Ascension of the elder

Chapter 15: Breakfast at the parents

"It's good to be alive."

Thinking it's about time to start getting ready for the day ahead Kyle moved to his bathroom. All he could say was thank god that arrays allowed for showers and toilets in this world. If he had to squat and use a rag to wipe his butt he may just kill his self and hope to find a better transmigration next time.

Once he had finished cleaning himself up, Kyle began to plan his day. Firstly he would have breakfast with his parents as he wanted to speak to his father and mother about some issues. He would also see if they knew anything about the poison he'd ingested, he didn't have much hope they would know about it but at least he could keep them informed.

Secondly Kyle wanted to see the craftsmen of the family, namely the blacksmith and tailor as he didn't want to look like a reject from a period drama and the weapons everyone used didn't suit his taste. In Kyle's memory he had an understanding of a few martial arts which he assumed he learnt in his last life. In these memories he found a certain love for Kendo and Shin Kendo which was Japanese sword fighting. With the current level of swordsmanship and the swords that are used he wouldn't be able to use what he remembered so he'd decided to speak to the blacksmith to see if he could produce a katana or a ninjato (Japanese straight sword).

Lastly Kyle had an appointment to start training with Bruno. He decided to start by seeing how Bruno currently trained and he would adapt the training to suit what he knew of systematic training, also with his soul sight he should be able to gear the training in the most efficient way possible allowing for a much more refined training regime. He would also include Miranda in this training so she could get stronger and he hoped she could help him in the future.

Deciding on what he would be doing for today Kyle got dressed in a standard training robe. Even this training robe didn't suit his preference but at least he wasn't required to wear tights. Once he was dressed he only had to wait for five minutes until Miranda arrived.

"Good morning master." Miranda greeted Kyle with a shy smile.

"Good morning, let's get a move on we've got a full day ahead of us."

Kyle led Miranda out of his room and headed towards his parent's rooms after passing her a vial which he had transferred the poison to from the water jug. As they had additional rooms attached to their bedroom, they usually had breakfast there rather than in the dining hall. The majority of the family was expected to meet for dinner as this was a tradition within the family in order to strengthen the ties between the different parts of the family.

Thinking on this Kyle could only think of the different groups and cliques that were around the hall and the separation this caused. This gave Kyle an idea as the separation of the groups was due to social standing which in turn could give rise to discontent from within, rather than separating the tables based on social standing they should be separated by generation with no table above the others. This would give a view of equality at least during dinner and may also allow for bonds to be formed between those of different social classes bypassing the stigma viewed from associating with those lesser than you.

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Reaching his parents door Kyle knocked and waited for permission to enter. Even though he was new to this body he still didn't want to walk in on his parents if they were 'on the job'. After a moment the door was opened and a distinguished older gentleman stood in the entrance.

This older man was his father's oldest servant and was the leader of the household staff. He had been employed by the family since his grandfather's time and had also helped raise and train his father. This man was named Isaiah or as Kyle called him grandpa Is. Within the family Isaiah had a strange position, there was no formal rank for maids or butlers but everyone recognised that Isaiah was indispensible to the running of the household.

"Hi grandpa Is I was hoping to have breakfast with my parents if they haven't finished."

Isaiah seeing who was at the door smiled and opening the door wider allowed Kyle to enter.

"Of course young master. Your parents have only just sat down, I'm sure they would enjoy your company."

Entering his parents rooms Kyle saw them sitting at a small dining table. His mother had her personal maid Shauna serving her while his father was being served by the new maid. When he entered the room Shauna smiled seeing who it was while the new maid scowled and Kyle could see a look of disgust flash through her eyes but it was quickly hidden. As he had never interacted with her, he became suspicious as she would be perfectly placed to hurt either of his parents.

Kyle proceeded to sit at the table and proceeded to marshal his thoughts before beginning to speak to his parents.

"I'm sorry father but I have some things to discuss with you, could you ask your maid to leave?"

When Kyle asked this his father's expression took on an odd cast, but thinking about the things his wife had told him last night he decided prudence may be the course. Waving his hand in dismissal the new maid bowed and turned to leave, as she was leaving she cast a look of anger towards Kyle which was in turn noticed by Isaiah. Shauna and Isaiah shared a look and Isaiah then spoke.

"If you require privacy we should take our leave as well."

"Wait grandpa Is, I just didn't want those I can't trust to hear our discussion."

