"Sigh… I just hope that what happened between my father's generation—brothers turning against each other—won't happen again," Doen said as he shook his head.
"That's hard to say," Martin replied. "Lord Bard is a man with deep schemes. My lord, you really can't let your guard down around him."
"My younger brother does have a bit of a sharp edge," Doen admitted, "but I don't think he'd do anything too excessive. Besides, I've never treated him poorly. He has no reason to turn against me."
Doen still trusted his younger brother deeply.
"My lord, wasn't Young Master Jason's disappearance in the Zorn Mountains enough to make you wary?" Martin said seriously. "As the saying goes, it's better to guard against others than not. When money and power are involved, even blood relatives turning on each other is far from rare."
"All right, I understand," Doen said. "I'll be more careful."
"That's why I suggest that if Young Master Jason performs well, you should hand Sagoth over to him," Martin continued. "Right now, the Bard family seems to be controlling a bit too much power. That's very unfavorable for you."
"Martin, why are you so certain that Bard will act against me?" Doen asked.
"My lord, even though I'm not particularly capable, I'm quite confident in my judgment of people. Someone as ambitious as Bard will never be satisfied with the status quo. If given the chance, I believe he would definitely—"
"That's enough," Doen interrupted. "I'll seriously consider your advice. I still have matters to attend to. Let's go back."
With that, Doen turned and left. In his heart, he was still more willing to trust his own brother, even though Martin's words made perfect sense.
Seeing that Doen no longer wished to listen, Martin fell silent and followed him quietly.
After parting ways with Doen and the others, Jason and Kaladi spurred their horses onward. Before long, they reached the gates of Zorn City. Just as they were about to leave the city, a girl suddenly blocked their path.
She had snow-white hair tied into a half-bun, wore a silver-white battle dress, and radiated an overwhelmingly cute aura.
Jason looked at this almost unreal, anime-like girl and asked, "Little sister, why are you blocking our way?"
"Young Master, I also want to be your guard!" the girl said earnestly.
The moment her soft, loli-like voice rang out, Jason felt his heart melt.
"Weilian! What are you doing here?!" Kaladi scolded the girl sharply.
"Weilian? You know her?" Jason turned to ask, but after looking at Kaladi and then at the girl, he immediately realized—they were clearly family. The same hair color, the same eyes.
"Reporting to Young Master," Kaladi said, "this is my younger sister, Weilian Owen."
"Young Master, please let me be your follower too! I'm really strong!" Weilian said eagerly.
"That's enough, Weilian. Stop messing around," Kaladi said sternly. "Didn't Father already tell you? You're not suited to be a Rage Master. You only have D-rank rage—it's impossible for you to achieve anything great."
"Hey, I don't like hearing that," Jason said, turning to Kaladi. "I started with D-rank rage too. By your logic, shouldn't I have been unable to become a Rage Master either?"
"That's not what I meant, Young Master," Kaladi said respectfully. "You can level up. That ability is unique—no one else can compare to you."
"Weilian, right?" Jason said. "Tell me—why do you want to be my follower? Is it because you admire me?"
Jason shamelessly praised himself.
"No," Weilian replied bluntly, giving him no face at all. "I just don't want to listen to my father and become some kind of scholar."
"Uh…" Jason felt a bit awkward. "Then… does your father know you came out here?"
"To report to Young Master, my father doesn't know," Weilian said. "If he did, he definitely wouldn't agree."
"In that case, I really can't take you with me," Jason said. "If your father found out I took his precious daughter away like this, he'd probably hate me to death."
That was what he said—but inside, Jason couldn't stop himself from wanting Weilian to come along.
Having such an adorable little girl around every day would be great. But with her actual brother standing right there, Jason couldn't exactly voice his true thoughts outright.
"That's not fair, Young Master~" Weilian pleaded, swaying slightly as she acted cute. "Please~ I'm begging you~ okay~?"
The sudden cuteness hit too hard.
Jason's face instantly turned red, and his mind went completely blank. He found himself utterly incapable of refusing her.
"Th-this… um…" Jason turned to Kaladi. "How about… we bring her along?"
"No," Kaladi said firmly, shaking his head. "She obviously snuck out. We can't take her away without Father knowing."
"Then we—" Jason turned back toward Weilian and was completely defeated again.
Weilian looked at him with big, watery eyes, wearing the most pitiful expression imaginable. In a soft, coquettish voice, she said, "Young Master~ please, please~!"
Jason's mental defenses completely collapsed.
This is way too cute, he thought. How am I supposed to say no? If she were in my old world, she'd definitely be a top-tier internet idol, driving countless men crazy.
"There's really no way to refuse…" Jason sighed. "All right, we'll take her with us."
"Yay!" Weilian cheered, jumping happily on the spot.
Jason immediately turned his head away, flustered beyond belief. His heart was pounding wildly—calling it a deer crashing around wasn't enough anymore; it felt like a fully grown stag had gone berserk.
"Young Master, please forgive her," Kaladi said. "My sister's ability to act cute is truly unmatched. Basically, no one except our father can resist her."
"Then it's settled," Jason said. "We'll take her with us. I'll send a letter pigeon to your father afterward."
...
The fully completed English PDF of this fan-fic is now available on my Patreon shop.If you want to support my work and enjoy the entire story in one go, grab the PDF and binge-read it from start to finish without any breaks.
Patreon Shop:patreon.com /InkNovels
Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
"Game of Thrones: Holy Flame"
"The Game of Thrones Upgrade System"
"Game of Thrones: Lannister Kingdom"
"Game of Thrones: Godzilla vs. Dragons"
"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
"Game of Thrones: The Most Powerful Dragon Queen"
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones: Rise of a Lord with the Army-Building System"
(End Chapter)