I need to change my strategy.
The plan I'd come up with was actually pretty simple.
The Argent Family.
A group that gripped the underworld tight, mentioned ad nauseam even in the original story, with pride ranking among the continent's elite.
Those bastards get riled up the moment you poke them.
'How dare a bastard like you?'
That reaction was practically a national rule.
Conveniently, there was this Proxy Blood Fate system, and ever since my past life, scratching at people's nerves had been one of my specialties—
If it didn't work, I was fully prepared to drag at least one of them down to the afterlife with me, even borrowing mana grenades from Evelyn.
Evelyn's face when she first heard me out was a sight to behold.
"Are you insane?! Lucas Argent?! That thing blows up, and you're dead too!"
"I know. Half the reason I'm going is for that."
"You... you absolute lunatic...!"
Her expression was pure shock incarnate.
But men are creatures who would rather stand and die than grovel to live.
You need this kind of grit to throw down with the kind that rules the continent's shadows.
And just as I'd expected.
Once I set the stage according to plan, the heirs were buzzing, Syl was practically foaming at the mouth, and a pretty entertaining spectacle unfolded.
Now the only issue left was one.
How would Family Head Agram Argent react?
Would that monstrous man rage? Try to tear me apart? Or brush it off indifferently like in the original story?
…None of the above.
"...Pfft."
"Pardon?"
"F-Family Head?!"
In that instant, the room wasn't filled with murderous silence or suffocating pressure.
"Hoo... ho ho ho... hahaha!!"
Laughter that shook the entire mansion.
Not a vicious aura, but pure, explosive amusement from something 'funny'.
The heirs' faces went pale, and the servants froze as if they'd forgotten to breathe.
Even I, who'd kept up with the latest updates on the original, was left speechless.
Because Agram Argent, known as the 'Cold Reaper', was laughing... genuinely.
A face that had never appeared even once in the original story.
"Lucas Argent. Tell me, what is it you want if you win that bet?"
"Father! You can't mean that bastard beat me?! It's absurd! I'll crush him for sure!"
"That's a given."
"...!"
Agram smirked, ever so faintly.
But it was a completely different kind from the laughter before.
A quiet chuckle like an ambush, dry as ice.
Syl broke into that atmosphere.
"Father! This conversation itself is—"
"Syl Argent."
In that moment, the air in the room froze solid again.
Agram's voice was as always: dry, cold, the epitome of absolute authority.
"You are an 'official heir' of the Argent Family. What meaning is there in an official heir beating a bastard?"
"I... that's not what I—"
"You beating Lucas should be as natural as breathing. That's why I'm not asking you right now."
Agram's gaze shifted back to me.
And it wasn't the mad laughter from before; it was genuine enjoyment.
"I'm asking him. What is it you want, enough to shatter the world's 'natural order'?"
'Curiosity'.
That was exactly the expression.
A bastard he'd discarded and never seen speaking up, looked at like some curiosity to observe.
"Speak, Lucas Argent. What's the reason you stepped up, shaking family traditions just to claim a single lowly slave? Was it 'father's attention' you craved that badly?"
"...What bullshit."
"Hm?"
"You're not expecting some 'Yessir, Daddy, I just wanted your attention~' crap here... right? You wouldn't want that either."
"Ho ho."
Having lived as a doctor dissecting every kind of human, I knew this type all too well.
The ones who'd grasped everything from childhood.
Desire, pleasure, power—all tasted too early, leaving the world's every thrill bland.
Chasing stronger highs until they became hollow monsters feeling nothing.
To them, children were just horses for succession, and the family a playground for a bored emperor.
And now that monster had spotted a bastard baring teeth defiantly before him for the first time, eyes alight like his heart was racing after so long.
"Lucas Argent!!"
"Insolent! That mouth in front of the Family Head—!"
Wolfram and Seratina exploded.
Seeing a half-breed like me rattle on in front of their father, whom they tiptoed around their whole lives, must've pushed them over the edge.
But even they could only grumble in my presence.
The moment Agram turned his head, they tucked tail with frozen faces.
"Aren't you speaking right now?"
"B-But Family Head!"
"That rogue—!"
"Quiet."
Just one word.
That single word made all four siblings swallow hard in unison.
"Anyone who opens their mouth in this room without my permission... no matter who, will face the utmost punishment."
