"I'm dying."
The patriarch of the Kubera family, Sylvester Kubera, announced into the sizeable home auditorium, which was filled with all 106 of his children.
Rather than the expected tears or expressions of concern, his children, grouped by their maternal alliances, turned to whisper to each other without pretense.
"Is he finally dying this time? Or is this another mid-life crisis where he pretends to rewrite the inheritance again?" Lia, a blonde bombshell wearing revealing clothing that was completely inappropriate for a family gathering, asked as she leaned on her identical twin sister.
"Doubt it. Last time, Big Brother Marcus had the checkup files at the hospital stolen, and it said he was as healthy as a dragon, with no death in sight. Can't somebody just poison him and send him to God's embrace already? Ugh." Lea, her identical twin sister, who was dressed in a nun's modest habit and covered from head to toe, whispered back as she sipped expensive black tea from a delicate porcelain cup after holding her hand, which was shining with a golden light over it.
"Instead of wishing for somebody else to take action, why don't one of you twins do it. You're always bragging about your connections, and yet I never see you all do anything beneficial at all. All you do is yap about god or act like a whore." A muscular blond man yelled at the opposite yet identical twin sisters with an irate expression, looking as if he wanted to snap their necks.
"Ohohoho, why are you so angry, Aleron? Could it be because your sucking up to that old man has had no results? How shameful." A slender woman with jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes, and slightly pointed ears laughed delicately while covering her face with a fan encrusted with the brightest jewels.
"Elisia, you're as shameful as ever. Not only to your mother's people but to humanity as well! You dare to show up here after trying to poison the entire family." Another blond man wearing an all white suit with glasses perched on his nose glared at Elisia. His eyes were a golden yellow, and sharp fangs slipped out of his mouth as he talked, giving him a slight lisp.
"You're just jealous you didn't think of it first, you stupid dog. And trying? Please. I'll have you know I was quite successful. It's unfortunate that I miscalculated the dosage, but next time I'll be sure to get it right!" Elisia, the half blood elf, laughed as delicately as ever, although her blue eyes were colder than ice.
While the rest of the siblings were having heated discussions and power struggles after the announcement of their collective father's death, there was one individual completely left out.
Graham Kubera.
He was the youngest and most insignificant member of the Kubera family.
He was also known as the red-headed stepchild due to his blood-red hair, which nobody else in the family had, despite his father's variety pack of wives.
Yawnnnnnnn-
Sitting in the back of the room, on a rickety folding chair, Graham couldn't help but yawn at the dull discussion going on.
In his twenty-one years of life, this scenario seemed to happen every three to five years.
His father would bring them together and announce his impending death; the siblings vying for inheritance would try to please him through whatever inheritance games their father announced; he would string them along.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Graham, as the youngest in the family who had no maternal backing, wasn't even in the conversation of being the heir, and if he dared to turn his eyes that way, he would have been "accidentally" killed without even knowing what hit him.
Originally…it wasn't as if he had no greed.
After all, although it was far from its former glory, the Kubera family had once been hailed as the wealthiest family on the planet and in their corner of the universe.
The wealth that had been generated from the first merchant family to trade with other worlds and galaxies was immense, but due to laziness, excess squandering of money, and assets being divided among the numerous wives of the patriarchs, the wealth had diminished immensely.
Graham's father alone had 13 legal wives and 17 concubines who were still alive and had 106 living children. His grandfather had more than double the amount.
But even though that former wealth and influence were no longer there, it was still enough to place the Kubera family among the top 10 families on earth.
The money was enough to make anyone's eyes shine with greed.
At least Graham's had when he was younger.
But now, after several incidents, he was very realistic about the fact that the moment he stepped out of the box that had been assigned to him, a hedonistic, rich young master who wholly depended on his father for his daily bread, his life would end in a snap.
After all, among his half-siblings who had strong maternal families, and strong personal strength brought by their bloodlines and magical abilities, he came out like a regular person who was just a bit handsome.
Which brought him to the latest death scare from his father.
Now, if his father was genuinely passing on the inheritance, all he wanted was to be given enough wealth to maintain his current lifestyle.
Anything more than that would cause these greedy bastards, who were his siblings, to target him.
Bang! Bang!
"Silence!" Sylvester Kubera pounded a gold-lined ebony cane on the ground, and the auditorium immediately got quiet.
"Believe it or not. I am dying. Therefore, I have decided to hold one last competition to determine the heir."
"Ughhhhhhh"
"Booooooo!!!!!!"
