It was a long and tiring day for Qiu Yue after the brief meeting with Jin. Previously, it had been a drag for her to choose the candidates but with a clearer picture and that ludicrous city concept from Jin, she felt that she needed to do more to meet her new boss’s expectations.
To the candidates, it was an equally exhausting process as those who Qiu Yue had approved from the first round of interviews were asked to stay back while the others rejected left. Still, they weren’t going back empty handed. Qiu Yue heard from the advisors that there were many who travelled far and wide just for this particular five minute interview with her.
Hence, she promised that their efforts were not wasted as there was a compensation of varying degrees ranging from 1 silver coin to 5 gold coins depending on how the interviewee performed during Qiu Yue’s bombardment of questions.
There had been some who had just been trying their luck with their mundane job skill set. Those, together with those had been lying, were given a single silver coin. The ones who took the time to travel and genuinely wanted to succeed for the interview even though they did not make the cut were compensated accordingly. (Granted, Qiu Yue could’ve been even more lenient on the criteria, but she already closed an eye for a few goblin candidates and her budget set by the Empire Building Sub System was limited.)
Once the interviews were officially over, the accepted candidates from the first rounds of selection were gathered in front of Qiu Yue in the Throne Hall. There was sufficient space for the entire group to enter quickly and instantly became mesmerised with the grand hall of their beloved King.
King Sol was also present and personally thanked them for volunteering and passing the strict requirement of the Humanoid Qiu Yue. He gave them an encouraging speech before Qiu Yue took charge of the subsequent session.
“Each one of you is worthy to be considered a great craftsman in your line of work. But, I do not wish for you to become complacent yet. Being accepted by me and the panel of goblin advisors was just part of the entire process. We will have each of you be tested in your area of expertise to get a clearer picture of your capabilities.” Qiu Yue explained and there were murmurs going around in the crowd of goblins. Most of them had never been through such a rigorous process of selection, and some might already have some doubts about this being a scam if not for the King backing Qiu Yue.
“As for now, please enjoy yourselves. You will be served with food by the King’s finest chef as well as providing you with a place to stay for the night in the Royal Castle. However, I must warn you that it might be a little cramped with so many of you. Rest properly and maybe ease up on the alcohol for tonight. Tomorrow there will be a test at a different location and we want you in your best conditions.” Qiu Yue explained as she put down a stack of papers on the table beside her.
“Should you decide to stay for the test after the feast, you will need to fill up this particular form and ink it with your own blood. This will serve as oath which will ensure that whatever you see and experience in tomorrow’s test remains a secret.” Qiu Yue’s tone became serious.
“If you ever breached the contract, you will be struck down by lightning. Trust me, you do not wish to test them. Therefore I advise against revealing any information to parties not involved in this. Should you fail tomorrow’s upcoming test, you will be compensated 10 gold coins as an appreciation for your participation.” Qiu Yue told the goblin crowd as she enjoyed watching them show a plethora of emotions on their faces. She waited for a while to let that information settle and let them mutter to themselves.
“For those of you who shall pass, I assure you 10 gold coins is just a bare fraction of what you will end up earning and you all have the opportunity to bring your family members with you. You and your family will be fully rewarded for the years of hard skilled labour you’ll be working with us. At the very least, three years of good hard labour before you are able to return to this Goblin Kingdom. Take your time, think it over during the feast and sign the document before you go to sleep.”
“For those who had doubts about the contracts and wish not to take part in tomorrow’s test, you may stay for the feast and collect ten gold coins from me too before you depart. It is a thank you gesture for making this far into the capital and passing my first round of interview.” Qiu Yue concluded what she had to say and bowed in appreciation.
“Oh and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. I am happy to entertain any questions.” Qiu Yue smiled as she carried the large stack of contract papers and proceeded to the corner of the throne hall. These contract papers were the key essential items that would bind the goblins to the Empire Building Sub System temporarily.
As soon as they signed with their blood, the Sub System would enact the Loyalty Enforcement Orders on to the goblin unknowingly. However, it would only stay active for the period stated in the contract.
At the end of the contract term, they would have to make a choice. They could receive an extension of the contract, agree to willingly submit themselves to a Permanent Loyalty Enforcement Order or they could choose to return.
Should they go with the latter option, their memories of selected events would be completely erased, and their memories would be modified to account for the time dilation. Kraft would make sure that there would be no possibility of anything leaking.
The contract itself also offered some benefits to the goblins and their families. The System would be liable to help heal any injuries, they might have had or they incurred during construction, as well as being obligated to resurrect them in extreme cases. Hence they were treated similar to the contracted rental monsters like the Boar Knights, without having to fight for him.
The skilled goblin craftsmen heeded Qiu Yue’s speech and feasted on the King’s buffet, courtesy by Lynn too. Especially when she provided a great number of the raw materials for the feast and even offered some of her more experienced penguin chefs to aid the Goblin royal chefs.
It was also an excellent chance for Lynn and the penguins to learn some of the more exquisite Goblin Cuisine since the Royal Goblin Chefs were supposedly the best in the Kingdom. There were some methods which Lynn vehemently disagreed with, but there were also many subtle arts of cooking that she was able to catch on, all thanks to the Cooking Sub System she possessed.
Learning their recipes in just one glance? Catching a possible flaw in their recipe? That was just a few of her secret abilities granted by the Cooking Sub System and Lynn fully utilise it to her advantage.
