Lien looked at the system note and the new tab, thinking of what to do with it. It seemed that Temporary servants, or as the system shortened 'TS', are soul-less slaves that would serve the Caravan. Temporary probably meant expendable, as theoretically, I could keep them for the whole world, and they would still not count as WS.
'World Servants can be assigned… hmm… I should probably get some. If I can influence and command them to be fully subservient but keep their individual thinking, then I could probably get some good assistants. As for Permanent Servants? I will probably not find anyone in the near future, no use thinking about it. Still, I would like to know how what Soul Bound is.'
The men did as they were told, barely talking, somewhat fearful of what Lien might do to them if they didn't follow. From this, he took that the nobles, or at least the rich, were probably oppressive, or at least too far away from the lowly villager, which made them very intimidated.
That was good for the situation, so he just took it as is. As all carriage drivers finished their things, Lien sat next to the single man that was taking the reins of the two horses. The man was surprised to see lien sitting next to him, but he didn't question.
Not really sure where to go, but having some guesses, he took the first carriage and drove towards the town, which was the largest gathering of building he had known in his life. That was when the strange-looking man asked him "What is this town about?"
This was a place he would most likely leave very soon, for the city pass was clearly for a city. And even if he didn't know about the size of towns and cities in this world, it was sure to be larger than the outline of the town. Even the tallest seemed to be barely three stories high. The biggest indicator was the missing of a wall. From afar, one could only see a slight line, which was most likely a wooden fortification against bandits or the like, Lien wasn't sure about the last part.
The man was confused. He wasn't smart, and the only reason he and his companions could drive the horse was because he had some experience driving ox carts. It wasn't too different and the horses were tame, so he could go through as a carriage driver. But in all honesty, if it was some city, then he would sure stand out for his lack of mannerism.
Without even the basic knowledge of how a carriage driver should be driving, he naturally couldn't understand the question Lien asked. He thought about it, and mentioned the only thing that could be right "S-Sir! Our Village, and some others, are working for the t-town! We are delivering wood and fruits from the forest!"
Lien nodded. This was what he thought would be, it seemed that the region was geographically advantaged, which was why the villager didn't seem to be starving, for he was sure a simple villager would never actually be strong enough to hack a tree or look like he could.
He wasn't particularly interested to inquire further about the town, so he just kept to himself. They drove off and soon arrived close to the gate of the town. It wasn't a large town in the first place, it seemed, so there were barely any farmers and few foreigners moving through the foot gate and only two carriages stood before Lien's small caravan.
Some surprising gazes came towards him, but nothing much seemed to be happening, considering all the onlookers had somewhere to be, and couldn't just look at a few carriages, just because they seemed to be larger, there was no reason to follow them.
Soon, Lien's carriage arrived in front of the gate, and he looked calmly at the guards that came towards him. Before they could even say something, he told them "This is my caravan, we have come some way and would take a small break in this town but won't be staying long.
We are headed towards…" Lien thought back to the city pass he received through the Identification Help from the System "Westcity." He then took out the identification and showed it to the guard, still keeping it in his hands, clearly giving the message that he doesn't trust them.
But, to the farmers surprise, who knew how domineering the guards could be, they had only looked at it shortly before they let the carriages pass the gate. It was simple – the caravan head seemed very arrogant and prestigious. More importantly though, was the fact that most caravans or merchantries were supported by either nobles or wealthy people.
Any of them would be too much to handle for a town this small, not to mention a guard that was continuously exploiting small prey. If he had just one complain from the caravan head, then farmers would follow alike, destroying any chance of keeping things calm.
Lien went into the towns market and looked at what it was selling. Truth be told, he had no clear idea about any currency of this world. So, before he did any trading, he would look at how others did. And so he did, for half an hour, he looked at the few people trading and carrying stuff around. The few farmers that were managing the carriages for him were confused, but none spoke up, for they thought that punishment would follow.
Not long after, Lien asked the sole farmer next to him "The five of you, do you have family?"
The farmer was surprised but shook his head soon after "N-No! Sir, we five are but daily laborers that are going from village to village for a coin or two. We only helped them out… the village chief told us to come and serve you for some time, or else…"
Lien looked sharply at the farmer, wanting him to continue.
Feeling intimidated, he did so "Or else, he would not let us work for the village anymore. If we don't work here, then we would have to leave for another village. The village is the closest to the town, and the others are far away… they also have less food normally and don't take daily laborers. The only reason this village took us in was because they have too few adults…"
Lien understood the situation. These workers were actually wanderers that were looking for a home, and it seemed they found it in the village, or at least thought they did, until the village chief mercilessly sacrificed them to the caravan. In normal circumstances, nothing would happen. But he domineering way of Lien was clearly to be understood as a threatening and unkind person, no one would willingly send their villagers to him… but those workers?
This was good for Lien, as it meant the didn't need to spend time looking for workers. He asked them "Do you and your friends wish to stay and work for the caravan? Go and talk to them, fast. If yes, then hurry up and take a bag of the iron ores and sell them to the blacksmith here. Afterwards, go and buy some food and water bags."
As he said so, he also went off the carriage and entered it. The carriage was halted at the side of the road, just at the beginning of the market, so they could see everything. The worker was surprised but complied and quickly went off to tell the news to his colleagues.