05. Ammon

"Brother Ammon! You are here too! Have you also been invited to the Royal banquet too?"

A voice came from behind 'Ammon', it was filled with contempt and jealousy at the same time.

'Ammon Valor' belonged to the Valor family of the Land of Leafspire, the strongest family, second only to the Royal Leafspire family. Even though 'Ammon Valor' was the son of the family head, his reputation preceded his strength. He was renowned as 'The Great Slacker', who had almost no interest in cultivation whatsoever.

Viol Proudspirit, belonging to the Proudspirit family which was ranked fifth and last among the great noble families. Belonging to the bottom last family, he envied Ammon's status very much. Ammon didn't have to do anything— neither cultivate nor handle family affairs, but still nobody dared to put up a finger against him for the fear of the 'Valor' family behind him and more importantly his little brother.

'Ammon' turned around and looked at Viol curiously but before he could offer a reply, a stern voice beat him to it, "You dare laugh at my brother?!"

Everyone, who was passing by, turned to look at the person who stopped this marvellous scene they were spectating. They were extremely annoyed, this was supposed to be an interesting fight between the famed 'Great Slacker' and the son of the Proudspirit family head.

But once they saw the face of the 'culprit', their face turned white as if they saw a ghost. It was the little brother of 'Ammon', Thane Valor. Though they were brothers, they were the exact opposite of each other.

Thane was born with immense potential, no less than the Royal Prince in fact. Rather than infighting between brothers, it was Thane being a loyal dog of his brother, following and protecting him everywhere he went.

Seeing Thane, Viol's legs almost went limp. Who didn't know about the ferocious little brother of Ammon, protecting him like a little dog wherever he went?

Gritting his teeth Viol bowed towards, "Y-you misunderstand, young master Thane! I was just asking how young master Ammon was. I will be on my way then."

Then turning tails he ran but before he could get far, Thane had already appeared in front of him.

"You really think, you can just laugh at my brother and leave?!"

With a fist, Viol was punched out of sight. Thane looked at everyone coldly as he scolded, "What are you all waiting for? Scram!"

The crowd scattered like a hive of bees, scared shitless. Ammon just sighed as he smiled at Thane, "Let's go, Thane."

Thane just responded with a smile as he nodded his head.

"Damn it!"

Viol cursed as he lay on the ground spewing a mouthful of blood, that punch had injured him quite a bit. To think that he would be bullied instead as he was thinking of bullying Ammon, "How can Ammon's brother be so different, while others would almost kill their own if they had a chance, he acts like a loyal dog!"

...

Roy, now as 'Ammon', could feel a strange burning sensation surging from his core. This sensation came just after he had reincarnated here.

'As I thought, the power will be retained, no matter if I reincarnate. This way I wouldn't have to re-cultivate back what I had in my previous incarnation.'

Thane looked at Roy smiling ear to ear, as he smiled in symphony with him, 'If brother is happy then I am happy', this was the philosophy he lived by.

The Valor family's successor, Thane, was invited to the Royal capital to attend the Royal Prince's banquet, but 'Ammon' being his brother tagged along with him. In reality 'Ammon' was scared of being bullied by the people at the Valor Manor, thus he followed behind Thane. Anyway Thane didn't mind Ammon tagging along, so brought him to attend the Royal banquet with him, even though Ammon didn't receive any invitation from the Prince.

So, Roy was here to attend the Royal banquet, as he shamelessly arrived at the Royal Capital.

...

At the Royal Prince's residence.

"Prince! Young Master Thane has arrived at the capital."

An old bearded man kneeled behind the jewel adorned man gazing at the garden of flowers. Seemingly interested, the young man turned around. An incredibly handsome face looked at the kneeling old servant.

"Oh! Send him the Royal Scroll as a welcome gift here."

"Yes! My Lord!"

The old servant hesitated for a moment, then spoke out, "My Lord! Young master Thane's elder brother has also come here with him but doesn't seem to have an invitation."

"Oh! Never mind him."

The Prince replied as if not bothered about it. He just grit his teeth as his battle intent flared and muttered, "Let's see how strong you have become Thane"

As for the old servant, he flashed and disappeared.

...

Valor family Manor, Royal Capital.

An old man was standing at the gate. Soon a guard came forward as the old man passed on a scroll to the former. Taking the scroll the guard just nodded at the old man, then went inside the manor

"Young master Thane, the Royal Prince has sent a Royal Scroll to welcome you to the Royal capital."

The guard kneeled on one knee as he explained to Thane. Thane looked at him and then frowned confusedly, "What about my brother? Isn't there one for him?"

The guard hesitated then replied,

"This... Both of you are mentioned at once."

"That's good. As long as brother is mentioned, it's fine."

Thane just laughed as he responded with a smile, though his hands were clenched into a fist.

The guard had lied, Ammon had never been mentioned in the scroll. A Royal Scroll is only given to selective individuals, either by the Royal Prince or the Emperor, to allow the person the same privileges enjoyed by a Prince. It is a sign of the highest honour a person could enjoy, how could it be easily given to Ammon?

'Humph! To dare not give face to my brother, I shall make you bleed!'

...

"Do we have a library or something here?"

Roy asked the maid following behind him, as he looked around the hall curiously.

"This way young master!"

The maid replied nervously as she ran up in front of Roy and the latter followed behind.

The maid stood outside the library as she indicated the door to Roy as maids weren't allowed inside libraries unless commanded.

Roy walked inside the library, then a tea time later popped his head out of the library door and looked at the maid confusedly, "Do you know where the books about cultivation are?"

"I dare not, young master!"

The maid replied while staring down nervously at the floor. She too seemed confused, who didn't know about the Great Slacker in the Royal capital? The Great Slacker looking for cultivation books seemed confusing and weird indeed.

She thought that the young master would like to visit the library to read all those shameless books about women. Anyway lowly servants like her weren't allowed to cultivate, so she didn't know where the cultivation manuals were.

"Then do you know the place where Thane usually visits when he is here?"

Roy asked again as he looked at the nervous maid.

"It's this way, young master."

The maid replied before again rushing up to another side of the hall and Roy following behind her again. This time they both arrived at a door with two servant guards standing nearby. She pointed to the door ahead quietly.

"Thanks!"

Roy walked up to the door, then stopped and threw a small pouch at the maid, "Here, keep this."

Then walked in, as the two servants held the door open for him.

The maid looked at the small pouch with eyes widened, a lowly servant like her had never seen this much money in her life and rather didn't even touch a pouch with one so heavy.

But opening it she saw not money but peanuts-unshelled ones, few of which fell out. This almost broke her down, but thinking about it— peanuts were quite costly in the common populace, she could make some money by selling them. This bought a smile on her face, as she giggled evilly.

What was instead seen by the guards was a women who was chuckling madly after being given a whole pouch filled with peanuts. They felt sympathetic, it seemed this evil young master of theirs broke a maid.

...

On the other side of the door.

Roy was quite enjoying the feeling of giving so many peanuts out to a random person. In all his incarnations he was but a poor bloke, who died and even in his last one, he had to take up the job of becoming a lone bandit and rob people to have some money to meet his needs.

Now he was quite happy with his status, a young master of a noble family. To people of his status, these peanuts were worth nothing. But still being a miser most of the time made him a little reluctant to give out a whole pouch of gold, it would seem better to give out peanuts in the disguise of gold. This way he wouldn't lose his 'rich young master' face and as they say, bad habits die hard.