'Following time' was originally a characteristic and privilege of the nobles because only the nobles had the tools and methods to accurately calculate time. Whether it was the magic timepiece or the mechanical clock from the Dwarf Kingdom, they were not available to the commoners. Therefore, the nobles also regarded 'following time' as part of the upper class, as etiquette and rules. On the other hand, the commoners simply relied on the sun and the stars to roughly judge the time and arrange their own production activities. This was the norm in any noble domain other than Cecil's.
However, in Cecil's domain, everyone's life strictly followed 'time'. When to start work, when to stop work, when to eat in the cafeteria, when to start night classes. Everything had a precise time scale, from the officials to the commoners.
This was a change brought about by Gwen to reverse the chaotic, primitive, and inefficient production model. Only an accurate timetable could ensure the smooth operation of the factory, and only an accurate timetable could make people realize the importance of efficiency. At first, many commoners were puzzled by this requirement. It was only because of the great prestige of the lord that they followed the new rules in a daze. But now, the word 'punctuality' had become a familiar word in the domain. Even the children understood the necessity of being punctual.
Because they had to be punctual to school — earlier than the adults, they had to study longer, and the requirements were stricter.
Gwen had not implemented a full-time school for the time being, so the children in Cecil's domain had to help their parents at home half of the day. After lunch, they had to report to the 'Cecil General Academy' in the southern part of the domain.
It was a brand-new school built with bricks and cement. The main building was the most magnificent and largest building in the domain, except for the various factories. The flag of Cecil's domain was flying in the school square, and the huge and majestic emblems of Cecil and Ansu were printed on the walls. Gwen believed that a sense of honor and belonging must be cultivated from an early age. Compared to the adults who had a fixed worldview, it was more important for the children to have this awareness early. The distinctive and majestic school logo also helped to increase the enthusiasm of the people to 'enroll': to receive an education arranged by the lord in such a magnificent facility would be a very glorious thing in many people's minds.
Even if they did not feel glorious, Gwen wanted to instill in them the idea that it was a glorious thing to do.
The adults' night school started after work in the evening, and the children came to school in the afternoon. They would study there until the sun went down, and then they would have a free dinner with the teachers (this dinner was one of the reasons why many adults were willing to send their children to school). After dinner, they would continue to study until the adults' night school was over, and they went home with their parents.
The adults' minds were fixed, and it was quite difficult for them to accept new knowledge. So Gwen's requirement for most of the adult workers in the domain was to be able to read and count, at least to be able to understand the operation instructions on the machines in the factory. But children were precious' blank paper '. They had not yet been polished by life, and they could still accept flexible new ideas and knowledge. So Gwen had always attached great importance to children's education.
At the beginning of the territory, there were almost no children in the town because those who escaped from the old Cecil's domain were mostly strong adults. Although women and children were evacuated first, under the erosion of the demonic tide, most of the weaker children did not survive. It was not until several population expansions that Cecil's domain finally had a generation of minors again. There were slaves who were sold with their parents (if it were not for Gwen's emancipation system, these children and their descendants would have been slaves for generations). There were also homeless people rescued by Joan and Tom. These children still had to live in the buffer camp with their parents, and they were arranged to go to school every day.
Today, they were going to add a new and special course.
Santis Said was nervously tidying his clothes in the teacher's office. The office was very simple, but there was a mirror as tall as a man. On the top of the mirror, there was a motto given by the lord to the teachers of the academy: "Use your body as a mirror".
Santis tidied up his somewhat old robe and smoothed out the wrinkles on it a little clumsily. He saw the motto above the mirror: "There is wisdom in the lord's words," but he still did not quite understand why it was here. However, compared to understanding the sentence, he was more worried about whether he could handle the first class smoothly.
He was going to teach a group of poor children and let them learn the knowledge that even the children of rich merchants and Knight might not be able to grasp. Could he really do it?
He used to be a tutor for some merchants and small nobles, and the children of those rich people were more or less "educated". However, teaching them to read was still a tough job. Now, he was going to teach a group of children of serfs, slave workers, indentured slaves, and free people. The young level-two arcanist could not imagine how he was going to teach them the first class.
However, the bell was about to ring. Through the window, he saw that the old hunchback who was in charge of ringing the bell had already walked to the bronze bell hanging in the yard with a small hammer. There was no point in hesitating at this moment.
Santis Said tidied his collar for the last time. Then, with a determined look on his face, he picked up the draft and the lesson plan that he had prepared and pushed open the door of the office, striding to the children's classroom.
When he opened the door, he saw two apprentices who were cleaning the classroom looking at him in confusion. He had entered the wrong door.
