Soapy Water

"Yes. So what exactly is the problem here, Mr. Tribe?" The bored young man at the table drawled derisively, rolling around a small shard - all that remained of the broken ashtray Volg had spent all of his savings paying back for. Volg highly doubted that his simple walking past the desk had shattered it, and even more so doubted it cost that much. Yet, being a man of honor, he paid without hesitation. Still, the man's behavior was irking him more than anything else, and he was beginning to regret not protesting earlier.

"There is soap in the river!" Volg repeated for the thousandth time, exasperated. "How is that not a problem, may I ask?" He took a deep breath and muttered the last word reluctantly, "Sir?"

"… And so you had the audacity to barge in here, breaking a fine crystal object while you were at it, just because of a soapy river." It wasn't a question. A smirk was playing on his lips and Volg wanted to smack him so badly.

"I told you. Sir. I drink from that river. Does it not matter to you that there are people – people just like you, drinking from polluted rivers which you and your family have contributed most of the pollution to, thanks to you damn assholes washing your perfectly clean linens with your shitty detergent every goddamn hour and throwing the soap-filled water into the river!?"

There, he said it. The young heir was staring at him, mouth ajar, a completely scandalized look in his eyes. He should expect to be thrown out of the mansion any time now.

***

And he was.

The guards had to drag him all the way down and out of the building, while he thrashed and screamed obscenities at the stupid pansy boy.

Mumbling dark oaths of revenge while he massaged his sore back, he slumped onto a roadside bench and sighed. Thanks to the broken ashtray, he probably would have to reduce his meals from three times a day to one for the next couple of months or so. The thought of not even having any clean water made his head burn.

To end his day on an even worse note, he bumped into yet another bunch of arrogant nobles on the way home. Yet again, they demanded compensation from him for "soiling their clothes". After turning his pockets inside-out to prove that he had nothing after the whole ashtray incident, the guards only got even more annoyed at him.

"Look at what you did to the young mistress's clothes, you lowlife!" One hissed into his ear with such anger, he felt that he could die from all this ridiculous melodrama. Volg lifted his head, and indeed there was a young woman between them whose elegant white dress was splashed with mud, and the impact had also caused her fine bonnet to land onto the ground. Volg sighed. Now the last thing that could happen to seal this day up was to have him be dragged off to the manor of this snooty new family and made to wash their dishes for the rest of his life…

"Alright, alright!" he finally lifted his hands up and yelled. "I'll help you wash those clothes. Every last one of them. And throw the soap-filled water into the river, too, since all of you like doing that so much. Happy?"

They just stared at him.

***

Soapy water was now the last of his worries. Both the de'Renquolds and the Goldminers were tied first on his must-kill list. They must be so proud, he thought scathingly. As he continued to have dark thoughts of ripping off the head of that obnoxious green-haired ashtray-and-soap-loving pansy heir boy, he was jerked back to reality by a small voice.
"Umm…" The voice was clear, but halting. Lifting his head, Volg saw a familiar-looking woman with neatly plaited golden hair, wearing a lovely white bonnet. As recognition suddenly hit him, he opened his eyes wide.

"You're the daughter of Goldminer from just now!" he exclaimed.

The blond twiddled her gloved fingers nervously. "Yes. That was me… Um, I'm sorry about all that trouble my guards have caused."

Incredulity spread across Volg's face. "If you really are sorry enough to come to apologize to me directly… Why couldn't you have just stopped those guards just now?" he blurted out, causing the golden-haired girl to almost fall over in fright. Immediately he berated himself inwardly for his insensitivity and apologized. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I was just asking."

She swallowed as she rearranged her bonnet, appearing nervous.  "T-Those are my father's guards. I… don't really get a say in all this," she hung her head apologetically. Volg couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Sorry about that," he said, smiling as widely as he could, "but really, it's okay. " He took a deep breath and looked away. "Your guards were nothing as compared to those from that other family," he added darkly.

