Chapter 161 – Two Way (4)

The True Demon Great War. That was the time when the spillage of blood and murders were running rampant everywhere.

Baek Joong-hyuk, who had slaughtered all the people of the Forces of Justice, saw Crazy Demon drenched in blood.

“… euk, euk.”

The man exhaled lightly but with much difficulty. The sound of his breathing was hazy, and it seemed like something was wrong with his lungs, and he couldn’t tell if it was his own blood or if it was the blood of his enemies that was continuing to trickle down his face.

Crazy Demon wiped the blood with his sleeve. His body, which seemed weak, staggered, but he continued to drive his sword into the corpses of his enemies with the eyes of a beast.

“Kuak!”

And among them were survivors. Only after completely blocking any variables, the man got down on one knee, looking troubled.

“Are you fine?”

“… I am fine.”

Crazy Demon straightened himself back. Baek Joong-hyuk just asked about his condition, and the man was trying to look as strong as he could despite the pain in his body.

Even the one called Crazy Demon, who had amazing recovery abilities, had to grit his teeth and hold onto his consciousness, which seemed to be drifting away.

This felt unfortunate. He could have lived a normal life if he hadn’t met Baek Joong-hyuk.

And so, Baek Joong-hyuk said,

“The life of a warrior isn’t peaceful until the day he dies. You can only exist as a human on the borderline of death by testing yourself and struggling to live. Do you regret your decision to follow me?”

“I do not.”

“Following fate, we set out to conquer Murim. If no one rises to the top, the schemes of living life by fooling and killing others will continue. As the leader, I have a duty to fight for my followers, but you are different. If you say you want to return to your regular life now, then I will do anything to give it to you. I will provide you with enough treasures to last the rest of your life and build you a comfortable home where no one will ever think of touching you.”

He looked at Crazy Demon. People called him crazy, but in Baek Joong-hyuk’s eyes, he could see the image of their first meeting. He remembered the brilliance he had at that time.

He had no other options. This man struggled all the time after following Baek Joong-hyuk and became Crazy Demon.

Crazy Demon shook his head.

“Like the Lord said, I might not have an obligation to do this. The cause of this war and the interests involved might not have much impact on me either. In this pit of despair, you were the only hope that reached out to me. That is all. I only do this because it is what my Lord wants, and those who threaten my Lord will have to put their lives on the line.”

He smiled. His teeth were stained in blood.

“So do not abandon me. Just the fact that my Lord believes in me. I want to stay by my Lord for the rest of my life.”

At that time, Baek Joon-hyuk had a sudden thought about the people who believed in him. Just as they showed blind trust in him, he should also show them the same trust.

He didn’t care about the possibility of their betrayal in the end because the present was more important. In the life of a warrior, when one could die at any time, Baek Joong-hyuk was faithful to what he saw and felt.

And that was who he was, Baek Joon-hyuk. No—Roman Dmitry. Because he remembered his past life, he didn’t ignore the sincerity of those who believed in him.

Hans went back to his room. It was a small space where only one person could live. Actually, the Dmitry couple had asked Hans to move to a better room countless times, but he never agreed to it.

This might be a shabby room for others, but for him, he found comfort in this room, where he had been residing ever since joining the Dmitry family.

Thud!

He sat on the ground. Looking at the room without a bed, there were traces of Roman Dmitry everywhere.

A broom was propped up against the wall. Since Roman often goes for a walk in the morning, Hans would get up earlier than him and sweep the pathway with the broom. And it wasn’t like someone ordered him to do it. Even if there were days when Roman skipped walking to do other work, he would still keep the pathway neat.

After that, when he would return to his room, he would take some things out of the storage closet. There was a towel if Roman sweated a lot, and other items related to him if he wanted to take a shower. Things that Hans didn’t use for himself were in the closet.

A blanket was laid out on the floor because his body never accepted the soft bed. In addition, there was a calendar next to it with Roman’s schedule.

‘Tomorrow is the schedule for the regular meeting.’

Roman’s schedule was recorded on it.

On the day of the meeting, he would organize the materials and pack the things Roman might need in his office. Then he would check the availability of the people who would attend the meeting.

They were details that Roman wouldn’t notice if nothing changed, but Hans would still manage everything so that Roman wouldn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. Hans made sure to bring it up with his successor, Murphy.

At first, it was just the chores, but things became more hectic, and Hans barely had time to catch his breath.

His gaze stopped. Looking at something, he smiled. It was an old toy. Roman had once given Hans his most cherished toy as a gift since Hans always took care of him. Roman might not even remember it himself.

The sons of nobles have many toys, and this was just one of them, but Hans never forgot about it.

