"Huh?" Kant was slightly startled.
"Refugees?"
He felt rather puzzled.
However, he was quickly reminded of the introduction of the houses. Thus, he immediately realized what had happened.
[House: Civilian building of stone and wooden materials. Increases population and attracts an influx of citizens when the population in the village is low. Requires 100 Denars and seven days for construction.]
That explained the attributes of the building.
All five empty houses served to attract refugees, which was why the incident happened.
It was indeed a boon for Drondheim.
"Accept!"
Kant's tone was affirmative.
He had no hesitation whatsoever.
[You have mercifully decided to accept the Swadians who have nowhere to go.]
[Acquired: Swadian Peasants x 50]
A prompt was heard from the system.
Another dialog box popped up before Kant knew what had happened.
[The Swadians are spreading the word of your deeds.]
[Reputation: +100 Honor: +1]
[Reputation System activated]
[Honor System activated]
[Current Reputation: 10 Current Honor: 1]
[Reputation can be used to accelerate construction]
[Honor can be used to draw packs]
Kant looked rather dumbfounded.
He was puzzled about what he had just read.
Did accepting those Swadian refugees actually open up new system functions?
Reputation.
Honor.
Kant knew those terms well. Both had been important stats in the game in his previous life.
They were tied to the player's evaluation and relations.
They were also tied to the number of forces the player could command.
They were even related to whether the player was able to get married and become a king.
Is something different here?
Kant realized that in that real world he was in, the system changed how those two stats worked.
This was not the Continent of Caradia that he knew.
He was not in a made-up game world.
There was also no specific data regarding much of anything, so the data did not limit the number of troops he was able to command.
As such, there was no need for evaluations and relations.
There was also no need to enhance the number of forces he was able to command.
He would not have had to mingle with noble ladies or become king of a certain nation.
"System, explain how those two stats work."
Instead of speculating, Kant chose to ask. Besides, the system was able to explain everything.
[Reputation: Acquired through winning battles and improving civilian life. Specific reputation stats are dependent on the host. Specifically, 100 reputations could be spent on hastening construction by one day.]
Now, Kant was even more baffled.
He frowned and muttered, "Can things could actually work that way?"
Back in the game he played in his previous life, lacking advanced "engineering" attributes meant requiring constructions to take tens of days to complete. That rate of construction was utterly frustrating.
A high-tempo game was rather intolerant of such a sluggish rate of construction.
Even after coming to this world, Kant still had something to complain about regarding the rate of construction. While he knew the rate was several times higher than it would have actually been, no one wanted to wait for so many days. Most people liked to have things done swiftly.
However, what truly caught Kant's attention was the system's honor function.
The system showed a dialog box to provide further elaboration regarding it.
[Honor: Acquired through the "acquisition of epic victory" and "acquisition of legendary evaluation." Specifically, one honor could be spent to enter the mall for drawing prizes, acquiring mysterious packs. Remark: Mysterious packs are divided into troop class pack, military equipment pack, item pack, construction pack, and hero pack. Please explore on your own for further details.]
Kant's eyes lit up.
He seemed to be mulling something deep down.
The honor system seemed more powerful than the reputation system.
One only needed to look at the system's description of honor to tell that much.
Epic victory.
Legendary evaluation.
Those two terms looked like extraordinarily difficult feats to achieve.
At the very least, in all three victories he scored against the Jackalans since he came to the Nahrin Desert, the comments regarding his battles had never had terms like "epic" or "legendary" in them.
It seems rather difficult to acquire honor.
Kant shook his head.
In truth, even back in the game played in his previous life, acquiring honor was much more difficult than acquiring reputation.
However, Kant was unable to help but feel curious about these things.
He opened up the Reputation System section and found he had acquired one honor.
He looked at the prizes available for drawing in the mall, which required him to only spend that one honor to get something. Kant felt very tempted to try it out.
Maybe I could give it a try? he thought.
He planned to give it a try on the spot. While honor did not come easy, it was still something usable in the mall. It would have made little difference whether he used any honor he had now or later.
"My Lord."
While he was still thinking about the mall, he heard a voice.