A threat that chilled the blood.
Ruthlessness without hesitation even toward his own children.
That was the monster called Agram Argent.
I thought to myself.
'A side not seen in the original. But... this guy might be way more useful than I thought.'
Eyes like a child finding a new toy.
But beneath them, not human—pure predator instinct.
Then all I had to do was pull that instinct my way.
"The reason I demanded Proxy Blood Fate is simple."
"Speak."
"I'm embarrassed."
"...What?"
"The little shit's strutting around relying on family backing, acting like a total asshole despite having zero skills. Hiding behind authority was pathetic. I picked a fight because beating his ass felt right."
In that instant, the four heirs' breaths cut short.
I kept going regardless.
"When you want to smash someone, do you really need some grand justification?"
At that moment—
Agram's eyes lit up slowly, but surely, like a kid finding the 'perfect toy'.
"Ha ha... hahaha! Right, exactly. Not content with touching your slave first, you're even scheming to dispose of him without him there—naturally you'd want to kill him."
"Ah, Father?"
"Hoo...."
Agram tapped his forehead with a finger.
"So you chose 'Proxy Blood Fate' as a legal path to touch family blood... is that it?"
"Yes. Precisely. Date: exactly one month from now. Location: the knight training grounds managed by Brother Wolfram. No objections there?"
I nailed down the date and place like I'd been waiting.
No dragging this out. Strike while the iron's hot.
"Lucas Argent."
Agram looked at me again.
"If you lose... it's the original plan. Locked in a sunless cell, kept barely alive until adulthood. Any objections?"
"None at all."
I grinned.
"But if I win, forgiveness is the baseline, plus a fitting 'reward'. No problem, right?"
"Of course."
The moment those words fell.
All four heirs' faces twisted in unison.
As if someone had grabbed their throats at once.
Especially Syl.
The little brat who'd face me had her face swell red as a persimmon, and the teeth grinding her lip finally broke skin, a red droplet trickling down her chin.
Her body trembling with rage... well, at least she's pumped.
But per Proxy Blood Fate rules, to ensure a fair duel, all contact between the two heirs is forbidden during prep time.
Meaning for a full month, no matter how much she rages, she can't lay a finger on me.
'Keep chewing that lip, kid.'
That's the only 'counterattack' you can manage right now.
I sneered inwardly and pulled out my next demand.
"Oh, and one more thing. That crumbling annex I live in—mind supporting it ahead of time?"
This time, Seratina's head snapped up.
"...What?"
"Proxy Blood Fate requires 'equal conditions', right? But look at reality."
I jabbed a finger toward Syl as I spoke.
"One side gets nourishing meals from top chefs, slave trainers on 24/7 standby, feather beds in heir-exclusive chambers. Meanwhile me?"
No need to say it.
"Servants siphoning 'family funds' whenever they can, cooks stealing ingredients while flapping their mouths... starting from that rundown annex~."
Silence.
Then, shredding that silence, Agram's low, sunken voice rang out.
"...Family assets, siphoned off?"
Thud—
Killing intent shot from the Family Head's fingertips.
The subtle amusement from moments ago vanished without a trace.
As if half the oxygen in the room had vanished, the air collapsed in an instant.
Windowpanes cracked with faint sounds. Invisible pressure crushed the entire room.
The four heirs took the brunt of it.
Especially Seratina, who'd planted her people in my annex—her knees buckled, collapsing to the floor in a tremble.
Even watching that, I felt... a sick thrill rising amid the terror.
Because that killing intent wasn't aimed at me.
Agram's voice came slow, but clipped like a blade.
"Someone coveted the Argent Family's finances... from within our house?"
His gaze pierced Seratina.
"The servants in Lucas's annex. All planted by you, weren't they?"
"I-I'll confirm immediately!"
"And?"
"...! I'll handle it swiftly, Family Head...."
Even in that moment, Agram's expression didn't waver.
Just calm, as if issuing the 'natural' punishment for a 'natural' crime.
But that calm was all the more terrifying.
Agram was a monster numb to emotions, but the instant something of his shrank, he revealed 'rage' clearer than anyone.
And today, right before that monster, I got to witness firsthand how the trash leeching off me like parasites would be 'handled'.
So-called Argent-style blood purification.
I'd personally earned the ticket to that bloody festival.