Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 255 - 254: Betty Hard at Work Studying

Gawain put down the last engineering report that needed his personal confirmation, stretched his neck to relax the slightly stiff cervical vertebra, and then looked around.

The study was very quiet, but he was not alone. Not far from Gawain’s large desk, there was a small table placed against the wall where Betty was leaning beside, diligently writing down the words she recently learned to spell.

Spending two hours every night at night school to learn spelling, and then practicing writing during the spare time in the day seemed to have become part of Betty’s daily routine. To provide this enthusiastic learner with a more convenient learning space, Gawain specially allowed her to practice writing in his study and arranged a small desk for her here.

This was evidently beyond the treatment a maid should receive, yet no one in this place would question Gawain’s decision. As for Betty herself — her mind seemed not complex enough to comprehend the issue of "rules being broken."

Betty indeed wasn’t a very smart girl — in fact, she was a bit slow. Gawain knew there was a word to describe such girls, which was so-called "adorably dumb," but he didn’t feel any joy from Betty’s cuteness — this girl didn’t have any congenital defects, her "slowness" was merely due to malnutrition and the impoverished family life she endured since childhood.

Just like most children of the extremely poor in this era, just like most kitchen maids, lower-level servants, children of serfs, the lack of nutrition during critical developmental stages and the lack of education during the most important learning periods in life often impacted them for a lifetime. They lacked insight, had their curiosity stifled, lacked learning abilities, and do not know how to think independently. Nobles would often regard the "lower class" as stupid and ignorant, considering it as an inherent defect, and even use it as evidence to affirm the "truth" that "nobles are inherently noble." There is an element of exaggeration and unreasonable discrimination amongst this, but as Gawain got to know this world more, he had to admit a fact:

There is indeed a gap between the children of extreme poverty and the children of wealthy nobles in learning abilities and speed of thinking, although this gap has nothing to do with the so-called "bloodline superiority or inferiority." However, the existence of this gap itself is an inescapable reality.

Therefore, Gawain is striving to reduce this gap, whether it’s implementing free special children’s meal plans in night schools or distributing food subsidies to children under six in the territory, these are part of the efforts. Solving the issue of malnutrition in children first to allow their minds to develop as fully as the nobility’s children, then extending education alongside this. This is the most effective approach he could think of, but what about those who have already reached adulthood or are close to it?

Gawain stood up and walked over to Betty, watching this slow girl painstakingly spell out words. She made few mistakes, and her handwriting was much neater than when she first started, but she had to spell a single word dozens of times to memorize it. Even today, she was learning things that many night school children covered in their first two months.

Betty is already much better than most in her social class. She’s nearly an adult but still has a strong curiosity and a natural, spontaneous love of learning. She enjoys writing and aspires to be able to read and write fluently like Rebecca, Aunt Heidi, and others. Yet she has great difficulty in learning — she isn’t some hidden genius from a novel; she’s missed the best age for learning, a gap that is hard to bridge with postnatal effort.

In fact, if not for a great disaster in the territory, if not for Gawain showing her so many things from the "outside world," Betty probably wouldn’t have ever known in her life that there are any survival methods beyond doing menial work in the kitchen.

Just like when she first fled from the territory, where she clung to her frying pan all those days — that’s because, in her entire past life, there was really nothing else; as a kitchen maid, that frying pan was the highest honor and mission she could imagine.

Betty finally noticed the shadow beside her, and she raised her head in some alarm, hastily trying to stand up: "Master..."

"It’s alright, I just finished dealing with official business and came to see how you’re doing," Gawain patted Betty’s head, soothing her, "Ah... you’re already writing very neatly."

Betty smiled a bit sheepishly, happy to receive praise, but she also felt a bit aggrieved: "Pea learns faster than me..."

"She’s still young, learning things more easily is natural," Gawain comforted the little maid, "You are working hard, you’ll catch up with others sooner or later. Furthermore, if there’s anything you don’t understand, I can always teach you."

"Mm!" Betty nodded vigorously, and at that moment, Gawain noticed a few pages of draft paper sticking out from a stack of books beside the small desk. Curious, he pulled them out to see some simple basic symbols drawn on them.

"You’ve already started learning symbols?" Gawain asked, surprised.

"Mm..." Betty lowered her head, "Mr. Santis, who teaches Runology, opened up the classroom and allowed other classes to audit, so I followed along..."

"Can you understand it?"

