Chapter 43: 43. New Servants

For ordinary people, being able to enter the castle to become a servant for the lord and nobility is a matter very much worth rejoicing over.

For one, as long as one joins the castle, it means that in most cases there is no need to worry about hunger or cold, and one can also have a stable income;

For another, entering the castle provides an opportunity to get close to the nobility, and when luck is good, there is even a chance to receive rewards, or even a chance to change one's fate and elevate one's social class!

Therefore, when Chaha'er announced on the meadow that Shanlin Castle was recruiting twenty servants, the commoners who had not yet dispersed were stirred into a frenzy, and many people volunteered and rushed forward.

If it weren't for Dawei, Tangmu, and a few other Transcendental Knights maintaining order on the scene, this young Steward would likely have been completely surrounded by the surging crowd.

The enthusiasm for the competition was very high, but with one sentence from Chaha'er, many people immediately wilted.

The reason was that, apart from the head cook, Shanlin Castle only required people in the age range of 18 to 35; those exceeding this age had no chance.

Next came the great screening.

In the matter of selecting people, Chaha'er first adhered to the three requirements put forward by Luoning, and secondly to some standards he had formulated himself.

For example, for servants responsible for manual labor in the castle like picking up and moving things, he required them to look sturdy and strong;

For example, for those who would be Luoning's personal manservant, he required them to have a decent appearance, be clever, and have quick reactions;

And for example, for the personal maid, although the master did not seem very interested in women, Chaha'er felt that the personal maid should still be as pretty as possible.

After all, when Luoning goes out to visit other nobles in the future, his personal manservant and maid will have to follow and serve him; if they look strange, that would be a loss of face for the Baron of Shanlin Town.

Chaha'er absolutely would not allow such things to happen.

Therefore, he spent little time selecting other servants, but spent a very long time on the two positions of personal maid and personal manservant.

It was not until after four o'clock in the afternoon that Chaha'er finally gathered twenty servants and brought them to the castle to meet Luoning.

On the grass outside the main building of the Inner Castle, Luoning looked at the servants standing in several rows before him and nodded slightly.

"You've worked hard, Chaha'er, you've handled things well."

Chaha'er bowed and said: "Thank you for your praise, Master."

As he spoke, he began to introduce them.

The three people standing at the very front were the personal manservant Jialun, the personal maid Beila, and the kitchen head cook Bandele.

"Jialun is a 19-year-old lad; there are four people in his family, and his father was a Guard who followed the Count here in the early years to be responsible for logistics."

"Beila is also 19; her parents are Free Citizens in the town, farming some fields."

"Mrs. Bandele is 38; although she is older, I personally went to that dilapidated bakery of hers to eat the food she made, and compared to others, it is the best."

While he was introducing them, these new, somewhat nervous servants bowed and greeted Luoning one after another; one and all were very reserved, after all, the lord's "reputation for killing" was well-known.

Luoning sized them up.

These people were all wearing clothes made of linen, similar in style; the difference was that some people's clothes were newer, while others' clothes had several patches, and one look at their living conditions showed they were not very good.

This was also normal; after all, they were commoners from a mountainous area, and it was already good enough that they could grow up sturdy and have clothes to wear; one could not have too high of expectations.

It was this maid that made Luoning take two extra looks; she was quite pretty, and with a little dressing up, she might even look better than those two mistresses of Pulinsite.

Chaha'er was indeed worthy of having studied at Wushan Castle; he still had a bit of an eye for things.

Behind these three were the ordinary servants in the castle, servants responsible for animal husbandry, and so on.

Luoning did not spend much effort to remember their names; after all, in daily life, the only ones he would likely have much contact with were the three in front.

"Very good, welcome to you all."

After Chaha'er finished the introductions, Luoning said a few words of welcome, "Chaha'er, there should be some uniforms for the servants in the castle; go back and distribute them."

"In addition, teach them basic etiquette, especially Jialun and Beila; you two might follow me out later, so some habits in your demeanor must be changed."

Chaha'er felt relieved in his heart.

Before he came, he had thought the master would pick faults with two people and make him go recruit again; he had not expected that all twenty of these people would pass.

"Rest assured, Master, after I go down later, I will tell them about basic etiquette. As for Jialun and Beila, I will focus on them!"

Luoning did not continue to express any opinions on the matter of the servants; Chaha'er was educated, and these things could be left to him to handle.

"First, issue the second recruitment notice for me to Shanlin Town."

He had to arrange the matter of the Administrator first, and ordered: "I need to recruit an Administrator; any commoner of Shanlin Town can come to the castle tomorrow morning at nine o'clock to apply."

"Of course, not everyone will do."

He emphasized: "Except for the points mentioned yesterday, the age can be relaxed; 40 years old and under is fine. In addition, one must be able to read and write most characters, and their mobility cannot be restricted."

The condition of merely knowing most characters would likely filter out a large portion of people.

Because in this world, knowledge is expensive.

A book of several dozen pages bound with parchment usually sells for several silver coins!

It is already very good if ordinary people can ensure the daily meals and warmth for their whole family; where would they have the extra energy and money to study and buy books?

After Chaha'er took the servants down, Luoning began to think about the questions he would set for the interviewees tomorrow; after all, in case many people came to apply, he would still need to screen them.

After a while, Luoning finalized the questions, then walked to the window and began to cast the Clear Wind Spell toward the outside.

As the introductory magic for a Wind Attribute Magician, this spell was not difficult, and coupled with Luoning's super-grade attribute affinity, he was able to cast it with 100% success very quickly after learning it that night.

The reason he continued to practice was mainly to improve the proficiency and stability of using Mental Power to carve Spell Patterns, preparing for making Spell Scrolls later.

The Magician Pedro had said that making Spell Scrolls requires a magician's Mental Power and mana output to be extremely stable in order to carve Spell Patterns on Magic Beast skin.

Without meeting this condition, it was impossible to make Spell Scrolls, just like Pedro, who had tried many times and ended up with only waste products.

Luoning clearly met this condition.

His Mental Power and mana were both very stable, and making Spell Scrolls in the future should not be a problem. He had also privately asked Aierlong, and the other party seemed to meet this condition as well.

That is to say, in the future, Shanlin Town could have two magicians making Spell Scrolls.

Luoning had thought about it seriously; if Shanlin Town had no special products, he could use Spell Scrolls as a resource to sell externally.

Moreover, once their magician levels became higher and they could make powerful Spell Scrolls, they could then be used as a kind of strategic resource.

If there were a magic that could destroy a city in an instant, and Luoning could make it into a Spell Scroll, then that scroll would be equivalent to a nuclear weapon.

Of course, this was just a fantasy of his; he did not know if there were any heaven-defying magic in this world.

These are matters for later; at the current stage, a level two Healing Spell Scroll will definitely sell very well.

In this way, Luoning can also complete a certain accumulation of wealth.

Besides Spell Scrolls, Luoning also plans to rely on the memories of his past life to see if he can develop some industries.

For example, white spirits?

People in this world are very fond of drinking; from high nobles down to common folk, everyone has the habit of drinking, and there is no shortage of people who love alcohol as much as their own lives.

However, they only drink beer and wine; even a high noble like his predecessor had never come into contact with white spirits, so it is clear that white spirits do not exist here.

This gives Luoning a very clear market.

However, regarding how to produce white spirits, Luoning has never actually operated the process, so he reckons it will require Along period of exploration and experimentation.

Fortunately, the theoretical knowledge is already in place, and all that is missing is practical application; Luoning has a lot of confidence in himself.

(End of this chapter)