Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

This first recruit was a fisherman's son, around twenty-five years old, dark red skin, thin and scrawny, and such a poor bastard that he still couldn't afford a wife.

Levi swept his gaze over him, and a blue light flashed deep within his eyes.

Not a spy sent by the Silverclaw Viscount.

He nodded.

Rune loudly asked for the man's name.

"Ah... Hank. My name's Little John. My father's Old Hank. We don't have a surname." The first man to step forward looked nervous.

Laughter immediately broke out among the onlookers.

Little John's face instantly turned bright red.

But Rune did not laugh along with them. Instead, his expression remained stern as he casually used a small carving knife to engrave Little John's name onto an ironwood waist token wrapped in intricate metal patterns.

He tossed it over.

"Take this. This is your proof of joining the Coldwind Keep garrison. Keep it safe. Losing your token carries serious consequences. You'll be punished, and your pay will be docked."

"Oh, alright, sir." Little John immediately grew even more nervous.

"Don't call me sir. I'm the captain of the garrison. You call me Captain!" Rune said with a serious face.

"Oh, Captain!" Little John quickly corrected himself, still tense.

Rune continued, "You should thank Lord Levi. It was Lord Levi who allowed you into the castle garrison. You must swear your life to fighting for Lord Levi."

"Thank you, Lord Levi." Like a puppet being controlled by strings, Little John nervously turned toward Levi and spoke respectfully.

Levi merely nodded.

"Do your job well. I won't mistreat any warrior who follows me."

"Yes, Lord Levi." Little John's mind was already a complete blur.

Levi could tell as much. He gave Rune a look, and the latter immediately understood. Turning toward the man brave enough to eat the first crab, he shouted, "Alright, off to Miss Yalina's side and collect your gold coin and your bread with roasted meat!"

"Oh... okay."

Still dazed, Little John stumbled toward the rear.

Beside the gold coins and bread sat a woman beautiful enough to resemble a goddess herself.

She was far prettier than Beatrice, the daughter of Uncle Coria, whom Little John had secretly admired for years. Her skin looked like milk, her body carried the fragrance of flowers, and her eyes looked like...

Little John completely froze.

So much so that when Yalina gestured for him to come collect his gold coin and bread, he failed to react at all.

Rune noticed immediately. His face darkened slightly before he let out a roar.

Only then did Little John snap back to reality and hurriedly stumble in front of Yalina in a panic.

Yalina's gaze landed on him, and Little John instantly felt uncomfortable all over, not even knowing where to place his eyes.

Then a voice as clear as silver bells drifted over.

"Little John, right?"

"Yes."

"What's your surname?"

"I-I don't have one."

Commoners often only had given names and no family name.

Yalina nodded without surprise. On the paper form Levi had provided, she filled in the information before asking again, "How old are you?"

"Seventeen. Uh... maybe eighteen. Or... probably seventeen." Even Little John himself wasn't certain.

"Then we'll write down seventeen." Yalina did not dwell on it and continued asking for his home address.

Little John froze for a moment at the question.

But after hesitating several times, he still answered honestly.

"Don't be nervous." Yalina softly reassured him before motioning for him to step closer.

Beside her sat a red paste-like substance.

"Press your thumb into this red clay, then stamp it here on the paper. This means you've received your gold coin and bread."

"Oh."

Still confused, Little John pressed down his thumbprint before taking a gold coin and a huge piece of bread stuffed with roasted meat from the table.

Only after feeling the texture of the gold coin and smelling the aroma of the roasted meat bread did he finally come back to his senses.

So all of this was real.

Ecstasy instantly filled Little John's eyes.

One gold coin?

You wouldn't even need that much money to buy a strong slave.

Yet Lord Levi had still given it away.

Lord Levi was truly merciful!

At that moment, not only was Little John overwhelmed with joy, but even the surrounding crowd began to stir restlessly.

Many people's eyes were already filled with temptation.

After all, that was a gold coin, along with bread and roasted meat.

And it had simply been handed over!

This new lord was rich and generous!

How many years had it been since Hornreach had seen a lord as angelic as this one?

Just then, Little John suddenly asked awkwardly, "Respected Lord Levi... may I... may I give this gold coin to my family? My mother is sick, my father hasn't caught anything from fishing for days, and I still have several younger brothers and sisters who need food..."

