BXBX NOVEL Chapter 215: Red Apple
Chapter 215: Red Apple
By a hallway of windowless doors, a young man dipped his floor scrubbing brush in a bucket of soapy water and then started cleaning the dirt and sand off the floor.
Back and forth—the floor scrubbing brush moved in rhythmic motions, erasing any trace of dirt or grime from the floorboards.
After it turned dirty, he dipped the brush in the bucket of water, cleaning it off before continuing.
"Hey, Donald!"
Donald stopped for a moment, and without turning his head around, he continued scrubbing the floors clean.
"What is it, Niko?" He asked and then came across a spot of grime on the floor that refused to come off.
Gritting his teeth, he scrubbed harder, but it still refused to come off.
Eventually, he took out a sponge, crouched by the spot of grime, and started scrubbing it with hands until it finally faded away.
"You\'re still on cleaning duty?" Niko asked with a frown.
"Yes, it wouldn\'t be a punishment if I didn\'t have to work hard." Donald replied with a grit on his teeth.
After the tutorial, they entered a carriage that took them to the wall city of Ebonreach and joined tier three guild there.
While they were happy to get a guild, it was a guild that didn\'t treat the rookie mercenaries that well and forced them to do all sorts of cleaning tasks.
It greatly hindered Donald\'s and Niko\'s progress and training-both of them still stuck in Ordergiver.
A week ago, Donald snapped and shouted at one of the big-bearded men in charge, which earned him a week of cleaning duty.
"Well, I heard some news on the streets." Niko leaned on the wall. "A word has been spreading that S-ranker has come to the city."
"S-ranker?" Donald raised his head. "Is it him?"
"Most likely," Niko said. "After all, his guild is also here."
"I wonder how strong he has become." Donald thought out loud while staring at the dirty bucket of water. "I wonder how strong Ramon, Hannibal, and the rest are as well. Are we behind everyone?"
"Don\'t think like that." Niko said. "Once we become Beyonders, we can abandon the cleaning duties for good. We will be allowed to travel out of the walls."
"Take this." Donald handed him the floor scrubbing brush. "Cover me for a second, will you?" "Where you going?" Niko asked. "If they see me cleaning for you, your punishment will become even worse. Your might be forced into latrine duty for a month!"
"I\'ll be back in just a second; I\'ll go for a smoke." Donald opened a door that led to the balcony and leaned on the railing, taking out a cigarette from his pocket.
While the carriages wheeled down below the balcony, he lit up the cigarette and placed it between his lips, taking long and powerful drags before exhaling a cloud of smoke into the cool air.
The dark clouds gathered across the sky as if it were about to rain at any moment.
"It\'s already been a year since the tutorial..." Donald shook his head. "Others must be doing much better than I am..."
...
By the Blind Sea, a black-sailed ship crashed against the tall waves without any fear.
The rough-looking pirates on board rushed to secure the cargo before it was lost to the storm. Some of them slipped as the waves sent them tumbling across the deck.
"You maggots, tie the cargo properly!" Aemon screamed. "If any of the cargo happens to fall overboard, I\'ll have you all keelhauled!"
With fear being a strong motivator, the pirates worked twice as hard to secure the cargo, and it was done successfully just in time as a big wave crashed against the side of the ship, sending a shudder through the entire vessel.
Some of the pirates hit their heads and actually died as their skulls cracked open upon impact.
"Hmph." Aemon turned around and entered the captain\'s quarters.
The desk there was sliding across the floor, crashing from wall to wall, making a terrible screeching noise and damaging the wall and floor alike.
While that happened, a scrawny-looking young man was standing by the corner, holding his arms straight with two buckets of water on his hands.
There wasn\'t a single spot in the young man\'s body that didn\'t have a bruise, scratch, or cut.
The young man had been standing in the same position for three days already, holding the two very heavy buckets of water.
If he dared to drop them, his punishment would be a thousand times worse.
Aemon looked at Seth with a scoff and then stopped his desk from moving any further as it was about to slide straight at Seth and crush him with its weight.
Seth\'s eyes looked unfocused, not looking like he was really alive either.
"Drop the buckets and go help your crewmates." Aemon said.
Seth let go of the buckets immediately, and they fell on the floor, spilling their contents everywhere.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Without another word, Seth left the captain\'s quarters and entered the stormy outside.
Aemon leaned by the doorway and watched as Seth struggled against the raging winds and rain to help his crewmates secure the sails.
While he\'d been training Seth with pain and torturous methods, he hadn\'t heard a single word
of complaint from him.
\'A perfect slave.\' Aemon chuckled.
...
"Hey, that bastard stole my food!"
Shouts reverberated across the streets as a group of angry-looking men clearly looked for someone in these dark streets.
However, they couldn\'t find them.
Hiding behind a corner, Ramon carried a bag of apples looted from the market, a few laughs
escaping his lips.
"Bastards, overpricing everything." He said with a grin. "But, everything is free for me!"
"You think you can hide?!" A voice came above him.
By the roof of the building, Lazarus jumped off the building and landed right in front of the
thief, Ramon.
"Argh!" Ramon tried to run away, but Lazarus grabbed him by the back of his shirt and slammed him against the pavement.
The bag of apples dropped, scattering the red fruit everywhere.
"You damnards!" Ramon jumped to his feet and rushed at Lazarus like a wild animal. "You\'ll
regret this, Lazarus!"
SMACK!
Lazarus\'s palm connected with Ramon\'s forehead and sent him tumbling on the ground,
blood trickling from his nose.
"Hahaha!" Ramon just laughed, climbed back to his feet, and rushed at Lazarus with even
more fury.
Lazarus swung his elbow backwards, connecting with Ramon\'s chest with a sickening thud.
Ramon\'s eyes rolled back to his skull for a brief moment, but he then regained his
consciousness and charged at Lazarus with a primal scream.
"Thirty Sekai Fists!" Lazarus pummeled Ramon relentlessly.
The fists broke, shredded, and ripped through Ramon\'s body.
With bloodied wounds, Ramon collapsed on one knee, but he was still trying to fight back, but
he couldn\'t even open his eyes anymore as his whole face was covered in blood.
"I am only leaving you alive because you\'re Necroman\'s little pet." Lazarus spat on him,
picked up the apples, and then walked away with the bag.
"Hah... hah... hah..." Ramon struggled to breathe, but he still laughed and smiled.
He took out something from his pocket-it was a red apple.
With a smile on his face, he took a bite and savored the sweetness of the fruit before
succumbing to darkness.