"I … I'm sorry!" The young arcanist did not have the arrogance and momentum of a professional spellcaster at all. He apologized nervously, his face red with embarrassment. Before the two apprentices realized what had happened, he had already fled back to the corridor.
The bell was already ringing, but Santis had to push the wrong door twice before he finally found the classroom that he was supposed to be in. He pushed open the door in a panic and was finally relieved when he saw a room full of dirty children of different ages in patched clothes sitting in the classroom.
The children who came to class were noisy. Although it was not the first time that they had come to school, the word "rules" still did not enter their minds. These children from different places and different ages treated the classroom as a place to gather. Their parents might be serfs, freedmen, slaves, or even refugees, but they did not have the concept of such things themselves. All the children were mixed together and became a complete mess.
Usually, the teachers in the general studies class could use their loud voices to calm the children, but Santis Said did not have such a loud voice (or the courage corresponding to a loud voice). When he pushed the door open, the classroom was indeed quiet for a moment, but that was only because the children stopped talking out of curiosity. Soon, the noise started again. This time, the focus of the children's discussion was not dinner and mud but the old magic robe that Santis was wearing.
"Look! The new teacher! "
"The new teacher is wearing a magic robe. It must be a magic robe!"
"The new teacher is a master sorcerer! He must be able to conjure a dragon … "
"Shh, you're dead if he's angry!"
"That robe is so old …"
The older children still looked at Santis' robe and the short staff at his waist in fear, but the younger children were completely fearless. They had not learned to immediately bow to a master sorcerer like their parents did. Similarly, Santis had not mastered the "boldness" of a common sorcerer to throw a fireball at an unruly peasant and blow them up into pieces.
He could only release a few Arcane Missiles a day.
He could only open his mouth in vain. His voice was so low that it was hard to hear from the first row. "Quiet down … Everyone, quiet down. It's time for class …"
No one listened to him. As expected, the children of the common people were even more difficult to deal with.
Santis felt sweat seeping out of his face. He felt that he might have failed his first lesson, but a handkerchief was suddenly handed to him from the side. He looked over in surprise and saw a girl with big eyes holding up the handkerchief and looking at him.
This girl was a little thin, but she was wearing a very clean and tidy cotton dress. There was also a small hairpin on her head, which meant that her family background was not bad. She passed the handkerchief forward again and opened her mouth to make "ah ah" sounds.
"Thank … Thank you …" Santis did not expect a child to be so sensible. He immediately thanked her and took the handkerchief, smiling as he wiped his sweat. "You didn't shout like the others. You're so sensible …"
As soon as he finished speaking, a boy next to him suddenly shouted, "Because Pea is mute!"
The girl with big eyes immediately glared at the boy, who quickly shrank his neck. "Sorry, Sister Pea …"
The girl was called Pea. Was she mute?
Santis was stunned for a moment. He remembered that he had seen the strange name "Pea" in the student register before, but he did not expect that there would be a mute among his students.
While he was in a daze for two seconds, Santis suddenly saw a small hand reaching out from under the podium from the corner of his eye. The hand was holding a slate used for writing, and on the slate were a few crooked words: "Cast a spell, sir."
Then the slate was taken back so quickly that Santis did not even see who handed it to him.
He was stunned for a moment and finally reacted. Then he raised his right hand slightly. He only had a few precious chances to cast a spell every day, and he used it in his first class.
A small ball of arcane energy flew out of his hand and into the air of the classroom. Then it exploded with a bang, and the scattered magic sparks were like fireworks in the room.
All the children fell silent in an instant.
They looked at their new teacher in awe, as if they had finally realized and confirmed that he was a real mage.
Just like Ms. Heti, he was a sorcerer.
The children looked at each other, and Santis finally knew what he had to do.
"Children." The young level-two arcanist smiled. He had forgotten about his experience as a private tutor for the nobles and the merchants, as well as the meaningless preamble and the etiquette of the first contact. Instead, he said what he wanted to say the most at this moment, "Let me tell you how to recognize the runes, and how they work."
These children might not be able to cast a spell with their hands for the rest of their lives.
Santis turned around and wrote down the title of the first class on the blackboard with a plaster pen.
No one in history had ever thought of teaching the mysteries of magic to everyone without reservation.
The basic runes of earth, water, wind, and fire were transferred from the pen to the blackboard, followed by the derivative runes of frost, lightning, and other fields.
However, these children could remember the knowledge with their heads and calculate it with pen and paper. Miss Jenny had proved the value of this "calculation", and the lord also believed in its value.
Turning around, Santis saw dozens of curious, focused eyes — eyes that could be focused.
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