The System Page was turned off on his retina. Kant turned around and found a Swadian Militia member standing next to him. He frowned and asked the man, "What's the matter?"
The Swadian Militia reported, "My Lord, we have discovered quite a large number of people heading here."
"Yeah, that's right."
Kant nodded, knowing that the 50 Swadian refugees had arrived.
He turned around to look in the direction the Swadian Militia member pointed. Many people were seen dragging luggage, both huge and small, on the horizon. They were arduously making their way through the desert, heading for the oasis before their eyes.
"Is there anything you need us to do?" the militia member asked.
Kant shook his head lightly and said, "No, those people are all poor refugees from Swadia."
"They're Swadians?" The militia was slightly baffled.
There were 35 Swadian Militia members, who carried hunting crossbows in their hands, around him. All of them gathered around with the intention of getting into formation. After hearing what Kant said, they all slowly put down their weapons.
No one wanted to fight their own countrymen.
"Yeah, they're all Swadians."
Kant nodded and said at the same time, "Get food and water ready. They all look exhausted."
"Understood." The Swadian Militia members all nodded. Several of them left the group.
However, the remaining Swadian Militia members did not immediately disperse. They were still all lined up with their hunting crossbows in hand. They all narrowed their gaze on all the refugees, who were getting increasingly closer to the oasis.
Although they knew those people were their countrymen, they still saw protecting their lord and the village as their topmost priorities.
Despite being of the same nation, Swadians fought among each other time and again.
As opposed to their expressions, it went without saying that Kant looked calm.
Before too long, all 50 Swadian refugees arrived in front of Kant and the soldiers.
They all wore ragged, dirty linen clothing that made them look like beggars. Their faces were filled with grime as if it had been a long time since they last showered. All of them had a stink about them, making anyone else who got near them frown.
"Welcome to Drondheim."
Kant stepped forward and nodded, saying, "You shall all have food, water, and hope for the future."
"Thank you, Merciful Lord."
All of the refugees stood still. Their gazes were locked on Kant.
After hearing Kant welcoming them, they all merrily cheered. Many of them even shed tears.
The Continent of Caradia was far from being a peaceful place. All five nations warred against each other. In the end, it was not the nobles who suffered. The ones who suffered were those commoners at the bottom rung of society.
Bandits were everywhere. Acts of plunder from enemy forces posed a severe threat to their lives.
"Take them to shower and get them some food."
Kant turned around and said to the militia members behind him, "I'll leave you all in charge. When they're done resting, get them some simple menial work to do so they can get used to the place. Everyone has to pull their own weight in this Oasis Lookout."
"Understood." The Swadian Militia members nodded.
The soldiers gathered the refugees around and led them to the Council Hall and newly constructed houses.
The food was ready.
It was time for the Oasis Lookout troops to have lunch.
"System Mall."
Kant remained standing where he was. A dialog box appeared on his retina.
A treasure chest-like image was on the dialog box.
Kant instantly realized something.
If there was some prize to be drawn, it was probably the chest doing the work. That meant the draw was definitely random.
"System, activate prize drawing in the mall," Kant quietly muttered to himself.
[Ding... System Mall activated]
[Due to this being your first time using the System Mall, you get an extra chance at drawing x 1]
A dialog box from the system appeared on his retina.
However, it gave Kant a surprise.
An extra chance at drawing? Does that mean I can draw twice?
"Begin the drawing."
Kant had no hesitation in making the decision.
The image of the treasure chest on his retina began to slowly open.
The treasure chest gradually opened. Mysterious colors were visible. At that moment, Kant heard a prompt.
[Ding... You have acquired troop class pack]
[Your troop class attracted a small group of Desert Bandits to join your forces.]
[Acquired: Desert Bandit x 10]
A System Prompt was heard. Kant was dumbfounded.
"What a prize." As he gulped, his eyes showed obvious surprise in them.
That one draw gave him 10 Desert Bandits.
Recruiting in the lair required at least seven weeks to complete. That meant recruiting 10 Desert Bandits to serve him would have taken approximately two months. Instead, that feat was easily completed with just one simple draw.