Calvin charged. I countered. Calvin was lying on the grass. Same as always. He stood up, dusted off his clothes and, with a determined look, assumed a fighting stance again. Same as always. Charged again, fell again, again and again until he was thoroughly exhausted.
"Come on, Calvin, a star like you giving up after a few mere hours? Do you really need to rest already?" I asked the heavily panting Calvin.
"I… I'm not done, not yet!" He shouted and approached again just to hit the floor.
I thought to myself for a moment and said. "That's enough for today, your form is breaking down, you won't achieve anything going on like this. Rest for today and we'll continue tomorrow."
He was about to object, but then gritted his teeth, made a polite bow and walked away.
I wasn't being lazy or spiteful, I genuinely thought that the kid wouldn't be able to learn anything going on like this. What can I say, teaching someone is fun and Calvin might not be so bad after all, so I intend to help him out as much as I can. Or at least for the duration of my stay.
While walking to the house, I was stopped by Maria. With her hands on her hips, she gave this gem of a speech. "How dare you, a lowly bastard, pull tricks and beat up my big brother? If he really wanted to, he would have beaten you to a pulp, so don't act like you're something just because you have a few lowly tricks!"
With a twitching eye lid, barely able to contain myself, but still smiling like the biggest idiot in existence, I answered. "You're absolutely right, Maria, I could never compete with your brother, if he took me on seriously. Now, if you'd excuse me, there are toilets that need scrubbing." I walked past her.
"It's mis Maria to you!"
"Very well, mis Maria."
The time went by and it was finally time for dinner. As usual, me and Jane ate with the servants. This didn't really bother me, since I had no real desire to interact with the rest of the family. The only problem was that my time was running out.
This day marked a week after my glorious return to this world and I was planning to finish up the whole Long family business, before going back to the other side. That meant that I had mere 3 weeks left, but I still haven't even seen Long Oo - Alex's father and his wife. In the worst case scenario, I could simply finish the judgement the next time I'm here, or just judge the family as a whole since those two shouldn't be that different from the rest of the members of the Long family.
My thoughts were interrupted by Calvin and his two buddies waltzing into the room with grins plastered on their faces. "Hey Alex, What do you say about going out with us?" Calvin asked.
"Sorry, guys, but I don't particularly care for sausage parties. I'll pass."
"It's not a sausage party, but a mixer, you imbecile." One of the goons shouted. "you know, the type of social event that has a few people of both genders gather in a room, play games and hang out."
"So go and hang out by yourselves, I'm eating and not interested."
"Don't think that we're inviting you because we want to." Calvin said. "There will be four girls and there were supposed to be four of us, but one got sick and couldn't come, so you're the only guy that I know that's free on a short notice."
"You know I have stuff to do too, right?" I asked. "Your grandmother might get angry if she learns that I went out to dilly dally with you instead of working.
"Don't worry, I'll inform her about this, so you're safe."
I sighed. "Fine… The dress code?"
"Just don't look stupid and you'll be fine."
_________________________________________________________________________
Calvin Long
We arrived at an upscale cafe-like establishment. Since most of us were still under the age of 21, this was our preferred hangout spot. While it served coffee, it was far more well known for the bizarre and lavish snacks and some main courses. The walls were vibrant purple with golden lines creating a sharp contrast. The seats, tables and the bar were all pitch black. Overall, a very cozy, yet high-end looking establishment.
To my surprise - Alex was wearing a nice pitch black suit that seemed to be tailor made for his exact physique. That can't be, where would he get the money for something like a tailor made suit? He must have just found one that suits him.
We arrived before the girls and took our seats on one side of the table. It was laughable how well Alex was blending in with the chair he sat on - the comfortable, high back chair blended with his suit and the only thing that you could see was his pale face. Honestly, who even wears a pitch black suit to a social event? Did he think that we were going to attend a funeral?
Soon, the girls arrived headed by Nicole Chu - a beautiful brunette wearing a white, leather jacket that matched her porcelain skin - the one that our families agreed that I'd marry. I stood up to welcome our guests. "Hello, Nicole and her friends, To those that do not know me, I am Calvin Long - the future successor of the Long family, these are my friends." I introduced everyone.
"Pleasure." Nicole said coldly and introduced her companions, then sat down. I followed.
"How was your trip?" I asked Nicole. "I heard that you went to the middle east with your family in order to close some major deal."
"Okay, I guess." She answered coldly. "It was just a work trip of my father's, I don't even know why he bothered to invite us with him, since we didn't even do that much."
