The Demon Saint is Missing, so I Ran to Another World

The First Day of Chersea's School Year (Part 1)

**Kuro**

Hmm...hair? Newly-combed, alright.

Beard? Just shaved it.

How about the clothes? Ah, freshly-dried from the clothesline. I think Eris did a great job in applying perfume on it. I mean, wow...I could smell my dress from outside my classroom.

"Or, I guess she did go a little overboard with this..."

Anyway, it's been around ten months since I returned from Cherwind. While things went back as usual, there were some matters that changed significantly. First among their concerns was the beginning of Chersea's first-ever 'school-year'. See, while there were nobles and royalty who could read and write, education in this place was limited only to the elites...or the elite of the elites. In fact, some noble families—especially those from lesser nobility of the far-flung counties, duchies and/or regions—still suffer from illiteracy.

If that's the situation with the rulers, then how much more were the common folk? Well, commoners learn about important subjects like 'language' and 'arithmetic' only through their 'baptism by fire', or their parents and/or 'masters', who passed that knowledge to them. As such, the masses had varying degrees of skills and expertise in their crafts, which could greatly affect Chersea's progress in the future.

Especially when Maddie wants to emulate what I've done in Cherwind, where machinery and industries are blooming.

And so, the 'Academy' that I founded seeks to increase the literacy levels of Chersea. Coming from a world that promotes the 'education for all' principle, I think that public education could help this land progress further if talented individuals were leading the government, instead of people from privileged backgrounds. Also, factories and machines needed educated people to operate, so it's like hitting two birds in one stone.

"..."

Honestly, it felt like I didn't rest when I returned. In the ten months that followed, I'd been busy searching for potential teachers for my school. See, the job of 'teaching' in Chersea was considered 'new' and 'odd'—which was kind of strange given that they had 'scholars' who study under a 'master scholar', or 'governors' who teach noble children literacy, arithmetic and other important subjects deemed to prepare them to rule over their people.

In any case, to find competent teachers, I had to determine which subjects were to be taught in the academy. For this, I identified 'language', 'reading', 'arithmetic', 'magical science', 'history', and 'ethics and manners' as core disciplines. Then, 'military science', 'home-keeping', 'games and sports', 'music' and 'arts' for optional courses. Once I knew what should be taught, the next step was to find good people to pass their knowledge.

Lady Eris became the history teacher, as it was our agreement prior to my disappearance. Sure, I knew she's young for such responsibility, but I think the Duchess of Braunhauer could be relied upon for these matters. The Paladin Corps captain, Lady Sylvia Henristone, volunteered to teach 'military science', while I would handle 'language' and 'reading', having had to spend several months to understand the basics of Chersean language for it.

Now, the relative ease of finding teachers for the said subjects led me to overestimate the attitudes of the Chersean people regarding my plans and goals in establishing the Academy. After settling the matters with Lady Eris and Lady Henristone, the search went from 'easy mode' to 'brutal mode' really quick. The nobles and royalty either scoffed or were horrified at the idea of educating the common folk. Most of them believed the masses were incapable of learning their 'complex' knowledge and skills, and so they forbid even the scholars to talk to me.