59 Immortals' Lament

Fifteen minutes later, Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun came back to the room to inform Jack that the villagers had gathered in front of the house. They picked his stretcher up from the old bed and carried him outside.

Around four hundred people stood in a nervous clump of humanity in front of the Village Chief's house when Jack got carried out to the front porch.

As his people focused their gazes on him, the villagers followed their example and did the same. In a few seconds, everyone quieted down and stared at Jack.

After a deep inhalation, Jack pushed spirit energy into the meridians in his lungs and vocal chords as he declared "Hello, people of Redwood village. We are the…" He almost said Gravediggers, but he caught himself when he looked into the frightened eyes of the villagers and corrected to "Immortals' Lament mercenary company."

He took a second to study the impact of his words on his men. The villagers didn't have a clue what he meant, but he could see a glimmer of excitement and a bit of fear from the facial expressions of his unit.

Jack focused back on the crowd as he continued "We are willing to buy any extra food, clothes, medicines, clean cloth, or a spare cart or a wagon that you might have. If you want to earn some more coin, we want to rent five houses for around three to four days."

He raised a hand to point at old Long and said "Anyone that's willing to do business with us can approach Quartermaster Long in the next few days and negotiate a deal with him. We have things to barter for too if you don't want coins."

Jack returned his gaze to the crowd and finished his speech "Tomorrow morning, we will hold a selection for the admission of new members to our ranks. If you're interested in seeing the world and want to learn how to cultivate while earning a decent pay, make sure to show up here bright and early or you'll miss it."

With that, he beckoned the Village Chief with his hand and had Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun carry him back into the Chief's house.

They carried Jack back to the bed and stood next to him like two mother hens protecting their eggs.

Jack ignored it and had Shi Furui take out their map to show to the Village Chief as he asked "What can you tell me about the villages depicted on this map?"

The Village Chief looked at the drawing in wonder and, after Shi Furui showed him where his village lay, spent a few minutes staring at it.

When Jack saw beads of sweat appear on the Village Chief's brow, he sighed and said "You don't know how to read it, do you?"

The Village Chief looked up at Jack with fright in his eyes, and a second later fell to his knees as he cried "Forgive this lowly one for his failures, great Immortal!"

Jack's brows furrowed in annoyance and, when he saw that neither of his friends moved, barked "Get him up!"

Kuang Bindun reached the old man first and helped him to his feet. The Village Chief looked at Jack with terror in his eyes, and Jack had to hold himself back from screaming at the old man that he wouldn't hurt him.

'Those Endless Cycle Sect bastards must have visited this place a few times if the Chief reacts like this to the slightest twitch.' Jack thought as frustration started to build up in his chest.

A few tense seconds passed before Jack calmed himself down enough to sound sincere when he said "Chief, please relax, we will not hurt you or your people. I give you my word."

The Village Chief stopped shaking after a few seconds, but he still had some doubt in his eyes as he looked at the wounded Immortal that lay on his bed.

When Jack saw the slight change in the Village Chief's demeanor, he continued with his questions "Who is the person in your village that has visited the most other villages near you?"

The Village Chief didn't even have to think before he answered with slight pride "I have visited three other villages and a town."

Jack's brows rose in surprise as he asked Shi Furui "There's a town here?"

Shi Furui looked down at the map for a few seconds, and said "Not according to the map."

Jack sighed in exasperation at the inaccuracy's of the local maps and asked the Village Chief to explain the ways to get to the other villages, how long it took to get there on foot, any information that he had on them, and anything he knew about the local wildlife.

Half an hour later, the Village Chief left his house to go assure the villagers that Jack and his men meant what they said during the gathering.

Jack looked up at his two friends with a frown and said "We have to all get back to our feet before that town. Go and tell old Long to extend the rental on the houses to ten days."

As they neared the doorway of the room, Jack added "And make sure that he understands that this is a test of his abilities. I don't want him to intimidate the villagers, but I don't want to get ripped off too."

Both of his friends gave Jack a knowing smile in response and left the room.

