Chapter 388: Ballas Clan
Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost
Despite being the first man sleeping in the inner castle, Zhang Tie still stayed in room No. 2 quietly overnight no matter how heavily his heart pounded. Any young man encountering such a situation would have his fantasies run wild.
Before going to bed, Kate had some female servants measure Zhang Tie's body. After that, nobody else came in Zhang Tie's room over the night.
There was only a wall between room No. 2 and the room where Olina, the lord of Bluesea Castle lived while a door was opened on the wall. In this way, the two rooms were accessible to each other. It was very suitable for Zhang Tie to live in room No. 2 as Olina's bodyguard. If any emergencies were to occur, Zhang Tie would be able to enter her room as fast as possible.
As long as he had no health problems, Zhang Tie was always awake at 6:00 am due to his biological clock.
Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie stared at the ceiling. He felt it strange and incredibly stupid that he had promised a strange woman to be her bodyguard without any hesitation yesterday.
Because she looked beautiful or because she looked like Miss Daina?
If another woman encountered that situation yesterday or that woman looked very ugly or could not leave me any deep impression, I'm not sure as to whether I would accept her request and be involved with so many troubles so easily!
As this was a very serious question, Zhang Tie tried his best to consider it when he was most clear-minded in the morning. However, even he started to despise himself when he got the answer——No!
If she was not that beautiful or didn't look like Miss Daina, Zhang Tie would at most save her from her would be killers or accompany her to a safe enough place before left. He would never do such a stupid thing. As a man who always had a plan, he would not choose to be involved in such a dispute which had nothing to do with him as his primary target here was to improve his fighting strength and to gain as more seven-strength fruits as possible.
After thinking it through, Zhang Tie mocked himself before letting out a deep sigh——I'm still a mortal, having not reached the level of immortals.
Donder said it was a male animal's instinct to display themselves in front of beautiful women. In a man's subconsciousness, they did this to gain the right to mate with beautiful women so as to keep and optimize their DNA.
Did I do that to gain the right to mate with Olina last night?'
With this whim, Zhang Tie felt a bit filthy. At the sight of the ever-firm steel mummy which raised up and caused a small hill on the quilt, Zhang Tie had to admit that that woman was especially lethal to him.
That woman's nickname was "hot fox". If a woman could be that influential in the Ewentra Archipelago, she was definitely not an average woman.
"Are you a bad guy?" Zhang Tie opened his quilt and patted the relentless thing as he mumbled.
At this moment, that bad guy nodded sometimes. Zhang Tie then revealed an obscene smile...
After having went to the washroom, the relentless thing finally became docile. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to put on clothes, he remembered that his clothes had been taken away by some female servants last night. What was left in his room were only a double-carps waist and some personal belongings.
Zhang Tie then pulled down the rope of the bell to call servants in. In only about 20 seconds, he had heard knocks.
"Come in please!"
When the door was pushed open, 4 female servants with sweet looks walked in with many things before closing the door of his bedroom.
The 2 female servants in front were carrying a set of tidy clothes, shoes, and socks. As for the 2 female servants behind, one was holding a basin of hot water while the other was holding a towel and something strange. It was Zhang Tie's first time seeing them. Each of them looked more than 20 years old. In Zhang Tie's opinion, they all had top looks and figures.
"Mr. Peter, here are your new clothes!"
"Fine." Zhang Tie nodded. Now that he had to stay here for a few days, his look as a pioneer would not be proper. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
"Do you want to put it on now?" A female servant asked Zhang Tie.
"Yes!"
Soon after Zhang Tie replied, the female servants had surrounded him. One of them started to help him undo his buttons while the plumpy female servant who asked him directly knelt in front of Zhang Tie. She directly peeled off Zhang Tie's short pants, exposing his naked buttocks.
"Argh!" Zhang Tie shouted loudly at once. He hadn't imagined that they were that audacious. He hurriedly covered his mummy and asked in an embarrassed way, "What do you want?"
"We are helping you change clothes. Madam has told us, as long as you live in the inner castle, we will look after you like how we look after her. We will satisfy all of your demands and make you feel at home." Kneeling down on the ground, that female servant raised her head and smiled at Zhang Tie.
Seeing that sweet smile and her plump boobs, Zhang Tie felt that bad thing became relentless again. Her gesture of kneeling down in front of him reminded him of those days in Blackhot City when he "fed pigeons" with the girls of the Rose Association.
Zhang Tie hardly moved his eyes away from that female servant's alluring lips, "Hmm...hmm...I will do it myself!"
Even in Jinwu Castle, he didn't request the female servants to serve him that considerably.
