When Wesley heard about the school, he admitted that it was a nice benefit, but didn’t see the reason behind the lord’s considerable interest. With only a single child, and no more than twenty children able to attend the school, he didn’t think the building would be all that impressive.
As for the ability to unlock new buildings, he assumed that it would all be based on the content of what the children learned. Given that all of the current buildings far exceeded that scope, he didn’t see much hope for this research facility.
But, the lord insisted that this could be the most important building that they had created since the blacksmith, showing just how highly he thought of it. With that level of enthusiasm, there was nothing that Wesley could say.
Before Wesley could really understand what was going on, the school had already been purchased and placed. It was a twenty-by-twenty meter building with a small library, a single classroom, and a cafeteria. As far as schools went, this was certainly low-tier. It couldn’t be compared to the top noble academies that were bigger than their entire village, or even a common school in a big city.
He looked at the lord standing nearby, who looked at the small school with a fervent gaze. With a sigh, Wesley decided that there was no use in trying to go against the flow. “If there is a school, there should be teachers. Can you tell if there is anyone in the village with the right aptitude?”
The lord glanced over at Wesley, and gave a brief nod. “There are, quite a few in fact. However, they all only have a single level of teaching skill. I’d like to save up some points and recruit a truly skilled teacher to maximize the potential of this building.”
The blue-haired elf furrowed his brow, understanding the meaning of this. “Won’t that put off the development of the village by quite a while? Just what are you expecting to get out of this school?” If the lord truly held back on points to satisfy his desire for a masterful teacher, that meant saving until he hit the current point cap.
However, the lord simply kept a calm smile. “What if there are no natural building unlocks after the first tier?” he proposed, turning to look back at the building. “The first tier could simply be considered an introduction. If that were to be the case… the second tier and higher buildings might only be unlockable through the school.”
“In addition, this is a school, so it might be possible for people to increase the level of their skills here. As for other unlocks, we could get new types of weapons in the blacksmith, new materials, maybe even a training dungeon for adventurers. The fact that this school appeared as a research building at this stage should mean that we are nearing the end of the ‘tutorial’ period.”
When Wesley heard this, he lowered his head in thought. There were several shortcomings in what the Land could currently provide, primarily a place to train a force capable of defending the village. They had planned to work around this to a degree by creating monster spawners in the forest, but that would only go so far.
“I understand. Shall we have the lower-ranked teachers work in the school for now, until your ‘expert’ arrives?” he suggested, and the Lord readily agreed.
Thus, they brought in several of the villagers that possessed the Education skill. These men and women quickly understood their job, and accepted the position as teachers at the school. For the moment, there were four of them: two men and two women. With all of their skills at level one, they had a total effective level of three.
As each one accepted the hiring, Wesley and the lord saw the effects of the Education skill. At level one, the school provided basic education resources for children, the equivalent of what the lord called elementary schooling. At level two, he compared it to middle school. And then, at level three, it was ‘high school’.
As for what Wesley himself could understand, the first level taught reading, writing, and basic numbers. The second level, which taught arithmetic, was already more than what could be expected of such a small school. In a village of only a few hundred people, it would be considered good if a tenth of them could read, and if half of those could do basic calculations.
The third level approached the level of education a young noble could expect to receive in school, which surprised Wesley even further. Inwardly, he thought that he had to revise his evaluation of this building. Though, it would still take quite some time for it to show any real effect.
The lord looked over at Wesley with a small smile. “I think that there is something that you are fundamentally misunderstanding,” he said, earning a confused look from the elf. “The school’s description says that it can teach twenty students. It never said that those students need all be children.”
Wesley’s eyes widened slightly at this, understanding dawning on him. This could raise the literacy level of the entire village. And, as the lord had said previously, there was even the chance that those hired in other buildings would be able to develop their skills further.
He had to admit at this point, it truly did seem worth saving up to create a specialist to increase the level of the school. Wesley entered the school, moving towards the library and wanting to read one of the books. However, he was stopped by an invisible wall, his hand only inches away from the spine of the book he was aiming for.
Do you wish to become a student?
Wesley hesitated, before ultimately declining. The school could only support twenty students, and he didn’t want to take up such a precious slot.
Instead, he looked at the Lord curiously. “Are there any restrictions that you want to set for who can study, then? For instance, having to pay tuition, or restricting it to those able to perform services for the Land?”
However, the Lord shook his head. “No. I want this to be free for any who wish to learn. Children will, of course, be prioritized. However, if any adult wishes to better themselves, I encourage them to do so. Not only that, but I am willing to pay people who have a desire to learn. Some of the coinage from Jamie’s trips to Corvath can be used to pay those who show real results in their studies.”
Wesley couldn’t help but blink at this. He had never heard of a school that paid its students to learn. Though, given the fact that the students’ learning could directly benefit the territory, he considered that this really did seem to be a sort of job. Thus, he began thinking of how to set up this reward system. Perhaps there could be regular tests, tailored to the content of what each student had been studying, and their wages would be determined based on their test results.
After the creation of the school, I immediately paused all spending of C points. The only changes that I made were to add a new horned rabbit nest every couple of days in the territory of the forest that I had unlocked. The increased number of prey animals should stimulate the ecosystem of the forest, or at least that was what I had hoped.
Four days after the school’s creation, I was still keeping a close eye on my points, though I felt as though my nonexistent hands were already starting to itch. Several new buildings had already appeared as I was saving points, and I really wanted to buy them.
First was the butcher, which was still not too useful for me, so I ignored it for now. The next, though, was a wall to surround the territory. It had to be purchased per hectare, but just a normal wall would already provide a considerable security upgrade.
After that came the brewery, which would surely be a big hit with the villagers. At the moment, the only suitable crops that we had to produce alcohol were wheat and potatoes. Once I bought the brewery, I would also need to purchase more farms capable of creating crops suitable for brewing.
