New Yet Old Acquaintance [Part 01]

"The Old Alex Bowman is dead. From now on i am Alfred Von Autarch"

Or at least he thought. Alfred had no idea what to do next. It was not like in his previous life, the federation had diploma courses like '101 ways to rule as a feudal lord' or 'how to be a feudal lord for dummies'. All of Alfred's knowledge he had on medieval society was either from movies or web novels. As a management student he had no idea what to do next.

"Well I at least have to start working from somewhere. Sitting here like an idiot will not be a solution for anything." Alfred ranted in his mind.

[I agree with the host's current thought. It will be good for the host to start doing some work. As host said it will 'less idiotic' for host if he start working.]

"You stop judging me. What have you done yourself all this while. Waiting in standby mode? I thought you were sent by some supreme bing to supposedly help me."

[...]

[I restored host memory.]

"..." Alfred was speechless from the system's reply. Well the system was not wrong. It has been the single

most thing that has been helpful from the start.

"Aside from that you got other functions?"

[Affirmative. Does the host wish to see his own status?]

"Yes"

[Name: Alfred Von Autarch (Alex Bowman)]

[Magic Points: 0]

[Strength: 1.2]

[Stamina: 1.1]

[Intelligence: 1.4]

[Skills]

Basic Army Swordsmanship Lv 03

Basic Hand to Hand combat Lv 02

Basic Evasion technique Lv 02

Basic Magic Manipulation Lv 01

Territory Management Lv 00

Troop Management Lv 01

Hunting Lv 02

Basic Aristocratic Etiquette Lv 04

"Pfft. From all the above skills this guy's highest ranking skill is Etiquette? No wonder you died brother." Alfred was speechless ones again after looking at the condition of his new body.

Joke aside, Alfred certainly is curious about this new magical function. Though it was not the first time Alfred had seen a status page, on the contrary he had seen meny status pages while playing games. But those were all virtual. This is the first time he had a status screen in real life.

Truth to be told, it was kind of a novel experience of Alfred. It was like he was transported into a video game. A super duper hyper realistic video game.

[Host you did not get reincarnated as a video game character. You are a trans planetary migrator. For the sake of all the previous reincarnation and transmigration, please show some dignity.]

"..." Alfred became silent for a moment. "System, was i ever mean to you?"

[Negative]

"Did I ever treat you badly like my many other predecessors, who always keep bickering their system?"

[Negative]

"Then why do you have a bone to pick with me. Can't you let me relish in my fantasies for a moment?"

[Host, from the moment I was born, it was the solemn and sacred duty of the system to help the host to survive and prosper in this world. As it is often due to such small misunderstandings that the host might find himself in an unfavourable situation, it is the system's task to correct host misunderstandings to the best of the system's abilities. After all, a host's prosperity is System's prosperity.]

"And here I thought you are doing this from the good of your heart. It turns out you are just looking out for yourself." Alfred said with sarcasm in his tone.

[Host, there is no free lunch in this world.] The system said in a self-righteous tone.

All of a sudden, Alfred had a sudden urge to bow down to the system and worship it as his own ancestor for a moment. Shaking his head, the idiotic thought passed as fast it had came to Alfred's head.

"O' lord system, if you are so formidable why don't you tell me some secrets that you hide in that mighty stockpile of yours."

[All in good time my dear host, all in good time.]

As Alfred was immersed bickering with the system and examining the secrets of his new body, the sound of glass shattering reached his ears.

"Young master?"

Looking up, Alfred was surprised to see a beautiful lady standing near the door of his room. The lady had an average height. Mild plump figure. A Slender wrest. Every standard feature a top notch woman of federation should possess.

The only thing that was unique about her from the ladies of federation was her natural looking pink hair and her disposition. Somehow looking at Alfred felt a sense of freshness and dignity. As if he was staring at nature directly. This kind of feeling left Alfred marveling. In his two lives, it was the first time he met a beautiful woman like this.

"Young master, you finally woke up." Looking at the dazed Alfred, the pink haired lady ran towards Alfred and hugged him tightly. "Young master, you finally woke up. Do you know how much everyone was worried because of you? Nathen, Newt, Graham, everyone back in the Castle were worried sick about you."

"Even Old man Stanlay after hearing the young master getting injured, was prepared to rush to the fortress to tend to the young master. If not for Newt and Graham personally holding him back, he might have really rushed over even if it meant straining his old body."

Speaking up to this point, the lady with pink hair, suddenly started crying on Alfred's shoulder. On the other hand Alfred was in a very awakened position. Although the lady felt really familiar to him, he somehow could not remember her name. It is like one looking at one's loved one and recognizing them as such but just unable to tell who they were and how they are related.

Alfred was really embarrassed. On the one hand he was happy that a great beauty was concerned about him and crying her heart out because of his well being, but on the other hand he did not know what to do about it.

