"I'm not dreaming am I?"

I wiped my eyes with my shirt sleeve and then slapped myself several times to wake up.

It didn't work.

The sound of the wind in my ears was loud due to the large flying boat passing overhead. My breathing was loud at first, but as the seconds passed I calmed down and then said some strange words.

"That was the biggest fishing boat I have ever seen so far."

Those strange words came out of my mouth and oddly enough, they didn't cause me any astonishment, the great shock at seeing a floating boat faded away as I remembered what had happened to me before I woke up on the small lake.

(I had come with father to a viscount's estate to try to bond with his daughter, but I never found him and somehow got lost and fell into that lake).

That was what I remembered, but as I walked toward where the fence ended looking for the estate, those words continued to seem strange to me.

"Father?"

"Viscount?"

Those words seemed strange to me since I had no father, let alone did not know he was a viscount.

As I made my way along following the fence to its end, more and more memories popped into my head.

People I did not know whom I called family.

My birthplace.

And, most of all, my name.

"I am, Rudel van Bradford, I have eight years and I am the third son of a poor and very dubious house of countryside barons."

Slowly he seemed to understand what was going on, but I did not attach any importance to it as I did not want to believe it.

I managed to get to the estate and after scouring the area, I managed to meet a man I had never seen before, but a part of me knew him, he was my father.

Walt van Bradford, head of the Bradford Household.

I ran up to him while shouting "Fatheeeer!".

Then a large fist descended on my frail head.

"You... Stupid boy!!!"

"Didn't I tell you not to move from the boat while I was looking for the viscount?"

"After spending so much time making a play date. You do as you please and disappear only to show up when he's already left for work."

Then a second, stronger fist descended on my head.

"It hurts, father, stop it!!!"

"Guuuhhh, today was a wasted day of work and time for me, all because of this ungrateful child."

As father spoke grumpily, we made our way to what appeared to be a dock, where there was a small boat, it looked more like a canoe than a boat.

There were no paddles, it just had something like a moving box that apparently had a motor hiding in there.

The strangest thing was not the boat or the box, but that the boat was floating in the air and the dock extended up to about twelve meters, about six boats seemed to fit in total there.

I fearlessly climbed into the boat, apparently I had the feeling I had done it a thousand times before, but today it seemed like the first time. I was excited instead of scared.

Father started the strange engine by putting his hand a considerable distance away and a bright green light appeared on the engine and it started on the first try, then we left the dock. The speed was slow, you couldn't call that a ride, but I enjoyed seeing the surroundings and this strange sub reality.

I muttered to myself under my breath "It's the first time I've seen a flying boat, and there are even floating islands. What a mysterious and weird place." so that father did not hear me.

Gradually the idea of being a dream faded away, but in its place grew a feeling of joy at the thought that my wish for a second chance came true.

◇

After a few hours on the boat, we arrived at what was our territory; a small island, well small in that sense, but it was definitely not tiny, that was the Bradford Household. There, on the dock, you could see three people, those people were my mother and my two older brothers.

Sonia van Bradford, an almost thirty-something looking woman with black hair and black eyes.

The boy to her right was the first born. Lyle, like mother, he had black hair and black eyes, but he seemed to have a good face so that look did suit him.

The boy behind Lyle was Bram, my second oldest brother. His appearance was exactly the same as mother's, but with a masculine face, black eyes and black hair.

Maybe it's a little late to say it, but father and I also possessed the same features, as my brothers were good looking, maybe I am the same?

We arrived at the dock and father grabbed me to pull me up, for a second I thought that despite being angry he was a good father, but reality crushed me without warning.

"Sonia, listen to what this foolish son of ours did!"

As father related what happened to my mother, my older siblings approached me.

"Hmph, I told you Bram, this fool was going to blow it so I won the bet."

"Tch... if only you had done what I told you, you would have come with good news for the household and for me."

He pulled something like a thin coin out of his pocket, handed it to Lyle, Lyle had a wicked smile of victory on his face.

I seem to have left another detail out of place since I took it as if it were natural, but the clothes we wore looked like those old movies from the 18th or maybe 19th century. Mother wore a long white country dress, while we boys and father wore clothes that looked presential with a red bow at the neck.

Mother scolded me as well and we made our way to the house, the household looked like you would expect from a poor, but modest house, no more than two floors and a large garden where we grew our own vegetables. There were cattle and chickens in the back which looked like a field.

When we went inside we had dinner and headed for bed. I was a little sad about what happened today, I found out that I died and reincarnated in the body of a boy named Rudel, hopefully tomorrow I will wake up from this dream and everything will get better, I hope....

◇◇◇

It happened after Rudel fell asleep, somewhere under an island, a strange mucous black liquid was slowly peeking out on the surface, from that small puddle came out a kind of black wasp with red wings and no eyes, the mysterious wasp flew away to who knows where.

◇

It had been about two weeks since I woke up in this new world, sometimes I would start crying at night knowing that I will never go back to my old life.

I am now studying with my older siblings in what is the shed. Apparently, it was the only worthy place to study in our territory.

