Episode 77 - First Bridge 3 ‘Eradicate it!‘

“.....” Aernest’s dark expression gave Eugene a slight chill down her back. Never in her three years of cohabiting with Aernest has she ever seen him this irritated before.

To be honest, he looked scary.

*Ahem* Eugene brought her fist to her mouth and coughed. “Well… 200 bricks divided by 2(15) is 6.6 times. Round it up is 7 rounds. We did 2 rounds already so we have...5 rounds left.” As soon as Eugene said her last sentence, Aernest lips couldn’t help but tremble.

He was already tired with the two rounds they just did but WHAT? There are five more rounds to do?! Aernest’s nostrils flared up from shock and his impending explosion of anger!

Eugene saw that Aernest’s expression was getting worse so she tried to comfort him. “Trust me, if we manage to complete this part, everything else will become as smooth as butter!” Eugene nodded with conviction. “We can get rid of all the grass in 3 and a half hours as opposed to taking 4 days to pluck all the grass by hand!” Eugene attempted to convince Aernest again.

Hesitating, Aernest looked at Eugene who was earnestly explaining to him. “... Really?” Aernest asked. Seeing Eugene nod, his lips formed into a straight line.“This is the only hard part right?” He asked again.

“Yes!” Eugene quickly replied! “This is the only hard part! I will give you the honors for the finale as well!” Eugene looked at Aernest in all seriousness.

“..... I dislike honor.” Was Aernest’s last words to Eugene before speed walking away with his empty sack to get more bricks.

“.....” Eugene blinked before catching up to Aernest. She remained quiet for the duration of this mini task in a bid to not further agitate Aernest; in case he wanted to give up.

After another 2 rounds of stacking up on their precious bricks, the weather started to become warmer from the sun almost reaching the highest point of the sky. While this was a task tremendously taxing on their bodies, when the two thought about how there were only three rounds left, they began to fill up with hope as opposed to despair.

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When the other Paladin children came back from their one hour break, this was the sight they saw.

A pile of bricks splattered around on the training field.

Two completely dead-looking children dragging a heavy-looking sack.

“.....” Louis blinked at Eugene and Aernest who was completely covered in red powder.

“ Did their task change?” Crown Prince Ren asked. He speechlessly stared at Eugene and Aernest using their whole body to drag back a sack.

“... No. Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez were with us when we took our breaks. Their task should remain the same.” Ron Graeme replied.

“Then, what are they doing??” Crown Prince Ren watched as the two children from afar emptied their sacks and walked back towards the gate without a single word towards one another.

“My... my precious sister.” Ramon speechlessly mumbled. He couldn’t believe his sight! ‘That’ Eugene allowed herself to be covered in dirt and dust?!? Didn’t she ignore him for one week straight for smearing chocolate on her face?! ‘What’s going on!’ He shouted in his mind, turning towards Louis for an answer!

“Do you know what they are doing brother Louis?” Ron Graeme also turned to Louis for an answer.

“No.” Louis replied.

“But their efforts are futile!” Crown Prince Ren raised his voice, taking a step forward to the direction of the children. “We should go stop them and-”

“It’s not futile.” Louis cut Crown Prince Ren off. Though he didn’t know what the two were doing, he knew that Eugene wasn’t someone who liked to play around. She wasn’t someone who would just randomly be doing something.

“But!” Crown Prince Ren frowned at Louis’ words. Without being able to question him, Louis had already turned his back on him to go back to training. “.......” When he turned to Ramon to question him, he saw Ramon contemplating something. “What are you thinking of?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“I think my sister figured something out.” Ramon replied to the Crown Prince. Smiling, he told Crown Prince Ren and Ron Graeme that he was going back to training and ran to Louis.

“I think they trust the two too much.” Ron Graeme looked at the Crown Prince. “Should we go stop them?” He asked the Crown Prince.

“.... I don’t know anymore!” Crown Prince Ren raised his hands in defeat.

…………

A few (40) minutes later...

“Sis… Sister… I… I am dying!” Aernest dropped down to his knees, his face firmly planted to the grass, his butt raised high to the sky.

During their last round, Aernest couldn’t wait to finish so he started to sprint and saved them an extra 5 minutes. Who knows where his adrenaline came from but it died as quickly as it came because after announcing his death, Aernest really did lay lifelessly. -Dead, he was dead.