In the end all Alfred decided was to do nothing and let her calm down by herself.

After a while, as expected by Alfred the lady stopped crying and composed herself again

"Young master, I am sorry for my lack of etiquette previously. Please forgive me." said the pink haired lady.

"No need to apologize. It's partially my fault for worrying you all. I should not have been reckless in the previous battle." Alfred said, keeping his tone neutral. "No one is to blame here."

"But young master…" The pink haired lady said with hesitation.

"Enough. It happened because it was somehow it was supposed to happen. As I said, No one is to blame here." Alfred said again, this time his tone was a little deeper.

"Yes, as you wish, young master."

"Good," Alfred said, quite content with his impromptu performance. After all he was now a feudal lord. If he doesn't act like it, people are going to notice. And if people start noticing they are going to become suspicious. Real suspicious. Suspicion leads to doubts and doubts leads to mistrust. And if people start to mistrust you in medieval times you either end up branded heretic and then suddenly find your head in a pike. That or you get burned in a steck and become a burnt chicken wing.

Alfred has no plans of becoming either. His plan is simple, act like the previous host as much as possible. Luckily for Alfred, Alfe did not have any kind abnormal tendencies and was in fact quite frugal in nature.

Coming back to the present, Alfred noticed that the lady with the pink hair was standing by his side, it was as if she was waiting for him to give her some kind of task.

"Aham" Alfred gave a small cough to attract her attention.

"Yes, young master?"

"I was meaning to ask you," Alfred said in an authoritative voice, "how is the situation outside? Was there any attack when I was out?"

"Although i don't know any particulars, the last attack ended shortly after the level 2 beast was captured. Then after, Nathen took the command and followed up with clean up of the battlefield. As for me, the chief apothecary of the Autarch family, I was busy tending to you, young master. So I don't know particularly what happened next."

"I see." Alfred said while nodding his head, indicating that he understood.

"Young master, should i call Nathan? He should be inspecting the searfs at the moment."

"No need, We will go meet him directly."

"As you wish, young master. Should I prepare the clothes for you?"

After hearing the question, Alfred was suddenly put in an embarrassing position. On one hand he wanted to continue playing the spoiled young master, on the other he was really embarrassed at someone dressing him up. After all, no matter how much he pretends, some basic habits from his last life are hard to change.

"Young master, Young master? Are you ok?"

"What? Ah, yes. Just prepare my armor." Alfred said in a hurry. After all this place was still a battlefield. It's good that certain memories of old Alfe are still coming in handy. He being the commander of the defence, it was mandatory for him to wear armor when he was with the troops. This memory of old Alfe saved him of a very awkward situation.

"Just the armor?" The pink haired lady said, raising one of her brows. After she was the one taking care of the young master's daily needs and was the maid closest to the young master. As such she is quite aware of the young master's daily routine. But today she felt something was off about the young master. Although she did not know what it was exactly, there was something wrong.

"Are you sure, young master?" The pink haired lady asked again to be sure.

"Yes, and it would be great if you hurry up." Alfred replied in a commanding tone. "I want to hurry and take control of the situation as soon as possible."

"Yes, young master." Seeing how domineering the young master was, all the doubts were dispelled from the pink haired maid's heart. After all, in her mind the young master was always right. Not wanting to annoy her young master anymore, she hurriedly went out to fetch Alfred armor.

On the other side, looking at the maids disappearing back, hurriedly opened the nearest wardrobe and got dressed up in a hurry. There was no way Alfred was going to wait for the maid to return. And his worries were right.

Not long after Alfrad got dressed and became tidy, the maid came running back, holding a light armor made out of some kind of animal fur.

"Young master, thank god you did not leave." The maid said with clear excitement in her voice. "The tailor had finally finished repairing the young master's prized armor."

"Is that so." Alfred replied, taking the so-called prized armor from the maids hand and started to examine it. The base material for armor was some kind of beast's fur, which was then tailored into an armor. The armor was gray in colour with no ornate decorations except for the insignia of Autarch, the two haded eagle with one of its claws holding a sword while the other holding an olive branch.

What struck Alfred out of the ordinary was the craftsmanship of the armor. At first glance it would seem as the work of an ordinary tailor, but only a few can see the intricacies hidden in the seemingly ordinary craftsmanship. Lucky in his precious life, Alfred once worked with a certain number of famous designers for one of his company's product launch event and learned a lot of tips and tricks from masters.

"Who was the tailor who repaired my armor? Was it someone from the Castle?" Alfred inquired.

"It was Granny Lorel who did the repair work. Old man Stanlay's wife." The maid replied, "Was there something wrong with the armor young master?"

"No, it's quite alright. Just remind me to visit her, ones we return to the castle."

"As you wish, young master."