"Men and women will line up separately, one after another, to be disinfected and receive their clothes! You don't want to continue wearing these smelly rags, do you?"
Kamlin stood atop the city wall, cupping his hands into a hands-free microphone, and shouted to the gathered refugees.
The refugees quickly formed two long, crooked lines under guidance; no one made a sound or pushed anyone.
"As expected of the Divine Tree, truly farsighted," Kamlin couldn't help but admire.
There were quite a few people complaining on the way back, but after the execution, they all behaved obediently, and the order was much better than he had expected.
At the foot of the city wall, two rectangular barriers made of thick canvas were temporarily erected.
As a shower area, simple drainage ditches were also dug around the perimeter of the enclosure.
"Five at a time," the militiaman at the entrance said, pointing to the canvas curtain. "Put your dirty clothes in the basket by the door, and you'll get new clothes when you walk across the street."
He was surrounded by male soldiers, while the women's shower area was naturally managed by female soldiers.
At the front, five disheveled men hesitated for a moment, then lifted the curtain and went inside.
The "bathhouse" was fairly spacious inside, with a waterproof sheet on the floor and a wooden tub filled with clean water in the center. Two militiamen were responsible for maintaining order.
One of them carried a manually pressurized metal spray bottle on his back. After connecting a hose and nozzle, it became a simple sprinkler.
After the five men took off their clothes, he sprayed them with soapy water from the jar, covering them in foam.
"Do it yourself, wash your whole body thoroughly, especially your hair and genitals."
The men rubbed their skin with their rough hands, and grime mixed with soap suds dripped down, forming thin, grayish-black streams on the oilcloth.
After scrubbing, scoop water from the bucket next to you and rinse off the foam completely.
Even though the well water was a little cool, they still made sounds of comfort and relaxation.
Taking a bath in the desert is a luxury; even in the Kingdom of Pejite, they can only do so once in a long while.
After arriving at the other side of the tent, I dried myself off and then took a set of gray coarse cloth clothes to put on.
These clothes were hastily made for refugees; the tops were pullover style, and the trousers were simple straight-legged, and they hadn't even been dyed yet.
But it's a hundred times better than their old, tattered clothes.
Many people paused for a moment when the cloth was draped over their bodies.
That was the long-lost sense of "decency," the feeling of being human, that returned to the refugees.
The process was similar at the women's tents, where women dressed in linen robes and headscarves emerged one by one from behind the tents.
The disinfection and changing procedures were carried out in an orderly manner.
These refugees have long eked out a living in a collapsing country, trekking through the desert, enslaved by bandits, and many have not washed their bodies for months.
Thorough cleaning is a necessary process to prevent disease outbreaks.
About an hour later, all the refugees had finished bathing and changing. They gathered in the open space in front of the city wall, standing in a gray-white array.
"Now, everyone, line up here and stand in the designated area!"
Kamlin pointed to the ground, where several large circular outlines were drawn in lime powder. " The Divine Tree will bestow its blessings and heal your wounds!"
Mu En naturally wouldn't do these trivial matters himself; the purification process was carried out by several Blessed valley dwellers.
Two familiar golden lights flashed by once more.
Sores on the skin, wounds from whippings, the chill of the desert night...
These minor injuries and illnesses are nothing compared to the Incantations combined with purification and healing.
However, there is nothing that can be done for chronic diseases such as " Sea of Corruption Disease " or severe disabilities such as amputation.
Erdtree's Favor primarily targets external injuries and replenishes vitality, with limited effectiveness on deeper lesions.
Unless one becomes Blessed, it is difficult to achieve a complete cure.
However, for the refugees who had "never seen the world," this was an incredible miracle, and exclamations of amazement rang out continuously.
Many people moved their hands and feet, touching their smooth and healthy skin, their anxiety gradually dissipating, replaced by anticipation.
The "divine beings" accepted them, healed them, and even gave them clean clothes.
