2. Baroness

"You can get off here, thanks for taking care of me earlier." the woman said to Caesar.

After thirty minutes of traveling, they arrived at a village built on the banks of a river.

At this time of the day, the village was at its peak. Trading, forging, working, this village lived like any other village.

Caesar dismounted, as soon as he stepped off the horse, he saw several soldiers moving towards him, sparking a bit of concern in the former Roman Dictator's mind.

"Take it easy, I'm a girl who doesn't like to be indebted to someone," the girl said, guessing Caesar's concern.

"Even though I killed three of your men?"

The girl turned to Caesar, "Sorry, my fault, but please keep it secret."

The soldiers finally reached the presence of their superiors, one by one they began to ask where their superiors comrades were.

"We met some bandits earlier. They're quite experienced, so..." he looked back at the forest he had entered earlier.

"Follow that road and take their bodies, give them a proper burial, and give their families five gold coins for compensation."

"Yes, Lady!" they replied in unison and went doing their business.

For a moment, Caesar watched them go, he wondering what the girl's title and her name was. All the soldiers called her 'lady' and obeyed all her commands. Before this, Caesar thought she was just another squad commander.

"Are you an officer? What is your rank?"

"And what's your name?"

"I asked you that before, but you didn't answer," the girl snapped.

"Because I thought it was rather dangerous to divulge it to a stranger," Caesar sighed. "Gaius Julius Caesar, I am not an officer, I stole this sword and equipment."

"If you were bad at fighting, I could believe it, but you're not."

"I was just lucky, meeting someone as weak as you are."

Caesar looked away and was about to leave, but before that the woman said; "Cornelia Alleusas, that's my name."

The confession was like a nail that drove Caesar into the ground, the man turned to Cornelia with slightly widened eyes. No need to be surprised, the name was so familiar to his ears.

"I'm the right hand of a Baro-, hey! why are you looking at me like that?"

He regained his senses, the Cornelia who was there was not the Cornelia he knew, and he had to accept that.

From then onwards, he would probably never have the chance to meet his wife, but meeting someone with a similar name warmed his tyrant's heart a little.

"No, it's fine." Caesar brushed his hair back with his hand.

"Wait, what did you just say? You're Baro's right-hand?"

"Baroness," Cornelia correcting.

"Yes, Baroness, is he some kind of high caste person here?"

"He's a nobleman, stupid, what kingdom are you from?"

"Can I work for him?"

"I knew it! You're a spy!" she accused while brandishing her sword.

"Stop your stupid accusations," Caesar took a step back.

"You're wearing armor plates from unknown country, and you think my accusations are baseless? Tell me! You're from the outer continent, right?! Are you planning to invade us?"

Caesar couldn't think, he had only been in this world for a day and was already accused of being a soldier of an enemy country, he didn't even know the name of the settlement he was currently staying in.

From a distance, three people came on horses, two of them had the same steel plates as Cornelia's, the leading one seemed to be wearing only a breastplate, even though she was a woman she didn't seem to care about her own safety.

"Cornelia!" the woman waved, both Caesar and Cornelia were provoked by the call and turned their heads towards her.

The woman had blonde hair, a beautiful face that seemed to have no fat whatsoever, a slender body clad in flawless white skin, and eyes as blue as beautiful shiny sapphires.

"Barones!" Cornelia dismounted, but she forgot the wound on her thigh that caused her to fall to the ground. While grimacing, the worried Barones immediately sped up his horse and dismounted towards the girl.

"You... Are you okay?" the woman called. The Barones checked all over her body, she felt so stupid for only realizing that there was a bandage wrapped around Cornelia's head. Not only that, similar things were also wrapped around her hands and her thighs.

"Who attacked you?!"

"Bandits, Barones.." he replied softly, "Two of my colleagues died because I was careless, I'm sorry."

"Have you compensated their families?" he asked again.

Cornelia nodded. She then turned to Caesar, her lips moving as if to whisper to him to leave. Although he understood what she was saying, Caesar approached the two women.

"Are you Barones?" he asked.

The girl nodded. "Yes."

"Can I work for you?"

The question took Cornelia by surprise, she made an unhappy face while gritting her teeth.

"What? Who are you?"

"I'm the one who saved Cornelia's life." Caesar extended his hand, wanting a handshake.

"My name is Julius Caesar, miss."

The woman turned to Cornelia, waiting for an answer.

"Right, Barones," she lied.

At least it was better than saying she was the one who killed her three companions, Cornelia was a knight of high esteem, owing favors to others was something that was never in her dictionary.