“......” Sitting beside Aernest, Eugene stared at his lifeless body slowly breathing in and out. ‘He fell asleep?’ Eugene lightly shook Aernest on his shoulders but got no response. She took one last glance at Aernest who was sleeping bizarrely before looking towards the blue sky.

Deeply inhaling fresh air and exhaling co2, she calmed her erratic breath from running with Aernest. She knew that running mindlessly would deplete her energy even further but when she saw Aernest’s excited face, she couldn’t help but join in to rush to their goal!

With the sun fully out, Eugene raised her hands to the air and waved it around. “No wind.” She mumbled, bringing her hands down.

After 5 minutes of resting, she slowly got up, patting her hands and pants to get rid of grass sticking to her. “Oh.,” Eugene mumbled in surprise, staring down at her palms that were now covered in blisters.

“....” Eugene frowned and paused for one full minute before looking towards Aernest. Walking up to him, she squatted down and inspected his hands. Like her, his palms too were covered in blisters from constantly dragging the heavy sack.

Eugene stared at Aernest who would usually wake up the moment someone came close to him and she felt uncomfortable. Why didn’t he tell her that he was in pain or that his hands were injured? Or did he not realize because he was too focused on their task? ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ Eugene frowned, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

‘They could have taken breaks if he wanted to. Or they could’ve gotten gloves if he said something. Wasn’t he the one who talked about remaining beautiful and the lot?’ Eugene sighed, standing up whilst still staring at him.

Taking off her outer training coat, she hung it around Aernet’s back before going back to work by herself. Dragging 2 sacks filled with bricks, she went to the newly attained field they got from Duke Akler. The field they got was by the knights training field so she couldn’t help but make frequent eye contact with Knight-Paladins staring at her. Ignoring them, she walked towards one end of the field and left one sack there. Taking a big step that was roughly one meter, she left another sack once she reached 3 meters.

Heading back to where she left her first sack, she began to work. Eugene stacked up two bricks on top of each other and repeated this until she reached her 2nd sack. Doing the same with the 2nd sack, she continued in a straight line until a clear-separation between the military side and the knight side could be seen.

This task was not difficult nor physically taxing, like dragging 15 KG for 10 minutes straight, so Eugene completed 10 meters relatively quickly in 20 minutes.

Taking a 10-minute rest, it was then that Aernest woke up from his deep slumber. “Huh?” Aernest stared at Eugene sitting beside him and at the bricks forming a straight line in the middle of the training field.

“.... What did you do?” Aernest’s groggy-voice asked. Rubbing his eyes he stood up with full energy. “Why didn’t you wake me up, sister!” He shouted, before following after Eugene.

Eugene and Aernest walked to the other end of the grass-field that was against the military hard-sand side and began to work. Eugene ordered Aernest to stack 2 bricks on top of each other just like she did on the side of the knights.

{Knight’s (2/4) side --Brick- Grass-Brick (¼)-- Military (¼) side }

Just like that, Aernest began to quietly work without complaining. But it wasn’t after completing a meter did he realize that she was separating the newly acquired field from the military side as well! He understands why she did that to the knight’s side, but the military side as well? WHY?

“Why?” Aernest unconsciously muttered, his eyebrows frowning.

Without looking at Aernest, Eugene paused.“You’ll see.” She replied, handing him a bottle of water that was hanging from her pants.

Gulping water, he then began to lay down the bricks and move forward again. Eugene took the role as his assistant and dragged 2 sacks of bags behind him, handing him bricks whenever they stopped and running to get bricks whenever they ran out. The second divider was then completed in less than 10 minutes, with the two perfectly working together. To finish up, Aernest and Eugene stood on top of each separator and walked across slowly. This was to apply weight on the bricks so that it wouldn’t budge later on. This took them 5 minutes and like that, they were 80% done!

“Done!!” Aernest shouted out in relief once they were done! Taking a glance at Eugene, he started to stretch his limbs like her! -One, Two. One, Two.- The two did a full-body stretch to freshen up.

“What do we do now sister?” Aernest smiled happily. “Hmm..” Eugene thought for a moment before whispering to Aernest. When she finished speaking, Aernest had on a look of confusion and even spaced out. After a few seconds, he had a look of realization! Nodding to Eugene, he then hurriedly ran away!

