Mother’s eyebrows twitched… that was something she didn’t know. It seemed like my skirt-chaser of a father had managed to have a son with my mother without bothering to tell her one crucial detail, that the position of official wife had already been taken by someone else. Even in this crazy world, where morals and customs sometimes seemed to bend and twist in ways I didn’t fully understand, that wasn’t something people just did.


    The fact that he had hidden it from her made it even worse. My mother wasn’t the type to miss obvious signs or be easily deceived, which meant he must have gone out of his way to keep the truth hidden. It wasn’t just a careless mistake; it was deliberate. A betrayal, plain and simple.


    As for me, I didn’t know how to feel about it anymore. I wanted to respect him. I really did. But how could I, knowing what he’d done? It wasn’t just about his mistakes as a father; it was the kind of person he had shown himself to be. And yet, despite everything, I still tried to make sense of it, to find some excuse for his actions. But each time I tried, I came up empty-handed. Even if it was just how this world operated…


    “... I already knew that you had possible wives, so perhaps this is my fault for holding on to this false hope. Well, this can’t be helped, right? If your father made the decision for you, it means that she is very capable and the kids that you have with her are also very capable.”


    “That is true, but that is no excuse.”


    Perhaps I should really use that technique and hit him in the head. Just enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be as handsome as he currently is. At least half of his women should leave him after that.


    “That isn’t all…”


    After hearing that, I noticed the expression on my mother’s face changed drastically for a moment, all thanks to Focus Mastery, but she soon recovered her neutral expression.


    “You already have five wives.”


    “Yes… my rank in the family is pretty high, so I had that chance. Still, father was the one who picked four of them. I picked the last one a year ago.”


    I had heard that people with some rank could have five wives… They could have concubines too, but even though a lot of them were willing to share a husband like that, most of them wouldn’t accept the title. If they have some skills, they would marry others that they found suitable. If they didn’t have special skills, they would work to sustain themselves. Anything was better than accepting that shame of not being picked. They had that much pride, at least.


    This was such a world where something like this was pretty normal. It was shitty, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining or trying to change things. For the first time since I have been reborn, I felt really angry… not at the system, but at the moron in front of me. Taking advantage of a system that benefited him that much was understandable, but he should have drawn the line when it began to affect the lives of others.


    “Even if Aizen can’t become your heir, I am fine as long as he can live in such an environment where he can work to improve himself.”


    “I know that this isn’t fair to you, given how much talent he has. His talent surpasses those of my other kids as well. Keeping you two here and letting you be looked after is the least, but also the best, that I can do. I can already say that you wouldn’t accept live in that house in a less important position.”


    “Well, let’s just do our best to raise him properly and help him reach his true potential.”


    “... Yes.”


    My mother smiled, but it was a fake one. Even this moron in front of me realized that. After saying that he would come to check on us regularly, Arislan left and then my mother followed her normal routine and tried to act like nothing was on. Still, that night, I was able to hear her sniffing the whole night.


    When the next day arrived, I woke up with the bitterness that refused to fade. The events of the previous day were still fresh in my mind, and with them came the urge to lash out. The thought of doing the same thing again, breaking the hand of the guard during training. was quite tempting. It wasn’t as if he deserved it, but the mere fact that he was part of my father’s group was enough to rile me up.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    I didn’t want to see or interact with anyone even remotely connected to that man. And yet, deep down, I knew giving in to those impulses wouldn’t help. Letting my emotions control me would only stunt my progress. If I wanted to break free of his shadow, I needed to train properly and focus on improving my proficiencies.


    So, despite my irritation, I swallowed my resentment and headed outside. The path forward wasn’t about anger and recklessness; it was about honing my skills until I could rise above all this nonsense.


    ‘I can’t give her the position in his family that she wanted, but I can at least do my best to give her a more comfortable life. It is time to use my modern knowledge in ways that won’t just be useful for combat.’


    It felt a bit weird… while I indeed considered her my new mother, my feelings as a son should be a lot weaker given that I already had one before and the memories of her were still fresh in my mind. However, it seemed that seeing her endure such an unfair situation really got on my nerves.


    My mother wasn’t blameless for this. She also took her chances on this system. Perhaps if she had aimed for a more normal guy, this wouldn’t have happened, but young women can dream and sometimes they can’t rationalize their feelings. Nevertheless, she was already suffering for her actions, so I didn’t have to think about it like that any more.


    ‘I should try to use my knowledge and magic to create an income stream. Using healing magic as a service should be pretty good for business. However, learning too many things would take too much time to develop.’


    Creating some tools that work with electricity would be a good way to monetize my magic skills. Still, I had to be mindful in order not to let the secret spread and let others copy me. Worrying about that too much would only hinder me, though. It was better if I always tried to think of new things.


    I decided to start slow, and since my mother was a bit down, I had some extra free time that I couldn’t use for training. Using the broken wooden swords that I made the guard lose, I carved some pens… it took a while to make it drop the necessary amount of ink, but after two inks, the first prototype was made.


    “Mom, can you look for someone who can produce this?”


    “What is this?”


    “It is a pen.”


    “It isn’t a pen… it is a thin stick that drops ink?”


    “You can save time by using this instead of drenching the old models in ink all the time.”


    “Old models? How did you come up with this?”


    “I just thought about it.”


    While Mom studied me with a frown, I couldn’t help but think that I wanted to make electric stuff. However, the basis for everything would be to make batteries and I didn’t know how to make them the easy way and I didn’t have the right materials either.


    I had a decent grasp of the basics when it came to batteries. The fundamental idea was simple: you needed two different types of metals. I forgot how they were called, but they needed to be immersed in an electrolyte solution that allowed ions to move between them. A simple battery could be made using something as basic as copper and zinc electrodes placed in a solution of saltwater or lemon juice. The chemical reaction would create a flow of electrons, generating a small electric current.


    However, knowing how to make a battery was only half the battle. To actually make use of the electricity it produced, I’d need proper wires to connect the terminals and direct the flow of current. Without them, the energy would be trapped, unable to power anything useful. Finding or crafting suitable wires was going to be another challenge entirely, as they needed to be made from conductive materials, such as copper or aluminum, and properly insulated to prevent energy loss or short circuits.


    That would have to wait since I wasn’t that skilled yet… I needed to increase my dexterity to at least make a prototype and then find someone to become a business partner and let them produce that while my mother monitors the production in order to make sure that we would gain our parts properly. Since Mom had been down in the dumps recently, it would be better if she kept her mind busy with something else.


    “This seems like an interesting idea. I am sure that your father knows someone that…”


    “No. You look for it, Mom. You need to sell the idea, but you will monitor the production and the sales.”


    Mom looked at me with her usual frown. She was showing that a lot lately. She stopped to think for a while and soon assumed a few things.


    “If you are angry with your father, you shouldn’t be. That is something between adults, but I suppose that since this is your idea, it is normal for you to want to do things your way with this… how does this work, anyway?”


    My mother saw that I was about to take back the pen, and then decided to follow my plan. I already had created all the other parts aside from the prototype and then taught her how it worked. The pen isn’t as efficient as the ones from Earth yet, but this much was fine. I probably shouldn’t skip so many steps when it comes to that kind of technology. I could also make more gains by slowly improving the product, but I wanted something more profitable and that anyone would want to buy instead.