Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

November 1, 5 a.m. Earth time; 9.00 a.m. OtherWorld time.

The eighth month experienced a very early sunrise. The young men and women, who had a completely relaxed few days in Resettlement Zone A (formerly Elegant Dreams Club), got up early too. Gathering in the courtyard, they used the daily necessities provided by the new lord to freshen up, then cleaned their respective living areas and washed their clothes.

It had been four (OtherWorld) days since the territory of Weisshem changed ownership. The people of Weisshem, as well as the young men and women who were gathered and resettled, had gotten accustomed to life under the new lord's rule.

Humans were highly adaptable creatures, and the measures introduced by the new lord—other than closing the red-light district, hiring townsfolk to clean the streets, and trading goods at fair prices—hadn't caused much disgruntlement.

Resentment was further diminished after the new lord released over 200 militiamen. Although some families of the unreleased militiamen still felt dissatisfied, rallying for justice at the town hall in front of those frightening skeletons running all around town required a great deal of courage.

Not to mention, just the previous day, the new lord, Charlie Rex, had put up a notice in front of the town hall, announcing that the new mayor would be a skeleton, and a photo of this undead mayor was even included…

The townsfolk found it difficult to differentiate the undead mayor in the photograph and the many skeletons roaming the streets. Each looked like the mayor, so it was better not to dwell on such a perplexing matter.

But for the time being, whatever reactions the townsfolk had were of no concern to the young men and women in the two resettlement spots.

With no need to entertain unruly customers, no forced consumption of fattening drugs, and being treated like actual people, these former red-light district workers didn't mind whether the new mayor was the undead or the living.

Madam Shirley especially liked her current life. She had cut her long nails, previously carefully maintained to please men, as well as her troublesome long hair. Under the morning sun, she squatted by the water pool with the other young girls washing clothes and bed linens. Their fingers were wrinkled from being soaked in water, but they didn't care. And while hanging the sheets to dry, they could tease each other over stains on the sheets that weren't removed fully.

When Ji Tang and Rex entered the Resettlement Zone A's courtyard, they could see several dozen young women gathered around the water pool, laughing and playing. Even without understanding the conversation of these ladies, they could feel the relaxed atmosphere.

"Morning, Mr. Undead!"

"Morning, Mr. Rex!"

Seeing the new lord enter, Madam Shirley stood up and greeted him enthusiastically.

"Morning, Shirley. Morning, ladies," Rex responded with a wave, smiling.

There wasn't anyone living in the resettlement zones who didn't like Mr. Rex. He cared about their well-being and treated everyone gently. In just a few days of interacting with the people here, he had remembered quite a few names.

Learning that this gentle and strong man was the new lord of Weisshem made the young men and women of the resettlement zones no longer doubt the promise he had made when destroying the establishments' signboards.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce the new mayor of Weisshem, Ji Tang," said Rex while pointing to Ji Tang. "Mayor Ji Tang hopes to recruit some administrative staff to work at the town hall. Would any of you ladies be interested?"

The soft chattering among the young ladies curiously examining Ji Tang came to an instant hush.

"M-Mr. Rex, what did you say?" Madam Shirley suspected she had misheard.

"I was saying, our new mayor wishes to recruit administrative clerks to work at the town hall and serve the townsfolk," said Rex cheerily. "On learning that many of you young ladies can read, he thought he'd come here and try his luck to see if any kind and courageous young ladies would be willing to help out at the town hall."

Rex had always held great respect for this particular undead. Ji Tang becoming the undead mayor and working alongside him on this matter brought Rex considerable joy. Ji Tang's suggestion of recruiting administrative staff from the young men and women here was a solution to the issue Rex had been pondering over the past few days.

Ji Tang couldn't understand the language spoken by the others, but he could understand what Rex said. He stood calmly at the side as Rex explained the situation…

Seeking clerical staff from among these people who used to work in the "special industry" was a carefully considered opinion of the expert task force. The reason wasn't from a humanitarian aspect of helping these people gain re-employment—it was purely practical.

Firstly, the illiteracy rate in this world was quite distressing. Even among the "advanced NPCs," less than half of them could read (other than Hal, Tuttle, Finley, and Rex, only Anthony, who had worked as a tailor, and Jerome, who had served as a squire, could read), much less the common folk.

