The Founder of the Great Financial Family

Rothmedici.

This, while it appears to be a House name, is not strictly a family name but rather a surname that a commoner can have.

What's the difference? You might ask.

There is, in fact, a big difference. 

According to imperial law, to become free commoners, a family surname was required to prove ones' origin, and the surname was usually obtained by paying a specific tax.

Then someone could ask, what is the difference between a family name and a surname?

There was a difference.

A family name was recognised by the highest ruling classes like the imperial family, and a surname was simply something one gained to have the privilege of hearing common courtesy. 

‘If you think about it as positively as possible, I've avoided the worst-case scenario,'

Rockefeller Rothmedici.

It was the name given to him, who had the spirit of a thirty-year-old young man from the 21st Century, and it was also the token which allowed him to receive, at the very least, the treatment of commoners from others. 

That's fine and all, but…

‘If you've decided to shove me into this cliche of a novel-like world, couldn't you have seen it all the way through? The normal cliches that everybody knows were the ones where one transmigrates into the body of a protagonist or at least the foolish child of a prestigious aristocrat!'

Why did it have to be the eldest son of a beggar-like commoner who had no claim to even a piece of the house?

‘This is bullshit; there's nothing.'

From the moment he realised his circumstances, Rockefeller had been searching within himself for some sign of a strange power or anything similar – just in case there was some hidden cheat-like force. 

But there was nothing like that. 

Nothing. 

The poor stamina he remembered was still the same, and he didn't even have the sliver of potential, let alone the temperament to be an archmage. 

‘This is bullshit…' 

So what about the origin story? 

‘What was Rothmedici? I don't think I remember a name like that while reading the novel?'

There were three famous families in this world whom everyone recognised. 

The Great Family of Swordsman, Tevez

The Great Family of Mages, Sinclair 

The Great Family of Assassins, Ismail 

In addition to them, many noble families were connected to the imperial family or famous in other ways – but the origin of the person he had become was a mere commoner. 

‘Haaaa…'

The more he thought about his newly given reality, the deeper his sigh became. 

At least one fortune among these misfortunes was not a serf or slave family but that of commoners. 

Looking at the collapsing edges of the house, it was difficult to discern if it was a makeshift refugee shelter or a slum beggar's home.

‘There's no answer to this.' 

Worst of all, his father, the family's patriarch, was unwell in bed, and it didn't appear like his health would improve today or tomorrow.

After he passed, the remaining family members would become his responsibility. 

‘On top of that, I'm the eldest son… the eldest son!'

Rockefeller, who had been crouching outside, near a corner of the house, just sighing to himself without being able to forget the twisting hunger in his stomach, realised someone was approaching him. Wondering about his newfound popularity, he glanced up to find it was Joshua, the third son. 

‘So he's the third son – Joshua, right?' 

Memories of the previous Rockefeller's life began to flow into him very slowly. Which meant that getting along with this new family – which he thought would have been awkward and difficult – wasn't as bad as he imagined. 

"Rockefeller-hyung, dad's calling you,"

The third son, Joshua was 12 years old – there was only a 3-year difference between them. 

"Dad?"

"Yeah – He wants everyone to gather – I'll go get the Second-hyung as well," 

Although it wasn't his birth father, Rockefeller was unable to refuse when he said that he was called by the father of the person whom he had taken over. 

‘I have to go since he called but… Why is he calling so suddenly? What was the reason? Did something happen? And to think he was calling all of us,'

The third son went to find the more energetic second son who was not in the house. With his previous memories, Rockefeller figured he would be wandering around outside with some of his same-age friends. 

‘He should be back soon since he'll be playing around nearby,'

Leaving the third behind, he entered the shabby house. There he saw his younger sister. She was the youngest in the family at 6-years old and always whining and throwing tantrums, along with the fourth child, the timidest of his younger brothers. 

Perhaps because of the several days of starvation, his younger sister was whining and especially grating today. As he turned away from her with a grimace, he made eye contact with his fourth brother. 

He looked especially gloomy today. Probably because, like his sister, he was starving. 

‘It is like a beggar's house in every corner of this place;.'

It wasn't long after he became Rockefeller that he learned to endure the hunger – but becoming the eldest son of his household was still unforgivable. 

‘It's like being told just to drop dead.'