“I have no intention of buying your loyalty. I will earn your trust with my actions. You will become loyal to me on your own accord.” Roy said to the twins in a voice empowered by confidence.
Aydin wordlessly scoffed at Roy’s words,
‘Maya might become loyal to him if he keeps treating us this well, but he would never win me over using this tactic.’
Roy looked at the two twins with a calm gaze, and remembering the teaching of his substitute psychology teacher, Roy decided to open up to them.
His teacher had said to him and his classmates that If you can’t be sincere to others, how can you expect them to be sincere to you?
That’s why when you team up to hunt beasts, do not hide your weaknesses from others. Tell them clearly about your shortcomings. That way, they would be able to provide you with timely assistance in battle. But don’t blindly trust others. Some people like to take advantage of honest people. Only open up to those you believe you can trust and after careful consideration.
Roy believed he could somewhat trust the Twins. That’s why he was going to somewhat open up to them. It was quite hard for him to trust others. He was an orphan abandoned by his parents on a cold winter day. He would have died if the kind old man from the orphanage hadn’t coincidentally chanced upon him and picked him up, bringing him to a warm place that became his home for the first 16 years of his life.
Roy continued, “Furthermore, what is really important is that I am willing to lay down my sincerity on the table for you two twins.”
Using fear and greed as a tool, Roy would be able to rule them. Although he would gain their obedience this way, it would be temporary. On top of that, he wouldn’t earn their trust and loyalty. That’s why he chose another method to win them over. And that was being sincere to them.
“I will be fighting foes, very strong ones, in the near future. We all will be. All of the empire’s citizens are under the threat of dying at their hands. It’s just a matter of who they get to first. But instead of waiting for them to come to me and kill me and my people, I will arm up, become strong and go to them. As my slaves, you’ll be travelling with me for a long time. That means you’ll be fighting them alongside me. I can’t let you enter the battlefield unprepared. That’s why I am arming you. Take them as your saving grace or the ropes of hope that will help you overcome future hurdles.”
Roy had a hardened expression on his face as he told them that.
A glimpse of him was enough to tell the twins that he meant every word he said.
The library wasn’t as vibrant as before as the lights were turned off.
Only the living room was brightened.
An unnerving atmosphere was already established.
Thus, hearing Roy’s words made them feel nervous and scared, and their hearts thudded.
All of Maya’s doubts about Roy vanished after she heard him out. “I believe you, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to survive future troubles on my own. To repay you, I will help you fight them.”
To act like he wasn’t nervous, Aydin scoffed at Roy, “My silly sister has taken you for your words. But how do you expect me to believe that? You talk as if Death itself will descend on Far West.”
Pa! Aydin was smacked by Maya, not too harshly, for talking rudely to Roy.
Maya looked at Roy apologetically, “I apologize in his stead. He may come off as rude, but he is kind. He didn’t mean any of that. He is just confused, as what you said isn’t exactly easy to digest. Right, brother?” Maya believed everything Roy had said, and so she eyed her brother, telling him to at least try doing the same with a smile that was not exactly a smile.
Aydin realized in whose presence he was and whom he was doubting and talking back to and sat down.
‘Slaves shouldn’t doubt or talk back to their masters. I made two mistakes and wronged him twice. Would he punish me? Nobles are rumored to whip their disobedient slaves!’
“Apology accepted.”
What Aydin was worried about didn’t happen as Roy wasn’t like the nobles of the empire that would punish disobedient slaves to keep them in check, as he was from the modern world, and he didn’t want to ruin the relationship between them that he had worked hard to establish by punishing Aydin.
“Who will be coming for us?” Maya asked, wanting to know who they would be going up against.
“The crimson winds.”
Roy had gone through some books in the library, finding nothing to his liking, so Arlo gave him a fantasy book to read.
It detailed the legend of Ninam, how he defeated the Undead King Agony, and also his last words.
After reading it, he concluded that the crimson winds referred to Chaos and its true forces.
- And that the stone of heaven that Ninam was talking about might very well be the amulet he was wearing.
“Isn’t that only a tale?” Aydin swallowed nervously, not wanting to believe him, for that would mean that the monsters in the stories he had read in his childhood were real.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if it was.”
Bestowing Ninam’s True Magic on a mere slave was a choice no rational man would make unless he had a good reason, as its worth was equal to a family heirloom.
Anything related to Ninam even remotely had high value.
A moment of thoughtful silence later, the twins shook hands with him. “Okay, we believe you.”
If Roy didn’t have a good reason, he wouldn’t have just placed such powerful spells in their hands without asking for anything in return.
Chances are that crimson winds will really blow through the empire in the near future.