Return to the Fief

The setting sun bled like blood, casting a long, narrow shadow that made the secluded alley in the royal city appear even more dilapidated and decayed. A solitary, dejected figure, illuminated by the sunset, added a touch of bleakness to the rundown alley.

He was a young man with black hair and black eyes. His youthful face bore an expression of worry rarely seen in adults. His height, around 180 cm, and fair skin easily suggested he was from a noble family in this world.

Kerry Raynor, walking through the alley, was in no mood to pay attention to his surroundings. His mind was constantly replaying the events of the past six months.

"Child, return to your ancestral fiefdom. You can't stay here any longer..." This was the final piece of advice his great-aunt had given him an hour ago.

It was these words that caused a flood of memories from his arrival in this world to surge through Kerry Raynor's mind. Almost all of them were unpleasant memories.

Raynor, originally, was an ambitious young man from Earth who inherited his family's business. Although the family business was only a small supermarket spanning 40 square meters, it was a 20-year-old established store. The young man was unmarried, despite being 34 years old. His parents wanted to retire and wait for Raynor to give them a grandchild to dote on. Unfortunately, they had been waiting from Raynor's 28th birthday until his 34th, and hadn't even met the mother of his child. Angered, his parents flew to the capital to stay with his younger brother. His brother was successful, studied in the capital, married a beautiful and wealthy woman after graduation, and the very next year had a big, healthy baby boy, who was always looked after by his maternal grandparents. The parents decided to stay with their second son for a few years to help with their eldest grandson, just to avoid the constant annoyance of seeing their eldest son, who was past the age of marriage, back home.

Raynor thought he could finally do as he pleased, having been managed by his parents for over thirty years. He never expected to fall asleep and wake up in the Raynor Kingdom on the West Europar Continent.

West Europar, despite its name, was not Europe from Earth. This was another planet. Based on the continental knowledge Raynor had acquired over the past six months at the Royal Magic and Martial Arts School, this was a planet hundreds of times larger than Earth, with six moons. It had four known continents, with the West Europar Continent being one of them, separated from the other three by the Abyssal Ocean. This was a continent plagued by constant warfare, somewhat resembling the war-torn periods of Europe in his original world.

The Raynor Kingdom. That's right, the royal family of this country bore the surname Raynor, the same surname as Raynor at 34 years old. However, he was no longer Raynor at 34, but Kerry Raynor at 17.

Raynor had transmigrated, a classic trope from certain online novels. Now he was Kerry Raynor, a distant relative of the royal family, a fallen noble.

Unfortunately, before Kerry Raynor could enjoy being half his age for even a few days, his grandfather, Kobe Raynor, who had been bedridden, passed away. Old Kobe had been the former king's bodyguard. After the death of the old King Raynor, he had been dismissed and lived at home. The current king was the sixth king, George Raynor. Although they shared the surname Raynor, the blood ties between the two families were very distant. George Raynor had a convenient bodyguard he relied on, so why would he use an uncle figure to bother himself? Old Kobe's family, already declining generation by generation, was even more destitute. They couldn't even secure a job for his adult son, Kerry Raynor's father. Not wanting to deplete their savings, Old Kobe found a friend to send his son out to sea for business after he had a grandson. After a couple of voyages, they did earn some money.

Good times didn't last. Kerry Raynor's father, after making money, wanted to go into business for himself. He took his wife out to sea for business and encountered pirates, who killed them on the spot. At that time, Kerry Raynor was only 10 years old. Old Kobe then fell ill and never recovered, lingering for seven years and spending almost all the money earned from seafaring trade. He finally passed away before the arrival of spring this year.

Kerry Raynor had transmigrated two days before Old Kobe's death. The memories integrated automatically. It had been half a year since then. He inherited Old Kobe's title, Baron, a third-class one. After Kerry Raynor's generation, they would become commoners. According to the kingdom's laws, commoners could no longer use the surname Raynor; they would be called Raynos. Kerry Raynor was disgusted to learn this. Raynos, in Chinese, sounded like "Raynor dies." The thought of having a son whose name would be XX Raynos was unbearable for him, a former Earthling named Raynor. Wasn't this like cursing himself when he had a son?