Groans and mocking boo's rang out in the auditorium and Sylvester Kubera slammed his cane on the ground again.
Bang!
"Enough! I have discussed with your mothers and my advisors and reached a consensus. With priority given from the oldest to the youngest, you will collect the assets given to you, and your task is simple. Within the next five years, you must grow the family wealth and influence across the galaxy. The person with the most notable results will naturally become the heir of the Kubera family."
"Father, if I understand correctly, the assets will be split unfairly and are too biased toward the eldest and those with strong families. I disagree and demand a resplit." A brown-haired woman with a short bob and glasses spoke out angrily, her hands raised. Since her mother's family was on the weaker side, she would be disadvantaged by this split.
"Life is unfair. If you want it to be fair, drop out, and I'll help make it up to the rest of your siblings by splitting your portion. Shall I?" Sylvester Kubera's eyes gleamed with a cold light that sent chills down all of the children before him.
The brown-haired woman, Katrina, who had spoken up immediately, shook her head as the eyes of her nearby half-siblings looked like hungry wolves that wanted to devour her.
"Father, during the expansion of a business, there are sometimes…casualties. What if there are unavoidable casualties? Will we be penalized?" Elisia, the half-blood elf, asked sweetly as she slowly fanned herself.
"You may not kill each other on this planet. Outside of it, be my guest." Sylvester Kubera replied resolutely.
At the unexpected answer, the siblings began whispering to themselves again.
This was a big change considering the previous no-kill rule that bound them.
Although it had to be done outside of Earth, it opened up many doors to eliminate the competition and acquire their assets.
"Any further questions? No. Good. Once you've got what I have to give you, my support of you ends here. If you can't utilize the assets given to you and make something of yourself, then you deserve to die."
There was a chilling silence before Sylvester Kubera slammed his cane on the ground again.
"Starting with the eldest Kendrick. Come forward."
Graham patiently sat in the back as each of his siblings went forward to collect a brown envelope that his father's secretary had brought.
Some envelopes were exceedingly thick, while others were on the thinner side.
Only he remained as the room cleared out, and Graham walked up as his father called him.
As he walked, Graham examined his father, trying to find similar features between them while gauging the size of the brown envelope in his hand.
Where his father was tall and muscular from training despite his advanced age, Graham was on the slender side, pale, and had a slight tummy from drinking, eating, and enjoying life to the fullest.
His father originally had blonde hair that had darkened to black with age and piercing blue eyes,, while Graham had blood-red hair and eyes.
The only similarities were the shape of their noses.
As for his envelope, it looked quite thin, so Graham expected a hefty check, which he was fine with.
He would just split the lump sum and continue enjoying his life.
"Graham Kubera."
As the man he had met very few times in his life focused and called his name, Graham stared at him arrogantly.
"Yes, Father."
"You've accomplished nothing in your 21 years so far."
"That's correct, Father."
"Why?"
"Why should I? As your child, everything is provided for me, and it's my job to enjoy it."
"You don't want to fight to become the heir of this family?" Sylvester Kubera gave Graham a disapproving look, but Graham just shrugged.
"From what I've seen, you have no intention of giving it up; you just want to mold somebody in your image while making us fight like dogs. And who wants to be in charge of this failing establishment filled with leeches that call themselves family members?? I'd rather build my own thing and absorb this family whenever I feel like it." Graham replied frankly.
"Is that so?"
"That's what I think anyway."
Sylvester Kubera observed Graham for a moment before smiling to himself.
"Huh. Well, here's the assets you've received. Assistant Martin will take you to see it immediately."
"Really? You gave me property? I thought I would only get money and not any property."Graham asked with genuine surprise, and his father laughed.
"I gave you both. Even if your maternal family is lacking, you're still my son, and it's not like we're lacking money. This property is quite valuable, I assure you."
"Really? Sweet." Graham gratefully received the envelope and as he was opening it up, he felt an impact on the back of his head and slumped over unconscious.
When he woke up, he was lying in front of a dingy, tiny two-story building in an utterly underdeveloped part of a different city, with only the clothes on his back and the brown envelope.
As Graham stood up and opened the envelope, all that was inside was a single large key, a check for 1000 credits, and a note that said:
Good Luck
-SK
Graham stared at the decrepit wooden buildings in the distance, the few people walking around in repeatedly patched-up clothing, and the setting sun.
He wanted to throw a tantrum while cursing out his father and find a phone to at least access the internet, but being the reasonable person that he was, Graham decided to enter the building first.
He opened the door with a thoroughly unhappy sigh and stepped into a dust-covered building.