Chapter 20: Young Fire Dragon
Harlik and the others were stunned for a few seconds, surprised by the words a twelve-year-old said to them. After a rather lengthy period of silence, Harlik laughed before speaking.
"You’re offering honor and glory to a mercenary group who values the almighty coin? We ain’t knights, kid, those fools who can live with only honor and glory. You sound so mature that it got me confused for a bit there, but in the end, you’re a twelve-year-old noble brat. Sounding all high and mighty, hmph, just like a noble brat should."
Harlik responded while shrugging his shoulders, but his hand was no longer on the hilt of his sword; in fact, most of the other mercenaries no longer looked like they were getting ready for battle.
Lucen, feeling a bit more confident, thought of how to respond. Lucen decided that he needed to act like one of his favorite protagonists, one full of confidence.
"Hmph, for a guy who says he knows honor, you speak like a greedy merchant... But I understand you. Honor and glory cannot feed you, of course, I will be paying you. It might not be as much as what was promised to you if you captured me, but I assure you it would be a fair price."
Lucen raised his chin slightly, channeling the swagger of a dozen anime protagonists. If they expected him to break under pressure, they picked the wrong boss battle.
While he was trying to convince the mercenaries, Lucen heard the familiar notification sound.
[Gained a new trait: Acting Adept (Rare)]
After gaining the new trait, Lucen felt like he could act out different characters in his memories better than before. He felt like he could use their personalities to put more weight in his words.
Unaware of what was happening in Lucen’s thoughts, Harlik was thinking about how to respond. He looked at his companions, most of them seemed like they were nearing to agreement, others seemed to be waiting to see what he thought.
’If we wanted to, we could capture him now.’