Wiede rolled out of bed and tried to move his body. There was no pain in his back, so it seemed that the Knight was right, if you leave the wound alone, it will heal quickly.
“Aren't you going to rest for a few more days?” Kukasim asked.
“He only gave me two days,” Wiede put on his tattered coat and slipped his feet into the cold boots, “and the sooner I work for them, the sooner I can get some porridge. I can't always eat yours, one bowl is not enough for two people to share.”
“I think it's pretty good, the porridge here is much thicker than the relief porridge in other places, and you can even taste a dian'er meat flavor,” the old man shook his head, “child, you used to be a patrolman, so you may not know much about life in the slums. The porridge there is like clear soup, but with a few grains of wheat in it. In order to make it look substantial dian, they often fill it with grass roots or leaves to cook together. The porridge distributed by the Lord may not be enough to fill your stomach if divided into two portions, but it won't starve you.”
“I want us both to be full,” he tied his shoelaces and smiled.
“Alright,” Kukasim sighed, “then take good care of yourself and don't push yourself too hard.”
It's a strange feeling, Wiede thought, even though he's just a scapegoat chosen by a black street rat, now he seems like an elder. What's even stranger is that he actually feels like this feeling isn't bad.
“I will,” he shook his head amusedly and put on his hood, “you too.”
As soon as he opened the door, he saw two men standing outside. The white dizhi uniforms embroidered with light blue shoulder patterns and sleeve patches indicated the identity of the people - they were clerks from the city hall.
Wiede frowned slightly, “Who are you looking for?”
One of them took out a piece of paper and glanced at it, “Are you Wiede?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?” Kukasim also noticed the situation outside.
“Congratulations,” the other man smiled, “you have passed the written test for the Public Security Team, and the next step will be a week of comprehensive training,” he handed Wiede a small card, “This is your temporary ID card, take it to the Second Army Camp, where someone will receive you.”
The latter widened his eyes, “I...passed the Lord's assessment?”
“Not yet,” the clerk replied, “the written test is just the first round of selection. You still have to complete the training and be approved by the Chief Knight before you can pass the assessment and become a formal member of the Public Security Team.”
The two men left straight away after speaking, without asking for money or trying to win him over. It seemed they were just there to notify him.
“You succeeded!” the old man excitedly patted Wiede on the shoulder and said, “What did you say before, that you would never be selected.”
Wiede was stunned for a long time before muttering, “Because those questions were too strange.”
The old man was slightly startled, “What questions?”
He couldn't help but recall what happened a week ago. Since learning that His Royal Highness the Prince was recruiting Public Security Team members - which was just a patrol team with a different name - he applied to the city hall according to the requirements on the announcement. The other party responded very quickly. Only five days later, he received a notice for the test.
Wiede was full of confidence. Not only did he fully meet the conditions in the announcement, but he also had more than five years of practical experience. This small town really lacked supervisors for the people, and the chances of him being selected were very high. If he could become a patrolman, even if he lived in the inner city, he could help Kukasim at any time.
But he didn't expect that the test exceeded everyone's expectations from the very beginning.
More than a hundred candidates were sitting in a hall. The Knight gave each of them a stack of papers and asked them to answer all the questions listed on them, write them neatly on the paper, and said that the final reviewer was His Royal Highness the Prince. This testing method immediately caused a uproar among the crowd. Although the announcement stated that they needed to be literate, no one expected that they would be serious.
At that time, more than half of the people were dumbfounded. Although Wiede could understand the questions on the paper, after carefully scanning through them, he was also stunned - what kind of strange
questions were those? For example, you are a coachman, driving a four-wheeled carriage on a narrow mountain road, with two civilians sitting in the carriage. At this time, a group of refugees suddenly appears in front of the road. You can only choose to crash into them or let the carriage fall off the cliff. The former will cause the deaths of many refugees, and the latter will cause the deaths of two civilians, but in either case, you can survive with your agility. So what would you choose? Please elaborate on the reasons with at least three hundred words.
This question was simply baffling. Although it mentioned that one side was civilians and the other side was refugees, the specific numbers were all vague, making it impossible to make a measurement. And he always felt that killing a group of refugees didn't seem like a big deal, but that might not be the answer His Royal Highness the Prince wanted.
So choose to let the civilians die? Is this the correct answer?
The entire paper was filled with similar strange questions. At that time, he even felt that His Highness was deliberately making things difficult for them, and that the real public security personnel had already been determined.
“It's nothing, maybe I misunderstood,” Wiede took a breath, “then I'm going to the camp now.”
“Yes,” Kukasim laughed, “I think you will definitely become a formal member of the Public Security Team.”
……
The Second Army Camp was located north of the town, outside the inner city stone wall. When Wiede arrived, he found that the Chief Knight was already waiting in the camp.
“From today onwards, you are probationary police officers,” Carter said after everyone had arrived, “For the next week, you must live in this camp and receive special training. Those who are qualified will stay, and those who are not will go back to where you came from! I will let you understand what discipline is and what it means to serve His Royal Highness the Prince!”
This was what Wiede remembered the assessment should be like, but... among the hundred or so applicants, the other party only kept fifteen people? He glanced left and right. Judging from their attire and complexion, everyone else should be local residents except for himself.
Sure enough, the requirement of being literate was not a joke.
“Report!” someone raised their hand.
Carter grinned, “Oh? You seem to be quite familiar with the military set-up? Speak.”
“Hehe, my brother is in the First Army,” the man scratched the back of his head and said, “Excuse me, sir, what is a police officer? Aren't we Public Security Team members?”
“The police are part of the public security system. You can understand them as the security personnel in His Highness's territory. They need to arrest criminals, crack down on illegal activities, maintain order in the territory, implement the policies issued by His Highness and the city hall, and help the people of the territory who are in trouble.”
“Help the people? But you just said that we are serving His Royal Highness the Prince...”
“There is no difference between the two. Serving the people of His Highness is also serving His Highness. What, do you want to enter the castle and serve him?” Carter shrugged, “Become an excellent knight first.”
But knights are all nobles... Wiede thought, their status is vastly different from that of commoners like them, and it's not something you can become just by wanting to.
“Remember, you are both the enforcers of the law and the guardians of the people. Now, go to the tent and change into your zhifu first,” the Chief Knight clapped his hands, “Next, there happens to be a task to be assigned to you to complete.”