"How come that be! This is our job. Oh, Mr. Peter, can you lift your right foot so that I can help you take off your pants? If you cannot stand steadily, you can support yourself on my shoulder..." Saying this, the female servant had already moved Zhang Tie underwears to his ankles.
Zhang Tie could only lift his two feet one by another and allow that female servant to take off his pants. He would never move his hand away from his mummy at this moment. Because in only a few seconds, that relentless thing had already grown pretty grim. As a LV 7 fighter, of course he could stand steadily even for a whole day.
"Mr. Peter, can you straighten up your hands? I will take off your outer garment." Another charming female servant who was undoing his buttocks asked.
Hearing this, the 4 female servants glanced at Zhang Tie at the same time while they tried hard to not burst out in laughter.
Zhang Tie glanced at the 4 female women who were looking at him with strange looks and mumbled inside, 'F*ck, if you are not afraid of that, I won't fear anything then. You really think that I've not seen so many beauties before?' With this whim, Zhang Tie directly loosened his grip.
After the pressure on it was released, that relentless thing instantly sprung up like a furious long spear and pointed directly at the beautiful face of the girl who was kneeling down right in front of him while shaking slightly. It was even less than 15 cm away from her face.
"Argh!"
This time, the 4 female servants uttered a slight scream in unison. At the same time, their faces blushed slightly at once as they almost forgot what they were doing.
"Is that okay?" After moving his hands away, Zhang Tie asked. Then, the female servants recovered composure while the female servant hurriedly took off his outer garment. In a split second, Zhang Tie showed his muscles and perfect figure.
The 2 female servants holding a basin and 2 towels hurriedly started to clean up Zhang Tie's body. When one servant cleaned up his body with a wet hot towel, another one would instantly dry it with the dry towel. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't feel cold or uncomfortable at all.
The 2 female servants moved so adroitly and audaciously that they soon cleaned up Zhang Tie all over, including Zhang Tie's toes and that relentless thing.
In the end, Zhang Tie directly closed his eyes. After recovering composure, Zhang Tie instantly felt that everything became smooth. Even he was naked, he still didn't feel embarrassed at all.
"It's over!" Several minutes later, Zhang Tie heard a voice before he opened his eyes.
Zhang Tie then glanced over himself and found he was wholly new. He was wearing a set of black knight's clothes which had a double line of buttons with golden laces. It looked both dignified and comfortable. His double-carps waist had also been put on by them. Now, he looked as carefree and handsome as a rich dandy.
The water that the female servants used to clean his body had been mixed with a special essence which smelt like tobacco. Sniffing this fragrance, Zhang Tie felt like steamed bread.
Watching him, the female servants' eyes radiated bright lights while their faces blushed.
"This set of clothes fits me well, thanks!" Zhang Tie nodded towards them.
"You're welcome. If madam sees you, she would be very happy!"
Zhang Tie shrugged. 'These female servants might have taken me as a boy toy who had some talents.' For such a misunderstanding, Zhang Tie didn't want to explain at all, instead, he just raised his nose and sniffed his sleeves. "What have you put in water, it smells so good!"
"That's a plant essence being extracted from dragon-blood tobacco leaves which only exist in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. It could clean up people's body and make them energetic. Besides, it could take good care of your skin. It's the best product for men." The female servant who was kneeling down in front of him answered.
"Hehe. It's still early now, I want to warm up in the training field in the castle, can I?"
"Madam has told us that you can do whatever you want in Bluesea Castle!"
...
Several minutes later, Zhang Tie arrived at the training field inside Bluesea Castle. At this moment, it was only a bit after 6:00 am. The faerie dragon star was still hanging in the eastern sky. According to the timetable of the castle, the guards would not start training until 7:00 am.
There were so many training instruments and weapons on the training field. Zhang Tie skimmed over the rows of weapons and chose a heavy sword which weighed about 20 kg before he started to practice.
Zhang Tie's training was very simple. After standing steadily, he would repeat the eight sword movements that he had learned on Hidden Dragon Island——splitting, hacking, poking, pricking, raising, rebounding, stirring up and pushing aside.
Strictly, Zhang Tie had not completed his compulsory cultivation courses on Hidden Dragon Island at all. In the past one year, even though Zhang Tie was talented and practicing hard, he still only finished the fundamental foot movements and shield defense skills. As for basic swordsmanship and basic archery, he had just started them. He had not accomplished 1 m times for each movement of fundamental swordsmanship. As for basic archery, Zhang Tie was absolutely a newbie——although he knew the concrete movements and strength, yet it would be a question of probability for him to hit the target if it was over 30 m away.
Thankfully, as he had awakened the ancestral bloodline——precise throwing skill, which could help him realize long-distance attack. Otherwise, he even felt shameless to tell others that he came from Hidden Dragon Palace.
