Shortly into living his second life, it was pretty obvious to him that he had not been reincarnated on Earth.
Firstly, despite living in a home with a maid and a guard, there was no electricity; they only had candlelight or oil lanterns, and food was cooked with a wood-fired oven.
Secondly, the guard in their home was armed with twin swords, armor, and a helmet, not with anything comparable to what he had seen while serving in the military. Among other observations, the main reason he knew they were not on Earth was that people around him seemed to be able to use magic.
It was not uncommon for people to light fires using flames coming from the tips of their fingers or for them to fill buckets with water that seemed to appear from thin air. He had been reborn into a world of swords and sorcery, and he was loving it!
His home situation was far different from his previous life as well. In his last life, he had grown up an orphan, without any parents, but now, not only did he have parents, he had two mothers!
His father, Lucius Wyecliffe, a blonde-haired, lean man with a kind but scarred face, had two wives. His birth mother, Elizabeth, was a curvy blonde-haired woman with a motherly face; it was obvious why his father had fallen for her. Adeline, his stepmother, was a redhead with a petite figure and a fiery temper, although she was never mean-spirited, just strict about manners and behavior. (picture)
He genuinely loved his parents, and even though he was mentally an adult, he could feel their love the way he imagined he should have felt a parent's love as a child back on Earth.
He had been given the name Cassian, or Cass for short, and he was being raised as a noble heir. He had inherited his mother's blonde hair and blue eyes, but also the facial features of his father.
As a 5-year-old, his day generally consisted of morning academics: reading, writing, arithmetic, and history with their maid Beatrice, and then afternoon swordsmanship and spear practice with the household guard Marcus.
From what he had gathered, Beatrice was originally the personal maid to his stepmother, but after the wedding, she decided to continue serving her mistress in the Wyecliffe household.
Marcus was an old army buddy of his father's, and after leaving the military with no skills other than the ability to fight, was hired to be the family guard.
Cass worked hard at both academics and martial arts so that he could eventually pay back his parents for their affection and contribute to the family in a meaningful way.
He was the heir, so naturally, when his father decided the time was right, the lands and title would pass down to him, so now that he had a second chance at a life with a loving family, he was going to make the most of it.
His father held the title of baron, the lowest of noble ranks, but a noble rank nonetheless. Despite his rank, in reality, he was no more than a village chief for the small coastal village of Wycliffe and its surprisingly large area of undeveloped surrounding lands.
He had won his peerage after distinguishing himself in a border skirmish about 10 years ago, and the village and his second wife, Cass' stepmother Adeline, had been awarded to him in recognition, alongside their family name of Wyecliffe, which naturally was from the name of the territory itself.
The village residents were mostly made up of people who had served with Lucius in the military and their families, who moved to the area with the promise of a plot of land and one job guaranteed by the Wyecliffe family.
Every morning, Lucius would walk around, checking on the people who lived there, asking if anyone needed anything, and then doing the best he could to help out. Despite being a noble, the tax revenue from the village was quite small, and the Wyecliffes only used a small part of it as personal wealth, so their family income came from a small smithy, an agricultural trading house, and a small fishing fleet; their employees came from the village itself.
His father always returned home in the evenings looking like he had finished a hard day's labor, which Cass interpreted as his father not minding getting his hands dirty when something needed doing.
His mothers would scold Lucius for dragging mud and soot into the house and send him to take a bath the same way a child is sent to their room, but when he returned nice and clean, he was welcomed with a plate of hearty food one of them had prepared and a kiss on his cheek.
It was obvious from the smiles of those three that they were very happy, and so was Cass.
Dinner time was an opportunity to discuss the happenings of the day and hear reports from the Guard and Maid about anything that needed addressing. Lucius often spoke to Cass about the village and lands they ruled over, explaining the geography of the lands and the importance of the various small industries that could be found in the small area.
Firstly, the fishing fleet consisted of 10 small boats and a smoke house. The fisherman would bring their morning catches to the small dock, seperate enough fish for each resident of the village to collect a fish for dinner, and then take the rest to the smokehouse, where it was smoked and preserved, ready to be stored, or shipped out and sold as military rations or travel foods.
The smithy purchased ore at below market value, thanks to Lucius' connections, and then processed it into tools, weapons, pots, pans, etc, which could be distributed to residents or sold at a profit.
The agricultural trading company also operated similarly; after storing enough grain for the residents of the whole village to be well fed during the winter months, and then distributing a sack of milled flour to each village household, the excess was then sold so that larger domains could fill their own grain stores for the same purpose.
Goods from the 3 industries were transported to the port city 35 miles away, where they were traded for ore for the smithy, other goods to be distributed amongst the villagers, cheese, wine or salt etc, as well as for bronze, silver and gold coins, which were used to pay the employees and taxes, and then fill the coffers of the family.
Managing the domain was an entirely separate affair, and thanks to her education and upbringing after having been adopted into a noble house, Adeline was more than suited to handle the day-to-day of such an activity.
Taxes were collected from the residents, a portion was set aside to be paid to the regional lord as tribute, and a very small portion went into the family funds of the Wyecliffes, which was considered a domain management fee, and the remainder was used to benefit the village through investment into infrastructure and the like.
Cass's mother, Elizabeth, who had been raised a commoner like his father, was responsible for running the household and making it into a happy home everyone could come back to.
After dinner, Elizabeth and Adeline would take turns taking Cass to bed, each spending a small portion of time telling him bedtime stories, chatting, and then holding him until he fell asleep.
He was happy and grateful for the love of his family, and vowed to become an heir worthy of his father's legacy.