Once Aernest was gone out of sight, Eugene turned around and walked over to the knight’s section of the training field. Everyone had a look of confusion except Louis whose lips were arrogantly tugged up. Seeing his look, Eugene did the same. ‘Heheh’

“..... To get rid of grass, you built a wall?” Crown Prince Ren started speaking once Eugene arrived in front of him. From the start till the end, he had neglected his training to watch Eugene and Aernest do their work from afar, but even after they finished, he still couldn’t comprehend in the slightest.

“... Well… Yes.” Eugene replied, blinking her eyes. He wasn’t wrong, she did build a wall to get rid of the grass area. Turning to Ramon she asked. “Where can I get water?”

Before Ramon could speak, Louis took charge. “I’ll take you there.” He then proceeded to turn around and walk without waiting for her. Nodding to everyone, she naturally followed Louis leaving 3 confused people behind.

“Will she be watering the grass now?” Ron Graeme laughed at his words. He watched as Louis and Eugene turned towards the back of the building.

“Possibly...” Crown Prince Ren and Ramon replied in a union.

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“Truthfully speaking, Aedelak and Aeselak failed their task, correct?” Eugene took the water hose Louis handed to her. Surprisingly, the hose was made from cloth and leather carefully stitched up. Turning on the tap to let the water run, she and Louis then proceeded to walk back to the training ground.

“... They failed to get rid of grass but passed because they never gave up. Most likely this test is to see how persistent you are. A test of the mind.” Louis replied a while later, looking at the blue sky.

“I see.” Eugene replied. ‘Sounds like a waste of time to me but indeed, this is a good observatory test to look for persistent and focused people.’ Eugene shrugged from her thoughts.

After a minute, Louis and Eugene arrived at the training field that was abandoned by the children! Aernest arrived after the two and was also as puzzled. Confused, Eugene looked at Louis. “They most likely are reporting you to Duke Rodriguez and Duke Marleigh as a mentally incapable patient who is incapable of understanding how to complete this task.” Louis replied.

“........” Eugene’s eyebrows twitched at Louis’s words. Ignoring him, she began to spray plenty of water around the separator. She sprayed on the grass side of the knight’s side and sprayed on the military’s hard sand side.

“90% Done” Eugene nodded to Aernest and Louis.

Before long, she and Louis stood back whilst Aernest stood slightly before them. With Eugene’s command, they began the final step towards annihilating the greeneries inside the mini-walls.

“Burn it!” Eugene raised her voice. Multiple sounds of footsteps pausing behind from meters away at her voice.

Hearing the mark, Aernest threw a blazing torch into the separator. And within 2 seconds, a small fire and along with black smoke rapidly started spreading out from within the separator.

This was a common method farmers used to get rid of grass and weeds during spring when the grass is still wet from winter. Spring is also the best season because there aren't many windy days during this season. No wind, along with wet grass prevents fire from turning into a huge blaze and spreading everywhere else. After the initial burn, farmers would then use a heavy amount of salt and or vinegar to completely kill the grass from its root.

With Aernest’s reminder of getting rid of everything at once, Eugene suddenly remembered her former country and their problems with smoke every spring. Every spring, old farmers from the countryside would often be criticized in the media for using this method and for smoking up the entire city; bringing the pollution level up. Remembering this knowledge, she without hesitation applied here.

And just like this, Duke Marleigh, Duke Rodriguez, Aedelak, Aedelak, Duke Akler, Ramon, Crown Prince Ren, and Ron Graeme speechlessly watched as the grass started to turn black.

Watching the smoke rise, Eugene sighed. She and Aernest spent 4 hours, including the hour where they dug out the grass by hand, just to watch as one torch burns all the grass in a mere 10 minutes.

Turning around to Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez, Eugene saw their speechless face and got slightly annoyed. --What? They want her and Aernest to waste time on eradicating grass by hand?

Using her former career skills as an actress, Eugene broke out into a beautiful smile that made everyone’s faces twist in an unknown emotion.

“Dukes.. no teachers. What ‘easy’ tasks will you give us next?”

And with that sentence, Eugene and Aernest completed their task at noon. The two waited for Louis, Ramon, Aedelak, and Aeselak to finish up their training in the evening to head back home together.