"And the weather?"
"Hot, unbearably hot."
"I see, how was the food? Did you miss pork?"
"A bit."
I tried probing a bit farther, but the conversation wasn't going well, then Alex pulled me close and said. "You're being a bit desperate, if you want her, tone it down a notch."
"What do you know!" I asked, irritated. "Do you even have a girlfriend or any real experience in the game?"
"Just trying to help." He answered nonchalantly.
"What's wrong?" One of the girls asked.
"Nothing, it's just that this bastard goes missing for a few years with the whole bus of people and then comes back with wild stories and unwanted tips!" I snapped.
"That sounds interesting, uh…" Nicole said.
"It's Alex, Alex Jones." He replied. "Would you like to hear all about my adventures? A fair warning, some parts are extremely dark and cruel and I don't have a habit of sugar coating."
"That sounds quite nice, I'd love that." Nicole said, looking intrigued.
"Yeah, tell us." The other girls added. "Now that you created the suspense, it would be simply cruel to leave us hanging."
What followed was an unbelievable story. Alex talked and talked, answering any question with the tiniest of details. He talked about his work vaguely, but the stories about the others in the camp and camp life in general were mesmerizing. I tried to find flaws or contradictions in his story, but everything matched. It was scary how well everything fell into place and I could see the usually bored and dismissive Nicole getting more and more immersed in the story with every word.
The people around the table barely touched the food and drink, not because it was bad, but because of the brutality of the story. The guy didn't sugar cote anything, explaining in gruesome detail the insides of the human body when a high voltage is sent through the nipple to the ball sack and various torture methods that he called training.
What was supposed to be a humiliation turned into the best ice breaker imaginable and the girls simply ate it up. I had to do something about it, there was no way that I could let this go on like this. Finally, I stopped Alex in the middle of the sentence. "Well, your little story was quite fun, but you've talked for hours already and we have a party to attend in a bit…"
"Oh… What a shame…" One of the girls said. "Be sure to finish the story the next time we meet, okay?"
"Yeah, that story, fact or fiction, was incredible." another said.
The last straw was when Nicole took out her phone and said with a smile. "Here's my phone number, call me if you ever want to chat, K?" This guy… This bastard got Nicole's phone number, something that even I don't have, for a mere fairy tale. I was pissed beyond words, but couldn't show it.
I had to take revenge. "Hey, Alex, I seem to have forgotten my wallet, can you pick up the tab?"
"Calvin, that's absurd! It's over 1000 USD." Nicole shouted. "I'll pay for it instead."
"Hear that, Alex, a girl is going to pick up your tab…" I taunted emphasizing the word 'your'.
"Calvin!" Nicole shouted. "Don't be a…"
"Sure, why not?" Alex said, catching everyone off guard.
"No, it's fine, I'll pay for it." Nicole insisted, but to everyone's surprise, Alex pulled out an obsidian-black card and handed it to the waiter, leaving everyone speechless.
How? Why? Even I only have a gold card, so how can this bastard have an obsidian one? Does this mean that he's somehow richer than me?
We all stood up, went outside and began boarding our cars. Alex was about to get into mine, when I stopped him. "This is as far as you go. I invited you to the mixer and not to the party."
"Okay." He answered. "I don't imagine that you'll be kind enough to drop me off home, right?"
"Sorry, we have to hurry."
"No worries." Alex said with a smile, took out his phone and made a call."
"What do you mean, he's not coming?" The girls protested.
"He isn't invited." I retorted. "But… you can take him with you if you want." I said fully knowing that the girls arrived in two two-seated cars.
Nicole took out her phone. "Alex, this is the address, take a taxi or something and join us there, okay?"
Alex hesitated. "...Fine, but can I invite a few friends of mine to come along? If anything else, they're interesting people, a bit chaotic, some are violent, some manipulative, some more perverted than an average redditor, but all fun."
"Well, now that you described them as such, there's no way that I'd ever forgive you, if you won't invite them." Nicole said with a smile. "But you're quite manipulative yourself."
"And extremely violent." Alex added with a devilish smile.
Join me on patreon at patreon.com/BonsaiCat for early access to new chapters or buy my book 'How to rule a fantasy world' on Amazon. It's the same stuff that you read here, but I fucked up with the naming and the book is already out, so fuck it, let's go with this name for the book. I appreciate all of your support and your forgiveness for my utter incompetence. Best regards, BonsaiCat.