Furio Empire Capital

From then on, Matthews and Mia traveled toward the Imperial Capital in this manner.

"Wow, so this is the Imperial Capital!"

Watching the excited Mia, Matthews felt not a ripple of emotion in his heart. Although the individual combat strength of people in this world was far greater than in his previous world, the level of prosperity here still couldn't compare to those cities of the past.

While individual strength was a good thing, it was accompanied by even greater chaos. Thus, the development of civilization here was not like before; there were no skyscrapers. What existed were sturdy fortresses!

"Come on, let's find a place to change our clothes."

"But brother, we only have enough money for the magic test. Where would we get so much money to buy clothes?"

"Clothes make the man; don't worry about a few coins."

Mia looked at the dress she was wearing; although it was much better than the animal skins from before, it was only worth two hundred copper coins, yet her brother was spending about three silver coins on her new outfit.

"Brother, is this the pretty dress you promised me?"

"Mm, I'll buy you an expensive one later."

"Brother, I'm not a child anymore. You've been hoodwinking me the whole way!"

Matthews checked his reflection in the shop's magic water mirror, quite satisfied with his aura. He then said, "Don't worry about the details. We need to rely on your brother to trick those fools into spending gold coins on our goods, so I need to look wealthy."

It was a pity that the outfit the mercenary group who betrayed him had given him was much more expensive than this. But it had been ruined while drifting in the river; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have spent these three silver coins.

"Brother, do you think I'll still believe your nonsense?"

Amidst the disdainful gazes of the shop assistants, Matthews awkwardly pulled Mia out of the shop.

"He looks like such a handsome young man, I didn't expect him to be so stingy with his sister."

"Yeah, whoever marries him is probably going to have bad luck for a lifetime!"

Listening to the scornful voices coming from behind, Matthews could only snort coldly in his heart. You common mortals, how could you possibly understand my greatness?

Today was the empire's annual magic talent test, and people from all corners of the empire were pouring in. Thus, Matthews and Mia managed to squeeze into the crowd with great difficulty.

Mia watched her brother standing straight, waving a folding fan. Although he did look quite handsome, it was clearly autumn now, and it wasn't very hot; in fact, the temperature was already getting a bit chilly.

"Brother, aren't you cold waving that fan like that?"

"Go on, get lost. Your brother is just Flexing."

"What is Flexing?"

Seeing Mia asking questions, Matthews wanted to explain. But after thinking about it, he really couldn't explain it clearly, so he said, "Just think of your brother as attracting customers."

Mia didn't understand what her brother meant by customers, so she frowned and asked, "Mm—so, it's just like you said before, tricking fools?"

Hearing Mia's words, the people around them looked at Matthews as if he were an idiot. They all subconsciously moved away from that area!

"But brother, shouldn't we go test our talent first?"

"No rush, we're still short a few gold coins."

After hearing this, Mia pouted her lips high, humming with dissatisfaction, "Hmph, if you hadn't spent those extra three silver coins, we would have had enough."

Because of the people moving away, Matthews stood out even more like a crane in a flock of chickens amidst the crowd.

Not far away, a wealthy young master was also being escorted toward this side. His family was a prominent clan in the eastern part of the empire, and this time, the old man Lodi, who had accompanied him for many years, was sending him to enroll in the Imperial Magic Academy.

Just as he was about to step off the carriage, he caught sight of Matthews standing in the crowd, flamboyantly waving his fan. He was immediately struck with awe and shouted, "Wow, Old Lodi, look at how cool that person is!"

Lodi had just finished listening to the eight-year-old young master when he saw him jump off the carriage and run toward the distance. His duty this time was to protect the young master of the family, so naturally, he had to follow.

"Wow, big brother, you look so cool!"

"Hahaha, this brother here is clearly a kindred spirit. Everything else is just fleeting clouds; being cool, just like strength, is a lifelong pursuit."

"Wow, this big brother has hit the nail on the head regarding my long-standing doubts. These are truly words of wisdom."

"Snap—"

With a handsome gesture, he closed the folding fan in his hand, then cupped his fists together. He bowed to the eight-year-old child and said, "Brother, you have a good eye."

Seeing Matthews's handsome posture, the child's eyes immediately lit up, and his heart was shaken even more.

"Wow, so cool. This thing suits my aura!"

Then, after Matthews finished his salute, he performed another set of handsome movements to open the folding fan and began chatting with him elegantly.

"I am Matthews. May I ask for your name, brother?"

The eight-year-old youngster also mimicked Matthews's style and said, "I am Winter, of the Utteridge Clan."

"Brother Winter, a pleasure, a pleasure."

Winter the child said somewhat bashfully, "Big brother, I wonder if you would be willing to part with this item? I am willing to pay gold coins to buy it!"

Matthews put on a troubled expression and said, "This isn't anything valuable; it wouldn't be impossible to give it to you, brother."

Although Mia didn't think her brother could trick a fool into spending gold coins on a bamboo folding fan, this was, after all, related to their magic talent test. Hearing her brother actually say he would give it away for free, she said anxiously, "Brother!"

Only then did Winter notice Mia standing to the side, so he bowed and said, "Greetings, miss."

Matthews gave a million thumbs-ups in his heart for Mia's "brother" call, then said, "This is my sister. Originally, giving this to you wouldn't be a problem, but this was a gift from my father."

After pondering for a moment, Winter said, "I offer twenty gold coins. I wonder if you would be willing to part with it for me?"

"Well, alright. Since you like it, I'll gift it to you, brother. Consider it a token of our friendship!"

Winter spoke directly, "Uncle Lodi, get this brother twenty gold coins."

"Young Master, this..."

"Uncle, just consider it me making a friend."

"Very well."

Winter gave Matthews twenty gold coins and then walked away, satisfied with the folding fan in hand. Although Lodi felt in his heart that Matthews had swindled his young master, seeing how much the young master liked the fan, and considering he was merely a guard of the Utteridge Clan, he had no standing to say anything.

"Brother, you really scammed a fool. And for twenty gold coins, no less!"

"What kind of talk is that? That is a good friend of your brother here."

Having spent time with Matthews, Mia finally understood that this cheap older brother of hers was no good; he had always been skilled at pitting his younger sister against others, not to mention that many of his behaviors were completely different from the noble temperament and conduct her parents had taught her.

"Fine, I didn't expect that a fool would actually fall for it."