I've been learning a lot thanks to these two... well, they say they're giving me a refresher on things I should already know. I feigned ignorance, since they wouldn't explain it to me otherwise.

I didn't understand the text well either as I didn't recognize the writing, I couldn't even compare it to any kind of writing I knew in my past life.

Bram, started talking like a teacher explaining for the third time a simple class.

"We were at what would be the end of the territory of Altfode Kingdom, which originally consisted of many small lands. A man from one of the small territories unified the others one by one and eventually led to the founding of the Altfode Kingdom, with the King becoming the sovereign of these lands. Within the merged territories any person with meritorious services was conferred the title of nobility and given a territory. As a result, the high nobility of the kingdom wielded a great amount of power similar to the capitals of small countries. Thus, due to this historical background, they easily conquered their surroundings with military power. Even to this day, their military forces still wield considerable power."

Due to my brother's explanation I was able to understand the place where I am?

Meritocracy, huh? If I remember correctly it's a type of system, where it favors the best or those who are most useful leaving the useless to their fate.

Bram continued as if he had had an inspiration.

"We were originally a baronet, rather, our great-great-grandfather was, the kingdom is approximately three hundred years old since its founding. Two hundred and twenty years ago is where we officially unified as a kingdom under one family, to be a semi-baron/semi-noble, you need to demonstrate great feats as an adventurer or about a hundred years in the service of the kingdom, it's physically impossible to live that long so it's logical to assume your children will take over that task. And, a century ago our family became part of the nobility, but we unlike the aristocracy cannot live in the Royal Capital."

Something about what he said, left me intrigued and I asked him.

"Every noble in this Kingdom has his own territory. If so, why do they live in the Royal Capital?"

"It goes back to the creation of the Kingdom, at that time when the country was founded, those who provided reliable service, received various territories and the position of aristocrat. Even so, those families still continued to stay in the Royal Capital in case of any rebellion. The management of their territories was left to their administrators to take care of, while the families lived and stayed in the Royal Capital. This was not compulsory, but something the nobles did voluntarily, or so it seemed. Although it was not a crime for aristocrats and their family members not to live in the Royal Capital. It seems that they will receive an intense amount of criticism from the other nobles if they did not."

" In Altfode Kingdom, the aristocrats exist for the purpose of protecting the general public. That is why everyone is obliged to do military service whether they want to or not. On the other hand, commoners have the worst part, if they want to earn money they must enlist for military service. The true reality of commoners is that they exist for the sake of the aristocrats, and they; the Royal Capital, know that and don't care."

After hearing that I was speechless for a few seconds.

"..."

"T-that's too horrible!!!"

(There's something wrong with this country isn't there? No matter how you look at it, that system is pure shit at its finest!!!!).

This country is wrong. I definitely can't believe what my brother says, but it's definitely very weird all this. I decided to ask him more knowing that the answer maybe grotesque.

"U-umm, brother... Aren't we nobles too? Don't we have the right to live in the Royal Capital?"

My two brothers stared at me with confused faces and then, Lyle answered.

"You're an idiot aren't you?"

"Don't you remember father telling us all this?"

"We are noble, but in the eyes of the people living in the Royal Capital. We are just as inferior to a commoner, but with a family name."

"Just look at our middle name 'van', how can you expect to compare yourself to a 'von', are you really stupid you know?"

I was even more puzzled about my name now.

"What's with that face, don't tell me you forgot what your name means now... Did you really?"

"..."

I want to cry, this world is so weird and these people accept it so simply as if nothing, it helps.

*sigh*

"Listen."

Lyle, sighed as, Bram, again explained the strange things to me.

"We are minor nobles, but unlike the major nobles who earned their title, it was through their knowledge for trade or by finding [lost items] in ancient ruins."

"I- I see."

I nodded at my brother's words that were stinging.

"Those nobles for their achievements were recognized by the royal family. Which bestowed upon them the name von, to know that they were useful to the great nobility that were the king and his family. But instead we are just the leftovers, we were given the title van because the younger brother of the King centuries ago was very fussy and wanted to be recognized."

(That looks very believable and too terrible for me.) -I thought.

"Now, the reason why we are van is because the king's brother was incompetent and he was exiled to the countryside along with his vassals. The vassals were recognized as the lowest rank which was a baron instead, the useless brother was recognized as a viscount."

"Then comes viscount which only has one, but you can upgrade to Earl and Margrave."

"The nobles who are count are another special type chosen by the palace, so it is impossible to become a count being a van."

This all seemed very annoying, I do not wish to go through these strange promotions.

"Now the von, to make it short, are all those who come after Count up to the King and his family."

"..."

"I'm tired, let's call it a day, you really should study since you gave me such a headache."

Bram, raised his hands to stretch and walk out of the shed, Lyle, followed him, but stopped to tell me something.

"As a side note, did you know that there is a prophecy among the barons that if you have only three children; two boys and a girl, will your life improve drastically?"

"Congratulations on ruining our family, hahaha."

With those words my brother; he first born, walked out and I was left alone.

"Really... what a shitty world I came to."

After saying those words I walked out of the shed, closed the door and wished for a better day tomorrow.