Artur von Benno Baumeister

Artur Baumeister is Wendelin Baumeister's father. He was, until his retirement, the head of the Baumeister household, and a hereditary knight.

Appearance
Artur has brown hair and eyes. He wears darkish noble clothing.

Personality
He only thinks of himself and his heir and considers his other children to be disposable. He had a sickness towards women as he was known in the village as sleeping with married women and getting them pregnant. This caused him and Klaus, who had to settle with the husbands monetarily, to be hated. He also has no problem taking money from the fiefs population and claiming it is for the betterment of the territory. The reward the Demon Forest survivors received he taxed till them was nothing left. This is probably were Kurt got the idea to try and tax Wend to steal him money. This of course backfired since Wend was a Baron and a powerful magician.

Synopsis
It is revealed early on the Artur only participated in the Demon Forest Expedition as a means to gain valuable resources. When Wend finds out about this, he is highly upset that he did it for that purpose and cost people their lives.

Artur cares deeply about the future of the territory, but feels constrained by the requirements of tradition. He knew his eldest son Kurt was not suitable to be the next head, but cannot bring himself to deny Kurt the position as presumptive heir. After Wendelin leaves the territory, Artur slowly grants Kurt more and more authority with the intention of preparing him to take on the role, but Kurt instead becomes more corrupt and abusive with his new power.

When Kurt dies in an ill-fated attempt to assassinate Wendelin, Artur is forced to retire and officially passes the position to his second son Hermann, effectively unifying the main branch and the junior-commander branch of the family within the territory.

Background
Artur is the 4th person to hold the Benno Baumeister peerage as a hereditary knight. His great-grandfather had come to the territory specifically to gain a noble title by achieving development of a portion of the monster-infested lands of the forest.

Abilities
Artur is a farmer by trade and is almost completely illiterate and lacks a proper education. Due to his illiteracy he is forced to rely heavily on Klaus, the village chief, who not only can read and write, but can also calculate numbers necessary for handling taxation and revenue.

Kurt Baumeister
Kurt is his 1st son, and was until his death, the presumptive heir to the household and Knight peerage. Artur shunned all his other children to maintain the status quo to have Kurt inherit even though some of his other children where better suited. In hindsight he stated that if Erich had inherited he would have maintained a good relationship with Wend and used him to benefit the territory, unlike Kurt who only saw him as the enemy.

Hermann Baumeister
Hermann is his 2nd son, who married into the branch family of the Baumeister household, an hereditary retainer position which acts as the Junior Commander in times of war.

After Kurt's death and Artur's retirement, Hermann succeeded Artur to the Knight peerage.

Erich Baumeister
Erich is his 5th son who has charisma and intelligence. He can read, write and do math unlike Kurt who cannot do any of them. He is the closest with Wend.

Wendelin Baumeister
Wendelin is his 8th son, and the main protagonist of the series. When he found out Wend could use magic, he told Kurt Baumeister not to bother him and let him has his independence. He wanted Wend to leave as not to cause a succession problem.

Retainers
Abel - Baumeister Manson Butler (71 yrs)

Quotes
"Will you be able to handle Wendelin? What kind of joke is that?"

- Artur to Kurt

"The fief’s population will probably think following: if Wendelin becomes the next family head, this territory will be secure as well. It’s not like there will be a place for you there, but even so, you still won’t mind it?"

- Artur to Kurt

"You have to understand, Kurt. You want Wendelin to leave the house peacefully. You have no choice but to govern the territory faultlessly by yourself."

- Artur to Kurt

Trivia

 * Wend considers his father irresponsible.
 * He pretty much stole the compensation or consolation given to the survivors of the Demon Forest Expedition.
 * He had affairs with many married and unmarried women that Klaus had to take care of by paying them hush money and moving them out of the territory. It is rumored that there are illegitimate children fathered by him
 * He didn't meet Amadeus Freitak von Bleichröder till Interlude 24