Castle of Black Iron Vol 2 Chapter 11

B2 Chapter 11: An Intimate First Encounter With The Upper Echelons of Society

 

When encountering a miser doing something that requires his serious attention, if you are unable to present him instant benefits or gold coins then, the only thing you can do is to not disturb him and patiently wait for him to complete his current task. This is experience Zhang Tie gained from his time working with Tang De.

Therefore, upon entering, Zhang Tie remained silent and stood awkwardly in front of Manager Hans’s desk, patiently waiting for the d.a.m.n fatty to clean the beautiful b.u.t.tons of his coat. At the same time, he use this opportunity to look at the most luxurious room he has seen in this life.

Saying that it is the most luxurious room is not an exaggeration, this is because in his 15 years of pitiful life, Zhang Tie has never been to any high-cla.s.s establishment before. Fortunately, his time in the general store has allowed him to develop a decent eye for goods.

When he first stepped into the office, Zhang Tie notice the flooring is made from cedar wood, the office desk is made from laurel wood* while the other furniture in the office are mostly made from the expensive Camphor wood*.
(Cuppa: Laurel – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurus_n.o.bilis, Camphor wood – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum_camphora)

At one corner of the office, Zhang Tie saw a single-head natural crystal that is at least a staggering five kilograms in weight being place on a basin of crystal sand – May the heavens have pity, this is the first time Zhang Tie has seen such a large crystal.

Before the Cataclysm, people only use crystals as ornaments but after the Cataclysm, when the real purpose of crystals are discovered, every person in this era gained a common knowledge, that is when any piece of natural crystal that weighs over three kilograms will automatically gain another name, “Crystal Generator”.

This type of crystal no matter where they are placed, will be able to acc.u.mulate energy and magnetic force, causing the energy within tens of square meters to be purified and upgraded, this in turn will greatly benefit a person’s health as well as improve their cultivation. Some people also believe that the energy within the area will purified a person’s negative energy, allowing the person to become lucky…

This “Crystal Generator” that is more than five kilograms and has a rather good quality, Zhang Tie estimate its value to be at least 40 gold coins and above…

What a f.u.c.king rich guy, Zhang Tie sighs. A crystal like this is at least Grade 4 and above, Tang De’s store does not have one, this is an item that is officially categorized as a “Strategic a.s.set” in the city and cannot be found in any normal stores, only places with specially issued sales permits can sell them and within Black Flame City, the ones that sell crystals of this grade are basically merchant organizations directly linked to the Coal Steel Federation.

Knowing Zhang Tie has entered but Manager Hans continue to focus on his coat for another three minutes before finally releasing a satisfying sigh. After he kept the silk cloth and monocle inside a drawer did he look at Zhang Tie.

“You are a smart kid!” Manager Hans praised him lightly, he seems to be very satisfied at Zhang Tie’s choice of not disturbing him, “Now… what are you here for?”

Due to the excessive amount of fats, the face of Manager Hans gives the feeling of a steamed mandarin roll* that has been punched by a person, his facial features are nearly buried completely by the fats on his face, when compared, Tang De’s figure can be described as slim against this Manager Hans.
(Cuppa: Mandarin Roll –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_roll)

Zhang Tie stepped forward and used both his hands to present the letter of recommendation to Manager Hans before standing in attention in front of his desk while putting on an honest face, “I am a student from #7 Black Flame National School, Captain Colin recommended me to apply for a good part time job here!”

“Ha, indeed, this is indeed a good part time job…” Manager Hans took the letter and casually smiled. After measuring him for a long time while using a look that made Zhang Tie’s skin crawl, “Work starts after school, from 6pm to 11pm. Kid, how many days can you work each week?”

“Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights I am available…” Zhang Tie replied after factoring in his responsibility at Tang De’s every Tuesday and Thursday as well as helping his mother over the weekends.

“Three days a week is a bit too little, so be it…” Manager Hans took out something from his drawer and immediately started writing on it, his mouth began to shoot out words like a Gatling gun, “The salary is consolidated and paid at the end of each week, when there is work you will receive… right, 70 coppers. If you performed well there is also a chance to get an increase. You are expected to report to work on time, if you are late for even a minute, you will have no pay for that day of work. Expenses you incur within the Battle Dojo is also not claimable but any tips you get from the customers you can keep them without declaring, Colin that guy should have told you the nature of the job…”

“Captain Colin said…” just as Zhang Tie is about to recite the beautiful promise from Colin, a person suddenly barged into the office, “Manager, the customer in Room 6 is making a fuss and waiting impatiently…”

“Where is Harry?” Manager Hans immediately stood up and asked angrily, “Did he not report to work today? If he angers our G.o.ds, the respectable and cash rich customers of our Battle Dojo, I will be stripped and dumped into the sewers by them!”

