Master and Disciple 1

"The moment of departure has arrived, You gaze into my eyes with unease, I catch the scent of our homeland, Thunderstorms gather over the distant plains. Chaotic Magic Turbulence is trembling, A look of worry emerges at your temples, Our ancestors and gods are calling to us, The wind rises from between black hooves..."

In the early morning, Nila was teaching several girls to sing the "Farewell Song of the Gallop People," a song Landen had "composed" for the Mana-Less in the Left Camp. This song was significantly more complex than previous tunes, yet the singing and dancing girls learned it quite quickly.

It had taken Nila several days of hard work, memorizing the lyrics and melody by rote, just to be able to sing the piece through without stumbling.

Landen would sing this song with his sister every night; for Nila, maintaining daily contact with Landen, the Lord, was the best guarantee of her own status.

Although her voice was not as sweet as those of the girls specifically trained in song, Nila was still willing to teach the children line by line.

Among all the children, the fastest learner was a girl named Redbird. Beyond just singing, this eight-year-old girl was also learning to read and write very quickly.

Nila thought very highly of Redbird, feeling that as one of the first children among Landen's subjects, he would surely be satisfied with her in every respect.

"Lady Nila?" Nancy came over to take Redbird to class. "May I take Redbird now?"

Many of the Mana-Less in the Left Camp believed that the uniquely positioned Lady Nila was scouting for a personal maid for Lord Landen.

In a Baron's castle, the various female attendants of the Baron could number up to twenty, and that was not even mentioning a Viscount.

Now that Landen's number of subjects rivaled that of a Viscount, it was only natural to look for clever, obedient, and pleasant-looking maids among his people.

However, Nancy did not think so. Nobles would not let their servants learn too many words, as it was disadvantageous for a noble to hide their ignorance and vulgarity in front of their servants.

Nancy believed that Landen's requirement for all children to learn to read was intended to prepare them to take on work within the territory. After all, these Mana-Less were rescued by Landen personally, making them more trustworthy than those who had defected from other regions. Consequently, Nancy was grooming Redbird to be a future teacher for the territory.

The children were divided into three classes. Every morning after waking up, they first performed physical exercises, followed by lessons in literacy, arithmetic, and general knowledge. Nancy taught the literacy class, guiding students to recognize letters and simple words; those with a foundation were tasked with reading simple storybooks.

Makoto temporarily taught arithmetic. As one of the few people in the territory capable of keeping accounts, her lessons focused on recognizing numbers and addition and subtraction within ten.

General knowledge was taught by several stewards, covering the legendary tales of the Human Empire and the Gallop Plains.

As the teacher for all the children, Nancy unusually possessed a large, round tent where the children sat to study during class.

As the literacy teacher, Nancy had to teach all three classes of children throughout the morning. She would prepare "teaching materials" in advance—papers with letters and simple words written on them—and each child's task for the session was to memorize the letters or words on their sheet.

The children had different foundations and varying capacities for learning. Nancy could not simply count numbers or teach addition and subtraction like Makoto, nor could she rotate teaching duties like the stewards; she had to teach every child herself, which was very exhausting.

This was why she valued the clever Redbird so much, hoping this young girl would one day be able to shoulder the work of being a literacy teacher for the Mana-Less.

By noon, the children would eat flatbread with bits of meat and mutton soup. The mutton soup was naturally leftover from the previous day, and the meat pies were also made the night before. Landen insisted on guaranteeing rations for the children. Currently, no poultry had reached the dining table, so the children were each allotted half a goose egg or pine egg daily.

Such preferential treatment was even considered a waste by Albert, but Landen was absolutely insistent on guaranteeing meat, eggs, and milk for all the children.

In the afternoon, the children were assigned to various small camps, where craftsmen taught them specific skills. Some of the older boys would also train with the squire knights, hoping to awaken a Mana-Wielder bloodline.

Redbird was a girl with a strong sense of curiosity; she always liked to try having different craftsmen teach her different knowledge.

For example, the old tanner taught the separation of animal hides. When separating skin from flesh, one had to be careful not to damage the hide. If it were a Magic Beast, one also had to pay attention to the natural patterns on the beast's skin. This was a craft that required both physical strength and a keen eye. Many children showed interest when they first started, but after a day or two, they grew weary and annoyed, losing the desire to learn.

On the contrary, Little Knife Handle, as the tanner's son, had previously only played in the mud in the camp, but once he actually started, he displayed rare talent and interest.

Now, Little Knife Handle was considered a qualified apprentice tanner, helping the adults separate the skin from the flesh of the freshly slaughtered Long-Haired Sheep every afternoon. The old tanner was very grateful to the Lord for letting the children learn skills, yet he also felt that having Little Knife Handle learn to read in the morning was a bit of a waste of time.

Of course, regardless of what the old tanner thought, Landen's orders had to be carried out throughout the entire camp.

Watching Little Knife Handle washing sheepskins with the adults by the river, Redbird could not understand how there could be so much fun in cleaning bloody, messy sheepskins.

Today, Redbird wanted to go to the singing and dancing girls' tent to learn the farewell song. Nila was willing to teach Redbird every day, and Redbird knew she should learn faster to make Nila happier.

The singing and dancing girls' tent was right next to Landen's main tent. There were always many girls in their tent learning to sing and dance. Many Mana-Less parents specifically emphasized to their children that they should come here, striving to gain the Lord's favor.

However, in the entire singing and dancing tent, the fastest learner was a barbarian girl: Qiu Cao.

Qiu Cao was not tall, but she had large eyes. Unlike most of the children in the camp who had human mothers, both of Qiu Cao's parents were barbarians. Her mother had passed away long ago, and her father had gone to war with the Grey Goose Tribe.

Qiu Cao had grown up in the Wandering Badger camp and loved watching singing and dancing the most. She learned very quickly herself and was well-liked by the singing and dancing teachers in the tent.

Qiu Cao's voice was slightly husky, and her dance movements were bold and expansive, possessing quite a bit of the feel of barbarian wrestling. Although her movements were comical, Qiu Cao had a very strong sense of rhythm, which was particularly dynamic when accompanied by a hand drum.

Often, the teachers' dance lessons would turn into a solo performance by Qiu Cao. Qiu Cao not only liked to dance herself but could also dance in coordination with the teachers or other students.

When Qiu Cao spun while dancing, Redbird even felt as if a beam of light had descended from the top of the tent, hitting Qiu Cao just right.

Watching Qiu Cao dance in her unique style while singing the farewell song, Redbird suddenly doubted whether Nila's praise of her own singing was true.

Redbird tried to dance a few steps according to the dance teacher's instructions, but she fell several times within a few minutes. Under the weight of various setbacks, Redbird left the singing and dancing tent.

Special thanks to the big boss Xia Pi Yong for the continuous recommendation votes; everyone's reading is the motivation for my updates. I will bring you consecutive updates on the weekends. Once again, I ask for your comments and recommendations. Thank you to every reader!