Though, maybe I will be able to produce carbonated beverages there, too? I thought to myself. Carbonated water was certainly not a normal medieval creation. But, then again, most of what my purchased buildings offered couldn’t be considered normal.
The next building that appeared was a magic shop, able to provide magical items and enchantments in exchange for money. Again, this was another building that I really wanted, and could see a large number of uses for.
Finally, the last building to be unlocked at this point was the prison. This one… I wasn’t really interested in it, yet. Sure, it could prove to be useful later on. However, right now we didn’t have much of a crime problem to worry about.
As I was thinking of that, I noticed movement on the road to the north. At first, I thought it was just the regular return of the Rowal drivers. However, I spotted several unfamiliar people accompanying them, each dressed in high-quality robes or armor.
There were a total of five, all walking alongside the caravan. I sent this information to Wesley, and he replied that it was likely the adventuring group that was coming by to join the attack on the dungeon. A-ranked adventurers were all considered masters of their field, so it was best not to provoke them. Thus, Wesley went out to personally greet the incoming group, since they seemed to be escorting the caravan.
Wesley stood together with Prim, just off to the side of the road. As the caravan drew closer, he naturally recognized the party that had joined them. “If it isn’t the Rose Blades,” he greeted with a wide smile. “I wasn’t aware that you were in this region.”
“Ehh? If it isn’t little ‘Meat Grinder’, Wesley,” one of the girls, an elven archer, spoke up in a teasing tone. “I hadn’t believed it when I heard that you had settled down in some little village. Though, I’ve heard that this place is more than meets the eye?”
The leading figure, a warrior in bulky armor, chuckled. “Easy there, Jira. Try not to tease him too much.” After he said that, he turned to face Wesley with a nod of acknowledgement. “We got the call about the nearby dungeon. Just as we were leaving Corvath, we saw this caravan heading the same direction, and decided to escort it for safety.” Find the original chapter at novelping(.)com.
Wesley simply chuckled at the teasing elf, looking at the warrior. “If you need to, feel free to stop and rest for a few hours. At the very least, you’ll be able to grab a nice meal from the tavern. It’s hard to find chances to get something nice to eat on the road.”
The warrior opened his mouth, looking like he was going to politely reject the offer, when a low rumbling could be heard. His brow twitched, and he looked back at the party’s catfolk rogue, who lowered her ears in shame. With a sigh, the warrior looked back at Wesley, a strained smile on his lips. “Thanks. Once we’ve eaten, we’ll be back on the road.”
Seeing the party’s urgency, Wesley’s expression grew serious. “Is the dungeon that much of a problem?”
The warrior seemed to want to assure Wesley that everything would be fine, but then thought better of it. He looked at Prim meaningfully, but Wesley stepped in. “Don’t worry. She’s part of the Land here, and a local priestess. She won’t spread rumors.”
Although the warrior didn’t fully understand that remark, he sighed. “Normally, it shouldn’t be a problem. This is an A-ranked slime dungeon. However, according to Mikhail, these black slimes seem strange. They are capable of group tactics, resist both physical and magic attacks,, and respawn as fast as they’re killed. In addition, the layout of the dungeon seems to change every day, preventing him from mapping it.”
“Mikhail is being troubled… by slimes?” Wesley asked in shock, before Prim spoke up.
“If I may speak?” she asked, causing both Wesley and the warrior to look over at her. “From your reactions, I do not believe slimes in this world are typically such a challenging foe. There is a high chance that this dungeon is sentient.”
“A sentient dungeon?” Jira asked with a raised brow. “There’s never been anything like that before.”
“Is a sentient mana core any stranger than a sentient plot of land?” Prim asked, causing Jira to abruptly close her mouth. “I suspect that there are likely numerous sentient dungeons in this world. According to my lord, most of them should be remaining hidden, either to avoid hurting people or biding time to finish designing their strategy to target invaders. Since this dungeon has reached A-rank, this should be the latter category.”
“Still, that seems like a rather large leap in logic, all just because of an unusual slime,” the warrior pointed out, but Prim shook her head firmly.
“According to your description, the dungeon is intelligently remapping itself to prevent exploration. I am not an expert when it comes to dungeons, but this should not be a common trait. Additionally… slimes were quite popular to depict as overly powerful underdog monsters on Earth.”
Wesley’s gaze sharpened at this, realizing that it wasn’t just a normal awakened dungeon that they were discussing, but one from Earth. “What would be signs to look out for if it were from Earth?”
Prim closed her eyes, communing with the Land. “If the dungeon was led by someone wishing to be friendly, they would use monsters capable of speech or mimicking the appearance of humans. In some instances, slimes are depicted as having these traits, so you would need to ask Mikhail when you arrived whether the slimes ever took on a humanoid shape to try to communicate.”
“Also, you must ensure that Mikhail is still himself. This can be done quite simply, by having him bleed. If it is a slime mimicking Mikhail, its blood will most likely be the same color as the slime.”
“If it is still Mikhail, and the dungeon has made no attempts to communicate, it is an openly hostile dungeon. Slimes on Earth are commonly depicted as being able to gain abilities from items or entities that they devour. I do not know if the same holds true here, but it is important not to leave any broken equipment or dead allies behind in the dungeon.”
“If Mikhail has been replaced, the dungeon is attempting to lure in any potential threats and eliminate them one by one. In this case, the dungeon may very well be stronger than A-rank. However, this is rather unlikely.”
“The best case scenario would be if there have been attempts at communication, which Mikhail may not have recognized at the time. That would show that the dungeon is willing to negotiate.”
“As for the specifics beyond this, I cannot say. These are merely the options that my lord has envisioned,” Prim said, lowering her head as if in prayer.