Jack passed the rest of the day with reading through the scrolls from the library. He had Xian Kuotian brought into the room with him and had a comfortable bed made where Jack could keep an eye on his injury. Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun took up residence in the room next door in the Village Chief's house.

As the Sun started setting, old Long managed to rent out the last house needed from a poor village family so that their men could get a roof over their head. He managed to get even better deals than what Jack expected, and Kuang Bindun reported that he didn't notice the use of any intimidation. Jack felt skeptical, but he let it pass.

The villagers that rented out their houses had families with who they could stay for the ten days and shared some of the profits with them so no one complained.

As dawn came on the next day, Jack woke up and had some breakfast. He had his men bring out the table from the kitchen out to the front of the Village Chief's house and lay his stretcher on it.

Old Long stood to the side on Jack's order. From time to time he had to stifle a yawn and looked malicious enough to scare a few of the hopefuls.

A dozen people that milled about in front of the house already hesitated on approaching him.

Jack propped himself on his elbows to look at them and said "You will come to me one by one. While I'm examining one of you, the rest will stay…" He pointed at a house that stood fifty meters away from the Village Chief's and continued "there at all times until your turn comes. When you finish your examination you will either go to Quartermaster Long to give him your personal information or go back to your home." He stopped to look into their eyes as he finished with "Is that clear?"

Some of them had confused looks on their faces, but they all nodded their heads.

Jack sighed inwardly at their lack of discipline and said "Very well, whoever came first this morning step up to my table, the rest of you go stand next to that house and line up in the order in which you arrived."

As they obeyed his order, a short girl with messy shoulder-length hair walked up to stand in front of Jack. She moved the hair from her eyes and gave a serious deep bow while saying "Greetings, Immortal."

Jack's brows rose slightly as he asked "How old are you?"

The girl kept her gaze down as she said "Sixteen, Immortal."

Jack's brows furrowed a little as he said "If you try to lie to me again I will end this and send you back home." He paused for a second and then added "And stop calling me Immortal."

The girl glanced up at Jack in surprise, before looking down again as she admitted "I will turn thirteen soon."

Jack nodded his head in acceptance of her answer and asked "Why do you want to kill people, girl?"

The girl didn't even think about his question as she looked up at Jack and yelped in protest "I don't!"

Jack frowned down at her as he asked "And what use do I have from a soldier that doesn't want to kill people?"

The girl froze once she heard Jack's question and looked lost.

A dozen seconds of silence later, Jack sighed and said "Go home, girl. War is not the right place for people like you."

The girl looked up at Jack in panic and stammered "N-no, please, Immortal. I can k-kill people, I can."

Jack shook his head and sighed as he said "We do not take children into the Immortals' Lament, go home."

The girl looked like she wanted to protest some more, but when Kuang Bindun stepped up to the table, she shrunk back and scurried away.

Jack followed her with his eyes for a second, before looking at the group of hopefuls and shouting "We will not take anyone younger than fifteen years old. Do not try to sneak past me, I will know and will not take it kindly."

A few seconds later, two boys that Jack would have never guessed were any younger than sixteen, stepped out of the line with crestfallen looks on their faces and walked back towards their homes.

Jack chuckled a little at himself, before calling out "Next!" and quizzing the next hopeful.

He asked them general questions like why they wanted to join his company, and why they wanted to leave their families. When he got satisfactory answers for those, he asked them some more general logic questions to filter out the dumb ones. And in the end, he judged their personal character to see if they would fit in with his men.

A few more people showed up during the selection process and, when all was all said and done, the new mercenary company Immortals' Lament had four new recruits.

Jack instructed them to report to Bai Maolong for training once they finished signing up with old Long, and to show up to Kuang Bindun's language lectures in the afternoon.

He made it clear that anyone that wanted to join their company had to learn English. Jack could let it slide for old Long and Tan Boli's family since they weren't combatants, but he expected everyone else to know it in a couple of years.

Jack felt satisfied with his selection and went back to the Village Chief's house to do some additional reading.

He didn't notice the tiny dark eyes that hid behind curtains of dark hair monitoring him from the shadows of a distant house.