Unfortunately, Darius had no place to stay and no money either, so his first priority currently was to find a nice, secluded place where no one would bother him, and he could finish his daily ten thousand hammer strikes.
Apart from universally avoiding Darius, everyone in Sahin was enamored with their technology. They stared at their phones or waved their arms about as if they were controlling something unseen to the rest of the world.
Suddenly, large spheres whizzed by above Darius. He reflexively looked up at the large spheres gliding along suspended rails. Although they looked like large metallic beads, they had hollow insides and served as futuristic taxis. However, not many people used these because most used the teleportation chambers that dotted the city like phone booths.
The whole thing made Darius feel rather insignificant as he watched in awe. He was once again lost in the splendor of it all; he could never settle for a village life again.
As another bead whizzed past, he noticed this one wasn’t a sphere but was instead bullet-shaped. It moved significantly faster. Turning his head, Darius tracked it as it zoomed by. Although a metallic solid, it twisted and bent according to the rail, remolding itself into more aerodynamic shapes depending on its path.
Unwilling to retract his curiosity, Darius walked backward, captivated by what he saw.
It was then that a group of young nobles noticed Darius. Unfortunately for him, it was the same group that he had encountered at the mall. The oldest, the one Darius had bumped into, was about seventeen, a year younger than Darius. As soon as the noble saw him, he motioned to the rest of his friends.
Taking one look at Darius, they snickered and snidely commented, laughing at jokes they found particularly hilarious. Each one had a beautiful girl on their arm, and one could sense their superiority complexes from a mile away. From the moment they were born, silver spoons had been shoved so far up their behinds that if Darius examined them, he would swear he could almost see metal at the back of their throats.
“Oh, look! It’s that thing that bumped into me at the mall today. Have you ever seen anything so pathetic?” William, the oldest one in the group, spoke with genuine disgust displayed on his face. His friends chuckled, although to be fair, they would laugh at anything he said.
He was from one of the twelve noble houses of Sahid, House Rylen. William was the youngest of the Rylen family, which was, to date, one of the wealthiest families. Thus, young William had never worked a single day in his life. Being the very youngest, he had twenty-four older siblings, and they were all favored in chronological order, from oldest to youngest; therefore, his father as well as everyone else in the family never really cared about where he was or what he did. He spent most of his days whittling his time with frivolities or picking on those beneath him, such as Darius.
Still, he lived a very comfortable existence, and despite being the youngest, the name Rylen still carried much weight in Sahid. In a place like this, where nobility was everything, there were many perks to simply being associated with someone of his social standing. This was the sole reason why his peers had no problems constantly kissing his *** and sucking up to him at every opportunity.
“I don’t know, Will. He’s kinda cute, and I like his muscles.” The girl under William’s arm declared. William, who had been slowly sliding his arm down the girl’s back for the past five minutes, snorted in annoyance. Her remark had stung him. In terms of physical strength, he was quite weak, and he knew it.
The girl was one of his many girlfriends. Her name was Jade. In Will’s phone’s contact list, she was number fourteen. She would’ve been number thirteen, but Will had decided that that would be a bad omen. He wasn’t superstitious, but he was unwilling to tempt fate unnecessarily and had left that spot empty.
She stared at Darius as he walked, clearly somewhat enamored with him.
“Look at him, Jade! He’s a *uc*ing hillbilly! He keeps staring at the damn taxis for heaven’s sake!”
“Trust me, Will. I’m looking at him, all of him, and imagining a few bits too,” Jade retorted.
Everyone in the group heard their conversation, but no one dared to say anything. Jade’s last remark drove Will over the edge. A scowl appeared on his face, and she shot him a taunting look that asked: “What are you going to do about it?”
When Darius turned around to gaze at bullet train and began walking backward, William jumped at the chance to regain some dignity and save face in front of all his friends who were watching with anticipation, wondering what he would do.
Will knew he couldn’t let this slide. If he did, this story would spread like wildfire amongst the nobles. Although most wouldn’t show it to his face, any respect they had for him would be instantly tarnished.
He whistled to one of his friends, although lackey would’ve been a better word for it. Tilting his head to one side, he gestured at the backward-walking Darius and said, “James, I think that thing over there just bumped into you.”
Will pointed at Darius. James, one of Will’s most submissive and obedient lackeys, immediately knew what he was supposed to do. Short and rather chubby, he resembled a really large rat. He was from the Nord family. From their family tree, one would honestly think their ancestors were rodents: their buckteeth and deep-set, beady eyes made others feel like they were staring at vermin; considering the family’s reputation for being sneaky and uncouth perverts, one could argue that they were. Apart from that, they were one of the weaker and less wealthy families, which might have been why he was so submissive to the higher-class noble William Rylen.
With no need for further instructions, James shoved away the two girls he had around his arms (he lacked respect for women and anyone he saw as being inferior to him in terms of noble peerage and wealth) and waddled towards Darius, positioning himself at Darius’s next backward step.
This time, Darius felt something was wrong, but when he turned around, it was already too late. He found himself walking right into what could only be described as a large blob of fat. Darius staggered and saw two beady eyes glaring at him.
Crap, how did I manage to bump into two nobles in one day? He kowtowed while apologizing, “I’m sorry” over and over again. For the second time, he stood and tried to sprint away before Will took the initiative. No longer in a good mood and irritated about meticulously sliding his hand down her back, he smacked his girlfriend’s perky *** before blocking Darius’s path. She was the reason he had to bother with this anyway—well, that and his pride.
“Remember me?”
Darius didn’t need to examine Will’s face, anyone could clearly see the malice written all over it.
“I-I’m sorry! Please forgive me, noble sir.” Darius immediately kowtowed again, wondering how he was going to escape.
“Did you hear that? It said it’s sorry.” Will announced with a smirk on his face. His remark obtained mocking laughter from his friends. Darius sensed where this was going and tried to walk around Will but quickly realized that he was completely surrounded. All in all, it was five against one. Of course, this wasn’t at all novel to Darius, as he had been bullied every day of his life at the orphanage.
Will walked closer to Darius and whispered, “I’m afraid that s*** won’t work twice.”
“I’m sorry! Please forgive me.” Darius could only repeat this phrase.
“Oh, you’re not sorry yet, but trust me, soon, you will be. See, you pushed both me and my friend here. We were kind enough to let you go the first time, but now? Well now, we can’t just let you walk away in one piece now, can we? We demand payment.” He eyed Darius with a smug grin and said, “I think one of your arms should suffice.”
