NAKED WOLF

"Where did that little rat sneak away to?" Boksa was looking everywhere for Lirzod, his veins tumefied, and skin reddened from rage. His eyes, cheeks, and lips bloated and blackened with every passing second, owing to distress.

Not far away from him, Divas and Fimbry were also doing the same thing, except that their targets also included Burton and Sariyu, and they didn't strike to the eyes as woebegone as Boksa.

"I was sure they took off in this direction," Divas scanned around, feeling the presence of things to some distance all around him, despite a lot of fog fattening his surroundings, but he still couldn't find much that would help him reach the three youngsters.

At that time, Betts and Centry appeared out of the fog from their front.

"You both seem to be relaxing," Betts said, appearing taxed, and sweat wasn't present on most parts of his body, probably due to the temperature of the ice dumpster. "Taking care of many of the contestants took most of my juices. I'm feeling quite stiff now."

"Did you see the girl?" Centry looked at Divas and Fimbry, his eyes demanding more than just a simple reply of 'yes.'

"We did," Fimbry replied in a hurry, "but they shivered."

For a second, an unstable and ungainly silence birthed between the brothers.

After that momentary pause, Centry, whose jaw had tightened in the last second, now glanced at Divas, who promptly corrected Fimbry's words, "they escaped." He pointed his hand to his right. "They initially took off in this way. We followed them but lost their track in between."

Lots of blood mounted to Centry's cheeks and mantled his face as if a terrible fever set itself loose upon him. "Where can that Red Rogue flee—"

"Idiots, they are swimming their way through to victory!" Betts blurted out, his eyes having enlarged from a thought that had just dawned upon him, and then dove into the water and disappeared just like that, startling the remaining brothers.

"There's no use of the fog anymore. I will signal Brother Aziz," said Divas, pushing the fog away from their vicinity as he spoke, "you both assist Brother Betts." He took off in a different direction than the one Betts had taken.

Centry and Fimbry exchanged nods before following Betts' trail.

Betts, at present, swam onward while staying wholly underwater. (It's for times like these I wish I had an ocular ability.) His eyes looked for the disturbances in the waters ahead of him. With great effort, he found only four spots, but his sight fixated on just one—the one that had the most disorder and thereupon stroked forth at an increased speed.

The disturbance in the water that Betts beelined to was veritably generated by three youngsters who were swimming like it was now or never.

At the same time, the mist in the audience stands began to clear away much faster than that of the fog in the ice dumpster, letting the crowd once again be able to view the affairs of the test with their own eyes and have them sink in the thrill of it.

Dozens of contestants were at the edges of the ice dumpster, outside of it, either wounded badly or remained unconscious with the guards in blue tending to them.

"W-W-What happened?" the audience was bewildered as their eyes inspected the contestants that were in dire straits, already thrown out of the ice dumpster.

"Wh-Who took care of so many contestants? Was it a lone wolf, or was it a pack's work?"

"Was it Brown Hill, or was it the doing of the Hardy Brothers?"

"Look! I can see Brown Hill!"

As some men finally lay their eyes on Brown Hill, who was moving aimlessly in the fog, they got the feeling that he was the reason. "Look! He's running around in search of the next sheep to bite."

"As expected of Brown Hill! He was able to fight even in the fog!"

"There! There's one to your left!" some even tried to help him, or at least they were under such an impression.

Upon catching the cries of the crowd, or what seemed like cries to him, Boksa acted in haste. Getting to the closest contestant was the best thing he could do. From hearing the voices of the crowd finally after some time, his mood brightened a bit.

At that time, to the eyes of the audience, only a handful of contestants still appeared to be fidgeting around in the ice dumpster.

"Where's that little boy whom Brown Hill was after?"

"Yeah, I can't seem to find him, and the girl, too."

"Haha, they must have either gotten lost in the fog or must be cowering somewhere right now."

"Let's help Brown Hill find that sheep!"

Upon overhearing their criticism, Hundred's pulse quickened. "I hope their words are not true."

Tarkan quietly smiled before softly saying, "Worry not. Sheep cry but do not cower. Anything that knows to cower can also know how to will others to cower. Even if your boy loses today, he'll probably win this test one day."

Tarkan's words were like spilling oil on fire to Hundred's ears, and he couldn't tell whether Tarkan was trolling him or just being honest.

