Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The number of people Phelos could employ as teachers was limited; after all, the world's illiteracy rate was too high. Fortunately, the school's initial phase mainly focused on literacy, allowing the teachers to learn along with the students as they taught, which was barely manageable.

When the stage demands higher qualifications for teachers, he would then recruit in the big cities.

As long as the salary is high, there's no fear of not attracting people.

If all else fails—Phelos's gaze drifted to the depths of the endless plains, his eyes twinkling with the eagerness to try.

It might also be a good choice to bind some lich undead mages.

In PVP, the spoils of victory, naturally the losers themselves, are taken by the winning side.

Yuxi Zhengli...

But that was a matter for later; Phelos suppressed the urge to start a billion brawls, refocusing on the task at hand.

"Blaze, we need another 500 recruitment flyers made."

Blaze, who had just finished enchanting 50 out of 500 recruitment flyers (a practice in voice preservation magic), nearly collapsed with a tremble of his hand.

Voice preservation magic, while only a fifth-level spell, was not Blaze’s forte. With each attempt costing between 100 to 150 mana and only one success in ten tries, managing to produce 50 flyers was the result of toiling tirelessly day and night.

Phelos, noting the dark circles under his eyes, said understandingly, “Call all casters of level five and above in the castle here.”

“!!” Blaze panicked, straightening up as if hit by a jolt of energy, “I can continue to work!”

“You’re spirited, but too weak,” Phelos said without a hint of mercy. “No matter what it takes, I want to see two sets of recruitment flyers, 1000 in total, within ten days. Understood?”

Blaze hurriedly assured, “I will definitely fulfill your command, my lord.”

Despite his reluctance to let others learn this magic, there was no way around it; 950 flyers in ten days was an impossible feat for him alone!

But if it was the lord’s demand…

Grinding his teeth, Blaze resolved that for his lord, he would certainly lead the others to complete the task on time!

The 1000 recruitment flyers could only be rushed out in ten days at the earliest, but the recruitment for the Devilvine Plantation-1 Factory pipeline was completed in just two days.

Phelos opened up a thousand positions to the commoners and another thousand to the slaves, who had no say in the matter, but the managers wisely rounded up a thousand strong and capable young male slaves.

The farm's autumn harvest was already half done, and with the arrival of twelve hundred new slaves and three meals a day, the well-fed and energetic slaves were working far more efficiently than before!

Drawing away a thousand strong workers had little impact.

As for the “pre-job training” of the junior staff, their teachers had yet to pass the exams, so the training had to be postponed for the time being.

However, during this period, if the pipeline project is completed swiftly and followed by expedited construction of the "Pre-job Training Building" and "Employee Dormitory," the junior staff will soon have a better working environment.

There was no choice; Lansville simply had too few available laborers—referring to those fit for work.

The local population of Lansville was already small, and even with the addition of wanderers, there weren’t many capable laborers.

Furthermore, subtracting those who were already employed, the remaining free labor force was minimal.

Considering the distance between the plantation and the factory, if only a handful of people were working without the proper tools, they might not finish the job even by the next year.

Phelos was a man of action, and on the day following the recruitment's end, he led a mighty force of two thousand towards Devil's Ridge, a place once feared by many and soon to become a source of prosperity for countless others.

"Come and get your tools." The two thousand workers were divided into three groups: diggers, carriers, and pipe layers.

Diggers were responsible for excavation, carriers took care of clearing and backfilling, and the pipe layers handled the laying of the devilvine stems.

The level 30 devilvine was robust, but it was a bit much to expect it to stretch its winding stems in a straight line over dozens of kilometers.

First, its stems weren't that long; and second, devilvine stems lacked the ability to penetrate soil. Their roots, however, were strong and could delve hundreds of meters deep, but these roots weren't suited for transferring fluids, only for drawing up water.

Hence, while the "pipes" in the pipe laying were still provided by the devilvine, the crucial task of laying them had to be performed by humans.

Knowing that both the civilians and slaves were faint of heart, Phelos cast an illusion to conceal the intimidating devilvines and disorient their sense of direction.

*

Hayvie, at 19, had missed her chance at the competitive carrier positions, but to her surprise, they started recruiting for diggers! She rushed to sign up, even considering bribing the interviewer with a honeyed bread roll she had saved – her sole and most treasured possession.

The interviewer, swallowing hard with refusal, made her fear the worst, yet she hadn't realized that the recruitment was nearly sweeping up all the jobless freefolk. She might not have gotten the highest-paid carrier job, but she was fortunate to become a digger, the second-best in terms of pay.

Overjoyed, Hayvie silently thanked the lord over and over, not expecting that before she even started, she would be served a large bowl of thick porridge.

This porridge, made from crushed whole corn and added soy pulp, was so dense that you had to shake the spoon hard to get it to fall into the bowl. In her 19 years of life, she had only ever received such a small bowl on the Harvest Goddess's Day of Celebration.

And the overseer declared, "This is the standard for your work meals. Lord Phelos says, after this breakfast, you'd better work hard. Slackers will be fired on the spot!"

Everyone: "!!!"

No one dared risk dismissal; just having such a bowl of porridge was a blissful event! Not to mention the wages – being fired was not an option!

That was the thought in everyone's mind.

Hayvie worked tirelessly, and even her younger brother Roko clenched his teeth and pitched in.

He wasn't a "formal employee" and didn't earn wages; it was just that it was too dangerous for a child to be on his own, and Hayvie couldn't bear to let him wander alone, so she brought him along.

In truth, there were many like her; child mortality was high, so to ensure their survival, families would have as many children as possible, with three being a small number.

