Volume 1 - CH 15

The school finally attracted kids after a lot of hard work. 

The students weren’t only the kids of merchants, but also a few orphans. 

Fabian-sensei had approached them on the streets and had invited them to listen to his lessons while resting in a covered area. 

Recently, I found out that the teacher, who I thought was unreliable, actually had a great personality. 

With the increase in students, classes are now held twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and kids showed up when it suited them. 

The teacher’s teaching method was well received, and even the adults come to peek sometimes. 

It must be his calling since he became livelier the more his work increased. Chancellor Leonard had a good eye for people. 

He mainly taught language. At first, we studied the alphabet and grammar using a collection of stories. We also learnt about the moral concepts of each tale. 

Then, when we’re able to read most of the materials, like Rille-nee and I, the textbooks shifted to more difficult material such as history books. 

Once we learnt the alphabet and vocabulary, it was time to use them to acquire knowledge. 

“――― The land to the north of what is now Traus Kingdom was governed by a single ethnic group for hundreds of years.”

Even if history was a bit complicated and boring, Fabian-sensei tried to break it down as much as possible and kindly taught it as if he was reading a story. 

I had finished my work in the morning and had come to class with Rille-nee. We were sitting on the couch with a few other children and listening to Fabian-sensei. 

“They are the Traus people. They are the ancestors of our King.”

A warm summer breeze came in through the open door. It was a pleasant afternoon. The teacher’s silver hair glistened in the sunlight. 

“The continent was in the midst of a long war at that time. Many nations and ethnic groups fought and were destroyed, and many people fled for their lives to this land. The reason why everyone’s hair and eyes are different colours is because everyone has a mixture of blood from many different ethnic groups.”

The teacher pointed at each one of us with his palm as he spoke. 

We all had different hair and eye colours; red, dark brown, black and grey. I could tell everyone was diverse just by looking at the kids in this room. 

“The Traus people took in all people who had been defeated in battle, brought them together to form a nation and fought through the war.”

In conclusion. 

“That is why the royal family are great and noble.”

It was a moving tale, but I believe it could be told in another way. 

They took away the culture and language of the defeated people in exchange for a place to stay, so that they could expand their power by equally subjugating the different ethnic groups. 

The current royal family belong to the bloodline of the chief who had led the Traus people at that time, and the nobles also have the blood of the other Traus people flowing in them. 

I wondered if those who were not of the Traus bloodline were treated like low class people, but when I read the history books that had been handed to me, in great detail, I found out that those from different ethnic groups who were active in the war became nobles. 

However, according to Fabian-sensei, those people mixed with higher ranked nobles later, so the Traus people are in control of this nation today. 

It didn’t sit well with me that I was taught about worshipping bloodlines, but it wasn’t bad since I was able to learn about history in this way instead of having Gis-nee roughly explain it to me. People should know about the origins and structure of the place where they are living. 

By the way, my speciality, science, only went as far as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Science was outside of Fabian-sensei’s field of expertise. 

It seemed that the laws of physics and chemistry were the same here as it was in my previous world, so I don’t need to ask about what I know. I guess the only unique thing about this world was magic. 

Fabian-sensei put a lot of books on the bookshelves besides textbooks to enrich us with knowledge, but unfortunately there weren’t any books on magic. 

A variety of lessons were being taught, such as, language, history, morals, and etiquette, and lots of kids began showing up, but a small problem arose. 

“~~ Shut up!”

Theo interrupted Fabian-sensei during history class to yell at a kid who was sitting behind him and making a lot of scratching noises. 

The neighbourhood kid boss had grown quite fond of the teacher and had become a serious student to the point where he tried hard to read history books which he couldn’t read yet, but his temper and naughtiness hadn’t changed. 

The girl, who was scratching her body, was living on the streets and she seemed to have come here to rest rather than listen to the class. She yawned brazenly even when Theo got angry at her.

“Shut up!”

Theo became even angrier when he repeated the same words to the sleepy girl. 

Fabian-sensei quickly meditated between the two. 

“Theo and Leni don’t fight. I told you two to get along.”

“But she’s noisy! AND SHE STINKS!”

Theo complained.

The street kids don’t bathe much, so the merchant kids bullied them. 

It was a sign of luxury to have a bathtub at home, so ordinary people didn’t have the habit of taking a bath every day, instead they washed themselves with soft gel soap and a tub. We also do this. That was how we kept ourselves clean to a certain extent. 

That was why the kids from merchant families were put off by kids who had strong body odour or a head full of lice. 

There hasn’t been any serious bullying since the students change all the time, but there was a barrier between the kids. 

Rille-nee and I, who have lived on the streets before, were in a neutral position. Therefore, we often mediated between the two groups. 

We talked to the girl named Leni while Fabian-sensei was lecturing Theo.

“Are you itchy?”

“Yeah.”

Her sepia glazed eyes looked lethargic as she answered. She seemed a little older than Theo and me, but she had the withered aura of an old person. 

Her skin was tanned, and she looked fatigued and dirty. 

“You shouldn’t scratch too much. You’ll rip your skin. Shall we wash up?”

“Wash? I don’t want to use soap. It stinks.”

Leni frowned at Rille-nee’s suggestion. 

Soap usually smelled good, but the soap sold in this city stunk. It smelled strongly like oil-based clay, but it does remove dirt. 

I also thought it was disgusting when I first used it after Gis-nee taught me how. It felt as if I was trying to smear gel and sludge on my body.

“Have you used it before, Leni?”

Leni surprisingly shook her head. I suppose poor families don’t use it just because normal families do. 

“No, but I smelled it when someone was washing outside. They smelled worse than me.”

She tried to scratch her back while saying this, but Rille-nee stopped her. It could get infected if she scratches herself in her filthy condition. 

I don’t know how to feel about Theo pointing out her body odour in front of her but keeping clean would be good for Leni and the other street kids. It would be scary if they were to be crammed up in a small space like this classroom whilst with an infectious disease. Also, if this developed into full-blown bullying, the students will decrease again and then the teacher will cry.

I should gather up all the kids who come to this school and have them wash themselves.

“It smells a little when you’re using it, but it smells fine after you rinse it off.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Leni resisted violently. 

I have an idea. 

“Would you be willing to use it if it smells good?”

Leni’s glazed eyes widened slightly. 

“Is there one that smells good?”

“Only if you make it, so let’s make some.”

“What? You’re doing magic again?”

Theo was half listening to our conversation and joined in. Did Fabian-sensei finish with his lecture?

His dark eyes shone with anticipation and the other kids, who had been watching us, walked up to us. 

“Yeah, we’ll do it together. Help me gather the ingredients I’m about to list.”

“Okay!”

Theo and the other kids energetically ran out of the classroom as soon as they heard this. 

“We’re still in the middle of class~!”

I realised where we were when I heard Fabian-sensei cry sadly, but it was too late. 

Well, this was also a part of class.