Recruiting City Guards

"Oh, no..." It was early in the morning, and Kerry was still in bed. He hadn't even considered exercising. After all, he'd have to abandon his current cultivation technique to learn a new one, so any training would be a waste.

However, not exercising didn't mean he didn't have to wake up early. Kerry was being woken up early right now.

Frank, as usual, came to the stables early in the morning to tend to his beloved horse, Maria. She was the only packhorse in the castle now. The original Maria was lively and energetic, in the prime of her horse life.

Unfortunately, the current Maria was covered in a cold sweat and trembling uncontrollably. Frank hadn't expected his precious horse to be in such a state after being away for half a month of recuperation. He immediately let out a scream.

They had only arrived at the castle for dinner last night. When they got back, everyone was busy celebrating Frank's recovery and the arrival of new members to the castle. By the time dinner was over, it was almost 9 PM.

Even Kerry, a Level 1 Warrior, was exhausted. The ordinary Frank had passed out drunk long ago.

Before going to sleep, Kerry had returned the Queen to the stable and given it a whole pig for dinner. He had done this before, and Gandalf and the others didn't know about it. It wasn't until Frank's scream early this morning that everyone in the castle was gathered in the stable. Kerry only then realized he had overlooked a common piece of knowledge: griffins eat all sorts of meat, but they have a particular fondness for horses.

Although Maria and the Queen were kept separated, for a powerful griffin, with a delicious meal right in front of it, breaking out of its enclosure to hunt was a very real possibility. They were fortunate that the Queen was indeed not in good condition. The occasional stomach pain made it disinclined to move when it wasn't hungry. Otherwise, Maria would have already become griffin droppings.

"Young master, Maria is my only concern. Are you going to feed her to the Queen? Good heavens, Maria was with a griffin all night. This is simply abuse..." Seeing Kerry arrive at the stable, Frank began to complain incessantly, babbling on and on.

Gandalf was also there. He pulled Kerry aside and thoroughly re-educated him on the precautions for feeding a griffin.

Keeping a griffin and a horse in the same enclosure not only endangered the horse but could also drive the griffin mad if it was constantly tempted by food it couldn't reach.

Kerry spent the entire morning apologizing to Frank. He hadn't dared to mention that he had kept the griffin and Frank's Maria together like this before, or Frank would have likely exploded again.

As it neared 10 AM, the old butler, Carson, finally rescued Kerry. The first batch of applicants for the City Guard had arrived at the castle for interviews. Kerry was grateful for the first time that the island was too small. News released at 8 AM had spread throughout the island by 10 AM, and quite a few people had come to apply.

The recruitment requirements for the City Guard were simple: anyone between 16 and 50 years old, male, in good health, with all limbs, and no requirements for facial features.

The island's original inhabitants, plus the new fishermen and their families, numbered around 1,600 people. Men who met the requirements accounted for about 30% of the island's population, but not many were unemployed. This time, most of them had come to the castle to apply.

There were about 20 people, and none of them were particularly old; the oldest was 38. This indicated that most of the older people on the island had their own means of livelihood.

Kerry was quite pleased. Too many unemployed people in the territory could cause significant problems. Kerry, who had originally only planned to hire a maximum of 10 people, temporarily changed his mind.

After all, Unit 001 couldn't be the only one mining the copper ore; they needed people to assist and increase its output rate.

"Those of you who have been in fights, step forward." This was a recruitment scene. Although Kerry had decided to hire everyone, he first needed to understand them before assigning specific tasks.

Out of 25 people, 24 had been in fights. The last person had just met the age requirement of 16 and hadn't had a chance to fight anyone yet.

In short, barbarism and the rule of violence were common phenomena in this world. Even this secluded island was like this.

Since so many people had been in fights, Kerry was quite satisfied. At least those who had fought could handle the work of a City Guard. However, there were too many people now, and some would have to be eliminated.

"Those who have bled in a fight, or engaged in a brawl, step forward again." The number of people was still significant, with 16 having been in brawls.

To Kerry, this group of unemployed individuals was surprisingly capable in combat.

In reality, Kerry just hadn't expected that on such a small island, the unemployed wouldn't be the law-abiding types. Those who were constantly fighting and causing trouble had basically come to apply to Kerry.

There were still so many? Then, he made an even tougher demand: "Those who have caused a death in a fight, step forward again."

Kerry thought to himself that these desperate individuals might, step by step, grow into the protagonist's right-hand men. He wondered if he would find such talent among them this time.

Unfortunately, none of the applicants, who had seemed quite formidable moments ago, stepped forward this time.

It made sense. The person standing before them was a Baron of the Kingdom. If they were foolish enough to admit to killing someone in front of him, they would likely be sent to prison. It wasn't that these people had actually killed anyone; even if they had, they wouldn't admit it now.

Kerry thought for a moment and then realized he was making a fool of himself. He quickly made another request: "Those who have had a one-on-one duel, step forward."

There were many types of fights, especially group fights. During an easy victory, even weaklings dared to join in. But a one-on-one duel was different. At the very least, you needed the resolve to fight alone, something weaklings would absolutely not dare to do.

This time, 8 people stepped forward. Although the number was less than the target for the City Guard, Kerry was very satisfied. In the end, these 8 people and the 16-year-old boy who hadn't fought anyone were selected to be City Guards. Kerry, suddenly afflicted with a bout of OCD, chose the sturdiest among the other 8 who had been in brawls to add to the City Guard team, making it a 10-person squad.

The oldest member of this City Guard team was not yet 30, making it a relatively young and energetic group. Kerry felt that the City Guard recruitment this time had been very smooth. Although no standout individuals had appeared, the average quality was very good.

The 15 people who had been rejected and were planning to go home were all regretful. Opportunities to work for nobles were rare, and in the eyes of people in this era, this was a "golden rice bowl" (a secure job).

Kerry noticed others preparing to leave and quickly called out, "Everyone else, don't go yet. I still need people for some other work. It depends on whether you're willing."

In the end, Kerry kept all 25 of them. The other 15 were temporarily assigned by Kerry to the southern dock to transport the copper ore mined by Unit 001.

This ore would be transported to a cave near the dock. This cave was a storage area dug out by Unit 001 specifically for storing ore. Digging caves was a simple task for a Miner Robot; it excavated a warehouse the size of a basketball court in half a day.

Now, Kerry had too few people he could reliably use. Once this large warehouse was filled with ore, Unit 001 would stop mining and come here to refine all the ore into ingots.

Although this would reduce mining efficiency, it was safer.

Only Kerry and Carson knew about this. When Carson learned that the young master's puppet also had the ability to get rich here, he repeatedly urged Kerry to be extremely careful and keep it a secret, as their lives depended on it.

The contracts have been sent out, please feel free to collect them.