Apolo exited the room where the creatures had been born, walking slowly. Whenever one of the Gururis tried to walk a little faster, trying to outpace the noble's steps, the young man would give them a whack with a cane, forcing them to take a few steps back. After a few whacks, the creatures realized they had to walk behind Apolo and stopped trying to walk faster than him.
Upon exiting the intermediate corridor, Apolo encountered the breeder who had taken care of his Gururis in the stone hallway.
—Did they come out alright?—the worker asked, looking at the two mud-covered creatures.
—For now, everything is in order—Apolo replied calmly—But I have to clean the mud off them and make sure they are complete.
—Of course, come this way—the worker said hurriedly, wanting to finish this task as quickly as possible.
Apolo and the breeder left the basement of the store and headed towards the top of the shop. After walking a few minutes, Apolo could see a fairly large bucket of water, almost the size of a small pool.
—Get in and clean the mud off yourselves!—Apolo ordered with determination.
The two Gururis heard the order and slowly passed by Apolo's side as if they were afraid of receiving another whack. Seeing that the young man didn't hit them, the two poor creatures continued walking a little more calmly until they approached the edge of the bucket. However, they hesitated to get in when they saw that it was filled with water.
—Don't hesitate, follow my order without thinking!—Apolo shouted angrily, noticing that the creatures were frightened and didn't intend to follow his orders.
However, the two Gururis seemed too scared to get into the bucket, and they continued to ignore Apolo's command. Seeing that his creatures weren't obeying him, Apolo completely lost his patience. He grabbed one of the Gururis by the neck and violently threw it into the pool. Then, he pulled the unfortunate Gururi to the surface and, as if it were a dirty shirt to be cleaned, he began to dunk it violently in the water until the Gururi was completely clean. Afterward, the young noble threw the creature onto the floor carelessly, causing it to crash against the ground.
*Cough, cough, cough*...Immediately, the Gururi began to cough forcefully, as if it were trying to get the water out of its lungs to survive the traumatic experience.
—By my ancestors, you are heartless! How can you treat an innocent creature like this? You piece of shit!—the breeder complained immediately as he approached the Gururi coughing on the ground, helping it to recover. Meanwhile, the other workers in the shop, who had approached in shock at the violence of Apolo, also looked at the young man's actions with disgust. They all worked with creatures every day, so they obviously had a particularly strong bond with them, and they were extremely upset by the mistreatment carried out by the noble. However, no one dared to speak out like the breeder who was standing next to Apolo. He seemed to have been born with a spirit and courage rarely seen in this empire.
Ignoring the angry glares of the crowd, Apolo noticed that the other Gururi was wisely moving away from the bucket, taking small steps backward. The young noble skillfully grabbed it by the neck and, without giving it time to protest, began to dunk it up and down in the water until it was completely clean. Maliciously, he tossed the Gururi onto the other Gururi, making them collide, although Apolo deliberately prevented it from colliding with the breeder who was trying to help them.
Apolo looked at the two creatures angrily and shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the angry workers to cover their ears and the creatures in the shop to start screaming in panic:
—Next time you take your time to obey my orders and waste my time, I'll beat them to death!
*Cough, cough, cough*...However, the Gururis ignored the shout and continued to cough forcefully, more concerned with fighting for their lives than listening to what the giant had just yelled.
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—But can't you see that you almost drowned them? What the hell is wrong with you to ignore these newborns' suffering? You piece of shit!—the worker shouted angrily, unable to tolerate the abuse he had just witnessed. His heart had already suffered too much this day, but this act of brutality was the last straw. Imagining the suffering that lay ahead for the poor creatures, the worker was doing his best not to lose control and try to protect the innocent creatures from Apolo. He knew his efforts would be in vain. Unfortunately, destiny was cruel, and it had turned this wretch into a wizard, while he had to fight every day to secure a better future for his children as a simple worker. His heart had resigned itself to the cruel truth: life was like this in this cruel empire, and there was no room for a worker to reason with an important person. It would be even less possible to confront him if an evil writer was collaborating with this wretch, making him the protagonist of his story. So, the worker clenched his fists and tried to imagine the great future he could give to his children after completing this task.