"Pre-job training" hadn't started yet, but the little ones were already there with their older siblings and parents, helping out with tasks – small in stature, but all deft from being accustomed

It was the same in other factories and shops. If the employer allowed it, workers would bring their children as a "compensation," and the children would help out a bit. There was no need to worry about meals; the elders who brought them would share a portion of their own food with the kids.

Children have small stomachs, so a little bit is enough to satisfy their hunger.

Phelos watched silently, not saying a word even at the end of breakfast, nor did he ask the manager to allocate more to those children.

However, after a morning's work, considering the children's contribution to their parents' workload, it was feasible to award them some extra "bonus."

Philo glanced at the time, promptly ending his shift: "Let's eat first."

The manager immediately shouted, "Stop! Everyone stop! The Lord is about to dine!"

Both civilians and slaves uniformly ceased their activities.

Phelos rummaged through his backpack, finding some low-level materials gathered during his novice phase – not much, but barely enough.

1st-level [White Cabbage] x138, 1st-level [White Bok Choy] x689, 1st-level [White Wheat] x362, 1st-level [White Pumpkin] x99, 1st-level [White Carrot] x265.

These were all the 1st-level ingredients in his backpack. The meat was 2nd-level, and Phelos, observing their health bars hardly exceeding three digits, worried that even slightly higher-level ingredients could cause them trouble.

In the game, it didn't matter – at most, it just meant wasting some health or mana. But in the real world, overflowing health or mana bars could have unknown consequences, something Phelos was not keen to experiment with.

He instructed them, "First, wash the ingredients. I need to buy some things." His backpack did contain a pot, but certainly not one large enough to cook meals for over two thousand people, and there were not enough bowls and utensils either.

He needed to buy more meat too, as the meat in his backpack was too high-level. Right, clothes as well...

Phelos pondered his shopping list while asking the Devil Fish to shrink down.

Using a teleportation scroll or riding a mount back to town had become a habit. Phelos deftly mounted the now-miniaturized Devil Fish and took off. The shrunken Devil Fish, resembling a beautiful carpet but much faster than a flying carpet, vanished before the laborers could react.

The workers were left staring at the mountain of food, their eyes wide with astonishment.

"The lord commanded them to clean these, but... do casters really eat so much?!"

No one believed they had a share in this small mountain of food. This morning's porridge was a dream they dared only have in their sleep. These fresh and juicy ingredients were beyond their wildest dreams.

"Sherry, what are you standing there for? The lord has ordered us to wash all the ingredients!"

"The child ran over quickly, but a glimmer of longing and expectation still lingered in their eyes."

"Casters… are so amazing!" But becoming a caster was something she didn't dare to dream about, because it was impossible.

Commoners weren't allowed to be literate, and slaves ranked even lower than commoners. For someone of her low status, literacy was a far-fetched fantasy. And literacy was a prerequisite to becoming an extraordinary being.

While the slaves were diligently washing the vegetables, an eagle flew overhead, circling a few times before flying away.

*

Hailey forcefully plunged her hoe down, and when she pulled it up, she brought up a clump of earth bigger than her head.

Over and over again, she repeated the monotonous task as if she never tired.

But how could she not be tired after such strenuous labor all morning? She had just become accustomed to endurance. Even as her vision blurred and her arms ached and throbbed as if they would break off and fly away with the hoe, she just endured, lifting and swinging the hoe, pulling up large clods of earth.

She was exhausted and in pain, feeling as if her body would fall apart, but then – ten copper coins!

The pay for a digger was ten copper coins per day, including three meals, and hardworking employees could even receive a bonus.

Hailey didn’t know what an excellent employee was, nor did she understand "bonus." All she knew was that she had to work, then endure until the second moon rose, by which time she would receive ten copper coins, enough to buy clothes for herself and her brother.

Winter was coming, and without warm clothes, they would die!

She didn't want to die, not anymore!

"Every day, the delicious aroma wafting from the castle was so sweet, so tantalizing – even if she could never taste it again, she felt just savoring that wonderful scent was a divine blessing!"

“One copper coin, one copper coin, one copper coin…” As she muttered, her body seemed to be enchanted with a magical strength and endurance.

Work hard, save money, and then buy clothes and food to survive the winter.

Her dreams were modest, the grand aspirations of someone who has struggled at the bottom rung were beyond her imagination.

Yet, even such a seemingly insignificant dream could shatter at any moment.

"My lord…" Hailey struggled to lift her head from the ground, her face covered in mud and blood, looking like a dying stray cat.

But her eyes shone alarmingly bright, filled with pure adoration and longing as she gazed at the sky.

How much I wish to stay by your side, my lord. How much I wish to work for you...

Clothes… food… winter…

We should have made it through this winter; we were supposed to make it through!

Why, oh why, why…

She was in agony, yet her broken throat could emit no sound.

Roco... Roco...

Crawling towards her brother, she struggled to turn her eyes for one last look at him, longing for one final embrace. It was still possible now, while his body was not yet cold, to hold him once more.

But the blood pouring from her head coldly shattered that desperate wish. Her blood flowed warmly, yet her body was alarmingly cold, and her consciousness began to dissipate…

"What are you looking at? Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out!" A heavy boot pressed her head into the ground.

Such pain...

The fingers that clawed at the earth in a futile struggle ceased to move.

Pain and despair were her last impressions of this cruel world.

The death of one life did not provoke the slightest pity in the bandits; their faces even showed a perverse disinterest.

"Such a bore, tsk."

The bandit clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, but the next second, he was enveloped by a terrifying force, and blood spurted out.

His face still bore the expression of the previous moment, mixed with bewilderment, looking so helpless.

"Thump!" The limp body fell, eerily mirroring Haiwei's own visage.