After the meal, Linde also received a reply from Reed and Leo: accommodating the 8 people shouldn't be a problem.
Six women, the oldest in her thirties, the youngest only sixteen.
The two children were both boys, only four years old. Ordinary children slowly forget memories from before the age of two, meaning that they had lived in the apocalypse since they could remember.
They weren't exactly wanderers, belonging to a small camp that occupied a clean water source. They lived by catching rats and dung beetles, with their staple food being dug-up thorn roots. They also occasionally ate juicy, fibrous grass stalks, which were difficult to digest but very filling.
In this world where all species have had to evolve due to the apocalypse, thorns have deeply rooted their nutrients underground to ensure their survival. The thorns above ground are withered and hard to eat, but the roots below are rich in starch. A thorn root as thick as a finger, although the taste is poor, could barely be considered a mutated, poorer-tasting potato that gives you constipation.
In addition, the 8 people proactively mentioned the strength of 'Hyena' Old Mand's group: six adult males, armed with two crossbows and four bows. Old Mand himself used to be a hunter and had even killed people.
What they encountered with the wanderers was unremarkable. Four players had already swept through the wanderers' temporary camp. Killing Old Mand's group of six would be a piece of cake.
"There's also a roaming settlement, far from us," Reed reported anxiously. "Old Mand saw them from a distance once. Those wanderers number at least 50, each a strong, muscular man, clad in armor. And the leader is a two-headed man."
"A two-headed man?" Linde was stunned. "A freak of nature?"
He thought he had transmigrated to a magical apocalypse, not a post-nuclear wasteland.
"Not sure. All we know is that the two-headed man can tear a horse apart with his bare hands. They just hid far away, not daring to get close."
"Hiss..."
Linde was a little surprised. He had only been promoted to Great Knight for a day, and hadn't had time to test his strength yet, but his power was adapting pretty well. He was confident that he could tear a horse apart with his bare hands. The power of "Crowley's Burst of Flame" would probably turn a horse into a charred mess too, if it came to that.
The opponent is very likely a Great Knight too!
Linde was still very cautious when facing an opponent who had become a Great Knight before him.
Safety first. The stuff that requires risking your neck should be left to the players. It's not called being a coward. If he could also resurrect, then things would be different!
And there are 50 heavily armed individuals. That's stronger than Pre Town.
He had to be careful!
Linde frowned and pondered for a while, digesting the information.
The news was a mixed bag.
On the bad side, a large force of 50 roaming around the area was unsettling. With a Great Knight helping them, even Star Dragon Outpost's high walls would be difficult to defend. Only after truly reaching this step did he realize how big the gap was between a Great Knight and ordinary people.
On the good side, the players had a "dungeon" to grind. It's just that there weren't enough players. If there were more, they could overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
Linde didn't think they could coexist peacefully. The other side probably already knew about the existence of Star Dragon Outpost. The only reason they hadn't come was that they weren't ready to chew through this tough nut.
Siege warfare comes with a high cost of sacrifice.
Moreover, "roamers" are inherently more dangerous than "wanderers."
If wanderers represent those who have reached the end of the road, stray dogs huddling together for warmth, then roamers are wolves traveling thousands of miles, with killing and looting as their joy.
He could only prepare as early as possible. The most important thing right now was to increase his own strength, and by the way, get the Undying to do more work, so that his soldiers could recover and he could improve himself.
"Let's go, let's go see them."
Linde's nine soldiers couldn't do the skinning work every day, and of course, he didn't plan to let these women and children do it either. The 8 people would be the first batch of experimental NPCs he launched. He would summarize the experience from them, and then when he issued tasks with his identity as the "Lord of Star Dragon Outpost," he could be more stable.
There are some things that players like, and some things that players don't like. He definitely had to experiment.
Linde took the initiative to find the women and children huddled in the cold wind.
He also brought the leftover meat broth.
The tent was well-built, and there was firelight coming out of it, so it probably wasn't too cold.
As Linde approached, the two children peeked out of the tent, looking at Linde with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Only when the women inside heard the footsteps and came out as well, did they exclaim, "Lord!"
The group all knelt down in unison, except for the two children who, after being pressed down to kneel, unconsciously lifted their heads again.
It was downwind, and the smell of the meat broth wafted strongly to their noses.
They were hungry!
Linde nodded, signaling the soldiers to put down the pot of broth.
The eight women and children frequently glanced at the soup pot, but none dared to move.
Their stomachs were rumbling loudly.
Linde pretended not to hear. When the leader speaks, you have to endure your hunger.
"I don't care where you came from. If you want to stay at Star Dragon Outpost, you can, and I can guarantee your safety. But no one gets something for nothing. If you want to stay, you have to work."
The women, of course, didn't dare to refuse. Several even blushed as they glanced at Linde and the soldiers beside him. "We are willing."
What are you willing to do!
What do you take me for?
Linde carefully looked over the women in the tent, their looks were average, including the 16-year-old.
His heart became even more firm and resolute. What do you take me for! Hmph!
"Good, since you are willing, then I will tell you about the work you will be doing," Linde said. "Starting tomorrow, I will arrange for you to do things and give you Lande Gold coins. What you have to do is take the coins to those Undying, tell them what work needs to be done, have them complete the work, and then inspect the work, and pay them the gold coins."
Worried that these people would not be able to handle the work of NPCs, Linde had to start from the beginning, slowly teaching them how to give tasks to players, and how to inspect after the tasks, absolutely not giving the players a chance to exploit bugs.
When he really started assigning tasks, he would explain it in more detail, including the lines.
They were originally wanderers, and still the wanderers that the players themselves had rescued, so the lines could have no requirements, mainly focusing on being sincere and matching their character.
Reed and Leo on the side indicated that this was all the Lord's basic operation.
Two days ago, they both thought it was abnormal, but now seeing the Lord use methods that no one could understand to make the Undying do things obediently, they only felt that it was too normal!
Even if you told them that someday those Undying would be giving money to Linde, wanting to work proactively, and being endlessly grateful even if Linde executed them, they wouldn't find anything wrong with it. They'd just marvel, "As expected of the Undying, as expected of the Lord."
"Yes!"
The women nodded. So it wasn't sleeping with him. This was exactly what their job had been in their old settlement.
But then they all raised their heads in unison.
"L-Lord, what did you say our job is?"
Lord, have you forgotten what you just said? That no one gets something for nothing? Our job sounds like we're getting something for nothing!
Linde repeated patiently, "Your job is to get them to do the work!"
"Huh?!"