"Class dismissed."
"Goodbye, teacher!" The twenty-four children spoke in unison, their eyes shining as they looked at Caelan.
Caelan smiled slightly and nodded. "Hello, students. Please sit down."
The children sat down in unison. The classroom fell silent, only the soft sound of breathing remaining.
They sat up straight, their hands flat on the desks. Even though class was over, their eyes still sparkled with thirst for knowledge and hope for the future.
Caelan asked, "Before class is over, do you have any questions?"
Baldr raised his hand. "Teacher, what is calculus?"
"Where did you learn about calculus?"
"When I was helping Sister Nina tidy your office yesterday, I accidentally saw that book on your desk, Advanced Mathematics (Basic Edition)."
"Children, advanced mathematics is a secret that can only be mastered at the university level or above."
"You are still too young now. Being exposed to more advanced materials too early will actually hinder your growth and do you more harm than good."
"Your task now is to build a solid foundation and learn to use the four basic operations skillfully."
Baldr understood well. Just the few pages of Advanced Mathematics (Basic Edition) that had been blown open by the wind had already made him dizzy. That was a level far beyond their current comprehension!
Caelan said, "Before we officially dismiss class, let's assign today's homework."
Caelan picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a few lines on the blackboard.
Question 1: In the Order's trial, 210 candidates participated in the selection.
It is known that the number of people who gave up before sunset was 1/3 of the total, and the number who gave up during the night was 15 more than those who gave up before sunset. In the end, 15 people passed the trial. What is the pass rate? How many people held on until the latter half of the night before falling?
Question 2: In the hunting operations in the Caliban forest, an average full knight of the Order can hunt 8 Great Beasts per month.
Sir Lion's hunting efficiency is ten times that of an ordinary knight. If 5 knights and Sir Lion form a hunting team, how many Great Beasts can they kill in total in half a year?
Question 3: The Great Beasts in the Caliban forest are corrupted by Chaos, and their numbers grow regularly.
It is known that Caliban experiences a large-scale beast-tide every 9 years. In non-beast-tide years, the Great Beast population grows naturally at an annual rate of 20%. The Order hunts a fixed number of Great Beasts each year to maintain balance.
The current initial Great Beast population is 100,000. If the Great Beast population exceeds 200,000 in any given year, a beast-tide is immediately triggered and the cycle resets.
If the Order wants to prevent a beast-tide from occurring prematurely, how many Great Beasts must they hunt at least each year? How many knights are needed to participate in the hunting?
If the Order wants to systematically exterminate the Great Beasts within nine years, how many knights are needed at minimum?
If the time is shortened to five years, how many knights are needed?
"The last question is Olympiad level and might be a bit difficult. Students can think it over."
Caelan had always tailored his teaching methods to local conditions and individual needs.
Whatever Caelan wanted to teach, the hidden messages embedded in these questions would subtly influence them for life.
On Nostramo, he taught the children of the Night Haunter how many nobles they needed to hang each year to complete the revolution.
But on Caliban, the Great Beasts were the main enemy. Teaching them to hang nobles was premature.
And what he taught was all positive and uplifting, without any messy stuff like LGBT.
These children had only just started learning. Basic literacy and writing accounted for 70% of the teaching, the remaining 10% was physical education, and 20% was ethics.
Otherwise, if they couldn't even recognize words or do basic arithmetic, any other education, no matter how profound, would just be castles in the air.
Physical education was to give them healthy bodies, preserving the capital for revolution.
Ethics was to teach them propriety and honour. Caelan didn't want a day when he had to clean house.
"Class dismissed!"
Caelan tucked the textbook under his arm and walked down from the podium. A knight in black armour and white robe had been waiting outside the classroom for some time.
Caelan asked, "Brother Amadis, did you come specifically to see me?"
Amadis nodded, "This is the first time I've heard you teach. It's truly enlightening!"
"You probably mean 'eye-opening'?"
