Chapter 15: Going to School

Slaves are nothing in this era.

But if one insists on classifying slaves of this era, they roughly fall into two categories.

One category is pure human race domestic slaves, and the other is humanoid slaves captured during external wars.

Humanoid slaves are considered inferior even to pure human slaves; although both are slaves, the former occupy the bottom tier and are despised even among slaves.

Therefore, after they watched a fellow canine half-beastman who fought back against a guard get beheaded in public, all the canine half-beastman slaves fell silent.

Even though they had heavy work every day and were still underfed, at least they could barely stay alive.

They would not simply drop dead by the roadside.

That was, for now, barely acceptable…

“Whether you are half-beastman or pure human, once you are my subjects you must obey my rules; defiance and rebellion will be punished by death! If anyone commits this crime again, the beheading will be replaced by boiling!”

Farra looked at the shivering crowd and declared coldly.

During the next 2 days, the remaining half-beastmen behaved much more obediently.

It was not only the half-beastmen. Farra’s public warning also impressed on everyone else the idea that they must not rebel or offend their superiors, anchoring that rule with the image of severe punishment.

Before this, the near-illiterate populace only knew that offending a noble meant a beating or possibly the slaughter of their entire family, yet they had no idea what specifically counted as an offense.

So every time Farra executed someone he was drawing a clear boundary that must not be crossed.

For the moment he had no way to codify these rules in writing. He could only rely on real actions as deterrence for now.

Two days later Axi came to the canine half-beastmen and said, “You have behaved well these past 2 days; our Lord is generous and knows you work harder than the others, so starting today your daily rations will be doubled!”

Hearing this, the canine half-beastman slaves froze for a moment. Then one of them fell to his knees with a thud and shouted in broken speech, “Thank you for the Lord’s reward!”

The others followed suit, kneeling and shouting while trembling with excitement. The huge reversal triggered an intense sense of devotion.

…

Rewind to the day before. The day after he settled how to handle the canine half-beastmen, Farra had Freya put on proper clothes and took her out. Their destination was clear.

Cagary City.

This is the only stone city on the far eastern edge of East Mead. It has towering stone walls, and inside are traveling merchants, shops, and the courtyards built by the wealthy.

Freya had no idea why Farra had brought her here. Farra did not mention it at all on the way. Not until he brought her to the destination…

“Chur… !”

Seeing that familiar building, Freya almost cried out on reflex. Farra swiftly covered her mouth with his hand. He then said, “Starting today you will attend the school run by the parish church.”

Hearing this, Freya’s eyes changed and she stared straight at Farra. … Are you kidding me? Isn’t this walking into the lion’s den!

Farra explained unhurriedly. “First, you don’t need to worry about exposing your identity; you aren’t that famous yet, and you know very well how far Relwo, the royal capital, is from here.”

…

“As long as you don’t reveal yourself, there will be no problem… no one here knows you. Next, I am not sending you to study the so-called doctrines of the Tenra Church; once inside, focus on learning basic reading, writing, listening and speaking, and master as many versatile languages as possible.”

…

“I also heard they teach basic arithmetic and geometry; that is what you should concentrate on. Don’t worry about where those things come from, just memorize them all, and once you have, I will pick you up.”

…

Because her mouth was covered, Freya could not ask questions. Yet Farra seemed to know exactly what she wanted to ask and answered everything on his own.

“I don’t need an illiterate retainer; besides the above, you must closely study the laws of each region and memorize them all.”

Hearing that, Freya instantly widened her eyes, removed Farra’s hand and said, “Memorize them all? How is that possible!”

“I don’t care; you have to memorize them anyway. After you finish the common laws, memorize the various theological canons as well… they will be useful. Once all that is done, study astronomy and music on the side.”

“Are you crazy? How could anyone learn all that?”

“Are you saying you are an idiot?”

“Of course I’m not an idiot… but I’m no genius either… I might not learn all of it, and why do I have to learn this stuff anyway… Aren’t I a slave?”

“Precisely because you are a slave you must learn; I don’t need useless slaves… or do you plan to become a construction laborer?”

…

Freya lowered her head in silence for a moment, then looked up at Farra’s calm face and asked, “This will cost a lot of money, right?”

“I will pay.”

“…The money you spend might all go to waste in the end…”

“Then do your best not to waste it. Let me be clear: to give you access to as much knowledge as possible, I will be spending no less than 10 silver coins.”

“10… !?”

“So don’t disappoint me. Any other questions? If not, you should head over.”

“Wait… hold on…”

Freya grabbed Farra’s wrist and asked anxiously, “What if it all ends up wasted?” The burden of 10 silver coins felt far too heavy for her.

Farra glanced back at her and replied casually, “Then it is wasted.”

……

After saying that, Farra ignored the stunned Freya and pulled her into the church. After making several rounds, silver coins began to vanish from Farra’s purse. He greased the palms of every cleric in the church… not by handing over money directly, but by donating under the name of “atonement.”

“I hope my piety will secure her a peaceful study life inside the school.”

“Of course, Baron Jago; the Lord protects all His faithful.”

“I hope you can assign her several teachers; ideally, she should receive instruction in all 7 arts, high and low.”

“Given Cagary City’s conditions, I do not have that many devout believers willing to spread the gospel.”

“I am willing to add 5 silver coins to the annual tuition.”

“Baron Jago, I clearly see your faith; surely God will shine His light on believers such as you.”

“Then I leave it to you.”

“I am merely fulfilling my duty.”

After leaving the church, Farra finally escorted Freya to the church-run school.

“Didn’t you say it was 10 silver coins?” Freya asked again only after they had left the church.

“If that is not enough, I will raise it to 20.”

“…That’s too much.”

“That is my business.”

Farra gave Freya no right to refuse. After delivering her to the school, Farra said, “Study for one year first and we will see how it goes.”

“…If I really can’t learn anything, don’t come asking me to repay you…”

“Humph, you already belong to me… why would I ask you for money? If it yields no results, you can work to repay me for the rest of your life.”

With a soft snort, Farra finished all the paperwork and left the school under Freya’s gaze. Just now another dozen silver coins had disappeared from his purse…

If one wants to live comfortably here, it is not enough to grease only the upper levels. The lower levels must be greased as well. Although it hurt a little, since the money had been spent it had to produce results.

As for whether Freya could actually learn anything…

“System, pull up Freya’s panel for me.”

Seeing the virtual panel appear, Farra gave a low snort and dumped a portion of the Attribute points he had saved up. Freya’s Spirit Power jumped from 7 to 15. He never did business at a loss.

Fifteen points of Spirit Power were enough for Freya to steal every piece of basic knowledge she could get her hands on into her brain. Then the task of compiling basic laws could be dumped on her; Farra would only need to pick through the organized documents to craft a legal framework suited to his territory. Once she mastered basic arithmetic, she should also be able to handle bookkeeping. As for geometry and the like, since she was already there he had to make sure the investment paid off by having her bring back every useful thing she could.