Sunlight streamed obliquely through the window panes into the castle's study.
More than thirty teenagers sat on the red carpet, holding slates and charcoal pencils for drawing and writing.
As mentioned before, due to the " Sea of Corruption Disease, the survival rate of newborns in the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind world is not very high.
Even including the Pejite immigrants, the total number of minors in the entire valley is less than one hundred.
According to the long-standing tradition of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, children under the age of five are cared for by their parents or by the "grandmothers" who are responsible for childcare.
From the age of five to ten, they would concentrate on learning the most basic texts and arithmetic every day at the castle.
Children over ten years old can take on some light work based on their interests and abilities, while learning professional skills from their supervisors.
At that moment, all the children's eyes were focused on the dark wooden panel on the bookshelf.
An elderly man with a white beard, wearing a beige leather jacket, stood in front of the wooden board, occasionally writing or drawing with a plaster pen in his hand.
Lucian was one of these children.
He sat by the window, his eyes fixed ahead, but his mind was far from the lesson.
The letters and numbers on the wooden board twisted and swayed as if shrouded in high-temperature steam, unable to come together no matter what they did.
The sound seemed to come from a very far place, becoming indistinct and unable to penetrate my mind.
The white-bearded old man writing and drawing on the wooden board looked just like the teachers in the old Council of Elders —rigid and boring.
He didn't actually dislike studying. When he was in the Pejite Palace, his teacher praised him for his intelligence and outstanding memory.
But this wasn't the life Lucian wanted—the mundane life of playing and learning with other ordinary children.
What he longed for were the observations and experiences recorded in the notes in his father's study.
The spore forest glows coldly, winged insects glide among giant fungal stalks, ancient ruins stand in the center of the acidic lake, and a gray-green miasma sweeps in...
My father's voice still seems to echo in my ears, describing the magnificent, tranquil, yet treacherous Sea of Corruption.
Lucian's dream is to become an explorer of the Sea of Corruption like his father.
Now, this dream carries an added weight.
He was going to the Sea of Corruption to find his father.
Lucian couldn't believe that the strong, wise man, who seemed born to roam the Sea of Corruption, that land of death, would actually die there.
Something must be holding him back—an accident, a discovery, or...
In short, his father must still be alive, waiting for him in the depths of the Sea of Corruption.
" Lucian?"
The old man's voice suddenly became clear; it was calling his name.
"Here!" Lucian snapped back to reality.
You answer, what is 15 minus 8?
Lucian's mind went blank. What had the teacher just said? Subtraction?
"...7." He gave a number based on his intuition.
The old man looked at him for two seconds, said nothing, and simply nodded. "Yes, sit down and pay attention during the lesson."
Lucian sat down, his cheeks slightly flushed.
He is the prince of Pejite, and even though the kingdom is gone, he cannot embarrass himself in front of "ordinary people".
For the rest of the class, he still couldn't help but drift off; the basic knowledge was too simple for him, and he just couldn't muster any interest in it.
Finally, as the sun began to set, the old man put down his plaster pen.
That concludes today's lesson. Go home and practice the calculations we taught today on your own.
The children, as if granted a pardon, quickly packed their things and ran out of the classroom.
Even in a different world, children's aversion to going to school remains unchanged.
Long tables have been set up in the castle hall, and the castle will provide food for all the children attending the class.
Lucian received his portion, quickly finished eating, and prepared to return to his room on the upper level of the castle.
Unlike the other Pejite children, because of an agreement between their mother, Eliana, and the Valley of the Wind, they didn't have to squeeze into those makeshift tents, but were instead arranged to stay in the castle's guest rooms.
Clean, tidy, weatherproof, and with a real bed and desk.
"Hey! Brother Lucian!"
He had just reached the top of the stairs when two voices called out to him.
A boy with brown curly hair and a few freckles on his face, and a girl with thick eyebrows and short, pure black hair ran over.
"What's wrong?" Lucian stopped in his tracks. "I have some things to do today, so I won't be going outside the city walls."
Because of his status, Lucian was highly revered among the Pejite children, almost becoming their "king."
The boy Tom was the most enthusiastic follower of him, and since Meili's sister Meila was close to his mother, she asked him to take care of Meili.
But as the oldest child in the class, Lucian was clearly not interested in these "little kid" games.
He preferred to spend his time practicing swordsmanship or continuing to read the books about the Sea of Corruption that he had borrowed from his sister Nausicaä.
The book was quite old, clearly written by the ancestors of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, but its hand-drawn illustrations and detailed records contained almost entirely novel knowledge that Pejite had not recorded.
"I'm not going out to play. My sister told me there's an event in Castle Square today where everyone can see the soldiers training and sparring!"
"Training troops? What does that have to do with us?" Lucian asked with little interest.
Just as he was about to refuse, Tom quickly added:
"I heard that the Blessed Warrior who saved us will also appear; it seems to be the first time they're publicly testing their skills in front of everyone!"
In recent days, at someone's (Tree's) behest, the story of the Blessed Warrior has been spread like wildfire.
With immense strength, lightning speed, and impervious to blades and spears, wielding a golden holy sword and shield, they are practically celestial soldiers descended from the heavens to protect the Valley of the Valley of the Wind.
However, for the sake of the people's physical and mental health, Yupa still did not show the true training process of the Blessed Warrior to outsiders.
Therefore, people can only learn about their heroic fighting spirit through the descriptions of the immigrants.
Lucian has always been skeptical of exaggerated rumors.
In Pejite, some expeditions often boast wildly in order to make a name for themselves.
Rumors such as "discovering a complete molted Ohmu " or "hunting snake crickets alone" are common, but they are usually just rumors.
If someone could truly do that, they would be busy making a fortune in silence, not sitting in a tavern all day publicizing their achievements.
Moreover, Lucian had seen truly powerful individuals before, such as Yupa, his father, and the " Ohmu- level" explorers under his command, all of whom were exceptionally skilled.
Because Eliana is still busy adapting to her new position and helping the Pejite refugees solve their problems, she hasn't had time to fulfill her previous promises.
In other words, Lucian has never experienced the power of the blessing, nor does he know the power of the Blessed.
Tom's words piqued his interest.
He wanted to see for himself just how skilled these warriors, who were rumored to be so formidable, really were.
Can I compare to those elite explorers? Can I compare to my father?
"Alright, then I'll take you to see it."
"Yay!"