A small minority even believe that, even without working, as long as they have sincere faith and pray, they will surely receive more blessings.
After all, this is the Valley of the Wind of the Wind, a land of plenty, with mountains of grain. There's no doubt they'll have enough to eat.
The reality is clearly different; Mu En wouldn't protect anyone for free.
Unless you are a "child of the world" like Nausicaä, he would never mind turning the world's children into his own subjects.
"Silence!" Kamlin pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it. "Now, those who qualify according to the professions I've read out, step forward!"
He cleared his throat and began to read.
"Category 1, Basic Trades: Blacksmiths, miners, weavers, potters, carpenters, bricklayers, those with experience in raising Horseclaw..."
Each time a profession was mentioned, refugees in the crowd would light up, hesitantly raise their hands, or take a half-step forward.
The militiamen immediately stepped forward and led them out of the crowd, guiding them to stand on the other side of the open space.
"The second category, skilled workers: weapons blacksmiths, those skilled in operating and maintaining machine tools, those familiar with ' Liquid Field ' (soilless cultivation technology), those familiar with gunpowder or explosive formulations, those with experience in piloting or repairing aircraft..."
Even fewer people raised their hands this time, but everyone who was called on showed obvious joy on their face.
Many refugees relied on these skills for their livelihood and were worried that they would have nowhere to use them. Now that they heard that the Valley of the Wind also needed them, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"The third category, management and commerce: those with experience in village or workshop management, those skilled in bookkeeping and arithmetic, those who have participated in engineering construction planning, and those who have worked as itinerant merchants or traders..."
More people stepped out of the queue.
These three groups combined account for approximately 70% of the total number of refugees.
The remaining 30% of refugees stood there blankly, many of them children.
Kamlin put away the scrap paper and glanced at them.
" The Valley of the Wind will provide temporary shelter and clean drinking water for everyone."
"But in order to continue to obtain food and the right to move into the valley in the future, they must earn it through work."
"Those without any skills can enroll in training courses. The Valley of the Wind offers basic skills training, and meals will be provided during the training."
"But these meal expenses will be recorded in the account, and they will have to be repaid through work in the future."
"Children can attend classes with the children of the Valley of the Wind, and receive free food until they reach adulthood."
Most ordinary refugees have no objection to this; they were originally farmers, craftsmen, and laborers, and it is only natural for them to earn a living with their own hands.
The fact that Valley of the Wind was willing to offer them job opportunities and take care of their children for free was already much better than the slave life they had imagined.
But about twenty or thirty people's expressions turned grim.
Most of them were older, and their posture and demeanor were quite different from the farmers and laborers around them.
In the local dialect of Mu En, it's as if the whole world owes them money.
At that moment, as Kamlin read out the "jobs," they realized that they didn't fit into any of them.
Blacksmiths? Miners? Weavers? Those are jobs for the lowest classes.
Management experience? They did "manage" villages or departments, but how to manage them, what accounts to keep, and how to arrange work were almost entirely left to the steward or accountant.
As for themselves? They spent their days drinking, making merry, and attending dances.
I've done all the work, what's the point of having servants?
Finally, a man in his fifties with a thin face couldn't help but speak up.
"This... sir." He carefully chose his words, trying to make his tone reserved yet dignified.
"I am the cousin of the Vice Minister of the Dispatch Department Pejite Kingdom Explorers' Association. I did not reveal my identity when I first arrived..."
"The deputy minister's cousin? What is your official position? What are your specific responsibilities?" Kamlin interrupted him.
The man choked for a moment.
"I... I assisted my cousin with paperwork, coordination, uh..."
"So, they don't hold any actual official position, and they don't understand the specifics of scheduling and personnel management?"
The man's face flushed red, and he managed to utter half a sentence of nonsense:
"What I mean is, shouldn't the Valley of the Wind treat people of high status with the appropriate courtesy and accommodation?"