Chapter 120 – While Staying In The Capital (4)

It was for a brief moment.

Lauren made a surprise attack and aimed it at his opponent’s jaw, but William Castro withdrew his sword swiftly and was able to block it.
There was definitely a reason why he was evaluated to be in Class D.

William Castro, whose expression distorted for a moment, began to strike down Lauren’s sword with an angry face.

“This bastard!”

He was humiliated.
He almost got hit by Lauren.
As he tried to counter, enraged, a strong shock hit his stomach.

Puak!

“Kuak!”

A sudden hit!

He was able to block it.

William Castro was 188 cm tall, and Lauren was 20 cm shorter than him.

As soon as the attack was blocked, he went for the stomach.

A swordsman can also use his hands and feet to defeat his opponent.
William Castro suppressed a groan as a fist hit his stomach, and Lauren pushed his opponent with consecutive attacks to not give him a break.

Tak!

Tak! Tak!

‘I need to keep this momentum to survive.’

This was different than usual.
Lauren, who couldn’t show his skills properly due to his timid personality, was showing his will and determination this time.
He didn’t know what qualification Roman wanted, but if he proved his worth here by winning the test, he hoped to become like Roman Dmitry.

Dmitry’s fool, whose existence changed and was once ridiculed by people, ignited a flame in Lauren’s heart.

Huk!

Tak!

He made a neat combo attack.
He feinted a blow to the head and took a step forward to cut his opponent’s chest.

William Castro was breathing heavily due to the pain in his stomach, but he still managed to block it.
The unexpected turn of events made his friends look nervous, and they started considering the possibility that Lauren might win this.

Lauren was expecting to win too.
After talking to Roman, he found the strength to face his fears, so he pushed his body forward toward his opponent.

This was like fate.
Lauren tried to attack with confidence.

“This bastard, for real.”

Wheik.

The attack missed.

William Castro evaded the attack with flexible movement and slammed forward.

Pak!

Papapak!

They were both out of breath, and strong attacks were closing in.
Every time the wooden swords clashed, they swung wildly in opposite directions, leaving no opening for the other to launch a counterattack.

Lauren didn’t know that all this time, not once did William do his best against him.
The moment he, who had always been treated like a joke, began to engage in a serious fight, there was nothing holding him back.

Swordsmanship battles cannot be won simply by wielding a sword.
Lauren, outmatched by the attacker’s superior size and strength, reacted by desperately blocking the blow and losing his footing.

Stumble.

That was it.

It was a momentary gap, but William Castro didn’t miss it.

He tried to attack, and this was the last scene Lauren remembered.

Puak!

When he opened his eyes, the surroundings were quiet.
He wanted to get up and check the surroundings, but his head hurt, and his forearms were sore.

“A small difference.
As William’s attack was about to hit your head, you raised your arm quickly to block the attack.
If you had failed to stop the attack, you wouldn’t have ever woken up, even if it was a wooden sword.”

It was the professor.
He was in charge of the test.
He let the students go and stayed behind on the training ground.

“…….So I lost?”

“Yes.
Did you think you would win against William?”

Laurent was disappointed with his defeat.
In the end, he didn’t get what he wanted.
He wanted to prove himself, but the world wasn’t so easy.

The professor said, “Still, today, you were pretty good.”

Lauren’s eyes widened.
The professor was stingy in giving praise.
As he always pitted Lauren against Castro, Lauren assumed the man hated him.
He wasn’t expecting a compliment.
He closed his eyes and was surprised when the professor continued.

“The Lauren Dmitry I watched wasn’t lacking in talent.
There is a lot of room for improvement, but you have always been scared and withdrawn, which kept you from performing at your best.
So, I purposely put you up against William Castro.
In the last spar and today’s test, I knew that Willian would bully you, but I thought that you had to overcome this to become a swordsman.”

“… Are you speaking the truth?”

“Would I lie to a student? You need to trust yourself a little more.
At your age, the tallest and most powerful kids might seem like the strongest ones in the world, but in reality, you and William aren’t much different.
Neither of you knows how to use aura.
In the first place, if he had such overwhelming talent that you couldn’t touch it, he should be up in Class S like your older brother instead of being in Class D, so do not be afraid of such things.
Normally in swordsmanship, if you lose your cool, everything is lost.”

It was surprising.
Lauren didn’t know that his professor felt this way.
The pain was still severe.
He tried to smile, but his face kept frowning in pain.
The more he thought of the compliments, the more he began to smile.

“Thank you, thank you very much.”

He suddenly wanted to see Roman.
How would he rate this match? However, no matter how much he looked around, he couldn’t find Roman Dmitry.

Bang!

“Fuck!”

William kicked the chair in the break room.
It seemed like his anger wouldn’t be resolved any time soon, so he smashed any objects he could find.

“Calm down!”

