Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Usefulness of Education
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Having finished breakfast with the Count's family, Beonald moved on to his next schedule.
His next agenda was the various lessons received from the Count's family tutor, conducted daily, learning different subjects each day of the week.
The main subjects were etiquette, mathematics, history, literature, dance, and so on… the necessary cultural refinements for a noble.
And today, he would study history and etiquette.
“I am Belle, the history teacher. Let us begin the lesson. Young Masters, as the one in charge of your education, I will proceed strictly, so do not complain. Now then……”
'…Why are the private tutors of noble families always that witch-like style? Even in our family it was like that… My father's generation had it, and it seems it was the same style when I became the family head… Where do they even produce them from?'
The tutor was a stern, sharp-looking middle-aged woman with her hair pulled up tightly. Beonald thought, 'Has this not changed even after 500 years?' and tried to focus on what she was teaching.
However, the condition of Ralt, who was sitting next to him, wasn't great. Right after coming to this classroom following the meal, he slumped over his desk and promptly passed out.
“Young Master Ralt, Young Master Ralt, please wake up. It's time to start the lesson.”
“…Zzzzzzz……”
“Young Master!”
“Whaaah!”
Crash!
A sharp, high-toned shout, enough to make one flinch, rang out, and Ralt jolted awake, only to topple over along with his chair.
Beonald wanted to laugh at the situation but barely managed to hold it back, looking at Ralt with an expressionless face.
That expression was quite a sight to behold—it held a mixture of shame, embarrassment, anger at being woken up while sleepy, and various other emotions.
“Ow… Oww!”
“Sit down properly at once! You are the one who must succeed the Callermain Earldom! What are you doing right now?”
“But… I was running around suddenly this morning, so I was tired! Damn it! I won't do it!”
“Where are you going? Young Master! Young Master! Hoo~ It's ended up like this again, I see.”
Ralt could endure no longer and fled from the lesson.
What remained were only Beonald and the tutor, Belle. As they awkwardly exchanged glances, Tutor Belle cleared her throat, trying to shift the atmosphere.
“Ahem! Very well. I, too, am a hired hand. I must do my job, so I will proceed with the education for you at least, Lord Beonald.”
“I look forward to it.”
“I heard you were adopted from a rural background. However, even so, you have now taken up the honor of the Callermain Earldom, so I will proceed without mercy.”
“Yes, Teacher!”
Seemingly satisfied with Beonald's energetic response, Belle nodded and began the lesson in earnest.
Although it was called history, it didn't delve back thousands or tens of thousands of years. Instead, it mainly taught why the current continent was divided into six nations, the major events that had occurred, and the history of wars.
“The current continent is divided into six: our Kalleum Empire, followed by the Han Empire, the Dyna Kingdom, the Borea Kingdom, the Garkan Republic, and the Holy Nation.”
'Come to think of it, the country names… I'm hearing them for the first time here, right? Well, in the countryside, what would country names matter? At most, the Callermain Earldom was everything. Still, there are a few familiar names. The Dyna and Borea family brats, it seems they succeeded.'
Although it was 500 years later, the traces of history were continuing, and Beonald let out a soft chuckle.
In his time, the Dyna family were called the Dyna Marquisate, and the Borea family were known as the Borea Frontier Marquisate. The Dyna Marquisate was a prestigious magical family, and the Borea Frontier Marquisate was renowned as a martial house.
Of course, even so, they were merely individual families. The national power during the Unified Empire era was immense, and they were the ones who pledged loyalty to the 'Neumel Family,' which had the Imperial family's backing.
'Those brats are calling themselves emperors and kings and acting high and mighty? That's truly laughable. They're the ones who offered their family heirlooms to me and begged for their lives. Pfft.'
“Young Master Beonald, why are you laughing? Where is the point of laughter in my lesson?”
“Having lived under the sun yet unable to see, my eyes that were closed have opened, and I have seen its radiance—how could I not be overjoyed? Until now, the Dustycloak territory and this Callermain territory were my entire world. I am only now moved by the vastness of the world.”
“…Hmm, I see. Well, when a person climbs a high mountain and gazes upon the world, they are also moved by its vastness. I am not incapable of understanding your feelings, Young Master. However, this is an important lesson time. I will let it pass this time.”
“Yes, thank you!”
Beonald narrowly avoided the crisis with appropriate eloquence. And Tutor Belle's education continued.
Overall, all the information was useful, so Beonald made an effort not to forget a single piece of it while also concentrating with a frightening intensity, updating the knowledge he possessed.
'The current continent's landscape, and the past and ongoing situations of nations—I can learn it all! Fantastic!'
'How… such passionate eyes!'
Tutor Belle was in charge of education not only here but also for the children of merchants, influential figures, artisans, knights, and nobles in the city. Most of the many young masters tended to find talks about 'history' or the continent boring or tedious.
Among them, some even fled, like Young Master Ralt earlier. Yet this seemingly un-14-year-old boy from the countryside was responding with passion, as if he didn't want to miss a single thing from her lesson, wasn't he?
'He looks like a martial bone… yet his scholarly zeal is also this outstanding! A treasure has entered the Callermain Earldom.'
“Teacher? You've suddenly stopped the lesson……”
“Hmm, the time has come, so we shall stop here for today. And what you learned today is not the end. You must firmly lodge it in your mind and make it your own before you can say you've truly learned it.”
“Of course!”
“It's rewarding, so that's good. Then, let's meet next week.”
“Yes!”
Thus ended Beonald's first history lesson.
Overall, it was a satisfactory lesson for the teacher, but for Beonald, there was a slightly insufficient point: the issue of maps.