Her eyes popped open. "Another family…?" she inquired.

"The de'Renquolds. Nasty bunch of people, if you ask me." Even though this girl was painfully shy and polite, Volg could not help but want to rant about his plight. In a couple of minutes, he completely recounted his ordeal and his issue with the soap-filled rivers.

After he was done, Miss Goldminer's reaction was quite surprising.

"You… drink from a river?" Her eyes were wide, and she uttered something unbelievable.
"Well, yeah. I'm kind of used to it. Why?"

She faltered and looked down to her feet, shuffling nervously again. Volg sighed. She was getting increasingly difficult to talk to. Were all nobles either like this, or huge jerks?

Unhappy with the silence, Volg continued. "Anyway, you know what the prick who dealt with me did? Muttered a bunch of mumbo-jumbo which made me all confused, broke his ashtray and made it look like I did it just so as to get some money out of me, and then kicked me out of the manor without even trying to listen to my problem. What a fine guy! I'm sure he'd grow up to do some great things in the future." Volg finished, letting the sarcasm bleed from his voice as much as possible, slightly proud of the pun he made regarding "fine".

Silence again. Volg brought his knuckles to his forehead and sighed. Finally, Miss Goldminer spoke. "Did that man have green hair?" she finally asked.

It was a simple question. Volg looked up at her smiling face immediately. "Yes," he replied, curious.

"Well…" she stuttered again, but this time with a playfully thinking edge to it, "I guess you are not the kind of guy who would just accept an apology, given how coldly you were acting towards me just now, so I think I'll have to repay you with a favor."

Volg just gaped at her.

***

"You said you'd help," Volg muttered as the guards continued to eye him.

Miss Goldminer shivered under his glare, but pouted. "I did. I helped you get in… didn't I?"

He gave up. Surely, she was right – there was no way the guards would have let him in any other way, given how strongly they had reacted to his earlier behavior. "Still, you didn't tell me that asshole was your fiancé," he hissed back.

Miss Goldminer stepped back awkwardly, looking rather pitiful. "… I didn't choose for him to be," she muttered under her breath. Volg watched her with sympathy, and decided to stop his mindless interrogation. After all, she probably was not used to speaking her mind.
He turned towards the door, and knocked.

"Come in."

Volg literally barged in, which earned him having several guards' worth of weapons pointed at his back. The young master waved them away and crossed his arms, a condescending smirk appearing on his annoying face. Before Volg could speak, he already had a long strip of parchment out and was counting numbers joyously.

"… and, that vase which you tripped over on the way out, Mr. Tribe? That'll be another 5,000 Arzettas…" he rambled on and on, without wiping that disgusting grin off his face. Volg wanted so much to stab him.

"Cut the crap," Volg seethed. De'Renquold pissed him off, but more importantly he never particularly liked numbers. He could almost feel the points of those weapons pointed at his back, but he didn't flinch. After all, he was used to near-death experiences… Heck, he'd even died once, hadn't he? He sure knew more about life than a billion of these stupid pansy boys.

"Please… stop," a soft and unstable voice sounded behind him. "Don't point those at him… It might be dangerous," she gasped.

"Lady Rossa. We appreciate your understanding, but please do note that you're not in a place to interfere right now," said one of the guards with a calm voice that was yet still hardened with steel.

"Mister Aurelio!" Miss Goldminer changed her target of pleading from the guard to de'Renquold himself, and Volg flinched at the prospect of being in between the line of fire. "W-Why can't you just give in to his claims for now? He just needs water to drink, and…"

"Bottled water at the market doesn't cost more than 2 Arzettas each, if I recall," de'Renquold said coolly. "Now,  my dear Miss Rossa, if your friend here hadn't barged in here not once, but twice so far, he wouldn't have accumulated so much debt that he would be unable to even buy bottled water for himself." His mouth curled into yet another smile as he leaned back on his chair for noble idiots, noted Volg.

