Chapter 111

The conflict with Roran had settled down, and the abandoned mine that had been submerged beneath the sea had also resumed operations, so everything was going smoothly.

Perhaps Iiria had thought that all that remained was to take naps and live in leisure off the magic stone profits.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up…”

Saying that, Iiria collapsed face-first onto the desk.

The fur on her tail was messy, and it drooped limply.

In front of Iiria were Kengo and me, the group that had returned from the mine.

“Iiria-san, please try a little harder.”

“That’s right, Iiria-chan. This much is nothing, right?”

Still lying face-down, Iiria even flattened her ears.

However, Kururu, who should have encouraged Iiria at times like this, was also quiet.

When I looked her way, Kururu too was staring blankly into the distance in a daze.

“Looks like this won’t work.”

“When I was studying for entrance exams, I could study twenty hours every day, though.”

I thought that was already superhuman in its own way, but perhaps for Iiria, Kururu, and the others, things like sitting in a chair and taking lessons were simply far too unfamiliar.

“But if you don’t hurry, legal experts and the like are going to come from Roran, right? It’ll be a problem if Iiria-chan doesn’t understand anything.”

“Ugh… Kengo and the others should just do it… You know more than us…”

Iiria said that, then curled her back as if hiding her face with both arms.

Ever since the peace agreement with Roran was concluded, Kengo and I had been acting as teachers for Iiria and Kururu, and this was how things were on the third day.

Of course, Iiria and Kururu both knew to some extent about this world’s political systems and common sense, the things we had gotten Frost to tell us.

However, when it came to looking at them from a broader perspective, or understanding them somewhat systematically and being able to consider what was good, what was bad, and what sorts of problems were likely to occur, things were quite dubious.

That was not so much because Iiria and the others lacked ability, but because they lacked too much prerequisite knowledge.

For example, the reason I could listen to Frost’s explanation and quickly understand how this world worked was that I knew a certain amount of my previous world’s history and only had to compare it with that.

In the first place, the forms of human society were quite limited. When I overreached as a middle school student and read Plato’s Republic, written in ancient Greece, I was surprised because it felt as though it were discussing modern politics.

Or perhaps Plato might have been a reincarnator too…

In any case, using the history and systems of this world’s kingdoms and church as a foundation, we ended up rushing to give Iiria and the others middle school-level social studies lessons.

At times like this, Kengo, who had graduated from the law faculty of a top national university, was truly reliable.

Kengo could give lectures on world history from ancient times to the modern day, and even historical lectures on the development of law.

If anything, I was on the student side too, and many words came up that made me think, “Now that I think of it, we did learn that in middle school,” so it was educational.

That said, for Iiria and Kururu, who had no prior knowledge, it still seemed difficult to take in, and they had become like a cat and a dog exhausted by the midsummer heat.

Behind those two, there was also one boy letting out a small sigh, and that boy was Cole.

“Why do you know things like this?”

Since Cole had been born into a good family, he seemed to have experience receiving a proper education, so he was used to sitting and learning, and he was keeping up with the lecture.

However, the fact that he still looked quite exhausted did not seem to be only because there had been many unfamiliar concepts.

He seemed to find something somewhat eerie in the depth of knowledge of the group that had returned from the mine.

“In our previous world, many people went to school almost every day from the age of six for about twelve years, or even sixteen years.”

“…”

Cole was startled, then shook his head.

“What a terrifying world.”

Certainly, as I grew used to this world, I did start to think that my previous world was strange in its own way too.

“Well, let’s take a short break for now.”

When I said that, Iiria quickly lifted her face, and awareness returned to Kururu’s eyes.

While we were cramming knowledge into the lord and her attendant through makeshift lectures, we were also busy interviewing people who were candidates to become future officials.

There had been more applicants than expected in response to the notice board we had set up in the square.

It seemed that wealthy merchants wanting to give their sons an education was the same in any world, and there were surprisingly many people who had studied outside the island for several years.

In this world, where illness and injury were directly linked to death, there were many second and third sons languishing at home as spares in case something happened to the eldest son.

Now, Jirenu was a territory that could deal with the provincial capital Roran as an equal, and the magic stone mine was increasing its output more and more. Since it was truly on the rise, for those men who had been tied down at home as spare parts for their eldest brothers, this seemed to be the only place left to find a way to make a name for themselves on the island.

I did not have much of an eye for people, but we had already decided what kind of talent we wanted.

So at the interview site were myself, Cole, and Yoshu, the rapidly growing young manager of our company, and the final person I added was Dodol.

“This one has shared drinks with us at a tavern. This one has had trouble with us. This one once helped one of our companions. This one…”

It was a small island.

Because Dodol had been hostile toward humans back in Nodon’s time, he was oddly well-informed about which humans were friendly toward beastfolk and which were hostile.

