Chapter 61: Five Gems II

[Status Screen]

Name: Octavia

Title: Slave

Knight Rank: None

Mage Rank: None

Mana Veins: A rank

Divine Blessing: Moon Princess

Demonic Curse: Fallen Mage

Skills: None

[Status Screen]

Name: Vance 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Title: Slave

Knight Rank: None

Mage Rank: None

Mana Veins: B rank

Demonic Blessing: Hellfire Berserker

Divine Curse: Blazing Heartbeat

Skills: Berserk (F)

[Status Screen]

Name: Tessa

Title: Slave

Knight Rank: None

Mage Rank: None

Mana Veins: D rank

Divine Blessing: Iron Skin

Demonic Curse: Gluttony

Skills: None

[Status Screen]

Name: Milo

Title: Slave

Knight Rank: None

Mage Rank: None

Mana Veins: D rank

Divine Blessing: Executioner’s Domain

Demonic Curse: Borrowed Time

Skills: None

[Status Screen]

Name: Hugo

Title: Slave

Knight Rank: None

Mage Rank: None

Mana Veins: D rank

Divine Blessing: Angel’s Touch

Demonic Curse: Healer’s Burden

Skills: None

Adrian then checked the skills, blessings and curses.

Moon Princess: All attributes gain a boost during night time. The boost depends on the moon cycle.

Fallen Mage: The use of magic spells is banned.

Hellfire Berserker: When using weapons and armor with fire attribute, all attributes are doubled.

Blazing Heartbeat: Fire attribute magic consumes double mana.

Berserk (F): Increase strength and Defense by 10% and increase stamina consumption by 10%.

Iron Skin: Increase physical endurance by 50%.

Gluttony: Food required to keep the body functioning is double.

Executioner’s Domain: Time slows down by 50% around the user at a range of 5 meters for 5 seconds.

Borrowed Time: Every time the blessing is used, 2 weeks worth of lifespan is consumed.

Angel’s Touch: All healing performed by the user will have double the effect.

Shared Burden: User experiences all the pain of the healed target and the target experiences the pain once more.

No one other than Vance had a skill but every single one of their raw potential was absurd. As long as they trained well, they would have no match in the entire continent.

Adrian closed the system screen and looked at the kids, "Move the iron and steel to the corner." he said, "And then sit down on the floor."

The kids stacked the ingots and sat on the cold stone before looking up at him.

"I bought you from a slave trader." Adrian said. "But I told you that I do not want slaves, so you have a choice to make right now."

The room went completely silent.

"Option one." Adrian raised a finger. "You can leave. My butler Damian will escort you to the church orphanage. They will feed you and find you basic work in the city. You will be able to live a regular life as long as you’re in my territory."

A few kids looked at each other.

"Option two." Adrian raised a second finger. "You stay here. You can work as a servant in my mansion doing basic chores, or you can train to become a knight in my personal army, an elite group of knights. If you choose the army, I will provide you with the absolute best top tier knight manuals in existence and I will fund your training completely."

Adrian paused as he glanced at the A rank girl.

"But if you stay." Adrian said. "You serve me, and you follow my rules."

Two kids slowly raised their hands, looking absolutely terrified.

"We want to go to the church." one boy whispered.

"Done." Adrian nodded. "Damian will take you there once we get back to the mansion."

He looked at the remaining forty eight kids.

A tall boy near the front stood up. He was not a noble, but he clearly came from either a wealthy merchant family before he was captured, or from a line of knights.

The boy dropped to one knee and bowed his head perfectly.

"I will serve you until my death, my lord." the boy said loudly.

The rest of the kids scrambled to their feet. They all dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

"I will serve you until my death, my lord." the group echoed.

Adrian felt a weird pang of pity. Having teenagers swear their lives away to fight in an army was messed up. But he remembered the brutal reality of this world. Five year old kids were beaten daily to learn sword forms in knight families or noble houses.

"Good." Adrian nodded. "Go back to the mansion, pick your bedrooms and share the rooms. I’ll get some men to build you some bunk beds, so rest up until your training manuals are ready."

The kids thanked him and followed him out of the dungeon while carrying the ingots.

Once back in the mansion, Adrian sent the two kids off and then went back to his study.

He had to create custom manuals for each of those five kids and another one for the other kids.

Based on Adrian’s orders, the people began to build sheds using the wooden beams and 3cm thick wooden sheets that Adrian provided along with the hammers and nails.

As for windows, the wooden sheets came preinstalled with square holes in them. Winter was still a few months away so Adrian wasn’t worried about the workers having issues with the cold.

Right now, they needed ventilation inside and the holes did that job.

"Men sleep in the east sheds." Adrian said as the people woke up and got ready to work. "Women sleep in the west sheds. I know you want to stay with your families. Endure it until the permanent houses are built."

The people did not complain.

After all, they had a dry place to sleep and three hot meals a day. It was paradise compared to the slums they came from.

Later that afternoon, a rider approached the mansion. He carried a letter bearing the soaring falcon crest and handed it over to the guards.

Adrian opened the letter in his study, knowing that it was from Viscount Alexander just from the soaring falcon crest alone.

The letter was blunt. The Viscount was furious about the mercenary attack and he said that Adrian was careless. He stated he could no longer trust Adrian with his troops and that he was withdrawing his remaining one hundred and fifty remaining soldiers immediately.

Adrian tossed the letter on his desk.

’Fine.’ Adrian thought. ’Take them back.’

He did not argue. He grabbed a fresh piece of parchment and wrote a letter to Baron Kaldwin. He asked for two hundred soldiers so he could secure his borders.

A reply arrived two days later. The seal belonged to Sebastian Kaldwin, the Baron’s eldest son.