my armed maid

Chapter 2 01: Alchemy Apprentice and Girl Knight
Year 77 of the Roland calendar, Roland Empire, Linfeng City.

In Shangcheng District, a middle-aged man came to the door of a shop.

There is a horizontal plaque hanging on the shop, which reads "Russian Gold Refining Workshop".

Sitting in front of the counter was a young man with black hair in a black robe. The middle-aged man reached out and knocked on the counter, and called to the young man in black robe: "Tell Russ to come forward. I have a business to discuss with him." .”

The owner of Rusty's alchemy workshop is Rusty, a veteran alchemist who is well-known in the upper town of Linfeng City.

The black-haired young man looking after the store in front of the counter is probably one of Rusty's alchemy apprentices.

It was the first time for a middle-aged man to visit this alchemy workshop. He was waiting for the alchemist apprentice to call his teacher out, but unexpectedly the black-haired young man raised his eyes and smiled:
"I'm Rusty. If you need anything, just say it."

"Are you Rusty?" The middle-aged man was stunned and frowned, "I heard that Rusty is a fat man."

"Yes." The black-haired young man nodded, "I was still very fat at that time."

"...I heard Rusty had a mustache."

"I shaved."

"...I also heard that Rusty is 50 years old this year."

"Do I look young?"

"Are you kidding me!?" The middle-aged man slapped the counter hard, attracting passersby's attention. "You are not Rusty at all! Who the hell are you!"

The black-haired young man still had a leisurely and slightly smiling expression, and this time he finally answered seriously: "I am Rusty's alchemy apprentice, Nolen Viches."

The middle-aged man took a deep breath and remembered that he still had business to do, so he suppressed the rising annoyance in his chest back into his stomach and said in a deep voice:

"Listen, I'm busy and I don't have time to fool around with you. Now, call your teacher Rusty out immediately and I won't care about the nasty joke you just made on me."

"I can't scream." Nolen waved his hands, "Rusty died just two days ago."

"Dead!?" The middle-aged man was stunned, "You are lying to me again..."

"You are really ill-informed. You can just ask anyone on the street about such a big matter. How could I deceive you?"

The middle-aged man stared at Nolen for a few seconds to make sure that his eyes were not fake. He couldn't help but scratch his hair in distress and walked out cursing.

It seems that this trip was in vain.

"Hey, uncle."

But Nolen raised his voice and stopped him, "Don't you want to discuss business with me? Let's stop talking?"

"What nonsense!" The middle-aged man turned around and spat in his face, "Since the alchemist Rusty is dead, who else here can help me refine the potion? You don't even have a full head of hair. Alchemy apprentice?"

"Why not?" Nolen calmly wiped the droplets from his face, "My skills are stronger than Rusty's. Even if Rusty dies, I can guarantee the quality of the alchemy potion delivered to you. It won’t get worse.”

"How dare you say such things? The apprentice's level can be higher than the teacher's?"

"why not?"

Nolen said in astonishment, "To be honest, Rusty is a waste who only knows how to order people. I have been his disciple for ten years. In the past ten years, I have refined most of the alchemy potions produced in the alchemy workshop. He just Just a name.

"Even if he is still alive, the order you place with him will ultimately be fulfilled by me - nothing will change."

His expression was extremely serious. The middle-aged man stopped and began to look at him carefully. After a while, he said: "Fifty bottles of primary recovery potion, we need it within three days."

"No problem." Nolen agreed readily, "Tell me the address and I will deliver the goods on time."

"No. 97 Cube Street, the consignee is "Lao Lang", this is the deposit. "

The middle-aged man pushed the money bag to him and emphasized, "We will inspect the goods and confirm that the quality of the goods is up to standard before allocating the balance to you. If you dare to pass it off as a good product, I guarantee that you will not be able to see it again." Until tomorrow’s sun.”

"That makes sense." Nolen nodded.

The deal went extremely smoothly. The middle-aged man turned around to leave, but stopped when he reached the door. He couldn't help but ask, "How did Rusty die?"

Nolen sighed: "He seems to have provoked a mage. The mage came to seek revenge at night. He was blown to pieces by the "exploding fireball" and was beyond recognition. He died in his laboratory, and others were also blown to death. There were two other apprentices.

