I Become a Landlady in the Game World

On the journey that followed, several mercenary teams moved together with Zhou Zhengping's group.

Along the way, they indeed encountered many teams both large and small.

When these teams saw the goblins in the group, many were indeed tempted, but seeing the sizeable force Zhou Zhengping and his companions made up, they suppressed any designs they might have had.

However, word got around, and they came to know about Hope Village treating goblins as residents.

"Does Hope Village really lack people so much that they even need goblin slaves?"

"Exactly! Buying goblin slaves, it's better to buy some human and beastman slaves; now, they are useful!"

"Probably they value the goblin's mining skills."

"But you only need to buy their slaves, why bother giving them resident status?"

"It doesn't seem to matter much, right! How Hope Village decides is their business."

"How can it not matter, those goblins will take up some job positions, that cement factory, that Advanced Alchemy Workshop, those are good places; why let them take those?"

"Heh, so you've come looking for inside information, but even without them, with your craftiness, it won't be your turn anyway."

"..."

On the road, discussions escalated into quarrels.

Zhou Zhengping didn't take those petty thoughts seriously, nor did he care about some of the more cunning individuals in his team.

Hope Village had long since ceased to be the original Hope Village.

With a diverse population, it was impossible to guarantee that everyone was kind.

Hope Village already had its own system in place and if anyone dared to break the rules, there were corresponding punishments. It wasn't their job to assess whether each individual was good or not.

Even if the system in Hope Village wasn't perfect yet, there was still room for growth, and everything would get better in the future.

While Zhou Zhengping didn't pay it much mind, Smell and the others were paying attention.

But they were not unhappy about it.

For them, the complaints of others meant one thing: the treatment of goblins in Hope Village was fair, and goblins could look forward to a good life based on their own abilities.

And so, as Smell anticipated, the team slowly approached Hope Village.

Upon arrival at Hope Village, Smell and his group couldn't help but fixate on the towering and robust city walls.

In the past, such walls would only have brought despair, for entering a more powerful territory meant no hope for freedom in this life; but now! The stronger Hope Village was, the more stable their lives would be there; they only wished for it to be stronger.

Compared to the complicated feelings of the group of goblins, Zhou Zhengping's party and the other mercenary teams were quite happy.

They had finally arrived "home".

The soldiers guarding the gate naturally noticed Zhou Zhengping and promptly greeted him.

"Lieutenant Zhou, Lieutenant Alik, you're back!"

"Yes, back," Zhou Zhengping said with a relaxed tone, their mission this time had been a complete success.

However...

Zhou Zhengping felt that there was something slightly off about the aura of the gate-guarding soldiers.

"You... got promoted to intermediate?" Zhou Zhengping asked, surprised.

Seeing Zhou Zhengping's startled look, one of them chuckled, "Yes, we have been hunting Middle-level Demon Beasts in rotation recently. We were among the early batches to get promoted, so we've been guarding the city gate and maintaining order for a while."

Quite a feat to show off.

In front of former "colleagues", it especially felt like an accomplishment!

Zhou Zhengping: "..."

This bunch, too keen!

However, the territory's combat strength had obviously grown stronger.

Then thinking about the Introduction that Zhou Bai had written in his letter, Zhou Zhengping couldn't help but look forward to it.