"Y-You can't do this," Rossa Goldminer protested. "I-I'll call my dad!"

Another amused smile, as de'Renquold tilted his head slightly to the right to land on the curve of his knuckle. "Your father still owes me a couple of estates, if I recall. I don't think he's in a position to negotiate."

"But…" Rossa began, and de'Renquold raised an eyebrow, but she faltered. Silence filled the room as Volg gritted his teeth. How could this prick treat an innocent young woman like this? This was just too disgusting. He needed to do something, and quick.
"I…" Volg scanned the room hurriedly, in an effort to search for something to threaten this irritating bastard with. Finally, he hissed through his teeth, "If you keep being such a goddamn asshole, I'll grab you and throw you on your desk so hard that it breaks."

De'Renquold opened his mouth, about to say something about his desk being made out of the finest exotic wood in the world that would not break under something so simple as his weight, or something about how the desk would cost three thousand times of Volg's life savings, but decided against it and chose to gesture for his guards to throw him out instead.

***

"That was a complete and utter failure," Volg groaned, rubbing his sore arm.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help," whispered Rossa Goldminer. Tears were almost forming in her eyes.

"You did fine. You didn't need to help me anyway," Volg consoled her. "I even feel sorry for you, having such a bastard as a fiancé."

Rossa giggled softly. At first, Volg thought he was just imagining things, but she really was smiling.

"You know… the way you can say things so freely… It's kind of admirable," she admitted, flushing at her own honesty. Volg couldn't help but smile as well. "You aren't going to give up, are you?" she asked.

"I… don't know," Volg confessed. He was angry at the green boy, but he feared more for his diminishing wallet. When he sensed Rossa's disappointment, though, he froze.

"Are you going to give up, then?" she asked. Her question was trembling with both excitement and fear. "You know… I always was, but I no longer want to be a slave to the nobles," said Rossa with determination in her voice etching into every word. "I refuse. I reject this fate. This is why… even if you do give up, I want to thank you for giving me the strength to fight after all. Goodbye." She turned to walk away.

Volg looked at her back. She had enough reason to be mad at de'Renquold as much as he did. Ever since the time the both of them entered the mansion together, they were allies. It would be dishonorable to just abandon his ally here, when she had finally gained the motivation to fight.

"Wait," he called. She stopped and turned around, as if she had expected his change of heart. She probably did. "I want to fight," he announced, his right hand outstretched.
Rossa beamed. Extending a gloved hand, she shook his. "You may call me Rossa. Rossa Goldminer," she introduced herself with a smile.

"I'm Volg. Volg Tribe."

***

Aurelio de'Renquold was just feeling happy and contented with his perfectly perfect successes in his perfectly perfect life when – to his utter disbelief – his precious window smashed. Smashed. More worried about the fate of his preciously perfect window than the possibility of an intruder, he turned around. Immediately, he felt a strong hand covering his mouth, preventing him from screaming, and another pinning both of his arms above his head and crushing him against his desk. Oh great. A kidnapping? The prospect of having his expensive exotic ebony desk harmed in any way made him wince.  He'd get back at this lowlife, whoever he was, for sure… After his ransom was paid, which it would most certainly be.

Those slightly comforting thoughts crossing his mind immediately froze when his assaulter's voice spoke lightly, as if reading his thoughts, "I don't want money." His blood ran cold when he recognized the voice.

"T-Tribe?!" he exclaimed in horror and stared at his attacker, but not before his mouth was covered again, more roughly than it had been before. Glaring daggers at his captor and his annoyingly recognizable navy blue hair, he saw that Tribe was even grinning at just how easy it was to pin him down. Aurelio wanted to ask "What do you want?!" but he had pretty much been rendered speechless. Fear gripped him. He did not particularly like being left in the dark, and Tribe's grin looked rather dubious.

"Oh, I'll just need you to stay put for a few hours or thereabout. Not too difficult, right? Since you seem to be doing it every day," Volg Tribe laughed softly.

