"Name?"
"Hoppes Wilder."
"Gender."
"Male."
"Really? Little guy, we don't discriminate against females here. "
"I'm really a man!"
A Half-Orc in the queue at the back laughed out loud. "You might as well take off your pants to prove it!"
Hoppes' face immediately flushed red, but he did not dare to argue or retort. He was in a very awkward situation.
In the end, it was the clerk in charge of registration who helped him out of his predicament. "Haha, there's no need. You look a little delicate. Age? "
"16 years old."
"You're a little young, and you're a little skinny. To be honest, this is really not suitable for you. Why don't you consider becoming an accountant or a chef?"
"… I don't have money."
The Half-Orc clerk, who was as muscular as a bull but also had huge horns on his head, looked at the dejected Hoppes and said with a smile, "It's not a problem that you don't have money. Back then, when I first came to Void City, I didn't even have a single copper coin. Back then, I was even worse off than you. At least you had a good set of clothes, while I only had a pair of tattered shorts …"
He was about to continue speaking when a colleague beside him coughed and interrupted him.
"Secteri, don't talk about the past. There are still people queuing up behind you."
The clerk smiled and continued to ask, "So, little Wilder, are you sure you want to sign up?"
"Yes," Hoppes said firmly. "I want to learn skills and then earn my own living!"
The clerk exchanged a glance with the colleague beside him, nodded, and asked again, "Then, what exactly do you plan on learning? There are a few professions that we're recruiting this year. First, miners and ore dressing workers, then smelters and blacksmiths, as well as armorsmiths and leathersmiths. Finally, machinists. "
Hoppes had not expected that there would be so many to choose from and could not help but be a little dazed. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Among these jobs, which one is more suitable for me?"
"To be honest, none of them are suitable." Secteri sighed and said, "Even if it's relatively easy, your physique is too … Let me give you an example. Let's say you're a leathersmith. This job mainly requires attentiveness and doesn't require too much strength. However, you'd at least need to be able to pick up a full body armor and swing it around to see its quality."
As he spoke, he shook his head. "You're not even as tall as a half-body armor!"
Hoppes appeared dejected, but he still refused to give up. "Then, are there any jobs that don't have high requirements for height and strength?"
"The ore dressing workers are not bad." "As long as you're familiar with the minerals and you're careful, the rest won't be a problem." Roland's colleague, who was a fat half-orc, said, "As long as you're familiar with minerals and you're careful, the rest won't be a problem.
"I'm good at these!" Hoppes became happy and said loudly. Even his ears, which had been drooping earlier, perked up.
Sechteri looked at him and then at the applicants who were urging him to hurry up. He shrugged and filled in the last line of the registration form.
"Lastly, please sign your name," he said as he passed the registration form and ink pen to Hoppes.
Hoppes casually took the pen and paper, but he suddenly paused and said in a low voice, "I … don't know how to write."
"It's okay if you don't know how to write. I didn't know how to write back then either." Sechteri smiled and took out a box of bright red ink. "Then put a handprint on it. It's the same."
Hoppes followed his request and dipped all five fingers of his right hand into the ink. Then, he pressed five fingerprints on the place where his signature should have been, completing the entire procedure of registration.
After bidding farewell to the enthusiastic clerk, he walked out of the technical school. Looking at the crowd coming and going in the square, he couldn't help but feel a little lost.
There was a period of time between the registration and the start of school. He was penniless, so how was he going to settle his food and accommodation?
The problem of accommodation was easy to solve. It was quite warm here in Void City, and the grass beside the street looked quite soft and could be used as a bed. But where was he going to find food?
Eat grass?
He could probably only eat grass then.
Although the half of his Rabbit People bloodline had brought him a lot of trouble over the years, thanks to it, he could at least eat grass when he was hungry.
If he were a purebred Foxman, he would probably have starved to death long ago.
Hoppes laughed at himself. Seeing that it was still early, he wasn't in a hurry to rest and started strolling around.
