Chapter: Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
“I knew (Player Name) and Nobody Does Human Things had to be up to something. They secretly took care of a big problem for us!” Arin exclaimed, clapping his hands together with delight in the temporary camp.
He had suspected that Kalun’s royal city possessed some form of lie detection.
However, he couldn’t be sure, as all players seemed to be lying about everything. Even temporarily joining an NPC merchant caravan and offering to help sell goods would be pointless, as they would still be identified and killed by the Golem Soldiers.
Now, Nobody Does Human Things and (Player Name) had found a clear path for them.
Suddenly, all the players in the temporary camp were buzzing with excitement, as if they had grown extra legs, and charged towards the small town of Molla.
***
Serisi was a mage at the Central Magic Academy of Lapland in Kalun.
After two years at the academy, he had mastered most of the second-circle spells. He was considered quite excellent among mages of his level and had always regarded himself as a genius.
The Central Magic Academy of Lapland held an academy test at the end of each semester.
This year, Serisi’s test was to recruit workers in a small town near the royal city.
Of course, most mage students received this task.
A small minority, if they were unlucky, would be assigned dangerous tasks like killing Goblins or Jackals.
Serisi felt honored to have secured such a respectable mission for himself.
However, this did not mean he feared danger. As an elegant mage, he simply disliked the foul smell emanating from those monsters.
The work of recruiting workers was minimal. He only needed to record their names, genders, and origins, and then instruct them to stay in line obediently.
He had been in this small town for two days and planned to return to the royal city today. The town’s human traffic was limited, and waiting a few more days wouldn’t bring in any more people.
“Next!”
After registering the name of a civilian laborer, Serisi stretched and then stood up to look at the queue.
Only twelve people remained. Once he registered them, he would be done.
Tonight, he could go to a tavern in Lapland and find two charming girls to discuss magic with~
Such a life was truly blissful!
However, these thoughts had only just arisen when he heard a flurry of footsteps. A group of warriors dressed as mercenaries emerged from a corner of the street.
Initially, Serisi paid them no mind until they lined up at the back of the registration queue. He frowned in confusion.
“Hey! This is for recruiting civilian laborers to build an altar in Lapland. What are you adventurers and mercenaries doing here?”
“Lord, we’ve come to apply!”
Arin said respectfully:
“This is my Black Armor Mercenary Group. Lately, there haven’t been many monsters in the wild, and business has been slow. Many of my brothers are struggling to make ends meet, and I can’t support so many of them alone. I heard Your Majesty King is willing to fund the construction of an altar, and the compensation for civilian laborers and craftsmen is substantial, including three meals a day. So we’ve all come… Lord, we all have strength to spare. Can’t we sign up?”
Serisi looked at the group of strong men and opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.
They could certainly sign up.
And as the strong man said, they all had strength to spare, evident from their bulging muscles.
But was it an over-qualification for a group of adventurers or mercenaries to be building an altar?
However, the King had not stated that warriors couldn’t be recruited, nor had he set an upper limit on the number of recruits. Therefore, Serisi ultimately said nothing.
But what surprised him was:
The Black Armor Mercenary Group was just the beginning. After them, more mercenary groups like the “Gale Mercenary Group,” “Crocodile Mercenary Group,” “Black Beast Mercenary Group,” and “Brother Chicken Mercenary Group” arrived one after another…
Hundreds of people clogged the entrance to the mayor’s house.
The mayor, a poor old man named Folebo, nearly fainted from fright when he came out of his house.
“There are too many of you!”
Serisi slammed the table in annoyance.
He was on the verge of a breakdown. He had expected to finish his work within ten minutes, but now, hundreds of people had been added to his workload out of nowhere.
Would he have to register until evening?
He might not even finish by the next day.
Because even more people and more mercenary groups were pouring in from outside the small town.
In fact, this was the result of the players holding back.
The number of players was extremely large.
Especially when all the players flooded into such a small town, anyone with a bit of sense would find it unusual. Therefore, not all players entered; only those of higher levels did.
The other players were still hiding in the forest outside the town, observing the situation.
“Uh, Esteemed Mage, perhaps it’s because your reputation is so renowned that we mercenaries who work out in the field have all come here.”
Nobody Does Human Things stood behind Serisi, flattering him with a smiling face.
This strategy indeed had an effect.
Being called “Esteemed Mage” made Serisi quite puffed up.
In the royal city of Kalun, where mages were as common as dogs, he rarely heard anyone address him so.
Seeing the young mage’s pleased expression, Nobody Does Human Things quickly seized the opportunity and asked:
“We don’t want to increase your workload. Are there any other recruitment sites in this town? Perhaps you could direct these mercenaries to other towns for recruitment.”
Serisi, with his legs crossed, took a sip of the juice Nobody Does Human Things had offered and nodded with satisfaction.
“His Majesty King is recruiting many civilian laborers, so naturally, there won’t be just one recruitment point in this town. There are hundreds of similar recruitment points, covering all the small towns and villages near the royal city. There are even recruitment points in two major cities closer to the royal city. This is one of the earlier ones. You can send a portion of your people elsewhere.”
“But if we go elsewhere now, will the recruitment have already ended there?”
Immediately, a player thought of the crucial point.
“No.”
Serisi waved his hand.
“This is an early recruitment site, so it will end early as well. Other recruitment sites might not have even started recruiting yet.
Just traveling there will take a lot of time… Sigh, it’s embarrassing to admit, but we young mages don’t have much money. We can’t afford the teleportation arrays in the royal city, so most of the time, we rely on horses and griffins for transport.”
“Thank you for your explanation.”
Nobody Does Human Things bowed slightly.
He immediately broadcast the obtained information to the player channel.
Upon receiving the message, the players outside the town, led by some of the older players, divided into teams and headed to other towns.
Those without transportation went to nearby towns, while those with horses, landuchims, or nightglow wolves went to farther locations.
Shortly after.
The tens of thousands of players who had been surrounding the town vanished.
Even a significant number of players crowded inside the town withdrew.
At this, Serisi’s expression finally improved considerably.
“You don’t need to thank me. If you really want to thank me, help me register their information, and I’ll do the asking.”
Nobody Does Human Things mentally cursed Serisi’s ancestors all the way back to the eighteenth generation, but on the outside, he maintained a smiling demeanor.
“Oh~ It’s my honor, Esteemed Mage. I am happy to serve you~”
***
PS: Apologies, brothers. I just recovered from COVID and am now suffering from a toothache, with half my face in pain. Also, my Beast Taming novel has been taken down due to explicit content. Dammit… QAQ I need to revise it. If too many revisions are needed, I’ll have to cut Beast Taming. I’ll try to resume two updates for Lord tomorrow (hoping my tooth doesn’t hurt anymore).
