Cthulhu Gonfalon

“Name?”

“Hopes Wilder.”

“Gender?”

“Male.”

“Really? Buddy, we don’t discriminate against women here.”

“I am a man!”

A Half-Orc behind in the line said, laughing, “You can just take off your pants and prove it!”

Hopes suddenly blushed, but he didn’t dare to argue with the others. He was really embarrassed.

As a result, the clerk responsible for registration helped him. The clergy said, “Hah hah, you don’t need to. You look delicate. Age?”

“Sixteen years old.”

“Too young, and your body is thin and small. To be honest, you really don’t suit these courses. Why not consider accounting or cooking?”

“I have no money.”

The clerk was sturdy like a bull. He was actually a Half-Orc with huge bull horns. Looking at a frustrated Hopes, he said, smiling, “No money is not a problem. When I first came to Void City, I didn’t have a single copper coin. I was worse than you at that time. At least you have good clothes. I just had a pair of broken shorts…”

He was about to continue, and a colleague next to him coughed and interrupted him.

“Sectary, don’t talk about your old stories. There are people waiting in line.”

The clerk smiled. He continued to ask, “So, little Wilder, are you sure you want to sign up?”

“Yes,” Hopes said firmly. “I want to learn technology and then support myself!

The clerk and his colleague beside looked at each other, and then they nodded. The clerk asked again, “So, what are you going to learn? This year, we recruit the following majors: firstly, miners and mineral processors; secondly, smelting craftsmen and blacksmiths; thirdly, armor craftsmen and leather craftsmen; and finally, mechanical craftsmen.”

Hopes didn’t expect that he would have so many choices. He was stunned. After thinking for a while, he asked, “Which one is most suitable for me?”

“To be honest, none is suitable for you,” Clerk Sectary said, sighing. “Even if you do the relatively easy work, your figure is too… Let me give you an example. If you are a leather craftsman, the main thing you need to do is to be careful. There is not much demand for strength, but you must at least be able to pick up a piece of whole-body armor and shake it to check the quality.”

He said, shaking his head, “You are shorter than a piece of half-body armor!”

Hearing his words, Hopes was frustrated, but he still refused to give up. He asked, “Is there any work that demands less height and strength?”

“Mineral processing may be a good choice,” Sectary’s colleague who worked as the assistant said. He was a fat Half-Orc who might be a Catmen or a leopard man. “As long as you are familiar with minerals and you are careful, the rest will not be a problem.”

“I am good at these things!” Hopes said loudly. He was so happy that his ears, which had slouched, sprung up.

Looking at Hopes and the other applicants behind him who were urging them to hurry up, Sectary shrugged his shoulders and filled in the last line of the registration form.

“Finally, sign your name,” he said, handing the registration form and the ink pen to Hopes.

Hopes took the pen and the paper, but suddenly he stopped his action. He whispered, “I… don’t know how to write.”

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t write. In the past, I couldn’t, either,” Sectary said, smiling. He took out a bright red inkpad. “Press your fingerprints here. It’s the same as signing your name.”

According to his request, Hopes put the five fingers of his right hand on the ink pad, and then he pressed his five fingerprints in the place where the signature should be made, completing the entire process of the registration.

After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic clerk, he walked out of the technical school. Looking at the crowds coming and going in the big square, he couldn’t help but feel a bit confused.

There is still some time between the registration process and the start of the term. I have no money, how can I solve the problem of eating and living? The problem of living is easy to solve. Void City is very warm. The grass next to the streets looks soft enough to be a bed, but where can I find food? Should I eat grass? Most likely, I can only eat grass.

His rabbit bloodline had brought a lot of trouble to himself these years. However, thanks to it, he could at least eat grass when he was hungry,

If I were a purebred fox, I would probably have starved to death.

Hopes laughed at himself. It was still early, so he didn’t hurry to rest. He started wandering around.

His speed was very fast. After a short time, he arrived in the northern part of Void City, the famous Tree of God Square.

From the intersection on the southern side of the square, he could clearly see the tree trunk of the Tree of God. The trunk was so thick and huge that it was beyond his imagination. Its crown was like a green cloud on the horizon. People could see it clearly from far away.

Hopes curiously walked toward the Tree of God. After a short time, he found that many people were lying on the open space below the Tree of God. Some women wearing white clothes with a red cross painted on their shoulders or chests were busy. It seemed that those women were checking their bodies or treating their wounds.

After getting closer, he was surprised to find that those lying people were all Half-Orcs! To be correct, it was a group of Pigmen with big beards.

He was a little timid, so he suddenly stopped his pace. He didn’t dare to get closer, so he just found a fat man who looked kind nearby. “What… what is going on here?” Hopes asked.

The fat man was not clear about that, but he caught Hopes’ arm and expressed that he would take him to ask about it.

Hopes didn’t expect that the fat man would be so enthusiastic. He suddenly started to panic. He wanted to struggle, but the fat man had such great strength that he couldn’t leave the fat man’s hand.

In desperation, he had to follow the fat man to the base of the Tree of God where the busy women and the lying Pigmen were.

“Hello, Jane, I’ve come to visit,” the fat man said, smiling. He said hello to a woman in white. “What are you busy with?”

“What? You know her?” Hopes asked. He was stunned.

“Weird! How can I not know my own wife?” the fat man said with a smile. “If she wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have run down to ask questions. Would I just flirt with a little girl like that?”

Hopes knew that he was being teased. He was a little angry, but he was more curious. He really wanted to know what was going on here.

“Don’t mention that!” the woman named Jane said. She was very beautiful, and her figure was also very good. However, her eyes made Hopes believe that she was powerful. She said, sighing, “They are a group of refugees who crossed the desert with the trade caravans not long ago. They’ve come to us for shelter.”

“Refugees? How can they be like this?” the fat man asked in surprise. “Look at them, they are seriously injured. They should have been left on the road by the trade caravans.”

This topic was a bit cruel, but it was the truth. The journey across the desert was very difficult. Even if the caravan members were heavily injured or seriously ill, they would be left behind, let alone the refugees who just followed the caravans.

When Hopes was journeying to the Republic of Northwest, he had seen an ill man being left behind on the road. The man had cried and begged, but it had been useless. In the end, a guard had given him mercy and killed him without pain.

“They were not injured when they arrived,” Jane said, sighing. “However, they had a conflict with the local Half-Orcs here.”

“A conflict?” the fat man said, looking at the group of Pigmen. “They are quite strong. How could they be beaten like this?”

“They said mean words and offended too many people,” Jane said. “It’s still a problem of faith. They think that the Half-Orcs who don’t believe in the Orc gods are sinful… You understand what I mean, right?”

“I understand! They deserve the pain,” the fat man said, nodding. The compassion on his face suddenly disappeared. “They deserve it! Let them learn their lesson. The Republic doesn’t allow religious persecution!”

“Three of them were killed on the spot, and the rest are all here,” Jane said, sighing. “The Tree of God is full of vitality, and that is good for their recovery. When they fully recover, they will receive the subsequent punishment.”

Hopes was stunned. He asked, “Since you will punish them, why do you treat them now?”

Jane was looking at him confusedly as if she was looking at a monster. She said, “Punishment is for making people become better. They didn’t commit any unforgivable felony. If we don’t treat them, they will die.”

Hopes had thought for a long time before he understood what she meant. The Republic of Northwest wouldn’t let those who committed crimes off the hook, but it would still give them the due care.

The bearded Pigmen were frowning and moaning because of the pain, but they behaved well. Looking at them, Hopes couldn’t help but smile.

This country was even better than he had imagined.