Chapter 1
Thump, thump-thump—
A few low, muffled sounds of taiko drums broke the deathly silence, and the atmosphere in the Tosong Hall changed.
Led by several elders of the Kamo clan, they lined up in two rows, left and right, according to their strict internal hierarchy, and knelt before a dining table called the Taka-bad.
The rest of the clansmen inside sat further back, kneeling on the mats in a formal posture, heads bowed, not daring to breathe.
The New Year's feast held by the Kamo family this year was much more special than any other time.
Seeing the grim faces of the elders in front, those who had been summoned instantly understood the severity of the situation.
However—there is still one question they don't quite understand.
At this moment, why is the young man standing before me, who should be sitting in the seat of honor, the Kamo family head?
Even though he stood up straight, wearing a traditional crested haori hakama, his dark eyes, which looked over, were almost devoid of emotion, making him appear handsome and aloof, as if he were entitled to sit there, exuding a superior sense of detachment and authority.
Even if the young people themselves don't mind being stared at, the question still lingers in the minds of the vast majority—
Who is this uninvited guest who has taken the seat of the head of the Kamo family without permission?
"Let's start eating."
—After the taiko drum made of beech wood and cowhide was struck, the young man suddenly spoke.
His voice was clear and his tone was extremely flat, but that did not prevent him from giving a brief self-introduction.
"I am the 25th head of the Kamo family. Remember to support me,"
After a brief pause, the young man seemed to remember something and added a polite phrase, "Please."
When those words were spoken, everyone felt as if their thoughts had been momentarily dazed.
Then, they subconsciously obeyed the command to eat, reached out and picked up the rice bowls placed in front of them, took a bite with their chopsticks, and put it in their mouths.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, this tastes awful..."
The elders sitting in the front were able to remain calm as they ate their food, but those behind them had already begun to complain quietly.
In the past, the New Year's feasts never had such cold and hard rice, such sour pickled radish slices that made your teeth ache, and such overly salty miso soup!
What's with this guy who claims to be the head of the Niikamo family? Why is he feeding them this at the New Year's feast?!
But for some unknown reason, they seemed to be bewitched; despite their mind and body being utterly disgusted by the meal, they couldn't stop using their chopsticks.
It tastes awful...it tastes absolutely terrible...
While they were complaining in their minds, they were shoveling rice into their mouths.
The young man sitting in the head seat of the household did not pick up his chopsticks, but instead looked down at the head of the table with a hint of expectation in his dark eyes.
Midway through the meal, an elder at the front of the table seemed to find the pickled radish so sour that he slammed his chopsticks down on the table with a loud bang.
"You shameless brat, how dare you impersonate the head of the Kamo family and sit in the main seat, humiliating us with such crude food!"
His beard trembled with anger, and Kamo Chokichi pointed angrily at the young man, even standing up abruptly.
"There is absolutely no way I would support you as the head of the family. Ping Qi, arrest him!"
Kamo Heishichi is the captain of the Kamo main family's guard unit, responsible for guarding the barrier and protecting the mansion.
I don't know why this kid is sitting in the main seat, or even what his background is, but one thing is certain—
He absolutely could not possibly approve of that bastard becoming the head of the Kamo family!
[The banquet is over, and your personal charm and social skills have improved!]
At that moment, the young man sitting in the esteemed seat of the Kamo family head—Hatori Kazuma—received this pop-up notification.
It's over already?
After a moment's thought, Kazuma Hatori moved his mind slightly, and the semi-transparent pop-up window floating in front of him quickly switched to task viewing mode.
Currently, there is only one task listed, which was automatically triggered when he first entered the game.
However, he did not specifically choose the path of becoming the head of the Kamo family.
To be precise, as soon as he entered the game, he skipped the lengthy text introduction and tutorial, clicked "OK" and "Yes" several times in a row, and then arrived here in the blink of an eye.
Even their physical appearance has aged somewhat.
[Gaining the support of the Kamo main family, he has become the recognized head of the Kamo family. Current approval rating: 5%/100%]
Below is a row of names, almost all of which are currently grayed out; these are members of the Kamo clan who have not yet supported him as the head of the clan.
Although it was the first time I invited them to dinner, I only got 5%, which is a bit low.
Well, there's no other way, let's try again.
Kazuma Hatori glanced at the mission progress bar, then turned his gaze back to the old man in front of him who was glaring at him with a beard bristling.
As expected of a groundbreaking virtual game, the NPCs' personalities are truly lifelike. There are no hints for the quests, so you have to figure it out on your own to complete them.
This wasn't a problem for him; he would naturally learn how to do it after playing with it for a while.
Fortunately, some basic functions are still available.
[Hosting: When you feel unwelcome, a pleasant and lavish dinner party might boost your personal charm and social skills. It can also be a treat for subordinates—in any case, it's always helpful…maybe?]
You can choose:
—> 1 gold/person: A simple meal made with mass-produced pickled ingredients; it's useless except for its short serving time. Would anyone actually want to eat this?
