Chapter 3

"Who are you?" The sudden timid voice of a girl startled Du Mingna.

 He turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a dirty little girl holding a doll made of grass, standing about ten meters away from him, nervously staring at him.

 As soon as she saw him, the little girl took a few steps back in fear.

 Her hands instinctively tightened around the grass doll, causing its body to deform slightly.

 "Don't come any closer! I'll call for help! If I shout, uncles and aunts will all come, you can't bully me!" How could Du Mingna think of bullying this little girl? She was the first villager from the Grey Rope Village that he had encountered.

 At most, he wanted to introduce himself to the little girl and have her fetch the village chief.

 He was here to take over the Grey Rope Village.

 He had various documents given by Viscount Hall, proving that the ownership of the Grey Rope Village, along with everything and everyone in the village, had been transferred to him by Viscount Hall.

 Yes, in the Qingsen Continent, if your household registration is in a land owned by someone, then you are considered the owner of that land.

 If your household registration is in the territory of a noble, then you belong to that noble and must not disobey them.

 If your household registration is not assigned to anyone or any noble's descendants, then you belong to the kingdom and must not disobey the king's orders.

 The power of nobles on their own territory is the same regardless of their rank.

 However, once they leave their territory and go to the capital or the territory of another noble, their status differences become apparent.

 This difference is not irreparable.

 Even if a lower-ranking noble becomes a grand mage, reaches the pinnacle of magic, and secures a place in the magic tower, they can surpass higher-ranking nobles who are not as skilled in magic.

 But this situation is rare.

 Lower-ranking nobles who enhance their own strength usually receive promotions.

 The Grey Rope Village used to belong to Viscount Hall, but now it belonged to Du Mingna.

 Du Mingna smiled kindly at the little girl.

 "Little sister..." Before he could finish his sentence, the little girl let out a loud cry and burst into tears.

 Du Mingna couldn't understand how her small body could produce such a loud cry.

 As soon as she cried, several figures came running from a distance.

 The leader had a full beard.

 His rugged appearance immediately reminded Du Mingna of the strong men from the neighboring country in his previous life.

 Yes, the leader's physique would be considered robust in the neighboring country to the north.

 "Are you the one bullying our Dora?" Du Mingna: ??? He was still about ten meters away from Dora... no, Dora had retreated at least twenty meters away from him now! How could a weak young man like him bully her from such a distance? But the bearded man seemed unwilling to reason with him at all.

 Du Mingna once again felt fortunate that he did not come to this world thinking he was superior because of the rules here, nor did he plan to exploit the villagers as the new owner of Grey Rope Village.

 Otherwise, unless Old John was really extraordinary, like a high-ranking knight or even a mage, he and Old John would really be killed by these fierce villagers.

 Right now, the bearded man was already thinking of rushing over to deal with him! Fortunately, the bearded man took only two steps before being stopped by another bearded man who caught up to him.

 "Daniel, don't be impulsive! Look at him, he doesn't seem like an ordinary person.

" Daniel angrily shook off the person holding him back.

 "Not an ordinary person? So what?""He bullied Dora, so I won't spare him!" He said as he continued to stride towards Dumina.

 Dora clung to Daniel's neck and whispered, "Uncle Daniel, he didn't bully me.

" Daniel forcefully stopped his pace as he entered the ten-meter range in front of Dumina.

 He had been walking too fast just now, and now, as he stopped, his body continued to move forward due to inertia.

 Dumina felt like Daniel's curly head was about to reach in front of him.

 Finally, Daniel stabilized his posture and stood upright.

 He widened his eyes and looked down at Dora.

 Dora pressed her cheek against his neck and said in an even softer voice than before, "I came to ask him who he was, and before he could answer me, I started crying.

" After she finished speaking, she sneakily glanced at Dumina.

 Before Dumina could look back at her, she immediately recoiled in fear next to Daniel's neck.

 Daniel was dumbfounded.

 But soon, he said in a firm voice, "If he didn't answer you immediately, then it's his fault! Our village has rarely seen outsiders, and now suddenly such a guy appears and scares you, then blame him!" Daniel even raised his fist towards Dumina.

 He looked fierce and intimidating, truly frightening.

 Behind him were a group of burly men, each with a malicious expression on their faces.

 Dumina pretended to remain calm.

 He carried with him the documents proving that he had taken over the village of Gray Rope.

 He was about to reach for the documents when Old John's voice came from beside him.

 "Oh, isn't this little Daniel? It's been many years, and you've grown so big.

 Not bad, not bad.

 With your current physique, can you fight a second-tier monster?" The monsters in this world are divided into twelve levels, ranging from weak to strong, from first to ninth tier, then to Beast General, Chief Commander, and Beast King.

 The first nine tiers are universal levels, also used for human mages and knights.

 Mages advance three levels to become Mage Adept, Mage Master, and Grand Mage, while knights advance three levels to become Iron Knight, Silver Knight, and Gold Knight.

