Chapter 119: While Staying in the Capital (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 119: While Staying in the Capital (3)
Lauren spoke first.
"……I happened to overhear what people were saying. Rumors that you defeated the Hector Kingdom and saved the Southern Front from the enemy. At first, I couldn't really believe it. The Roman I remembered had absolutely no interest in swordsmanship. In fact, you even asked me to go in your stead to avoid military service."
Had it been about a year ago?
It wasn't a particularly distant memory.
Roman had contacted Lauren, asking if the youngest shouldn't shoulder the family's burden in place of the eldest.
At the time, Lauren had felt a pang of pity for him. In truth, other noble families rarely forced their eldest sons to fulfill their military duties. If they had the power, they would pull strings to resolve the issue somehow, or send another brother, like the second son, to serve in their stead. However, Baron Romero had pushed Roman Dmitry onto the battlefield. While this was partly because he had already chosen Rodwell as his successor, he also hoped that Roman—who had done nothing but cause trouble in Dmitry well into his mid-twenties—would finally come to his senses in the army.
In that situation, Roman hadn't dared to contact Rodwell, so he had reached out to Lauren to whine.
He was a pathetic older brother.
He wasn't someone Lauren could boast about like Rodwell, but Lauren hadn't thought too poorly of Roman. He felt they were in the same boat. Roman Dmitry and Lauren Dmitry. Born into a family of commoner origin, they had grown up under the crushing shadow of an incredibly formidable standard of comparison: Rodwell Dmitry.
He understood.
Lauren had genuinely sympathized with Roman's desperate attempts to evade the draft.
"But in the time since we last saw each other, you've completely changed. The Roman Dmitry who was in the same boat as me is gone. Now, people look at you and call you the Hero of Cairo. How on earth did you change so much? You and I both know, don't we? For someone from the provinces to succeed, they need talent like Rodwell's. You and I... we were the kind of people who could never meet the expectations of those around us."
It was only the beginning that was difficult.
Once he started opening up, his long-suppressed emotions exploded.
"I'm so ashamed of myself. I came up to the capital following Rodwell, trying to meet Father's expectations, but I haven't accomplished a single thing while Rodwell promoted all the way to Class S. Honestly, I still don't even know what mana is. Others sense mana effortlessly and get promoted in a month or two, but despite my age, I'm stuck taking classes in Class D. I don't even know when I'll be demoted to Class E."
He choked up.
Facing a harsh reality he couldn't bring himself to confess to his family, he looked at Roman with desperate eyes.
"That's why I came to find you. You were in the exact same position as me. So how did you become so strong? I want to be a son Father can be proud of, too. I don't want to just pretend I'm okay, pretend I'm doing well, forcing a smile whenever I call home. I want to show them real results."
In the end, he couldn't hold back his tears.
He wept openly.
Bowing his head, his shoulders shook as he poured out his sorrow.
This was a side of him that even the original Roman hadn't known.
Lauren Dmitry.
His family believed he was doing well in the capital alongside Rodwell. Of course, he wasn't making grand strides like his older brother, but he was still taking his classes diligently and, unlike Roman—who was called a fool—he didn't cause any trouble. But the truth was entirely different. Knowing how much pain Baron Romero suffered because of Roman, Lauren couldn't bring himself to say a word. Although he found life in the capital suffocating and hated it, he believed one problem child in the family was enough.
He couldn't continue speaking.
He had completely broken down.
Seeing him cry so hard he could barely breathe, Roman said nothing.
He just quietly watched Lauren, waiting for the boy's tears to stop and for him to finally calm down.
* * *
Lauren cried for a long time.
He was a fragile boy.
At only eighteen years old, he was not yet strong enough to bear the crushing weight of reality.
How should I treat Lauren? Roman pondered.
He harbored no ill feelings toward him.
It wasn't because his inherited memories of Lauren were particularly fond; for that matter, he didn't think too badly of the second son, Rodwell, either.
This was a new life.
Although he had inherited the existence of the original Roman Dmitry, he had no intention of maintaining relationships in the exact same way. The original Roman had accumulated a massive amount of bad karma. Almost everyone he met reacted with hostility, and because of that, the current Roman often suffered the consequences despite having done nothing wrong.
However, he did not look at people through a lens of prejudice.
Take Baron Romero.
Though he had abandoned all expectations after repeated disappointments in his eldest son, he had now become Roman's most reliable supporter.
Or Chris.
He had despised Roman.
He had even tried to draw his sword against Roman right in front of the Baron, but now he possessed a loyalty so fierce he would leap into a raging fire at a single command. It was the same for most others. Aside from those two, many people, including the Master Blacksmith, had initially been hostile, but Roman had forged entirely new bonds with them.
Therefore, he thought of it from the opposite perspective.
Just as others had accepted his new self, he would not discriminate against new connections.
I have no lingering feelings toward Lauren. If he keeps his distance, I won't treat him as anyone special, even if we are brothers. The same goes for Rodwell. Although our statuses as the eldest and second sons created a complicated, ill-fated relationship, that alone isn't a proper reason to treat Rodwell as an enemy. Whether it's Lauren or Rodwell, I will judge them based on my own direct experiences, not the memories of the original Roman.
