Side Story: Educational Policy

ESPARDA THE BUTLER PILED THE THICK BOOKS ON the table.

“There is still so much knowledge that I must instill into Lord Van. He must be diligent in his studies until he comes of age,” Esparda declared to Dee, who stood across from him with his arms folded. A large work table separated them.

The large man shook his head. “No, no, Sir Esparda, don’t be hasty,” he objected. “Learning sword work is like nurturing a tree. Just as a tree requires water, proper nutrients, and a suitable environment before it can grow properly, a person must accumulate fighting skills and instincts. That does not happen overnight, but rather accumulates over every day of training. With Lord Van’s talents, his skills as a swordsman will one day surpass even mine. For that reason, we must focus on training him in the way of the sword.”

Esparda could only sigh. “No matter how skilled he becomes with the sword, that will not make him a good lord. The most important thing for him is an abundance of knowledge and history from which he can draw to lead his people to prosperity. To ensure that comes to fruition, he should focus all of his attention on his studies.”

“No, no, no, Sir Esparda. As you well know, Lord Van is a genius. Things that would take the average person a month to memorize take him, at most, a few days. He does not require that much study time…”

Neither was really listening to the other. They were simply throwing assertions back and forth. Eventually, leveling heated glares at each other, they came to the same conclusion.

“This is pointless,” Dee said finally.

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”

This was perhaps the only thing they agreed on.

“Fine. Then for now, I will settle for three hours of studying and three hours

of sword training daily. I presume that is acceptable to you?” Esparda asked.

“Not acceptable at all,” I said. “Extremely not acceptable.”

They exchanged looks. Esparda said, “See? Even Lord Van says as much. We should increase his study time to four hours and decrease his training to two.”

“No, no. That is not nearly enough time to train the body.”

The two of them had already resumed their dispute, so I raised a hand and stopped them in their tracks.

“Not what I meant. I have work to do as the lord, and I also have a ton of weapon and armor orders from the Bell & Rango Company that I need to fill. If possible, I’d like to reduce my studies and training to…y’know, an hour a day…”

I meant to use this opportunity to voice my own demands, but the more I spoke, the quieter my voice got. If you’re wondering why, well, it’s because the men in front of me were shooting me terrifying glares.

“Lord Van, I must reject any proposals that do not involve increasing your study time.”

“Lord Van, when it comes to mastering the sword, the longer you wield a blade, the stronger you become. If anything, I would prefer for you to be training for eight hours a day or more!”

“I-I’d die,” I replied weakly, but they smiled and shook their heads.

“Nobody has ever died from studying.”

“You’d be exhausted, but it feels good to work up a sweat!”

They might as well have said, “where there’s a will, there’s a way!”

My shoulders sagged in disappointment. Just then, Till and Khamsin spoke up from beside me.

“Y-you will be fine, Lord Van,” said Till.

“I know you can do it, Lord Van!” said Khamsin.

Their encouragement only made me feel more defeated. “Your words sting, guys. I feel like the hurdle’s just getting set higher and higher…”

This made Till and Khamsin scramble to try to improve my mood. “O-oh, right! I’ll go brew some fresh black tea!”

“Lord Van… I… I’ll train with you!”

“You guys aren’t making me feel better…”

With that, my grand plan to reduce my study and training time ended in spectacular failure.

As my shoulders sagged even further, Dee raised his head, as if remembering something. “By the way, I heard you defeated Arb in combat!”

“Huh? Oh, well, just once out of dozens of times.”

“Ha ha ha! Even once is incredible for a boy not yet ten years of age!

Tomorrow I will personally serve as your sparring partner. I cannot wait!”

“Yaaay, I’m sooo excited!” I said stiltedly.

Dee was so excited he failed to notice my tone. “Ha ha ha! I’m sure you are!” I felt my cheeks twitch as I faked a smile.