Hearing what Kyle said his parents were surprised by his action but decided to hear him out however Isaiah was impressed Kyle had picked up on the odd feeling from the new maid. Isaiah realising this may be a dangerous conversation turned to the door and locked it impressing Kyle with his instinct in this situation. Turning to his mother Kyle also said.

"Mum can you also isolate us please."

This shocked them further as the room was already warded to prevent spying but this was limited as there was a larger protection array over the whole array which would prevent interference while there were weaker sound isolation barriers over each room. By putting another barrier up this showed the lack of faith in people already inside the barrier. Thinking about the poisoning situation this may have been prudent. Isaiah was once again impressed by Kyle's foresight.

"Okay I think the first point of business we should discuss is grandpa Is."

This caught everyone off guard as the tone of voice and start of the conversation wasn't what anyone was expecting. Kyle's father asked.

"What would you like to discuss with regards to Isaiah?"

"I would like to propose a promotion, we can create a new title for him. Let's say we call him a steward rather than a butler. He will continue doing what he's doing but it will officially give him authority over the other staff, some of the staff that are under the control of the elders will ignore what he needs them to do as he currently doesn't have the authority to command them."

Thinking about this Landon decided this would be a good idea as he has seen Isaiah doing duties others could do but as the others were commanded by the elders they superseded his orders. By putting Isaiah as the head of the household staff the elders would put in orders through Isaiah, creating a chain of command and it would also prevent the misappropriation of manpower.

"This is a good idea, I'll announce it tonight and make it formal."

"Great dad I would also propose that the dining hall is rearranged so all tables are at the same level and the people are separated by generation rather than by social class so we can establish a stronger unity within the family."

This idea caught Kyle's parents by surprise as this isn't how things are done. Both Landon and Maria were intelligent people and could immediately see the merits behind this. There may be some friction from the older generation but it should foster better relations in the younger generation. Landon looked at Isaiah and nodded.

"I'll see to it sir."

"Okay and now I can get to the reason behind the security. Miranda can you pass me the vial I gave you."

Miranda took the vial out of her pocket and passed it to Kyle. His parents looked at the jelly in the vial with some confusion but seeing the colours of it they couldn't help but think 'pretty'.

"I broke through last night. After I managed to break through the bottleneck I spat out this material. I'm assuming mother told you about my ability and I can say this is the poison that was preventing me from progressing."

Maria was sat in shock as she first heard her boy had progressed allowing her to breathe easier as she always suspected it was her fault he couldn't make any progress. She was further shocked that he managed to expel the poison. Landon however was thinking fast.

"I've heard that sometimes when people breakthrough they can heal certain damages to their bodies so this isn't to surprising, but I've never heard of a poison that can block people like this have you Maria?"

Thinking for a moment Maria eventually shook her head as she wasn't aware of anything like this either.

"Okay I'll just have to look into this slowly." Landon said as he had some contacts with the alchemist guild that he could trust.

"Okay thanks dad. I've got one other thing to ask, I would like to organise my own mansion. I can't trust most of the staff here as I don't know who poisoned me so I would like to train my own people separately from the main house."

Landon thought about this as he and Maria had staff they could give to Kyle which could be trusted but he would eventually have to raise his own group of people, so it made sense to start earlier.

"Okay but we only have 1 mansion open in the estate it has space for about 30 servers and 10 guards. It has been in disuse for quite a while however so you'll have to fix it up before you can use it properly. I'll have Isaiah bring over some funds for the works you'll need to do."

Kyle couldn't help but think to himself 'Ugh rich people' but as he was one of them now this rang a little hollow. Remembering one other thing he wanted to queue up he looked towards his father again.

"Dad I almost forgot, I'm using my ability to create a new cultivation technique. It's progressing well but I need to see what effect it has on upper level cultivators. I don't want to risk one of our people for an experiment but do we have anyone on imprisoned that would be willing to take the chance? Hopefully you have someone who can be trusted as if this works like it's supposed to they would join my guards."

Thinking about it Landon remembered one person in their custody who would fit the bill.

"I know of someone who would suit your purposes. He was arrested for beating a little tyrant from one of the other families as he ordered his guards to burn a commoner family for not turning their daughter over to him. This guard took his family and the commoner family and came to our territory and turned himself over to us on the understanding we would protect his and the commoner families. I'll have him sent to you later today."

"Thanks again dad, what is this ex-guard's name by the way?"

"His name is Ash."

After all the business was concluded Kyle enjoyed his breakfast with his parents while being cared for by the three servants. The new maid was now long forgotten.