The brothers just stood there in front of the Village Center, not quite sure where to go.
"Hey, new hires!" They turned to see a few people greeting them. They were a pair of an old man and an old woman with baskets hanging at their backs. The bags were filled with wood and stones—resources to sell in the Village center.
They unconsciously stepped away as if they were blocking the door (they weren't, not really) but the old man and woman just stood next to them in the end.
"You two seem a little pale," the old man said after a while, concerned, and then looked around. "Where's Clutch and the others anyway? They're usually the first to greet newly summoned people…"
"Silly old man, everyone is busy preparing for the war," she said. "Well, we are too," she said, patting the resources they managed to carry—doing what they could for the territory.
"Oh, right," he said. Instead, he took out a fruit from the space and handed them each. "Here, have some. You seem tired."
The brothers stared. So welcoming?
They couldn't help but look at the unfamiliar fruit with complicated expressions and the old couple just thought they didn't know how to eat it.
"It's a berry. Just eat it directly."
The brothers didn't know what to expect but ate it out of politeness. Their eyes shut as the juicy sweet taste attacked their senses and they couldn't speak for a while.
"T-Thank you," Tambai said. "How much?"
"Ah pssh, it's a little welcoming gift from us." The old man waved his hand and they knew he wasn't being humble. They really didn't expect anything in return!
Their hearts were touched. They had never received such kindness before, but now they received it twice within the span of minutes—the first time coming from the lord herself!
Afraid they'd tear up, the brothers decided to excuse themselves.
Tambai looked at the old man and woman and cleared his throat. "I… well, the lo—system simply asked us to go to Community C. Can you tell us where to go?"
Before the old people could answer, a new voice appeared. "I can guide you."
It was another old man the couple seemed to recognize immediately. "Oh, it's Clutch!" The old couple said and patted them, before heading inside the village hall to sell the resources. "Well, we're going now, good luck!"
The brothers could only nod passively as they watched the newcomer approach them.
"Hello, my name is Clutch, I'm one of the new hires here," he said. "I'll guide you a bit. We don't have much time for leisure right now, unfortunately. But we should be able to hold your welcoming party for you two after the war."
Leisure? Welcoming party?
Clutch guided them to the basic amenities of the territory—deeply shaking the brothers' hearts—with the tour ending up in their new home. It was a lovely two-storey house with a small garden. "You can have a floor each."
"It's free while you stay as a chancery employee."
It wasn't Clutch's new rodeo so he explained the benefits as well, amazing the brothers even more.
Before Clutch left to get back to his job, he couldn't help but look at them. "You two seem worried about something."
The brothers looked at each other before reluctantly answering. "We heard there was a war."
"Ah, don't worry, we'll prepare what we can," Clutch said and waved his goodbye, letting the brothers explore the rest on their own.
The brothers looked at each other worriedly.
The thing was, the brothers' experience with wars also wasn't much, because most of the territories they joined fell during mobs (or an orc attack for that matter). As for their experience for the first 30 years of their lives, it wasn't much either.
Towns didn't go to war as much as villages would.
There were a lot fewer towns—which were also much, much, farther apart—so it was much costlier to wage wars at that level.
The losses during wars were also exponentially bigger. After all, half of a village's wealth was not comparable to half of a town's.
From what they heard, well-off towns would only experiened wars a handful of times a year. In their old Town, they only had about three to five wars a year, and only because their town was not very rich to care for.
However, there was a common thing in wars in villages and in towns: Territories usually only used guards, hired fighters, slaves, and mercenaries in wars. They could also hire some citizens for a price, though it wasn't done as much.
After all, most territories—weak ones, at least—couldn't force people to join without them being slaves. Citizens could not only escape before the war ended to avoid the risk of becoming slaves, they could even betray for whatever gains the other party could offer.
However, citizens were generally not very strong and it wasn't an efficient way to use money so the pay wasn't that large either.
In the end, most citizens choose to be cowards who simply hide behind the walls. Those who usually risked war for the rewards were usually poor people who had nothing to lose.
Because they were too weak back then, their parents begged them not to participate in the wars. They didn't reach that point yet, after all, they could at least have food to eat at least once a day unlike others.
So, like most, they hid inside their homes in hopes that the enemies who breached wouldn't find them.
Their town was also always on the defensive, so it was easier to win by simply sacrificing meat shields to keep the enemies at bay—keeping them from entering the main walls.
A few times, they would peek and notice that the first ones to die were slaves, followed by the citizens. There were plenty of slaves, so there were a lot of meat shields. At the time, they wanted to tell their parents they could join the next war for the rewards. Anyway, there were a lot of slaves to block the way with their lives.
But… this territory… didn't have a single one!
They learned about this less than an hour after Clutch left them to explore and they had decided to continue exploring the village at their own pace.
Clutch basically just introduced them to the important buildings they passed by, and then told them the general direction of the others in other streets and area.
It was because the streets were so, so clean and nice. They were shy to ask Clutch before but their curiosity eventually got the better of them. In the end, they asked someone 'how many slaves would it take' to keep the streets clean .
At the mention of slaves, the people around them turned and looked at them weirdly. The two shivered and they didn't dare ask again.
However, the next day, they would find out that they didn't have anything to worry about at all.
This territory didn't have slaves… because they didn't need it!
Despite having no meatshields, they were trained thoroughly (it was a 'crash course' considering the few days they had).
They were also provided with good weapons, shields, and potions, and a good place to sleep. These were all default items for all guards, and their salaries were good enough to buy extras.
Rather, the salaries technically weren't as high, but the amount they could buy with a bit of money was a lot!
The cost of living in towns was extremely high and they couldn't sustain a decent lifestyle with their strengths. But here, they could live well with the same amount of money! It was unbelievable!
They found it! A good home!
Maybe they could even bring their parents here someday!
Altera was such a good territory: Neither of them wanted to lose it!
Now, at the height of war, this was the thought that energized them as they swung their weapons, rendering the enemies around them half-dead.
They were assigned to the peripheral streets to keep away any new guards—if there were still any in the inner wall—away from the main battlefield (which was also about to end, by the way).
After all, it wouldn't do for Alterans to beat the enemies, only to find new enemies appearing to take advantage of weakness!
Theirs was a small team, but their levels were high and the new enemies weren't particularly strong. This helped them create an impenetrable 'wall' that helped the Alterans secure the momentum in this war.
They would do their part and become bonafide Alterans—