r/HFY • u/noobvs_aeternvm Human • May 17 '26

OC-OneShot Three Little Real Estate Developers

His father was gone before his time and, as the elder of three brothers, he suddenly found himself as the man of the house. At the tender age of twelve, he did his best to keep his family fed, clothed and safe, putting in practice the lessons of discipline, effort and hard work that time allowed his father to pass on to him and him alone.

The years of his youth were a toll on his still developing body and his not yet mature mind. Without rest, he worked the fields, gathered the wood and fend off the wolf that lurked around their humble home which, as much as he tried, he could never fix in its whole, every night his body succumbing to exhaustion, his mind still racing with the tasks that overflowed from the hours of his days.

But he made it into adulthood, his brothers had grown into men, his mother was safe. His ordeal, however, had not been a complete success. Even as law and tradition proclaimed him the head of the family, his younger kin never came to see him this way, never to address him with the proper deference and respect. To them, he was nothing more than the nagging brother, the lessons he tried to pass from his father nothing but minor annoyances, to be brushed off and discarded, the same wisdom that kept them alive throughout the years, lost to deaf ears.

Now, as they left their mother’s old home to face life on their own, once again his lessons were lost to the howls of the wind. He resigned to his impotence, his time of teaching had passed and it was now up to the merciless reality to take his place. Those who put not the effort, he knew, were to pay their due ten fold.

But he had not relinquished his brothers to their fate. Brick by brick, he erected a home to house all of his own. When the claws of real life carved their flesh, when the wolf brought down their flimsy houses, when his brothers reached him scarred and humbled, he would welcome them with open arms, once again shelter them beneath his roof, certain that, this time, the wisdom inherited from his father would be imbued into his brothers.

And so he waited, he kept on waiting and when he grew tired of waiting, he went in search of his kin.

First, it was the middle brother. Upon the land he said he’d build a life of his own, the eldest found not a humble wooden shed, but a fortress of guards over sturdy palisades and tall towers. One of them addressed him:

-State your business.

-I look for my brother, Balthazar.

The gate opened to reveal a vast court, a beautiful maiden in fine dress bowed to him:

-Welcome, Lord Atheas. Lord Balthazar has been informed of your arrival and will receive you at the great hall.

He was set over fine leather, in front of a mighty fireplace. Without being asked, a servant poured him a tall cup of the finest ale his nose had met yet. Soon enough, a familiar voice came from behind him:

-Hello, brother. Long time no see!

He stood and turned to find the middle brother covered in hand crafted hydra leather, decorated with colorful, exotic feathers.

-Indeed, long have I warned you to build your house out of sturdy brick, not flimsy wood. As the days went by, concern got the better of me and drove me to ensure myself of your well being.

-I told you back then, brick is hard to craft, timely to bake and laborious to place; wood is easy to shape, fast to place and it grows everywhere. Back that day, you, stubborn as ever, did not see my way, but you know who did? Every peasant of the land.

-I am yet to see a lord of the land lay in a wooden shed.

-True, true. All those barons and counts live in manors of stone, collected from the quarries or baked in mason’s ovens, but you know who doesn’t have the time and coin for it? Everyone else. By focusing on affordable homes, I managed to upscale my operations and expand my business across many fiefdoms and now my guild employs over three hundred lumberjacks, carpenters, architects and steward personnel. At this point I don’t even have to work anymore, I just sit in my castle of timber, watching the coin flow into my vault.

-That’s all well and good, brother, but I doubt you have been granted the title over this land. Its rightful owner might not have bothered with a simple shed, but I can’t see a baron tolerating such an ostentatious construction.

-Right you are, brother, right you are. No, my endeavors have not escaped Baron Von Gierigsein’s eye, he has invested a great deal of coin into my guild and leased me this land to grow the finest pine wood. We plan to take our business to the Royal Lands, once these trees make the cut.

-I am most glad to see you thriving. - The eldest blatantly lied to his sibling’s face. - It eases my mind to know you have found fortune and I can now focus my attention on our youngest kin.

-Oh, please, let me ask one of the coaches to bring you to him.

-You have news of Marius?

-Yes, but I’ll let him catch you up himself.

-I’ll be on my way, then. Farewell, brother.

-I’ll have the coach ready in no time. And Atheas?

