Chapter 118 – While Staying In The Capital (2)

There was no reason to drag the conversation any longer, so Count Fabius just stated his purpose.

“I want to hire you, Chris.
Let me know your conditions.
I came here for you.”

“No need.”

He abruptly stopped talking.
Fabius’s face was contorted, and he focused his gaze away.

“No, you didn’t even listen to it.
Well, I am acquainted with Marquis Benedict, the head of the nobles and the Central Government.
Living in the Cairo Kingdom, you cannot imagine how a great opportunity this is.
This is your chance to change your life.
What do you want? Money? Mr.
Chris, we can give you money enough for you to live for the rest of your life.
Honor? There is no other greater honor than serving Marquis Benedict in the Cairo Kingdom.
If you wish to become a noble in the future, the Marquis will personally grant you a title.
Just say anything.
There is nothing we cannot offer you in Cairo.”

He proudly said it.
His words weren’t lies.
People might say that three people share power except for the puppet king, but in the Cairo Kingdom, the grasp of Marquis Benedict was the strongest.
It was a well-known fact that if you were living in Cairo, you needed to follow Marquis Benedict to enjoy a lot of privileges.
One didn’t have to be smart to know that.

Count Fabius continued, “If you are concerned about betraying Roman Dmitry, do not worry about that.
Roman Dmitry will always be a follower of Marquis Benedict.
We are going to make sure that it happens.
Would it be a problem if you joined us early? This is only a matter of precedence.
Will you follow Roman Dmitry later and come to us, or join hands now and earn our trust? That is the difference.”

Smirk.

Chris snickered at Count Fabius’s proposal.
If this was half a year ago, maybe there was a chance, but now, his mind wouldn’t accept anything else.

“How are you sure that my Lord will come to Marquis Benedict?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Even in the Hector Kingdom, no one can deny that man’s power.”

It was funny that Count Fabius knew nothing about Roman Dmitry.
The man Chris had been following wasn’t the type to bow his head.
Even if he had to join hands with a compromise, he would rather risk war than bow to someone.

Chris was sure of Roman’s statements that he would rise to the top of the continent.
So the words of Count Fabius were wrong.

Chris said, “No matter what the conditions are, I have no intention to leave the side of my Lord.
You say Marquis Benedict can do a lot for me, but I assure you that no one can give me another Lord.”

With Roman’s teachings and new worldly knowledge, he couldn’t measure the value of what he had already received.
Above all, Chris didn’t want to make a choice that would disappoint Roman.

Barco and Hector.

At the time, everyone said that the other side was bound to win, but Roman made sure they were taken down with an overwhelming margin.

What if Roman didn’t choose Marquis Benedict?

The possibility of standing on the other side of Roman at any point in time was something that shook away any temptation Chris could have.
He was resolute, which left Count Fabius speechless.
He was confident that he could recruit Chris and didn’t expect such a backlash.

“If you say that, well…”

He took a step back.
He wanted to express his fury and insist, but attacking the people of Roman without a plan wasn’t good.

While taking a few steps, Chris added, “If you want to convince my other colleagues, then just give up.
No one will make a choice against the will of our Lord.”

Until then, Count Fabius really had no intention of listening to Chris.

Chris was right.
The next target was Kevin.
Seeing him move like a ghost on the battlefield, he made the same suggestion.

But….
“Do not ever make such offers to me again.
To me, my Lord is everything in life.
If the Lord says he will follow Marquis Benedict, I will lay my life down for him, but if I turn my back on him and force him to choose someone else, I’d rather just wish for death.
Do not test me.”

He was pretty aggressive.
Just the thought of Roman made the guy suppress his anger, and Kevin seemed quite annoyed at the offer.

It didn’t end there.
The next targets were Pooky and Volkan.
They were mercenaries that shocked everyone, including him, with their exceptional skills.

“Has this been discussed with the Lord? I have no intention of making a choice against my Lord.
So I will pretend that this conversation never happened.”

“Count Fabius.
I am very well aware of your condition.
However, if you are going to make the same offer to my other colleagues, I hope you will consider that our loyalty to the Lord isn’t so light.
Thank you for taking care of us, but if we hadn’t met our Lord, we would be nothing, so we cannot imagine ever betraying him.”

Fabius made it clear to them that it wouldn’t be a betrayal.
Even though he told them it was just a matter of time before Roman joined, no one wanted to accept his offer.

Finally, he thought that Henderson, the most common of the men, would react nicely, but the guy simply covered his ears and avoided his gaze.
He completely ignored him and didn’t respond to anything he said.

