Chapter 5: Spirit Mage, Seriously?

Before the regression, there had been a guide on a strategy website explaining how to use spirits effectively.

Exitra had studied it thoroughly.

There were even spirit-mage-exclusive items and a hidden ending.

‘If I play something no one else plays, that’s how I’ll gather an audience.’

Only by doing what others avoided could he draw attention—and succeed.

Of course, if he failed while playing normally like everyone else, he could just lose viewers instead.

But Exitra was confident.

After all, he had something no one else did: a complete guidebook.

That guide gave him the confidence he needed.

The belief that he could do it.

[You have chosen the Spirit Mage class.]

[The game will now begin.]

—[Whoa! He really picked it!!]

—[This room is doomed!!!]

—[Wait—he’s not a stamina mage, is he?!]

—[Stamina mage??]

—[That was a typo, right? Please tell me it’s a typo!]

—[Honestly, not a bad one. Spirit mage and stamina mage are so easy to confuse.]

The moment he selected his class, the chat exploded in chaos.

But regardless of their cries, the game had already started.

He sat up from a luxurious bed.

Because it was an event scene, Exitra couldn’t move of his own will yet.

He looked around.

It was a spacious room.

But due to the family’s fall from grace, there weren’t any of the luxurious ornaments you’d expect from nobility.

The only furniture was a bed, a chair, a table, and a wardrobe.

It was hard to even call it a noble’s room.

This, too, was a place Exitra would have to fill up himself, going forward.

“Ugh… my head…”

Exitra held his head.

The game started with his character having been unconscious due to an injury, only waking up several days later.

***

As he woke, someone opened the door and came in.

“Young Master, today’s schedule is—oh!”

A maid had entered, but gasped in surprise.

She was a cute girl with freckles on her cheeks.

“Master Exitra! You’re finally awake! This is big news… I must inform the Lord right away!”

[Heir of a Fallen House] was a game where the name you entered at the beginning became the protagonist’s actual name.

Not long after the maid ran out, a man entered the room.

He was a large man in a black suit.

His white hair and long beard that reached down to his chest gave a striking impression.

“You’ve awakened.”

His gaze was intense.

There was arrogance and pride in his eyes—

The kind of man who looked down on others.

“Yes, Father.”

This was Exitra—or more precisely, Raiders Exitra, the protagonist of Heir of a Fallen House.

The man before him was his father: Raiders Brain.

But he looked a little different from how he had in the intro scene.

His features had grown harsher.

He seemed slightly more gaunt.

‘One of the hidden endings was Brain going mad with revenge and becoming a notorious serial killer. I’ll have to avoid that.’

There were many bad endings in this game.

Avoiding those would be key.

“Is your body alright?”

Brain scanned Exitra up and down as he spoke.

To a stranger, it might’ve looked like a father worried for his sick son—

But that was far from the truth.

‘That gaze is terrifying.’

How could anyone say those eyes belonged to a concerned father?

There was no concern in them at all.

“I feel a little dizzy, but I’m alright.”

“Good. The heir competition tomorrow will proceed as planned, then?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Hearing his answer, Brain turned without hesitation and walked out.

His business was done.

There was nothing warm about him at all.

“The heir competition, huh…”

The heir competition.

It was essentially this game’s tutorial stage.

Exitra wasn’t the official heir yet.

He had one younger brother.

There were two candidates for heir.

Only one of them could inherit the title of Lord and become head of the family.

The competition scheduled for tomorrow was where the official successor would be decided.

“Phew… it all begins now.”

Exitra could now move freely again.

The event scene had ended.

—[Whoa, that dad—his eyes are like daggers!]

—[Holy crap, that stare. He’s terrifying.]

—[Anyone got a spare pair of underwear? I think I peed a little…]

—[Sniff sniff, smell that? That’s peak character writing lol]

Exitra got out of bed.

His body felt fine.

His legs moved without issue.

“Now, what should I do first?”

—[Go to the training hall lol]

—[You gotta check your skills at the training hall!]

—[Stamina mage—I mean spirit mage—ugh damn it, I typed stamina mage because of that earlier typo!]

He already knew where to go, of course.

But he asked the question on purpose—

Drawing reactions from the viewers was important too.

“Alright, sounds good! Shall we head to the training ground then?”

Exitra stood up to head for the training ground.

But then, it happened.

His body wouldn’t move again.

The moment he stepped off the bed and placed his feet on the ground, the scene shifted into an event cutscene.

***

“Whoa there, brother. Where do you think you’re going in that sickly state?”

A boy with black hair, just about chest height to Exitra, appeared.

He had sharp features and the kind of looks that might break a few hearts when he grows up.

He was none other than Exitra’s younger brother—Raiders Alfredo.

Another candidate to inherit the Raiders family name.