In contrast, the male and female attendants at upscale entertainment establishments had a significantly higher literacy rate than most civilians. This was because they needed to serve middle- and upper-class clientèle, so they needed to at least be able to read newspapers and discuss gossip and news with customers.

Of course, even if small, Weisshem had middle-class households, such as the small business proprietors that ran shops or workshops. On average, these people would be more educated than the hostesses and attendants who could only read.

However… Given the style of the Chinese, there was no way they would choose the latter group, who might not be on Taranthan's side, over the former special industry workers who would be unquestionably loyal toward Taranthan.

Madam Shirley was flabbergasted, and the other young ladies had similar reactions to hers.

Many of them knew what clerks at the town hall did… Some of them had attended to Weisshem's own administrative clerks, or even ones from Indahl that came to seek pleasure.

Moreover, they had never heard of women being considered for such roles. And now, they were actually considering recruiting among them?!

"Shirley, you aren't interested?" Rex knew exactly why they were astounded and feigned disappointment. "This isn't good… I was just bragging to Mayor Ji Tang that I know where to find highly capable ladies that could surely help him…"

"I-I… This…" Shirley panicked. She couldn't be more eager to nod her head and seize an opportunity that would allow her to live with her head held high, but she lacked confidence in herself.

Rex put on a dejected expression as he turned to a lady with a bit of foam on her face. "Sibyl, what about you?"

Sibyl got a fright. "A-ah? M-me?"

Before Weisshem was liberated by players, Sibyl had been locked up by her former boss for days and was severely injured. She had regained a bit of health over the past few days but remained frail, as if a gust of wind could knock her over anytime. Being asked a question by the lord made her tremble.

"Yes, I heard about you from Ben," said Rex warmly. "You grew up in a monastery, and the nuns taught you to read. You also taught orphans before, so I think this job would be very suitable for you. What do you think?"

Sibyl's face turned crimson. She had indeed been taken in and raised by the monastery, and she had once been a teacher to children.

That had been the happiest time of her life until she turned 18, and her innate beauty blossomed, changing her life drastically and subjecting her to seemingly endless suffering.

"I…" Sibyl gripped her skirt tightly and, with a trembling voice, plucked up her courage. "I-I do want this job, Mr. Rex. P-please give me this opportunity."

Timid Sibyl was actually a courageous lady that would fight to live on even in the most dire of straits.

Shirley shivered. Sibyl's courage was infectious. Afraid of missing the chance, she immediately blurted out, "Mr. Rex, if it's possible, I'd like to give it a try too."

With these two leading the way, several other literate women mustered the courage to raise their hands too…

Half an hour later, Ji Tang happily brought more than twenty literate, acquiescent young men and women from the resettlement zones to the town hall for training.

The option for recruiting NPCs under the player mayor's authority was actually to recruit "NPCs" that were willing to board the Taranthan ship and serve as resolute sailors, and be temporarily integrated into the imprint matrix.

These "temporary NPCs" had very limited permissions. They couldn't issue quests, had no personal reputation, and even lacked a player interface. Their only function was to overcome the language barrier and be peripheral members within the imprint matrix.

In religious terms, they were like nominal believers—neither granting faith nor needing it. They could come and go at will.

Once the nervous young men and women were brought inside the town hall, Ji Tang took out a box and issued them "work badges"—lapel badges to be worn on their chests.

Lord Yang had given two player mayors lapel badges, with mental imprints inscribed within that created a connection to the imprint matrix, albeit not the same as the permanent inscription on the souls of players and "advanced NPCs." These were time-limited imprints, renewed annually.

Shirley, Sibyl, and the others who received their badges watched the undead mayor make a "KABAKABA" noise while gesturing with bone claws as if indicating to attach the badge to his own chest.

"…Can you understand what I'm saying now?"

Madam Shirley, who had just pinned the badge onto her chest, looked up and stared at the undead mayor.

"Can you understand what I'm saying now?" Ji Tang asked again patiently.

Madam Shirley's jaw dropped.

So, the "WAKAKAKA" and "KABAKABA" noises are actually a language?!

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