Chapter 55: Selection (III)

This year, Barn Village had a good harvest, making it a prosperous year. Unfortunately, as in previous years, the border troops sent soldiers to warn all villages to be on guard—the orcs were coming again.
Unlike before, several orc tribes launched a large-scale invasion this time. They didn’t know how long the war would last, and it was certain that many scattered orcs would cross the mountains to raid these border villages. So, the village chiefs gathered together and decided to flee to the kingdom’s territory for refuge.
Barn had long wanted to leave the village to find a place where he could live in peace, perhaps even achieving success through his own abilities. Yet he always felt tied to the village—after all, it was where he had spent half his life. Everyone there was so familiar to him, and it was the only place with memories of his father. In Barn’s eyes, his father had been like a god-like man, the greatest hunter in the world. Even after his father died at the hands of a magical beast, this feeling grew stronger, taking root deep in his heart. This was the main reason why Barn had stayed in the village all these years, never leaving his two old houses.
While waiting for relief with the larger group as they headed north, Barn considered leaving the group quietly several times, but he never could bring himself to do so.
It was then that the great noble mage appeared, giving Barn firm resolve.
Legends from the Age of the Ancient Magic Empire told of many powerful warriors who became followers of mages and eventually achieved great feats. Now, here was such an opportunity. After wasting 27 or 28 years, how could he let it slip away? Although he would only serve as a servant to a mage for now, with his strong physical abilities, hard work over a few years would surely enable him to stand out among others.
Moreover, even that powerful silver-armored knight was just a servant of that noble mage. Others might not notice, but Barn was not only the strongest among the refugees but also had a natural talent as a hunter, highly sensitive to magical beasts. As soon as Uther and Donald stepped forward, Barn sensed a great danger from them—a level far beyond even fifth-tier magical beasts, showing just how powerful they were.
For such powerful beings to recruit servants among refugees was an extremely rare opportunity. It probably only arose when a new force was being established. If he missed this chance, he would regret it for life.
As for the village, he no longer had much attachment to it.

So after considering the situation, Barn stepped forward right away. With him taking the lead, many young people also stepped up, accounting for nearly one-third of the able-bodied adults in those villages. This situation worried the older generation in power in those villages greatly. If the young people left, how could they, the remaining old, weak, women, and children, survive in the villages? A few elders from their own village and neighboring villages tried to speak up to persuade him to stay. “Barn, don’t forget—your father was a hero of our village. After he passed away, every family took care of you while you were still a minor. If you leave like this, how can you live up to your father’s teachings and everyone’s kindness toward you?” “Kindness? Tell me, aside from buying the prey I hunted at the lowest price to exchange for some rice, what kindness have you old folks shown me? And you old brats—back then you bullied me because I was too young to stand up for myself, and now you expect me to support you old gluttons? I’m not your foolish son—why should I stay?” His words angered the old men, who cursed Barn as ungrateful. But everyone in the village knew clearly that they couldn’t keep this skilled hunter now. After all, even their own children wanted to leave the mountains to make a name for themselves! But with the current situation, they couldn’t even afford enough food, let alone suppress the young people’s enthusiasm. Helpless, they could only curse in secret, hoping that the noble mage would be picky and reject them all. Seeing many able-bodied villagers decide to follow him into the town, those who stayed behind looked on anxiously, no longer interested in surrounding the town. The town mayor happily ordered the militia to clear the path. “Hurry! Be careful—bring over the wooden fences so no one blocks the town entrance again!” Taking advantage of the large number of villagers leaving at once, the mayor directed the militia to set up two temporary fences outside the town to keep the crowd at bay. With the number of villagers, it was impossible to block such exits, allowing merchants and travelers trapped inside and outside the town to finally move in and out freely. As several groups left the town and outsiders could enter without much hindrance, the problem that had troubled him for days was solved by this foreign noble. The mayor, in high spirits, led these candidates back to his home, where they were presented one by one to the mage’s knights for selection.

More than three hundred vagrants came to give it a try, all young people and outstanding adults who believed they had some skills.
“You’re Barn!”
“Yes, Sir Knight!”
The first one to be interviewed was the hunter Barn, who stepped forward first. Uther could easily discern this hunter’s strength. After learning about this person’s basic situation, he immediately reported it to his master, Donald.
After verifying what Uther had said, Donald decided to take this person on right away.
Barn’s skills were far superior to those of Ed, the top hunter in Red Maple Town that he had met in the tavern. His strength, at the bronze level with the potential to master the Seed of Qi, was genuine—there was no falsehood about it. If his background had been better, it wouldn’t have been impossible for him to achieve knighthood with such skills.
As for beast taming, it was a profession passed down from ancient times, a minor branch of the Wild Druid sect. It combined hunting skills with beast taming techniques. Although it wasn’t a spellcasting profession, with proper training, its practitioners could grow strong enough to rival warriors of the same rank.
It was very rare to find such talented individuals among mountain dwellers, so Donald naturally wouldn’t let this chance slip away.
Among those selected after Uther’s initial screening, Donald paid special attention to a young man named Tik. This boy could wield two axes with agility as if he had eight hands, and his physique was nimble. Having spent years in the mountains, he could leap several feet high with ease, just like the acrobatic skills seen in martial arts movies from his past life. Although he was still young, only sixteen, and his skills hadn’t fully developed, his age allowed his extraordinary talent to show through.
The rest were several strong young men with good potential, roughly at the mid-black iron level of warriors, who were also chosen by Uther. Seeing that they were better in terms of both age and potential than the guards employed by his estate, Donald naturally had no objections and took them along with their families.
No one who could read or calculate was found, but Donald wasn’t disappointed. After all, mountain dwellers were isolated from the outside world and couldn’t learn skills from shops like ordinary villagers.
What his two estates needed to focus on now was security, as they were located in an area frequented by magical beasts. The interior was fine, protected by a strong natural barrier, but if people from the estate went outside, they might encounter wandering magical beasts. Therefore, strengthening military protection was essential.

In terms of financial management, with butler and William temporarily taking charge, there are no major issues, so there’s no urgent need. Moreover, it’s easy to find a steward who knows how to keep accounts, but it’s not so easy to find subordinates with potential as professionals. In the end, eight people were chosen, along with their families, making a total of twenty-six. Donald temporarily appointed Barn as the leader of these new servants, then called the town mayor over and handed him a cloth bag, asking him to arrange six carriages and horses, as well as enough food for these people to last five days. The contents of the bag were to be his payment. “Good heavens!” The mayor picked up the heavy bag and gently opened it, revealing the shiny gold coins inside. He couldn’t help but show a look of surprise and delight. There were at least a hundred gold sols there. Even if food was scarce in the town at the moment, it wouldn’t take half of it to complete the task assigned by that mage; the rest would likely be his reward. With a hundred gold sols, the mayor naturally went all out to fulfill Donald’s requests. Everything Donald needed was prepared by late that afternoon. He stored the food and supplies in his storage space, then boarded the carriages with those new servants, who felt a mix of anxiety and anticipation. Under the watchful eyes of the many displaced people, the convoy set off northward.