"Line up, maggots! You won"t have anyone else but yourself to blame if your new lord won"t pick you!"There was no way in which I could go through all the former slaves from the Nakal tribe by myself. With how happy the Overlord was with the initial results of the foundation alone for my s.h.i.+tty barrier technique, I actually managed to get him to organise everyone and bring them to one place.
"Off you go."
Nodding to the two girls on my sides, I let them out of my imaginary leash, as if I was sending the hunting dogs after their prey. Even if the a.n.a.logy was quite a bit pa.s.sive-aggressive as compared to their real aim, it fitted insanely well the feeling I had while watching them walk towards the line of scared people.
The absolute priority in picking the first batch of people that would follow me to the island was the families of Gabriel and his other helper.
Those three people who were already working for my case would be the backbone of the society I was going to create, so pleasing them was my greatest aim. After all, with how vast this world was and my intention to research all sorts of different places, I had some kind of proxy rule during the times of my absence.
And knowing the human nature, if I were to leave them to their own devices, sooner or later the situation in my small world would turn the same as on this island!
"I found her!"
As I was patiently waiting while sitting near the small table, that some of the Overlord"s dragged here along with a set of chairs and an entire set of cups and drinks.
Coming out of the crowd, Heila was pulling some kind of middle-aged woman. Looking at the state of this former slave, she probably lucked out of the h.e.l.lish fate in the slave brothel but was put to hard work instead.
While it wasn"t that long since they were rounded up and forced into all sorts of labour, the time those people spent in the refugee camp only added to their malnutrition, bringing another point I had to discuss with the local lord before leaving for my island.
Even if I could redirect most of the free energy of the mana core in order to keep then sated despite the lack of food, just a single look at their poor const.i.tution made me realised that in order to regain their normal strength, I had to find a way to feed them properly!
"It"s Gabriel"s wife!"
As soon as Heila reached my vicinity, she explained who that poor person was. Despite being covered in dust and all sorts of dirt that probably latched on her as she had to squeeze through the crowd of people, the accomplished smile on her face showed her true feelings.
"Good job. Did she know where the rest of her family is?"
My words had to strike some sensitive point, with the tattered woman lowering her face with a pained expression.
"I"m sorry your lords.h.i.+p, but both of my sons didn"t make it."
Ah, so that"s why they didn"t get to reunite during the organisation period! While it was a pity, at least I could still hope that she was simply scared of me and didn"t want to betray the whereabouts of her family.
Well, if someone would enslave me, only to sell me off to someone else, highly interested in my family affairs, I would be cautious as well!
"That"s a pity, I"m sorry for your loss. You can stand in the back."
After dealing with Gabriel"s wife, Jessie quickly managed to find the other helper family, who got lucky enough to keep their numbers intact. At this marked the moment where I had to step in personally.
"Listen, guys. While I will make sure to bring everyone with me, to lay the foundation for my project, I need people skilled in all kinds of crafts. If you are a farmer, carpenter, tailor or someone whos set of skills can be usefull during foraging new lands, step out!"
While this wasn"t the best method to go with, I didn"t want to get a complete list of everyone"s profession. In such a primitive society, they were bound mostly by hunters or farmers, making only the small minority an usefull addition for the core of my future society. That"s why, instead of wasting time on forming such a list, I decided to go with the volunteering method.
In fact, I didn"t intend to check their words at all!
If someone had the wits to bet everything on the line if they had to choose between certain h.e.l.l of slavery on this island, uncertainty of waiting for the next opportunity to move or an unknown of following me as soon as possible, I could still make use of him, even if it meant teaching them everything from scratch!
As for those who would lose their chance to work in their own profession because of their fear to step up… They had only themselves to blame! In the end, I had no limit for a simple workforce which I could move between projects requiring simple, manual labour!
In the end, only about twenty people followed my order, amounting to barely forty-seven when ordered to bring their families with them.
While I had the hunch that most of them only took a single friend or family member out of fear what would happen under my rule, but I couldn"t be bothered to care. It was their choice after all.
"Heila, Jessie… Do me a favour and go around to pick ten healthy women and fill the remaining spots with st.u.r.dy-looking men. Don"t take their pleas or families into any regard. Ah, if you have someone you want to bring as well, you can use up to five spots each."
The most important part about the rule was to properly reward those who were diligent in enforcing your orders. After all, no one could ever rule alone! And in this exact situation, giving those two girls the freedom to pick someone to save right away from the fate of slavery, was one of the greatest rewards I could think off!
"By the way, I have two more things to ask before we go."
Turning around to the only other person sitting beside me at the tea table, I put the warmest smile I could on my face, before asking.
"At first, I hope you won"t try anything funny with the remaining slaves while I"m gone. And speaking of them, I don"t mind if you make them work during the time I will be away, but I think three days worth of food for everyone I"m taking with me, is a minimal remuneration for their time!"
Taking a sip of the warm herbal brew that I was drinking instead of enriching it with the local speciality, I couldn"t get enough of the sour smile that surfaced on the Overlord"s face as soon as he digested my words. To not make things any harder for him, I brought up a roll of paper, containing three, densely covered in words, pages.
"This is but the second part of the manual. While it already builds on the foundation and if studied properly, will allow you to use the barrier technique properly, I will still keep the notes required to reaching the mastery with it for myself. Just as a way to secure your end of the bargain!"
Since I was forcing additional concessions on him, even if they were completely natural if not to say, obvious, I had to add some incentive to placate his pride, unless I wanted to put the entire deal into jeopardy!
"Oh, if that"s how you put the matters, I don"t think it will be a problem at all! Men, bring the requested food!"