BOPE 54

Chapter 54 …

“You’re a lot younger than I expected.”

“Seriously.”

Seeing a lord who looked younger than even their youngest sibling only heightened their anxiety.

The boy lord swept his gaze across the mercenaries gathered in the open lot. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes moved restlessly, as if on the verge of snapping and telling everyone to leave.

After quietly whispering something into the ear of the knight beside him, the young lord disappeared without another word.

Henry and his friends were now sure they wouldn’t be hired. A heavy sense of disappointment settled over them like a fog.

Moments later, the knight who had appeared alongside the lord stepped forward and raised his voice.

“I am Red Bear, Captain of the Grace Knights!”

His voice carried enough weight to silence the crowd instantly.

Henry swallowed dryly. His friends, equally tense, clasped their hands as if in prayer, staring at Red Bear with wide, desperate eyes. Any kind of work would do—just something, anything.

With everyone’s attention focused solely on him, Red Bear continued.

“Starting now, we will be selecting mercenaries to accompany the Grace Knights into the Black Forest tomorrow.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the knights waiting on the right side of the lot marched forward in formation. Their disciplined movements inspired a sense of order among the disorganized mercenaries, who quickly began straightening their postures and lining up.

The knights walked between the rows, silently selecting those who looked strong enough and directing them to the left side of the lot.

“You—this way!”

“You over there! Move to the left!”

Voices calling out selections rang from all directions.

Those who were chosen grinned in relief and hurried over to the designated area. Those passed over lowered their heads in disappointment, unable to hide the sting of rejection.

Henry too watched a knight approach with hopeful eyes, but the man merely glanced at him and his friends before walking right past to someone behind them.

“You, come over here!”

Henry stared enviously at the chosen man, whose face beamed with relief and pride.

“Ah…”

Tears welled in Henry’s eyes.

If he couldn’t get work here either, he had no idea how many days his little sister would go hungry. He had begged the neighbor woman for help before leaving, but returning empty-handed would only add to their debt in grain. He couldn’t expect her to feed his sister for free when she herself had so little.

Henry wasn’t the only one crestfallen. His friends, who had come with him hoping for any kind of opportunity, now stood with heads bowed, looking ready to cry.

“We should probably go,” Ned whispered in a choked voice.

At his words, Henry and the others began to sniffle as they stood frozen in place.

And then—

“Those who were not selected as mercenaries may now leave if they wish!” shouted Red Bear, his eyes still sharp as he scanned the remaining mercenaries.

Drip. Drip.

Tears finally spilled down Henry’s cheeks.

But—

“However, our territory is in desperate need of laborers. If you’re willing to take on work other than mercenary tasks, you may stay!”

Henry and his friends immediately looked at each other and cried out in joy.

“Waaah!”

“We can work! Thank goodness!”

“Sniffle!”

And they weren’t the only ones. Others who had been excluded from the mercenary selection were now hugging their companions, bouncing with happiness.

The surprises didn’t end there.

When Henry heard that work would begin the next day, he resigned himself to sleeping outside that night. But when he arrived at the lodging prepared for workers and mercenaries, his jaw dropped.

“We’re really allowed to sleep here?”

Each room accommodated five people and even provided simple blankets. Henry and his friends, who had braced themselves for a night of dew-soaked misery, were moved to tears by the unexpected shelter.

After receiving their room assignments and stepping back outside, they discovered a temporary meal station had been set up in the once-empty lot.

A large pot of savory-smelling soup was steaming, and beside it were mashed, easy-to-eat servings of steamed dural root.

The delicious aroma made their mouths water and stomachs grumble loudly.

“I want to eat so badly. But we don’t have any money.”

They had come with nothing—not a single coin between them.

Henry thought it would be less painful to return to their rooms than to watch others eat. But then, an elderly maid tapped a ladle against the pot and shouted,

“Meal service begins now! Line up, everyone!”

“What, are you going to charge us for food before we even get paid?” someone snapped angrily.

But the maid responded with a surprising answer.

“What nonsense! This food is being provided free of charge by the Lord himself.”

“He’s giving it out for free?”

It was too good to be true. Henry blinked in disbelief.

His stomach, stirred by the smell, gurgled in protest. But they had been burned before by offers like this—tricked into debt, scammed into servitude. So Henry and his friends stayed put, unwilling to budge.

“Are you seriously giving this away?” someone asked from the back with clear suspicion.

The maid, Delma, who had been banging her ladle, huffed and snapped back,

“What kind of person do you think our Lord is? Don’t want it? Fine! We’ll pack it up and leave!”

The first to move was a confident-looking mercenary. He walked casually up to the line, smiled, and accepted a generous helping. He then sat down in the middle of the lot and began eating.

Everyone’s eyes were on him.

As if enjoying the attention, he took his time.

Slurping sounds echoed through the crowd as people swallowed their saliva.

“Oooh! This is delicious!”

The mercenary’s eyes widened as he took another bite of the mashed dural root, now eating quickly.

“I want some too!”

Unable to hold back, Ned pushed past Henry and ran to the line. One by one, more people followed until the meal station was completely surrounded.

But just as Henry was about to step up, the food ran out.

Nearly half the group was still waiting, staring in shock—until another cart full of food rolled into the lot.

“Alright! If you haven’t eaten yet, come this way! And if you want seconds, head over there!” shouted a bearded servant.

Two groups surged forward toward the food.

“Was there enough food for everyone?” Chloe asked as she sank into the warm bathwater that Anna had prepared.

“Yes, my lady. Thanks to your generous orders, there was more than enough! The people were so grateful—I couldn’t help but feel proud!” Anna replied cheerfully, gently scrubbing Chloe’s shoulders and back with a soft sponge.

The initially awkward treatment was starting to feel more normal, and Donghee let out a quiet chuckle.

Anna, mistaking Chloe’s relaxed mood as approval of her bath service, beamed with newfound confidence.

“Everyone kept saying thank you to the Lord—it was amazing!”

“Really? That’s good to hear.”

Thanks to the dural root she’d discovered by chance, they’d been able to feed the hired mercenaries and laborers. And though she’d paid extra, the grain stockpiled from other territories now filled the storage rooms. With an abundance of food in the castle, both Donghee and the staff were feeling much more at ease.

Feeling proud, she closed her eyes and said,

“Tell the butler to prepare plenty of food for tomorrow too.”

“Yes, my lady!”

Anna moved on to washing her hair.

Donghee had never experienced luxury like this before.

At first, she’d hoped this was just a dream—but now, she was starting to worry that it really might be.

Just then—Ding! A system window popped up.

The laborers’ favorability toward the user is steadily increasing.
Would you like to merge their favorability with that of the existing residents?

Donghee hesitated. But since she’d fed them, it probably wouldn’t go down.

Besides, their favorability was bound to rise anyway—no need to delay. Even if the negative score increased slightly, it wasn’t worth stressing over.

Yes. Merge them.

Favorability +5 from some laborers.
Favorability +8 from some laborers.
Favorability +3 from some laborers.
Favorability +10 from some laborers.

Unlike the residents, whose favorability rose in units of ten, the newly arrived laborers showed a wider range.

Still, none of the numbers were negative. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

And then the system added another message:

Please raise trust level among skeptical laborers to at least 90%.
Current trust level: 49%.
Upon mission completion, activity range in certain regions will expand.
Total favorability score (residents + laborers): -72,500p

Higher than expected.

She had assumed merging the new group’s low starting favorability would drag the score down again.

But perhaps thanks to steadily rising points in Morta and Enol, the decrease had actually slowed.

Donghee soaked in the bath, heart pounding as the unexpected system window faded from view.