Chapter 28 - Friendship

"I see..." Walking on the road, looking at Chen Heng beside him, Kurudo suddenly realized, "You're also here to enroll in the Kutu Academy." "Yes." Chen Heng had a smile on his face and nodded gently. "I didn't expect that you were too." After a while, with Chen Heng's deliberate efforts to make friends, the two of them could be considered to have gotten to know each other. In just a short period of time, under Chen Heng's deliberate questioning, the young man had already told him everything about his background. His name was Kurudo. He was a descendant of the northern lord. Like Chen Heng, he was also the heir to a baron. This time, he had come to participate in the gathering at the Kutu Academy as well. However, compared to Chen Heng, he was obviously in a rather miserable situation. So much so that after arriving here, he didn't even know anyone. "Didn't your father arrange a guide for you?" Chen Heng asked curiously. Kurudo shook his head with a bitter smile and then began to explain to Chen Heng. It turned out that although the Kurudo family was noble, they were located in the north and bordered a desert area. Unlike the territory where Baron Kayson was, in the desert area, there were not only harsh climates but also all kinds of terrifying alien races. That place was not only poor, with very little produce, but also had few merchants traveling through it due to the terrain and dangers. This also led to a result. The lords there were all very poor. The Kurudo family was the same. According to Kurudo, he was able to come to Kutu only because a merchant caravan happened to pass by and gave him a ride along the way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known when he could have arrived here. Hearing this, even Chen Heng couldn't help but be speechless for a while. To be a lord to such an extent was really speechless. However, it seemed quite real. Before this, he had heard a little about the poverty in the north of the Kingdom of Kutu. He had thought that those were exaggerated words, but now it seemed that it might be even worse than what he had heard. "Speaking of which, is the south that wealthy?" Then, Kurudo asked with some envy. He was quite envious of Chen Heng's attitude of not caring about money before. In their territory, a large silver coin was a lot of money. "Not really." Chen Heng smiled and then shook his head. "The situation of my father's territory is indeed a bit better than yours, but not much better." "Actually, when I left, I only had three silver coins on me." He said calmly without changing his expression. "Then why did you..." Kurudo was stunned for a moment and was a bit surprised. "Because one should always think more." Looking at Kurudo, Chen Heng smiled and then pointed to himself. "To be honest, the money of a large silver coin is a lot. I might not be able to earn that much in a year." "But compared to the joy of obtaining this unexpected wealth, I would rather not see others suffer because of it." He smiled and said, "Even for me, a large silver coin is a lot of money... So what about for others?" "Think about it. This might be the property of someone's whole family. Maybe someone was hoping to use this money to change their life. Or perhaps, someone was waiting for this money to save their life..." "Losing this unexpected wealth doesn't mean much to me, but for others, it could be a disaster..." Chen Heng sighed softly and said gently, "I don't want that to happen. If that were the case, my joy couldn't make up for my guilt and would make me live in uneasiness." Kurudo was stunned again. He had originally thought that Chen Heng had done that before simply because he was wealthy enough and thus didn't care about the money. But now it seemed that it was completely not the case. This was a person who would rather sacrifice his own interests than make others cry. He could easily pocket this wealth, which was not a small amount of money for him either, as long as he did nothing. But instead of doing that, he took the initiative to look for the owner and didn't want others to be sad about this loss. What an upright and kind-hearted person he was! Looking at Chen Heng, Kurudo immediately felt a deep sense of respect. At this moment, he almost didn't know what to say. "You, you are really a great person." He looked at Chen Heng, was silent for a long time, and then said so. "Great? No, not really." Chen Heng smiled, and his smile was still very gentle and pleasant to look at. "In fact, if my father knew about what happened today, he would surely take his sword and scold me for being a fool." "Others would probably think the same way." He shook his head and said with a smile. Kurudo also smiled and said earnestly, "Perhaps in the eyes of most people, this kind of behavior isn't very clever, but I always think that behavior like yours is noble." "Kind-hearted people deserve respect." He looked at Chen Heng and said solemnly. Standing there, looking at Kurudo's expression, Chen Heng didn't say anything but just smiled. He had indeed only brought three silver coins when he came to Kutu this time, but what he didn't tell Kurudo was that Baron Kayson would give him ten more silver coins later and would do so every year in the future. He also didn't tell the other party that there was no so-called owner at all and that he had made up the whole thing. Of course, the other party would never know these things. "Thank you." With all kinds of thoughts flashing through his mind, on the surface, Chen Heng smiled, looking very happy. "Anyway, we can be considered to have gotten to know each other." "You're the first friend I've made in Kutu." He said with a smile and then stretched out his hand. Kurudo was stunned for a moment and then also smiled, reaching out his hand to Chen Heng and shaking it firmly. Silently, a friendship seemed to have been established. After that, Chen Heng and Kurudo talked a lot. The two of them chatted here, and for a while, they felt as if they had met too late. It wasn't until a long time later, when the sky gradually darkened, that Kurudo turned around and left this place. At the original place, looking at Kurudo's gradually disappearing figure, Chen Heng stood there, lost in thought. "A good prospect." He smiled, looking quite happy. Although they had only known each other for a day, Chen Heng had already obtained a lot of information. Kurudo was not old. As the child of a baron, although he seemed a bit like a bumpkin at the moment, his potential was beyond doubt. At least being able to come here to study meant that he would probably inherit his father's title in the future. And although the northern nobles were generally poor, they still had many advantages in some aspects. Moreover, Kurudo himself also had many good points. Recalling the feeling of the calluses on his hand when they shook hands just now, Chen Heng couldn't help but smile and became more certain about the speculation in his mind.