Henry Clark stepped forward two paces, picked up the wooden bowl, and looked down, only to see a bowl of murky mud water. Henry Clark could hardly believe his eyes—could it be that in this place, there wasn’t even a bit of clear water?

To call it mud water was a bit much, but it could certainly be described as a bowl of settled muddy water. Seeing the eager looks in the eyes of the old people, Henry Clark himself was truly quite thirsty. He closed his eyes, poured the bowl of water into his mouth, and gulped it down. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a sea of joyful gazes.

Seeing their lord drink the water here, the old people’s eyes lit up as well. Judging by the lord’s demeanor, it seemed he wasn’t about to leave right away; on the contrary, he looked as if he intended to stay for a long time. If that was the case, then what the lord said about being able to resist the curse of misfortune was at least ninety percent believable.

“They’re back, they’re back!” someone shouted from behind. Henry Clark soon saw a group of people running from beyond the distant hills. They all looked young and strong, both men and women, running at a moderate pace, but each one seemed anxious.

“Is there really a lord?”

“Really?”

...

As the crowd slowly approached, bursts of questioning voices rang out from time to time, but the tone was mostly filled with surprise and delight. Especially when they saw Henry Clark standing over there, their emotions reached a peak.

“Oh my, is that really the lord?”

“A mage!”

...

Exclamations rose one after another. However, just like the old people here, the young people who ran over didn’t come close to Henry Clark; instead, they kept their distance, eyes flickering, occasionally pointing and whispering.

They were observing Henry Clark, and Henry Clark was observing them as well. Among the young people who had run over, all were twins, paired up in twos, making them easy to recognize. But what surprised Henry Clark was that these young twins weren’t just human—there were other races as well.

This was the first time, in either his previous life or this one, including the memories of the original owner of this body, that Henry Clark had seen races other than humans. Although he already knew that this world wasn’t inhabited solely by humans, seeing other races for the first time was still an eye-opener for Henry Clark.

Among the twins, two were clearly dwarves—short in stature, with big bushy beards. Another pair looked like elves, with pointed ears and handsome faces, though not green-skinned, which was a bit different from the image in Henry Clark’s mind. The rest were mostly humans, all young people.

Whether it was the young people who had just arrived or the old people who had been there before, they all shared one thing in common: thinness. Every one of them was gaunt and bony, as if they hadn’t had enough to eat for days. Seeing this, Henry Clark couldn’t help but feel a heaviness in his heart, suddenly recalling the last words of those mercenaries.

A place where people can’t even get enough to eat? No wonder those mercenaries laughed at him, laughed at him for offering double wages in his territory. No wonder that count laughed, saying he couldn’t possibly pay two hundred gold coins in ten years. Judging by the current situation, let alone gold coins, even copper coins would be hard to scrape together here.

The complex expression on Henry Clark’s face was clear for all to see. Everyone waited anxiously for their lord to make his final decision—would he stay, or would he leave?

“Is there a place to rest here?” Henry Clark let out a long breath. Even if he left, where could he go? He might as well stay and see what happens. “I’ve been traveling for days and I’m very tired.”

“Yes, yes!” an old man answered excitedly, then immediately turned and shouted to the crowd, “Grace, Grace, come quickly and take the lord to rest.” After shouting, the old man turned back and gave Henry Clark an excited smile. “My lord, please wait a moment. Grace will soon take you to the lord’s manor to rest.”

“The lord’s manor?” Henry Clark’s eyes lit up instantly. All he could see were shabby shacks—nothing that looked like a proper room. “There’s a lord’s manor here?”

Chapter 5: The Steward and the Maid (Part 1)

This was an unexpected surprise. In this rundown place, where people didn’t even have proper houses, there was actually a lord’s manor? It was almost unbelievable.

A young woman stepped forward, stopped a short distance from Henry Clark, and gave a gentle curtsy, saying to Henry Clark, “My lord, please follow me.”

This must be the Grace the old man mentioned. Henry Clark nodded to her, gave her a very friendly smile, and then followed this thin, wary-faced young woman toward the lord’s manor he had been imagining.

“This is the lord’s manor?” Henry Clark stared in astonishment at the only building in Yellow Sand Town that could be called a house, rendered speechless.

Leading the way, Grace turned her head, looked at Henry Clark the lord, and, as if quite displeased, said coldly, “This is the lord’s manor. This is already the best house here. Are you still not satisfied?”