Chapter 76: You’re Nothing Special

  The barbarian Beelzebub ultimately remained in pce.

  It wasn’t just because of the disciplined soldiers, but because the elder shaman Tana had told him before they came: unless faced with a deadly threat, he must hold back.

  Before he could react, the soldiers at the gate had already begun anizing everyoo lines.

  “If you could help us with the records, we ister each person,” said Old John with a smile, eyeing the t barbarian befesturing toward the queue.

  Beelzebub hesitated, staring at Old John. What surprised him was that there was no familiar hostility—only a hint of delight.

  It was all toe.

  Old John, ever the familiar presence, poio the line of cart drivers and adventurers, expining as if it were only natural:

  “Do you see them? Whether they’re cart drivers, wanderers, adventurers, or even former kobolds, they won’t faexpected danger as long as they follow the rules of the territory.”

  Beelzebub observed the soldiers, noting that uhose he’d entered before, they weren’t trying to exploit people uhe guise of searches or iions.

  Every person, including adventurers, had their ons collected and were handed a slip of paper.

  “ons are registered and stored with the corresponding numbered tag. When you leave the vilge, you’ll get your on back. This is to ensure no violent is occur within the vilge.”

  The strict on trol measures went far beyond Beelzebub’s imagination.

  Eveypically arrogant adventurers, as if they’d been informed beforehand, obediently handed over their ons without a hint of defiance.

  It was all so peculiar.

  Although Beelzebub found the situation strange, he began to rex.

  Despite Bay Vilge’s oddities, at least there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger. With his expectatio low, Beelzebub wasn’t asking for much.

  While everyone lined up to ehe vilge, the anxious Adam Smith made his way into the lord’s estate, which looked the same as before, entirely unged from Bay Vilge.

  Behind him, the elder shaman Tana, her face filled with plex emotions, stared at Yaya, who desded from the sky, whispering in disbelief:

  “A dragon!”

  Yaya nded precisely on Matthew’s shoulder.

  She stretched zily, revealing her graceful form and increasingly radiant silver body.

  Though small, her wings and cws were sharp and fully developed.

  Shaman Tana gazed at this near-perfect creature, and terrifying images fshed through her mind as she lowered her head slightly.

  Stroking Yaya’s smooth back, Matthew sed Shaman Tana’s stats, smiling slightly as he said:

  “It seems your battle with the Eastern Empire was quite intense.”

  His words left everyone else fused, not uanding what Matthew meant.

  Only Shaman Tana looked at Matthew’s dark eyes in shock, asking fearfully:

  “How do you know…?”

  ana.

  Age: 112.

  Css: Level 12 High Shaman, Master Breeder.

  Status: Chief Shaman of the Hotak the Eastern ti.

  Talent: ???

  Skills: ???

  Heritage: ???

  Attributes: ???

  Although Matthew hadn’t fully uncovered her power, he had gathered enough information.

  With a mysterious smile, Matthew avoided answering directly, choosing io dispy his background and strength. In a geone, he said:

  “Since you know the on nguage, that makes things easier. We’ve purchased you and your people, and you only o work for me for five years.”

  “During those five years, you’ll receive fair wages, plenty of food, and proper ditions.”

  “After five years, you leave freely, but you’ll have to give up everything here, and rejoining ter would mean starting from scratch.”

  “Of course, if you don’t agree to these terms, you simply owe me 1,000 gold s and work it off before leaving.”

  Shaman Tana, who had dealt with tless people, suddenly found Matthew impossible to read. The terms were incredibly generous, but that only deepened her suspi.

  However, as Mattheointed out, she seemed powerless to resist.

  After the Hotak suffered devastating losses in battle against the terrifying forces of the Eastern Empire, nearly losing all their able-bodied fighters, their fate had been sealed.

  Seeing her spirit so broken, Matthew couldn’t help but think that this once-background-only flict might be far more plex than he had imagined. He tinued calmly:

  “There’s nothing special about you. Don’t worry—if you want to stay longer in Bay Vilge, you should learn the on nguage properly.”

  Before he could finish speaking, Matthew turned a. Only then did Golden Fang and Silver Fang finally take their fierce gazes off the old shaman’s vital points.

  She stood there, stunned!

  Back at the lord’s estate, Ralph took the supply list from Adam Smith, quickly notig a ge in the figures.

  “Two million pounds of wheat, total cost 1,100 gold s, with the price per pound rising by 1 copper ?”

  “Three thousand pounds of spell pos, total cost 360 gold s, with the price per pound rising by 2 silver s?”

  Ralph promptly informed Matthew of the ge, and Matthew quickly identified the issue:

  “These seemingly minor shifts are actually quite signifit withiheril Empire.”

  “The former represents the foundation of livelihood, and the tter indicates fluctuations among spellcasters.”

  “Have the prices of produaterials dropped?”

  If it were only one or two items, Matthew wouldn’t have thought much of it.

  But when nearly all material prices fluctuated, bined with his memories, he quickly noticed something was amiss.

  “It seems that, with the limited scope I used to have, I missed notig the subtle causes of these ges.”

  “Now, it’s clear—some fas have already begun making preparations.”

  “After all, divination magi’t rare…”

  “Perhaps they only saw fragments, but the ges are real!”

  Many thoughts fshed through Matthew’s mind before he set them aside to focus on the present.

  Bay Vilge had already stored up 4.4 million pounds of wheat, enough to feed 22,000 people for a year.

  Nearly 5,000 pounds of spell materials had been stockpiled—suffit for him and the trainees for a long time.

  For now, these supplies weren’t an immediate !

  However, in Matthew’s pns, Bay Vilge was destined for tinuous expansion, recruiting new people almost every week.

  With six months until the heavy snows of winter, and a steady recruitment pace of around 1,500 people per month...

  By the time winter approached, Bay Vilge’s popution could reach as high as 35,000.

  Not to mentioerrifying orc wave of destru that was expected year!

  What they had now was far from enough.

  FAL