Scholar
*Crackle! Crackle!* The bright flames burning in the exquisite fireplace licked at the top-quality pinewood, and it exuded a fragrant scent. A warm flow of air circulated around the main hall, sharply contrasting the cold dark world outside it.
A long wooden table stood unassumingly in the centre of the hall, a white tablecloth draped over it. On it were silver lamps and precious china, all laid out carefully by maids with beautiful figures.
This china was exceptionally glossy. All of the tableware was luxury goods; imported from rare elves and even more exquisite and smooth than a newborn’s skin. Decorated with extremely elaborate floral motifs, they were simply high-quality pieces of art, and brimmed with the perfectionist style of elves.
The price of this tableware was certainly terrifying, and couldn’t compare to the family properties of all the maids even if added together. If they broke a piece by accident, the great baron would definitely fly into a rage.
Chicken covered in juices and smooth, tender calf loin were all roasted to perfection, and arranged neatly on the dining table. There were long strips of white bread in a weaved rattan basket, and a honey-coloured china pot containing milky-white mushroom broth at the side gave off a rich fragrance. At the edge of the soup pot was a copper ladle for everyone’s use. Every seat had in front of it silver knives and forks, but there were also china trays and a few small plates containing fine salt mixed with sesame and powdered black pepper.
Leylin was adeptly using his tender fair hands with the fork and knife. He dabbed a piece of tenderloin evenly in pepper before delivering it to his mouth.
The chef’s skills were not bad; the beef was very tender and chewy, which made Leylin nod his head slightly.
“Haha... Look at that! Our child is now a grown-up too!” Jonas laughed joyously from the head of the table, a glass of grape wine in hand.
Leylin’s family of three and Isabel were the only ones seated at the huge dining table. The other servants and maids could only stand at the side and wait.The butler, who had quite a high position in the manor, held a white towel in his hand. He stood respectfully behind the baron, and so did the other apprentices.
This was evidently a family banquet.
“Of course. My little Leylin is the best. Look at how much he’s eating. With such an appetite, he’ll definitely grow into a wonderful young lad who the girls will go crazy over!” Lady Sarah laughed as well.
It couldn’t be denied that the current Leylin had inherited both of his parents’ genes, and had a pretty good body. His face already held marks of the handsomeness that he would inherit. Isabel nodded from the other side, continuing to focus her attention on the apple pie in front of her.
“Alright. Sarah, I wish to say something!” Jonas put down his wineglass, his expression slightly serious, “I think Leylin’s ready to enter a profession, enlightening himself with scholarly knowledge.”
“But he’s still so young...” Sarah seemed rather concerned.
“No, he’s already 5 years old! Other nobles’ children all receive education at this age. Do you want our child to lose out to others on the starting line?” Jonas asked a question in reply, rendering Sarah speechless.
Leylin was drinking and eating, but he was listening carefully. ‘Education at 5 years old? Seems like I’ll be able to interact more deeply with this society. After all, Beelzebub’s memories are all related to devils and hell, and have little to do with the main material plane.’
Leylin was also awed by the education methods of these noble families. Their identities as noblemen were not innate. In order to maintain their illustrious glory and position in society, they would have to invest great effort.
Every heir of a noble family would receive strict and harsh education from a young age. This was passed on down throughout the generations, and even though there would be the occasional good-for-nothing fellow once in a while, a majority of them were the most wise and learned people in the world.
‘Implementing elitist education and monopolising knowledge?’ Leylin thought secretly to himself. At the very least, he understood that the education fees here were simply frightening. As a result, among all the servants in the manor, only the butler and a handful of the knight apprentices were able to read, while the rest were illiterate.
Evidently, the commoners that grew up in such an environment were absolutely unable to compete with the later generations of the noble families. If this was the case even in terms of intellect, the amount of power they were in control of would be worse.
“How about you, Leylin?” Jonas looked at Leylin.
“I think I’m up for it, father,” Leylin’s response was very composed. He’d had more than enough of pretending to be a child.
“Haha... Now that’s a true descendant of the Faulen family! Excellent behavior!” The baron laughed heartily and downed the red wine in his glass in one gulp. He then started discussing with Sarah about the problem of which scholar they should hire.
Leylin, of course, was in no position to interfere, and could only drink his mushroom broth in silence.
“You’re in troooooubleeeee~~” Through the gaps between her actions, he could see his elder cousin Isabel, making a face at him as she mouthed the words. He just pretended to not see her teasing him, causing her to roll her eyes.