Amadis's expression was a little awkward. His martial prowess was among the best in the Order, second only to Lion.
But he too had been a commoner's child before joining the Order, and his education level was indeed somewhat lacking.
"Your teaching methods are indeed refreshing. Have you considered taking on a position as a training master in the Order?"
The Order's training mainly focused on physical and combat training. Though they also studied the Order's history, discipline, and honour, these were all to increase their sense of belonging. There was rarely any pure academic education.
The squires were all hot-blooded young men. None of them would waste time on academics instead of combat training.
Caelan shook his head and politely declined. "The Order is full of talent. My presence is neither here nor there. These children need educational opportunities more."
A hint of regret appeared in Amadis's eyes. "They were only a step away from success. What a pity."
He could understand why they lost. Their only fault was their birth.
Amadis had also gritted his teeth and persevered back then. But how many could be as talented as him?
The labouring masses were the commoners' destination.
Caelan giving them a chance was proof of his noble character.
Though Amadis had never personally witnessed Caelan's power, he had the Watchers' secret protection. Luther also claimed Caelan possessed incredible psychic abilities. Lion had even publicly admitted he was no match for his adoptive father. Caelan's power was therefore considerable.
Yet he cared nothing for honour, content to hide here, teaching a group of commoner children without pay.
Amadis admitted that no one in the Order could compare to Caelan, himself included.
Though the Order was also very gentle and friendly towards commoners, no knight could give up the chance to pursue honour and be content to live in obscurity, teaching a group of failures.
Even the Order's training masters only retired behind the scenes due to old age.
But even so, their students were future knights. Every training master was the teacher of dozens of knights.
If they could produce an outstanding knight, that was also their honour.
For example, Sarrientus had been a training master in the Order since he was thirty. He was not only Amadis's teacher, but also Luther's and many other knights'. At least one-third of the Order's knights were his students.
His honour in hunting Great Beasts might not match Amadis's, but his prestige within the Order was rarely matched.
If the Order's Grand Master died or was replaced, Sarrientus was the clear favourite.
But Caelan taught these children. He would gain no honour.
These children were trial failures. They would never have a chance to join the Order.
How much honour and achievement could such people attain in the future?
This meant Caelan's efforts might not receive corresponding rewards. Caelan's education of them was truly selfless.
This was what Amadis admired, and also what he regretted.
'Caelan could have achieved greater things, but he was limited by these children.'
'But if he truly didn't care about honour from the start, and had already found a cause worth fighting for, perhaps this wasn't a limitation after all.'
'You are not the fish; how do you know the fish's joy?'
Amadis said, "Brother Caelan, you are the noblest person I have ever met."
Caelan smiled helplessly at this. "You flatter me. I'm not actually that noble. I have my own selfish motives."
"I hope these children will grow up to be pillars of society and contribute to changing the world."
"If, after receiving an education, they still fritter their lives away in a daze, even I would be deeply disappointed."
Amadis said, "You're too modest."
Who doesn't have a purpose?
As long as a person lives, they have a purpose. Every word and action has a purpose.
If someone had no purpose, they would be too nihilistic. They might not even be human.
If a knight cannot protect the people in their domain, why be a knight?
If a teacher doesn't have the purpose of educating students to succeed, aren't they just misleading them?
Such people do exist in reality, but for those who just muddle through, muddling through is their purpose.
If a teacher's purpose is to educate students to succeed, rather than for their own advancement or just to muddle through, that is already a noble sentiment.
If Amadis became a training master in the future, but his student not only failed to become a valiant knight, but actually retreated in fear when faced with Great Beasts, causing many innocent civilian casualties, Amadis would execute him himself.
Caelan asked, "Brother Amadis, let's get to the point. Did Lord Cypher send you?"
"It's not about the Order. I just wanted to ask you."
A hint of conflict appeared in Amadis's eyes. He lowered his voice. "Can we really win this war?"
