Right now Hirofumi sat in awkward silence inside the spacious office of Erhan's father, Duke Gazi.
The Duke took a sip out of the hot, warm coffee, gesturing to Erhan to drink as well, but he declined.
"Erhan. How are you today?" He asked gently, but with an undeniably stern voice.
"Fine… Father."
The Duke eyed his youngest son with bemused eyes. Usually, Erhan would constantly pester him for sword training sessions, but he did not attend breakfast this morning and was now strangely quiet, even nervous.
"Why did you not attend breakfast?"
"I did not feel well."
"Remember that breakfast is often the only chance our family can spend time together. I hope you do not repeat this."
Erhan broke in cold sweat. "...Yes, Father."
Neither bothered to resume speaking, so an awkward silence dominated the office before Duke Gazi coughed and spoke.
"Ehem, well, I did not call you for that, but for another matter. Your education."
'Education?'
Ah. From Erhan's memories, Hirofumi saw that he had only been taught informally by his parents and Selim despite his late age. It seems that given Erhan's physical frailty, he never received education in that aspect either.
"Normally, I would enrol you to the Arzine Academy immediately. However, I will give you two options. One, attend the academy, and two, hire private tutors to educate you here. Which one will you choose?"
Duke Gazi was sure that Erhan would choose the Academy, until-
"Private tutors. Definitely."
---
A conclusion Hirofumi had come to after a brief period of thought was to avoid the main plot as much as possible. He did not want to be like those isekai protagonists who involved themselves too much with the world they transported into, and get into serious business.
He knew Erhan would've chosen to attend the Academy, and he felt slightly guilty. Yet Erhan Liethardis is gone and Ishiya Hirofumi controls the strings now.
As a matter of fact, Hirofumi planned to limit his human interactions to the bare minimum. Despite the Duke's words, Erhan's absence would hardly affect the powerful and prestigious Liethard family. Besides, since Erhan was too obsessed with trying to train for swords, he barely talked to anybody except for Selim and his father anyways.
In all honesty, this had also been Hirofumi's long-held desire back in his original world. Hirofumi was the ikemen whom nobody could have enough pestering, when in reality he was a very introverted and private person. Afraid of disappointing them, Hirofumi crafted a façade befitting his looks.
Needless to say, he was tired of that, and possessed no desire to carry it over.
A whole life spent lying on a soft bed, reading books and eating meat pastries… A life worth living.
Although, his body suddenly started feeling light, an effect of Erhan's weak constitution. As if in cruel mockery of Hirofumi's dreams.
He sighed. 'This goddamn body…'
---
Back in his room, Hirofumi held down a piece of paper with one hand and a quill on the other. He thought he'd find using a quill and ink difficult, but this body's memories seemed to serve well.
He had to write out his goals for this life, especially the plot before he forgets – all in Japanese of course, who knows what consequences would this potentially dangerous letter bring about once discovered?
"Ugh…" His hands trembled, aching terribly.
"Seriously? Why did I end up with his body…"
It really sucked being the host of Erhan's body, a delicate glass sculpture that could crack at the slightest force. His previous body had well-developed muscles due to his athleticity, and could even lift a weight or two with little effort.
"Can't believe I got tired from using a quill…"
Finally, after nearly two hours of writing with frequent breaks in-between, he finally finished.
Aside from writing lengths about the plot and characters, Hirofumi outlined his goals, of which first and foremost was undoubtedly physical training.
He desperately needed to find a way out of this predicament. The problem is, he doubted Erhan's body could withstand normal exercises yet, so he determined that small, occasional exercises should be done everyday. Aside from that, he needed to keep a healthy diet, especially one heavy on meat at least initially.
For now, this occupied the top spot in Hirofumi's mind. Other goals could be completed later on.