Chapter 27: Friendship

"So it's like that…"

Walking on the street and looking at Chen Heng beside him, Krudo felt quite surprised, "You also came to join the Kutu Royal Academy."

"That's right," Chen Heng had a slight smile on his face as he said, "I never thought that you would be too."

Under Chen Heng's efforts, the two of them had gotten to know each other.

In a short amount of time, the young man had told him much about his background from Chen Heng's subtle questioning.

His name was Krudo, and he was the descendant of a ruler in the north. Just like Chen Heng, he was the son of a Baron, and he had also come to join the Kutu Royal Academy.

However, compared to Chen Heng, he was much more miserable than Chen Heng, and after coming here, he did not have anyone he knew.

"Didn't your father prepare a guide for you?" Chen Heng asked out of curiosity.

Krudo shook his head and explained to Chen Heng.

It turned out that even though Krudo's family were nobles, they were in the north, which bordered on a barren area.

Different from Baron Kaisen's territory, the barren regions not only had a poor climate but also all kinds of terrifying Outlanders.

That place was not only poor but also did not produce much. Because of the terrain and dangers, there were not many traveling merchants either, resulting in this situation.

As such, even the ruler there was very poor.

This was the same for Krudo's family.

According to Krudo, the reason why he was able to even come to Kutu was because a merchant group had been passing by, and he had brought him with them on their way.

Otherwise, he had no idea when he would have been able to arrive here.

Listening to this, even Chen Heng could not help but feel speechless.

However, his story seemed quite realistic.

Before this, he had indeed heard of the poverty in the north of the Kutu Principality.

He had thought that people had been exaggerating, but it seemed that this was the truth.

"By the way, is the southern side really that prosperous?" Krudo asked in admiration.

He greatly admired Chen Heng's disregard for money.

In their territory, one big silver coin was a very large sum of money.

"Not quite," Chen Heng smiled before shaking his head, "my father's situation is indeed a bit better than yours, but it is not that great either.

"In actuality, when I came out, I only brought three silver coins with me," he said calmly, his expression not changing.

"But you…" Krudo said before pausing, feeling quite surprised.

"Because people always want more."

Looking at Krudo, Chen Heng smiled and pointed at himself and said, "In actuality, to me, one big silver coin is quite a lot as well; even in a whole year, I might not be able to save up that much.

"However, compared to the joy of obtaining such a large amount of money, I don't want to see others suffer because of it."

He smiled as he continued, "Think about it; this might be someone else's entire fortune. They might be hoping to use this money to change their lives, or someone's life might depend on it…

"It wouldn't matter to me to not gain this money, but to other people, losing it might be equivalent to losing everything…"

Chen Heng sighed and said softly, "I don't want to see such a thing. If it was really like that, my joy would not be able to cover up my guilt, and I would not be able to live in peace."

Krudo once again felt stunned.

He had thought that Chen Heng had acted like that because he was incredibly rich, making it so that he did not care about money.

However, it seemed that that was not the case.

This was someone who would rather make sacrifices so that others did not suffer.

If he did not do anything, he would be able to easily take this money for himself. However, he did not do so; instead, he went to find the owner, not wanting the original owner to suffer.

What a righteous and kind person.

Looking at Chen Heng, Krudo felt immense respect, and he did not know what to say.

"You, sir, are a truly great person," he finally said after falling into silence for a while.

"Great? No, not at all."

Chen Heng smiled warmly.

"In actuality, if my father knew about this, he would definitely take out a sword and call me an idiot. I'm sure others are the same," he said as he grinned.

Krudo laughed and said seriously, "Perhaps to most people, this would seem idiotic, but I feel that your actions are incredibly noble.

"Kind people deserve respect," he said seriously as he looked at Chen Heng.

Standing there and looking at Krudo's expression, Chen Heng did not say anything and just smiled.

He had indeed only brought three silver coins to Kutu, but what he did not tell Krudo was that baron Kaisen would send him ten silver coins soon, and this would come every year in the future too.

He also did not tell Krudo that the owner of this silver coin had not actually lost it, and that everything had been made up.

Of course, as long as he didn't say it, Krudo would never know.

"Thank you."

Chen Heng smiled happily.

"Putting all that aside, it's good to know you. You're my first friend in Kutu," he said as he stretched out his hand.

Krudo stared for a moment before smiling and tightly shaking Chen Heng's hand.

At that moment, a friendship was formed.

Following this, Chen Heng and Krudo talked much, feeling as if they had always known each other.

Only after a long time, when it began to get dark, did Krudo leave.

Looking at Krudo's disappearing figure, Chen Heng stood there and thought to himself.

"A good sprout."

He smiled, feeling quite happy.

Even though they had only known each other for one day, Chen Heng had gained a lot of information.

Even though Krudo was not very old and seemed somewhat uncultured in some areas, he had great potential.

For him to come here to study, it meant that it was likely for him to succeed his father someday.

Moreover, even though the northern side's nobles were relatively poorer, they had some advantages.

Krudo also had some good points about him.

Thinking of that tight handshake and the calluses on Krudo's hand, Chen Heng smiled and became a bit more confident in his original suspicions.