Gamer Reborn-Chapter 488

“Why is there a need for something like weaving?” A brash alchemist exploded in the middle of the meeting. “You’ll be lucky if one in fifty people will use that in the future at all.”

There had already been some disgruntled muttering from the crafters and Tom was starting to feel a little uneasy about the whole thing. Unlike most of the people he dealt with on a usual basis these crafters were all higher level than him with specialised knowledge in one specific area for which they were called here. If he had to argue with them he would have the usual confidence he had learned to use over the years managing House Hearthbound.

“It seems you are still not understanding what the point of all this is.” Ajax's voice was cold, his stare made the alchemist wish the earth would split open and swallow him whole, something he would be much more reluctant about had he known Ajax could accommodate his request. “As I have said before, your mission for the first two years with your students will be to give them a chance to discover any affinity they have for your discipline in a low stress environment.”

This was the first time Ajax was addressing a group like this in his position as Duke or a noble as a whole. It had been a great relief to him when he had gotten the Rare skill [Noble’s Bearing] ten minutes into his opening remarks.

“Such limited work time is unacceptable for apprentices, even with such a large number of them.” It was a blacksmith that spoke up now.

“That’s because none of them will be your apprentices during the first two years. That will come later, you will only have a chance to offer your students apprenticeships after four years of teaching them.” Ajax’s words sent the whole chamber into a chaos of chatter as the crafters started to share their outrage.

For the fifth time since the meeting started Ajax regretted the mistake he had made when calling this meeting into order. He had started off by discussing the material each of the crafters would be teaching, hoping to mention the age of the students and their progression after. He quickly realized that it wasn’t his best idea as the crafters were all complaining about the lesson plan since they were still thinking of their new students in terms of apprentices and not children, yet he couldn’t stop midway through the lesson discussion to correct their misunderstanding.

“Silence.” The word was barely a whisper yet with her Vibration affinity and spell Lexi had made it so everyone in the room heard it clearly. The next second you could hear a pin drop.

Lexi’s unspoken threat was enough to keep the crafters relatively quiet while Ajax finished revealing his initial ideas on the lesson plan. But it was easy to see that none of the crafters were all that happy about their current contracts and more than half were regretting rushing to make a connection with the new Duke.

“Now that you understand our vision of your lesson plan it is time to get a better understanding of the students you will be teaching.” Silvia addressed the crowd. “One of the key things you should keep in mind is that our goal in the initial four years of schooling is to give your students a broad range of topics from where they can pick what to focus on once they realize their own strengths and interests.”

“You called this your vision of the lesson plan.” One of the professional farmers of the capital said with a slow tone, his words seeming to take forever to come, one of the few who didn’t seem all that bothered by the situation he found himself in. “Does that mean we can change them?”

“Once the curriculum is set you cannot change it.” Tom explained his confidence, reassured by the presence of his family and their authority over the group, he was glad the first question was a good one looking for clarification and not a veiled insult. “Before it is set, however, we will be willing to hear your input in terms of what changes might be appropriate. This is the reason for the meeting.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Ya’ ain’t bin doin’ much listenin’ to our opinions.” a dwarven jeweler with a thick accent pipped up.

“That’s because you are rushing to correct what you see as a tiny mistake without looking towards the finished piece.” Judy shook her head at the dwarf.

“I ‘as listenin’ plenty well lass.” the dwarf took a swig from a watered down ale, they hadn’t let him bring anything stronger to the meeting. “Didn’t hear anything that would make your plans sound like anything other than a waste of your people’s youth and prospects.”

“We were getting to that.” Elija said, his words sharp. “We had one more thing to share before asking your opinions on the lesson plan. One that would affect you all.”

“And what is that?” more than one of the crafters asked but every member of House Hearthbound was scouring the gathering for the few crafters they could see showing approval at Elija’s words. They weren’t surprised to see they were the ones who were patient to get all the information before making up their minds, and people whose value had risen in the eyes of House Hearthbound.

“The starting age for your students will be around six years old.” Ajax projected his words with Vibration Mana to make a bigger impact. “Five and a half for those of you teaching [Reading] and [Writing].”

It brought every member of House Hearthbound great satisfaction to watch the realization dawn on the faces of the crafters. For Ajax it was almost enough to make the mistake of not revealing the fact earlier worth it. It was even slightly funny for them to see them make the obvious connection between the low amount of time they had for each lesson and the attention span of a six year old.

“My Lord” a mousy seamstress spoke up for the first time since the meeting had started. “Six years old seems a bit young for them to start such training, even more for them to choose where their life will lead.”

“This brings us nicely to one of the unlisted requirements that all of you have fulfilled before being accepted for this position.” Lexi said, nodding towards the seamstress with a kind smile. “All of you have taken jobs lasting at least three months to teach a noble scion no older than seven about your profession. That alone proves that age is not such a limiting factor.”

“My lady, those were nobles…” a merchant objected.

“Precisely.” Lexi interrupted. “I have no doubt your time with them would be about as limited as the time frame we gave you for your lessons here. The only difference being that the students' time will be taken up by other lessons instead of their noble training.”

“What would be considered a success?” The farmer's slow drawl seemed to take forever but with every word everyone could feel the interest building. Ajax even used his [Inspector’s Eye] on the man and was shocked there wasn’t a single social skill to see. “Each of those other jobs I took had clear terms for what would be considered a success and a failure.”

“Success would be determined by getting your students to meaningfully engage with the skills required of your profession during your class time.” Silvia explained. “Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to unlock Skills related to your field.”

“Try to think of this as a way to prepare your future apprentices before they even come to you.” Ajax tried enticing them. “How many times have you found yourself wishing you didn’t have to explain the most basic of things to your apprentices? How many times had you wished to know your apprentice didn’t have aptitude for a certain skill? This is the perfect way to help prepare them for that exact thing before they even turn ten years old.”

After a few moments of silence chaos once again erupted in the room, unlike the previous times however this was a more controlled chaos, crafters in the same or connected professions quickly gathered in groups discussing and arguing with each other about what the essentials of the profession were, what a potential apprentice might need to know and what could be properly taught to a whole class at once instead of needing personal one on one instruction.

“There’s still a few of them that aren’t convinced to even try and are just putting on a show but it’s only a couple handfuls.” Lexi said as she turned to Ajax. “The rest seem generally excited about your vision regarding the apprentices they will pick up in the future.”

“I want to be there when you tell them their apprentices will all have had a minimum of six years of combat training.” Warden Grievous said with a chuckle. “Though I do have to agree I am a little excited to know my future recruits will have at least a basic knowledge of most professions.”

“Not all.” Ajax pointed out. “One of the flaws of this system is that someone can quickly find what they are good at and what they want to pursue and discard everything else. We would even encourage it since the whole point is to show people what they are talented at in case they want to pursue it, leading to an increased average level across the entire duchy.”

“You’ll have a royal inspection sent here the moment you show results to make sure you aren’t planning a rebellion.” Lancel said with a grim chuckle. “I can’t wait, I knew coming with Lady Lexi was the right choice.”