Sword and Sorcery and Martial Arts

Chapter 251 Tavern Recruitment (4000 words)
Rhodes returned to the castle. After a few days of repairs, the castle was much better than what he saw the first time, at least it was liveable.

He sat on the long table in the castle hall, thinking about his plans for a while.

"My lord, you are finally back." Rhode followed the voice and saw that it was the girl he rescued last time, and she was looking at him with a smile on her face.

Rhodes nodded to her. He thought about whether she and her mother could be in charge of the textile factory. He is really short of manpower now.

He thinks that people like the village head and the town head should be elected to help him manage affairs. He only needs to put forward an idea or a general policy, and the people below will follow his ideas. Just go around and see how it's doing. Usually, just like other lords, practice martial arts and soldiers.

If he needs to participate in everything personally, it will exhaust him to death.

"Do you need me to do something? I don't think it's good to stay in the castle every day to eat and drink." The girl ran over and asked.

"There will be something for you to do in the future. By the way, what's your name?" Rhodes turned his head and asked.

"Lorraine." The girl replied, she was staring at Rhodes with wide eyes.

"Lorraine, can you help me find a bald man named Baron in the castle?" Rhodes asked.

"There's no need for her to look for it, the bald man named Baron is here." Baron's voice came from the stairs.

Not long after, Baron and Gilbert appeared in front of Rhodes.

"Why did you leave without saying hello last time?" Rhodes turned around and asked.

"I have to ask him. I don't know. After you went upstairs, he dragged me away." Gilbert pointed to Baron.

"I don't want to finish the task you assigned quickly." Baron scratched his bald head.

"Then have you researched it?" Rhodes asked again.

Gilbert pulled out a chair and sat on it. "On the first day we went, we researched cement, didn't we just add water and sand to the quicklime, and in the next few days we just looked at where the stones could be burned into quicklime, and we also helped You cleared out groups of bandits hiding in the mountains."

"You didn't make a move, and I didn't kill them all by myself." Baron said suddenly.

"I didn't make a shot, I ran out of magic power every time." Gilbert argued.

"Then have you killed all those robbers?" Rhodes asked again.

"They surrendered after killing some of them every time. I gathered them all and brought them back to the castle." Baron replied.

"Do you mean to ask me for a bounty?" Rhode felt that this operation was a bit like the one he heard in the tavern, catching robbers alive and going to the lord to exchange bounties.

"No, I'll catch it and work for you. Look at the lord who doesn't have many serfs under his command." Baron explained.

There is still a lot of land next to the castle, so some serfs who don't have land should be found to farm the land. Rhodes decided to let them farm the land after the thirty or so cultists finished building the road.

"Baron, do you have any trustworthy friends? Can you invite them to my territory? I'm short of people right now." Rhodes asked after hesitating for a while.

"What? There are fewer people fighting?" Baron asked suspiciously, "You want to hire mercenaries and go directly to the tavern to find them."

Baron's words reminded Rhodes that he can go to the tavern to see if there are suitable talents, and any kind of talents will appear in the tavern.

"Let's go to the tavern now." Rhodes stood up and said, he wanted to see if there were any down-and-out businessmen or nobles in the tavern, and such people could help him with something.

"It just so happens that I haven't had a drink for many days." Baron stood up and stretched himself.

"Can I go with you?" Lorraine asked suddenly, who had been silent all this time.

"A place like a tavern, isn't it good for you to go alone as a girl?" Gilbert looked at Lorraine carefully.

"It doesn't matter, let her follow, I have nothing to be afraid of." Baron said with a big smile.

"Can you ride a horse?" Rhodes looked at Lorraine and asked.

"No, I can learn." Lorraine replied.

"I'll take you there after you learn how to ride a horse. We're in a hurry." Rhode glanced at the sky outside the door.

"Okay then." Lorraine's voice was a little lost.

"I can take you there on horseback." Gilbert walked over to comfort him.

"No, I'll stay in the castle." After hearing Lorraine's answer, Gilbert looked a little embarrassed.

Rhodes left the castle with Baron, who was grinning from ear to ear, and Gilbert, who was full of embarrassment, followed.

