Matthew opened his eyes and found that it was already dawn.

habitually looked to the side and saw that his sister Ellie was sleeping soundly, so he was relieved.

Except for the past few days, he almost never slept until dawn, and was either awakened in the middle of the night by hunger or freezing.

He raised his head slightly, and everyone was asleep.

As was customary in previous days, the people on the estate would wake them up about an hour after dawn and offer breakfast.

Breakfast.

Like dinner, it's a concept that these people don't have for a long time.

Breakfast was a batter of rye and cabbage, and Matthew could even faintly see a hint of oil in it.

Whatever the future holds, at least the food here is fantastic, and it's been a long time since he's eaten bread without sawdust and wheat porridge without sand. Even on New Year's Day, each of them received a hard-boiled egg, and Matthew finally chewed the shell carefully and swallowed it.

And after breakfast, there was nothing for them to do.

Staying in the wooden house almost all day, some bold people even sneaked outside to take a few looks, and the manager didn't scold them when they found out, but just told them not to go too far.

Just kidding, there is food and drink here, and you don't have to be frozen, at least until the end of winter, even if you know that you will be sold to be a serf, you will not leave.

In just 3 days, Matthew saw his sister's face turn rosy at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And for three days, almost every few hours, a group of people like them came in.

It's just that the place of arrangement is different.

"Squeak......

The door to the wooden house was opened.

It's time for breakfast.

It's still rye cabbage porridge, but today each person is still given a finger-sized jerky.

Matthew quickly realized that he should be giving them a job today.

Sure enough, after breakfast, the manager asked them to get dressed and walk out of the cabin en masse.

Matthew always keeps his sister by his side, and if he does manual work for a while, he must propose to the master here that he let himself do his sister's share, otherwise Elle, who is so weak, may not be able to resist for long.

However, it was different from what he imagined.

A group of thirty of them were taken to a ridiculously spacious house, where there were already many people, all of whom were sitting on the floor.

Matthew took a look, and there were hundreds of people, to say the least.

They sat cross-legged on the ground as they did in the audience, and did not feel cold because of the straw that was laid on them.

In the direction everyone was facing, a wall was painted white, and a half-height table was placed next to it.

"Brother, what are they going to do?" Elle would only call him brother when she was insecure.

While it doesn't seem dangerous, the unfamiliar surroundings you've never seen before are unsettling. Matthew would have even preferred that they be taken to the lumberyard, where he was more familiar.

Wait until everyone is here and the administrator orders them to be quiet. Through the small door next to her, a petite girl with a book in her hand walked in.

It looks like he's fifteen or sixteen years old, about the same as them.

The girl seemed to be startled when she saw hundreds of people sitting on the floor looking at her, and it took a moment before she calmed down, put the book in her hand on the wooden table, and then faced everyone.

"From ...... Starting today, I'm going to teach you a little bit of ...... Knowledge, please be sure to listen carefully? ”

In the midst of everyone's stunned, Anne began to teach according to the "lesson plan" she had prepared for two days, regardless of the reaction of others.

……

Half an hour later.

Matthew couldn't help himself and secretly yawned.

He saw that many people around him were like him, listless.

If it weren't for the long-term fear of the powerful, I'm afraid I would have fallen asleep by this time.

He turned his head to take a look, but found that his sister's back was straight, and she was listening attentively.

"Ellie, do you understand?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Yes, this sister is so interesting." The little girl replied, her eyes still fixed on what Anne was writing on the wall in front of her.

"Interesting?"

Matthew looked at the handwriting on the white wall written in charcoal.

It was a jumble of symbols, mixed with letters and numbers, and strange and beautiful line patterns.

"But you can't read......" Matthew was speechless.

"You don't need to be literate." Ellie whispered, but didn't seem to know how to explain it to her brother.

Matthew saw that she was really listening, so he stopped disturbing.

Two hours later.

Just when Matthew felt that his neck couldn't support his head, the girl above finally said:

"That's all for today, let's go back and think about the questions I raised, and we'll continue tomorrow...... Tuition. ”

The sound of exhalation could be clearly heard at the scene.

