Chapter 26

After the harvest festival, around mid-October, as the fields of winter wheat began to be plowed, I considered the next plan following the success of distillation and the completion of the soap.

In a rural village like this, work decreases as winter approaches. Winter wheat is planted by November, and during the winter, the main tasks are taking care of livestock, repairing farming tools, and making small daily necessities. Compared to the busy farming season, the workload is much lighter, and naturally, the amount of work for children also decreases.

I thought about using this period for education. Fortunately, there is a suitable candidate for a teacher, the idle Lidi. Additionally, Kate, the wife of the village’s intellectual, Nicholas, and his daughter Jean, could also be candidates. Taking people away might cause the village’s financial management to lag, but I thought I could help with that. I am not good at bookkeeping, but the accounting here is not that complex. Basic income and expenditure calculations are just arithmetic, and for a village of this size, it’s not that difficult. For future predictions, which are probably not being done, creating simple tables and graphs would be enough, and I think it would be better for the village if I did it.

Before talking to my father, I went to confirm Lidi’s willingness, the top candidate for a teacher. Lidi has quite a lot of free time. Perhaps due to the characteristics of her long-lived species, she doesn’t seem to have the drive to use her time effectively. When she has nothing to do, she is either reading a book, watching our training, or chatting with the mothers. I asked her directly, “Would you be willing to teach the village children?”

She looked puzzled and asked, “The village children? What would you teach them?”

“Basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. If there’s time, I’d like you to teach them some history of this world.”

When I told her this, she had a slightly troubled expression.

“Hmm. I’m okay with just the children... but not in front of adults...”

It seems she is still not comfortable with the way people look at her, especially the gaze of adult men.

“What about children up to about ten years old, like my brother? No adults will be present.”

She was still humming, but she became a bit more positive and said, “Well, I’ll think about it.”

I started to organize the necessary items for education. I plan to conduct the lessons by touring each area. When I visited Gordon’s house before, it was decided that the children would be gathered at one of the houses, so teaching there would be good. This way, I would be dealing with groups of about ten children at a time.

(I want to build a school in the future, but during the busy farming season, even children are valuable laborers, which makes it difficult. The other issue is what to do with children over ten, who are expected to work, and adults who want to study.)

For this, I plan to create age-based classes and ask Kate or Jean to be teachers. Nicholas could also do it, but I think women would be less intimidating for the students.

Next, for the teaching materials, I can make simple booklets by hand for reading and writing. Since I can teach about ten children at a time, that number of booklets should be sufficient. For arithmetic, it’s better to start with the basics of addition, subtraction, and memorizing the multiplication table. I’ll think about history later, but for now, teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic is the priority.

I created a simple plan and went to my father.

My father was in the office, discussing this year’s harvest and grain reserves with Nicholas and Einos. When I spoke up, he said, “You came at just the right time” and included me in the conversation. The gist was that this year’s wheat and barley harvests were so abundant that the reserves were too high, and they were considering how much land to plant next year. The village has been experiencing consecutive good harvests, and the issue was how much pasture to convert into wheat fields.

(Converting pasture to farmland is difficult. Indeed, it’s hard to plow by hand. But if there’s a bad harvest, it’s a problem, and if there’s a good harvest, there’s no place to store it. Wheat can be made into white beer like Weizen... No, that’s not good. Maybe I’m being influenced by Bertram, as I tend to think of everything in terms of alcohol lately.)

“Before that, I have a question. Have you considered selling the wheat in other areas?”

My father shook his head.

“The transportation costs are too high. Even if we take it to Kyrnarek, a town of three thousand people near Rasmor village, it won’t fetch much.”

“I want to make something with wheat. If it’s successful, it will have a higher value and bring in cash.”

My father and Nicholas leaned in, asking, “What kind of thing?”

After a brief pause, laughter filled the room. After a good laugh,

“I want to make noodles. I’ll grind the wheat into flour, mix it with water and salt, and stretch it into thin strands. Once dried, it can be boiled and eaten as a staple food.”

Since no one knew what noodles were, I explained that they are long, thin foods made from ground grain. The three of them were still tilting their heads, but they wouldn’t understand until they tasted them.

By the way, all the wheat grown in this village is for making bread. The flour used for bread is strong flour, which should be the same as the flour used for dried pasta. From what I vaguely remember, fresh pasta is made with weak flour, and udon with medium flour. Dried pasta is made with a different type of flour. Since I didn’t plan to make it myself, my memory might be wrong.

Dried pasta, however, adds value, so it’s likely to be profitable even considering transportation costs. It also takes up less storage space than wheat and has a longer shelf life, making it effective for reserves. However, I don’t know the storage period for wheat, so I’m not sure if this is true.

The problem is that I’ve never made dried pasta before.

The pasta machine is not a complex device, so I think Bertram could make it easily. However, I need to test if pasta can be made first. For drying, I plan to use magic. I once tried using fire and wind magic alternately to see if I could dry something. It used a lot of magic power, but I managed to dry a wet cloth, so it should work for noodles too.

I decided to test the noodles later and then confirmed the approach to the planting area. The biggest bottleneck, it seems, is the difficulty of converting pasture to farmland.

For this, I was considering improving farming tools.

In this village, horses and cattle are not used for farming. Cattle are raised for meat and milk, and horses are used to pull carts and sold as riding horses.

“In this village, horses and cattle are not used for farming. If we use horses, it could significantly improve the effort required for land conversion.”