“William, please calm down!”

His friends tried to stop him, but they could do nothing.
William was a guy whose outbursts were unpredictable, even for those he considered friends.

Weren’t these friends already beaten up badly in the past for being presumptuous? While they moved around subtly, William continued to make a mess of the room.

“Lauren Dmitry, how dare you mock me?”

A hit to the stomach?

It wasn’t much.
It hurt then, but he was feeling fine now.
The issue was that he was pushed around a bit, and Lauren Dmitry acted as though he had won.

“Lauren, that bastard doesn’t know where he stands! He doesn’t know that I have been watching him all this time, and he looks at me with those eyes just because he picked up some courage.
Fuck, you were the same.
You guys didn’t think that I would lose to someone like Lauren Dmitry, right?”

“No.”

“We trusted you.”

His friends waved their hands.

The family of Castro was too powerful, so they couldn’t disobey William.
His eyes were blazing with rage and murderous intent.
His father said that one shouldn’t look down on even the lowly-born bastards in life.

“Well, this cannot last any longer! Lauren, I am going to break at least one of your arms.”

“D-do you have to go to that extent?”

“Right.
That is a bit much.
Don’t you know who Lauren Dmitry’s older brother is? It is Roman Dmitry, who defeated the Hector Kingdom and is now called Cairo’s Hero.
If things go wrong, it will turn into a problem of families.”

It was Roman who represented the Dmitry family now, not Rodwell.
His friends were right.
But, the immature child, who knew nothing of this world, looked down on the Dmitry family.

“Cairo’s Hero? Fucking lies.
What can they do if I touch Lauren? Would they be able to touch me? The eldest son of the Castro family? My father and Marquis Benedict have been friends since childhood.
No matter what I do, no one in Cairo can touch me.”

Up until that point in his life, he had managed to avoid being affected by anything.
This was not the first time something like this had happened.
William Castro faithfully followed his father’s teachings and thoroughly trampled on those who looked down on him.

Among them, there were those who made quite a name for themselves.
They rushed to kill William Castro but were stopped by the wall of reality and had to kneel before him.

It was the power of the Central Government.
William Castro had nothing to fear as long as the Castro family maintained a firm foothold in the Central Government.

He said, “Bring Lauren Dmitry to me right now! It’s fine if you have to hit him to knock him out.
Harassing that bastard is something we have all done.
So let’s do it clearly this time.
After all, there are limits to one’s birth.
Even if his older brother is the Hero of Cairo, he is meaningless in the face of real power.
I will make sure Lauren is obedient to us.”

His friends exchanged glances as they realized the decision had been made.
The words of their parents or relatives went around in their minds.
Their families loved the nobleman named William.

It was then,

“Say that again.”

Swish!

Everyone turned their heads.
A man stood at the break room’s entrance.
The man with an unfamiliar face spoke with a cold expression.

“Tell me again what you’d do to my sibling?”

Sibling? They felt shocked.

‘Roman Dmitry.’

The hero who returned to the capital.

Even William Castro, who had been so confident till then, couldn’t speak out hastily when he faced Roman.
However, because the water had been spilled, William Castro spoke with poisonous, hateful eyes.

“Right, I can tell you if you want.
I said to bring the guy who doesn’t know his place in front of me….Ugh!”

Grab!

Roman reached out and grabbed William’s coat.
He couldn’t escape.
William’s expression looked like he saw a ghost at what happened in an instant, and Roman looked down at him with cold eyes.

“Do you know what mistake you made?”

“Eup…..eup….
euup!”

“Bullying is fine; Lauren is a kid who doesn’t know what kind of background and power he has and is simply dumb, and I am not a nanny who is going to take care of him.
Maybe I wouldn’t have even stepped in if he was going to be bullied, as usual, but…..”

Lauren passed Roman’s test.
At least, from the moment he showed the will to fight, Roman accepted him as his younger brother.

“The problem is that I saw it.
I listened to all of you bully Lauren and look down on Dmitry.
I am Roman Dmitry, and you ignored my family.
Then, what price should I get from you for those actions?”

Clench!

He clenched his hands.
William looked like he was going to faint.
He couldn’t even try to attack.
All he did was swing his arms to try and escape.

Tuk.

And he let go of him.

Seeing William inhaling and gasping with a pale face, Roman said,

“Guide me to your family.”

“…What?”

It was time.
Roman wanted a cause.
Now that the status of the Dmitry family was changing, an event worthy of it was needed.

“I want to experience what real power is like.
So guide me to your family right now.
If an immature child makes a mistake, shouldn’t the parents be responsible for that mistake?”

If only time could be turned back then, William Castro would never have brought Roman Dmitry to his family.

“Right, you bastard.
Let’s see if you can say the same thing in front of my parents.”

He still believed in the difference between their births, and William walked out with an angry face.