“Harry quit after his contract ended yesterday!” The person replied with a bitter face. “I have already reported this to you, what can we do now…”

The angry Hans paused, after two seconds, two heads turned to look at Zhang Tie at the same time. Hans suddenly used a gentle smile, “You… kid, what is your name? Quickly come sign your name, you are in luck… right…” Hans’s face suddenly cramp from an invisible pain, “I will increase your salary by another 10 coppers an hour and this part time job is yours!”

Zhang Tie felt excited inwardly, it is only his first day and a staff skipped work. This is a high paying work, the treatment is good, it can even train your body and have a chance to meet big shots, in addition, he can even work intimately with beautiful ladies, and he is hired on the spot.

See, there is no helping it when your character is good, not even an hour after reaching here and Hans has already increased his salary. On top of that, this is actually Zhang Tie’s first paying job.

Zhang Tie did not hesitate and took the pen from Hans, without even looking at the contents of the contract, he signed his big name on it with a couple strokes.

At that instant when the pen left the contract, before Zhang Tie could even say a word, Manager Hans immediately took the contract and kept it inside his drawer, the person who barged in began to pull Zhang Tie by the arm and bring him away, at that moment Manager Hans remembered something and spoke, “This kid is covered in sweat, bring him for a shower first…”

He cannot believe that he actually landed this high paying job and it is a job inside Iron Bramble Battle Dojo! If there is work, he will earn 80 coppers an hour, if he casually did five hours of work every week, won’t he earn two silver coins? It is two silver coins!

A blissful feeling began to grow inside of him, as he is intoxicated by his fantasies, Zhang Tie mindlessly let himself be guided and controlled like a robot, not truly aware of what is happening around him.

All he remembers is feeling like a can inside a canned food factory, experiencing a seamless process flow – After being rushed off to have a quick shower, he was given a set of soft quality cotton clothes and socks before being pulled outside where he was fitted with a weird vest that looked like padded armor, the padding covers his front back and even his arms making him look very formidable.

In the end, after someone set a padded helmet on his head did Zhang Tie finally felt something’s off, is this the uniform I am supposed to wear? Something’s not right, this is getting weird.

Before Zhang Tie could clarify and ask, he was brought into a room…

The room is very big, approximately two hundred square meters wide. The floor of the room has a bouncy feeling and is made from a material with high friction that prevents slipping. Surrounding the room are large pieces of what looks like leather bags that are stuffed with some kind of material.

Inside the room, there is only one person, a brat that seems to be eleven or twelve, with reddish brown hair and wearing a white training robe. The kid’s expression is cold and is currently slamming a doll onto the floor.

Zhang Tie look at this brat, the brat returned the look and stopped. Zhang Tie shows the warmest and gentlest smile he can muster and walked in front of the brat before bowing and said, “Little friend…”

Without any sign, the brat suddenly gave a vicious roundhouse kick aimed directly at Zhang Tie’s head. Zhang Tie blacked out without even completing his sentence and fainted…

……

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Tie sneezed himself awake due to a ticklish feeling on his nose. When he woke up, his head immediately felt like having a few dozen people drumming on it as well as a feeling dizziness.

“Kid, you are awake…” standing in front is a burly bald man in his thirties, on his face are some bruises. Seeing Zhang Tie waking up, the bald man grinned and kept the small bottle that he placed in front of Zhang Tie’s nose before moving to his locker and started changing his clothes.

Zhang Tie sit up immediately and found himself sitting on a long bench, inside the room is another four to five people, before he could make sense of what happened to him, a nauseating feeling a.s.saulted him, seeing a bin at a corner, he held his mouth and ran over before dry vomiting over the bin to the point of tears.

However, except for some sticky saliva nothing else came out. After staying in that position for some time and feeling that his head has gotten better did Zhang Tie return to the bench to sit, he vigorously shakes his head, trying hard to remember what transpired earlier……

Wait a minute, Zhang Tie suddenly stood up and looked around, where is that brat, this daddy is going to beat the s.h.i.+t out of him!

“Kid, what we do, when put nicely is a sparring partner but to put it bluntly, it is acting as a human sandbag. However, becoming a human sandbag also requires some technique, some small bruises here and there is inevitable but you must always make sure to protect your ‘below’ and head. This is the first time I have seen someone foolishly present their head to be kicked…” Another burly guy walked over and gave a pat on Zhang Tie’s shoulder before carrying his bag and leave the locker room.

What? Sparring partner? Human sandbag? Zhang Tie is stunned on the spot…