Chapter 345 - Settle It with a Contest

"...Are you stupid, Augustus? Do you think that just helping out my son, Luca, will warrant you a favor strong enough for my family to give away our heir?" Kaiser said in a suppressed tone of voice. He was obviously trying to contain his anger at how incredibly stupid and outrageous Augustus's request was.

"Oh, please. I didn't mean that I want to take him away! I just want him to be a part of my family!"

"...You mean to wed him to one of your daughters?!" Anastasia immediately spoke up.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla immediately had dark looks on their faces. Just earlier they were talking about not taking in another woman into Cecil's cozy little family, but now this old man from an enemy family sprung up this out of the blue.

Kaiser frowned for a moment and turned to look at Cecil before returning his gaze onto Augustus.

"Kaiser, don't you think it's about time we set aside our families' past differences? We're already pioneering a new age of humanity in this world! We earthlings should set aside all past grudges to unite and stand together in this unfamiliar world!"

"..."

"I've always been going on and on about our two families forming an alliance even from way back when we were still on Earth, but you've always been so stubborn!"

"That's because our Elders can't seem to forgive each other! Also, if you didn't remember, our families were always at odds with each other!"

"Tch, but at least during my time in power I've been trying to reduce those kinds of confrontations! Confrontations in the country's matters and sectors couldn't be helped, but the ones in the underground! Weren't there less of those ever since I became the Goldenia family's patriarch?!" Augustus argued.

"..."

"I'm not trying to force an ethereal or doc.u.mented alliance with you, but one more substantial and tight-knitted, in the form of a marriage between our clan's youngsters!"

"...Well, you're going to have to find another 'youngster'," Cecil immediately stepped forward and said.

Kaiser silently eyed his son who was clearly against all of this. Augustus grew a little worried at Cecil's objection but he immediately turned towards Kaiser and said, "Kaiser, have your son stand down! This is a discussion between us patriarchs! Boy, what we're doing isn't anything detrimental to you or your family!"

"If you haven't noticed, I'm already married!" Cecil replied angrily.

"Yes, you're married, to two women if I might add!" Augustus said as he side-eyed Lucia and Serilla. He turned back to Cecil and continued, "What's the difference if you add just one more woman? Besides, you've already met the candidate earlier! Her looks, status, and character doesn't lose out to those two, so why not?"

"And why does it have to be me?!"

Augustus huffed and stopped arguing with Cecil. He turned towards Kaiser and said, "Kaiser, your son cannot be this daft, right?! He's the next patriarch! This will lead to a stronger bond between our families! Even you yourself have been trying to limit the fighting between our two families when we were on Earth so why not take this chance to put a total stop to it now?! Besides, our original arrangement was to marry my daughter and your son if you haven't forgotten!"

Kaiser frowned when he remembered their plan from way back when. Back on Earth, after Cecil had saved Katya when they were young, the Goldenias had a legitimate reason to visit the Silvarias and the two patriarchs, for the first time since their families' founding, had sat down together to address the problems the two families had against each other and were genuinely trying to resolve it for once.

Their only solution was to form an alliance, one that was strong enough to deter any of their family members from attacking each other. The only thing they could think about was marrying Cecil to one of Augustus' daughters and since Cecil had just saved Katya and left a big impression on the girl's heart, she was obviously the best candidate.

It was too bad that the proceeding events that had occurred put a stop to all of this. It could have continued once the Earthlings had adapted to their life in the new world, but it was too bad that Cecil was absent and when he did come back, he had already brought home two brides with him.

It was just like the saying, man proposes but god disposes. Kaiser couldn't help but shake his head when he lamented on these things.

"...Things have changed, Augustus. We've been brought to this world and all our previous plans had to be trashed. We also have to respect the wishes of the two people involved! One side is clearly not—"

"Are you going to give up this opportunity? As the patriarch, shouldn't you be looking at the bigger picture and enforce your decisions on the young ones?!"

"Like I said, I want to respect my children's wishes!"

"Tch, you've grown soft, Kaiser!"

"I was always like this, Augustus. It's just you who's too rigid to adjust your plans."

'I've been able to accomplish my first objective in coming here, which was to secure the Silvaria family's aid, but this second objective must be brought to fruition no matter what!' Augustus inwardly thought.

"Then how about this, can we at least let them get to know each other? Maybe Cecil will have a change of heart once he's gotten to know my daughter, Katya, after a while."

