"Sister Emma, are you signing up?"
"Of course! I heard that Lord Jason is very generous, and the pay must be good!"
The villagers were abuzz with excitement, eagerly discussing their plans to head to Winter Market Town and register for work.
"Hey, Doc!"
The village chief, a man whose face bore the marks of years of hardship, called out to a young soldier named Doc. Doc had been chosen from their village to serve in the East family's forces, and the old man's voice was filled with concern as he asked, "Did Lord Jason say how much the wages will be? Let's talk about it first before we go. This village belongs to Winterfell's lands—we have no obligation to work for jason for nothing."
Hearing the village chief's words, the gathered villagers fell silent. They all turned to Doc, the young man fortunate enough to be selected as a soldier under Lord Jason. His position came with a high monthly salary, something unheard of for common folk. The villagers feared this recruitment might be just another version of the forced labor they had been subjected to in Winterfell—work without pay and nothing to show for their efforts.
However, Doc was no longer the inexperienced boy they once knew. After months of training, he had the air of a soldier. Standing on a broken wooden wheelbarrow in the center of the village, he raised his voice, "Everyone, you don't need to worry! Lord Jason is the kindest, most generous noble in all of Westeros. He would never make you work without fair pay!"
The villagers listened intently as Doc continued, "If you sign up and are selected to work at the logging camp, you will receive three full meals every day, and your monthly wage will be at least six silver stags! And if you do a good job, Lord Jason will reward you even more!"
To further convince them, Doc brought up a recent example. "You must have heard about the construction of the East family's castle in Winter Market Town. Hundreds of townspeople worked on it, and not only did they eat well every day, but in just over a month, each worker earned at least ten silver stags!"
The moment the villagers heard about the ten silver stag wages, the entire crowd erupted in excitement. Their faces flushed with anticipation as they began shouting:
"I'm going! Doc, take me to sign up—I want to work for Lord Jason!"
"Let's go now! We're heading to Winter Market Town to apply!"
"We're going too! Since Lord Jason is hiring women as well, we want to work!"
Doc wasn't surprised by the villagers' enthusiasm. When you spend every day struggling to fill your stomach and barely have a few bronze stars left after paying taxes, the chance to earn ten silver stags in a little over a month is irresistible.
If he hadn't been selected as a soldier for the East family, earning ten silver stags per month and supporting his family, his own parents would have been in the same position as the other villagers—desperate for work and struggling to survive.
With this opportunity, Doc's parents decided that they, too, would sign up. They planned to save up money for their younger children, ensuring they could afford marriages when the time came.
By the time Doc set off for Winter Market Town, he was no longer traveling alone. A crowd of over a hundred villagers followed him, eager to seize this rare opportunity. Men and women alike, all from his village, walked beside him, chatting excitedly about their futures.
This scene was playing out in other villages as well. Though some smaller settlements had only a few dozen residents, none could match the larger villages like Doc's.
In the sparsely populated North, a village with over a hundred people was considered large.
By noon, peasants from all around Winterfell had gathered outside the East family's store in Winter Market Town. From a distance, it looked like a sea of people—at least a thousand strong. And more were still on their way. By the afternoon, the number would surely be even greater.
Jason Liu, observing the scene, instructed dicken to inform his father, Old Rhode, to prepare food for the crowd. "Tell him to make enough bread and vegetable soup in his tavern and the other nearby inns. We'll serve lunch to the villagers outside the store at noon."
To Jason, a simple meal like this was just a small expense, but winning the gratitude of the people was worth far more than the cost.
When dicken delivered the message, Old Rhode's eyes widened in shock. His large, red nose glistened with oil as he exclaimed, "What? Lord Jason wants to serve lunch to these peasants? There are thousands of them! Even if it's just bread and vegetable soup, feeding those bottomless pits will cost a whole gold dragon!"
Scratching the back of his head, dicken grinned. "That's the order, Dad. Just do it. Lord Jason is the kindest and most generous person—I doubt he cares about spending a little money."
Old Rhode let out a long sigh. He had scolded his son countless times in the past, believing dicken to be a hopeless fool. He never imagined that this very son—the one he thought would never find a wife—would end up favored by Lord Jason, knighted, and appointed as the captain of his guards.
Thinking about it, Old Rhode couldn't help but marvel at fate. The very son he had looked down upon had become the pillar of their family's success.
Perhaps it was exactly because of dicken's honesty and simplicity that Lord Jason had taken a liking to him.
Without another word, Old Rhode patted his son's broad shoulder, then turned toward the kitchen. "Alright, dicken, go tell Lord Jason that Old Rhode will handle it. We'll prepare enough bread and vegetable soup to feed everyone."
Grinning, dicken gave a cheerful reply and rushed back to report to Jason.
After receiving confirmation from dicken that Old Rhode had things under control, Jason nodded in approval. He took another glance at Jon and the others, who were still surrounded by the growing crowd, then turned back toward his castle.
dicken and the other guards stood watch outside the warehouse, following Jason's strict orders to let no one enter.
Once inside, Jason activated his teleportation device, instantly returning to his modern warehouse.
Looking around, he saw rows of neatly arranged solar lighting equipment. He retrieved his mobile phone from a hidden corner and checked his messages.
As expected, there was a text from Oliver sent the previous day. It seemed that after Jason had given his instructions, Oliver had quickly reached out to the people from Solar Panel Company.
Now, over 500 sets of solar lighting equipment were stocked in the warehouse, ready for use.
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