Chapter 8: Recruitment

If you want to accomplish your work, you must first sharpen your tools.

Ophariel obviously didn’t know this proverb, but she expressed her thoughts with another saying.
A solid foundation is the only ladder to success.

No matter what Julian wanted to do, it was necessary to get this castle running normally, and this was also the biggest problem facing everyone.

Lack of manpower, shortage of funds, and no good economic sources. After a simple investigation, Ophariel came to the same conclusion as Julian.

“This castle is designed purely for military purposes,” the girl looked at the dilapidated map before her with slight helplessness.

“As you said, it doesn’t have the conditions for transportation and trade.”

“That’s right,” Julian nodded, while glancing at the empty teacup beside Ophariel. After being revived and having a body again, as if to compensate for her lost years, the former princess was making every effort to enjoy food. She had already drunk sixteen cups of tea, but still didn’t seem satisfied. However, for nobles, tea tasting should be a leisurely affair. Looking at the princess’s movements, she had indeed received a good education. Her movements were elegant and unhurried, already showing the steady demeanor of nobles who “remain unmoved even if a mountain collapses before them” – if one didn’t consider the fact that she had already drunk a pot of tea in half an hour.

After all, Ophariel’s body was woven from magic, so it didn’t have digestive and excretory functions like a human body. There was no need to worry that this noble lady would have something happen that shouldn’t because of eating or drinking too much. Those foods would be dissolved by magic when entering the body, digested, and transformed into part of the magic. However… everything should have a limit, right?

“We need manpower, and for manpower, we also need considerable financial assistance,” Ophariel raised her head, reached out her hand, and gracefully and gently poured red tea into her cup, then spoke.
This was the seventeenth cup.

“If you have private money or a small treasury, I think this isn’t a difficult problem to solve,” Julian reached out and took the teapot from beside Ophariel.

Ophariel blinked, not responding to this obvious joke. In fact, Ophariel didn’t know much about the young man before her. Although Julian introduced himself as a descendant of a fallen noble family, and his experience indeed proved this point, Ophariel still believed that he must be more than just a fallen noble. Take the previous incident for example, in Ophariel’s memory, even those royal mages had never performed such powerful magic that could materialize a soul. But Julian not only could perform it, but also did it very easily. Although Ophariel wasn’t a mage, even a normal person could understand how unimaginable it was to give a wandering soul a body. Even the Holy Grace Church had never had such a thing happen. In their holy books, the resurrection of the dead was already the highest miracle, and what Julian did was undoubtedly even more advanced than resurrecting the dead.

However, as Julian said, he wasn’t a mage. In the entire castle, Ophariel hadn’t found any items related to magic, no magic arrays, no robes, no spell books, and no magical servants or anything she had seen on royal mages.
However, regarding Julian’s self-introduction as a knight, the girl instinctively harbored doubts. It should be known that being a knight was very honorable. If the young man before her was really a knight, he should have already entered the core part of the royal family, rather than struggling to survive in such a godforsaken place. Moreover, from Julian’s description, those great nobles were simply treating him as a waste that wouldn’t live long, which undoubtedly didn’t fit the identity of a knight.

But seeing Julian’s words spoken in a calm tone without any pride or arrogance, Ophariel couldn’t associate him with those ordinary young men who only knew how to daydream and imagine themselves as knights. Because even those men who fantasize about being knights would speak in a tone full of longing and pride. But Julian’s tone was gentle, mild, so plain that he seemed to be merely stating a fact, rather than fantasy or delusion.
Could he be…

Ophariel shook her head, putting aside the strange and unbelievable judgment in her mind, then put forward her suggestion.

“My lord, why don’t you give those Wraith Warriors bodies? Since they all obey your orders very much, if you materialize these Wraith Warriors, I think it can at least solve part of the manpower problem.”

“Although the magic they possess is also very powerful, it hasn’t reached the level of being able to weave a body,”

Julian shrugged. He had actually considered Ophariel’s suggestion before.

“I think you haven’t realized how powerful your strength is, Miss Ophariel. With your current magic reserves, it’s enough to compare with grand mage level figures. That’s not something these Wraith Warriors can compare to. Even if I create cores for them, they can’t form a complete body. But you’re right, I don’t intend to abandon them. Given enough materials, I will give them a form. After all, as you said, I really need their help, especially now.”
Materials?