—> 10 Gold/person: A regular meal, a postmodern product combining frozen ingredients with manual stove heating. It tastes somewhat delicious thanks to the technology; perhaps you could eat a few more bites.
—> 100 Gold/person: A luxurious meal, made with the freshest natural ingredients from the most skilled chefs. No one will be willing to put down their chopsticks, just as a fisherman won't abandon his luxurious fishing rod.
Just now, Kazuma Hatake checked all the personnel on the task list and asked them to treat him to a meal. He then chose the simplest and cheapest meal and finally found that a meal could increase his support rate by 5%.
Perhaps the other options would get more support, but does someone expect to eat 100 gold coins in one meal?
Counting the number of at least thirty or forty people in the room, and glancing at the initial capital of only 10,000, Kazuma Hatake shook his head slightly in his heart.
No, these NPCs aren't worth it.
1 gold per person, to be continued.
If it doesn't work the first time, try a few more times.
Just as Kamo Chokichi was getting angry, thinking he could at least test the strength of this stranger, he found that the other party's expression remained unchanged.
Not only did he not do that, but when faced with Kamo Heishichi, who had already drawn his sword, he simply tapped the table with his hand.
"There's no need to fight, let's start eating."
The young man uttered almost the same opening remarks.
Immediately, servants, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, swiftly removed the dining table in front of them and replaced it with a new one.
It was still cold, hard rice, sour pickled radish slices that made your teeth ache, and overly salty miso soup.
Everyone found themselves instinctively reaching for their bowls again and starting to eat.
This includes Kamo Heishichi and Kamo Chokichi, who sat back down.
Kamo Heishichi even looked terrified—he was about to swing his sword to attack, but after hearing the other party speak, his body instinctively sheathed his sword and sat back down!
He even picked up the pickled radish slices that he hated the most, still holding his chopsticks!
"…………"
"Are you trying to fool me?!"
He hadn't even taken two bites when he slammed his chopsticks on the table with even greater speed than before, yelling, "What the hell is this? Is it some kind of spell?!"
[The banquet is over, and your personal charm and social skills have improved!]
[Having gained the support of the Kamo main family, he has become the recognized head of the Kamo family. Current approval rating: 7%/100%.]
It's one thing to finish the meal normally, but if even one person expresses dissatisfaction halfway through, the banquet will be forcibly ended.
This time, however, he received slightly less support than before.
It's okay, this meal is cheap, I don't mind him treating me dozens of times—it's not like he's the one eating it.
Kazuma Hatake didn't care at all and continued to choose the "treat" option, which cost 1 gold per person.
In any case, as long as he pays, the banquet will be forced to start, and it can only end after going through the process of [serving food -> eating it -> dissatisfaction].
Just as everyone was about to praise Kamo Chokichi's decisiveness in their hearts, they saw the new head of the family continue to point with his finger.
"Don't rush, start eating."
He pointed to the new dining table that the servants had brought out again, and the taiko drums sounded once more in unison, announcing that the nightmare of the feast was still going on.
It was as if some invisible force, or a faint voice from the heart, compelled everyone to pick up that hard, cold bowl of rice again and start eating.
"…………"
What the hell is going on? Is it the effect of his spell?!
This tastes awful! Don't let them eat any more!
Snap!
It was the sound of chopsticks being angrily slammed to the ground again; this time, it was an elder protesting. Yuqu Kazuma's gaze swept briefly over him before he glanced at the pop-up window again.
[The banquet is over, and your personal charm and social skills have improved!]
[Having gained the support of the Kamo main family, he has become the recognized head of the Kamo family. Current approval rating: 10%/100%.]
Great, it seems that the increase in support is random and won't keep decreasing.
1 gold per person for the "treating" fee, continue.
"Let's start eating."
Snap!
"Let's start eating."
Snap!
"Start eating..."
…………
This grand feast, which should have been held during the first month of the lunar calendar, was instead kept by the Kamo clan members from noon until night, who stuffed themselves with hard rice that was hard to chew, pickled radishes that were so sour they made their teeth ache, and miso soup that was so salty it was cloying.
Even if you only eat a bite or two at a time before the buffet is cleared away and replaced with a new one, you can't stop eating there all the time!
They were only taking two bites at a time, but now, holding the newly delivered meal, they couldn't eat anymore, yet they were still forcing themselves to pick at the rice...
A faint sense of despair and resignation towards life could be seen in everyone's eyes.
The elder… hiccup… he wants to be the new head of the family… hiccup… let him be… we… hiccup, we can’t just sit here and eat this rubbish forever, right…
"…………"
These elders, who held core decision-making power over major clan affairs, gradually fell silent.
If anyone voices their opposition, this inexplicable new head of the family can remove the dining table and make them eat again, as if everyone must finish the meal and support his position as head of the family!
How could there be such an absurd enemy in this world!
That's absurd!
But they dared not speak.
This new patriarch, whose origins are unknown, has already demonstrated his power with even more absurd spell effects.
In order to prevent this torment from going on forever, even the core high-ranking members of the sorcery world, the most conservative and proud elders of Kamo, had to learn to bow their heads at this moment.
Humiliated and silent, he ate his rice.
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