dognovel Chapter 249 Opportunities come to those who are prepared
Chapter 249 Opportunities come to those who are prepared
John returned to the embassy after staying in the slums for only a few hours. The environment here was similar to what John had imagined, with dilapidated streets, haggard residents, a foul smell in the air, and dark alleys leading to the depths of the slums.
"I guess we need to add the gangs to the mix, and then we'll have all the elements of a slum." John thought of this while sitting in the carriage and turned to ask Thomas next to him:
"How many people are there in the city defense force of Mont-de-Marsan? They are mainly responsible for the defense of those places."
"Let me think..." Thomas thought for a moment and then said:
"The entire city defense force, excluding the grooms and cooks, has about 2000 positions."
"Wait a minute, what do you mean by approximately? As the mayor, don't you even know how many regular troops are there in your city?" John suddenly stopped and asked. It would be fine if an ordinary person didn't know, but as the mayor, Thomas didn't even know the number of his city defense forces, and he didn't even know the number of the city defense forces on the surface.
"This, this... I really don't know. This matter is the responsibility of Chief Steward Gel, who is in charge of the city defense army. He will discuss the number of city defense troops each year with other chief stewards. When the economy is booming, more people will be hired, and when it is bad, people will be laid off. It is different every year. I am just the one responsible for stamping. Last year, the specific positions were openly 2,000 people. But the city defense army also has money to make, so every year there are people who bribe to buy positions. Chief Steward Gel also accepts all these people. Inevitably, the number of city defense troops will be higher than the number of positions every year."
"As for the defense, most of them are deployed in the city walls, wealthy areas, the Parliament Hall, the embassy and other places. There are fewer city defense troops going to civilian areas and slums. Basically no one dares to come to the slums at night."
After listening to Thomas' explanation, John was surprised, but it was still within an acceptable range. Only when Monde Marsan became chaotic to a certain extent would he have a better chance to slowly infiltrate his power throughout Monde Marsan.
"Find me an apartment in a wealthy area as the office for the Veterans' Office. It doesn't have to be too big, but preferably three stories high. It should be located on a main road. The money doesn't matter. I'll pay if I'm satisfied." John changed the subject and gave Thomas the information about the establishment of the Veterans' Office. Thomas agreed immediately after seeing this. After the carriage stopped at the door of the embassy, he immediately got off and began to prepare for this matter.
It has to be said that with the help of the local mayor, the building John wanted was built on the same day. After sending someone to pay the money, a dozen White Wolf Knights moved into the apartment with large and small bags under John's orders, and nailed a board with the words "Veterans Office" vertically next to the door.
The next day John sent people to post notices, focusing on civilian areas and slums. There was a notice about the office on almost every street.
"This Governor feels deeply that it is not easy for retired soldiers to live in Mont-de-Marsan, so he has specially appointed people to set up a retired soldier's office to help retired soldiers settle down in Mont-de-Marsan. Retired soldiers need to bring their retirement documents to the Noble District..."
In the slums, an old man who had been to school was explaining the contents of the notice word by word to the people around him. In the crowd, the retired soldier who was beaten the day before was staring at the notice for a long time.
Then he squeezed out of the crowd and returned to his house deep in the slums. Although when he pushed the door open he saw bumpy, unpainted brick walls and a roof with a few spots of sunlight leaking in, this house was not only left by his father who died of illness, but also his only place to stay in this city.
After entering the room, he did not stay to rest, but took out the yellowed retirement document, several dirty silver coins and the gold coin given to him by John from the box in the house.
He first stuffed the gold coins into his pocket, then weighed the silver coins in his hand. After changing into a fairly suitable set of clothes from the closet, he left the house and headed towards the noble area.
As a poor man living in the slums, he first needed to pass through the civilian area to reach the noble area. After arriving at the civilian area, he first went to a hotel, spent a silver coin to rent a room and took a hot bath, and then continued to move towards the noble area.
"Write a letter for me, ten copper coins per letter."
On the way, he met an old man who was writing letters for him, and he immediately went up to him and said:
"Uncle, can I lend you some paper, pen and ink?" He said as he took out a silver coin. With the help of money, the old man happily gave him the paper and pen and let him sit in his chair to write a letter.
Then the old man regretted it. He saw that the retired soldier just wrote a few words on the paper, then rolled up the paper in his hand and threw it somewhere else. The old man picked it up and opened it. He saw only a few words written on the good paper, and he couldn't understand all of them.
"I say, sir, what are you writing? I have been writing letters for so many years, and I have never seen anything written like this." Seeing him throw another piece of paper on the ground, the old man couldn't help asking.
"The cursive script is for the nobles to read. It's useless except that the nobles think it looks good." The retired soldier said as he wrote.