Meanwhile, as the audiences scanned the ice dumpster with extreme urgency, some eventually managed to spot a few of the Hardy Brothers who seemed to be streaking toward the end in a drastic dash as if they were chasing after something rather than trying to win. To a few eyes of the contestants, however, their charge resembled like a stampede. The exasperated expressions on the brothers' faces further solidified the doubts of the audiences.

As three out of five brothers testily chased after the three youngsters—who were still swimming away, fully submerged underwater—and in that process beat anyone close to them with heedless swings of their arms. Under their blubbery feet, the newly-forming ice spikes felt like tiny stones that only tickled them.

Even the few contestants, who caught sight of the youngsters popping their heads out unoften and wanted to stop them from forwarding, changed their thoughts after seeing the big brothers bellowing and beating their way through the other contestants as they headed straight toward the youngsters.

Some contestants gave competition to the youngsters, whereas some opted to test their luck against the brothers and shoot up their fame from a promising display. Still, the three big brothers made knives out of their hands and slashed the water, splashing liquids all around and blocking the other contestants, making even the floor briefly become visible when all the three hit the same spot simultaneously, stunning everyone except for those who already knew of their capabilities. Their display scared away most hearts—audiences and contestants alike—into abandoning any thoughts of tussling with the brothers.

Though frozen in their seats for the last tens of seconds, none of the audiences had the time to reflect on the display of the brothers as they slowly but surely began to realize that the brothers didn't look like they were merely trying to win and instead seemed like dogs chasing after bones, three bones to be exact.

At that time, the referee just happened to look again toward the end of the ice dumpster when three figures climbed the hidden stairs with their arms and shot themselves out of the water, making the heads of everyone in the audience stands turn in their direction, whereupon six feet belonging to three youngsters landed—almost as one—in the area past the ice dumpster.

A radical silence instantly impregnated the audience stands like never before as everyone watched the three youngsters—one of whom seemed to have lost his pants—with mouths agape.

Hundred's eyes were awestruck as his body involuntarily forced him out of his seat in a springy jump, his hands raised as high as could be.

777, who was in the middle of yawning, froze midway.

"That one day is today itself, huh..." Tarkan's lower lip pushed the upper one as he softly nodded a few times.

Only now, the referee came to his senses and struck the bell, signaling the end of the deck test. "We have the winner, no... our first winners in a while! Three of them. No less. No more," the referee spoke while everyone else stood still and put nothing but their eyes to work, "The first one, Number 82, is a purple wolf that barely seems to be wounded. The second one, Number 55, is a red wolf who got a couple of scratches here and there but looks good overall, um, quite nice if you ask me. Ahem, as for the third one..." His eyes scanned the third youngster from top to bottom, "I can't see his tag, but we've got a... naked wolf. I have no idea what happened to his pants, but these three are our winners of this round," he looked toward the audience stands, "they deserve some claps, sheep, I mean, people!"

"Who are you calling sheep!"

"Did he just call us sheep?"

"Someone, kick the referee out of the hall!"

"Yeah, that'll teach him a lesson."

Some audiences took the task of criticizing the referee, who was quick to apologize, "U-Uh, my apologies, that purely came out of the flow and was unintentional."

Still, no one bought his words, not even for a second.

"Claps, my dear people!" the referee spoke again, urging with as refreshing of a tone as he could bring out.

Most of the audiences, who still portrayed dumb looks due to the unexpected ending of the test, slowly began to clap one after another, increasingly yet roguishly even though they still couldn't believe that the three youngsters won. In their eyes, those three emerged out of nowhere and won the test in a flash. Most of the audiences weren't ready for the test to be over just like that as they had hoped to see some thrilling action after the mist had finally cleared out, but what they had gotten was nothing close to their expectations, and in turn, irking and leaving them with a tinge of sourness in their mouths.

The Hardy Brothers, meanwhile, still stood in the ice dumpster, faces devoid of any glow as the last bits of mist around them evanesced into thin air. They tumbled to the fact that they had mistaken the three youngsters to whippersnappers, and in consequence, got played on with their emotions until they were lead to a loss.

Boksa's eyes had long bulged like that of a choking frog, his expression gradually slipping into frore darkness.

Concurrently, Lirzod jumped at Sariyu, startling her. "We won!" He bound her in his hug. "See, I told you, didn't I?"

