Chapter 94: The Second Recruitment

However, whether this thing meant to protect the territory will actually be used for that purpose first... well, that's not so certain.

After she finished speaking, Dori saw that two arrow towers had appeared near the main gate of the territory.

Actually, it wasn’t just at the main gate. Outside the territory, at the entrance as well, Su You had also built two arrow towers.

Building arrow towers took some time, so Su You used that time to make a good number of arrows... Anyway, she wasn’t short on stone anymore, so there was no need to be as stingy as before.

Once the four arrow towers were completed, Su You felt it still wasn’t quite enough. She gathered some more materials to make traps... But just as she was about to set them up, a notification made her pause.

[Tavern has refreshed. You may go to the tavern recruitment point to select a resident to recruit.]

The moment she heard this prompt, Su You stood up and headed straight for the tavern.

...

A familiar interface, unfamiliar characters and information. Su You began to choose her second NPC to recruit.

[Bru]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 80

Affection: 20

Talent: Carpenter (75)

Skill: Novice Carpenter

Trait: Loyal (higher starting loyalty), Slow (slower reaction speed in all aspects)

Description: [Bru has always been an honest and sincere person, but because he was born slow to react, he was often bullied by other kids his age. Even so, he still enjoyed playing with everyone.

Later, a teacher came to the village. This teacher not only taught the children a lot of knowledge, but also taught them how to be good people. Under the teacher’s guidance, the kids who bullied Bru gradually realized their mistakes and started to genuinely befriend him.

Because of this, Bru’s family was very grateful to the teacher. Unfortunately, the teacher didn’t stay in the village for long before leaving.

Before leaving, the teacher gave Bru a gift—a beginner’s carpentry manual.

She had noticed that, although Bru was slow to react, he had an exceptional talent for carpentry.

Not only Bru, but every child in the village received a gift from the teacher before she left... Even someone as slow as Bru could sense that this teacher was no ordinary person.]

[Bruming]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 70

Affection: 15

Talent: Cooking (80)

Skill: Novice Cooking (Bottleneck)

Trait: Sensitive Senses (increases success rate of skills requiring senses, but affects daily life)

Description: [Bruming’s grandfather was the head chef at a city restaurant. Later, due to an accident, his grandfather injured his hand. Although he received timely treatment, he could no longer lift heavy iron pots.

So, Bruming’s grandfather returned to the village... Although he could no longer cook, he hoped someone would inherit his craft.

After returning, he was delighted to discover that his grandson had exceptionally keen senses.

Because he was so sensitive, Bruming couldn’t eat strongly flavored food or tolerate strong smells, but if he could use this sensitivity well, he could become an excellent chef.

Under his grandfather’s guidance, Bruming successfully awakened his talent for cooking and, thanks to his unique senses, created many new recipes.]

[Bruguo]

Gender: Female

Age: Teen

Loyalty: 50

Affection: 10

Talent: Trading (95)

Skill: Novice Trading (Bottleneck)

Trait: Silver Tongue (easier to convince others in social situations), Deceitful (enjoys lying and hiding the truth)

Description: [Bruguo is a refugee. Her hometown was destroyed by a natural disaster, and her parents died because of it. Alone, little Bruguo wandered from place to place until she was taken in by a lonely old woman.

The old woman’s village was very poor. Even after being adopted, Bruguo still didn’t have enough to eat each day, but at least she had a place to stay.

To support herself and the old woman, Bruguo would hitch rides on the village vegetable cart to the city every day... The village was too poor for anyone to afford help, so she had to go to bigger places to look for work, hoping to find a job—any job that could feed herself and the old woman.

But Bruguo was too young, inexperienced, and unskilled, so even in the city, no one was willing to hire her, no matter how low her asking wage.

Just as Bruguo was losing hope, the owner of a restaurant offered her a hand. He let her stay and earn money by doing odd jobs.

At that time, Bruguo was still innocent. Seeing hope, she immediately agreed... but she didn’t expect that all her hard work would bring no reward.

During her time there, Bruguo did the hardest, dirtiest jobs every day and brought the restaurant’s food back to the old woman in the village. After a month, when it came time for her pay, the owner refused to pay her and wouldn’t even admit she’d worked there.

Even when Bruguo made a scene at the restaurant, no one would believe a filthy little girl... Bruguo had no choice but to leave, full of anger and resentment.

After that, Bruguo never trusted anyone again. She stopped trying to earn a living through honest work and instead roamed the city, learning to steal from street kids and using what she stole to feed herself and the old woman. She also picked up the art of smooth-talking and lying from the local ruffians...

Who knows how much time passed. When the old woman died of illness, Bruguo left. Before she went, she did something that made that heartless restaurant owner pay a heavy price.]

...

...

After reading the information on these three NPCs, Su You fell silent for a long time.

Because, for a moment, she truly didn’t know which of the three to choose as her second recruit. It was just too hard to decide.

Unlike the first recruitment, this time all three NPCs had their own strengths and weaknesses—none were particularly outstanding, but none were particularly bad either.

Bru’s drawback was that he was a carpenter. If he weren’t, Su You would probably have chosen him right away.

It’s not that the territory didn’t need a carpenter, but Su You already had one.

If she remembered correctly, Lyle’s carpentry talent was 70. Not as good as Bru, but good enough.

Recruitment opportunities are rare in the early stages, so Su You couldn’t afford to waste a slot on an NPC with overlapping skills.

(End of chapter)"

"Here is a fluent, natural English translation of your provided Chinese text: