81 CHALLENGE (1/2)
At the Drill Hall.
”Wow, so many people are dressed in white here,” Lirzod said, pressing his hand against his chest a bit.
”Are you okay?” Hundred queried, brushing the sweat off his forehead with the forefinger. ”You looked uncomfortable since we left the clinic.”
”I'm good, and I'm surely not thinking about her,” Lirzod assuredly said.
Hundred's shoulders jerked. ”I-I never said you were. So that means you're okay.”
”I'm okay. It's just that there's this burning sensation inside my body,” he pinched Hundred's forearm.
”Ouch,” Hundred leaned away and rubbed the pinched spot. ”You made me feel the pain outside, not inside of my body!”
”But it's still a pain, right?” Lirzod tried to take a deep, slow breath, all the while feeling his insides. ”I've never felt this type of pain before. It's not entirely pain per se, but it's strange.”
”It's scalding in here, but maybe you should rest a bit more,” Hundred said and sneakily tried to pinch Lirzod's arm, but he failed. ”Your body should still be healing.” Though he said that, he didn't want to go back to the clinic. However, he could see that Lirzod's skin was parched, which gave the impression that he fully didn't recover yet. (It looks like we'll have to visit that shrewish elf again. A perilous task it will be. I'm sure.)
”No. I think walking is all right, but more importantly, where's the commander? Didn't you say he'd be in this hall?”
”Well, he should be if my calculations are correct,” Hundred looked around, scanning different faces in succession. (I don't know why the commander invited him for lunch, but given the situation, getting close to the commander should put those brothers away from us, at least for now. It's better to bend in the wind than to break.)
As Lirzod also took a look around, some people were eating fruits, and his mouth drooled by degrees. ”Where did they get those fruits? Let's find out.”
”No, wait,” Hundred held him back. ”They are not bought but probably earned.”
”Earned?” Lirzod's attention shifted back to Hundred.
”Yeah. The disciples in this hall exchange food for points they earned through competitions,” Hundred explained, trying to remember things. ”Those fruits may have been grown in the Muscle Block or the Stray Park and got sent to this hall in exchange for something else. Since we are not disciples, we are not eligible candidates to eat those food products.”
”So, we can't get those fruits?” Lirzod's shoulders slumped. But a second later, he got an idea that straightened his spine. ”Why don't we just become disciples of this hall?”
”Huh?” Hundred was startled. ”You want to become a member of this hall just for fruits? Don't be stupid! They have rules, regulations, and demands for the members. Don't think it'll be a cakewalk. Becoming a member and getting wins under your belt is a long process, so you definitely can't get your hands on a fruit today even if you wish to join right away.
Lirzod let out a long sigh. ”You've killed my drive..” He put his hands on his waist and looked around. ”Is there anything else that we can—” he couldn't help but notice the wooden cells and the people kept inside them, and his brows drew together. ”What are those for?”
”Ah, those are for—”
”Wait, something's going on there,” just then Lirzod saw someone beating up a boy inside the cell. He hastened toward the cells.
”Don't bother yourself with them. You'll only waste—” Hundred was saying, but he soon understood that his words didn't even reach Lirzod's ears, or so it seemed.
As Lirzod headed toward the sizable cells, the men in white uniforms brought a pink-haired man out and began to punch him. They were also heavily scolding a brown-haired boy, who was Beren.
”If you want to earn Nick's favor, then there are better ways than this,” the guards, men in uniforms, barked as they beat the pink-haired man.
”Where are you even looking?” one of the guards also shouted at the boy in the cell. ”I'm talking to you, you little piece of shit! How dare you drive a knife below Big Nick's belt! You are going to suffer for this ten-fold, no, hundred-fold the pain you've inflicted on one of our brothers!”
Beren was silently crying.
”Ah, stop with your pathetic crying already. You are quite tall for a seven-year-old. If not for the law that prohibits beating people under fourteen, we'd be practicing our techniques on you right now. You might be feeling happy about it, but wait until Nick's back! Of course, he can't physically beat you, but there are many other ways to introduce you to all the bad things that jailers do to prisoners in this world.” He cracked his knuckles and grinned unpleasantly. ”I kid you not, kid. I know Nick. When he gets back, he's going to make a broken bitch out of you!”
”Oi, do you think Nick is really going to be alright?” another guard joined the conversation. ”He was bleeding a fountain down the crotch. I can only hope his balls didn't drop off.”
”Who knows? To his good or bad luck, that fussy elf wasn't in the clinic, so he was taken to a healer in the V Block. He should be fine as long as it's only some blood he's lost. And when he comes back, he'll make this kid sing a million sad songs.”
”That's for sure, haha.”
As everyone near the cells laughed, Beren was no longer crying, and he didn't move an eyelid; however, he was still in low spirits as if he was uncertain as to what he was doing with his life. For some reason, he remembered Sariyu's words. After beating the two masters of Sword Morons and filing a complaint on them to the commander of the deck, she said to him, ”Knowledge is a double-edged sword. It is neither good nor bad, but it can be used both ways. Keep that in mind.” Thinking back on what she had said, he was now in two minds. It was Sariyu who told him where Bick Nick was, but did he use it well, or did he not?
”He's only seven? How could you put a child behind bars?” Just then, Lirzod appeared at the scene, and he didn't like what he was viewing, especially the way the prisoners' bodies were being practiced.
”Child?” one guard, otherwise called as a trainee, satirically replied, ”That child was caught during an attempted murder.”
”M-Murder?” Lirzod was totally surprised, and he shockingly looked at Beren, who didn't even seem to be in this world. ”Whom did he kill?”
”Huh? Where were your ears?” the guard barked impatiently. ”I said it's attempted murder! Stop wasting our time, and go stand in line for water, boy!”
”So he didn't kill anyone, did he?” Lirzod's voice gained some weight, and his feet some of that thick wooden floor.
”Who are you? His brother?” the guards twitched all over.
”So what if I am?” Lirzod went along with their words.
”Nothing,” they snickered among themselves, ”you are just going to be added in Nick's list of targets, that's all.”
”I don't know who Nick is,” he rubbed his chest, ”but it'd be nice if you let me talk to that little fellow.”
”Little fellow?” their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. ”Who? Nick?”
”No, that one in the cell,” Lirzod wiggled his brows, his eyes set on Beren.
”Oh,” their stature shrank to their normal sizes, ”you can talk to him, but you should come in the visiting hours, not now.”
”Visiting hours? When's that?”
A wide-chinned guard raised his voice and said cockily, ”Not now.”
Lirzod narrowed the windows of his view, ”What's your problem? Can't you even let me talk to him?”
”He can't be given privileges after what he's done,” the wide-chinned guard said aloud, and a few others joined him. ”If you don't beat it before I count to five, I'm going to have to be rough with you.”
”There's no need for that, friends,” Hundred joined in the conversation with a polite smile forged with a decent effort. ”We're just here to talk, and since you already answered us so nicely, we're going to take our leave now,” he turned his head toward Lirzod, ”right?”
”I just want to know why a kid would attempt to murder someone,” Lirzod straightforwardly said. ”Is there any way to talk to him—right now?”
”Usually, you can release some prisoners by paying one gold,” Hundred said, ”but this is an attempted murder we're talking about, so I don't think they'll just take the money and let the kid go.”
”Then, nothing can be done?” Lirzod looked at the guards with a resolute look.
”Heh, your eyes and your teeth don't match, and they are making up a funny face,” the wide-chinned guard said, and then all the guards laughed together for a good five seconds. ”Ahem, if you really wish to get that little dog out, then there's only one way. You have to challenge our master and win in a fight!”
”Your master?” Lirzod paused for a moment.