Levi turned his head at those words. His eyes, faintly flickering with blue light, swept over Little John.

What the boy said was true.

He nodded.

"Of course you can."

"After the recruitment ends, your captain will take you to handle those matters."

"At the same time, the castle will later send people to visit your families," Levi said.

"My lord, what does that mean?" Little John froze for a moment before asking.

"It means the castle will investigate whether there are people abusing their power, seizing the property of garrison soldiers' families, or bullying them. Once discovered, the castle will arrest and punish anyone who harms the families of the garrison. In serious cases, they'll be sent straight to the gallows!" Levi declared.

The moment he said that, not only Little John, but even the surrounding crowd froze.

Because Levi's actions were unprecedented.

By doing this, he was effectively placing the families of the garrison under his protection. That alone would serve as a tremendous deterrent against certain local thugs and bullies.

Emotion began to appear in some people's eyes.

If this new lord truly intended to do such things, then it meant the money they earned risking their lives could actually remain in their families' hands instead of being forcibly taken away by others.

That was an enormous attraction.

Immediately, a large man with a frivolous look in his eyes but a body as sturdy as a bull stepped forward and loudly declared, "Lord Levi, I, Lawrence, also wish to join your garrison and serve you."

Lawrence was a notorious bully in the town of Coldwind Keep. Rumor had it that several lives were already stained on his hands.

The moment he stepped forward, the expressions of several people within the crowd changed.

A faint blue light flickered deep within Levi's eyes. He merely glanced at the man once before saying expressionlessly, "You do not meet the standards."

"Next!"

Yalina, who was recording the information, looked somewhat surprised.

This man called Lawrence was physically strong, and his combat ability was obviously far superior to Little John's. Logically speaking, someone like him should have been exactly the kind of person recruited into the garrison.

Yet Levi had rejected him outright.

Yalina could not understand it, but she knew Levi was no ordinary lord.

He was a wizard who had mastered many mysterious spells.

So she believed Levi had his own deeper reason for doing this.

Just like the forms he had given her—once the information was filled in, everything became clear at a glance, making the condition of each recruit incredibly easy to understand.

Although she knew little about administration, even she could tell that this kind of form would greatly simplify management. Situations would no longer feel vague and muddled, but instead become direct and intuitive.

That was another matter altogether.

Meanwhile, after being rejected without the slightest hesitation, Lawrence's expression stiffened.

Several people in the crowd immediately burst into laughter.

They were loafers who normally did not get along with Lawrence.

The laughter quickly spread to others.

Soon, many people were laughing along.

Lawrence's face instantly became difficult to maintain.

Already a bold man by nature, and now burning with humiliation and anger, he actually dared to question Levi himself.

"Lord Levi, I have a question. Why would you choose that skinny monkey over someone like me?!"

"To be honest, I could beat ten scrawny little monkeys like Little John by myself!"

"Or maybe you never intended to recruit garrison soldiers in the first place, and this whole thing is just an act."

Those words were serious.

The moment they left his mouth, Lawrence regretted them.

But at this point, he could only force himself to stand there, gambling that Levi would not dare do anything to him in front of such a large crowd.

If things looked bad afterward, he would simply flee to the Silverclaw Viscount's territory.

After all, without the Silverclaw Viscount's fleets and grain shipments, who would even come to this miserable place?

Others might not know it, but he certainly did.

The Silverclaw Viscount was already preparing to make a move against Levi, this arrogant fool who didn't know his own limits!

Perhaps today Levi was still the lord, but in a few days, he would become a prisoner, eventually dying in some forgotten corner while Hornreach returned to its former state.

It was precisely because he possessed that confidence that Lawrence still stubbornly stared at Levi.

The surroundings fell silent.

Everyone could tell this was a direct challenge to the authority of the new lord.

If Levi failed to handle this properly, then the weight of his words would be greatly diminished in the future.

A trace of coldness appeared in Levi's eyes.

He looked at Lawrence and suddenly said, "Three nights ago, on York Backstreet, you beat the old fisherman Aman to death because he refused to pay you an additional 'fishing tax.' You dumped his corpse into a drainage ditch, where rats gnawed his face beyond recognition."

"After selling his catch, every copper coin he earned ended up in your pocket."

"And among those belongings was a short flute—the birthday gift old Aman had promised to buy for his youngest son, Joseph."

