"11.58 seconds... 101 passed," the referee shouted as he pointed his finger toward Lirzod, who seemed to be lost in thought. “11.59 seconds… 103 passed,” he then shouted for another person.
The people, who had bet that Lirzod would win, were satisfied without reservation. “I knew it! If we trust Inch Man, we will always make profits!”
“Yeah, he’s a master gambler with a great track record, after all!”
Though the crowd was in a visibly thrilled mood from seeing two winners, Lirzod stayed on the track itself, seemingly staring at the ceiling with a weird smile on his face. "I only saw their portraits in the tomes of the clan's library, but they are more beautiful than in the books," he couldn't help but recall the visage of Valkyra, and it strengthened his smile and made him nod his head to and fro in a smooth motion. "Many times, I wished that all of the beautiful portraits of the girls in the tomes were real. You gotta hand the credit to the creator for handcrafting such wonders. I knew doubting you is like eating dirt, God.” He took a breath. “Redguard tribe... who knows, if things go well, I might become your tribe's most treasured foreign niece!" He began to shyly laugh within himself when a palm slammed his head from behind, which almost made his hands touch the ground. That strike wasn't an unmemorable one, and it brought tears to his eyes.
When Lirzod turned back, his temper barely hanging sense of morality, his eyes caught sight of two dark-brown legs packed with defined muscles before his gaze moved up and witnessed the monstrous quadriceps, insanely grown obliques, abs, and pecs, but what caught his attention was the mouth that seemed close to that of a gorilla, and the distinctly sloping forehead that would put any proud man to shame.
Who the hell is this macho? Lirzod's eyes broadened in wonder and wrath.
"You just entered the ship today, and you want to go to the eleventh deck already?" the seven-foot-tall guy lifted Lirzod by the collar, forcing his feet to droop in midair. "If all newbies come and leave just like that, it will make us seniors look bad."
"What the hell's your problem, piggy?" Lirzod tried to pull himself out of that man's grip, but the difference in strength rendered all his efforts futile.
The big guy frowned and projected Lirzod into the air, and as he fell down, the enormous elbow clobbered into Lirzod's stomach, making him spit blood as he got sent flying back only to end up crashing into the crowd. To all appearances, his eyes exposed the whites before his body fell to the ground.
One guy shouted, “he’s knocked out cold.”
"Tch, couldn’t even kill my boredom. Throw this trash back in his room," the big guy gave a disgusted glance at Lirzod before walking away. "I decide who gets to go to the eleventh deck." His words were addressed to the rest of the crowd. It meant that whether one won the event or not, they had to take his permission.
"That's Geragorn for you," His followers laughed together as they left to their spots and funnily ran on the empty running track. “Don’t mess with the people from exotic tribes.”
Many people in the crowd couldn't help but feel down.
"That Geragorn is doing this on purpose. With his build, he probably can't pass this test, so he doesn't want others to pass as well. This is too selfish behavior."
“Idiot, can’t you see his body?” the seller who had almonds in his pockets said, “He can finish this test even when he’s dead drunk!”
“Then what’s his problem?”
“God only knows,” the seller shrugged his shoulders, “but I think, maybe he likes doing this.”
"Huh? Why doesn't someone try and stop him then?"
“Why don’t you try and stop him?”
“No, no, I can’t.”
"It’s the same with the rest. Who can stop a monster like that? I once saw him lift a five hundred pound bear and almost choke it to death with his bare hands. Plus, if I’m right, he's even approached by Metalskulls to join their side."
"Metalskulls? The mafia that drifted from the Mitri continent? They are on this ship as well?"
"Yeah, they may be criminals on their continent, but they haven't done anything bad here."
"Che, criminals are walking among us, but we can't do anything? At this rate, we will stay on this deck for all of this journey."
"No, don't worry... He won't stop everybody,” the seller said, “it's just the bad luck of the boy for falling in Geragorn’s eyes, but since you've already spent a week on this deck, you can go and ask him."
"Oh, then I will have to utilize that discount."
The seller just watched Lirzod being taken away by some men. He took out the almonds and chewed on them.
Lirzod slightly opened one of his eyes, and upon realizing that he was being taken away, he closed his eyes again.
On the night of the same day.
On one of the upper decks, Pikolai and the Darling Twins were seated around a table inside an old-looking bar, which was atop a cliff, and a river could be seen flowing alongside.