Downstairs, he heard Rossa's voice. Good, everything was going just as planned. Innocently, she was asking to meet Aurelio.

"Yes, he's upstairs in his room." Volg heard the guard speak. He wasn't particularly happy with the amount of work it took to get Aurelio to stay put, however, as he kept trying to kick him in the shin. He silently calculated the amount of time Rossa would take to come up, which shouldn't be that quick given how annoyingly unnecessary the giant coils of the spiral staircase were. There should be plenty of time. Taking out the coil of rope and duct tape he had brought, he did what he needed to do and tossed the protesting young man into the thankfully lockable closet. With that finished, Volg descended from the window with his remaining rope before Rossa entered.

***

Aurelio was unhappy. The duct tape on his mouth was horribly foul, and moreover it was probably not going to be very healthy for his facial skin. He wished he had just bitten a chunk off Tribe's arm when he still had the chance.  He gave up on pounding the door repeatedly with his body after he realized that he was not making much sound. He needed to untangle himself first, which would prove quite a difficult feat given how his hands were immobilized behind his back with copious amounts of rope and tape. Outside, he heard Rossa's voice.

"He's not here…" she said aloud. The servants began muttering among themselves about the young master's sudden disappearance. I'm here, you retards. "Maybe he went to the garden. He usually tells me to meet him there…"

"The Young Master's gone? That's impossible!" a butler barked.

"Goodness – see that window?! He must've escaped… Why would he escape?"

"Hush now, that window leads to the garden. Let's just let Lady Rossa look for him there first before we raise any further alarms."

After about half an hour, the hustle and bustle returned. He heard the sound of Rossa crying. Oh, no. He needed to get out, and fast. Something was happening, but he didn't know what it was, which irked him.

"What happened, Lady Rossa?" a maid screamed shrilly, trying to help her up.

"I saw him… Aurelio…" Rossa's voice trembled. Aurelio felt his blood boil. So Rossa was in on this plan too, whatever it was. He needed to get out of there. Rossa began to cry again. "He was… with some other girl… I don't know why, but if he sneaked out of the room just to see some girl, then it must be… it must be…"

What?! This is ludicrous! Let me out of here at once!

To his despair, he could hear those horrible servants gossiping among themselves. He'd make sure to sack those tattletales later. He was desperate. Never in his life has he ever felt this helpless. He couldn't even wipe off the tears of rage and humiliation that were streaming down his cheeks, with his wrists secured behind his back.

Worse still, after he managed to get the ropes off from his wrists and feet, the closet door was finally unlocked with impeccable timing. He opened the door and aimed a kick at the person outside - only to fall face-first onto the floor. Volg Tribe sure ran fast.

***

Volg discovered that day, that malicious slander was the most effective weapon against a snooty noble idiot. Discreetly high-fiving Rossa, he joined the people who were offering comfort to her while she lamented about her supposedly cheating fiancé to the public and tried to spread the rumors as far and wide as she could. Hopefully, that would be enough to break off the engagement.

As for Volg, it might not be so easy.

***

"Mark, quash those rumors at every chance you get," Aurelio ordered darkly. "I'm sure you're used to doing that. Sebastian, give the window an extra plexiglass coating when you repair it. Erik, punish that idiot, Gabriel, who dared to make my closet soundproof. And finally, Vincent…" He turned around, his eyes flaming with hatred at that man named Volg Tribe, "… Make sure you wash all of the clothes in the river once every five minutes, with extra amounts of soap, for the whole of next week."

The servants could do nothing but agree, all feeling uncomfortably threatened by the intensely dangerous aura Aurelio was emitting that day. As Aurelio finally sat down, his anger still not ceasing, a guard assured him, "We'll make sure they get the comeback they deserve, Master Aurelio."

Aurelio de'Renquold crossed his arms and closed his eyes, his cheeks aflame. "This is so humiliating," he muttered, flushing.