"Now I am the only one left in this workshop... Really, in order to make fifty bottles of primary recovery potion in three days, it seems that I have to work overtime tonight."

Compared with the death of his teacher Rusty and his two colleagues, it seemed that the order in front of him worried him more.

Nolen's light tone made the middle-aged man a little uncomfortable. He originally wanted to ask the young man why he didn't respect his teacher. Wasn't he sad for his teacher's death?
But the words he was about to say were swallowed back. He shook his head and left the alchemy workshop with a smile.

Why do you care so much?As long as the quality of the goods I receive is up to standard, it doesn't matter whether the pharmaceutical maker is "Rusty" or "Nolen"?
……

"Business is coming early in the morning, Nolen!"

After the middle-aged man left, a girl in a white dress came to the door of the store and greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Aisha."

Nolen nodded kindly to his neighbor.

There is a doll shop on the right side of Rasti's gold refining workshop, which sells everything from small and exquisite rag dolls to life-like life-like dolls.

Ai Xia is the daughter of the manager of this doll store. She usually helps her father look after the store.

Ten years ago, Nolen came to the Ras Refining Gold Workshop as an apprentice. It was at that time that he met Ai Xia, and they were childhood sweethearts.

There is no makeup on her face, retaining the best innocence and vitality of a 17-year-old girl. Her friendly and sister-next-door temperament makes it easy for people to fall in love with her.

"Would it be tiring to complete such a large order by one person?" Ai Xia obviously overheard the conversation between him and the middle-aged man.

"Yeah." Nolen stretched, "This kind of repetitive work without any challenge is simply torture to me. The key is that the profit is still low. God, I'm starting to regret taking this order. "

"How about recruiting more people? Just like Mr. Rusty did before, recruit a few apprentices to help you!" Aisha came up with an idea.

Nolen shook his head: "Unlike La Zhuangding, even an alchemy apprentice is required to be able to read and write, and understand the most basic alchemy theory and pharmacy knowledge, so it is not so fast to recruit suitable candidates.

"More importantly, my money is really tight right now. When I think about having to pay the apprentices' salaries, I might as well force myself to work more."

"Ah, if it's salary, don't worry about it."

Ai Xia gave out important information, "A large number of refugees fled outside our city last night. As long as we pay a deposit for them and provide them with jobs, food and accommodation in the city, even if they don't need a salary, I believe there will be many people willing to sign up!"

"Refugees? Is there a war somewhere else?" "Well, the prairie people robbed a village near us yesterday, causing a great panic. Residents of the surrounding villages came to seek refuge with their families and wanted to Seeking refuge in the city."

"This world is not peaceful." Nolen sighed, "Thanks for reminding me, I will go outside the city to see what I can gain. Well, it is definitely not for free labor, I just don't want to bury those talented intellectuals. "

"Ah ha ha……"

……

After closing the shop, Nolen called a carriage and headed outside Linfeng City.

It has been 17 years since he was reborn in this world, and he already has a preliminary understanding of the civilization of this Eden continent. Although there are extraordinary people such as "mages" and "knights" among humans, general education has not been popularized.

There are still many people in the city who cannot read or write, let alone those in backward villages. It is not easy to find intellectuals qualified to become alchemy apprentices among the refugees.

If you really can't recruit apprentices, it's also good to hire a few maids to help with cleaning. The cost of hiring maids in the upper city is not cheap, especially the young and beautiful ones.

Well, it's not for unpaid labor, I just want to find a home for those poor girls in the countryside.

With the idea of ​​​​picking up the leaks, Nolen came outside Linfeng City.

Just as Ai Xia said, a large number of refugees gathered outside Linfeng City at this time, surrounding the outer city gates one after another.

Their expressions may be numb or frightened, and most of them are civilians wearing ordinary clothes. The wealthy squires and businessmen readily paid money to take refuge in the city last night.

There were several rows of defensive horses lined up at the city gate, and the soldiers guarding the city were holding long guns to prevent the refugees from outside the city from rushing in.

The resources in the city are limited, and they will not let all the refugees into the city. This will cause more serious negative impacts.

Nolen jumped off the carriage and spoke to the officer guarding the city: "I'm going to hire some servants outside. Do I need to go through any formalities?"