Pikolai was pouring the wine, and he didn’t have a pleasant expression on his face. “So, you two didn’t even warn him.”
“That spooky Stussy seemed to be related to him in some way,” Elder Darling said with a displeased look, “we just couldn’t take the risk, major.”
Pikolai pushed the glasses toward them. “Drink.” The two brothers hurriedly began to taste the wine. “If you don’t take risks, you both will never get in the eyes of our head.” He took out an ostrich egg and thrust his forefinger through the shell at the bottom region. “Only if you dig your finger deep enough into an egg, will you be able to touch the yolk and get to take it out,” he pulled out the yolk alone, leaving the albumen inside, “the lifelike part of the egg that contains the authentic taste,” as he tasted it, the Darling Twins swallowed their own drooling saliva.
Taking out the yolk without disturbing the albumen was an art they weren’t capable of doing. Like most people, they just break the egg and swallow the yolk that’s coated with its albumen. It’s said that its taste wasn’t even half as great as it would be if eaten the way Pikolai did. By making use of the air cell of the egg, the albumen would get pushed aside upon drilling a hole, and the yolk would then be pulled out with almost less to none of the albumen attached to it, thanks to it being taken out through the air pathway.
Pikolai used an ostrich egg, but Darling Twins saw their boss use chopsticks to pull out the yolk from a chicken egg. They could only curse their natural ability as they lacked the subtlety in achieving such things.
“So here you both are…” a voice rang out, and a dozen men came rushing into the bar and surrounded the table those three were at. A few seconds later, a person entered the bar. It was the Lady Luster, the man in gold. He had bandages all over his face, so his face was unrecognizable; however, he was covered in gold again, albeit different from what he used to wear.
“Who’s that?” Pikola asked the brothers in a relaxed manner.
“No idea. Must be from a circus,” Elder Darling said.
“What do you want, son?” Younger Darling turned around and asked.
“Son? Who the eff is your son?” The man in gold rebuked. “I’m the great Dalkan.”
“Dalkan? Never heard of that name,” the brothers looked at Pikolai, and he shook his head as well.
“Oh yeah, wait…” Pikolai pondered for a moment. “Maybe, the guy who cleans up after our farms and gathers chicken manure is also called Dalkan if I’m correct.”
“Oh, so it’s the Crap Collector Dalkan,” Younger Darling snorted. “What did you come here for? I don’t think this bar raises any chicken,” he looked at the bar owner, who nodded in affirmation.
Dalkan was consumed by anger, and his blood boiled like never before. He ground his teeth so hard that the sound was audible to the outside. “You bastards… Not only did you dare mock me on the tenth deck, but even now, you all are throwing off your tongues at someone you shouldn’t. I’ll make every single one of you regret your actions right away.” He glared at them and roared. “I want all of their limbs. Get them!”
The mercenaries immediately drew their weapons and dashed toward the table, swinging and thrusting their weapons.
The next morning.
The door of Lirzod's room was closed but not locked. Two members entered the room.
Lirzod was lying unconsciously on the bed. He was shirtless, and a bandage was wrapped around his belly.
“Enough acting,” a feminine voice sounded out, “why don’t you open your eyes?”
Yet, there was no response.
“Maybe he wants you to tend to his wound,” the feminine voice sounded again while speaking to the second person.
“With pleasure,” the other person, owner of a masculine voice said as he folded his sleeves.
At that moment, Lirzod opened his eyes, and both his clan members were seated on either side of the bed.
"Why are you two sitting here without bringing the one who did this to me?" Lirzod's eyes emitted cold light.
"That Geragorn isn't someone worth tangling with," Sariyu said as she put three strange pineapple-looking fruits on the table, "it's your fault for participating in the event without considering anything. Did you even read the rules?"
"I did,” Lirzod averted his gaze from her.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was only a couple of pages, so I did read till the end."
"A couple? It was more than twenty pages!"
"What?"
"You know that the rules are written at the back end of the manual?"
"Backend of the book?" Lirzod was startled but covered up his expression quickly. "I did."
“Just accept that you didn’t,” Sariyu snorted.
“So what if I didn’t?” Lirzod furrowed his brows. “What does that have anything to do with that piggy attacking me? Or, was that perhaps foretold in the book?” His voice was satirical.