After staying in the Hidden Dragon Palace for so long, although students in Hidden Dragon Palace were forbidden to talk about the ancestral bloodlines that they had awakened, Zhang Tie still had heard about some "half-opened secret"——over 50% of students in Hidden Dragon Palace had awakened the most popular "archery affinity" as their first ancestral bloodline.
After awakening this ancestral bloodline, people could have a super high affinity and enlightenment about archery. As a result, they would improve their archery very fast. This ancestral bloodline was the foundation of the other powerful archery-related ancestral bloodlines. It was said that Lan Yunxi awakened the most powerful archery-related ancestral bloodline, which was terrifying as it could help her kill many opponents more powerful than herself.
As for the other 2 compulsory courses——flying skill and horsemanship, Zhang Tie had not started them yet.
Although he had exchanged for the secret knowledge of flying skill before leaving Hidden Dragon Island, he had not yet started to cultivate it. According to the requirement of this secret knowledge, people were not able to cultivate flying skill until LV 8 as this skill required one to release strength through the spine and further development of physical potentials. As for horsemanship, Zhang Tie didn't think it was necessary to learn it recently. Therefore, as long as he was free, Zhang Tie would cultivate his basic swordsmanship.
Although the training conditions in Bluesea Castle could not match that of Hidden Dragon Island, the principles and movements were the same. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept repeating the 8 movements of swordsmanship.
Now, it would take Zhang Tie about 2 seconds to complete the 8 movements. His target was to finish them in 1 second before he reached LV 8. Zhang Tie was told that Yu Xiaotian, whose nickname was Soaring Heavens Sword, who ranked 3rd on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List could complete the 8 movements 4 times in 1 second. However, it was said that the first ancestral bloodline that Yu Xiaotian awakened was also "sword affinity" which had a deep potential for development.
'Why haven't I awakened "spear affinity" at the beginning?' Zhang Tie didn't understand it until now. As for the throwing-related ancestral bloodline that he awakened last night, Zhang Tie didn't remember its name. He only faintly felt that he had awakened all the ancestral bloodlines concerning precise throwing.
He knew that his precise throwing skill could still be further evolved. However, he didn't know whether that bloodline that he awakened last night could be further evolved or not. Zhang Tie could not find an expert to guide him after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace. Everything was had its pros and cons. If he wanted freedom, he was doomed to fumble alone on the way of cultivation.
After Zhang Tie practiced for over 20 minutes alone on the training field, Gitta arrived. Seeing Zhang Tie cultivating himself, Gitta didn't speak.
Zhang Tie's movements looked simple, boring, while being not powerful at all. Albeit knowing those basic swordsmanship movements, Gitta didn't find anything special from them.
"Do you usually practice in that way?" After watching for a short while, Gitta finally uttered.
Hearing this, Zhang Tie put away his sword and stopped.
"Not exactly, but this is a very important training item."
"Unbelievable, based on your swordsmanship last night, how come you still practice these basic movements?" Gitta looked amazed.
'Swordsmanship? I know what motherf*cking swordsmanship? Although there's a lot of secret knowledge about swordsmanship in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace, he I didn't exchange for anyone of them. As I've not passed the test of basic swordsmanship, I'm not qualified to exchange for that secret knowledge over there. Last night, I was only using some hand gestures of the iron-blood fist with the help of a long sword. That sword was just the extension of my palm and my fingers. Essentially, I was using iron-blood fist. Unless I met a powerhouse who had also enlightened the one step, one scenery situation of iron-blood fist last night, others could not figure out the secret of my movements.'
Of course, Zhang Tie mumbled inside.
"The more frequently you practice the basic skills, the better. There's an old saying in eastern continent, 'the secret of any skill lies in proficiency'" Zhang Tie pretended to be very serious.
"The secret of any kill lies in proficiency..." Hearing this, Gitta became stunned at once before frowned and mumbled repetitively. After repeating it 3-4 times, his frowns instantly disappeared as he burst out an exciting and enlightening expression, "Thank you, I finally understand what I lack!"
With a faint smile, Zhang Tie's heart pounded, 'If you become an idiot by always practicing such basic movements, later on, don't blame me. There's another old Chinese saying, 'Don't attempt to drill a hole on the tip of a hole'. Even if you drill a hole on it, it's still useless.'
Seeing Gitta wanting to ask another question, Zhang Tie hurriedly changed the topic. By now, except for iron-blood fist and precise throwing skill, he could rarely show anything more powerful. He was not qualified to teach others at all. Additionally, he didn't need to explain precise-throwing skill and iron-blood fist to Gitta as the first one was formed by awakening his ancestral bloodline. As for the iron-blood fist, he didn't know how he had made it even till present. As Gitta was simple and honest, Zhang Tie liked him, so he didn't want to cheat him.