“… Young Master.”

Roman’s childhood was heartbreaking. Baron Romero wasn’t a strong person despite his power, and he always struggled to be noticed as a noble because he came from a common background. He didn’t have the time to care for his son.

Going back and forth between the mines, the forge, and his business partners, Rihanna was also busy helping Baron Romero. And so, they weren’t able to take care of Roman. They did say they were doing their best, but Roman was at an age where he needed his parents’ attention.

And then they became nobles. Baron Romero gave many gifts to his son, whom he didn’t care for, but Roman had already changed. Power and money changed everything. The child who had lived between the borderlines of being a commoner and being a noble drank and expressed his displeasure.

Since Hans was the one who had been taking care of Roman all this time, he knew why Roman was acting that way. People criticized the child. Hans could never forget the image of Roman smiling brightly and handing him the toy.

“… euk.”

Drop.

Tears flowed. He was crying as his emotions broke out.

A servant. Normal nobles look down on such people, so he thought that seeing Roman happy was all he needed to see. And that was good enough for him.

If one listened to the stories that servants from other families tell, there were some that would barely move you, and most would make you angry.

But Roman was speaking the truth. He mentioned that he wasn’t someone who only takes, but he gives back as much as he has received.

“Euk, eukkk.”

The tears didn’t stop. He was a servant from a humble background. Everyone knew it, and it was a reality that everyone couldn’t deny. He was such an existence. However, Roman treated people for who they were.

Hans couldn’t stop crying at the fact that there would be a day when the feelings he directed at Roman without expecting anything in return would be returned in this manner.

The wagon that took him there, the guards who escorted him, the gifts from nobles, and the letter of recommendation—all of these things didn’t matter to him, but the emotions that were contained within them did. The fact that Roman Dmitry recognized Hans’s sincerity made him burst into tears.

He wasn’t sad. He really wasn’t sad, yet he couldn’t hold back his tears. So he continued to weep.

A servant who usually kept his feelings in check let them all out without caring if anyone saw.

On that day, until late at night, Hans couldn’t sleep. And on Roman’s orders, no one disturbed Hans.

Rumors circulated about the birthday party. Although unintentional, the events of that day proved yet again how much Roman Dmitry cared about his people.

The Phoenix Magic Tower. The people who had gathered for a meeting spoke about the birthday party.

“… seriously, I don’t know what to say about it. When I first set foot in Dmitry, I was quite dissatisfied with the master. Why did we have to come to such a place to make money? No matter how much our status has fallen, isn’t this too much? However, looking at the recent events, I can’t help but feel that I lacked insight.”

It was Knox.

As everyone looked at him, he expressed his honest feelings.

“Roman Dmitry, our new Lord, has done a lot for our Magic Tower. He took care of the migration process, allocated a large budget, and prepared a site to build the tower. We haven’t done anything for him, though. We are disgusting. I thought that we could repay the money by helping him in the future. Wasn’t that the same case with the Frank Kingdom? They gave us extreme respect, and then when our master went missing, they treated us like trash.”

He had negative thoughts because of their experience in the past. The man in his fifties, who thought that all goodwill had a purpose, felt like he had been abandoned by his teachings due to the recent birthday party incident.

“Roman Dmitry is different. The eldest son of the noble family shouldn’t care for a servant. That might sound cruel, but that is the reality. Yet this man threw a party for Hans because he trusted him. It doesn’t matter if it’s serious or not. At least he is a person who works hard for the sake of the people who follow him, and that alone makes me proud of crossing paths with him.”

For the last three years, the Magic Tower has been tested so much. Their tower master went missing, Felix was lacking, and their tower’s future seemed hopeless. But everything changed when they arrived at Dmitry, and Knox has been happy ever since.

“Magic Tower master. I am sorry for this.”

All this time, Knox called him by name and never once by the title given to him.

“The Magic Tower master was right. You guided the falling tower onto the right path, and we eventually found the right place for us. From now on, I will completely follow you wherever you take us. I want to be someone who is trusted by the master and the Lord. So please forget my mistakes in the past and lead me and the others too.”

He bowed his head.

Knox was a magician who carried himself with pride. The oath he had just taken meant that he was now under Felix’s control.

Felix smiled at Knox’s actions. He could fully understand him. He accepted him because he knew that Knox also cared a lot for the Phoenix Magic Tower.

“I get it. We will live a different life here in Dmitry.”

On that day, the Magic Tower was united. People said Phoenix had no future, but under the name Roman Dmitry, they now share a core bond they didn’t have before. As a result, the Phoenix Magic Tower began to regain its original appearance.