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As Yan Long ate to his fill, the old man introduced himself: "You can call me Oar, that's what people call me, Old Oar or Old man Oar, or just Old man will do."

"It's quite normal here."

"So... what is your name?" Oar asked.

"Y-Yan Long... my name is Yan Long." He replied with a slight embarrassment, after all, his name is quite domineering, yet, he's a lame individual. Well, considering what he viewed himself.

Hearing this and seeing his expression, Oar immediately realized his thoughts, he patted Yan Long's shoulders: "You know, your name is great."

Oar chuckled softly: "We tend to belittle ourselves whenever we couldn't achieve anything remarkable..."

"But, if you just look back, you can surely see many outstanding things you've done that no other person can achieve easily."

Yan Long looked confused for a bit, then, Oar continued: "You've arrived here with just sharp fruits to keep you alive, tell me, how long had you been walking to arrive at our village?"

Yan Long pondered for a bit before answering: "About a week or two? I don't know, I couldn't really count."

Oar smiled: "If it was me, I would've long died already."

He chuckled at Yan Long and patted his back a few more times: "Never belittle yourself. Only when you give up will you really become a failure."

"Remember this kid, a person's life only has two results, one is death and the other is success."

"If you're not dead yet, it only means that you're not done, and till you become that 'success', you better not give up on life." Oar smiled and patted his back a few more times: "I will hunt for food."

"You should rest for a bit, after you recover, you should at least be able to repay me by gathering a mountain of firewood, aye?"

As he spoke, Oar left for the mountain.

Yan Long couldn't help but look at Oar's departing back, he couldn't help but clench his fist: "I've already given up... once."

"This time, I'll never do it, I'll never fail! This time, I'll succeed!"

He smiled softly before looking at the door that Oar left: "Thank you, old man."

Three days had passed rather quickly, Yan Long regained a few flesh after eating something decent, sadly, it's his stomach that grew bigger.

Well, it was due to not being able to eat properly, there weren't much animals around, not even fruits, they can only rely on grass.

Yan Long decided to go out for a while, being able to walk properly is rather exciting as well. "Old man, I'll go out and look for some firewood."

Oar smiled, he nodded: "Sure, even twigs can be useful, so don't leave them out."

"Also, try to talk to the people as well, they are quite curious about you."

"You know, arriving like a corpse outside the village, who wouldn't be intrigued? Hahaha!"

Yan Long chuckled wryly before nodding his head and going out.

He looked around, there are at least twelve houses here: 'The population of the village... is this small...'

He couldn't believe it himself. After walking for a while, he arrived at the center of the village, he then met a few villagers there.

"Oh, aren't you the boy that old Oar brought in?" An old lady asked.

Yan Long nodded and bowed respectfully: "Yes, please take care of me."

"Fufufu, you're welcome in our village, surely you wouldn't be mistreated here." The old lady added.

"I'm Yan Long, nice to meet you all."

Immediately, a few more villagers arrived till all of the villagers welcomed him.

There are six young boys, four young girls, three ladies below 18, four ladies above 19, and the rest are old.

There weren't any abled males, this made him slightly confused.

After a few hours of chatting with the villagers, Yan Long made his way back.

Returning to the Oar's shacks, he asked the old man: "Old man, what happened? Why are there only males in this village?"

Oar had a smile on his face earlier, but as soon as he heard Yan Long's question, he frowned. After a while, he sighed, sat down, and looked at Yan Long solemnly: "That's because of the useless emperor."

Yan Long felt intrigued, he sat down: "Useless emperor?"

Oar smiled: "I guess you're not from the empire if you ask that."

Yan Long nodded his head, he didn't receive any guidebook or scrolls of a sort to tell him about anything: "Truth be told, I was living in a mountain since I was little, but then, the drought suddenly happened, and, well, you know."

Oar nodded his head: "You wouldn't be asking if you were from around here."

After speaking, he looked at the ground: "A year ago, all of the abled males were taken, from 15 years old to 40, it's for the war."

"The war?" Yan Long asked.

Oar nodded his head: "Yeah, they want to take more lands from other empires, well, the other empires are doing the same anyway."

"Those useless emperors feed themselves even when they're full, yet, only the normal citizens suffer."

But as he spoke to this, Oar frowned: "You should leave soon."

Yan Long was quite shocked hearing this suddenly: "W-why? Did I do something wrong?"

Oar shook his head: "No! It's been a year already, they will arrive here!"

"Who?" Yan Long asked.

Oar stood up, looked out of the windows: "Those scumbag nobles, they will recruit people again, once they see you, they will take you with them as a new recruit!"

Yan Long frowned: "That... they wouldn't, right?"

Oar shook his head: "No, they definitely will."

"It's around this time that they came around, so long as you're not within the Empire's royal capital, you'll definitely be recruited, at least go to a big kingdom, prevent yourself from being recruited."

Yan Long furrowed his brows: "Then, what about the young boys?"

Oar shook his head: "They still have a few years with them before they are forced to join, but you, on the other hand, you're already a ripe fruit, they'll take you by force."

"No worries for the kids, after I know that the people we sent away won't be coming back anymore, we'll move away, to a far land, far from any of the empire's reach!"

Yan Long knew this, it's almost the same as desertion, they may be hunted after doing that.

"But, they'll definitely pursue you guys, with the whole village on your back-"

He couldn't continue his words as Oar stopped him: "No, it will be done."

"After all, in the next three years, they will be picking maidservants for the kingdoms, although they are called that, it's more of a slave." Oar shook his head with regret of being powerless: "We can't live like this anymore, I was a survivor of war, this village was filled with populace before, with more than one thousand villagers, but just thirty years, we're almost desolate to the point that no more than a hundred remained."

"Out of all the hundreds of men that were recruited with me, only I returned."

Oar then placed his hand on Yan Long's shoulder: "I had a dream, a place we all could live, a place we all could be at peace."

"I will make sure that happens or I will die trying."

"All of the villages that couldn't stand the tyranny anymore, I'll gather them."

He then smiled: "Yan Long, boy, be sure to be safe till we meet again, alright?"

Yan Long gulped down a mouthful of saliva before nodding his head: "Before that three years come, I will return with many men to help you."

Oar nodded his head: "Atta boy! That's the spirit."

With that said, Oar brought the news to villagers, and soon enough, they prepared a cart filled with essentials for Yan Long.

They bid Yan Long farewell as he moved out of the village.

As Yan Long moved out of sight, the village head smiled at Oar who was clenching his fist.

Oar smiled wryly: "He... he looked just like my son, I wanted to keep him here for a while longer but."

The village head smiled: "Yes, he really does."

"But the both of us saw him die, we can only regret."

The village head sighed: "Are you sure about your decision?"

Oar nodded his head: "Yeah, if he comes with us, instead of being saved, he may die as well."

"His eyes... I could see it, he'll definitely fight till the end."

"I... I-I don't want it to end, he'll definitely be something in the future."

The village head nodded his head: "Then, we should also depart."

Oar nodded his head: "Then, let's go, to find our own place."

As he spoke, the villagers took their own bags and made their way out, a few more dozens of men came out from the deserted place.

What Yan Long had seen, wasn't a village, but an escaping caravan.

Oar's group had already set their plan half a month ago, and right now, they are being pursued by one of the empire's most elite group.

"General Oar, we're all ready."

Oar nodded his head, wore his cape: "Let's go, no matter what, we will escort these people out of this dreadful empire!"

"Yes!"