Chapter 66

They pulled several carts full of stone materials out of the Plumera Kingdom's capital city gates and headed all the way to the Bai family's estate.

Damon had already received word in advance and brought people to wait at the foot of the mountain. As soon as he saw the familiar carriage at the end of the road, he led his men to greet them. He took over seven or eight carts of stone from Uno and the others, then had them quickly moved inside the estate.

Elara looked at the group following behind her. It was clear they had all been recruited from among the refugees. Compared to a few days ago, when they looked lifeless, filthy, and nearly dead, they looked much better now. Their energy had returned, their faces were clean, and it was obvious they had eaten and rested well over the past few days.

She observed them for a couple of seconds and noticed that their movements already showed a basic level of order. Clearly, they had received some basic training. Though far from disciplined or uniform, they were already showing signs of effective coordination.

They followed orders while occasionally sneaking glances at Damon and Elara. Most of their eyes were full of awe and gratitude. A few held curiosity, caution, or deeper scrutiny.

Their tattered and filthy clothes had been replaced with simple, matching uniforms. On the back and the upper left of the chest was a character for "Bai."

"Miss, this is the standard uniform you mentioned before. The character was embroidered by the newly recruited seamstresses and tailors in the estate. We haven't decided on the estate's official emblem yet, but I came up with a few options. I'll show you later, and if you're not satisfied, I'll draw new ones."

Damon got down from his horse and walked over to Elara. His face was still covered with dark stubble, but his sharp eyes were bright and spirited. The recent days of work in the estate hadn't made him tired. In fact, he seemed even more energized and excited.

Elara glanced at him, listening as she stepped down from the carriage. She looked around while walking toward the entrance of the estate.

In front of the estate gates, there was still a long line of refugees. The number had grown even larger than a few days ago. Their faces were full of desperation to be accepted into the estate. The cautious and probing expressions Elara had seen last time were gone.

"All the early recruits had family or friends among the refugees by the city gates. I was afraid that the man named Yang would start checking the city gates more strictly, so I stopped recruiting outside after the second day. I just sent a few of the already recruited ones to spread the news by word of mouth."

"But after that, too many refugees started arriving to be accepted into the estate. The number of people at the city gates dropped a lot. I was worried that those bastards would notice something, so I had the ones who didn't have any real skills change back into their old clothes. They returned to the gates in their previous state and took turns every day acting like regular refugees. During the day, they kept watch at the gates, and at night they rotated shifts with others."

Hearing this, Elara couldn't help but glance back at Damon.

That was a great plan. When she saw the huge number of refugees earlier, she was already wondering how to deal with the issue at the city gates. She hadn't expected Damon to not only handle it already but to do it so thoroughly. He even created a way to reverse-monitor the situation.

She couldn't help but raise her hand and pat Damon on his solid arm with a smile in her voice. "Not bad."

Damon paused from the pat. Under his messy hair, his eyes glanced quickly at where she touched him. He could still feel the warmth on his arm. He subtly flexed his muscles, making the firm lines on his arms stand out. His Adam's apple moved slightly as he cleared his throat. Just as he was about to speak again, his peripheral vision caught sight of Mathias silently following behind Elara.

His brows furrowed for a second, but he quickly looked away and fell back a step. He continued walking beside Elara, speaking calmly about the recent changes in the estate.

Inside the estate, things had changed a lot compared to a few days ago when there was almost nothing.

In the front courtyard behind the main gate, more than twenty stone mills had been placed. Shirtless men were sweating as they worked hard to turn the mills.

Next to each mill was a large pot. Around the pots stood people who were either too old or too young. They poured in the beans, filtered the residue, and kept an eye on the soy milk levels. When the pots were full, they called out for others to carry the milk and residue to the back courtyard for tofu making.

In the back courtyard, more big pots had been set up. Each one had three people working together. Steam rose from the pots, thick with the strong aroma of soybeans, filling the entire estate with the smell of fresh food.

"These people just started this work yesterday after training. But we've already produced dozens of stones worth of tofu. It's all drying in a special area in the back courtyard."

Besides tofu production, the estate had been divided into several specialized zones.

There were female seamstresses in small groups and a larger number of male tailors. There were also stonemasons, carpenters, jade workers, mud workers, cooks, performers, and artisans with fine weaving skills, all divided based on their talents.

But these skilled people were still very few. In times of war and escape, those with real skills were often hired by city merchants, so very few of them ended up among the refugees. Most of them were only at a beginner level, far from being true masters.

Still, given the estate's current situation, they couldn't afford to be picky. Damon gave each person a designated area and provided them with materials according to what they said they could do, letting them demonstrate their abilities.

Based on the results, aside from the female seamstresses and the urgently needed male tailors who were all kept, Damon only selected three stonemasons, two carpenters, one jade worker, one mud worker, and two skilled vine weavers.

The extra stone mills had been made by those three stonemasons after Damon had them sign a confidentiality agreement. He gave them Elara's earlier design drawings for the mills and had them build more.

As he spoke, Damon handed Elara the works made by the selected craftsmen.

To Elara, who had seen thousands of years' worth of exquisite art, these items didn't seem special. But compared to their surroundings in this era of pure manual labor, she could tell right away that these were well-made. These people had above-average skills for this time and showed good potential.

Once Damon saw that Elara agreed, he continued, "As you asked, I've had these craftsmen keep doing what they're good at. I let the less skilled ones assist them. The finished goods are still a bit rough, but the numbers are decent. To attract even more skilled people, I want to ask for your approval on something. Could we allow craftsmen recognized by the estate to change their contracts from slave contracts to craftsman contracts?"

This era had a strict class system.

Since slavery hadn't been abolished yet, slaves were at the bottom.

Once a slave signed a contract, they and their descendants became the property of their master forever. They got food and shelter, but no wages, and even those basics were not guaranteed. Slaves were treated like objects and could be beaten, sold, or killed at will. If they died, the authorities didn't care. It was like breaking a rock vase at home. They had no rights at all.

People who signed slave contracts usually lived worse than pigs or dogs. Many owners fed their animals better than their slaves.

Slaves were treated as consumable tools. Since the continent was always at war, there was never a shortage. If a slave died, they just bought another one. The market supply was endless.

Some masters fed their slaves less than their dogs, leading to very short lifespans.

But in Elara's estate, most of the refugees were still brought in under the standard slave contract of this era. Even so, the estate provided full meals every day. They were allowed to eat until full, and there were extra rewards for good performance.

These rewards didn't depend on gender or age. As long as the task was done well, they earned more food. This was similar to the fair system available to commoners with regular contracts.

Fairness like that was something most slaves in this era didn't even dare dream of.