"I can... understand part of it," Betty gestured with her hand, indicating a very small part, "Mr. Santis explains in great detail and is very patient, and those auditing can also ask questions, so I learned some. Mr. Santis said if I can memorize the basic twenty-eight symbols, he’ll let me officially attend the class."

In Gawain’s mind, he couldn’t help but picture that tall and thin, wearing a shabby mage robe, with messy hair, somewhat timid mage youth. Ever since arranging for that Grade-2 Arcanist to teach symbols and magic at Cecil General Academy, he had not heard any news about him again; it seemed this Arcanist was indeed a very low-key person, as long as you gave him a work position, he would silently work on it without a word — but judging by the end result, it seemed he’s doing pretty well in the teacher’s position?

Very few formal Mages have as much patience as he does in front of children of nobility. He can even explain relatively complex rune theories to a degree that even Betty can barely understand a part of it, which is truly a remarkable talent.

After all, no one had ever considered explaining magic to a group of people who couldn’t even sense Magic Power before, and Santis’s educational approach was completely self-developed.

"Mr. Santis once said, ’You can’t see Magic Power, but it’s there,’" Betty said in a low voice, "but he doesn’t let us casually carve runes on copper plates and black stones. He has us practice first on sand, draft paper, and writing boards. We must be proficient before we can handle magic materials..."

"Safety awareness is the first step in learning magic," Gawain laughed, "No doubt, listening to him on this is right."

After saying this, he suddenly turned to look in the direction of the window—he sensed Amber’s presence rapidly approaching.

Unfortunately, this time, the anti-Amber device didn’t work—the half-elf with shadow affinity skillfully bypassed the mousetrap on the windowsill, landing steadily on the ground, and Gawain noticed she had a somewhat serious expression.

It was rare to see a serious expression on Amber’s face, so Gawain temporarily put aside the idea of replacing the mousetrap with a tripwire on the windowsill next time and curiously looked at her: "What happened?"

Amber casually grabbed Gawain’s cup on the desk and gulped down the cool tea. After drinking heartily, she took a breath: "Phew—it was exhausting running all the way here. The patrol team in the mountains returned early; they encountered a suspicious armed group and brought two wounded prisoners back."

Gawain immediately frowned: "Suspicious armed group? What’s the situation?"

"I don’t know. Those people didn’t have anything on them that could identify them, but I found map-making tools and some sketches of the Dark Mountain Range on them," Amber waved her hand, "We couldn’t get anything out of the captured prisoners, and they’re seriously injured. Pittman doesn’t dare to casually give them potions for fear of accidentally killing them. They’re currently detained in the barracks area, and the Priest is treating their wounds. The returning patrol members are also there."

Gawain frowned, glanced back at Betty: "Watch the house, I’m going out for a bit."

The little maid nodded dumbly, and the next second saw her master and Amber swiftly rushing out through the window, only their voices faintly lingering in the air:

"Ah! Damn mouse trap!"

"Serves you right for using the mousetrap to trick me—caught yourself this time, huh?"

"I really shouldn’t follow you—you tell me why I jump out the window with you!"

Betty was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and continued her writing effort—it was too difficult to understand the behavior patterns of her master with Amber, studying was simpler.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Gawain and Amber quickly arrived at the "prisoner detention room" located in a corner of the barracks area.

There, he saw the mountain patrol Soldiers who encountered the enemy, as well as the two prisoners they defeated and captured. As Amber said, the two prisoners were indeed seriously injured—they had their hands and feet pierced by Scorching Rays, with many places on their torso grazed by thermal beams. The high-temperature melted metal Armor made their injuries particularly severe. Without the timely treatment by the patrol soldiers and the subsequent rescue of the Priest’s Holy Light after returning to the territory, it’s uncertain whether they would have survived.

Priest Wright had already completed the emergency treatment of the prisoners’ wounds—through a series of effective healing methods including Bone Setting (physical), Cleanse (physical), Healing (physical), along with a small touch of Holy Light effects, he stabilized the prisoners’ condition. Upon seeing Gawain enter, the Priest immediately approached: "Leader, your timing is impeccable."

Gawain’s first glance caught the bloodstains on the hands and body of the Priest, and he was shocked: "If I had come later, would you have treated them to death?!"

"Huh?" Wright was momentarily stunned, hastily waved his hand, "No, no, their condition has stabilized. What I meant was if you had come later, I would have had to prepare to cast Tranquility on them to let them sleep—at that point, there’d be no way to interrogate them."

Taking a glance at Wright’s fist the size of a pot, Gawain particularly believed that the Priest’s Tranquility must be effective enough to keep anyone silent...