Firearms in a Fantasy World

Chapter 52: Collaboration 2

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Paul was intrigued by Hansel's words.

Faced with the widespread illiteracy in his domain, Paul found it difficult to articulate his frustrations.

Various workshops needed expansion, apprenticeship training couldn't rely solely on oral tradition; with the increasing number of craftsmen, supervisors at all levels needed to at least understand the roster; the income and expenses of the domain were becoming increasingly complex, and Philip, the old steward, was overwhelmed managing the accounts alone; the intelligence system needed enhancement, clearly requiring not just literate individuals; he also planned to establish a modern administrative system, which would necessitate a large number of clerks.

The "Recruitment Decree" had been posted early on, and many had come forward to apply, but it still couldn't meet the current needs of the domain.

Before marching to Port Frand, he had approached Leonard, the abbot of the North Bank Monastery, hoping to recruit a batch of cultured monks for his service. Initially rejected by Leonard, who cited monks not interfering in worldly matters.

He had to change his strategy, claiming to be preparing to establish a school to spread God's gospel, teaching the villagers to read so they could understand the scriptures.

Upon hearing this, Abbot Leonard became somewhat intrigued. Paul further promised unlimited supply of new type paper to the North Bank Monastery's workshops, eventually convincing the abbot to agree: he would not interfere with the personal choices of the monks, and how many people they could recruit depended entirely on Paul's ability.

Thus, a school named "Weis Academy" was established on the lakeside.

During the day, Paul forced the residents of Alden Town to send their children to the academy to learn how to read, and at night, he had the army search house by house to drag the 40-year-old adults who were idle at home to night school.

Paul managed to recruit ten young monks from the monastery by coaxing and lying. Most of them were just adults sent to the monastery by their families to become monks when they were young. The boring days of praying and chanting every day made these young people very curious about the outside world.

Of course, as Abbot Leonard said, "Their faith in the Lord is not firm enough and they cannot resist the temptations of the outside world."

All ten young men were stuffed into the academy by Paul, transforming from monks to teachers. Five of them took turns during the day and night to teach the townspeople how to read.

Upon returning to Alden Town after the campaign in Frand, for some reason, the recently appointed military priest Morrison was appointed as the headmaster of the academy, under the orders of Earl, responsible for formulating the curriculum and writing the textbooks. The obscure and profound scriptures were obviously too profound for the newly literate townspeople, but stories of heroic deeds led by the great lord against pirates were much easier to understand.

Sometimes, Morrison personally taught and brainwashed... Ahem, conducted certain ideological education for teachers and students.

But all this took time, and Paul was already impatient.

Seeing the Earl standing up, Hansel secretly rejoiced, guessing correctly.

He had visited the academy established by Earl Paul. While it occasionally happened that some nobles educated a few qualified commoners to show their kindness, it was mostly to cultivate capable servants. However, like Earl Grayman, promoting education and culture on such a large scale in his own domain was unprecedented.