21: What kind of man is this?!

Hearing this, Lister's eyes lit up as he looked toward the source of the voice. It was a young man of about twenty-some years old standing among the refugees.

Though his complexion was poor and his clothes were tattered, his eyes shone with the light of wisdom.

In fact, Lister had already noticed him earlier; that elegant temperament absent in the other refugees and the hidden confidence in his eyes all pointed to his extraordinariness.

Lister had originally intended to summon the young man privately after settling the refugees, but who would have thought he would speak up first?

Although the inquiry sounded respectful, there was a hint of doubt hidden within it.

To this, Lister replied with a gentle smile, "I never go back on my word. Your courage to speak up is worthy of praise. What is your name?"

"In response to the Lord, I..." The young man hesitated for a moment before continuing, "This lowly one's name is Hobbes Donald."

"A good name," Lister praised.

At the same time, he thought to himself, 'Hobbes Donald... it's only a different first name from Brutus Donald...'

'I can't be wrong; that talented magistrate must be him. However, he even knows how to hide his true name; he has quite a cautious personality.'

Thinking of this, Lister glanced at Brutus Donald with an appreciative look.

This caused Brutus, who had been watching his expression, to feel his heart skip a beat. Could this Lord have discovered my true identity?

No, it's absolutely impossible. Although he was an outstanding talent who graduated from the Church Academy, his reputation wasn't that great; a Lord in such a small place could never know.

But then, why that look of appreciation?

For a moment, Brutus was somewhat bewildered. Just then, Lister's voice rang out again.

"Hobbes, do you have any outstanding abilities?"

After hesitating for a moment, Brutus said respectfully, "In response to the Lord, this lowly one has previously studied a little bit of literacy and knowledge."

A little bit? More like a massive amount, right?

Lister made a silent retort in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged as he said, "Oh? Then it seems you are quite a talent. It just so happens that not long ago, the magistrate of this territory was punished by me for corruption. Since that's the case..."

"You shall serve as the new magistrate, with full responsibility for the affairs of the territory. I hope you do not disappoint me."

"What? Appointing me as magistrate!" Brutus exclaimed instantly, his face full of disbelief.

Is this Lord so casual? One must know that his current status was just a refugee.

Without even knowing his background or details, he dared to directly entrust him with such a heavy responsibility. Was he not afraid that he might be a spy sent by another territory?

Was he brainless, or truly confident?

Subconsciously, he raised his head to look at Lister's face. With just one glance, he could be certain that it was true confidence—the confidence of a noble.

Moreover, what shocked him even more was that the knights beside Lister all had calm faces, their expressions showing not the slightest hint of questioning the young Lord's decision.

Having graduated from the Church Academy and served as a magistrate, he knew very well that this was absolute trust from subordinates toward their Lord; otherwise, they couldn't possibly have such expressions.

For a moment, he felt extremely curious about this Lord who was quite a bit younger than himself.

What kind of man is he, really!

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Brutus regained his calm expression and said respectfully, "To obtain the Lord's trust is this lowly one's honor. I will certainly do my utmost."

"Haha, good." Lister patted Brutus on the shoulder with a satisfied smile on his face.

His actions made the surrounding refugees even more excited.

They hadn't expected Lister's previous promise to be realized so soon, and he even appointed a refugee as magistrate.

Who would have dared to believe such a thing in the past?

Perhaps only the young Lord before them could do such a thing.

After settling the refugee issue, Lister brought Brutus and the others back to the castle.

Since he had acquired such a capable talent, he naturally had to exploit him properly. Without a word, Lister directly handed over the mountain of territorial affairs to Brutus in one go.

Then he went to the training grounds and began to practice frantically... In the evening, near dinner time.

Lister, who had just finished his training, saw Red and the other two returning, looking travel-worn.

"Lord Lister, we have fortunately fulfilled our mission," Red said respectfully, placing his right fist over his chest.

Hearing this, Lister showed a look of gratification. He had always greatly appreciated Red's steady way of doing things.

Beside him, the two knights Locke and Carlyle also maintained knightly etiquette.

Although the fatigue from their journey was clearly visible on all three of them, they didn't show the slightest hint of complaint.

"You have all worked hard. Go back and have a good rest," Lister said with a gentle smile. "Report the specific details of this matter to me tomorrow."

"Yes, Lord Lister," the three replied respectfully in unison, then left all the goods and departed the castle.

After ordering Thomas, Flora, and the other maids to carry the goods up, Lister headed toward his room on the third floor.

It had to be said that even though Tom had been robbed, there were still quite a lot of goods—a total of over a dozen bags of various sizes.

After Thomas and the others had placed them neatly, they quickly left the room at Lister's signal.

After confirming that no one would disturb him, Lister began to rummage through the goods, looking for those three dragon blood fruits.

Before long, a bag containing over a dozen Red fruits appeared before his eyes, but the Divination didn't provide any more accurate prompts, which made him feel very helpless.

Left with no choice, he had to distinguish them himself. Fortunately, although dragon blood fruits and Red apples looked very similar, there were still subtle differences.

After more than ten minutes of careful identification, Lister finally found those three dragon blood fruits.

He gently picked one up and examined it in his hand. Compared to a Red apple, the color of the dragon blood fruit was more blood-like, its skin was smoother, and upon smelling it closely, one could detect a very faint medicinal scent.

This was also why Tom hadn't discovered them; after all, no one would carefully observe unremarkable apples.

After thinking seriously, Lister had a general idea regarding the use of these three dragon blood fruits.

Since their function was to help break through major realms, and Red happened to be at Bronze Rank 9, he could give him one during tomorrow's report.

Although the value of a dragon blood fruit was high, they were meant to be used once obtained. Moreover, Red was currently Lister's greatest reliance.

If Red could break through to become a Silver Knight, Lister would have much more room for maneuver in his future actions.

Then there were the other two; he would keep one for himself first, and the last one could be saved for later as a reward or something similar.

As for cultivation, he also had that idea, but unfortunately, such precious resources were not things that could be cultivated at will; otherwise, how could they be called precious resources?

After putting away the dragon blood fruits, Lister leafed through the remaining goods. Suddenly, a soft object caused his movements to pause.

"This is..."