HCB Chapter 571 What kind of child does Governor Goron want?
Chapter 571 What kind of child does Governor Goron want?
On a temporary platform in the center of the square, a Yoda officer was shouting at the top of his voice. The flag behind him fluttered in the breeze, and the Goron family emblem embroidered on it shone with a dark golden luster in the sunlight.
The mercenaries gathered in groups of three or five, some holding grass stems in their mouths, some stroking the notches on their weapons, their eyes filled with both anticipation and vigilance.
Griffith stood at the edge of the line of scattered mercenaries on the left, his eyes sweeping over the crowd from under his eagle-beak helmet. There were old mercenaries with stubble on their faces, skinny teenagers carrying homemade crossbows, and a few deserters who were obviously gathered together temporarily. Their armor was cobbled together, and some even came to try their luck wearing farmers' coarse clothes.
"Come on, come on, individual mercenaries go to the left, and the gangs go to the right!"
The officer pointed his sword at the open spaces on both sides of the square and banged his boot heels heavily on the edge of the platform.
"I have good news for you! Due to the strained situation on the front lines, the Imperial Capital has ordered Governor Goron to mobilize a team of troops to support the front lines!"
There was a buzz of discussion in the audience.
"They're not going to send us to the front lines as cannon fodder, are they?"
Suddenly someone in the crowd shouted, and immediately a crowd of people echoed him.
"That's right! Everyone knows how miserable Mitlan and Yoda were on the front lines. Anyone who goes there now is a fool!"
The officer sneered, raised his hand and pressed it down, signaling everyone to be quiet.
"of course not!"
He retorted at the top of his voice.
"You all stayed here. Don't I understand what you were thinking? You were just waiting for the time when this place was empty-handed so you could accept the employment contract from Governor Goron."
He deliberately dragged out the ending of the word, his eyes sweeping over every calculating face in the audience.
"You're right. Governor Goron is short of manpower and wants to hire some mercenaries to work for him!"
The noise in the square died down instantly. Governor Goron's title was not in vain in Yodana. This local official, known for his iron fist and wealth, held the military and political power of the wealthy Governor-General of Dordorei, which was known as the smuggling transit point between the two countries. He had more than ten thousand standing troops under his command, not to mention that his family's wealth itself was well-known in Yodana.
"You all know this Lord Governor Goron. If nothing else, he's rich!"
The officer continued to stir up trouble:
"I've never owed you mercenaries any commission! So you peasants are really making a killing!"
He paused deliberately, searching the crowd for something, until he saw several mercenaries unconsciously straighten their backs. Then he slowly threw out the last bait:
"Oh, and there's another good news! Governor Goron has announced that anyone who performs well will be recruited as a guard! Even if they don't fight in battles, they can still receive a salary every month, and there's no fixed quota! If one person performs well, we'll recruit that person, and if a mercenary group performs well, we'll recruit the entire group!"
This sentence was like a stone thrown into a frying pan, and the square exploded instantly.
Individual mercenaries pushed and shoved forward, while those in groups gathered in a circle to engage in a heated discussion. Even the beggar who had been squatting listlessly at the edge of the square just now stood up tremblingly.
"Guards?!"
"Serve directly as the Governor's bodyguard?!"
"That's a golden rice bowl that guarantees a stable income regardless of drought or flood!"
Griffith stood still, his brows slightly furrowed beneath his hawk-beaked helmet.
He certainly knew how vague the standard of "good performance" was - it could be killing an extra bandit during a patrol, delivering a secret letter for the Governor's Office, or even just not spilling the wine when toasting at a banquet.
But no matter what, compared to those frontline jobs that require desperate efforts, or those precarious mercenary jobs, being a guard for Governor Goron is indeed a safer choice.
If we make a comparison, being a bodyguard for nobles and governors is better than being a mercenary and better than joining the army as a soldier. Being a bodyguard for nobles, first of all, your safety is guaranteed. Even on the battlefield, you will spend most of your time protecting your noble master from behind. Moreover, once this noble master becomes a governor somewhere, he will definitely use his own people first in personnel arrangements. At the very least, you may be able to become a centurion.
"Stop talking! Line up quietly and fill in your personal or mercenary group information!"
So Hu Yaya and a group of people rushed to line up, and the flow of people almost separated Jie Du and Griffith.
"Griffith, what do you say?"
Jiedu asked Griffith.
"Of course I'll try my luck. Wait for me at the edge of the square."
After saying that, he squeezed through the crowd and walked towards the registration office on the right side of the platform.
The registration office was set up in a tent next to the platform. Two civil servants in the uniforms of the Governor's Office were sitting behind a folding table with thick registration books and ink bottles piled in front of them.
It was noon, and it was Griffith's turn just before the civil servants were about to pack up and have lunch. As he entered the tent, the air inside was filled with the mixed smell of ink and sweat.
"name."
The civil servant asked without looking up, tapping the paper with his pen.
"Griffith."
He answered promptly and concisely.
"age."
"15."
Griffith answered without hesitation.
"15?!"
The civil servant raised his head sharply and glanced at Griffith.
"Go away, kid, get out of the way!"
He waved his hands as if to shoo away a fly.
"We're looking for mercenaries who can fight, not just kids who want to play around!"
"I was a mercenary for several years! And I was the captain of a mercenary team."
Griffith immediately stepped forward and pulled out several yellowed parchment contracts from the package behind him.
"You can take a look at my previous mercenary contract."
The civil servant stepped forward and looked at Griffith in front of him again and again. Are mercenaries so aggressive now?
"Okay, okay, I'll sign you up. Take off your helmet and I'll fill in your appearance."
When he asked Griffith to take off his helmet and reveal his full appearance, the latter hesitated but did so.
Then the civil servant saw long white hair under the eagle-beak helmet. His skin was a little rough from running around in the wild for a long time, but his facial features were indeed too delicate, especially his deep blue eyes, which were so bright that they seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.
"Are you a man or a woman?"
The civil servant suddenly asked hesitantly, with the tip of his pen suspended in mid-air.
"Of course it's a man!"
After filling in the information, the officials in charge of statistics in the square have already started packing up and preparing to close the stall and eat.
The clerk put the register in the drawer and waved to Griffith:
"I'm telling you, this is just registration! Whether or not you're selected is another matter! If you're selected, a letter will be sent to your hotel within three days. If you're not selected, you're on your own!"
After Griffith thanked the other party, he almost bumped into the oncoming crowd as he squeezed out of the tent.
He turned around to look for Jie Du, but when he passed a group of officials riding horses and dressed in gorgeous clothes at the edge of the square, he keenly noticed a gaze.
He was a man wearing a purple silk robe with a silver token of the Governor's Office hanging around his waist.
The man's gaze passed over the crowd and fell precisely on the place where Griffith and Jiedu had just met, and then turned slightly as Griffith moved.
When Griffith inadvertently looked up and met his gaze, an elusive light flashed in his eyes hidden under his slender eyelids.
"What kind of boy does Governor Goron want?"