‘How dare they not compromise with the nobles of Cairo!’

He didn’t know.
He thought that Roman Dmitry’s men had been blessed with great talents, but in fact, as Roman’s men said, they were all nothing if they hadn’t met Roman.
But, of course, Chris was gifted.
However, Kevin and Henderson were commoners, Volcan and Pooky were mercenaries who lived in wars, and they were all people who only grew because of Roman.

In truth, Chris was the same.
Only after following Roman did he become an interesting person to everyone.
Count Fabius was shocked and looked blankly at the sky.

“Why are you so loyal?”

Suddenly he felt more curious about this man called Roman.

At that time, Lauren Dmitry was still training during his break.

“Eup!”

Tap!

He clenched his teeth and struck at the dummy.
He was projecting William Castro’s image onto the dummy, and unlike the practice match, he was able to accurately aim for the vital points.

He made clean and neat attacks.
In real life, he was a mess, but in virtual battles like this, Lauren Dmitry had fairly strong sword movements.
He was so busy training that even though the sun began to set, he didn’t stop.

“Huk, huk.”

He was out of breath.
His arms and legs were trembling, and his face was flushed red.
He wanted to sit down, but when he remembered his conversation with Hans, he couldn’t.

“Uh.
How can I lie to the Young Master? Thanks to Young Master Roman’s changed behavior, Lord Romero has been happy lately.
Why not meet him in person instead of just asking like this? I heard he will be coming here this evening.
If you meet him in person, you can see how much Young Master Roman has changed.”

Among those words, the one about his father being happy stuck in his mind.
He was raised differently from him, who was born poor and suddenly became the son of a wealthy man.
His brother, who was labeled trash and a fool, was now different, as if he were reborn.

‘What happened to brother Roman?’

Lauren trusted Hans.
Hans wasn’t a liar and knew Roman Dmitry better than anyone, so such rumors could not be false.
But there was a limit to how much change people could accept.
The Roman whom Lauren remembered was an irreparable idiot, and now his reputation, which has changed, was the polar opposite.

Cairo’s hero, the youngest ranker, and the genius swordsman who defeated Butler, it didn’t make sense.
If Rodwell Dmitry had done this, he might have simply accepted it, but this was Roman.

‘Brother Roman was able to change.
Then why am I?…why am I still pathetic?’

Maybe Lauren once thought that he was better than Roman.
It was okay to fall behind because there was the trash of the Dmitry family behind him, but he was now the pathetic underdog.

“Ahhh!”

Tatak!

He swung the sword.
His arms were trembling, yet he forced them to move.
Then….

Whish!

He lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Lauren Dmitry lay down as he gulped down his cries while looking up at the darkened sky.

“…this isn’t how it was supposed to be.”

The third son of Dmitry was the trash that William Castro talked about.
His brothers were working to prove their worth, and the Dmitry family was ignored and looked down on only because of him.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and he covered his face with his arms.
No one was watching, but he didn’t want to show his crying face.

But….

“What are you doing here?”

He heard a familiar yet unfamiliar voice.
Lauren Dmitry raised his head and saw his brother, who looked different from what he remembered.

There was no need to explain the circumstances.
He was the typical figure of a loser.

Roman said with no warmth in his voice, “I heard from Hans that you had come to find me.
If you have something to say, say it now.”

‘Why did you come?’

Roman stopped himself from saying that.

Although Hans asked out of concern and was aware of the child being bullied in the academy, he didn’t say anything about it.
He just looked at Lauren Dmitry and waited.

He didn’t want to give his brother a chance to question him, so he answered,

“….it was nothing.”

Lauren avoided his gaze.
The situation was embarrassing for him.
His face flushed red when he thought Roman had watched him as he struggled to overcome reality.

What if he had asked in a friendly tone? Lauren might have confided in his emotions.

However, the brother he met after a long time was very different and showed no affection for him.
So he couldn’t be honest and decided to pass the time.
Lauren couldn’t even raise his head, fearing that tears would fall and make a spectacle of himself in front of Roman.

“Pathetic boy.”

Roman took a step back as he spat those words.
He had no intention of helping Lauren.

At the sight of Roman, who was about to leave, Lauren regretted it, and for a moment, without even thinking about it, Lauren shouted,

“Brother Roman!”

‘Pathetic.’

That word pierced like a dagger because Roman was once in the same situation as him.

“I will tell you why I came to see you, Brother.
I will tell you everything!”

He finally mustered up some courage to reveal his shameful condition.

That was it.

Roman stopped walking and looked at Lauren.