“I’d like everyone to get an education.”
Arte cocked her head in confusion, and Till and Khamsin exchanged looks. Apparently that wasn’t standard practice. In Scuderia, the nobility hired tutors, while middle-class folk like knights or merchants sent their kids to be educated at cram schools. Under this system, only those born into affluent households could receive an education. Everyone else had a fundamentally different relationship with money and regularly juggled high expenses, making it commonplace for those born into poverty to receive no education at all.
There were exceptions to this, obviously. For example, someone could become a merchant-in-training, which would give them the opportunity to receive an education. But that sort of thing was relatively uncommon. I supposed that even Earth had entire nations with low literacy rates, so it shouldn’t be that surprising; only places with financial means could provide education to everyone, and in this world, that felt especially true.
That being said, the smarter your citizens were, the easier it was to develop your territory.
“I have to find people who can be teachers,” I muttered as I built the bare minimum of new family housing and group housing for singles. “But we just don’t have enough hands in either Seatoh Village or Espa Town. I guess my only option is to pick people out from the new batch of immigrants.”
Sounding a bit confused, Arte said, “Um, Lord Van?”
“What’s up?” I turned around and she pointed at one of the houses I’d just finished.
“Is it just me, or have you gotten very fast at building houses? Especially after all the construction work you’ve been doing?”
“Huh?” I glanced quickly around at my surroundings. She was right; it had only been an hour, and I’d already built a bunch of homes. I wasn’t just getting faster at creating weapons, but also at making buildings. I looked at Till and Khamsin, who both wore looks of fascination. “When you’re able to come up with plans and zone in on the details in your head, I guess the creation process gets faster. That would explain why I’ve gotten so good at constructing buildings. When I was making Fortress City Murcia, the walls still took quite a while, so maybe I’m just not that good at imagining the details for that sort of thing. Not yet, anyway.”
I was still working it all out in my head, so my explanation was vague, but my companions still nodded.
“Well, it would normally take years to build an entire town or castle,” Arte pointed out.
Till said, “Lord Van, if you keep pushing yourself too hard, His Majesty is going to force more work on you…”
“You are amazing, Lord Van!” said Khamsin.
Three people, three different responses, and the only open praise was from Khamsin. Till had a point, though; standing out wasn’t a great idea.
I kept working it out in my head. How should I handle it all going forward? “It feels like my imagination is the key to all of this,” I said quietly. “How detailed I can get, y’know? I bet if I go a long time without building something, my production speed will slow down. It would be in my best interest to keep making things proactively…”
The next problem: how could I increase our population? That would dictate the speed at which we took down Yelenetta, after all.
Jard
WHEN HE SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE, JARD returned home. It was his first visit to House Fertio’s manor in a year. Three months after Van was exiled to a border village, with rumors spreading about him sending his youngest son away, Marquis Fertio sent Jard and Sesto to large cities to learn how to govern. Having his second and third sons work as city governors and educating his eldest to prepare him as his successor were strategies to make it seem as if everyone was being strictly educated, not just Van. The marquis hoped to avoid any nasty rumors.
Jard, however, was panicking. For a member of the nobility, turning seventeen was a critical milestone, and yet here he was, a governor in some random city. He was a candidate to become the head of the family and both he and Sesto possessed fire magic, making them influential even among their brothers. So why was he stuck governing a city instead of receiving training to be the next head of the family?
Considering the frequency with which Jalpa was sent to war, there was no telling when he might fall in battle. That was precisely why the candidacy for his successor was so important, or so Jard had thought.
Jard governed a city in the southern end of House Fertio’s territory, the opposite direction of Van’s Seatoh Village. He heard reports of Van becoming a baron and going to battle with Yelenetta, and he saw this as a great opportunity. When the head of the household sent Jard an urgent summons to return home, it felt like the perfect chance to show his true strength as a candidate for Jalpa’s successor.
Overjoyed, he hurried home and stood before Jalpa, raising his head to announce himself. “Father! Your son, Jard Gai Fertio, has returned!”
Jalpa nodded, impassive. “How did it feel to govern a city?”
Jard’s expression grew serious. “I feel that I have learned how a lord is meant to govern his city: how to profit, and how to develop it. To further solidify our house, I am prepared now to test my strength on the battlefield.”
Narrowing his eyes, Jalpa stared down at his son as if scrutinizing every inch of him. He had assigned experienced aides to Jard and Sesto and knew that both of his sons had spent the year learning from them. He also knew that the cities to which he sent his sons were affluent and peaceful. As long as they treated the job seriously, they would have been able to produce results; it was an easy task.