"Wait!" Sariyu tried to push him away, but for some reason, she couldn't find the strength to do so. "Burton!"

With a flick of his index finger, Burton tapped Lirzod's forehead. "Back off."

Lirzod's lips straightened into a line before he opened up his arms perforce. "Stop trying to control—" as his gaze darted at Burton, Sariyu stepped back right away, getting Lirzod's attention back. "What's wrong? You seem uneasy."

"Yeah, I'm uneasy, but..." Sariyu's neck muscle twitched, her face long flushed like a crimson cherry before she blasted her voice out, "Anyone would be if they know you are not wearing anything under that shirt!"

"Bwfft!" many men choked on their own words and broke their conversations upon hearing Sariyu's statement. "What?" they were already outraged when a bodyguard hugged the owner out of the blue, and now, Sariyu's words forced even the low-spirited ones to bounce off their seats.

"He doesn't have underwear? Then, does that mean..." Most of their eyes converged at Lirzod's crotch, which was still hidden thanks to the long shirt. "Nothing there's under that shirt?"

"Haha," Lirzod laughed aloud, hands placed on his waist, "don't jump to conclusions." He caught the ends of the shirt and lifted it in a flash, staggering many people, but those who didn't take their eyes off him were able to see the underpants.

"What, he's wearing underpants!"

"Of course, I knew it! Who wouldn't wear them when jumping into the ice dumpster?"

"Don't lie! I saw you get shocked and upset."

"Haha, you did?"

"No, I didn't."

"You…"

Even the conversations of some parts of the crowd cracked up the others, but eventually, they all sat back in their seats, slightly shaking their heads as if they were a bit embarrassed to have reacted in such a manner.

Sariyu peeked through the gaps in the fingers and breathed a sigh of relief, "Whew, so you were wearing one today." It was one thing if this incident happened in Helenia, but on Extensive Voyage, it would be too embarrassing for her; however, her brows gently knitted as she now continued speaking, "I was worried as you don't have the habit of wearing underpants. I knew Aunt Valli would succeed in changing your mind."

Lirzod giggled like an amused infant. "Believe it or not, I took this from a guard."

His words surprised Sariyu a little but dumbfounded the audiences. Their gazes quickly shifted toward the edges of the ice dumpster to take a look at the guards in an attempt to identify the one, but all of them were wearing full clothes.

"What, they all have dresses on them!"

"Why are you lying to us?"

Some demanded an answer from Lirzod.

At the same time, many among the audience, who had grudges toward the guards for various reasons, didn't want to miss this opportunity. Whether Lirzod would reply sincerely or not didn't matter to them.

"Who's that guard? Tell us! Please tell us!" some loud voices originated from other sections of the audience stands.

Upon hearing the demands of the audiences, Lirzod's smile subsided. He turned in the direction the guards were at, and after a short scanning, he pointed his finger toward one of them, a guy with gray hair. Consequently, hundreds of people in the crowd jeered the guard without a second thought, altering the mood of the hall at once. Even a clan of hyenas would cease their laughter and crawl back to their dens with lost face and tails tucked between their legs when faced against such mocking. Some people even asked the guard to dare and remove his pants if he honestly considered himself to be a man.

From all the humiliation, the guard's face shapeshifted into that of a chimpanzee on drugs. He jumped into the ice dumpster, startling everyone, making many think that he was committing suicide; however, just before some other guards and contestants were thinking to jump into the water for a rescue, the gray-haired guard popped out of the water, holding pants in his hand, with the spumous waters around him hiding the lower half of the body. "Here! Take a clear look, clowns! I removed my pants! I am a man! I am a man!" He roared multiple times in excitement before hastily submerging back into the water.

"Someone, go and bring him out before he wears his pants!" some audience urged the contestants, and though some responded, it was already too late, for the guard had already worn his pants back by the time they reached him.

The sections of the audiences, who previously took part in ridiculing him, now went into silence like meek rabbits, their buttocks glued to seats.

The attention of the audience drifted away from the guard just as fast as it initially shifted to him; howbeit, the guard didn't care. He kept on dancing in the ice dumpster, and the other guards had to jump in to bring him out, or the preparation of the ice dumpster for the next round would have to wait.

