Castle of Black Iron

Chapter 12: How Do I Know It Is Not A Blessing

Here’s the sponsored chapter by Wolfhuntre and Ian Bell.

Cheers!
Cuppa

Zhang Tie has always felt that he is a smart person, or at least he is not stupid and will not easily be held at a disadvantage. However, today is the day he discovers that he has always been “very naive and very foolish”, he also finally understood the essence of the ancient idiom “People die for money while birds die for food”.

Only now did Zhang Tie finally understood the hidden message within Captain Colin’s words.

A high paying job, you can earn well and the welfare is good – Let people beat you up for an hour and you will earn 80 Copper coins, before and after you are beaten up, you can even have a hot shower, this is to prevent your body odor from stingy the noses of others. A high paying job indeed, very good welfare indeed…

You will be able to meet big shots – Indeed, people who can spend money inside Iron Bramble Battle Dojo can only be those rich individuals with powerful backgrounds, normal people do not have the capability nor pocket to do so.

The job can train your body – If becoming someone’s sparring partner and human sandbag doesn’t train your body than Zhang Tie does not know where he can find a better, more efficient method of training his body.

There are lots of beauties here – He has seen them, service staff like Mary are indeed plenty but they have farts relation with him. All he did is asked for a name and he was shot down mercilessly, nearly turning him into an introvert, what more can he expect from them.

As he realize he had blindly accepted this part time job, Zhang Tie felt his life turning gloomy once again. Especially when his ‘customers’ are actually a bunch of eleven or twelve year old brats, Zhang Tie felt even the more depressed.

It is fine if he got beaten up, Zhang Tie can treat it as training like in school but to be beaten up by brats, both his body and mind is dealt a double devastating blow – These brats are born with a golden spoon in their mouths, they are given the best education since young, their families would have also invested a lot of resources on them, allowing them to ignite their Divine Palace Light Point at a young age, if comparing their attributes, these brats will not lose much to Zhang Tie, in fact, some might even exceed him. Becoming the human sandbag of some random brats, the prospects of this part time job is rather bleak.

Once he thought it through, his immediate reaction is to find Manager Hans and resign, f.u.c.k, this daddy is choosing not to work, can you do anything to me?

……

“Impossible…” Hans’s gentle and warm smile from earlier is currently displaying a black face, like a stingy and whiny old woman he waved the contract on his hand, “Kid, you can only resign after completing 600 hours of work. If you want to quit immediately, then you have to pay back double. How much is double? That will be 1200 hours multiply by 80 coppers. You can do the math yourself, this is written in the contract and you have signed it. Hand me the money and you can leave anytime. Although Iron Bramble is a large organization but we will not use our influence to force someone to stay if they are unwilling, we are after all a law-abiding organization…”

Zhang Tie’s face went pale, seeing the clause on the contract he is speechless. Earlier, he thought this is just a simple part time contract therefore he did not think about it too deeply and signed his name on it. To think that it had such a menacing trap hidden in it, if he wants to leave, he will have to pay 9 Gold 60 Silvers as compensation, where in the world can he produce that kind of money.

Seeing Zhang Tie’s pale face, Manager Hans kept the contract before speaking in a warmer tone, “Kid, this job is not as bad as you think. This is your first time here and not used to the situation, causing you to be at a disadvantage, you will learn to be smarter after this. I do not know why that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Colin has recommended you but as a young man, here is my advice for you – Behind every difficult challenge you faced, is a chance for you to grow!

Go and think about what I have just said. What is currently in front of you is a problem that is caused by a bunch of kids who are younger than you, if you can’t even handle these young ones, what other things can you expect yourself to do in the future, the problems you will be facing in this world are much more complicated than what you have encountered today!

It is true that you met with a minor incident today, not able to last even a minute, but as you can see, I am a person with a good heart, so I have decided to give you half an hour of wages for your effort. You should hurry up and return home, there is a curfew in Black Flame City now, you will get into trouble if you stay out too late…”

……

As he left the office, Zhang Tie thought about what Manager Hans said to him – Behind every difficult challenge faced, is a chance to grow!

Indeed, is it so difficult to face this problem and be scared by a bunch of brats? If he walked away defeated, won’t that d.a.m.n Mary woman laugh her head off?

No, absolutely not! Aren’t they just a bunch of brats, this daddy is not afraid of you!

After thinking it through, Zhang Tie immediately felt better.

As he walked pa.s.s the service counter, Zhang Tie saw Mary.

Seeing Zhang Tie walked by, Mary spoke a few words to the beauties beside her which made Zhang Tie feel a sense of contempt from their gazes immediately. Looks like his plan to flirt with the beautiful service staff is going down the drain, no woman will like a man who is despised by other women, Zhang Tie can only sigh silently in his heart.

“I heard that someone fainted after receiving a single kick from young master Gregory, not even lasting a minute in the room, what a weak man!” Mary’s words ignited a raging flame in Zhang Tie’s heart.