"Then you'd better write slowly. Prices of all commodities have been rising recently, and paper is especially expensive." The old man was afraid that he would throw another sheet, so he reminded him quickly.
After a few more paper balls appeared on the ground, the retired soldier carefully folded the letter with dried ink and put it in his pocket, then headed towards the city gate of the noble district opposite.
There is no city wall between the slums and the civilian area, but the aristocratic area is surrounded by an inner wall that is taller than the outer wall of Mont-de-Marsan. There are also patrolling soldiers and defense equipment on the inner wall, and it is regularly maintained.
Since he had changed his clothes and taken a shower before, he was now just like an ordinary citizen. After the guard asked him a few casual questions and paid a silver coin as an entrance fee, he entered the aristocratic area of Montdemarsan, which most civilians could not live in in their lifetime.
Although the prosperous scene around him made the outsiders look around like country bumpkins, he ran towards the retired soldiers' office as soon as he entered the noble area.
Looking at the building with its open door, he first straightened his clothes and smoothed his hair at the door before walking into the building that could change his destiny.
After entering, he quickly came to a room with the help of servants. In the room, a White Wolf Knight was sitting at a desk, staring at him intently. The knight's sharp eyes kept scanning his whole body, as if a wolf was staring at prey that accidentally broke into its territory.
"What is your name."
"Jacques."
"how old are you."
"I'm 25, but I'll be 26 in a month."
"Do you have any special skills?"
When the White Wolf Knight said this, the retired soldier named Jacques immediately handed over the paper that was previously filled with words. The White Wolf Knight took it and glanced at it. Suddenly, something strange appeared in his eyes, and then he said to Jacques:
"You can write? And you can write cursive?"
"That's right, sir. If you don't believe me, you can let me write a few words." Jacques said as he pointed to the quill on the table. After getting the knight's permission, he dipped the quill in ink and wrote his name in cursive on the upper right corner of the paper.
"Yes." After confirming that this person could write and recognize cursive characters, the knight continued to ask:
"You're a scout, and you've been one for five years. It's not easy."
"Your Excellency is right..."
In the subsequent conversation, Jacques carefully responded to the White Wolf Knight's various questions. Finally, when the sun was about to set, the White Wolf Knight straightened his body and said with satisfaction:
"You are a pretty good person. It would be a waste of your talent if you just do hard labor. Governor John gave me ten places in the city defense army. You can take this letter and go there to find a job."
"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!" Upon hearing this, Jacques knelt down in front of the knight on the spot. This job was a stable job as long as one had hands and feet and a normal mind. If one saved up a few months' salary, one could buy a house in the civilian area. For a person like him living in the slums, it was simply a change of fate.
"Don't thank me. Remember, you can have this job thanks to our Governor John. Thank him if you want to thank someone." The knight couldn't help but remind him and gave the letter of recommendation to Jacques.
Amidst the voices of thanks, Jacques left the office and returned to the hotel in the civilian area. After a night's rest, Jacques arrived at a city defense base in the civilian area just after the sun rose the next day. After handing the letter to the local commander, Jacques received a set of city defense uniforms, armor and sword. When Jacques walked out of the base, he was no longer a vagrant, but a city defense soldier.
Wearing armor, he walked into the slums, ready to go back to pack up his things. Wherever he passed, there were envious people on both sides. Even a few thieves at the intersection hid away when they saw him like this.
"Brother Jacques!"
Just then, a child's voice called Jacques. He turned around and saw a yellow-haired boy, about five or six years old, running towards him. As he got closer, Jacques could clearly see the freckles on his face.
"Hey, Jiedu, you're out playing so early." Jacques was very familiar with this little boy. He returned to Mont-de-Marsan half a month ago. As he couldn't find a job, he could only perform knife throwing on the street to make money. This child stood by and watched until noon. Although he didn't have much money, every time it was lunchtime, Jiedu would go home first, and then take out half of his lunch from home and give it to Jacques as a reward for watching the knife throwing show.
"Brother Jacques, are you an official now?" Looking at the armor on Jacques, Jie Du asked curiously. In the eyes of children, people wearing shining armor are either nobles or officials.
"No, but I have a job. Look, it's in the civilian area across the street." Jacques explained to Jie Du while pointing his finger at the civilian area.
"Well, can you still perform knife throwing?"
"Probably not, because I have work to do."
After hearing Jacques' answer, Jiedu's eyes, which were originally full of hope, dimmed in an instant. Then he whispered goodbye and walked dejectedly towards his home.
However, when he had just taken two steps, Jacques' voice suddenly came from behind him, filling his originally disappointed mood with a glimmer of hope.
"If you like throwing knives, I can teach you. You only have one chance, so watch carefully."