“My dearest son Peter, how have you been lately?”

“In the blink of an eye, it’s been nearly ten years since you left home to serve in the Wild Lion Legion...”

“A few days ago, while your father and elder brother were out inspecting our lands, they were ambushed by magical beasts and tragically lost their lives.”

“Your mother hopes that you will retire as soon as possible and return home to inherit our family’s title and fief.”

“……”

—Your mother, Evelyn.

Peter stared at the letter in his hand, at a loss for words.

He had never imagined that such a dramatic change could occur so suddenly at home.
His father and older brother had both been killed by magical beasts.

The second son—who had never expected to inherit anything—was now suddenly the primary heir of the Hargus family.
It caught him utterly off guard.

“This continent of Roland, where gods manifest their power, is truly dangerous.”
“Who knows whether fate or accident will come first?”

After a long moment of silence, Peter could only sigh at the unpredictability of the world.

As for the sorrow at hearing of his father’s and brother’s deaths, it was present but not overwhelming.
After all, he had only transmigrated into this world half a year ago.
His memories of his previous life were no more than watching a movie—and in the past six months he had been serving in the military camp, having little contact with the family of his previous existence.
Naturally, he did not feel a deep attachment to the “stranger” who were his father and older brother.

“Should I return to inherit the family estate?”

After the shock subsided, Peter began to carefully weigh the options.
Returning home would bring both advantages and disadvantages.
If he wished to advance further along the extraordinary cultivation path, it would be better to stay in the Wild Lion Legion.
After all, the legion was one of the three premier knightly orders in the Duchy of Lance, with excellent treatment and benefits—daily training under the guidance of mid- and high-level warriors, rewards in the form of extraordinary cultivation potions for meritorious service, and even a possibility of receiving a noble title along with land.

According to his previous life’s memories, his father had spent three years’ worth of the fief’s income bribing a thousand-man commander of the Wild Lion Legion so that his predecessor could join the legion.
However, this very body’s talent was exceedingly average.
After nearly ten years of service in the legion, he was still merely a third-rank, low-level knight.
At his current cultivation pace, it would take several more years just to break through to rank four and become an intermediate knight; reaching rank seven to become a high-level knight was nearly impossible.

In such circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for him to excel in an order where only the strong survive.
In times of war, his life could be lost in an instant.

“In that case, returning home to inherit the estate seems to be my best choice.”

Peter sighed inwardly.
When he first transmigrated into this high-magic world, he had been filled with heroic ambition, aspiring to follow in the footsteps of legendary transmigrators and become the strongest being in this world.
But after half a year of living here, he had already seen the harsh reality.

For someone like him—with no influential background, no special aptitude, and no magical “cheat”—making significant strides on the path to excellence was nearly as difficult as climbing a mountain without equipment.
In that case, why not simply return home, inherit the modest estate, and enjoy a comfortable life?
Even though the Hargus family’s holdings were modest—a baron’s title and a fief of less than 20 square kilometers—it was enough for him to live worry-free and idle away his days.

With that thought, Peter made his decision:
He would retire from the military and return home to take over the family.
However, retiring was not so simple.
As an officially sponsored extraordinary legion of the Duchy of Lance, the Wild Lion Legion was not a place one could simply enter and leave at will.
Normally, a soldier had to serve for fifteen years (or suffer a disabling injury) to qualify for retirement—and Peter had served less than ten years.
He clearly did not meet the standard criteria.

There was no other way.
To retire early and return home, Peter resorted to special measures—for example, bribing his superiors.
After a round of “private transactions,” more than half of the savings from his previous life were suddenly spent.
Fortunately, the retirement procedures were completed smoothly.
From that day on, he officially left the combat roster of the Wild Lion Legion and became an ordinary civilian.

Upon learning of Peter’s impending retirement, those soldiers who were close to him came to bid him farewell.
After sharing one final farewell meal with his long-time comrades-in-arms, Peter mounted his warhorse and rode home.

The next day, after a day and a night of travel, Peter successfully arrived at the Hargus family fief—Eagle Village.
Perhaps because of the recent magical beast attack, an air of tension hung over the village.
Even in broad daylight, few people were seen on the streets.

Riding on his warhorse to the small manor at the center of the village, he was informed by the guards:
Soon after, a mature and beautiful woman stepped outside.
It was none other than Evelyn—his birth mother.

The mother and son reunion was heartfelt.
Overcome with emotion, Evelyn rushed over and embraced Peter tightly.
“My child, you’ve finally returned.”
With her husband and elder son suddenly slain by magical beasts, all the responsibilities of the fief had fallen upon her—a frail woman.
If Peter did not return, she would not know how to manage in the future.

Seeing his distraught mother, Peter comforted her repeatedly.
After several minutes—once Evelyn’s emotions had settled—Peter, under his mother’s arrangements, conducted the funerals for his father and brother, laying them to rest.
Then, in the presence of all the villagers of Eagle Village, Peter smoothly completed the inheritance of the title and became the ruler of this land.
All that remained was to send the registry to the noble court in the county capital.
For direct descendants, inheriting the family’s noble title was that simple.
As for those grand ceremonies witnessed by kings in epic tales, those were only for high nobles such as marquises or dukes.
For a lowly baron, one could not even dream of that.
After spending several days settling the affairs of the fief, Peter was ready to begin his life as a leisurely, decaying noble.
However, just two days later, Evelyn presented him with another big surprise:
She had arranged a fiancée for him.