Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 326: Academy Mercenaries

The third faction was Grant's — the small city contingent. He had arrived more recently, but his capabilities were exceptional. In just a few months he had firmly established himself, and by leveraging his small city origins, he had drawn Mark into his circle. Despite operating in the shadow of the Nelson and Linus factions, he had carved out his own territory — partly helped by Javier's faction being pulled away to Riverside Fortress.

In any case, this kind of thing was inevitable. A territory was made of people. People had families. Families had interests. Interests formed factions.

The answer wasn't to treat it as a catastrophe — it was to manage the balance effectively, with basic humanitarian principles as the foundation, preventing things from spiraling into unchecked harm.

Once people decided to be destructive, there was no limit to the damage they could cause. But with that baseline of basic humanitarian protections holding the line, things wouldn't collapse entirely.

By that evening, the three faction leaders — Nelson, Linus, and Grant — had moved swiftly and presented Li Wei with a construction plan for the Two-Star Temple. Now that was the right attitude.

Li Wei offered measured praise, then immediately announced the investiture of three new Riverside Knights: Nelson's son Santiago, Linus's son Benjamin, and Grant's son Adams.

With that, the Riverside Knights roster was complete, and the territory had been strengthened once more.

Of course, the ceremony had to be conducted before all the Freemen as witnesses — Flame Baron Li Wei, under the blessing of the gods' will, reading the knightly code to each of the three and touching them with the sword. Only then was the investiture sacred and legitimate.

The effect was excellent. Both military morale and civilian spirit received a significant boost.

"Wei, you really know how to work people. Nelson, Linus, Grant — none of them are easy to handle. But you come back and they're all obedient and cooperative within a day. That's my precious nephew."At dinner, Liang Yuzhi praised him warmly. Li Wei didn't have time to respond — he was staring at the table and shoveling food into his mouth at full speed.

Three-Star pickled fish stew. Three-Star poached fish in chili broth. Two-Star white rice. Familiar flavors. The taste of home. Second Aunt's cooking was genuinely without equal.

"Slow down, you'll choke. I've got chilled malt beer ready for you. Want some?"

"Yes, yes! Second Aunt, eat some too."

He said it, but he ate everything himself. He didn't even share with Adai. Liang Yuzhi sat beside him smiling. As for Zhao Xuanxuan, Leon, and Zhao Guozhu — they weren't entitled to this table and had to eat at the other one with the regular kitchen staff's cooking.

Finally, when Li Wei had eaten himself into a satisfied groan, Liang Yuzhi immediately dragged him to the Tavern. Time to recruit mercenaries — ideally a few with internal affairs specializations. She was done with managing the territory. She needed to rebuild her image. Mostly, she was just exhausted.

"Second Aunt, is there anything special about mercenary recruitment?"

"What's special about it? You hire them with gold coins. But speaking of which — have you paid your taxes yet?" Liang Yuzhi reminded him again.

"No rush, Second Aunt. There's plenty of time after the city-building mission is done. I'm sure the great King and the wise Duke are very reasonable people."

Li Wei was unconcerned. He knew taxes were important — there was an entire Tax Department for it — but his city-building mission clearly had a degree of priority, so he could afford to play dumb about taxes until he became a Viscount.

That would save a considerable amount of money.

Why wouldn't he?

As for Second Aunt — she'd clearly been traumatized by the Tax Department chasing her down at some point. Some wounds were best left unexamined.

The Three-Star Tavern occupied the former plot of Field No. 4 — south-facing, covering about 1.2 mu of land, laid out somewhat like a three-courtyard compound, though not quite.

The entrance opened from the south. Past the gate was a two-story building — the ground floor a spacious main hall, the upper floor a large dormitory with simple rooms that could squeeze in about forty people.

Further in was a modest courtyard, useful for airing bedding or taking a stroll. Beyond that was the Tavern's main three-story building, which housed private and double rooms — somewhat more comfortable.

Around the back of the main building was the working area, storage area, and kitchen capable of providing three meals a day on request.

The Tavern was already lit up and bustling — it had been open for nearly half a month.

Yes, Li Wei had applied for the Three-Star Tavern's license earlier. But Liang Yuzhi had gotten bored and ordered it open. The Freemen with nothing to do would come spend a little money on a drink, which was perfectly fine.

As for hired mercenaries, they operated under a separate billing system — all their expenses were recorded on account rather than settled directly with the Tavern manager.

Currently the Tavern employed six servers, two cooks, and two female bartenders. Fully staffed.

When Li Wei and Liang Yuzhi entered the main hall, the noise quieted slightly.

"Don't hold back, everyone — tonight's drinks are on your great Lord!"

Li Wei laughed, and the atmosphere exploded. Free drinks — genuinely good news.

Of course, he had already sent a quiet message through the Prestige Card system to the bartenders and servers: tonight's supply was limited. The Lord's money was still money.