The war between the Calibanites and the Great Beasts had lasted thousands of years. He thought it would continue forever, with no end in sight.
When someone declared they would completely eliminate the Great Beasts and bring peace to the Calibanites, his first reaction wasn't joy or support, but deep-seated suspicion, even though he shared the same goal.
It's like in Eldia, which had been at peace for so long, if a passerby saw someone pull out a pistol during a scuffle, their first reaction would be to dismiss it as a realistic toy.
Even if a police officer saw this, they would probably just feel exasperated. Who are you trying to scare with a toy gun?
Even if the gun actually fired, if there was only a sound, people would still only half-believe it.
Only when someone falls in a pool of blood would the crowd believe he really had a gun.
But if it were across the sea in Marley, even if someone used an obviously fake toy gun to rob a bank...
Passersby would calmly lie on the ground. Bank staff would also hand over the money to the robber, because things like this happen every day. No one would dare bet their life on whether the robber's gun had bullets.
If a police officer saw a child pointing a toy gun at them, they would unload their magazine without hesitation, because they couldn't take that risk either.
Marley's police, by law, placed their own safety above the safety of the people. With a salary of a few thousand, why risk their lives?
Unloading the magazine wasn't out of fear of death, but to uphold the dignity of the law!
A certain nation, claiming to be a celestial empire, even when its enemies were sharpening their knives, could still calmly declare war on the rest of the world.
Because they were ignorant. They didn't believe they could lose.
But if someone had been living in constant war, they couldn't believe peace would truly come.
Because they were ignorant. They couldn't understand what peace was.
It was both heartbreaking and frustrating.
Some civilisations are long divided, eventually leading to fragmented geopolitical landscapes, like the Orks.
Other civilisations embed unification in their cultural heritage, believing that the world, divided for a long time, will unite, and united for a long time, will divide – like the Imperium of Man.
These phenomena essentially stem from path dependency and thinking inertia.
Amadis was like this.
Even though he had personally witnessed Lion's superhuman combat ability, he still couldn't believe peace would come. That was why he came to Caelan.
"Among the students I've taught before, many had the same symptoms as you."
"What symptoms?" Amadis asked.
"Being conflicted."
Amadis was stunned, then let out a wry laugh.
'Oh, the agony!'
'So that was also being conflicted?'
He hadn't understood what 'being conflicted' meant before. It wasn't a native Caliban word.
But when Luther drank with other knights, he would often let slip details about Caelan and Lion's father-son relationship. Besides 'reckless' and 'doesn't understand the human heart', the word Caelan used most often for Lion was 'conflicted'.
Of course, Lion also often sharply commented that Caelan was 'conflicted'.
Amadis never thought of himself as conflicted. But Caelan's assessment made him have to believe it.
Caelan asked, "Since the Order has already decided to support Lion, why are you still hesitating?"
"I still have some reservations."
If the Order won, their names would be carved on history's monuments.
But what if they lost?
"This is where your conflict lies. You don't believe in me, and you don't believe in Lion."
Amadis opened his mouth to argue, but Caelan raised a hand to stop him.
"Don't rush to deny it. You believe in Lion, that's why you support him. You believe in me, that's why you came to ask."
"But you believe in Lion's resolve and my wisdom."
"Though I don't have much wisdom, since you trust me, I'll answer you."
"You don't believe Lion has the ability, and you don't believe in things you've never seen."
"I won't try to convince you to believe in Lion. Words are empty. You have the right to doubt."
"But since you've chosen to support Lion, you should understand that there's no turning back. You might as well give it your all first."
"Rome wasn't built in a day. Trust takes time."
"Whether to believe in him is for the future you to decide. What you need to consider now is what you should do."
"As for whether Lion can truly bring peace to Caliban, let time answer that. History will give its own fair judgment."
Amadis was silent for a long time.
"I understand now," he murmured, a hint of sudden clarity in his voice.
"What do you understand?"
"No wonder you can be a teacher."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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