Chapter 13: Becoming Benjamin Lithur
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The night passed.
"Master Benjamin, it’s time to wake up, the madam wants you to go down to have breakfast."
The voice of the butler and a knocking sound dragged Kubei, who was still lying on the bed, back to reality.
It is already morning?
He laughed bitterly in his heart. He did not think that absorbing Benjamin Lithur’s memories would have taken him from midnight until dawn, leaving him with no time to rest.
But it was not the system’s fault, the System did simplify the memory to a point where he could fully understand the situation in half an hour. But the problem was that it was too simplified. Kubei searched it a few times but still found no clue about who could have hired the assassin.
He had to narrow down his search, so he began asking the System all the small details within the memories.
This method of searching was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and the system’s tendency to go haywire didn’t help. The process ended up going all the way to dawn when the butler came to call him to breakfast, but he still did not have any results. In other words: he still did not know who wanted him dead.
Kubei felt defeated, it was like he wasted his whole night for nothing.
Nothing could be done, time was up, he could no longer continue looking through the details of the memories. The butler was waiting for him, and he had to go meet the Lithur family members ----It was more important than what he was doing right now.
Would he be able to manage to deceive his "own" relatives?
But from this point of view, he was not actually wasting his time. He remembered the simplified memories, and even revised many of the details, which would a big help in trying to pretend to be "him".
Relying on these memories, dealing with the butler was no problem.
"Alright, I’ll be right over."
He said this to the butler.
"Jeremy isn’t feeling too well, so I’m here to replace him." Surprisingly, the butler opened the door and walked in while saying this.
"It…...it’s fine, I’ll get ready on my own." Kubei hurriedly replied.
To let a middle-aged man wash him and change his clothes was rather weird. No, to be exact, as a teenager of the new generation, he was no longer a three year old, and was no mommy’s boy, letting other people help him put on clothes is never a normal thing.
After hearing this, the butler seemed to make a weird expression.
Kubei realized something was off.
"Hey, you didn’t tell me last night that all the nobles are used to their servants helping them put clothes on, and to wear it yourself is odd." He asked the system.
"It’s not really, even though it is a habit, recently there has been a trend that one would do their own washing up and clothes wearing, it’s not strange at all." The system explained.
"I see..."
After hearing this, Kubei was rather relieved.
The system had already said so, he should not be acting out of place. Maybe Benjamin decided to change in habit one day, it probably was not much of a problem.
He was just feeling guilty from what he was doing.
Kubei acted as if it was supposed to be this way, and told the butler: "It’s fine, go about your business, I’ll head downstairs in a short while."
The butler did not suspect anything and bowed, leaving behind all the things he was carrying and went away.
Kubei was relieved.
Every move after returning here is like a war without smoke!
He crawled up from the bed, then looked around. He wanted to see his surroundings as he was not able to see properly last night due to the absence of light.
His room was rather huge, it could match the living room of a family that was well off. The furniture was elaborate, the window was rather wide, but it was covered by gracefully designed curtains, and a European style clock hung on the wall. Everything in the room made it look like a western noble’s room, there was even an oil painting hanging on the wall on top of the bed.
And that pot that was the highlight of the night that day was probably left by the butler by the door.
Kubei walked to the dressing table, and used the water left by the butler to wash up, then tidied up his hair. He followed the System’s instructions to put on a shirt and pants taken from the closet.
In the mirror, he saw himself for the first time.
A blonde young white man with light blue eyes, a thin-looking body, pale skin with faint freckles and a light blush. He looked like someone with jaundice.
He was not disappointed. He did not ask for much, as long as he did not look that ugly. He believed his weakened state right now would not last.
He tried his best to remember this face, to remember how "he" looked like.
A voice came from the depths of his heart: From this moment, he was not Kubei anymore, he was Benjamin Lithur.
He ended his previous life on the twenty-five year mark, from this day onwards, he was no longer "Kubei". He had to completely become Benjamin Lithur.
He looked at the completely unfamiliar face in the mirror, then made a decision.
And then, Kubei pushed open the door…...No, it should be said: Benjamin pushed open the door, then walked out.
Benjamin referred to the map given by the system and went downstairs, arriving at the living room where the Lithur family was used to dining at. Two servants stood at the entrance of the living room and bowed. he nodded back at them.
Everything was as "usual", nothing seemed out of place, and Benjamin walked into the living room.
If his sleeping quarters was almost the size of the living room of a middle class family, then this living room was a millionaire’s. A brown colored table ten meters long that was surrounded by chairs neatly separated the room into half. The two cabinets filled with dining utensils were backed up by the peach colored walls, and it was really tidy. Four religious paintings hung on all four walls, giving a baroque feel to the room that made it sullen and mysterious.
The living room was rather quiet, as there were only two people.
A well-dressed old lady around eighty dined at the table, and a servant around fifty stood by herself, a face full of respect, not moving at all.
Based on the memories, Benjamin knew that the old lady was his grandmother, the ‘Matriarch’ figure in the Lithur family.
There was only one person dining, so he was naturally shocked, but was rather relieved.
In his imagination, this meal consisted of everyone in the Lithur family, his parents, his brother and his grandmother. He did not know what happened, right now there was only the old lady on her own, and it made Benjamin feel much more at ease.
He walked over and sat at the table side, then greeted the old lady.
