Chapter 968 North Reclamation Camp

The hooded refugee mixed in the crowd all expressed mild discontent. However, they all had no choice but to nod with compliance.

Even if they don't want other people to see their hideous faces, they still want the job.

If they could earn some contribution points and exchange them for quality medicine, they might have a chance at fixing their sun-scorched faces.

Nevertheless, as the crowd quickly received their record token, more and more hooded people's faces were revealed for everyone to see.

The deformity of their faces varied from mild cases to severe ones; some even had pus growing their faces like spores.

"How horrible… I can't believe these refugees' faces have all become like that—No, I doubt it's limited to their faces. Other parts of their bodies must have suffered such changes as well…" an elf commented.

"Yeah… I wonder if the other people living outside the World Tree's domain are also like that… The situation must have taken a turn for the worse if His Majesty had to accept refugees…" another elf mentioned.

"I mean, if the refugees are all coming to New Capital with faces like that, you know the situation outside is bad," added a young lady.

"True… We are so fortunate to be part of the empire from the beginning."

…

As the labor recruitment went on, more and more batches of hired laborers were transported to the outskirts of Extreme Misty Forest.

The officials, troops, and earlier batches of hired laborers had already set up a large camp there. Even the contribution hall was active.

As new groups of hired laborers arrived on their modes of transport, an official quickly gave them a run-through on the rules and details of their work.

"Listen up, runts. I don't know you lived your life elsewhere. However, now that you're in my north reclamation camp, I expect you all to be on your best behavior. Call me Supervisor Owen if you need me. But remember, be nice and work together."

Supervisor Owen started.

"Fighting and stealing will not be tolerated. If you are caught doing either, your qualification to work here will be forfeited. Of course, that naturally applies to killing as well. However, it won't just be your work qualification to be concerned about at that point. You can even face execution. So keep that in mind."

"Moving on, His Majesty has decreed that a path to far north be opened by the felling the trees of Extreme Misty Forest. That means most of your work will be about chopping trees."

"However!" Supervisor Owen suddenly changed his tone; it was brisque and harsh.

"Just because you'll be chopping trees to open a path to the far north, it doesn't mean that the quality of your logs doesn't matter! The valuable coldwood are all precious resources that can be used for the development of the empire!"

"As such, I expect all the cold logs you turn in to be in good quality. Otherwise, you can forget about earning contribution points from them!" Supervisor Owen firmly stated.

"The Lancaster Family has been generous enough to provide all the tools for your work. Damaged or broken, you can turn the tools in for repair at the smithy, free of charge. But on the off chance that you lose them completely, you will be charged for their replacement."

"Lines have been marked, and a map has been made. Refer to them to understand where you can and cannot cut trees in the forest. You do not need to worry about ghouls and vengeful spirits. Transcendents had already cleared any remnants of them before you came."

"As such, you only need to focus on chopping trees and turning in good logs. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask," Supervisor Owen said at the end of his speech.

Several hands were quickly raised.

"Yes, you, the man with small eyes and blue shirt. What do you want to ask?" Supervisor Owen randomly selected one of the raised hands.

The man with the blue shirt felt awkward being called out as such. Nevertheless, it quickly set aside the thought to ask his question.

"Extreme Misty Forest is quite different from how I remembered and heard. It seems to be a complete land of ice further inside the forest. What do we do with all that ice?"

"That's a good question. I'm glad you ask," Supervisor Owen said.

"The coldwood tree is the primary target of this job. You need to mine the coldwood trees out of the ice before you can chop them down. That is why the quality of the logs you turn in is important. You can't do a sloppy job at it."

"Nevertheless, we are also accepting ice blocks of specific sizes and shapes. You can turn them at the contribution hall for contribution points. However, their value is incomparable to coldwood, so don't expect much from them."

Shortly after Supervisor Owen finished speaking, many previously raised hands dropped. The hired laborers, more or less, had the same question. As such, they no longer needed to ask.

Sometime later, Supervisor Owen led the several hundred hired laborers into the north reclamation camp to collect their work tools.

Once they familiarized themselves with the camp, rules, work, and objectives, they went to look for a free target in the misty forest to work.

Nevertheless, the hired laborers quickly realized it was impossible to work alone. Thus, they formed groups of four to six to improve their work efficiency.

…

"Hey, do you want to join our group?" the hooded woman was invited by another group of four hooded people.

"Sure," the hooded woman answered after a brief sweep of the surroundings.

The rest of the hooded people in the area were also forming groups among themselves, mostly due to the fact that they felt more comfortable working with people who had gone through the same sufferings as them.

"Great! I hope we get along well," the leader of the hooded group offered a handshake before asking, "How should we address you?"

"You can just call me Artemise," the hooded woman said.