25 RULES OF HOLLOWS (1/2)
”11.58 seconds... 101 passed,” The referee shouted as he pointed his finger towards Lirzod who seemed to be lost in thought. ”11.59 seconds… 103 passed,” he shouted to another person.
The people who 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 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 gods who created such beauties. I will never doubt you again, god. Redguard tribe... I'm on my way to becoming 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 Lirzod's 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 get 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 of the 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?”
”Who knows,” the seller shrugged his shoulders, ”maybe he likes doing this.”
”Why doesn't someone try and stop him?”
”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 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.
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 both didn't even warn him…”
”That Stussy seemed to be related to him in some way,” Elder Darling said, ”we just couldn't take the risk, major.”
Pikolai pushed the glasses towards 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 finger 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 eat 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 gets pushed aside upon drilling a hole and the yolk gets 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 man in gold. He had bandages all over his face, so his face was unrecognizable. And he was covered in gold again, albeit, different from what he used to wear.
”Who's that?” Pikola asked the brothers.
”No idea. Must be from a circus,” Elder Darling said.
”What do you want son?” Younger Darling asked.
”Son? Who the f*ck is your son?” The man in gold rebuked. ”I'm the great Dalkan.”
”Dalkan? Never heard of the 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 the farm and gathers chicken manure is also called Dalkan I think.”
”Oh, so it's the shit 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… How dare you both mock me like that on the tenth deck?” He glared at them and roared. ”I want all of their limbs. Get them!”
The mercenaries immediately drew their weapons and dashed towards 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.