And the opponent Exitra would be facing in tomorrow’s succession battle.

“I’m relieved to see you up, dear bro~ther.”

He spoke as if he were concerned, but his expression and eyes said otherwise.

There was a mocking undertone to his gaze.

It wasn’t the way a younger brother looked at his older brother out of concern—it was more like he was looking down on him.

“Alfredo…”

Then, another scene suddenly played out in Exitra’s mind.

He saw himself riding a horse, apparently out enjoying a ride.

But what came next was the real problem.

Behind him, Alfredo was seen throwing something at the horse.

Startled by the object, the horse reared and went wild, causing Exitra to be thrown off.

That was the real reason he got injured.

It was all because of Alfredo.

“You!!”

“Whoa now, brother. What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten what you did?!”

“What did I do? Hmm? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What?”

“Do you have any proof?”

“What… What did you say?”

“Don’t go around accusing innocent people without evidence~”

Alfredo curled his lips into a smirk.

Exitra glared at him with a piercing stare.

“You really think you can just do something like that and get away with it?”

“I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Alfredo shrugged nonchalantly.

His expression was calm—so calm that anyone watching might actually believe he was innocent.

“You little…”

“Brother, you really have no luck. If you’d just stayed in bed one more day, none of this would’ve come to light. And now… well, thinking about having to cut you down in tomorrow’s match really does break my heart.”

That was a lie.

His words sounded sympathetic, but his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

They screamed a desire to kill.

“Well then, I’ll see you at tomorrow’s match~ Get plenty of rest. Oh, and by the way—your horse? I took care of it.”

He flat-out admitted to destroying the evidence.

Exitra’s hands trembled.

Rage surged through him.

“You bastard! That horse was a gift from Mother! How could you—!”

“Hahaha, well, what could I do? That pathetic beast dared to hurt my precious older brother. I simply gave it the punishment it deserved.”

Crack!

Exitra clenched his teeth tightly.

Alfredo’s grin only deepened, as if savoring his brother’s misery.

“See you tomorrow, brother.”

As soon as Alfredo left, Exitra regained control of his body.

The event cutscene was finally over.

And the first thing he muttered was:

“What a pain in the ass…”

***

—[That’s the truth, lol.]

—[Smack that smug forehead. Just smack it like a drum.]

—[Dear gods, please rain divine justice on this cocky little brother…]

Even the viewers all seemed to agree—Alfredo was the absolute worst.

A completely unlikeable character.

“Fine. I’ll settle things during the duel. First, let’s find the training ground.”

***

Exitra left the room and looked around.

Even though the family had fallen from grace, it was still a noble house, so the lord’s mansion was fairly large.

“Where should I go?”

He needed to find the training ground and verify his aptitude.

But he didn’t know which way to go.

“Hey everyone, which way do I go?”

—[Left.]

“Oh~ Left? Thanks~”

Exitra followed the viewers’ advice and went left.

But something felt off.

No matter how far he walked, he couldn’t find the training ground.

“Wait, are you sure it’s left? I’m not seeing anything.”

—[You fell for it, huh?]

—[LOLOLOLOL]

—[What a dummy LOL]

—[Oh wow, look at him flopping around like a fish out of water~ Classic.]

—[But actually, we don’t know either. It’s random, remember?]

***

Exitra furrowed his brows.

He looked absolutely betrayed.

In this game, the layout of the lord’s mansion was randomized.

So no matter how many guides he read, even Exitra could get confused.

“Sigh… Come on, guys. Let’s be nice to each other. The world’s hard enough without messing with people who already suck at directions.”

Grumbling, Exitra continued to look for the training ground.

Thankfully, after asking a passing maid, he was able to find it quickly.

Turns out, it was just a short walk to the right from his room.

“It was that close all along…? Sigh…”

—[LOLOL]

—[This is hilarious.]

—[Pranking him is way too fun.]

The more Exitra suffered, the more delighted the viewers became.

Their joy seemed directly proportional to his misery.

Sadistic, every last one of them.

“Alright, what now? I guess I should talk to that knight over there?”

—[Yeah, if you talk to him, he’ll teach you how to use your aptitude.]

—[Let’s see if he can finally break out of the tutorial stage…]

—[We’ve seen the future. A few hours from now, Exitra will be screaming, ‘Spirit Mage is trash!’ with his own mouth.]

—[LOL the prophet has spoken. And honestly? He’s not wrong.]

***

The viewers were doing their best to tease Exitra at every opportunity.

Exitra, however, smiled faintly.

They didn’t know yet.

They had no idea how powerful the Spirit Mage aptitude really was.

Sure, it was looked down on now and labeled as trash, but Exitra was confident.

He was determined to turn that perception around.

‘Just wait. I’ll blow your minds.’

“Alright, let’s see what this so-called Spirit Mage can actually do.”