Cecil was just about to open his mouth but heard an indistinct cracking sound. He turned around and saw Lucia smiling darkly and strongly gripping her MID, nearly cracking it. Serilla was next to her also calmly smiling back at Cecil but in the boy's eyes, those weren't smiles at all.

"Don't waste your time, Patriarch Augustus. While your objective is noble, I'm just not willing. Why not marry your daughter to one of my brothers?"

"My young friend, you just don't understand the position you are in right now," Augustus replied while exasperatingly shaking his head. "You are going to be the next Silvaria Patriarch! To uphold the alliance between our two families, the Goldenia bloodline must also be a part of the Silvaria family's succeeding main branch bloodline!"

Cecil released an exasperated sigh when he couldn't get through to Augustus's thick skull. Can't the man tell that he obviously doesn't want it? Heck, even the daughter in question looks a reluctant about this arrangement. It's just that the girl hadn't spoken up about it.

"If it wasn't for the transmigration incident, you would have most likely already hooked up with my daughter by now! She would have been your wife!" Augustus argued.

"Augustus, that's enough! The things we've planned back then can no longer be carried out at present. Let it go and come up with a new demand for the debt we owe you!" Kaiser spoke up.

"Then I request for my daughter to live with the Silvarias!"

Hearing the fast counter from Augustus, Cecil's face couldn't help but twitch in annoyance. The man couldn't force the issue with marriage so he wanted for his daughter to live with the Silvarias in hopes of the girl making her way into the family's heart and most importantly, Cecil's heart.

By then, if the Silvarias wanted to discuss about marriage once more, the Goldenia family would be more than willing to discuss things once again. Kaiser and Anastasia were a little troubled by the request and Cecil couldn't help but curse the Goldenia family patriarch inwardly.

'Damn this old guy! He just can't give it a rest!'

Just before he could open his mouth to object, Lucia stood up and asked aloud, "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, if I may suggest?"

"Eh, Lucia? G-go ahead, dear, what is it?" Anastasia said.

"Why don't we hold a contest?"

"A contest?"

"Yes, well, you see, father-in-law, back 'there' whenever there was a dispute like this, one of our customs was that the two people in question would fight with each other! The losers would have to obey whatever it is that the winner requests of them!"

This was a lie. There was no such custom in any nation of Urrugdrasil. This was something that only happened in the Lunarts family of the Anglaria Kingdom. Yes, it was a custom from Serilla's family.

Whenever someone from their family got into a dispute with another about anything, they'd just duke it out with their swords and the loser would have to obey whatever the winner requested. Serilla had whispered this suggestion to Lucia since it seemed that the Goldenia patriarch didn't want to back down no matter what.

The two women couldn't understand why Kaiser and Anastasia just didn't outright reject the Goldenia family's request since they were enemies, but it seemed like owing and repaying a favor was something important to the Silvaria family.

Also, the Silvaria family was indeed looking for a way to stop all enmities with the Goldenia family so this was a good suggestion. The only problem was that Cecil objected to it so Kaiser could only try and find another solution.

He left the decision to Cecil since if his son wanted to, then he wouldn't actually mind letting him marry another wife into the family. Of course, Anastasia would have something to say about it later, but that was for later.

Kaiser honestly thought that Cecil wouldn't mind since he wasn't raised with the morals of a normal earthling since he practically grew up in this world where having two wives wasn't looked down upon in society.

Cecil was married to Lucia and Serilla legally and lawfully in the Machina Reggio Empire so he thought his son wouldn't even mind having another beauty to hold in his arms at night. Turns out that wasn't the case at all. So when he heard Lucia's suggestion, he immediately clapped his hands and agreed to it.

"Oh! Is that so? Augustus, why not handle it like this? Since we're living in a new world, why not let the youngsters battle it out and decide it for themselves?"

"..."

Augustus thought for a moment before deciding. He had seen the golden blast of energy that destroyed a portion of the city's residential area. He looked towards his daughter who was silent and had her head lowered all this time.

'I'm sure my daughter won't lose out to him...right?'

"I'll agree to it, but no fatal attacks and if I may add, the two are only allowed to use magic, is that okay?"

"Magic?"

"Why yes, my daughter can use magic," Augustus smugly replied.

"Well, Cecil, what say you?" Kaiser asked.

"Why not, let's do this. It's better than just arguing about it all day!"