Chapter 66 |
The streetlights had just been lit, yet the crowds were still bustling.
After leaving the tavern, Jack hurried off to his next workplace, brushing past Mick, who was riding an ostrich and was drunk out of his mind.
On this day, Mick could be said to be basking in boundless glory; even the afterglow of the setting sun seemed dazzling in his eyes!
By the time he arrived at the luxurious guest room specially tailored for Baruk·Blackrock to rest in,
Baruk was already inside the training chamber, sitting in silent meditation. Tomorrow he would fight the first match of the second round, and his opponent was that merman priest who even he found extremely troublesome.
He needed to bring his condition to its peak—especially his bodily senses and intuition. These were particularly crucial when facing an opponent like the merman priest, who excelled at concealment.
The moment Mick caught sight of Baruk’s state from afar, he immediately withdrew from the room, closed the door, and left the space to him.
Unity of Heaven and Man!!!
Mick did not even know what to say. This was Unity of Heaven and Man!
Just how pure and innocent a heart must that be!
To be honest, he was a very pragmatic person and would not be swayed by outside information.
Even though Baruk had displayed impressive combat strength, he had estimated that Baruk would at most place within the top five. There were no shortage of prodigies participating in the tournament.
But now, having witnessed Baruk’s state of mind, he felt that everything was uncertain.
In this world, one’s professional rank represented the baseline of a person’s overall ability. In other words, your weakest aspect determined your professional rank!
However, a person’s strengths were data that could not be accurately measured.
The simplest example was legendary creatures—monstrous talents that possessed the ability to cross several major ranks!
And Baruk, who could enter Unity of Heaven and Man anytime and anywhere, clearly had a spirit and state of mind that had already surpassed the scope of Grandmaster level.
No, I had to see if I could get hold of some top-grade tonics. The intensity of the battles ahead would only increase. The organizers only provided the best medical care, food, and lodging—supplements were not included.
Otherwise, no matter how wealthy the organizers were, they could not afford the consumption of so many Grandmasters!
This matter had to be handled by him!
Just in time—those fellows wanted to curry favor with Baruk. Asking them to take out some good items would not be excessive. They were probably worrying about how to present gifts anyway!
***
Two months passed. Riding on the surge of merchants drawn in by the auction, Zack had finally sold off a considerable portion of his stockpiled goods.
Now that he had turned his losses into profits, he rebuilt the adventurer team.
Not only had he taken over several plots of land that once belonged to his old rival, the now-destroyed Poison Scorpion Gang, but the team had also welcomed a good deal of fresh blood. Among them were several promising orphans he had taken in.
Over these days, he had been constantly considering the future direction of the adventurer team and had discussed it repeatedly with the few remaining veteran members.
In the end, they decided to renovate the team’s headquarters into a tavern and inn. Before the new generation grew up, they would temporarily stop accepting dangerous adventurer missions.
The current development of Coral Thorn City was plain for all to see. Opening a tavern and inn would be a guaranteed profit!
More importantly, it would provide a stable foothold and future job opportunities for the children he had adopted—a win-win situation.
What left him somewhat helpless was that, during this period, the number of abandoned children in Coral Thorn City was shockingly high.
Any orphanage that was open would find children left at its doorstep every few days.
Zack was so angry about this that he wanted to start chopping people down!
Damn you! If you can’t raise them, don’t give birth!
He could let it go if the children had defects—but even healthy ones were being abandoned! What kind of scum were these people!
His orphanage had grown from dozens of children to more than three hundred in just two months!
And that was only because he accepted children under six years old!
As for the others, even if he had the heart, he lacked the means and could only ruthlessly refuse.
He had even thought about simply closing the orphanage. Seeing children being left at his doorstep every day— even someone as thick-skinned as he was was nearly driven into depression.
Fortunately, what encouraged him most was that the super expert turned out to be the legendary Paladin, O’Brien!
Every few days, he would come to the orphanage to treat the sick children, which allowed Zack to keep the orphanage running.
Of course, all of this was done in secrecy. Only he himself knew O’Brien’s true identity.
Each time, O’Brien came quietly and left quietly; from start to finish, only he knew. It had already become an unspoken secret between the two.
“Captain Zack, I’m really sorry! The tavern was especially busy today—I’m late!”
Jack ran into the orphanage gate, panting, and repeatedly apologized to Zack, who was telling stories to the children.
He was the long-term worker of this orphanage—it was his most stable source of income.
“No matter. As long as you don’t run off, even if you come at midnight, it’s fine! These little monkeys won’t starve!” Zack joked.
Jack smiled, then pushed open the kitchen door and began preparing dinner for the children.
It had to be said that even an Apprentice professional possessed physical qualities far beyond ordinary people. For a normal person, working alone to cook this much food would be exhausting to death.
Originally, the meals for these orphans could have been prepared by ordinary people or even by the orphans themselves, but Zack had still decided to hire a good cook.
After all, life was already bitter enough—at the very least, the children should be able to eat something good.
Jack had been carefully selected by him. Even the most ordinary ingredients could be made enticing in his hands.
He had even invited Jack to join his adventurer team.
But he was politely declined. The reason was simple: he did not want constraints, and he already had a Formal job at the Artisans’ Association.
After all, during the most difficult period of his life, it had been the Artisans’ Association that helped him. Joining the adventurer team would mean leaving the association—he could not do that.
The moon was bright and the stars sparse.
After a long day of work, Jack lay sprawled on a bench in the courtyard, a damp towel draped over his forehead, quietly gazing at the night sky to rest.
Beside him, Zack sat under the bright moonlight, carefully calculating this month’s expenses for milk powder and medicine.
Having grown up as an orphan himself, he valued every coin. The principles of diligence and frugality had long been carved into his bones.
As he was checking the ledger, a faint, cautious set of footsteps slowly approached the orphanage gate.
Zack covered his face in pain.
A moment later, the footsteps hurried away.
He rose in silence and pushed open the gate.
Sure enough, on the steps lay another infant wrapped in tattered cloth. The little face was burning red with fever, breathing weak.
He picked the child up, shut the door, skillfully cleaned the baby, administered medicine, and then handed the infant over to the night-duty caregiver.
He himself returned to the bench and continued calculating his accounts.
He knew very well that if he did not take in such children, they would almost certainly die.
Most of these children were born to women working in special trades. In the past, they had been controlled by gangs, and the gangs had dealt with the babies after they were born.
Some unscrupulous parents had even sold their children to gangs for money or to repay gambling debts.
Now the gangs were gone, yet those who had no other means of survival continued their old line of work.
In the end, it was always these innocent children who suffered.
“Sigh… when will this ever end…”