Sariyu frowned. “You idiot. The rules explain the politics that happen in these decks. Some decks may be straightforward. You pass the test, you get to go, but some decks aren’t that simple. Like us entries, the hollows have some rules as well. Do you even know that?”
“Yeah, whatever,” Lirzod said and tried to get up, which made him frown a little. "Agh, my rib… it’s itching."
“Not whatever,” Sariyu said in an irked tone, but then controlled herself and looked at his bandage. "To your luck, it didn’t rupture."
“You think that's luck, huh,” Lirzod's voice sounded a bit sad.
“You look terrible when you put up a moody face,” Sariyu twisted his ear. “It just doesn’t suit you. So forget what happened with that Geragorn.”
“You know I can’t,” Lirzod calmly said. “That guy attacked me for no reason. And he bothers others as well. We should do something about him.”
“Forget about him.” Burton shook his head, "If not for you using your brain, which is a rare thing, you would have gotten severely wounded. Just what were you doing when he attacked you anyway?"
“I…” Lirzod paused a moment. “I was enjoying my victory.”
“You can’t be serious,” Sariyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
"I am.” Lirzod blew air through his nose. “First, tell me why that piggy attacked me out of the blue, yet everyone acts like nothing ever happened?"
“Why should I?’ Burton turned his head away. “It doesn’t matter now since you will not listen to whatever I may say.”
“I’m not asking you, Brainass,” Lirzod barked.
“What did you say?” Burton stood from his seat.
“Hmph, I know you heard me, Brainass,” Lirzod said and quickly turned to her. “Just who is that piggy anyway?”
Burton’s face turned a bit red in color, and he tried his best to stop himself from attacking Lirzod.
“That guy’s a newbie crusher,” Sariyu replied, and then quickly explained to him about what happened in the past few weeks. “He doesn’t let new entries reach the eleventh deck so easily.”
"So, we can't go to the eleventh deck without his permission?” Lirzod was bewildered. “How can the staff see all of this and not do anything?"
“Like I said, the staff on every deck is nothing but a bunch of hollows. As per the rules of hollows, they don’t really have to go out of their way as long as the deck tests aren’t being affected, and trouble isn’t stirred inside the test hall.”
“That’s…” Lirzod didn’t know what to say. “You mean that piggy will go unpunished even after he did this to me? Wait, trouble inside the test hall? He did attack me inside the test hall, right?”
“Well, yes, but since it was only a short fight, I guess it didn’t really affect other’s schedule,” Sariyu said. “So nobody was really against it. In fact, such short fights might even spark their mood and help them clear the test.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Lirzod couldn’t believe her words. “Things are more messed up than they seem on this ship. What about that piggy then?”
“Don’t you get it?” Burton replied in haste. “You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last of his victims either.”
“What’s your problem?” Lirzod knitted his brows. “I am talking to her, can’t you see?”
Burton turned his head away again. “You are right. Why should I care? I just came here for the sake of etiquette, that’s all.”
“Suit yourself, Big Brother,” Lirzod said and looked at her. “What about you? How will you reach the next deck if that piggy is in the way?”
"Well, first, we need to pass the test. You got no problems since you passed the test," Sariyu said, "We both, on the other hand, will have to wait for a week."
“A week? What for?”
“Geragorn will not bother about the new entries who spent at least a week on this deck.”
"Oh… So, that's how it is." Lirzod smiled and contemplated a bit. "Because I finished the race successfully, he can't stop me now as the staff would intervene."
"Isn't it obvious?" Burton stood. "It’s beyond my understanding why the useless ones get lucky all the time," he began to walk away. "I will try and see if there’s another way. If not, well, I just have to think of doing something productive for the next six days."
In the next stride, Burton ended up slipping on a banana peel and crashed to the ground, his head slamming down on the wooden floor.
Burton stood and looked at those who stared blankly at him. But the moment he took a step, Sariyu’s teeth exposed, and shoulders jerked up and down. Lirzod did the same, and their smiling vibes hit Burton’s back.
“Both of you,” he picked up the banana peel and threw it at Lirzod. “Stop laughing over stupid things! And throw that in the dustbin.” He looked at Sariyu, who covered her mouth with her hand.
“Blame Primera, not me,” Lirzod said in a soft and held-back tone, “or maybe your eyes.”
“Hmph,” Burton turned away and quickly left the room.
Afterward, both Sariyu and Lirzod looked at each other and laughed to their heart’s content.
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