Jirenu Territory was ruled by a beast-eared lord, and the magic stone mine that formed the foundation of its economy was mined by beastfolk. Anyone who would cause trouble with beastfolk had to be excluded from the court.

Also, in this world, there were many people who self-destructed because they were strangely fixated on things like status and honor, so we had to gather people with temperaments that did not care about such things.

That was the lineup for the interviews.

“I intended the standards to be rather strict, but more people remained than I expected.”

The fact that those who came to the interviews were second and third sons, people treated coldly at home, may have been one reason why so many motivated people gathered. If they wanted to make something of themselves, they had no choice but to leave the island with enough force to cut ties with their families, or be hired by this new court.

As I was looking over the list in my hand, Dodol cut in.

“But Yorinobu.”

“Yes?”

“Are you… serious?”

Rather than doubting me, Dodol even seemed bewildered.

“I am serious.”

Near the bottom of the list in my hand, there were strings of characters that were clearly different from the other people’s names.

“I found out that there are people like Gorgon-san and Zezel-san, after all. Zezel-san’s beautiful handwriting and clear writing are among the better ones even among these candidates.”

“…”

Dodol closed his mouth and scratched his head, as if something had thrown him off.

We would include beastfolk among the officials too.

Until now, it seemed there were quite a few who had hidden the fact that they could read and write out of fear of attracting attention, and others who had become familiar with imperial law in order to protect their companions and themselves during their wandering lives. There was no reason not to make use of that.

Also, if there were beastfolk in the court and they were involved in law and administration, the townspeople’s perception of them would likely change, and above all, the range of work available to them would expand.

There were quiet and intellectual people like Zezel, so it was not as if all of them wanted to do hard labor in the mine.

Of course, I had also told the human candidates who came to the interviews about this.

Those remaining on the list were people who did not mind beastfolk becoming their coworkers, or perhaps even their superiors.

“How is your side, Yoshu-san?”

“Ah, yes. Through Torun and Marks-san, we have finished selecting people who want to learn. It looks like there will be about thirty people.”

I had asked them to look among the children from the orphanage and the boys working as underlings who barely had enough to eat for those who seemed suited for it.

When combining the humans and beastfolk who passed the interviews, there would likely be about sixty people in total, but not all of them would necessarily remain, so I thought it was an appropriate number for this territory.

The proportion of officials to the total population varied greatly depending on the era and country, but history had proven that nothing good came from making that proportion too high.

Incidentally, for example, in the Edo period, the warrior class should have been just under ten percent of the total.

I did not know this island’s exact population, but it was not as if there were only five hundred people, so even if we hired all the candidates, it probably would not be too many.

Just as I was feeling relieved that things seemed likely to work out somehow, Yoshu spoke.

“Ah, also, Yorinobu-sama. Clover-sama said that the copied manuscripts for the educational booklet are finished, so he would like you to check them.”

I had forgotten.

Kengo, who had apparently worked at a superhuman level even in our previous world, had been supervising the mine and teaching Iiria and the others, and at the same time, since we had the chance, he had even been writing textbooks for the official candidates.

Since movable type printing did not yet exist, we had asked Clover to make handwritten copies, and Clover had asked the members of that women’s convent to do the work.

The fact that they had finished the work so quickly was probably partly because they were originally educated daughters, but I thought they must have pushed themselves quite hard too.

That was because I had received messages from the nuns several times through Clover.

They said they wanted to thank me for helping them regain the fate that Nodon had twisted, so they wanted me to visit the convent.

The reason I had yet to make that happen was partly because I was busy, but also because when I went there, Kururu would look at me with intense suspicion.

Many of those women were still bright and strong despite having gone through painful experiences, and on top of that, they were all good talkers.

It was obvious that someone like me would be easily twisted around their fingers if I wandered in carelessly.

That said, since I had asked them to do various jobs, I made a mental note that I should show my face there at least once.

“Understood. I’ll go pick them up later.”

“Yorinobu, on my side, I also checked the mansion’s storehouse, and I’ve finished compiling trial materials and the like from this territory in the past. Please check them.”

Cole said.

“Ugh… ah, yes.”

“That’s right, Yorinobu. Our companions want to come to the island. Can you arrange a ship? Our companions are gathering the fare, but perhaps because there are so many of them, human captains are refusing to let them board.”

“Um, yes, I’ll discuss it with Katz-san and the others.”

“Yorinobu-sama, also, about what we discussed before—”

As one matter after another was brought up, I was not Iiria, but I sincerely prayed that the court would get up and running soon so someone else would take on the work.

However, this level of busyness was still only the beginning.

Because not long after this…

A ship carrying a group of specialists arrived from Roran.