"You killed his father on the very day of his youngest son's birthday," Levi said coldly.

"You're lying!" Lawrence was overwhelmed with terror.

Levi's accusations were so precise it was as though he had been standing there beside him that night, witnessing everything personally.

"You weren't even here three days ago!"

"You're just making things up!"

Speaking to his lord in such a manner, even if it did not warrant execution, would still earn severe punishment.

It was obvious Lawrence had completely lost his composure.

He stared at Levi in panic, yet still stubbornly refused to admit anything, because once he confessed, there would be no way back.

Among the surrounding crowd, some people had already begun to realize something was wrong. Their expressions subtly changed.

A boy around twelve or thirteen suddenly rushed out from the crowd, his eyes red as he glared at Lawrence.

"You killed my father!"

"I didn't!"

"You damned brat!"

"Get lost!"

Right in front of Lord Levi himself, Lawrence actually swung a vicious slap toward the child.

"Hmph!"

Levi let out a cold snort.

He did not move personally, but with Sky Knight Rune present, there was no need.

Rune's figure blurred with terrifying speed, so fast it left behind afterimages. In the blink of an eye, he appeared between the two.

Lawrence's slap landed squarely on Sky Knight Rune's body.

It felt like striking solid steel.

The recoil of pain twisted Lawrence's face.

Only then did he realize it was Sky Knight Rune standing there. His expression shifted repeatedly before he immediately said, "Lord Levi, since you clearly don't think highly of me, there's no point in me staying here any longer."

"I'll leave immediately."

"And I wish you success in recruiting the men you want!"

"You think you're still allowed to leave?" Before Levi even spoke, Sky Knight Rune had already seized Lawrence like a chicken.

He declared, "You are now implicated in a murder case and must await Lord Levi's judgment and sentencing."

"I didn't do it! You have no proof!" Lawrence struggled desperately.

Levi calmly said, "In your room, inside the chest beneath your bed, is the short flute the old fisherman Aman bought for his son."

"And buried beneath that chest, in the dirt below it, is a wooden box."

"Inside that wooden box is proof of your identity as a Gray Crow operative under the Silverclaw Viscount."

"Am I right, Lawrence?" Levi looked at him steadily.

Lawrence stared back at Levi as though looking at a demon.

His sanity completely collapsed under Levi's words as he cried out in disbelief, "How do you know that?!"

"That's impossible!!!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he immediately realized something was wrong.

His face instantly turned deathly pale.

Within the crowd, Lawrence's accomplices abruptly changed expressions.

The men exchanged silent glances before quietly retreating.

Though they were not intelligence agents working for the Silverclaw Viscount, they had participated in the murder of old fisherman Aman.

And no matter which crime was uncovered, the punishment would be severe.

So escaping first was obviously the safest option.

They could observe the situation afterward.

The others managed to slip away quietly.

But Lawrence could not.

The moment he spoke those words, he had effectively admitted the truth of both accusations.

Even though those were far from the only evil deeds he had committed.

The surrounding crowd immediately understood.

Levi then straightforwardly announced, "Lawrence, as the lord of Hornreach, in light of the crimes you have committed, I sentence you to death by hanging!"

"And the sentence will be carried out immediately!"

Levi had no intention whatsoever of giving a man like Lawrence another chance.

The kind of person Lawrence was—even his death would improve the security of Levi's territory.

Lawrence's face became even paler.

He wanted to beg for mercy, but all that came out were broken, incoherent sounds.

The gallows stood nearby.

Sky Knight Rune carried him over effortlessly.

The youngest son of old fisherman Aman, little Joseph, followed behind, helping however he could.

And just like that, Lawrence was sent to the gallows.

After a desperate struggle, he died painfully.

The entire scene unfolded beneath the watchful eyes of the gathered crowd.

No one spoke.

Some gazes were filled with excitement.

Others looked far more complicated.

Before dying, Lawrence left behind only one sentence: "The Silverclaw Viscount won't let any of you off!"

"I'll be waiting for you in hell!"

"And you too, you demon lord!"

Levi paid absolutely no attention to Lawrence's curse.

He simply reopened recruitment.

Old fisherman Aman's youngest son, Joseph, immediately stepped forward first.

Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he said, "Lord Levi, I want to fight for you."

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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

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