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"What? And you expect me to believe that?!" Misgurd said out loud as he screamed at Rodi
"Bu-But that's the truth…"
"Say that as you look into my eyes, punk!"
"I…"
Dale slowly approached the group, close enough to hear what they were talking about...
And his actions were immediately noticed by the people, after all, many couldn't help but pay attention to him after what happened...
Misgurd immediately turned to face him and said:
"Dale, don't tell me you believed the nonsense he uttered?"
"..."
'Of course, I didn't, but...'
"... Can you come up with a better solution?" Dale asked
"..."
"I already decided to accept their words, now, you and the council need to decide whether to allow them in."
"You mean… But they've already caused us so much trouble!"
"That is true, however, sending them away won't change anything as this situation will one day repeat itself as long as what he said holds even if just a shred of truth."
"So instead, how about we find a use for them?"
Misgurd then asked:
"They don't seem capable, I can see one or two who seem to have some sort of advanced Martial arts training, but they look weak, at least, too weak to cope with our needs."
"We don't need warriors that can't fight!"
"..."
'From Misgurd's perspective, that is true, these players are useless and weak.'
'Yet they can't die… Meaning, they can do any sort of dangerous job... And they'll do it with pleasure as long as there is some sort of decent reward attached to it.'
"So we'll find some work for them to do… Like cleaning up some pests…"
"Pests… You don't mean…"
"We can leave that for later." Testros said as he interrupted their conversation
"First, Dale, is your shoulder ok?" He asked with a bit of concern
"My shoulder?"
'I forgot about this, from their perspective, it has only been a few hours since I got hurt...'
'But I think it's fully healed already.'
"It doesn't hurt anymore, but I'll still rest it until tomorrow."
Testros nodded and said with a smile:
"That's good, we wouldn't want to miss a day of training."
"But now… This situation is really serious."
"You may not understand but it has been decades since we had newcomers like this, you were already a surprise, much less an all-out attack."
"The village will become restless for a long time…"
He tapped on Dale's shoulder and said:
"What you did today… I won't ask for the specific details, but It was still very important to all of us. Thank you for your hard work as always."
"He's right, kid. Be proud." Misgurd said
[Your continuous actions of self-sacrifice have deeply touched the villagers of Resko]
[Your Reputation has increased +10 = 161]
"It was nothing… To be honest they pissed me off…"
"BUWAHAHA! Remember me to not piss you off then!" Misgurd said with a smile
He turned around and looked at the mess in the Church.
"What a mess… Who'll clean this up?"
"Why are you asking? Didn't we just gain a massive workforce?" Dale asked with a frown
"OH yeah! I almost forgot…"
"Have them work as Mercenary Recruits and the more outstanding ones we can have work on more complex and dangerous jobs, if they are warriors then they won't refuse some coin…" Testros said
'As long as it's not me giving the quests, then it's fine. I still have no idea what I'll give Rodi as a reward for his Quest...'
"I can do that… But the amount of work…" Testros said with a frown as he looked at the number of people in the room
'Processing their papers will be a bother.'
"Then I guess that's done, as a first mission, let's have them clean the Church and the village from the mess they caused as payment for us letting them off the hook." Dale said with a smile
I'll have them clean the loot for me and fix the damages my AOE attack may have caused, a perfect solution.
"Indeed, everyone would have a heart attack to see the village like this when they come back…" Misgurd said
"Aside from that, we need to talk about a few things." Dale said
'It's time to deal with a few problems in regards to the Church.'
"The very reason as to why this happens is because we have no one to take care of the Church, meaning, we have no priest nor guards."
"There is no one to collect the offerings, nor to make sure everyone behaves. Not that e needed, but the situation is different now."
"Because of this, they accumulated in the Altar to such a degree that I could barely even see the holy icon."
"So we need to find a way to store these safely without causing problems…"
"Hm… You're right, we were attacked by bandits exactly because of this oversight, we can't be careless anymore." Testros said
His words made Dale scratch his chin in wonder...
"..."
'So those players are already seen as bandits huh…'
"Aside from that, with the Altar broken, we need to make a replacement else we won't be able to open the entrance to the Catacombs anymore." Dale said
Testros shook his head and said:
"That won't be a problem, the mechanism still works although it's now very awkward to use… But you're right, we need to either replace it or fix it, both of which aren't things we can so easily do..."
"The wood and stone used to make the Altar were already very precious and they can't be found in the South, not only that, they were blessed by the Pope himself…"
Misgurd interrupted Testros to say:
"The Pope from several generations ago you mean, this is all rather old, or was…" Misgurd said
"Hum..."
