Childhood Extra: The Boy Riding a Bamboo Horse, Green Plum Brewing Wine (7)

Aaron Shore went to the Seven Old Monsters—what else could he do but turn himself in?

Although the Assassin Alliance isn’t exactly a place where confessing earns you leniency and resisting gets you harsher punishment, still...

When it comes to hitting Beanie, the Assassin Alliance is strict. Aaron knows that, clever as he is, there’s no way he could hide it from the Seven Old Monsters—they’d find out soon enough that he struck Beanie.

"You hit Beanie again?" The Seven Old Monsters saw Aaron standing ramrod straight and were instantly furious.

Has this brat even behaved himself for half a year?

Was forty lashes last time not harsh enough? Still haven’t learned your lesson?

"Yes." Aaron didn’t try to defend himself.

"You... Didn’t I warn you? Next time Beanie challenges you, you’re supposed to just pretend to lose!" The Seven Old Monsters’ beards bristled with anger, their teeth grinding audibly.

They had their reasons for protecting Beanie. The kid might be combative, but he never went for the kill—every fight ended before anyone got hurt.

And once Beanie won, he’d stop causing trouble.

Because of this, the Seven Old Monsters and the rest of the Assassin Alliance all play along, letting Beanie run wild. But...

Aaron Shore just refuses to cooperate!

When the Seven Old Monsters get truly angry, Aaron’s in for it!

"Eighty lashes!"

"No—one hundred and twenty lashes!"

...

Each elder wanted to go harsher than the last, but Aaron’s master wasn’t having it. He cared about Beanie, but he also cared about his own disciple.

"We haven’t figured out what really happened, and we don’t know how badly Beanie’s hurt. Let’s find Beanie first before deciding anything." Aaron’s master was always cold by nature but fiercely protective, and his strength was unmatched. Once he spoke, no one else had anything to add.

"Fine, tell us what happened, and where’s Beanie now?" The Seven Old Monsters weren’t worried—Beanie’s skills were well known, and fighting Aaron wouldn’t do him much harm. Besides, on Assassin Alliance territory, Beanie was safe from any real danger.

Aaron didn’t hide anything. He described how he and Beanie had arranged their duel, and explained he’d hung Beanie from a tree for one hour—after that, Beanie should have been able to get down.

"You’ve got some sense, kid. You know your limits." The Seven Old Monsters weren’t happy that Beanie lost, but Aaron’s methods were gentle enough that their anger faded a bit.

"Beanie’s been bored lately. Having Aaron play with him might be good." Beanie’s master started worrying about his health—Beanie was still a child and needed companions.

"Yeah. Aaron knows when to hold back, and Beanie really does need a sharpening stone. Since Aaron didn’t actually hurt him, let’s make it twenty lashes."

There still had to be a punishment—after all, Aaron had bullied the Assassin Alliance’s mascot!

This was already a very light sentence. Aaron’s master didn’t argue, and even Aaron thought it was fair. Twenty lashes... with ten days’ rest, he’d be out of bed.

Aaron accepted the punishment quickly. Twenty lashes didn’t leave him covered in blood, but his back was flayed open and raw. Still, he felt it was worth it—Beanie suffered far more than he did...

Did you really think Aaron just left Beanie hanging from a tree for an hour?

You’re giving Aaron way too much credit for kindness. He wasn’t just out to beat Beanie—he wanted payback for last time’s forty lashes...

Beanie, how did those wild bees in the grove taste?

That’s right—Aaron had found a beehive in the grove. The spot he chose for the duel was less than a hundred meters from it, and he’d smeared plenty of honey on the tree. And of course...

During the fight, Aaron didn’t just hang Beanie from the tree—he smeared honey all over Beanie’s face. Beanie, that lovable idiot, was too busy brawling to notice. By the time he realized, the bees were already swarming toward him...

"Aaaah—bees! So many bees! Help, somebody help!"

Swarms of bees flew straight at Beanie. He screamed and struggled desperately, but...

Aaron might be young, but his talent for designing traps was already obvious. Even an adult would have trouble escaping, let alone Beanie. All his struggling just drew more bees to sting him...

"Aaaah..." Beanie’s screams echoed through the grove, but it was far enough from the main compound that no one could hear him, no matter how loud he yelled...

A quarter hour passed, then another...

With all Beanie’s frantic struggling, the rope finally gave way and snapped...

Thud—poor Beanie smacked face-first into the ground. All the swollen welts from the bee stings burst open, making him cry in pain...

Ptooey, ptooey—Beanie spat out a mouthful of mud and grass, ignoring his injuries as he bolted in terror. But...

No matter how fast Beanie ran, he couldn’t outrun the bees. Wherever he went, the swarm chased him. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t shake them off...

Beanie never knew his way around to begin with, and now, panicked, he had no idea where to run. So he spent the whole afternoon tearing through the woods with his army of bees...

After punishing Aaron, the Seven Old Monsters waited until nightfall, but Beanie still hadn’t come home. One by one, they started to worry. "Could something have happened to Beanie?"

"Didn’t Aaron say he only hung Beanie up for one hour? It’s been three hours now—why isn’t Beanie back yet?"

"There’s nothing but a few chickens in the grove—no wild animals. Did Beanie get lost in there?"

Thinking about Beanie’s legendary ‘skills,’ everyone agreed: getting lost was the likeliest explanation. With that, their worry faded a bit. But still...

Night had fallen, and it was time for the kid to come home. The grove might be called ‘little,’ but it was actually huge—Beanie could spend a year in there and never find his way out.

"Let’s go pick him up."

The Seven Old Monsters were used to Beanie’s knack for getting lost. They all got up and headed into the woods to look for him.

At the duel site Aaron described, the elders found the snapped rope on the ground and immediately deduced that Beanie had gotten free long ago. But...

"Why are there bees here?"

The air was sweet, and there were several dead bees on the ground. The Seven Old Monsters took one look and understood instantly.

"Uh-oh, Beanie stirred up a beehive."

This was serious. The Seven Old Monsters dropped their playful attitude and began searching for Beanie in earnest. But...

"How did Beanie run like this? Why does he keep circling back?" The elders were nearly in tears—the grove was covered in Beanie’s footprints, many overlapping. No one could tell how many laps he’d run...

"Did Beanie really spend the whole afternoon running in circles?"

The Seven Old Monsters looked at each other, speechless...

Because now they were certain: Beanie had spent the entire afternoon doing nothing but running around the woods...

Poor Beanie!