentioned it could be seen as impudent so Isabelle refrained from doing something like that, while Alexander simply had no means to prepare gifts for her. Only after a short delay did he remember to speak.

"Thank you. I will cherish it dearly, no matter what you gift me."

They were heartfelt words. He, who was reborn in this world with his past life's memories, still remembered how this old maid, was his only caretaker and friend. Everyone else either ignored or avoided him.

Opening it, revealed a dark wooden box, which contained a silver pendant with an emerald crystal in it's centre. Alexander questioningly looked up to Isabelle, who was still reading the table. For some reason it took her longer than usual.

"It is an enchanted pendant. Pouring mana into that crystal will activate a protection array, which sends a distress signal and randomly teleports it's wearer away in a radius of 3 kilometres."

She explained patiently. It was like this maid could sense his questioning gaze but upon hearing her explanation, the pendant seemed expensive enough to have cost a maids annual income.

Alexander really didn't know what to say. In over 18 years, this was the first time someone showed so much care for him. He gently put on his unexpected present before sitting down and eating.

Next to his plate filled with pancakes, lay an envelope. For a second he thought, Isabelle prepared something like a congratulatory letter with her gift, and looked at her with emotional puppy eyes, not knowing how far off his guess was.

"Please don't make such a face ever again. This is merely what you asked me to finish yesterday."

"What I asked you to finish?"

Curiously, he opened the envelope and noticed how it was about recent occurrences, regarding count Drover or his territory. Taking a bit of time to carefully read everything, cleared up a lot of questions from yesterday, and put his newly gained family name in a completely new light.

"Archduke you son of a-"

(AN: Hey! Another chap pretty slow paced with some family time and so on. Our MC's adventure will soon kick off, we just have to be patient for a few chaps. I kind of am trying to avoid annoying info dumps, which is hard when starting a new novel. You now close to nothing about the word, not even the empire or the arch duchy but instead of spoon feeding you everything, why not find out about these things with MC who has yet to step out of his father's palace. Hope you will stay for more chaps and if you do, leave a few comments, which might later on get hundreds of replies and likes ;) Till next time!)