They came to the "Riverside Tavern" that Rhodes had visited before, and this tavern was the one with the best business in the town.

"Good day, Lord Lord." The tavern owner hurried up to greet him when he saw Rhodes walking in, and some other guests in the tavern also got up to greet Rhodes.

"Please help me to ask if there are any literate people here, or people who have done business, or worked as housekeepers." Rhodes said to the tavern owner.

"Sit down and have a glass of wine first, I'll go and ask for you first, and I will bring them to you later." The tavern owner replied with a smile.

Rhodes nodded, he found a seat to sit down, and Baron and Gilbert sat next to him.

"Actually, we should come back at night. You also know that the tavern is more lively at night." Baron took a sip of the wine brought by the tavern maid.

"The people who come here at night are all the residents of the town. I'm looking for travelers passing by." Rhodes also took a sip of his wine. He wondered if he should buy a tavern to test whether the spirits are popular or not.

"My lord, I helped you find three people who can read and write, and they are willing to come to see you." The tavern owner came over and said respectfully to Rhodes.

"You want them to come over." Rhodes nodded.

The tavern owner quickly ran to other tables and said something to the others.

Not long after, he brought three people to Rhodes.

"Sit down, let's talk while drinking." Rhode pointed to the bench.

He looked at the three people carefully. The one on the far left is the youngest, about 20 years old, wearing worn leather armor, but the sword on his waist looks very bright and sharp. He should be a down-and-out nobleman with a sword It is his family.

The man in the middle, about 30 years old, doesn't look strong, giving people a very weak feeling, his hair is also messy, and his eyes are bloodshot. Rhodes thinks that he must have suffered some accident recently.

The one on the far right is a knight wearing old armor, who looks to be in his 40s, and should be a proletarian knight without a fief, or used to be.

"All of you introduce yourself first," Rhodes said.

The three looked at each other in dismay, seeing that no one was willing to speak first, the man in the middle with messy hair in his 30s glanced at the two next to him, "I'll go first."

"My name is Hyman, and I was born in the Kingdom of Fish. My father is a relatively successful businessman, so I have received a fairly good education. When I was young, I obeyed my father's arrangement to work in the city hall as a clerk , responsible for statistics of the big and small affairs in the city, but I was not reconciled to such an ordinary life, so I borrowed some money from my father and started my own business. At first things were good, I inherited my father's brains, and made a small fortune , Later, I listened to a friend and spent almost all of my money on spices. I was going to ship them to Snowwind City in the Nord Kingdom. I heard that spices are very popular there. They were all robbed by robbers on the road." The down-and-out man with messy hair said slowly, and his words were more orderly.

Rhodes nodded. He felt that this person was quite capable. He had worked as a clerk and made some money by doing business. If it wasn't for bad luck, he would definitely not be so down and down.

"Are you willing to stay and work under me? I am going to form a caravan, and you will be responsible for negotiating the price or other things. In addition to paying you a fixed salary, I will also give you a share based on the profit." Rhodes spoke.

"Of course, my lord, it's my honor." Heyman said hastily.

"We'll talk about the specifics later, and I want to hear the stories of the two of them." Rhodes smiled.

"My name is Gavin, I can read and write, I can count, and I am good at fighting." The knight in old armor said, his self-introduction was very simple.

Putting his self-introduction and Heyman together, it can be seen that Heyman is better at words than him.

"Then what level is your strength?" Rhodes nodded and asked again.

"What level? Are you saying that being able to kill trolls counts as a second-level division? According to this division, I think I should have a third-level strength. Although I have never fought a saber-toothed tiger, I can easily kill a troll." A troll." Gavin replied after thinking for a while.

"Try punching me." Baron said.

"Punch you? Sir, strength is not only measured by strength and speed. There are also many factors, such as reaction speed, on-the-spot psychological quality, and various fighting methods." Gavin smiled.

"Don't talk so much, you punch me and I'll know exactly how strong you are. If you don't have enough strength and speed, no matter how many fancy things you have, you won't be an opponent of the saber-toothed tiger." Baron said impatiently , he stood up and walked aside, signaling Gavin to attack him.

"As you wish." Gavin stood up and punched Baron hard.