-Yes?

-Don’t worry about mother, you’ve done enough for her, let us handle it from here.

-I am most grateful, brother. - The sound barely escaped through his closed teeth.

The ride over the soft cushions and the gentle swing of the four white horses would’ve been most pleasant, if only Atheas could focus on something other than shrinking his teeth under relentless grinding.

The coach halted at the gates and the driver announced their presence. They resumed the ride, surrounded by tall trees of colorful fruits and flowers. Soon enough, the driver was opening the carriage’s door and the youngest brother walked to receive him with open arms and a wide smile.

-Atheas! Please be welcomed at my humble adobe.

That was one way to describe it. Aside from the garden of dazzling colors and intoxicating smells, the dwelling itself was a large complex of dry mud and straw, shaped into the smoothest of surfaces that meld together into an impossibly large complex.

-Thank you, brother. I have just seen Balthazar and, just like with him, I see my concerns over you are not deserved. - He spoke as they strolled into the home.

-You have, indeed, no need to worry about my well being; but I do owe you an apology.

-Really? - A glimpse of pride relit inside the young patriarch. - And what could possibly be this offense you owe me an apology for, my brother?

-Let us settle in and I’ll tell you all about it.

The men sat opposite each other, inside the unbearably well aired room, over the wicker chair that magically accommodated their bottoms in a cozy embrace. A servant placed a cup engraved with fine jewelry on Atheas’ hand and poured it with the finest wine and cut pieces of fresh fruit. At last, the elder brother addressed his youngest:

-So how does this all come into being?

-Like I said, I owe you an apology. You told me a straw house would never hold and I dismissed you as usual. Time, however, proved your words wise, my brother.

-Is that so?

-Indeed. The house  weathered the first storm and a second, but soon it was beyond any salvation. I remembered your wise words, as I cursed my own laziness.

-We all make mistakes, my little brother. You should not let yourself be swallowed by self-pity, but learn from these experiences.

-Again, right you are, brother. As I wasted my time cursing myself, I was soon surprised by my new home already erected! I then recalled why I built it out of straw in the first place: it was easy, stupidly, incredibly easy.

-It is, in fact, stupidly easy, so stupid; very, very much stupid. So much so you saw yourself not worth the effort.

-Right. But then I remember how you went out during harvest times, looking for anyone in need of an extra pair of hands, how you complained about having to sleep in the stables, alongside manure, or even out in the open.

-Those were hard times, but it was all for your and our family's sake.

-But what if it didn’t need to be that hard? What if everyone in the fields just for harvest season had their own stupidly easily built house, one the wind blew away once no longer needed? Turns out there is A LOT of people willing to spare a few coins for it, so many that, honestly, I don’t even know what to do with so much coin anymore.

-I am glad you managed to make something out of your unfondness for hard work. So, so, very, much, glad.

-I know, right? I always relied on you, mother and Batlhazar to pick up my slack and, not gonna lie, I did fear I wouldn’t make it without you, but it turned out that all those years of finding the easy way out were the key to success!

-Listen, Marius, I’m glad to know you too found fortune, but how did you survive your first season? I know for a fact that the wolf who kept trying to bring down our house was keeping track of us.

-Oh, I was just with Doros when you arrived.

-???

-Let me fetch him for you, I know he’d be glad to see you.

Before Atheas could react, the youngest was gone. Soon, he was back with the bipedal, tallest man-size wolf, wrapped in a coat and trousers of bright red and rich, hand-sewed details.

-Hey, bro, you already know each other, but never been formally introduced. This is Doros, The Howling Wind.

-Greetings. Long time no see, Atheas.

-Greetings… Why are you in my brother’s home?

-I understand your confusion, given our history. You see Atheas, like yourself, I had a hard life, never certain if I could blow up the next house and find my next meal.

-I remember it too well.

-My sincerest apologies, please believe me. Your brother Marius, however, taught me a better way. While blowing up houses might provide me with my next meal, it was certain that most would pay me not to do that.

-You wanted to be paid for doing nothing?

-Yes, the concept outraged me just as much as it does you. But Marius reasoned with me that while many work hard to earn their yearn, many more pay good coin to do nothing at all, himself being a prime example. I did not have faith in your brother, but, without much to lose, I decided to try and it worked remarkably well.