This was Roman's way.
Living a new life meant establishing new standards.
Since his current life did not originate entirely from himself, Roman showed the tolerance necessary to accept this new existence.
"Lauren."
"……Yes."
He called out to his younger brother.
As of yet, he felt no special affection for the boy.
Just because Lauren had faced similar hardships didn't mean Roman had any reason to coddle him.
However...
"I do not wish to see someone who shares my last name being looked down upon. That tarnishes the Dmitry family name, and by extension, my own reputation. You said you wanted to know how I reached my current position? If you want the answer to that question, prove that you are worthy. I heard you have a swordsmanship exam soon. Show them clearly what happens when they look down on someone named Lauren Dmitry."
Just this once, he would give him a chance.
Because they shared the same surname—and unlike his past life, where one had to slaughter their own siblings to survive—Roman granted him a single opportunity.
From now on, it was entirely up to Lauren.
If he proved himself, Roman would accept him as a brother.
But if he failed, there would not be many opportunities to speak like this in the future.
* * *
Dawn broke.
Lauren's eyes were swollen.
His face was a mess from crying so much, but his gaze was entirely different. It reflected the thoughts that had occupied his mind all night long.
He told me to prove my worth if I want the answer.
It was strange.
From those words alone, Lauren felt an inexplicable surge of courage.
Until now, he had felt like he was drifting aimlessly on a vast, endless ocean. But someone who had overcome the very same reality had just pointed the way, offering to give him the answer. If so, what was there to fear? If he proved his worth, his older brother—the man all of Cairo now praised—would tell him exactly how he had transformed from the fool of Dmitry into a hero.
His mind cleared.
It had been a long time since he felt this way.
Even though he hadn't gained transcendent power overnight, his heart settled into a peaceful calm.
The time came.
The students gathered at the training ground for the swordsmanship exam. The professor scanned their faces before commencing the test.
"We will now begin the exam. First up is……"
The exam proceeded.
The students called forward matched their skills against one another.
Joy and sorrow were sharply divided; some students rejoiced in victory, while others grieved in defeat.
After some time had passed, the professor's gaze turned toward Lauren.
"Lauren, step forward."
He stood up from his seat.
And then:
"William, step forward."
Even as his opponent for this match, William Castro, stood up with a mocking smirk, Lauren did not show the slightest hint of agitation.
* * *
"Ha, seriously. Life is so funny. Of all people, why do I have to fight you?" William sneered.
Before the exam, the students had joked among themselves.
They said that whoever ended up fighting Lauren would essentially be stepping onto a Warp Gate leading straight to Class C.
And now, William was the lucky one facing Lauren.
Lauren's utter silence made it a bit less entertaining, but that didn't matter.
I'm going to absolutely destroy him this time.
The Castro Family.
They were elites belonging to the Central Government.
William Castro's father supported the Noble Faction, and having lived in the capital since childhood, William was dyed to the bone in elitism. His father always said that people had innate limits, and their usefulness was determined by whose womb they were born from. Having grown up hearing such things, William felt a surge of disgust the moment he heard the name of the Dmitry family.
The Cairo Royal Academy.
It was a place for true elites.
Yet, the offspring of a family of commoner origin was his classmate.
If it were someone with undeniable skill like Rodwell, it might be different, but seeing a leftover like Lauren riding on his family's coattails was utterly pathetic.
So, he had been waiting for this.
He planned to use this opportunity to send Lauren packing back home to the countryside.
The professor spoke.
"The evaluation criteria for this exam is not victory or defeat. We will assess how well you have integrated what you have been taught into actual combat. Refrain from extreme attacks. Now, begin the exam."
Tweet!
The sharp whistle sounded.
The moment it began, William immediately lunged forward.
There was no reason to drag things out.
Knowing Lauren wouldn't even be able to respond properly, William seized the momentum with a bold, aggressive move.
Clang!
"Ugh."
The attack was blocked.
Lauren had hurriedly raised his sword, but his face contorted from the physical disparity. Even though he had blocked it, the sheer impact was substantial. William did not stop there, unleashing a flurry of consecutive strikes. Lauren was pushed back repeatedly under the relentless barrage of blows.
Clack!
Cl-cl-clack!
"You cowardly bastard!"
It was an overwhelmingly one-sided match.
There was no way Lauren, the weakest link, could handle the attacks of William Castro, who was already considered far above Class D.
It went exactly as expected.
Lauren could not launch a single proper counterattack.
Having completely cornered his opponent, William spotted a sudden opening Lauren had left exposed.
It's over.
Lauren's chest was wide open.
William intended to strike him down right then and there.
If he broke a bone or two, Lauren wouldn't even dream of staying at the academy anymore.
Whoosh!
He swung his wooden sword down with vicious intent.
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, Lauren thrust his head forward instead.
Even though the wooden sword was on a direct track to strike his skull, he stared up at William with a look of sheer, unyielding determination.
In that split second, Lauren gritted his teeth.
Smack!
The wooden sword grazed him.
Though he had avoided a direct hit by slightly tilting his head, the heavy wood scraped past his eye, leaving a stinging impact and a spray of blood.
At the exact same time—
Crack!
Lauren smashed his own wooden sword straight into William Castro's jaw.