Safitiya: ?
‘What the hell is the League of Resentful Women!’
“Lord Warden… that name is a bit too ahead of its time.”
“Is that so?”
Raphael rubbed his temples, frowning.
This scene struck Safitiya like a thunderbolt.
‘What the…! So you were actually seriously thinking about it?!’
Safitiya recalled all the unpleasant things in her life before suppressing the urge to complain.
“Or…” Safitiya muttered, “I can help you think of one?”
“Mm, alright, I’ll leave it to you.”
Given permission, Safitiya fell into thought. A good name must be concise and powerful, but also resonate.
At the same time, it must establish the team’s purpose. This world is full of suffering hybrids. She was determined to save her innocent, pitiful brethren—
“How about calling it the Salvation Corps?”
“Salvation Corps?” Raphael pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded. “Alright, we’ll use that name.”
After resolving the unit name issue, Raphael had Safitiya conduct cultural education for the members of the Salvation Corps.
Now, with Liliya still outside, he, a layman unskilled in combat, couldn’t guide training, so it was better to improve their literacy.
“Calculating the time, the craftsmen should be arriving soon.”
Just as he was about to go to the main gate to welcome the craftsmen, a violent roar pierced the morning stillness as thick white smoke suddenly rose.
Turning his gaze, a group of half-orc girls were carrying coal and cotton, their steps heavy, each one thudding dully on the dirt road.
The loom’s axles began to turn, the belts shuttling with a neat rustling sound, wandering aimlessly under the still-chilly factory roof.
Amid the brewing, boiling cacophony, under the steam of every drop of sweat by the boilers, in the trembling of thousands of machines large and small, a colossal beast that devours life and blood slowly opened its eyes.
However, the factory this time was no longer the oppressive, dead silence it used to be.
Ample food and a relatively free life gave the hybrids abundant energy to face their work.
Without the oppression of cell leaders or being beaten by guards, they truly wanted to try embracing life.
This era was infinitely chaotic, infinitely complex, by no means something that could be summed up in a few words.
Yet, one thing had never changed since humans began writing history: hope. Those with hope also possessed faith.
Those with hope in their hearts would never lose their way again.
Everyone yearns for a carefree, free life, but only those with hope can endure the long, cold loneliness before the arrival of light.
What the hybrids were thinking at that moment, Raphael did not know. Nor could he guess whether these girls were truly grateful for the changes in the prison.
Their faces were not filled with smiles like in fairy tales. However, Raphael could be certain: they could be called human.
The dignity of being human shone from the girls’ sparkling eyes and poured out from their energetic shouts.
This was something that the livestock-like creatures locked in the dark, sunless cages, muddling through life, could never possess.
—
The twenty craftsmen who arrived at the prison were now facing a huge trial.
“A base salary of 150 Crowns, plus high-temperature allowance, housing allowance, travel allowance, commute allowance, totaling 200 Crowns, and free room and board?”
“Lord, you must be mocking us!”
The lead craftsman, Helzuo, said indignantly. They, a group of construction workers, would earn just over 100 Crowns a month from shoveling, and 20 of that had to be given to the broker.
Without paying the broker fee, they couldn’t even get work. And now you’re telling me there’s stable work, and 200 Crowns a month? Even 150 of that is base salary?!
‘My god, better piss on me to wake me up, what kind of pipe dream is this?’
Helzuo was already thinking of running away; anyone who said such unrealistic things was probably not an easy master to serve.
But just as Helzuo was about to find an excuse to leave, he heard Raphael clap his hands:
“Waiter, advance next month’s salary to these gentlemen.”
With that, two guards carried money bags and gave each person 200 Crowns.
The heavy Crowns in their hands, a burning pleasure ignited in their hearts.
“Lord, I was merely joking earlier.”
“I, Helzuo, am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse!”
Hearing this, Raphael nodded. “No time to lose, let’s discuss the plan.”
Raphael’s idea was to collect sand and gravel from the desert and mix it with clay from the stream to build walls.
At the same time, build a warehouse, a training camp, and a research institute for Xiugu and others to study equipment.
After hearing Raphael’s plan, Helzuo thought for a moment and said glumly:
“This plan might be feasible, but it’s a bit unlikely that it’s feasible.”
“Huh?”
Raphael wondered if he misheard.
“What do you mean?”
Helzuo pursed his lips and said seriously:
“There’s a lot of wind and sand here. Building walls with sand and clay will collapse in at most a decade or two.”
“A decade or two?” Raphael was surprised. “Damn, that durable!”
This low wall was just a temporary measure; when the site is replanned in the future, it might be demolished. There was no need to build it too well.
“It’s fine, a decade or two is more than enough. Just go ahead and build it. Nimalegobi has plenty of gravel and sand. I’ll arrange for people to transport them here. Building sand walls with mud and stone, I don’t have high requirements.”
Helzuo found this speech a bit odd.
“Nimalegobi, mud and stone build sand walls… Lord, you didn’t secretly curse me a little, did you?”
Raphael scratched his head and laughed. “How could I? I’m a very cultured person.”
Soon, the two concluded their discussion and the project officially began. Raphael set up a registration point outside the Half-Blood Ward.
Any hybrid not currently busy who signed up would get an extra piece of meat for dinner.
This move attracted almost all the unscheduled hybrids, totaling 394, to sign up.
A massive procession of hybrids, under the scorching sun, carrying shovels and torn sacks, marched excitedly to a small slope with softer sandy soil.
They collected gravel, transported sand, and dug clay in the low-lying areas of streams and the Gobi.
Then, each person carried over a hundred jin of materials back to the prison.
Compared to digging mountains and laying railways, this workload was almost no pressure.
They could even chat and laugh along the way. In the old days, they would have been whipped like tops by the guards.
“Building the walls will take about four days. To construct the buildings you mentioned, if we can work simultaneously, it might take a month.”
After the field survey, Helzuo came to this conclusion.
“What about materials? How much will be needed?”
Helzuo took paper and pen, doodled for a while, then said:
“Five hundred cubic meters of sand and gravel, and at least two hundred tons of timber.”