Chapter 63 Testing

Bang bang bang!

There was a violent knock on the heavy door.

In the wooden house, Sherman, who was sleeping peacefully under a worn quilt, was instantly awakened. He rubbed his eyes and shouted sleepily.

"Coming."

In the middle of the month of Recovery, the weather is still a little cold.

After Sherman put on his shabby clothes, he picked up the leather jacket that was covering the quilt as a second quilt and put it on before opening the wooden door.

Outside the door, old Roger was leaning on the carriage, holding a whip in one hand and a tobacco pipe in the other.

"Hurry up, it's getting late. If you are late, you will be punished."

"knew."

Sherman closed the wooden door and got on the carriage quickly, but he didn't look anxious at all.

Roger glanced at him, without saying anything, and gave him a sharp crack of his whip. The old horse grunted and pulled the carriage slowly forward.

Sherman leaned on the guardrail of the carriage, looked at the dark sky, closed his eyes and took a nap.

According to past experience, it would take half an hour to reach the inner fort, and when we got there, it would be almost dawn.

Sherman is an orphan.

According to old Roger, he picked up Sherman on a snowy day. Because he had no children, he took Sherman back to raise him.

Over the years, old Roger worked hard to raise Sherman until he was twelve years old by collecting garbage for the nobles and sending it out of the city to be cleaned up.

Sherman was filled with gratitude to old Roger.

Although he knew that he was not related by blood to Old Roger, in his heart, Old Roger was his father.

Unknowingly, the carriage entered the inner city.

Sherman automatically woke up from the long-established habit.

From a distance, he saw the majestic and tall castle, and his eyes couldn't help but show envy and yearning.

That's where the lords and knights live.

Sherman didn't know how many times he dreamed that he had become a noble, living in a luxurious castle, and enjoying a high and luxurious life.

Or he could become a powerful knight, gain the appreciation of the lord, and then become the lord's guard, and gain the qualification to live in the castle.

In the boy's superficial understanding, that castle was the most beautiful place in the world.

But in fact, he knew very well in his heart that if it were not for work, a poor man like him would never be able to set foot in that castle in his life.

Let alone live in it.

When you wake up, everything in the dream will disappear, and only the cold reality remains.

Old Roger once told him that after his death, he could inherit the two wooden houses and the carriage, and take over the job of cleaning up the garbage for the nobles.

Sherman thought that his future would be like that.

The carriage stopped in front of the castle gate. Sherman jumped out of the carriage with Old Roger and walked towards the tall guard guarding the gate.

In the past, when they entered the castle to clean up garbage, they would always be exploited by the guards guarding the gate and the stewards inside, asking for various benefits.

However, since the previous lord was hanged, the new lord moved into the lord's mansion, and drastically changed a group of guards and servants, they have never encountered exploitation again.

For this reason alone, Sherman had a good impression of the new lord whom he had never met before.

Over the past few months, the gate guard had become very familiar with old Roger.

Seeing the two people arriving, they just checked briefly and let them pass.

After spending a whole morning, Old Roger and Sherman expertly packed up the garbage, swept it all into the carriage, and then prepared to transport the garbage outside the city.

Before leaving, one of the guards suddenly stopped Sherman, looked him up and down, and asked: "Little Sherman, how old are you this year?"

Sherman was stunned, but he still answered honestly: "Twelve years old."

"Can you read?"

Sherman nodded.

Poor people like him who work for noble lords generally do not know how to read, but because old Roger once worked as an accounting apprentice for a shop when he was young, although the shop later closed down, he also learned to read. , and then they were all handed over to Sherman.

After listening to Sherman's words, the guard smiled and said: "That's just right. The Lord issued a decree a while ago. All literate young people in the territory who are twelve years old and not more than fifteen years old, regardless of gender or origin, are required to enter the country. If you want to go to the testing office for testing, you can go there later.”

"Test? What test?"

Sherman was still in a daze, but Old Roger panicked first and said hurriedly:

"Sir, little Sherman has always worked diligently and has never done anything bad."

The guard waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, this is a good thing. Your Excellency Su Nan will recruit apprentices from the entire Shining Collar. Anyone who passes the test can serve as his apprentice and receive a gold coin every month. subsidies.”

Old Roger and Sherman's eyes widened when they heard this, with shock on their faces.

They worked hard for a month and earned less than ten silver coins.

But as long as you become an apprentice, you can get one gold coin every month?

Is there such a good thing?

But immediately old Roger hesitated again.

Is there really such a thing as pie-falling in this world?

Wouldn't it be to trick people away and then do something bad?

Seeing Old Roger's expression, the guard didn't know what he was thinking, so he smiled and cursed: "Your Excellency Su Nan is a legendary wizard, and the government decree was also issued by the lord. Do you think those two adults are free? , Will you deceive a poor man?"

"If I hadn't seen that little Sherman is usually very well-behaved, I wouldn't have bothered to remind you."

Old Roger quickly apologized with a smile.

Thinking about it, what the guard said makes sense. How could the decree issued by the lord be false?

After thanking the guard, Old Roger pulled Xie Man onto the carriage.

On the way back, Old Roger thought for a moment and said to Xie Man, "After you transport the garbage back, go back and wash your body, change your clothes, and then go to the inspection office."

Xie Man nodded vigorously, his eyes shining.

If he could become the apprentice of the Lord Sunan mentioned by the guard, he could receive a gold coin every month. After saving for a year or two, he could move to the inner city with Old Roger and open a small shop, and no longer have to get up early and stay up late to clean up garbage.

Maybe there is a chance to live in that castle!

When Xie Man thought of this, he was extremely excited and wished he could fly to the inspection office right now.

After returning from outside the city, Xie Man rushed home, washed his body, changed into his best clothes, and then went straight to the place the guard said.

The inspection office is located at the junction of the outer city and the inner city.

In front of the temporary wooden shed, hundreds of boys and girls of about the same age as Xie Man were queuing up.

Many people were excitedly talking to each other, and occasionally looking forward to the front of the team.

Xie Man noticed that these people were dressed very decently, and the worst ones had clean clothes, unlike him who was wearing clothes that were washed white and had patches on them.

Come to think of it, people who can read these days usually have good family conditions.

There are very few outliers like him.

"Go to the end of the line and don't wander around."

A nearby soldier noticed Xie Man and told him to line up.

Xie Man followed his instructions and came to the end of the line and waited quietly.