Ophariel looked at Julian in confusion, not understanding why this word suddenly came out of the young man’s mouth. Could he, like those alchemists, use some strange materials to create something? Now this princess was becoming more and more curious about Julian’s true identity. He didn’t seem like a mage, didn’t seem like a knight, and didn’t seem like an alchemist, but what he knew had already exceeded the range that ordinary noble children should learn – it should be known that even Ophariel herself found it hard to keep up with Julian’s pace. Moreover, she hadn’t missed Julian’s earlier words comparing her magic power to that of a grand mage. It should be known that grand mages are the top existence in the mage hierarchy. They all come and go without a trace, or hold high positions within the kingdom. With Julian’s identity as a “fallen noble”, even if he had incredibly good luck, it’s unlikely he would have seen a grand mage, let alone have the qualification to evaluate a grand mage’s power.

Who exactly is this young man?

“It’s about time,” Julian didn’t mind Ophariel’s confusion. He took out a silver pocket watch from his bosom (this was also the only relatively valuable thing the young man carried), carefully looked at the time, then stood up.
“Let’s see how many people we can recruit in our first batch.”

Perhaps to leave a good impression on the new lord, or maybe for other considerations, Twilight Town sent people to pay taxes on the morning of the third day. At the same time, they also brought the first batch of people who wanted to work here.

It must be said that the situation was slightly better than Julian had imagined.

Besides those carters responsible for transporting food, there were four people willing to work for Julian. At this moment, Julian was standing at the door, looking at these four people standing before him.

Standing on the far right was an old woman nearly fifty years old. She was stout, wearing worn but clean clothes. Her hands were covered with calluses, her messy gray hair wrapped in white cloth. Her skin didn’t have the delicacy typical of women, and was even a bit rough. She introduced herself as Marfa Bon. Julian had heard this name from the old town mayor. It was said that her family had been working in the castle for decades, and now from this old woman’s expression, it was clear that she intended to continue this tradition.

Standing next to this old woman was a sturdy middle-aged man. He was wearing several pieces of clothing made from animal skins, holding a large axe in his hand. He was here to apply for woodworking work. After all, such a large castle also had many places that needed wood, and this was work that neither Julian nor Ophariel could complete.
Next was a hunchback who was here to apply for the gardener position. This person looked quite old too. He was hunched over, the wrinkles on his face tightly squeezed together, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

For Ophariel, she had never seen such recruitment before. Although as a princess who had quite a reputation among the common people, she had occasionally visited places where commoners lived before. But that was clearly different from leisurely spending days in one’s own manor. In Ophariel’s memory, maids should have serious and earnest expressions, and work hard and sincerely while maintaining respect for the nobles. Not like this middle-aged woman, looking at her lord with a cheerful smile that even made the girl feel somewhat embarrassed. The woodworker also made Ophariel feel somewhat uncomfortable. After all, for this princess, this man’s clothing was too revealing. He was just casually wearing a few pieces of animal skin, leaving his chest, arms, and legs exposed. Ophariel’s gaze only stayed on him for 0.1 seconds before immediately moving away. Fortunately, the black cloak covered most of her face, not letting people notice her blushing cheeks.

As for that hunchback – Holy Grace above, Ophariel could be sure that even in the slums of the imperial capital, she had never seen such an ugly person. That face was like a crumpled paper, forcefully twisted into a ball, even the facial features were almost not in their proper places. The rough skin was covered with dirty disease spots all over.
The last applicant was a young girl.

She was only twelve or thirteen years old, but her small, malnourished body that developed slowly made her look only ten, or even younger. She had long brown hair, freckles on her face, and big eyes sparkling with curiosity, fear, and unease. Unlike the other three, the girl obviously didn’t know what she should do. She just tremblingly said she hoped to find some work in the castle, any work would do.

“My lord, do you really intend to hire these people?”

After confirming the identity relationship, Ophariel also made appropriate changes to her address to Julian. It must be said that this princess was quite skilled at changing herself. She quickly put aside her original pride as a princess and began to serve the young man before her wholeheartedly. Although she didn’t know much about Julian’s background, it was precisely because of this that Ophariel determined that this young man was definitely not one of those ordinary noble children. As a former royal princess, Ophariel prided herself on having a considerable level of insight into people. After all, to survive in the royal family, if one didn’t have the skill to roughly determine the other person’s characteristics and personality without showing any signs, it would be no different from stupidly handing oneself over to others. Even Ophariel, who possessed this excellent skill, couldn’t completely see through Julian’s background. This point alone was enough to convince her.

However, facing these people now made Ophariel feel somewhat uneasy.