When the feast was over, Qiu Yue was surprised that nearly every goblin craftsmen had decided to pick up the offer except for a few extremely sceptical ones.
The reason was that many of the goblin craftsmen had seen other humanoids coming to protect not just the goblins, but also their families and their hometowns too when the Orcs invaded. And unlike the humans they had encountered in their lives, these half masked humanoids had offered aid to more than just their villages and towns.
All of them had heard how their King was saved by a humanoid who had rescued and cared for the three generals’ sons after they disappeared about a year ago. In addition, they selflessly aided the defence against the Orcs at multiple occasions at the frontlines, inadvertently saving numerous goblin soldiers at the cost of their own.
Furthermore, what attracted them the most was their technology. When they saw the humanoids came flying to their rescue in those loud, metal giant bird monsters, they were frankly amazed by it.
Some of the goblins even mentioned about the Sandroku golems that had been used to parade the Capital town as a show of strength and cooperation when they celebrated the retreat of the Orcs.
Also, a few of these craftsmen personally experienced being rescued by the Humanoids and their fellow monster allies and felt they were indebted to them. All in all, they knew that if they were to join this… work contract with the Humanoids, the craftsmen had the undeniable feeling that it would further their proficiency in their field of craft expertise.
This notion had been reinforced by the strict selection criteria and the intelligent straightforward questions that were asked by the Lady Humanoid. Not to mention the secretive nature which Qiu Yue had allured them all into believing that the project they might be doing was more than meets the eye.
No artisan in their right mind could have forgone such an opportunity to play an active part in something so historic. Besides, being rewarded with a Royal feast in the Throne Hall? It clearly showed the relationship between the humanoids and the Royalty, and it was already blatantly loud. The majority was immediately sold as soon as they heard that their families and loved ones could join them for the project.
On a separate note, Qiu Yue was very delighted that this had been such a major success. She had lowered her expectations and would have been happy with an acceptance rate of 45%.
That was because she had essentially made a death threat to the goblins who signed the contract. However, the number of goblins accepting the agreement begged to differ. “Oh Jin, this city project will be a blast to do.” Qiu Yue thought to herself while handling the paperwork individually for every goblin. (Her Empire Building Sub System needed her to be the one to validate the contracts to ensure that the Loyalty Enforcement Orders was working.)
——–
Jin came into the guest room of the Sanctum of Worlds and requested the System to call out for Nubwort, the infamous Orc General known as the Black Disaster.
Compared to the other Orc Generals or officers he and the other cultivators assisted in catching, none of them could be compared against Nubwort. He had earned enough reputation to be respected among all of the various Orc Armies, including the aggressive Fire Orcs and the all loyal Thunder Orcs. And yet, he was now bending the knee to Jin through the power of the System.
“Yes, Master? To what do I owe the honour of your presence?” Nubwort was currently in a much better mood as compared to when he was first captured by the System.
Ever since he realised that Jin was only expecting one thing of him, which involved killing any cultivator that came upon him in the Secret Raid Instance, he was contended. In fact, he was very much enjoying living the life of a Battle Orc. Seeing that his fellow orcs were not mistreated in any way, but instead being encouraged to fight to their fullest, Nubwort began to see a new light on Jin.
“How are the Orcs doing?” Jin asked as he was slightly worried about the accommodation of the guest rooms. The Sanctum of Worlds’ guest instance hadn’t really been designed to hold that many creatures at a time. The idea was always for the guest room to be a temporary solution until he could build a Home Instance to his monster’s liking.
“It’s not that bad. True it’s a bit cramped, but it could be worse. All prefer this over being chained down and behind bars. The food was decent too.” Nubwort stood up and looked at Jin’s expression for a while. “I suspect you are not here just to ask about our well being. So, what can we do for you, Master?”
“You are sharp. Call the rest of the Orcs for a Town hall meeting. And I mean every single Orc.” Jin ordered as the System teleported him to the Concert Hall instance where he used to host a Town Hall meeting.
While waiting for the orcs to assemble, Jin began to prepare the presentation materials to showcase his city concept to the Orcs. He needed them to know what he was going to do since they would be instrumental in building the dungeon city fortress up from scratch.
If it was a dungeon instance, Jin wouldn’t have asked anyone for help but this was ‘real life’. There was a need for some extensive heavy lifting in the construction department and the Orcs were suited for this, even though Jin could have asked Peppers to use magic on that front.
However, he wanted to use her for other things, mainly the levitation of the platforms to create the floating cities and magical quakes that were large enough to penetrate the ground to form a crater valley deep enough for the creation of the underwater Pand-Atlantis.
As he was waiting for the Orcs to arrive, the number of orcs the System had captured totalled in the thousands, and it was breathtaking to see all of them lined up systematically in an orderly fashion to await his announcements.
“Oh boy, now I kind of understand why Orc King Hamu was so obsessed with power. This is …this is too overwhelming for me. To be able to command all of these orcs with just one word. One sentence.” Jin whispered to himself as he saw the various generals going forth to report to Nubwort that all the orcs were present and had been accounted for.
“Then get used to it, or User won’t be able to get the job done both at present and in the future.” The System prompted as it caused a podium to emerge out the elevated stage platform.
Jin took a deep breath and stepped forward to the podium the System had prepared for Jin to address the Orcs on the situation at hand.