Lirzod momentarily glanced at that guard and remembered the time when that guard attacked him out of nowhere. Now, he could only wonder what sort of things he was hiding. Maybe, someone was trying to rig the game by buying off the guard, or maybe something else was happening. Though he had wanted to pursue the matter, after seeing how far the guard went to humiliate himself, he lost interest.

"I can't wait to taste the soup," Lirzod looked back at Sariyu, pep painting his face into a picturesque one. "By the way, I know how you both found me when those brothers were carrying me around."

"Oh," she was somewhat astonished, "you do?"

"Yeah," Lirzod leaned closer and excitedly said in a low voice, "as soon as the fog appeared out of the blue, I got the feeling that the number of people present in the ice dumpster was quickly decreasing, which means most of them had either drowned or got wounded bad enough to get rescued by the guards. At first, I didn't bother to know how guards always manage to get to the drowning contestants in time, but when Uncle Piggy dipped me in the water repeatedly, I saw a guard carrying a wounded man while swimming underwater. Then I realized... with all the fog and with fewer contestants to trouble us, swimming beneath the surface was the best way to victory."

Sariyu nodded as if appreciating Lirzod's discernment, "But Burton had already guessed it soon after the fog began to spread around."

"Humph, I didn't focus on it quick, or else I would have realized it much earlier than him."

"Yeah, yeah, I know your capabilities," Sariyu sighed as she looked at Lirzod's dress, "but this isn't cool at all, Lirzod."

"Mm?" Lirzod's puzzled gaze examined her mien. "What is?"

"We are not at home anymore, you know. There are some habits you must make, and some you must break."

"Got it," Lirzod replied, offering a thumbs-up, "but I've changed so much in these few days. I've adjusted to this new air that I'm breathing, and also walking on the wooden floor feels quite irritating at times, yet I never complained about it, did I?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Sariyu's face contorted a bit, "I was talking about real habits, not some trivial adjustments that everybody has to go through." By clenching her fists, she worked to control her crossness. "At least begin to wear one for the sake of others!"

"I will think about it," Lirzod replied, briefly looking away, perfectly understanding what she was talking about.

"Geez…" As Sariyu still looked frustrated, her nose began to itch.

"Mm?" Lirzod glanced back at her.

"I think I might catch a cold," she lifted her hand to cover her nose because she felt a sneeze was coming. And she was right.

However, just as sneeze was at it was coming out, Lirzod tickled in her armpit, making her jump around a little. And before she knew it, the sneeze was gone, and she felt crappy, especially in the mind. And to make things worse, Lirzod's giggling reached her ears.

"You little nut!" she became a ball of bitterness, and rage rang through her voice. "If I don't roast you today, consider yourself seeing another hundred years!"

"Eek!" Lirzod choked on his own giggling, and he wasn't fully ready to react to her rampage. "I don't want to get roasted!" he still tried to run away.

"No matter what you say," Sariyu, however, grabbed him by the collar, "you're dead meat!"

"Number 55..." at that time, a blonde man in disheveled hair approached Sariyu in slow steps. "Pardon me for not knowing your name, but can you tell me what I must do to become your bodyguard?"

"Ah? Bodyguard?" Sariyu raised her brow, her countenance still filled with ill-temper. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm willing to become your bodyguard," the blonde man ardently said, trying to control his tongue as best as he could, "and my name is Dirty Blonde. If there is any test that I can prove myself and impress you through, I'm ready to take the test."

"I don't need a bodyguard," Sariyu looked away. "You can buzz off."

The blonde man's chest significantly shrank in size, "So you already have enough of them." His gaze shifted toward Lirzod, a noticeable manifesting on his face. "How much money do you want in return for giving up your position?"

Lirzod blinked twice. "What position?"

"What else? Your bodyguard position."

"My bodyguard position?"

"Yes."

"And whose bodyguard am I?" Lirzod couldn't help but ask, his brows elevated into a quizzing expression.

The blonde man gnashed his teeth but controlled himself again. Given his fresh appearance, it was clear that he didn't participate in the deck test. "Ten gold. I will give you that if you can give up her bodyguard position."

"Ten gold!" the audiences, who were silently hearing to their conversation to see if the blonde man would succeed or not, now were thoroughly shocked.

"I can buy a villa in my town if I had that much!"

'I will happily sell my grandpa-given two acres for such a price!"

