NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43
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It would take about a week and a few days to travel to Earl Rupert Beaufort’s territory, and I have to say, the experience so far was bloody mind-numbing, in that time I had already read the books I brought along with me and I wished I had brought more.
On the bright side, some of the monotony was broken as we visited new towns and villages. Especially the towns, when we reached them, Dad would bring me around to see the sights and try a few of the popular restaurants. If there was a noble in town, they would usually host us for the night, while the commoners were put up in the local inns, and accommodations were paid for by the Ironcrest family of course.
The only notable or slightly exciting thing that happened was our escorts chasing off a pack of Gnolls that were keeping an eye on us, Dad says that these monsters would usually use blitz or distraction tactics to pick off the vulnerable or tail of a pack, which to the Gnolls, the convoy kind of looks like a pack.
After the escorts scared them off with a charge, the Gnolls were reported to the Mayor of the next town we arrived at for the territory’s lord to deal with.
Another way we used to kill time was car, or should I say, carriage games like I Spy or 20 Questions, and talking… lots of talking.
During 1 such talk, I asked about Emma and her siblings’ future education, she is just 6 months younger than me but born in different a year, so she would be starting her schooling next year.
Unlike nobles and the rich, formal education was not a social obligation for normal commoners, for your everyday commoner, the only education that was needed was to learn how to read, and know enough math not to get scammed while trading.
Dad told me not to worry, Emma and her siblings were practically taught beside me and my siblings and would have no problem earning a scholarship spot when their time came. It also helped that Emma would have the advantage of now being able to cast 1st circle magic due to Mum’s tutelage.
I can still vividly remember it was just under a year ago, Emma’s excited face with her cute cow ears and tail waggling all over the place when she first became able to sense mana and was guided through her first use of 0th circle magic. Naturally, this makes Charlotte jealous of Emma having something more in common with her big brother, and asked Mum to teach her magic.
And when Charlotte asked, Cedric, Otto, and Heidi turned on their puppy eyes to the max and asked my mum to teach them too. Their puppy eyes easily convinced Mum to agree to teach them, but she used magic as bait to force the kids to learn their letters and numbers and eat their vegetables first.
Another thing Dad let me know about during our long talks was some of the politics I may face when I get to the Royal Academy. Apparently, there are 2 factions in the kingdom, which naturally bleeds over into the Royal Academy.
The 1st faction is the Royalist faction, the one my family is currently in, and the 2nd faction is the Noble faction, which by all accounts seems to be backed by the Zagraf church that the king is trying to suppress.
The brief summary of the goals of these 2 factions, at least as far as I got before the boredom of hearing about politics started making white noise in my head, was the Royalist faction, as implied by the name, supported the Royal family. As for the Noble faction, Dad was not so sure about their goals, it was either to put one of their own on the thrown, through marriage… or other ways, or to have the king as a puppet. But seeing the current king’s antagonism with the Zagraf church, that was not likely going to happen.
Dad also warned me of what I would be seeing at school. Knowing that I prefer to do for myself what most nobles would leave for their servants to do for them, he forewarns me of noble kids having servants in all but name following them around.
What is so special about servants following their young master/mistress around you may ask, well, officially servants are not allowed on campus. Those attending the Royal Academy are supposed to learn to be independent, but there are grey areas that are impossible to enforce.
Although it is frowned upon, many nobles from both factions, mainly the Noble faction, used the scholarship to get servants for their sons and daughters. The scholarship that is supposed to be for those who could not afford it but had proven themselves to be smart, was instead used to receive bribes and favors from government officials and merchant houses who wanted to send their own children to the Royal Academy, because despite being rich, not just anyone could enroll at the Royal Academy, but getting a scholarship spot sure helps.
This sucks, I know because I knew some rich kids in my previous life that always had a hired maid around and they were bratty, now I am going to encounter noble kids who did not even need to wipe their own ass for their whole life, this is going to be insufferable.
And I don’t know how effective the child of a government official or merchant is going to be as a servant, it would be like a pampered brat serving a bratier pampered brat.
That is when a thought came to me, “Dad, aren't we doing the same thing? When Emma and the others come of age and get a scholarship, people are going to think our family is abusing the scholarship system too.” I said with a frown.
Dad laughs as he pets my head and asks, “You don’t intend to order Emma around like a slave do you?”
Naturally, I shake my head, “Of course not, we may not be related but she is like a little sister to me.”
“Yeah, little sister, let's go with that.” Dad says with a smirk. I know what you are getting at old man, will remember that. “Just treat them like you usually do and things will turn out fine. Besides, at the rate she is learning, I don’t think she will be skipping grades like you, so both of you will barely see each other.”
Well, I guess that makes sense, when Emma starts schooling, I will most likely be 2nd Year of higher education while she will be 1st Year of lower education.
After that conversation with Dad, the ride was mostly quiet until the convoy pulled to the side of the road for a lunch break. The servants following us start a fire and get a simple stew going, after it is done, the whole convoy gets together for a meal, even us nobles.
Dad advised me to get to know and make friends with potential scholarship students, hopefully, some of them would return to our territory, but that is not likely, the pay and prestige of nobles and companies closer to the capital are far too attractive for the younger folks who recently graduated.
*Sigh*, such is the plight of a new border noble, we do not have enough wealth or clout to attract hot-shot Royal Academy graduates.