A Tutor for House Guilliman?

"Wow, there was even slavery."

Zhou Yun let out an astonished sigh.

At that moment, his memories began to surface—not only the Scholar's memories, but also those from his previous life.

Only now did Zhou Yun realize that he had arrived a little too early.

The current Macragge was not yet a particularly livable place.

Macragge's gap between rich and poor was enormous, prices remained high, and temples lent money to residents at usurious interest rates. The residents became debt slaves, enslaved by the wealthy class.

The wealthy controlled Macragge's scarce farmland and the properties within Macragge City. They did nothing, lived in luxury, and forced slaves to labor on their estates to support their extravagant lifestyles. Yet slaves did not even possess the most basic right to live, because their masters even had the authority to execute debt slaves outright.

Of course, according to the wealthy, how could debt slaves possibly count as slaves?

Though debt bondage was called slavery, it was merely a measure to protect sacred private property. How could a person's freedom possibly take precedence over property rights?

Therefore, debt bondage was not slavery at all!

Besides, debt slaves could still freely repay their debts and thus freely become free people again.

As for how debt slaves, who had neither income nor even the right to own property, were supposed to repay those debts... that was not something the wealthy needed to consider.

The reason Macragge later became a model of human order throughout the galaxy was entirely due to the reforms begun by Consul Conor and completed by Guilliman not long afterward.

Tita clenched the IOUs in her hand, gritted her teeth, and seemed to be desperately thinking of how to deal with this massive debt.

Zhou Yun, the one who actually owed the money, was comparatively calm.

It was just debt. Just becoming a debt slave. It was not as if he had died, and even death was not really that frightening.

If dying had not meant returning to the Golden Throne, Zhou Yun would have thought that even dying peacefully in Warhammer 40,000 counted as a blessing.

Besides, a learned Scholar like Zhou Yun generally would not be killed after becoming a debt slave.

The creditor had made Zhou Yun a debt slave to earn money. Zhou Yun's knowledge was enough to make him highly sought after on the slave market. Many wealthy nobles would want to buy him as a tutor or adviser, and his treatment would be far better than that of ordinary slaves.

If he was lucky, he might even use this chance to establish contact with Robert Guilliman.

"I'll find a way to deal with the first payment next month..."

Tita clenched her fists, bit her lip, and said to Zhou Yun,

"But you must be prepared. You need to devote yourself fully to preparing for Lord Guilliman's tutor recruitment on the twenty-second of next month..."

Lord Guilliman...

Zhou Yun froze for a moment. "Conor Guilliman?"

"It's Lord Marcus Guilliman. Has alcohol fried your brain?" Tita corrected him, raising a finger to rub her brow in exasperation.

Marcus Guilliman.

The memories in Zhou Yun's mind gradually became clearer.

That letter... so that was what it was about.

As an old noble family of Macragge's True Blue Banner, House Guilliman naturally consisted of more than just Consul Conor Guilliman.

Marcus Guilliman was Conor Guilliman's cousin and one of Conor Guilliman's closest blood relatives.

Unlike the consul, who was famed for his wisdom and virtue, Marcus Guilliman had achieved little in politics.

He had devoted nearly all his energy to having children.

According to Zhou Yun's memories, Lord Marcus had publicly acknowledged as many as thirty-nine children. Thirteen of them had been born to him and his three wives—all of whom had died in childbirth—while the rest were illegitimate children from various sources.

With that many sons, wasn't he afraid of failing at raising them, with half of them betraying him...

Still, according to the Scholar's memories, Lord Marcus cared more about child-rearing than the Emperor did.

Not long ago, Lord Marcus had loudly announced that he would seek an outstanding tutor for his fortieth son, his most recently acknowledged illegitimate child.

Marcus had also stressed that he would not seek a teacher from the higher-ranked Rhetoric Academy, but instead would find, in the first-level Grammar Academy, a teacher well versed in history and literature.

Marcus's blood relation to Conor, along with the remuneration Marcus offered—which could be called generous—had attracted a large number of Scholars, including Zhou Yun's predecessor.

In the recruitment examination Marcus prepared, Zhou Yun's predecessor had earned first place, allowing him to attend a formal interview one month later alongside nine other teachers.

Zhou Yun rubbed his brow as well.

If that was the case, approaching Robert Guilliman through Marcus Guilliman was clearly easier and more reliable.

But a debt slave could not apply for the position—his master had the right to restrict a debt slave's personal freedom.

Zhou Yun found it a little strange.

The repayment dates on those IOUs had been set extremely tight. The first payment was due on the twentieth of next month, precisely before Zhou Yun was to attend the recruitment.

He remembered now.

Cicero, the man who had constantly invited him to gamble at the casino, was also a Scholar and teacher.

However, unlike Zhou Yun, who was merely a teacher at the Grammar Academy,

Cicero taught at the more highly regarded Rhetoric Academy, where debate, public speaking, and politics were taught. His famous article, On the Soul, had won widespread praise from the noble class.

Yet his accomplishments in literature and history were no less impressive.

In Marcus's examination, he had overwhelmed the Grammar Academy teachers as a rhetoric instructor, ranking second only to Zhou Yun.

If Zhou Yun became a debt slave...

Then the tutor position with Marcus's household would almost certainly go to Cicero.

Zhou Yun vigorously rubbed his brow a few times.

For the sake of a tutor position, was the struggle really this practical and brutal?

And this Scholar too—how had he fallen into gambling so easily? Couldn't he have been more wary?

Just then, Tita glanced out the window. Outside, all four moons had sunk below the horizon and vanished beneath the bright daylight.

It was already getting late...

Tita tapped the table beside her and glanced at the strangulation marks on Zhou Yun's neck.

Tita was currently studying at the Grammar Academy where Zhou Yun taught, so she should have been heading to class by now.

But seeing the marks on Zhou Yun's neck, Tita could not possibly feel at ease leaving him alone in the apartment.

Yet if she stayed home with Zhou Yun... Tita was worried about that bastard named Cicero.

Tita had always felt that Cicero had bad intentions. He came looking for Uncle Zhou Yun almost every day, inviting him to the casino.

If Cicero came knocking and Zhou Yun's gambling addiction flared up again, there was no way Tita could stop him.

So Tita reached out and grabbed Zhou Yun's wrist.

This time, Zhou Yun suppressed his instinct to dodge and let Tita take hold of him.

"Come to school with me." Tita held Zhou Yun's wrist as she spoke.

From Tita's perspective, Zhou Yun seemed to have frozen.

But in truth, Zhou Yun's psychic power had exerted some effect at that moment.

He gained a vague sense of the future.

Though this body also possessed psychic talent, the Scholar had not truly crossed the "Realm" and awakened his psychic powers.

Furthermore, Macragge's Veil was rather thick, causing Zhou Yun's precognitive talent to become something akin to intuition.

Even so, Zhou Yun still vaguely sensed that going to the school would bring some good gains.

It seemed he would need to find a time to cross the "Realm" and truly awaken this body's psychic powers.

As he thought, Zhou Yun obediently allowed Tita to pull him from the apartment and lead him along Macragge's stone-paved streets toward the school.

The apartment Zhou Yun and Tita rented was not far from the school, and before long, they arrived beneath its colonnade...

But Tita's body suddenly stiffened. She stopped where she was and looked ahead with anger mingled in her gaze.

Zhou Yun followed Tita's line of sight.

He saw a man in bright red leather shoes leaning against a column, looking around...