'Wait, what on earth happened that changed the shape of the continent? Shouldn't a history teacher at least have a map of the entire continent?'
No matter how crudely drawn, if he just had a map showing his location and the entire continent, finding his former territory, 'Benofis,' would be a piece of cake!
'…Just looking at that low-quality map makes me angry. It even looks somewhat familiar, but I can't be sure of anything. Damn it!'
Beonald, who had seen maps until he was sick of them during the Unified Empire era, tried his best to match his memory with that low-quality map, but it was extremely difficult.
'Moreover, the place names are all different… the coastlines are different too……! What on earth happened during the war? Land shouldn't change so easily……. Sigh~ Let's do it later for now.'
In the end, Beonald decided to postpone gauging Benofis's location for a later time.
After a short break, the next etiquette lesson followed. For Beonald, who had lived as a high noble for decades, etiquette was like breathing, so he only needed to know the latest trends.
Within 40 minutes, the etiquette teacher was shedding tears, kneeling before Beonald and bowing his head.
“I have nothing to teach you, Young Master! I cannot accept your tuition fee. Before the miraculous, divinely gifted creation that is you! I am but a mere guide.”
'This feels a bit like a scam, so it's unsettling.'
For others, etiquette was merely a formality to signify nobility or to show the difference from commoners, but for this etiquette teacher, it was his life's work.
To see a 14-year-old youth from the countryside, with just a few pointers, embody dignity and grace with his very being, was something he could only describe as a miracle.
Of course, for Beonald, it felt like he was scamming the man, so he felt a bit uneasy and comforted him.
After various twists and turns, the etiquette lesson also ended, and time flowed until it was lunchtime.
For lunch, since there might be official duties or other business during the day, the entire family did not gather. They ate either alone or with those who had free time, so it was a time when one could be alone.
“Hoo~ Now I can finally be at ease. Alterio, were you lonely without Dad?”
Peeep!
From now until evening was free time. As he hadn't undergone his coming-of-age ceremony, he didn't have any specific duties or tasks. He could do whatever he wanted within the mansion or the territory.
Of course, he had already decided what to do.
'The library! I'm going to the library. The ark and cradle of knowledge! To supplement the information I couldn't get from the tantalizing one-hour lesson!'
Still lacking information, Beonald decided to head to the library after lunch to replenish it.
And at the same time, Young Master Ralt, who was suffering from muscle pain due to the intense morning exercise despite being out of shape, was currently groaning as he lay in bed. His mother, Lady Meira, had come to tend to him.
“Are you alright? Ralt? Honestly! That man is going too far. Making you compete with such a beastly hybrid!”
“Mommyyy~”
“Don't worry. He's just a hybrid brought in to stimulate you. Your position as heir will absolutely never be threatened! Just trust your mother.”
“But Mommyyy, you can hear it here too, right? The servants and butlers are saying things like, 'Finally, an heir worthy of the Callermain Earldom,' or 'It's a relief that Young Master Beonald has come!', 'That strict Teacher Belle is satisfied!', 'I heard Teacher Malrid knelt and bowed his head!' They only talk about that big guy.”
Even though Ralt acted arrogantly on the outside, he wasn't unaware.
Yes, no matter how arrogant he was, he was still 14. It was a sensitive age where he couldn't help but be affected by the gazes and talk of those around him.
Until now, no matter how much the servants muttered, he was the sole heir, so it didn't matter. But now that an overwhelming comparison had appeared, his inferiority complex couldn't help but explode.
“It's okay, my child! That guy is the weird one! And a noble is not someone who does everything alone. So it's okay to be lacking! Tradition and bloodline are the most important things! No matter how hard that guy struggles, you possess what he can never have!”
“But Mom… He's really, really scary. In the morning… when he looked down at me, it was scarier than grandfather or father… so scary I couldn't breathe.”
Ralt had also seen his father and grandfather, other nobles who came to congratulate him when he was younger, and even when he went to the imperial capital, he had seen higher nobles and even the emperor of this country.
A rotten orange is still an orange. Thanks to that experience, he had noticed that within the eyes of Beonald, who was pretending to be worried about him when he collapsed today, there was a chilling, terrifying, and immense presence.
“Those eyes! Inside, cold and dreadful and! Something huge……! Like the look in the eyes of those uncles in the imperial capital… the ones who were hostile to Dad and Grandfather… It was scary!”
“Calm down. And pull yourself together! It's okay! Your mother is here! Your mother's family is here too. And if that half-breed is that strong, then you, a pureblood, can also become strong! It's just a little late, that's all!”
“…Me too… like him?”
“Yes! No! Even more than him! You have potential too! You have the blood of the Callermain Earldom, but you also have your mother's noble blood flowing in you! Then you have more potential than that guy with half the blood of a lowly mercenary! Time! You just need a little time, that's all! So!”
Thus, Lady Meira desperately comforted Ralt. Seeming to gain some comfort and courage from her words, Ralt, who had been trembling, carefully got up.
And as he realized he had been a good-for-nothing brat for 14 years, he also recalled the humiliation he received from Beonald today and being overwhelmed by him, thinking he couldn't stay like this.
“I can do it too… I can? Really?”
“Of course! Your mother will help you too! So cheer up! You can catch up to a 14-year difference. Because you're twice as outstanding as that hybrid!”
“O-okay! I'll try!”
Thus, Ralt, who had barely mustered his energy and gotten up, had eyes that were completely different from the person he was this morning.
Lady Meira was glad that, as her husband intended, the competitive horse education had made her son take a step forward. However, since the capabilities of that brat Beonald kept exceeding her expectations, she thought she would need to pay more attention and target him carefully.