My father asked, “How would you use horses?” as if he couldn’t imagine it.

Strangely, in this world, including this village, there is no culture of using horses for farming. The reason is unknown, but it seems they are stuck with the idea that “horses are for transportation.”

I have a hypothesis about this. The main horse-producing area is the grasslands in the center of the Kaelm Empire, where there are nomadic tribes. Along with these nomadic tribes, there are centaurs, which were a powerful force supporting the expansion of the Kaelm Empire. Therefore, horses were seen as powerful tools of war or for transportation, and were not used or allowed for farming. Additionally, in every country, cavalry is seen as elite, so horses are often associated with transportation.

“To put it simply, just attach a plow to the back of a cart.”

I drew a picture of a cart and added a plow to the back.

“The cart bed is not necessary, so we can remove it and add a board and plow teeth to turn the soil deeply.”

I added improvements to the cart, such as making the wheels thicker and lowering the plow part.

Nicholas was impressed, saying, “Indeed, with this, the horses can plow the soil.”

My father nodded and asked if I could draw a more detailed picture.

“I want to show it to the craftsmen Craig and Bertram. Can you draw a more detailed picture?”

“I can, but for the plow part, it might be good to ask the farmers. I don’t know how deep the soil needs to be turned or how large the clumps need to be broken down.”

We decided to draw the picture later, and I started talking about my purpose for coming, which was education.

“I want to teach the villagers reading, writing, and arithmetic...”

I explained my idea to my father, Nicholas, and Einos. Nicholas nodded in agreement, but my father and Einos were a bit puzzled.

“Why would they need to read and write? In a village, they don’t need much arithmetic, right?”

My father didn’t understand the purpose of education.

“That’s true... If farmers can read and write, they can record how they succeeded during a good harvest and how they minimized damage during a bad harvest. If they record the results of trying new methods, such as changing the timing of planting wheat or the way they plow the soil, they can share this information.”

“True, but isn’t oral tradition sufficient?”

“It’s sufficient for a short period, but after five, ten, or twenty years, fewer people will remember. If they can read and write, they can record it, and this will help pass down knowledge.”

My father hummed, “True, but...”

“For example, in this village, we change what we grow on the land each year. It’s a four-year cycle, so they remember what happened four years ago. But after eight years, the memory becomes unreliable.”

My father nodded, “Yes, that’s true.”

“If the climate is stable every year, it’s not a problem, but the amount of sunlight and temperature vary each year. The results can differ based on the person, so if they record it, they can use the successful methods when similar conditions arise, making the harvest more efficient. Of course, this depends on how well they record it.”

“Understood. The same goes for arithmetic. It’s necessary to calculate the harvest from each field and the differences.”

My father finally understood.

“That’s right. Even when buying something, they can calculate the necessary amount, reducing waste. Even basic arithmetic can be very useful.”

My father understood the necessity of education but was skeptical about the method.

“It’s good to do it, but the problem is the method. I can order the villagers, but I can’t force them too much. Do you understand why?”

“Yes. If it interferes with their work, it would be counterproductive.”

I explained that Lidi would teach children up to ten years old, and for now, the lessons would be one-hour tours in each area during the winter. For older children and adults who want to learn, Kate and Jean would help.

“Lidi is on board, right? Nicholas, Einos, please confirm with Kate and Jean. Of course, prioritize their household duties.”

The two nodded.

“As usual, we can’t spend much money. For now, we need paper for teaching materials and sandboards for writing practice, right?”

“Yes. I plan to gradually increase the materials, but I don’t think it will require much money. There are two things I want to make...”

I was thinking of making a blackboard and chalk. The blackboard can be made by polishing a wooden board and painting it black, and the chalk can be made by crushing and baking limestone, which is nearby.

“That should be fine. Nicholas, I’m sorry, but can you help again?”

Nicholas smiled and nodded.

“I’m in full agreement with this plan. I can do my work because I studied abroad in Doctus. There are surely talented people in the village. This will be very beneficial for the prosperity of the Rockhart domain.”

Nicholas understood my intentions accurately.

(He’s really talented. Nicholas understands the need for a school. Maybe I should ask him to think about a plan to build a school in the village.)

Thus, education in Rasmor village began.

In December, the touring lessons started. As a four-year-old, I couldn’t join, but I knew the general outline from Lidi’s stories.

During the first lesson, the children were so fascinated by the sandboards that they hardly did any studying. The small children started playing with the sandboards, and the others followed, causing a commotion. Lidi didn’t get angry and let them play.

When I asked her why,

“Because it’s fun to see new things. It’s natural for small children.”

“But then they won’t learn anything, right?”

“It’s okay. If I tell them interesting stories or mix in games like you did, they listen quite well.”

It seems she is using games like the one I used to teach Mel and the others—throwing stones into a circle with letters written on it—and teaching letters through songs.

After about ten days of lessons, she came up with new teaching materials, making blocks by carving wood and writing pictures and letters on wooden boards. It was a bit disappointing that I spent less time with her, but seeing her lively and engaged, I felt it was a good decision to encourage her to become a teacher.

(So far, things are going well, but I hope it continues smoothly.)

I was happy that things were going well, but I was also worried about potential pitfalls, remembering that things haven’t always gone smoothly in the past.

All metalwork is handled by the dwarf Bertram. The reason for not using horses for farming is a bit forced. There are horses and feed, but perhaps the soil is soft like in southern Europe, so there was no need.

I look forward to your comments and feedback.