"Then thank you!" without hesitation the Barones shook Caesar's hand. "My name is Adorus Milius, just call me Milius!"

"I'm recruiting for my personal bodyguard, three weeks ago my best bodyguard died of an illness, but he was a good man."

"Alright, how much does it pay?"

"One hundred silver coins per month!"

"How much bread can I buy with that much money."

"Huh?"

There was a moment of silence, Caesar had asked a question that was strange to Cornelia and Milius, but he didn't realize it.

"You're crazy, you can buy a small house in a year and three months with that kind of wage," Cornelia said.

"It's okay Cornelia, maybe he can't do the math." Milius stood up and patted Caesar on the shoulder. "My guards always get a hundred silver coins raise every year, you know? That's not counting some allowances and pensions."

Caesar's pride almost collapsed when Milius treated him like a plebian, fortunately no one knew him as the Dictator of Rome. But the reason he asked was because he didn't know the value of currency in this country.

He could only sigh, and agreed to the noblewoman's offer.

"Alright."

Milius smiled, "But before that you must pass the entrance exam as my bodyguard."

"I see."

"Then let's go to my Mansion." Milius walked back to his horse.

After jumping onto it, he said; "Your first test, ride this horse!"

Without any question or hesitation Caesar approached Milius and jumped onto his horse. As soon as he was on top there was a strong resistance from the horse, it whinnied and jumped, triggering a panicked reaction from Cornelia and the other two soldiers who feared for their master's safety, but Milius took the initiative by hugging Caesar's waist tightly.

Caesar eventually subdued the horse by stroking its neck and head.

"The horse has calmed down, Milius, you can let go of your hand," Caesar said.

But Milius was not quick to let go of his embrace.

"Milius?"

"I'm telling you, my horse is very unstable, Caesar, so just in case it goes berserk again, it would be best if I stay like this."

Milius strengthened his embrace, and then rested his head on Caesar's back.

Meanwhile, Cornelia looked confused. She knew the character of the horse well, it was a bit rude to strangers, but once she was tamed it would never go wild again. Also, Milius was a nobleman, he wouldn't lie without a purpose.

Caesar didn't care, he wanted to end the test quickly, so he asked Cornelia; "Which way are we going?"

"I'd show you, but..." the girl glanced at the wound on her wrist, unable to stand because of the wound on her thigh.

"Oh my... Cornelia! I forgot that you were injured!" said Milius in a tone pretending to forget.

"Caesar, can you come forward a little?" she asked.

"Of course."

Caesar moved his sitting position forward, while Milius did the same, except that he pressed almost his entire body against the man's, intending to make room for Cornelia in the back.

"Come up Cornelia!" Milius held out his hand.

The girl hardly rose, and with a shake of her head took her master's hand and mounted the horse.

"One of you take Cornelia's horse!" he said to his two guards. And so One of them took Cornelia's horse.

"Straight ahead."

Caesar mounted the horse and led the group, with Cornelia's instructions he chose the path.

The village was quite lively, what they were currently crossing was a market street full of merchants and buyers. One or two soldier also passed through here, keeping the city in peace from any threats that might be destroying the harmony.

As far as the eye could see, there was not a single person sitting listlessly on the side of the road while raising their hands up, asking the generous people to share their sustenance. This village, quite prosperous. And Caesar marveled at that.

"What are you looking at, Caesey?" a question escaped Miss Barones' pink lips, her tone seductive.

"Caesey?"

"Yes! Since you're going to be my bodyguard, I'll call you Caesey, okay?"

Caesar wanted to shake his head, but he might lose his job opportunity because of that, so he had no choice but to undo it.

"Okay."

"That's my Caesey!" said Milius happily.

"To the left," Cornelia exclaimed. She was secretly annoyed, seeing her employer immediately familiar with a stranger she had only met a few minutes ago.

If only Milius known that the man had killed three of his soldiers, perhaps what she do would have been quite different.

"A little interview related to your work, Caesey. Do you think Cornelia is pretty?" asked Milius, Cornelia was suddenly surprised, then looked at Milius' half face with ignorant eyes and a smile

"Yes, very beautiful, Milius." the man's tone was calm and flat as if he didn't care.

"Oowh... What do you like about her?"

"Her hair, her face, I'd be lying if I said her heart."

"What about me?" she asked suddenly.