His pace was very fast, and he soon arrived at the famous Divine Tree square in the north of Void City.
From the intersection on the south side of the square, he could clearly see the unimaginably thick trunk of the Divine Tree. Its crown was also like a stretch of green cloud in the sky, and could be seen clearly from very far away.
Hoppes walked toward the divine tree curiously. Not long later, he discovered that there were many people lying on the ground at the foot of the divine tree. There were also some women dressed in white with a red cross drawn on their shoulders or chests, busying themselves. They seemed to be checking on the bodies of the people or treating their wounds.
When he got closer, he discovered to his surprise that these people lying on the ground were all Beastmen!
To be precise, they were all a bunch of Pigmen with big beards.
"This … What's going on?" Feeling a little timid, he immediately stopped in his tracks and didn't dare to go closer. He only found a fatty nearby who looked more familiar and asked him what was going on.
That fatty wasn't sure either, but he pulled him along, indicating that he wanted to bring him over to ask.
Hoppes hadn't expected this fatty to be so enthusiastic, and he instantly panicked. He wanted to struggle, but this fatty's strength was astonishing, and he couldn't break free at all.
Feeling helpless, he could only obediently follow the fatty to the bottom of the Divine Tree, next to the group of busy women and the Pigmen lying on the ground.
"Hi, Jane, I'm here to see you." The fatty grinned and greeted a woman in white. "What are you guys busy with?"
"Hmm? You know her? "Hoppes was stunned.
"How fresh! How could I not know my own wife? "The fatty grinned." If she wasn't here, why would I come over to ask? Is it fun to tease a young lady? "
It was only then that Hoppes realized that he had been teased. He was a little angry, but he was more curious.
He really wanted to know what was going on here.
"Don't mention it!" The woman named 'Jane' was very pretty and had a good figure. However, Hoppes felt that there was a hint of sharpness between her brows. She sighed and said, "This is a group of refugees who crossed the desert with a merchant group not long ago and came to seek shelter with us."
"Refugees? How did they end up like this? "the fatty asked in surprise." They seem to be quite injured. By right, they should have been abandoned along the way. "
This topic was a little cruel, but it was indeed so. The journey across the desert was very difficult. Even the members of the merchant group would be abandoned if they were too injured or seriously ill, let alone the refugees who followed the merchant group.
When Hoppes first came to the Republic of Northwest, he had seen sick people being abandoned along the way. That person cried and begged, but it was of no use. In the end, it was a guard who gave him the last bit of mercy and allowed him to die without pain.
"They were fine when they came," Jane sighed and said. Jane sighed and said, "In the end, they had a conflict with the local half-orcs."
"Conflict?" The fatty looked at the group of Pigmen. "They were quite strong. How did they get beaten up to this state?"
"Their mouths were cheap and they offended too many people," Jane said. "It's still a matter of faith. They think that Half-Orcs who don't believe in the Orc gods are guilty and deserve to die … You get it now, right?"
"I get it, they deserve to be beaten!" The fatty nodded, and there was no longer any pity on his face. "Well beaten! Let them learn their lesson. The Republic of Northwest does not allow persecution of faith! "
"Three of them were killed on the spot, and the rest are here." Jane sighed. "The breath of life in the sacred tree is very rich, and it's very good for their recovery. When they have fully recovered, there will be follow-up punishments. "
Hoppes was stunned and asked, "Since they are going to be punished, why are they still being treated?"
Jane looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if she was looking at a monster. "Punishment is to make people change for the better. They didn't commit any unforgivable crimes. If they aren't treated, won't they die?"
Hoppes thought for a long time before he understood what she meant.
The Republic of Northwest would not let those who had committed crimes off, but they would not not give them the care they deserved just because they had committed crimes.
Looking at those bearded Pigmen who were whining and frowning but were all honest, he could not help but laugh.
This country was much better than what he had imagined before he came …
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