Mostly — brewing alcohol wasn't easy. Drink in moderation. Work tomorrow.

Li Wei and Liang Yuzhi found an empty table and sat down. He pulled up the Pioneering Card and a long list of recruitable mercenaries appeared — over five hundred entries.

Before Li Wei could even begin browsing, Liang Yuzhi was already scrolling rapidly, apparently searching for specific candidates.

"Second Aunt — don't strain your eyes. Don't worry, you won't have to manage internal affairs anymore." Li Wei quickly reassured her. Liang Yuzhi relented.

But there wasn't much that stood out. The vast majority were Three-Star, with only twenty Four-Star mercenaries and one Five-Star at the very end.

And two-thirds of the entries had "Lord Academy Graduate" written after them — in other words, fresh recruits, the children of ordinary players.

"These academy-trained rookies are useless. Cowardly and high-maintenance. No sensible person would pick them. Wei — you're not actually considering it, are you?"

Liang Yuzhi looked suspicious. She had noticed Li Wei seemed to be weighing something.

"But Second Aunt — don't you find it interesting? A normal Five-Star mercenary can only be hired one at a time, at 1,000 gold per month. Four-Star, two at a time, 500 gold per person per month."

"Three-Star, twenty at a time, 50 gold per person per month."

"But these academy rookies — you can hire a hundred at once, at only 10 gold per person per month. That's excellent value. And more importantly, these academy rookies can apply for residency — meaning they can be treated as Freemen. Doesn't that seem worthwhile?"

"Worthwhile? Hardly. This is Weir City's population overflow problem. They can't feed everyone. In any world, running a city — keeping everyone fed, maintaining development — is difficult. For a city with supernatural elements, it's even harder. I'd guess the Weir Duke is pulling his hair out right now. And players, with their Profession Card enhancements, can live a hundred or two hundred years easily, having a dozen children without thinking about it. Fine when they're young — but what happens when they grow up?"

"So they get shipped off to Taverns as cheap mercenaries. Don't hire them. Pure money sink. They look Three-Star on paper, decent attributes — but they're mass-produced chickens. White-label gear. You'd have to equip them from scratch, retrain them from scratch, and manage their feelings on top of it all. Exhausting."

Liang Yuzhi seemed to have been burned by this before. Her dismissal was thorough.

But Li Wei saw it differently. Yes, academy rookies had their flaws. But they had two advantages: first, they could apply for residency and become Freemen; second, they had no significant background. Anyone with real backing wouldn't end up as a mercenary.

And honestly — who cared about their quality? Could they have children?

Yes? Then they were valuable Freemen.

That simple. He wasn't expecting hired mercenaries to make major contributions, fight brilliantly on the battlefield, or turn the tide of a war. Anyone with that kind of ability wouldn't be a mercenary in the first place — they'd be a Lord-type player at minimum.

This was an excellent method for expanding the population.

Decision made.

In one motion, Li Wei recruited fifty male mercenaries and fifty female mercenaries — all selected specifically for the "eligible for residency" note in their profiles.

Immediately after recruiting them, he opened the residency application process.

Of course, these academy rookies weren't stupid — they'd be selective too. Fine. Any who didn't apply for residency within a month would be dismissed. You could leave as far as you liked. Nobody was going to coddle anyone here.

Within ten minutes, a hundred new recruits materialized outside the Tavern wrapped in grey mist — startling the Freemen who had been happily drinking inside.

They already knew new arrivals would come periodically. But a hundred at once was unusual.

For a moment, the drinks were forgotten. Everyone was quietly observing. The hundred recruits, for their part, were alert and curious — looking around in every direction. Some tried to appear calm and unimpressed, as if to say: we're from Weir City, we've seen things. This backwater? Please. Others had sharp eyes, scanning for the Lord, trying to make a good first impression.

Li Wei didn't move. Liang Yuzhi looked on with undisguised contempt. Li Wei quietly sent a Prestige Card command to Nelson to come out and receive them — Linus was too rigid for this kind of thing.

At the same time, he linked up with the new recruits through the Prestige Card system and issued his first order.

"Three days of rest. After three days, depart for Riverside Fortress for garrison duty."

He wasn't keeping these rookies at the main territory. The camp was already crowded. Food was sufficient, but living space was tight. Nelson and Linus were already planning to build five three-story residential buildings beside the Tavern and around the main camp structure — which would free about a hundred households from dormitory-style living.

Of course, with the mission changing from pioneering to city-building, everything needed to be replanned from scratch. The old layout wouldn't work anymore.

[Special building Three-Star Tavern has triggered a special effect. Because you hired one hundred academy-trained mercenaries at once, you have received a Lord Academy textbook — a treatise on combat and warfare.]

[Note: Bulk mercenary hiring has a chance to trigger similar effects.]