Baron reached out and squeezed his fist directly, "If you encounter a creature like a saber-toothed tiger in the wild, you will definitely not survive 30 seconds."

Gavin was a little embarrassed, his face was flushed, and he wanted to take his hand out, but his hand was still tightly held by Baron.

Balon gave him a disdainful look, and let go of his hand.

Rhodes looked at Gavin and felt a little hesitant. He valued Gavin's literacy more than Gavin's combat effectiveness, but he didn't know if he was willing to put down his identity and work as a clerk under him.

"Would you like to be an official under me, responsible for such work as population statistics and taxation?" Rhodes asked.

"I'm a knight. Although I don't have a fief, I'm a genuine knight of the Nord Kingdom." Gavin said with wide-eyed eyes.

"Okay, I know you are a knight. Since you don't want to, then pretend I didn't say so." Rhodes nodded.

"Hmph!" Gavin raised the glass in front of him and drank it down, then left the tavern angrily.

Rhodes looked at the young man on the far left again, "It's your turn."

"My name is Otto. My father was a Viscount of the Roman Empire. When I was about ten years old, he died heroically on the battlefield. As a result, the territory that should have belonged to me was taken away by my uncle. And he only gave me a small manor, and when I became an adult, I sold the manor and went outside to make a living." The young man said.

"Then do you have any thoughts of revenge?" Rhodes asked. Although the young man's name reminded Rhodes of something, Rhodes thought that they didn't understand it, and there was no need to mention it.

"Revenge? Forget it, he is my family after all." Ott shook his head, "I want to obtain the title and territory by myself."

"Can you count?" Rhodes asked again.

"Yes, although there was an accident at home when I was ten years old, I still did not stop studying. I must have a good mind to change my destiny." Ott replied.

"Well, knowledge changes destiny, so are you willing to stay with me as a clerk?" Rhode asked, he thought this young man was not bad.

Otto had a hesitant expression on his face.

"Although this won't allow you to obtain titles and fiefdoms, following me will allow you to learn a lot and help you in the future. If you are loyal enough, I will slowly let you do some important work." Rhodes said again.

"I am willing, my lord." Otto said, looking up at Rhodes.

Rhodes nodded in satisfaction. He now needs someone like a personal assistant to help him run errands and record some things.Although he would prefer a beautiful woman to take up this job, it is difficult to find a literate woman other than a noble lady, and it is impossible for a noble lady to do this kind of thing.

"Bring some delicious food from your place, I'm a little hungry!" Baron shouted to the tavern owner.

The tavern owner acted immediately after hearing this, and didn't dare to neglect Rhodes and the others. It didn't take long to bring the fragrant steak and mushroom soup to Rhodes and the others' table.

"My lord, how much share are you willing to give me?" Heyman couldn't help asking when he saw that the recruitment work had been completed.

"First, I will give you a basic salary of five gold coins per month and a [-]% share. You must know that every business you complete will have at least a few thousand gold coins in profit. When the industry in the territory develops in the future, there will definitely be more. Higher." Rhodes thought for a while and said.

"You are so generous." Heyman said happily.

Rhode felt that choosing a suitable caravan leader would definitely increase the income by more than [-]%. With such a share, Heyman would definitely work more actively.

"My lord, what about me?" Ott couldn't help asking, the job was all for money, and Rhodes didn't think it was inappropriate for them to ask directly.

"Fifteen gold coins a month or fifty silver coins a day, which one do you choose?" Rhodes asked, he was also doing this for the sake of Kao Ott.

"Of course I choose fifty silver coins a day, my lord." Heyman replied after thinking for a while, this kind of income is higher than him as an adventurer, and he can learn a lot.

"Is there any difference between fifteen gold coins a month and fifty silver coins a day?" Baron asked suspiciously, scratching his bald head.

"365 days or 366 days a year, fifty silver coins a day, 182.5 gold coins or 183 gold coins a year, and 12 months a year, choose 180 gold coins a month, [-] gold coins a year." Jill Bert explained to Baron.

"Forget it, I'd better eat well." Baron sighed and concentrated on the food in front of him.

……

(End of this chapter)