Mage And Wolf
Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Chapter 177

Elder Song interrupts cuddle time again the next morning when the guests are about to arrive, so I reluctantly crawl off the beanbag chair and go shower to face the day. This one is either going to be great or absolutely awful, depending on the aptitude of the children they brought, and I’m not sure that I’m ready to face it.

"Any guesses on what they’ve brought us to work with?" I ask Elder Song, who I know could use his divine senses to pick through every aura in town if he really wanted to.

"I asked around last night after the two of you retired to your room to cultivate. They all hired village kids from their territory, with only two special requests for children of existing servants, so I would expect a ragtag bunch of kids whose parents didn’t have a trade to hand down. But they should be at least generally vetted by the family’s experts before bringing them here so they don’t embarrass themselves in public with candidates who aren’t suitable for cultivation." Song shrugs.

The small army of children and Nobles arrives just after breakfast. They indeed look as ragged and destitute as I had expected, but there are surprisingly few boys among the crowd. That seems a bit odd, but Elder Song has an immediate answer for me.

"If the family needs money badly enough to basically sell a child to a noble employer, what are the chances they’ve got a dowry or marriage prospects for their younger daughters? Since the nobles don’t care either way, as cultivating will make them strong enough to do any task around the house, the only ones who went deliberately looking for boys are the ones who wanted a carriage man or butler specifically."

"That makes sense. They might be employees, but the odds are they’ll never see their parents or home villages again once they move to the Lord’s estates, unless they’re close enough to visit on holidays." I nod my head in understanding.

A little girl has snuck away from the group, looking to explore the hotel. Both me and Elder Song are watching her progress with interest, she’s done an amazing jog getting away from the group, and has even managed to blend in despite her clothes. Her escape comes to an end when Elder Ye and Betty come through the door she’s about to escape through, knocking her over.

"Now who do we have here? A tiny stealth expert? I think you will do well with the Shadowed Blade." Elder Ye laughs, placing the girl on her feet and turning her back towards the group.

"Go on now, the meeting is about to begin." the Elder sends the girl on her way with a smile and gives a confirming nod to Elder Song. That one is definitely being moved to a different group to become a full disciple and possibly a Bodyguard.

We have decided to make the sorting simple here, and then more in depth once they get back to the Sect. With Elder Song’s ability to open portals across the continent, that will be much sooner than anyone from the nobility expects. They’ll likely be meeting their teachers at the Shadowed Blade Sect Compound in about two hours, if they pass our examination.

We are all making sure they have the capacity to cultivate well enough to reach Condensation, the ones who can do it quickly are noted, the ones who can’t do it quickly, even with pills to push them are also noted for nobles who only wanted servants in the Fortification realm to guard their property. Almost all of these children are of high potential though, only two brothers, who are the sons of a Baron’s butler and are requested to be trained as such are going to actually struggle to make outer Sect standards.

For them it is not important though, their employer wants them both back once training is done, and has brought along four more with great potential to make up for the request. Most only want ’a servant’ back, not specifically the ones they brought to us. A fact that is making my life really easy.

I’m in charge of finding ones that would make excellent Ladies Maids and Bodyguards. Elder Song is looking for disciples to keep and Elder Ye is supposed to be looking for Alchemy students, but I suspect her grandmotherly nature has gotten the best of her, as she’s mostly just fussing over the cute ones and the shy ones, accompanied by Betty. Maybe she has a specific technique to sort out which ones might be good at alchemy quickly? I’m relying on meeting them and checking their potential individually to see which ones are naturally polite and kind enough to be suited for a life that closely interacts with others.

"What are you checking us for?" a little boy who has taken to shadowing me asks.

"We want to meet everyone and see what you’re like around new people. Who likes them, who is friendly, who is shy, who is big and tough, who is mean. That way we can help the teachers decide what jobs you might enjoy the most before we start training you." I tell him in my serious voice.

"Do you think we get a choice? I’ve always wanted to work in the garden, making those pretty hedge rows and planting flowers." The boy says, so I bring out a piece of heavy paper and a pencil.

"Can you draw me the hedges you wanted to grow? Just a layout of the garden would be fine." I tell him, handing over the drawing tools and making a note. We’ve assigned everyone a number for the day, so we can match them up with everyone’s notes when they get to the Sect, saving me from learning a hundred names.

"If we can choose, I want to design dresses." a little girl says, and another nods. "Not like a tailor in the village, pretty ones for the Noble ladies to show off in."

I hand over more paper, to see if they can put ideas to designs. The Shadowed Blade always needs talented disguise makers, and making dresses is also a suitable hobby for the ones who will accompany noble ladies. This time I pass over a pack of colored pencils, hastily created by Karl, so they can draw their design in color.

"If you’re good at it, costume and dress design is a possible career for you. But you have to work hard if you want to succeed." I tell them.

Many more children come to me with their dreams after that, most surprisingly practical. They know they’re about to head off for job training, and growing up in dirt poor non cultivating villages has given them a realistic sense of what can be expected from life.