The entire family was now just him and his grandfather Old Kobe's sister, his great-aunt Magee Raynor. The family assets consisted only of a small manor on the outskirts of the capital and their ancestral fiefdom. Kerry Raynor, as a transmigator, decided to strive for success, at least to pass down the noble title. Otherwise, it would truly be like cursing himself with his descendants.

Ideals are often grand, but reality is harsh. It's said that transmigration without rebellion leads to a miserable end. Unfortunately, due to his personal aptitude, he couldn't succeed in magic at school, and his combat strength was also extremely weak. He was a typical case of being good at neither academics nor martial arts. He enrolled at age 12, and half a year after transmigrating, he was still only Warrior Level 1. Rebellion was out of the question.

Kerry Raynor, who had been a convenience store CEO in his previous world, originally planned to find a clerical tax officer position after graduation using his Earth education, and perhaps maintain his noble title for decades. However, upon inquiring, he discovered that there were too many useless parasites in the kingdom, and these clerical positions were basically reserved for the families of major nobles. With nothing else to consider, he decided to live out his days at the small manor on the outskirts of the capital. At least life there would be better than his previous life at the small supermarket.

After transmigrating for so long, he hadn't found any cheat skills or golden fingers. Raynor had resigned himself to this life of mediocrity. However, there's no such thing as the most unlucky, only unluckier. The First Prince had taken a liking to his small barony and demanded he hand it over. A sycophantic face said this to Kerry Raynor.

Delay! Kerry had no better solution. As a fallen noble, how could he possibly oppose a prince? This delay lasted for over four months, marking the beginning of his terrible memories. Could you imagine being ridiculed by classmates at school every day? This was clearly the prince's doing from behind the scenes. It's fine, I'll endure. If your strength isn't enough, don't show off. This was his life philosophy from Earth. If he had the strength, he would have taken revenge the same night. At this moment, Kerry could only fantasize about retaliating in the privacy of his own home.

After enduring for four months, Kerry felt he could still endure, but the First Prince could not. After a four-month delay, how could a mere baron be so stubborn? It seemed the opponent's thick skin was effective, and the daily ridicule from classmates had no effect. So, he decided to intervene personally, issuing a direct threat and setting a deadline for the handover. It must be said that the First Prince's methods were rather crude, resorting to direct threats. However, the effect was indeed significant. Faced with the threat of being sent to prison, Kerry could only seek help from his only remaining relative, his great-aunt Magee Raynor. Thus, the advice he received an hour ago came about.

"Damn it, if you're not going to let me live in peace, I won't let you live comfortably either," Kerry cursed inwardly and quickly walked out of the alley. Once outside the alley, he could clearly see the Second Prince's mansion. These princes were constantly scheming against each other for the throne. The Second Prince was, by all accounts, an opponent of the First Prince.

Kerry knocked on the gate of the Second Prince's mansion. An hour later, he emerged with a complex expression and quickly returned to his manor to pack his belongings, preparing to head to his ancestral fiefdom the next day.

That's right, Kerry had sold the suburban manor to the Second Prince before the deadline set by the First Prince. He didn't know if this would escalate the conflict between them. If they were to clash, that would be even better. However, he had originally intended to sell it at a low price, but unfortunately, the nobles in this country were all vampires, and the low price eventually turned into a bargain-basement sale. The manor, originally worth at least 5,000 gold coins, was sold for 500 gold coins, along with a promise that he would not be sent to prison.

As for why his expression was complex rather than angry or miserable, it had to do with the notification sound that suddenly appeared in Kerry's mind.

"Detected item worth 500 points. System initiating host binding, 10%... 20%... 50%..." Kerry's heart skipped a beat as he just received the 500 gold coins. It had finally appeared! As expected, all transmigrators had their benefits; it was just that the method of activation had been incorrect until now. For the past six months, Kerry had never thought about carrying 500 gold coins to school, as he was a fallen noble and didn't have the means to carry so much gold with him. With a mix of excitement and trepidation, Kerry quickly returned to his manor. At this time, the system binding had reached 100%. Eagerly, he entered his golden finger, and Kerry decided to depart for his rural fiefdom early the next morning.