The officer had obviously been questioned by countless people, and he replied quickly and familiarly: "Everyone must pay a deposit of 5 silver coins, and then sign your name and address, and you can release them."

In the upper city, the monthly salary of an alchemy apprentice is about 5 silver coins, and that of a young maid is 3 silver coins.

Although the price is similar to the monthly salary, considering that it only takes one month to pay back the capital, the 5 silver deposit per person is still very cost-effective.

Nolen looked at the hundreds of refugees outside the city and asked, "Where will the remaining people who have not entered the city go?"

"They will be forcibly sent away. As for where they will go... who knows? Anyway, their life will not be more comfortable than in the city. The city is the safest place. If you can't stay outside the city, they will be robbed by the prairie people. "

After asking a few more questions, Nolen ended the conversation before the officer's tone turned impatient.

He walked out of the city. When the refugees outside saw this well-dressed city man, the noise became louder.

"Sir, take me into the city! I am very strong. As long as you give me food, I can do the work of three people by myself!"

"Sir, please take me in! As long as you give me one meal a day, I won't choose anything!"

"Sir, I have been trained and I can use the sword! I can be your bodyguard!"

"..."

The refugees spontaneously started "bidding". Nolen glanced over and walked up to the person who looked the strongest: "Are you literate?"

"Uh..." The man immediately grimaced, "Sir, I'm just a farmer..."

"Who can read and write?" Nolen asked loudly, and the noise from the people around him suddenly became quieter.

After a while, a man as thin as a monkey squeezed out from the crowd and replied with a trembling voice: "Sir, I can write a little."

Nolen immediately took out a note and a quill from his arms and handed it over: "I asked you to write: The basis of alchemy theory comes from the theory of four elements. The four elements are earth, water, fire, and wind... …”

He had spoken as slowly as possible and even repeated it twice, while the thin man lay on the ground shaking for a long time and could only write a few words, which were spelled with ugly typos.

"You know how to hammer!"

Nolen kicked him over and took back the note and quill.

Seeing that exploiting loopholes failed, everyone shut up obediently. Being uneducated means being uneducated. This kind of thing cannot be forced.

Sure enough, it was unrealistic to recruit alchemy apprentices among the refugees... Nolen quickly gave up on this plan and turned his attention to recruiting maids.

Feeling his quietly changing gaze, the women outside the city secretly raised their breasts and raised their faces, hoping that this young man would favor them and bring them into the safe haven of Linfeng City.

Nolen was quickly disappointed again. Perhaps his vision was too high, or perhaps all the good-looking ones had been picked out, and none of the women left outside the city could catch his eye.

Come on, as expected, gold mining in the sand is not suitable for me, so I'd better go back to the upper city to recruit people.

Even if he spends more money and takes more time, at least he will be able to recruit someone he is satisfied with, and he will feel comfortable in his heart. He is not a person who likes to settle.

Thinking about his next plan in his mind, Nolen walked back, and then suddenly stopped when passing a wooden cart.

This cart was not carrying any goods, but a young girl.

The girl lowered her head, and her hanging pale golden hair covered most of her face like a lute, but it could still be seen from her delicate chin and exposed dots of white skin. A beautiful and young woman.

However, this was not the main reason why Nolen stopped.

The girl's upper body armor was stained red with blood, and there was a very conspicuous badge on her left chest.

This is a shield-shaped badge with a white background and red edges, with two red swords pointing downward and crossing each other.

This was issued by the Roland Empire Knights Alliance, proving that the girl was a "knight".

In the Roland Empire, the meaning of the word "knight" is obviously different from that of cavalry. The latter is a branch of arms, but the former is a symbol of "extraordinary people".

There are only two kinds of people in this world who can be called extraordinary people, one is "mage" and the other is "knight". They can sense, absorb and control magic, and their status is higher than that of alchemists.

But why did such a promising young knight fall into such a miserable state that no one could bring her into the city?
With doubts, Nolen looked at her carefully. As his eyes moved downward, he was startled and quickly found the answer.

This is a terrifying and bloody huge wound. This young, beautiful, and promising girl knight, her legs, that is, below the mid-thigh——

It was chopped off in one piece and neatly.

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(End of this chapter)