 Daniel was not a knight.

 But for someone who wasn't a knight to be able to confront a second-tier monster with sheer physical strength, that was truly exceptional.

 Old John's tone was too familiar.

 Daniel was momentarily stunned.

 His fierce appearance now had a touch of innocence.

 Dora, who was being held by him, also quietly peeked out, curiously observing Old John.

 Dumina breathed a sigh of relief.

 It seemed that Old John was quite familiar with this village.

 Now he understood why Old John knew about the mechanism in front of the stone house.

 He even somewhat understood why Old John chose to follow him here.

 The other servants who had served him, even if they stayed in the Hall family, would no longer be valued.

 They would basically become the lowest-ranking servants.

 If there was anyone in the Hall family who was dissatisfied with him and couldn't vent their frustrations, they might take it out on the servants who had served him.

 Old John knew the people of Gray Rope Village and had a good relationship with the villagers.

 By following him to Gray Rope Village, he might have a better life than staying in the Hall family.

 Gray Rope Village was indeed dangerous, but the fact that people still lived here meant that the crisis here was not necessarily fatal.

 Before Daniel could ask who Old John was, the man who had grabbed Daniel's beard earlier quickly walked out from behind Daniel and walked straight to Old John, bending down to give him a bear hug.

 "It's you! Old John! I'm Gus, Little Gus! Do you remember me?" Old John smiled and patted Gus on the back.

 With a gentle push, he pushed Gus away.

 Then he turned around and bowed to Dumina.

 Now, Daniel, who had just shown a bright smile, and the other villagers who were preparing to greet Old John, were all stunned.

 They only heard Old John say, "Let me introduce you all.

 This is the young master of the Hall Viscount family, Dumina Hall.

"I have been by the young master's side for nearly fifteen years.

 I dare say, the young master is like a child I raised myself.

" Daniel's gaze kept shifting between Old John and Dumina.

 He looked kindly at Old John, but with a hint of disgust when looking at Dumina.

 Dumina believed that Daniel and the others were only holding back their displeasure out of respect for Old John.

 Old John sighed and continued, "Viscount Hall's past actions in Gray Rope Village have nothing to do with the young master.

 The young master has never intended to harm you villagers.

" Daniel snorted.

 Old John pointed to a nearby stone house.

 "Look, today the young master and I came here to clean up this house for the young master to live in.

 The young master was even worried that it might belong to one of you and felt embarrassed to ask, so he started cleaning without inquiring.

" Daniel turned away somewhat resentfully.

 Gus looked at Dumina with a puzzled expression.

 After hesitating for a moment, he simply bowed to Dumina.

 "Greetings, young master.

 I am Gus, the current village chief of Gray Rope Village.

 I wonder what brings the young master and Old John to our village this time? We are often attacked by monsters, so it would be best for the young master to return home early if there is nothing urgent.

 Our village houses do not have strong defenses, and we manage to fend off the monsters each time.

" Dumina forced a smile.

 This time, he managed to take out the documents smoothly.

 He handed the documents to Gus.

 "I have been driven out of my father's house.

 My father has only given me this village.

 From now on, Old John and I will be staying in this village.

" Gus widened his eyes in disbelief.

 Trembling, he took the documents, flipped through them, awkwardly scratched the back of his head, and then handed the documents back to Dumina.

 "Young master, I cannot read.

" Dumina paused, feeling it was only natural.

 Throughout history, literacy has never been an easy task.

 In his previous world before crossing over, it was a rare occurrence for so many people to learn to read and write.

 The villagers of Gray Rope Village had their heads filled with daily survival struggles, putting in countless efforts just to make ends meet.

 They had no time to think about learning to read and write.

 Even if they wanted to learn, they couldn't afford it.

 How many literate teachers would be willing to come to such a place to teach? Perhaps offering an irresistible high price could work.

 But these villagers couldn't afford it.

 Even if they could, there were far more important matters for them to attend to.

 Dumina pursed his lips.

 He put on a serious expression.

 His current body was too young, with a face too childish.

 He had to appear this way to seem more serious.

 "Do you want to learn to read and write? If you are willing, I can teach you when you have free time.

" He had received the System of the Top School.

 The system's development path was to establish the top magic school.

 But to learn magic, one needed to learn to read and write.

 He had to open a school, teach students, and there was no harm in teaching the villagers of this village.

 According to the rules of the Qing Sen continent, these villagers were all his people! He should establish his own team, right? He didn't know what grievances existed between the villagers of Gray Rope Village and Viscount Hall, but what conflicts could arise between subjects and lords? It was simply that the ignorant lords wanted to exploit their subjects, who had no choice but to endure.

 However, to meet the demands of the lord, the subjects suffered heavy losses, perhaps losing many loved ones.

 How could they not resent that? It was just unavoidable.

 Those who were alive had to continue living.

 And without the means to escape, they could only endure the lord they hated.