"Who's that blonde dude? He came out of nowhere and talked as if ten gold was equal to a loo leaf[1]."

"No idea, but I have never seen that face before. Never heard of the name 'Dirty Blonde' or whatever he's referring to himself as either."

The audiences fully engaged in the ongoing discussion, which abruptly ended on account of three words.

"Thousand gold!" Lirzod's reply hung open people's mouths.

What was a thousand gold worth? With that much gold, multiple generations of a family could live a normal life in peace.

The audience looked at the blonde man, awaiting his reply, but even he had a deep frown on his face after hearing such an amount. "Are you serious?" His downward gaze was severe as he subtly attempted to domineer over Lirzod by standing tall.

"Of course, either give that or give up!" Lirzod responded in a blunt tone.

"Don't go putting prices on my bodyguard position," Sariyu fumed at Lirzod. "Who gave you permission for that?"

"I was just trying to see your craze," Lirzod stepped away from Sariyu, expecting danger, "uh, never mind."

The blonde man, who was about to turn toward Burton, left the way he came, albeit with his head tilted down and in a displeased and darkened countenance.

The expressions on the faces of the audience changed considerably upon grasping that becoming one of Sariyu's bodyguards wouldn't be simple but pretty pricey in the least.

"I didn't think we'd win in our very first try together," Burton, who still wasn't in total self, spoke to Sariyu.

"Luckily, we did, but my feet turned red because of staying in that water for so long. I had to kick quite many times, too," Sariyu glanced down at her feet, a little worry taking shape on her visage. "I can feel the heat of some tiny cracks in the skin as well. I should apply some cream before they leave marks."

"Stop worrying about your feet," Burton said in an imperceptibly annoyed tone, "You did the same for the tenth deck's test. How are you trying to become a martialite with this sort of habit? I don't think there is any martial who cares to have smooth feet. Even if they did, they would be a joke."

"I care about my feet however I want," Sariyu's forehead creased. She somewhat guessed where this conversation was going, "What's your problem?"

"Nothing, but it's an eyesore to watch it time and time again even after leaving our town," Burton sniffled, "you are not the young mistress of this ship."

"I know that much, " Sariyu's nostrils flared, "If your eyes are hurting, then don't watch. Nobody asked you to care in the first place."

"You are right," Burton lightly frowned, lips drew back into a smile that could get under someone's skin. "Now, it makes me wonder how you failed the sects tests all these years. Heh, you probably took more care on your feet than the sects tests themselves."

"You are not the one to talk about failing sect tests," Sariyu rebuked almost immediately. "You were so hopeless that you couldn't even find a reason for your failure. No wonder you have never won. Rather, should I say, you have never even dared to win?"

"Yeah, whatever," Burton folded his hands and looked elsewhere.

Having fought in the ice dumpster until a few minutes ago, a very healthy amount of adrenaline was still coursing through their veins.

"Haha, if you ask me," Lirzod stepped closer to them, "Sariyu is at 'silver' standard and Big Brother is at 'gold' standard when it comes to 'the number of sect tests bombed,'" he cackled like a cocky kid, breaking into their conversation, "Everyone knows that. Tell me something new." Placing his arms around their shoulders, he continued his pesky laughter, but a sudden realization changed his expression, "Oh, wait, nobody other than the three of us knows about it." He quickly looked around in different directions to see if the others were listening to their conversation or not, and some indeed were.

"Have a taste of your own medicine," both Burton and Sariyu elbowed in his face, making him crash back and down on his butt.

Lirzod's nose slightly bled, "T-Those heavy-headed idiots... they sure don't know the meaning of holding back."

"Yeah, yeah, we were holding back this time, or else the Number 28's body would still be floating lifelessly in that Ice Dumpster," a voice came from Lirzod's behind. It belonged to Divas of the Hardy Brothers, and all five of them were coming in together.

"Mm?" Lirzod, while his butt rested on the floor, glanced back at the brothers. An unfussy, conspicuous smile bloomed on his face, burdening yet lightening his cheeks. "Oh, it's you five! Thanks for making us win."

His words almost anesthetized everyone who was paying attention but especially twisted and tortured the guts of the brothers, all five of them.

........

[1] Loo Leaf: Leaves used to scrub one's bottom. Loo leaves are still used in some parts of the world at times, especially when drought runs rampant.