The man recognized Milius' beauty, she was still more beautiful than the average woman he had met, and that's mean from Plebia to Patricia. Her beauty was never inferior to her right hand, but when it came to personal preference, he clearly chose Cornelia

"You're beautiful too."

"Hey is this an appropriate conversation?" interrupted Cornelia uncomfortably.

"Ah!" Milius looked back, with his mouth slightly open for a moment.

"She is angry, Caesey, we better change the question!" she then chuckled.

"Where are you from, Caesey?" as said, Milius changed the subject.

"From somewhere quite far away, there was a lot of chaos there, so I decided to leave that place," he lied.

"Oooh... You don't want to give an exact answer, Caesey?"

Caesar shook his head slowly.

"Alright, no problem! But one more question."

"Have you ever done... that?"

Without being told, Caesar already knew what 'that' meant. "Isn't this a very vulgar topic?"

"I don't think so!"

Caesar sighed.

"Yes, I have." Technically, he wasn't lying, he even had one child with Cornelia, and probably another with the Ptolemaic Pharaoh of Egypt, Cleopatra.

"Oh yeah? With whom?"

"I won't answer."

For the umpteenth time, Milius laughed merrily.

"Sorry, Caesey. But honestly, I didn't expect it! You look so innocent..."

With a little passion the girl slowly groped Caesar's stomach, then moved to the chest, then to the shoulders, and finally back to the waist. And With blushing cheeks, Milius brought her seductive lips to the former Tyranr earlobe and whispered something.

"Hey Caesar, your body is very shapely. You must have worked really hard to get this body into this shape, huh?"

"This body? Of course! No man has the right to be an amateur when it comes to a physical training. It's a shame for a man to grow old without even seeing the beauty and strength his body is capable of."

Again Milius laughed, but this time the reason was more obvious, which was because of Caesar's suddenly slightly excited response to this topic.

So far, Caesar had not wavered, but that did not mean Milius was giving up.

He whispered some more words in a teasing tone.

"Caesar... Since your body is so strong, I'm sure you're very durable in that regard... right?" Milius tightened his embrace.

"So how about you come to my room tonight?"

Caesar shook his head, "No."

Milius was surprised, his interlocutor was sturdier than he expected.

"Why, am I not pretty enough?"

Now both of Milius' hands moved in two different directions, one to the upper thigh, and the other to the chest.

"I'll also invite Cornelia... She won't refuse because I'm her mistress... How about it?"

Cornelia, when she heard that name, what she remembered was the Cornelia in her world. Such a poor woman, she died so young, and to make matters worse her daughter died in the same way.

"Why are you silent?"

"Shut your mouth."

Although short, the words were able to silence and surprise Milius and Cornelia.

"What did you say?"

"You consider yourself a noble, huh? You're such a cunt to me. Your every word, your every move, reminds me of the greedy whores in my country. So shut your mouth and behave like a Noble."

The diatribe pierced the Barones' heart, tore at his pride, and closed his thin lips. The atmosphere was tense, but she tried to think of a way to break the tension.

"Congratulations, you passed both tests. You were the only one out of a hundred applicants who made it through this test, you know? But your words were hurtful, you fool." Milius reluctantly released her embrace.

"You still have one more test to take."

Soon they arrived at a large pension, a guard opened the gate that was as long as the front of a small house, and Caesar and his entourage entered.

They reached a large mansion, where a guard opened the gate, which was as long as the front of a small house, and Caesar and his entourage entered.

Two fountains and two gardens were built symmetrically to the left and right of the white stone path that Caesar was now walking along, this path led him to the front door of the pension which was also guarded by two soldiers.

Between the two soldiers stood two men; a servant who looked old from his white mustache that tapered upwards, and an equally old soldier who was better equipped than the other.

The servant bowed to his mistress as he dismounted, "Good day, miss."

"Good afternoon Serav!" she replied.

The servant shifted his gaze to Caesar, he asked a quick question; "And...?"

"Caesar."

Caesar dismounted from his horse.

"Caesar... Good name, boy!" the old soldier patted Caesar on the shoulder.

"You're the first, you know?" he whispered something in the man's ear.

Caesar just laughed, though he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Caesar, this servant is named Seraval, and the old man Cuirass is my only guard in this moment, you both will be a good partners," said Milius.

Caesar nodded simply and extended his hand while saying; "Caesar."

Both Seraval and Cuirass returned the hand, it was unclear if they returned it warmly or not, their faces looked friendly, but Caesar assumed their friendly faces were just a formality.

Milius glanced at Caesar and said, "Take a bath, you smell stink a bit."