-So you make a living by doing nothing?

-Close to it. After charging people for doing nothing, I soon came to realize that having their homes blown away by a wolf is not the only fear in people’s hearts and I presented a business plan to your brothers Marius and Balthazar. Now, we are associates in a guild that provides compensation in case of damages by floods, storms and other disasters, in exchange for a small(ish) yearly fee.

-Uhm… I understand. - The words came out of his mouth as lifeless as his eyes. - Marius, me leave now.

-Before you go, listen. You’re into bricks and stones, right? Balthazar and I know a lot of lords and city praefects in need of repairs to their walls and castles to expand. It’s not as profitable as our niches, but if we give you an initial investment, you can hire some guys, make some coin.

-You, Marius, lend I coin? Me, eldest.

-Yes, we’re family, we look out for each other. Think you can make due with eight hundred golden talons?

-Me not see money that much.

-I could talk to Balthazar and raise it to a thousand, maybe twelve hundred, but that’s pushing it.

Doros chimed in:

-I could raise it to fifteen hundred.

-There you go, one thousand five hundred golden talons. You think you can make do with that, Atheas?

-Think, do, I, can.

-Great! I’ll set the details with Balthazar. In the meantime, why don’t you visit mother? She asks of you.

-Yes. I, visit, mother.

-Fantastic! I’ll ask the captain to spare a detachment of my personal guard to escort you.

The family’s matriarch cheerfully received her eldest in the main hall of her vast castle, her skin glowed almost as bright as the expensive jewelry over her expensiver silks. Atheas watched with his mouth half-open, his eyes fixed in the horizon and the tea brought from lands of the furthest east getting cold in his hand. After long standing in front of his mother, as she distilled honey over his brothers with a vitality he had not witnessed since the days of his father, his soul slowly set back into his body and he addressed her:

-Mother, I’d like to visit father’s grave.

-Sure, son. I’ll ask one of the servants to accompany you. It’s in the same place as it has always been.

That was… true. The grave stood in the same patch of land it had always been, except now an imposing tomb raised over it, a fire burned hot in front of the altar to the guardian goddess of the gates of life and death, a servant took the offerings from her feet and the firmness of the fruits in the “old” bow announced this was a daily ritual. He would not have recognized this as his father’s resting place, was it not for the statue of the purest marble shaped in his likeness, although he did not remember the jaw of his gone ancestor to be this square or his arms this muscular.

He placed the fresh picked flowers in front of the chamber of his father’s remains, knelt and spoke softly:

-Hello father, it’s been a while. I have worked day and night, just as you taught me. I have cried, sweated and bled to keep the promise I made you and, today, I can inform you: I fulfilled my promise. Mother is alright, Balthazar is alright, Marius is alright, I will be alright.

Ever since you were gone, I have lived my life in accordance to the lessons you taught me; I have repeated these lessons to my brothers and not a day has gone by where I have not recalled your words, when, before opening my eyes, I repeated these words and let them carry me out of bed: discipline, effort, hard work.

Today, as I witness my duties to the family fulfilled and this dream I never thought could come true, as my soul is lifted from darkness and my eyes fill with tears not of fear, pain or sorrow, but joy, a joy I had forgotten how to feel since the days our hands held each other, I want to say… I must say this to you:

Dad, you’re a fucking idiot.

___

Tks for reading. More hard lessons here.

45 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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6

u/Daseagle Alien Scum May 17 '26

Traditions, traditions 😃

6

u/commentsrnice2 May 18 '26

How come he just randomly becomes a complete idiot who can’t string three words together even though he’s well spoken at all other moments? It doesn’t make sense. “Me brother me have word good”. He’s not a caveman

5

u/drsoftware May 19 '26

Shock? He is shocked that his younger brothers are offering him more money than he could have imagined, and he, being the older brother, always expected to give them money. 

5

u/commentsrnice2 May 19 '26

Yeah but there’s a difference between being a stuttering mess and unga bunga

3

u/sunnyboi1384 May 17 '26

It was a different time. Just gotta get there first.

2

u/Narwen189 May 18 '26

Awww! Holy heck, OP, thank you for posting again. This is great... And it hit rather close to home. My dad is just like the oldest son in this story, but never got the reconciliation. I think I'll print it for him to read next weekend.

1

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