After he had eaten his fill, Leylin returned to his own room. This was a benefit that he had tried his very best to fight for. Although the baron and his wife had generally agreed to this request, they also had other terms.
Next to his room would be an experienced made, someone separated by only a silken curtain ready to take care of the young master at all times. Leylin, of course, absolutely did not give her a chance to do so. His early maturation made the baron’s wife very pleased, yet she also felt a little upset and regretful.
A faint light flashed in Leylin’s eyes as he heard light breathing sounds from next door, ‘A.I. Chip! Show my current statistics!’
[Leylin Faulen, Strength: 0.4, Agility: 0.3, Vitality: 0.6, Spirit: 1.0, Condition: Healthy.] The A.I. Chip sent the information faithfully.
Leylin’s current stats were much better than other kids of his age, and even his spirit had been restored to the average standard of ordinary people.
Even so, this made Leylin frown in dissatisfaction.
‘It’s taking too long to restore everything! The laws of the World of Gods are really the harshest among all the worlds.’
Through many minor experiments, Leylin was now able to confirm that although there were extraordinary powers in the World of Gods, they rejected beings that were overly powerful. Even if they were deities, it was compulsory for them to leave the main material plane after advancing, and establish their own kingdom in the outside world.
The physical constants here had also undergone changes. The attractive forces between all kinds of particles seemed to be oddly strengthened, which made it even harder to attain extraordinary powers.
In short, even deities had to expend great effort and strength if they wanted to have a great influence in the World of Gods.
‘The knowledge aspect is alright, but the education of professions...’ Leylin’s pupils glistened with anticipation.
In the World of Gods, those who possessed extraordinary strength were unanimously named ‘Professionals.’They seemed to be able to have occupations at such places as guilds, and they obtained all kinds of privileges and benefits for doing so.
The number of Professionals among Baron Jonas’ subordinates seemed to be scarce. Of course, the Faulen family’s fortune was based entirely on their port. Leylin secretly speculated that perhaps the main powers of the family had always been defending that area.
The baron acted swiftly. Early in the morning the very next day, an elderly man who was dressed up completely had been invited into the manor.
“Good morning, Mr Leylin Faulen!” This scholar had the air of someone who had intensively read all the traditional books, and his manner of speaking was also very fitting for his profession. It seemed that he and Baron Jonas had hit it off very well and they had a pleasant conversation, thus he was asked to be Leylin’s tutor straight away.
Leylin met his teacher in a small drawing room that had been opened up temporarily.
It was a pity that his wealth of knowledge far exceeded that of his tutor’s by leaps and bounds. However, his understanding of the World of Gods obviously surpassed Leylin’s, thus Leylin kept a respectful expression.
“Good day, teacher! May I ask how I should address you?” Such refined and courteous actions clearly surprised the scholar. He raised his eyes, and the interest in his pupils grew stronger. Having such an intelligent and gifted child as his student would be an extremely fortunate matter for him.
“You can call me Anthony!” The scholar said as he smiled, “What a polite young mister!”
“Good day, Teacher Anthony!” Leylin saluted once more, but he was actually secretly doing a thorough check of his tutor’s details and background information using the A.I. Chip.
[Scan complete. Name: Anthony. Strength: 0.9, Agility: 1.2, Vitality: 0.8, Spirit: 1.7, Evaluation: Normal human, slightly spiritually gifted.]
‘This is a typical average scholar...’ Leylin sighed to himself. Initially, he had hoped to run into a Magus or some other being that used magic. After all, the identity of a scholar was an excellent disguise for these professions.
But Anthony, who was sitting opposite him, clearly wasn’t such a person.
“Then, may I ask what you can educate me about?” Leylin dove straight into the main topic.
This attitude evidently startled Anthony. “As the heir of a noble family, there is much knowledge that you will need to master, such as languages, writing, etiquette and simple arithmetic. Linguistics is my forte, thus I will be developing a course for you on the common language used here. This would also be the most appropriate arrangement for a five-year-old. As for the others that follow... My apologies, but that will depend on the baron’s opinion...”
“Alright then, let’s begin!” Leylin nodded. Although he had already obtained a vast amount of content regarding languages when he had first been projected into the World of Gods a long time ago, that was obviously insufficient.
After all, as part of a noble family, he had to master specialised pleasantries and even certain speech mannerisms, or else he would be treated like an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Although Leylin loathed the idea of formality, he still had to take the initiative to adapt to the laws as he didn’t have the capability to break them. This was the principle of survival.