"So making a faithful replacement isn't going to be easy… Can't we just make a simple one for now?" Dale mumbled to himself
'Can't see it being possible for the Pope to appear with a brand new Altar anytime soon...'
"You're taking this too lightly, we're talking about the Altar where the Holy relic of the Church used to be displayed."
"This has to be an Altar worthy of the Pope, the voice of God to preach in."
"If we handle things badly, we could incur the wrath of God." Misgurd said
"I thought you weren't a believer." Dale said with a bit of irony
"And I'm not, however, my daily activities include not profaning the Divines or making fun of them."
"Good enough." Dale replied as he shrugged
"So what now?" He asked
"We'll rally these people and have them go to the Mercenary branch where we can keep an eye on them until everyone comes back, something that should be happening soon due to the chaos caused by your 'little' display Dale." Said Misgurd
"..."
Dale awkwardly looked away.
"Those that refuse will be sent to jail." Finished Testros with a serious tone
Hearing the word Jail for the first time, Dale asked:
"Is there a Jail in this place?"
"Yup, it isn't used though." Testros said
"You're wrong about that, we do use the Jail, but it's normally only to punish bratty kids that need something beyond just a beating." Said Misgurd with a smile
"It's right next to the Mayor's house and below the Guard's barracks."
"I see." Dale replied with a look of enlightenment
'No wonder I didn't know, it's because I didn't go there yet.'
'The village of Resko can be said to be divided into 3 zones.'
'The covered zone, a place that has been covered by several decades worth of sand that was compacted due to the rain, making the place feel as if it was buried below a few meters of dirt.'
'Many of the houses there are completely buried while some others are only half covered. The reason for this is that due to the sharp decrease in the population of the village over the years, there was no need nor a necessity to keep those areas of the city in good shape.'
'There is the living zone, built in the past few decades to cope with the change in environment and as a place for the villagers to live in.'
'Most of the houses here are built from wood and are above ground, but it's true that they are quite rough looking since Resko lacks proper lumber and craftsmen to make everything prettier.'
'And finally, the 3rd zone, the old zone.'
'It's a zone consisting of the old buildings of Resko that were maintained over the years and as such, not buried in the sand... Although it's still severely worn out.'
'Ironically, the buildings that were buried were the ones that were mostly preserved since they are now safe below the sands, while these ones remained outside, and after years of disrepair, they are now hanging on a thread.'
'This area includes the center of Resko with an old fountain, the mercenary branch, Yumi's potion shop, the guards' barracks, and the mayor's house… Plus a few other things.'
'Because of how my priorities ended up presenting themselves, I didn't explore that place very well, focusing my attention mostly towards the Guild and completing my tasks…'
As Dale thought, Misgurd and Testros discussed the situation.
And once he was done thinking, Dale said:
"Shall we proceed?"
They nodded.
Misgurd took a step forward and started to gather the players while Dale looked at the side and at the piles of loot.
He grabbed a low-quality helmet and used it as a bucket, gathering the coins from the offerings and putting them near the Altar.
Once he was done, he inspected the items on the ground, and at first, he saw nothing interesting, these items were after all normal items from the Tutorial and they would be mostly all about the same.
He did see a few interesting things though, and it was all of the pieces of the set he once sold.
'Now I have a reason to own it as an NPC and show it to everyone else.'
It would indeed be very suspicious for an NPC to go around with player-specific gear, but since it's here for him then…
Apart from this, he saw nothing else worth his while.
However, they may be useless to him, but they could be very useful for the village or in the hands of the players.
'I can use this as rewards for quests right?... Yeah!'
'These players are still Level 5 and below, so they will definitely need these… The quantity is also decent.'
'At the very least, this seems more profitable than trying to sell them in the Open market since most of my profit would be spent on getting access to it in the first place.'
'Money needs to flow…'
'The players may be useless but they are the perfect workforce for these heavy-hand jobs.'
'Although I'm a bit hesitant in using them to clear out the fields from the spiders, even if I were to stop them now, they would eventually hunt there.'
'After all, if a player hunts a monster on a field, it will eventually respawn, so that was my worry. If the monsters respawn just like that then the purpose of having them clear the fields would be useless.'
'I'll have to test everything and put up some more thought into all of this…'
Dale raised his head, glaring at the people as they emptied the Church.
Without hesitation, he took a step forward…
"You'll leave just like that?" Said David from behind him
"!"
Dale was interrupted by the talking golden head, what would it say after all that happened?
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Notes