Chapter 567: Slaves, Academic Credentials

Soon, President Masa finished arranging for the search for the ship's mages and returned to the deck of the "Lucky Owen," so Xia Duo asked him about the situation at the Seven Cities Council.

"My Lord, the Council is currently recruiting settlers for you. When I went to ask yesterday, they said they had already gathered over 400 people, and I also heard some good news!"

"Oh? What good news?" Xia Duo asked curiously.

He had occasionally gone to the Seven Cities Council's administrative office to check on the recruitment of settlers some time ago. The last time he went, the staff there said they had already gathered over 300 people and that if he was in a hurry, he could transport them first.

But the fleet hadn't arrived at that time, so what would he have used to transport them?

As for the "good news" or whatever, he hadn't deliberately inquired about it; in his view, being able to transport 500 people for free already counted as good news.

"My Lord—"

Masa suddenly lowered his voice and even looked around cautiously before replying, "I heard at the Council that there is a new batch of artisan slaves. I pulled some strings and put those artisans on the list of new settlers."

Oh—

That really was good news!

Xia Duo looked Masa up and down; he truly did start out in the slave trade, finding a way wherever he went!

However, this matter might still have some hidden risks. After thinking for a moment, Xia Duo asked again: "Do you know the status of that batch of artisan slaves? Why did they become slaves?"

"My Lord, it is like this—" Masa did not dare to hesitate and immediately explained: "Because of the previous military operation in the Underground Passage, the Council conscripted a batch of artisans from the territory belonging to the Seven Towers Group. But some people heard that they might be stationed there permanently and would frequently encounter underground monsters, so they immediately went back on their word. The Great Arcanist was furious, and so those people became slaves."

"I see!"

Xia Duo understood the cause and effect. Although he couldn't quite understand the thought process of those artisans, it was obvious that since they had already accepted the conscription, wasn't going back on it at the last minute just asking for trouble?

Even if it was a forced conscription by the Council, they should have resisted long ago; there was no need to wait until they reached Seventon to start resisting.

"Have you seen those people? What specific types of artisans are there?"

"I have! My Lord knows what business I was in before; I guarantee those people are true artisans: 5 blacksmiths, 3 stonemasons, all in their prime. One of the stonemasons is said to have even participated in the construction of a Mage Tower."

Hmm—

Upon hearing that there was a stonemason who had participated in building a Mage Tower, Xia Duo immediately perked up and hurriedly issued an order: "No need to wait until the 500-person quota is full; go to the Council now and complete the handover!"

In fact, it wasn't just stonemasons; blacksmiths were also urgently needed in the Territory. Although no Iron Mine had been discovered in the Territory yet, with blacksmiths, at least some of the Territory's iron tools could be repaired locally instead of being sent to the Savile Territory, which was time-consuming, laborious, and expensive.

Hearing this, Masa responded and immediately turned to leave.

On the deck, Xia Duo watched Masa leave with a team of crew members and soldiers. Shifting his gaze, he happened to spot four people dressed as mages walking toward the fleet with the steward Masa had sent out earlier.

Those must be the four mages hired by the chambers of commerce, including Hans, Silaiwen, Shanjin, and Liyadun!

Among them, one had hair that was already gray, and he seemed to have some difficulty walking. On his Mage Robe, there was a brightly embroidered pattern of the Mage Guild's universal Spellcasting Level certification.

The Mage Guild, nominally a subordinate organization of the Arcane Union, was in essence a product of wandering mages in various places who were not quite successful enough to be elite, yet not quite failures enough to be destitute, huddling together for warmth.

If they had even a little bit of ambition, they would have already been working in a Mage Tower.

As for the so-called Spellcasting Level certification, Xia Duo had also gone to get certified once, so he naturally understood the tricks involved. He had even been solicited himself: as long as you paid, you could be certified at a level one rank higher than the mage responsible for the certification.

Yet, when many chambers of commerce recruited Mage Consultants or guards, they didn't look at actual ability, only at the Spellcasting Level. This was quite interesting.

Xia Duo carefully recalled and recognized that certification pattern: Level 6. This old mage's Spellcasting Level was actually Level 6!

But, as far as he knew, these four mages were all Primary Mages!

Wasn't this a blatant forgery of "academic credentials"!

And they even wore their fake credentials on their chests at all times, as if they were afraid others wouldn't know.

Just as he was thinking this, the four mages, along with the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce steward who had brought them back, had already boarded the ship. They came before Xia Duo, bowed respectfully, and called out, "My Lord!"

"We are all spellcasters; there is no need for such formalities."

Looking at these four somewhat reserved mages, Xia Duo first offered a polite remark, then asked: "Captain Owen said that you encountered a group of murloc bandits at Maihete Lake on your way here. I ask you, were there any spellcasters among that group of murloc bandits?"

"Yes, one of the murlocs was able to cast Haste on the other murlocs. It's just that murlocs are naturally very agile in the water, so it wasn't easy to tell," the old mage spoke first.

The other mages nodded in succession. Xia Duo did not speak but looked at Lao Ouwen. Lao Ouwen thought for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, "My Lord, the murlocs we encountered this time did indeed seem much more agile than the ones I have encountered before."

"I understand. You all go about your business or take a rest. Once the handover at the Council is complete, notify me."

As he spoke, Xia Duo took out two Communication Scrolls and handed them to the old mage who had just spoken. "Don't worry about how to use them; just activate them directly."

"Yes." The old mage respectfully took the Communication Scrolls and tucked them into his Dimensional Bag.

Seeing that there were no problems here for the moment, Xia Duo prepared to return to Giles Tower to finish handling some matters, after which he could return to the Territory.

As for the murlocs, Xia Duo was not too worried. For ordinary people, or even mages, underwater murlocs might be difficult to deal with, but for Xia Duo, who possessed the Water Control Bloodline Ability, murlocs were not hard to handle.

Even if they were murloc spellcasters, he didn't think the murlocs in Maihete Lake would be stronger than those in the Blue Crystal Plane that could summon Elemental Creatures.

This time, he planned to return with the ship and take a good look at the scenery along the way. It could be considered a rare long-distance trip since he had transmigrated here. In passing, he could also clear out the murlocs in Maihete Lake.

The Territory would need to transport people in the future. If murlocs were always lurking in the necessary path, he wouldn't feel at ease. If he were a murloc, just a "hit-and-run + hull-boring" tactic, without needing to fight head-on, would be enough to defeat most fleets.

Although murlocs lacked suitable weapons and tools, one still had to be on guard. After all, intelligent creatures would always find ways to obtain tools; it was better to clear them out periodically.