—Of course, I see them, they're perfect! These Gururis are perfect!—Apolo said with a smile, completely ignoring the worker's anger, as he looked carefully at the two creatures.
These Gururis were radically different from the old one Apolo had bought and the ones commonly seen on the street. While both types of Gururis were roughly the size of a child and had a humanoid body, the main difference between the two types of creatures was that their skin was not green and full of tumors. Instead, the skin of these two Gururis was a pale pink color. Additionally, these Gururis didn't have a transparent belly, and they didn't emit a constant foul odor.
Another major difference was that these two creatures had a long, pointed nose very similar to Apolo's, along with slightly elongated ears and lips like any common person. On the other hand, their eyes were completely red, and their teeth were yellowish and sharp. Their bodies were a bit thinner than that of a normal Gururi. So, one could say that these two Gururis were much more similar to a normal human. This partly explained why their evolutions had reached the point of becoming perfect humans.
—You kept your word; congratulations on saving yourselves—Apolo said, stepping away from the shop. But instantly, he noticed that the two Gururis weren't following him and were instead looking at him with hatred as they tried to recover—What are you waiting for? Come with your master. You deserve a better life than these idiots!
Having given the order, Apolo proceeded to head towards his carriage, ignoring whether or not he was followed by his two creatures. The only thing on his mind was that if the creatures didn't follow him, he would make another pair of Gururis whose heads wouldn't "fail".
The truth was that Apolo could treat the creatures better, and that was a fact. But the young man refused to "spoil" them and have to pretend his entire life to have a relationship he had never had with his servants. So, he decided to be a bit more unhappy than usual today, in the hope that the Gururis would get used to the fact that there were no kind words or gratitude for their work. Or maybe not, perhaps it was just the musings of a writer trying to save the soul of one of his characters. But fortunately, this was a question that the reader could answer after a few more pages, so there was no reason to delve into it at this moment, and the story could continue as usual: without the writer's annoying interruptions!
To the fortune of the two innocent and poor creatures, they decided to obey the order and followed Apolo out of the shop. After a few steps, the trio reached the carriage, where Mateo was waiting eagerly. It seemed that the man had already gotten used to the smell of the little creature next to him and could celebrate the beginning of the end of this abominable torture.
—Are we ready yet?—Mateo asked impatiently.
—Almost, we just need to have the first meeting and formalize our lovely relationship—Apolo commented almost singing with a big smile on his face as he opened his carriage and took out a suitcase he had prepared for a long time for when this day came—Zoe, my favorite niece, come down here; I need to introduce you to your two new siblings...
Immediately, Zoe teleported next to Apolo and looked at the two Gururis she had just met with friendly curiosity. In contrast, the other two Gururis looked at Zoe, then at each other, and then back at Zoe with a malicious look on their faces, as if they were looking to kill her at the first opportunity. In their minds, it was already too much to have to deal with a master; they had even less desire to put up with an idiot.
—Well, since this is the beginning of our beautiful family, it's time for all of you to receive a big gift from me—Apolo said, almost singing, with a big smile on his face as he looked at Zoe. Then, as if he had bipolar disorder, the young man gave the other two creatures a cold, stern look and said with his usual hoarse voice:
—Grab them!
Apolo threw the suitcase at the two Gururis, causing them to stumble on the ground. He then explained with some pride in his voice:
—In the suitcase is the clothing you'll wear as my new apprentices. From now on, you'll be students of a magician. Each piece has a patch with a name, and that will be the name you respond to from now on. In time, you'll come to appreciate that you're lucky to have me as your master and learn to live a life of comfort that you could never have lived when you were two children with bad parents.