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After work Duke Marleigh, Duke Rodriguez, and another guest, Duke Graeme met up to drink together. The faces of the two generals when they arrived at their appointed location made Duke Graeme laugh his guts out.

“Why…! Why do your faces look as if you two got punched in the guts?!?” Duke Graeme laughed until tears started streaming down his face.

The reason why the two generals of Xenperia looked so incredibly out of it was that, just like Aedelak, Aeselak, Eugene, and Aernest, the two also had to do this task when they first started training. This was before Emperor Zen made the military unit of the Xenperia’s might official.

They, like Aedelak and Aeselak, gritted their teeth through humiliation and great anger to pluck off a 10 by 10-meter field. But unlike Aedelak and Aeselak, they managed to complete the task by plucking off all the grass.

Back then, their teacher who is also the Commander of the Military might showed them a blank face when they completed the task. And today, they finally realize what that face meant!

‘You’re idiots.’ Is most likely what the facial expression meant!

Before today, they thought that the meaning and point of this test was to see if men could persist through this task without giving up from humiliation or exhaustion! They thought that this exercise was to allow men with great determination and resolve into the military unit!

But today, they’ve finally figured out the real meaning behind this test! This wasn’t a test to see how fast men could eradicate all the grass, but a test to pick out men with high cognitive abilities. --What will you do within the 10 hour limit with minimal to no instruction? What methods will you use to eradicate all the grass? Are you thinking outside the box? Etc. etc.

The two generals and Duke Graeme drank until they could no longer drink. In their drunken state, they wrote a letter to the commander of the Military who was currently stationed in Serv.

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The letter was received by the Commander the next day and he laughed from start to end, until his body started convulsing. His son who came afterward only looked at him weirdly before sitting in a chair opposite of the Commander.

“Look! They are just like you when you first did this task! No! Wait! They are only three! Hahahaha” The commander laughed, handing his son the letter in his hands. “Lucky for Amos and Earnest that his new students aren’t as senseless as you! The two built a barrier to hold down a fire unlike you, you damn brat! You went and started a fire out of nowhere and almost burnt down our house at the age of 4! Why can’t you use your smart brains in that situation huh?!” The more the Commander spoke, the angrier he got! He got even angrier when he remembered his son’s smirking face before running away from home for 2 days straight after that!

Hearing his father’s endless blabbering, the son only rolled his eyes. The only reason why he did that was that his father told him to start plucking off a 10 by 10-meter field of nowhere! In retaliation, he decided to burn everything off and run away.

Reading the letter he got from his father, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Whilst he was gone, many interesting people have popped up in Xenperia.

“Commander! Everything is set!” A knock along with a shout was suddenly heard from outside the tactic room. Looking at his father, the two stood up in union and walked out.

There, another adventure begins...

………………

Meanwhile at the Veria estate…

As soon as the children had returned home from their first day, Eugene and Aernest were attacked by an anxious Euria! The three had never been far apart from each other like this, not to mention that Euria was unable to be far apart from Eugene!

“HEE...Sob... HEEE!” A completely reddened and tear stricken face greeted Eugene and Aernest. The two were unable to do anything as they got crushed by Euria’s fuzzball- body.

“Sis… Brother.” Euria cried out loud, her cries heartbreaking and heart-wrenching. “Why… Why did you leave me… I… I waited here all day” Euria cried.

The children that returned home thought that her statement was a joke but when they saw everyone's anxious faces, including their parents, they couldn’t help but gulp their saliva from shock. --Oh, her pajamas weren’t even changed.

“...... You…” Ramon speechlessly stared at Euria’s puffy up eyes. “Have you been crying all day??!” Ramon shouted!

“Unnnnggggg!” Euria's breath hitched, confirming Ramon’s question.

“........” Eugene speechlessly stared at Euria… -Why was this girl this obsessed with her?

Blinking her eyes, an idea popped into Eugene’s mind. “Are you going to lose weight?” Eugene asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Ung!” Euria nodded nonstop as her tears started to form a water puddle on the floor. “I will!!!!” Euria cried out.

And so, that was how Euria avoided sweets. She began to exercise seriously and ran 5 km with Aernest and Eugene every day. With blood, sweat, and tears, she lost all of her excess fat and got back her figure. Like that, she too was able to begin her training as a Paladin of Xenperia.