“My sweet big sister Mary, do remember the promise we made today…” Zhang Tie turned and gave a flying kiss to Mary before adopting a ‘make it or break it’ att.i.tude and used a couple of Sista’s signature moves at Mary and the other beauties. He viciously thrust his waist forward a few times, causing Mary to pale with anger while stunning the other women causing all of them to be wide eye, they are cannot believe what they are seeing in front of them.

Zhang Tie upon seeing their reaction laughed out loud and circled the fountain, heading towards the large entrance of Iron Bramble Battle Dojo.

Standing outside the entrance of the dojo and looking at the starry skies, Zhang Tie clutched his hand forming a tight fist, in his heart he shouted, this daddy will not admit defeat! Immediately after his declaration, his stomach began to growl loudly. Hearing the thunderous roar from his stomach reminded Zhang Tie that he has yet to have dinner, he faced the direction of his home and started to jog towards it…

When Zhang Tie left, he did not notice the two figures of Captain Colin and Hans standing by the window of Hans’s office, watching him jog away. As Hans closed the curtains, he mumbled a sentence, “It is good to be young! That kid does not seem to as resilient as you mentioned, you see something in him?”

“That kid’s brain is sharp, if he can manage, this is a reward, if he cannot manage, this is a punishment. He dared to ransom his cla.s.smates in front of this wise and farsighted Captain Colin and dared to bravely confront this Captain Colin with his theory of righteous running away. Thus, I am giving him the chance to back his beliefs, see if he is a real man or just another wimp…” Captain Colin lightly said with his arms crossed in front of his cheat.

……

After 40 minutes, Zhang Tie finally reach home with the curfew less than an hour away. After he quickly gobble the food that was left for him by his mother, his parents returned home while he washed the dishes.

“How come you returned home only at this hour?” His father asked curiously.

“Ah, your son has performed well in school so the teacher recommended a part time job. This job pays really well, not only can I earn a lot, the welfare is also good. There’s even a chance to interact with rich people with powerful backgrounds, at the same time it also can train the body as you do the job. Oh, on top of that, that place has a lot of beauties!” Zhang Tie displayed a mult.i.tude of gleeful expression as he speaks.

“Is this real or fake, such a good deal?” his dad asked suspiciously.

“Of course it is real, from now on, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will be coming home late. Dad, Mum, you do not have to worry about me!”

“How can there be such a good job?” his mum still asked another time.

“It is at Iron Bramble Battle Dojo. Mum you don’t know but the beauties in there are too pa.s.sionate. I went there today and was brought around by an elder sister, she praised my drive and even made a bet with me, betting that if I were to put my mind into it, I can do anything!” Zhang Tie s.h.i.+fted his face closer to his mother, acting well-behaved.

“You? Meeting a beauty praising your drive? You think your mother is easy to deceive? I know what’s your worth!” his mother pressed on Zhang Tie’s forehead a couple of times.

“It’s true mum! If I lie to you, I am a puppy!” Zhang Tie roll out his tongue and pant like a dog.

“Then tell me, how come a la.s.s will praise your drive!”

“She praises my ambitious drive!” Zhang Tie replied seriously.

“Ambitious drive?”

“Of a toad l.u.s.ting after a swan’s flesh, Heh… Heh…”

Hearing that their son made a joke, Zhang Tie’s father spits the water in his mouth while his mother got stunned for a moment before laughing out, she stretches her hand to pinch his cheeks, “Your mouth is getting more and more cheeky…”

After chatting a while longer with his parents, Zhang Tie smoothly replaced some details and made his parents believe that he is working as a normal service staff in Iron Bramble Battle Dojo.

Seeing that their child is broadening his horizons, able to interact with upper society and his gleeful look, both his parents made no objections about his new job, with that, Zhang Tie manage to hide the fact of becoming a human sandbag from his parents.

If his parents were to discover his job is to get beaten up, they will definitely be heartbroken and stop him from working there. To him, working there is now a fight for his dignity, he will not go down so easily!

After was.h.i.+ng up, Zhang Tie returned to his loft. He did not sleep but entered the castle, after a whole day, the castle seems to underwent a big transformation…

The largest change is the spirit energy value, as the potatoes sprouts grew longer and longer, the spirit energy within the dimension also increased. Two days ago, Zhang Tie remember the energy value is 1.8 but now, it is already at 3.7, the amount doubled.

His Merits also increased by 4, changing from 43 to 47. Other than earning one point from was.h.i.+ng the dishes earlier, he earned 3 Merit points for cleaning the tables and chairs for his cla.s.smates.

Seeing the log, Zhang Tie understood that although those guys are making fun of his actions but when someone did a good deed for them, it still makes them rather happy, it is just that their mouths are a bit rotten. After this incident, Zhang Tie’s understanding about Merit also deepens.

After checking the castle attributes, Zhang Tie went to inspect his crops. The corn has yet to germinate while the potato sprouts are now about one finger long, compared to two days ago, these sprouts have made significant progress, no wonder the Spirit Energy value increased so much.

Looking at the growing plants, Zhang Tie’s psyche also begin to feel better. He wanted to check the progress of the Leak Prevention Fruit and proceed to the small tree next.

Suddenly, a panel pops up in front of Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie got slightly stunned, after a while, he approached the small tree and touched it and a row of words immediately appeared in front of him.