"Good morning, grandmother."
The old lady looked at him, then raised her eyebrows: "Good morning, my child. Young people are always full of energy, always trying to cause a commotion, not like us old people, right?"
What was to be noted was that her tone was strange, it was not like an elder talking to a younger person, but sounded like she was mocking Benjamin, like he was her rival.
What did she mean? What is she trying to say?
Benjamin had a huge question mark in his heart.
Not waiting for a reply, the old lady put down her cutlery, then wiped her mouth with a napkin, and looked at him in an indifferent way, saying:
"Are you hungry? The chef did not prepare your breakfast, but since you’re a strong young man, you probably wouldn’t pay heed to such a matter."
"..."
Are we really biologically related?
It was you who call me down to breakfast, but there is no breakfast? Why did you call me down in the first place? To devour air?!
Benjamin was put into a state of shock.
The System appeared at the right time, and told Benjamin: "I forgot to tell you last night. This old lady has gotten rather eccentric after your grandfather passed on, becoming really hard to deal with, even your genius younger brother had a hard time to make her smile. I think she’s probably mad from all the noise you made last night."
"Why can’t you say so earlier?" He did not know how to deal with the elderly person, thus releasing all his anger onto the System.
"Aren’t all these part of the fine details? When we talked about this yesterday, you didn’t really ask in detail at all." The System replied in a triumphant manner.
"..." Facing the shameless System, Benjamin was once again defeated.
The old lady saw that Benjamin did not reply, then continued saying: "A young person should learn more about manners, that Fulner family boy has been sleepwalking for some time. Even though I don’t really like him, but he’s still a guest at our house, basic manners should always be displayed, otherwise how would the other noble families in the kingdom view us? Don’t you think so?"
After hearing this, Benjamin finally knew what she was trying to say.
The System was right, it was solely because of what happened last night.
But Benjamin was helpless. If this old lady used the tone of an elder person lecturing a younger person, he would not have any complaints. But this way of beating around the bush left Benjamin speechless.
Can't we have a proper conversation?
No matter how one saw it, he had survived a kidnapping after so much effort, being a relative, shouldn’t she at least try to care a little? How is she able to act as if nothing happened?
It was still the same, what on Earth was going on here?
"Young people nowadays don’t have any actual talent, but are somehow skilled in pretending to be deaf and dumb instead, not hearing a single word an elderly person is saying. Don’t you think so?" The old lady followed.
This made Benjamin angry.
"Since there’s no breakfast, me being the grandson should go back and rest, please enjoy yourself, grandmother."
He immediately regretted it after saying it, this was not something the previous Benjamin would say. But he was really pissed off inside. He has had enough of this indifferent attitude.
The old lady’s reaction pleased Benjamin. She opened her eyes wide, looked at Benjamin with shock, then frowned, not continuing her sarcastic mockery.
Seeing this, Benjamin did not say much. He stood up, then sarcastically bowed to the old lady, turned around, and left the living room with an attitude.
The old lady opened her eyes wide and looked around, suddenly displaying great innocence, then asked the servant: "What is the matter with this child? What did I say, why did he leave halfway through a meal? How strange, don’t you all think so?"
The servants looked at each other, not daring to say a word.
On the other side, Benjamin has already returned to his room.
After shutting the door, the system’s voice appeared again:
"That was such a magnificent display! Everyone would definitely think ‘This is our Master Benjamin, Master Benjamin was like this in the past, he is the same as before!’ No one would suspect you anymore, I’m so proud of you."
Benjamin’s veins on his forehead popped out: "Shut up, my tolerance for sarcasm for today has run out."
"What are you going to do now? The Benjamin in the past was a poor worm, but seeing you now, everyone would think something is off." The system questioned back.
"No, no one would suspect a thing."
Benjamin slowly calmed down, not showing any sign of panic.
"How would you know?" The System did not seem to believe him.
"The reason is simple, the Benjamin in the past was a poor worm." Benjamin was suddenly stunned as he just realized what he said, "Because of this, no one actually paid attention to Benjamin Lithur, they wouldn’t have known what Benjamin Lithur thought of. In this situation, even based on today’s display, other people would think that I’m just the poor worm that has been forced to its limit, thinking that this poor worm would eventually blow up someday. They would only be shocked, but no one would suspect anything."
"How do you know?"
"Because I am smart, and you are stupid."
"..." It was the System’s turn to be speechless.
Before he left the living room, Benjamin noticed the way the servants looked at him. Those eyes revealed surprise, but he had thought of this properly, and he was sure those were due to revelations of "Oh my God our master has finally blown up after resisting for so long", and not "Oh my God our master is a totally different person now could he have been replaced by someone from another dimension."
This made Benjamin stop worrying.
Even if he were to act even more outrageous in the future, other people would think that he was under pressure for too long, after being kidnapped, his personality changed, and no one would relate it to a person that teleported from another dimension or his soul being possessed.
Why? To be frank, no one paid attention to Benjamin Lithur, he was useless. If a useless person were to change his personality, no matter by how much, no one would pay any heed.
Benjamin could not help but feel happy rather than being depressed because of this.
No one paying any attention---- this was a position that a mage needed to be in.
"If I were to go out now, no one would notice." Benjamin thought of it and said it immediately.
"Go out? Where are you going?" The System questioned.
"To the Church."