"Oh, how about the task that Ms. Olina had let you do last night?"
Zhang Tie knew that since he went to bed last night, many people in the Bluesea Castle didn't sleep at all, instead, they were running like machines. As Zhang Tie's task was to protect that woman, he didn't care about the other things. Additionally, that woman had her own decisions facing such an event. From the series of decisions that she had made since she came back to Bluesea Castle last night, Zhang Tie had realized this point.
"We've dealt with the dead bodies of our guards according to the order of madam. We lost 22 guards, yet they lost 67 killers. It seems that we've ambushed them and gained a complete victory!" Not until then Zhang Tie still didn't understand why Ms. Gitta would let him do that.
"Oh, Gitta, can you tell me what happened between the Ballas Clan and madam?" Zhang Tie instinctively felt that there was a sophisticated dispute between that woman and the Ballas Clan. She was the chairman of Ballas Business Group, yet those members of the Ballas Clan wanted to kill her. This felt weird.
Gitta hesitated for a short while.
"Is it inconvenient for you to mention it?"
"No, nothing inconvenient at all. Although the madam doesn't like us talking about the Ballas Clan, I still want to say it. Those Ballas clansmen are just shameless b*stards. It's the biggest mistake that madam has made in her life. She treats them too well!" Gitta said furiously as he waved his fist fiercely.
"If you are free, can you tell me about the details so that I could make an early judgment about the possible coming dangers?"
"Fine!" Gitta let out a long sigh...
...
18 years ago, the alleged Ballas Bussiness Group and Ballas Clan didn't exist on Saint Herner Island at all. At that time, there was only one agency called Ballas on Saint Herner Island. It was too small and was hardly managing a wood business.
The male boss of the company was a young man called Shire who came here to develop his undertaking. He had a beautiful wife called Olina.
Ballas was lucky because he had such a beautiful wife. He was unlucky as he had died in the 2nd year after getting married to his wife, leaving her wife who had been pregnant 2 months. For the business of the company, Ballas went to the Ice and Snow Wildness. However, he was attacked by bandits. Besides losing all the payment for goods, he was also heavily wounded. Soon after returning to Saint Herner Island, he died.
Before he died, he still owed a great amount of money. Except for the wood agency called "Ballas Company" which was illiquid, he left not even one copper coin.
Therefore, the debtees asked his wife who was still pregnant for debts. Olina, whose belly gradually bulged gritted her teeth and started to take over that completely illiquid Ballas Company for her late husband and her baby. She then started to learn all the skills to manage the company and to do the wood business in order to pay off the debts and strive for a bright future for her baby.
Facing the dilemma, she displayed her exceptional perseverance, wisdom and business talent.
Only after 4 months, the Ballas Company managed by Olina had paid off the huge amount of debt owed by her ex-husband. Not only this, she made a great sum of money. Right at the same time, because of working overload, she had a miscarriage.
In only half a year, she had experienced so many difficulties, however, she was not beaten by them. After losing her baby, she became more ambitious and started to manage Ballas Company carefully.
3 years later, Ballas Company was changed to Ballas Commercial Organization and started to grow rapidly in the commercial world of Saint Herner Island.
6 years later, Ballas Commercial Organization was changed to Ballas Business Group and started to own its own armed forces and fleet of ships. From then on, it had begun to be famous across the Ewentra Archipelago.
On the 7th year, some relatives of Olina's ex-husband's family came to Saint Herner Island for Olina's shelter. Olina took them in, causing the recent situation...
Now, Ballas Business Group had become well-known across Saint Herner Island. Benefited from this, those Ballas Clan's relatives being taken in by Olina gradually grew arrogant...
"When they came to Saint Herner Island, madam took them out of kindness and arranged positions for them in the business group at their requests. In the early a couple of years, they were very serious and honest; however, they gradually changed. At the beginning, they considered themselves as madam's family members and relatives; gradually, madam became their younger generation; then, because they surname Ballas and have stayed in Ballas Business Group for a long time, they felt that they should have shares of this business group; finally, last night, they might think that the whole Ballas Business Group should belong to them while madam became the outsider..." Saying this, Gitta forcefully punched his own palm.
"Hmm, I understand!" Zhang Tie also sighed with feelings. Because of her mercy and tolerance to her ex-husband's relatives, she had raised them into fierce wild beasts. Perhaps in those b*stards' heart, a lonely woman had become their last obstacle to occupy the Ballas Business Group. The woman should have realized that.
After Gitta said that, the day was going to break. Thus, Zhang Tie and Gitta got the message at the same time——after being told that Olina was assassinated last night, those b*stards of Ballas Clan finally arrived at Bluesea Castle after one night.
...