……

When Anne walked out of the "classroom", she was not as nervous as she was when she came in.

Colin, who was dressed in a civilian jacket and black coat, was waiting at the door, smiling to greet her from class.

"How does it feel?"

"I don't know, I'll just talk about it anyway." Anne let out a long sigh of relief at this point.

"You're very good." Colin smiled, "But I suggest you pause more at some key points next time so that everyone has time to follow your train of thought." Also, in the future, after a small lesson, try to talk to your students and ask them directly what they think. ”

"Does anyone really understand this?" Anne was puzzled, "They don't even know what elementals and magic are. ”

Colin said: "This kind of course is not to teach them, but to be able to remove some people from it, so it doesn't matter if you know magic now, the formal professor will start in a month." ”

……

Return to the cabin.

"Ellie, what did that young lady say today?" Seeing that his sister seemed to be still immersed in thought, Matthew finally couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm...... I don't know how to explain it, but she told it so interestingly, I felt like I saw another world. Not only was Elle illiterate, but her vocabulary was also limited, and the back and forth of just a few words made Matthew more and more confused.

"Forget it, if you like it."

"Matthew, can you teach me to read?"

"Yes, yes, I'm idle now anyway, but I can only recognize the whole alphabet, and I don't understand many longer words."

"It's okay, if I want to learn, I'll learn the alphabet."

"Okay......"

……

However, Matthew's plan to teach his sister the alphabet was terminated the next day, as a two-hour lesson was added in the afternoon to teach everyone the most basic literacy and numeracy.

I couldn't understand the morning class, but Matthew was fascinated by numbers.

The equations connected by symbols are so flawless and stunningly accurate.

He finally realized how his sister felt.

I can't say it, it's just funny.

The four-hour course didn't make Elle feel tired, but she became more and more energetic, and every day when she returned to the wooden house, she would continue to write on the ground with stones.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, after the end of the course, no one was allowed to leave.

Anne sat at the doorway, and every time she passed someone, she would ask him a few questions, and after answering them, she would be able to return to her lodgings.

Such tests were time-consuming, lasting several hours, until it was dark, and the last person was sent away.

……

"Out of 150 people, 2 people are excellent, 13 people are qualified, and the rest are almost completely incomprehensible." Anne was a little discouraged, probably because she didn't teach clearly enough.

"Yes, a little better than I expected."

Colin's words were not comforting.

In his eyes, the so-called magical talent does not only refer to whether it is awakened or not, and even this is secondary.

What's more important is the Elemental Idea Mind and the Magic Pattern Concept.

In fact, the study of these two aspects does not require mental power at all.

In other words, even an ordinary person, as long as he has been studied, can conduct the highest level of magical research, at best, he will be equipped with a full-fledged magician as an experimental assistant.

However, even in the Western Continent, where the mind is the most open-minded and the most academically prosperous, this rarely happens.

In everyone's concept, the study of magic, especially high-end research, should of course be the preserve of magicians, not to mention that what magician would want to be an assistant to an apprentice?

"The next few batches of people have already arrived, and this manor should be more lively in two days."

"How many people are you going to take?"

"It's expected to be 700 to 900 people."

"Can you stay?"

"No problem, it's really not enough space, my senior sister also has two private estates in the suburbs, you can ask her to borrow them first."

"Miss Tessa is really rich." Anne stuck out her tongue.

"But after there are more people, you will definitely not be able to be busy alone, I will find a few more people to come and help you." Colin Road.

"Hmm." Anne nodded.

……

The estate occupies a huge area, but it does not have many buildings.

Except for a few huts where the servants lived, and stables, there was only a small castle-like building and a few podiums.

Colin himself doesn't live here, so he has converted almost every place where people can live into "dormitories".

In this case, of course, the accommodation conditions are not very good, but compared to the bridges and sewers where these orphans used to live, I don't know how much better.

And the food problem that Colin has been worried about is the least problem.

The cost of food for nearly a thousand people, Colin originally thought it would be an astronomical amount.

However, after Jennifer explained it to him, she found out that it didn't really cost much.

The daily food cost per person is about 20 copper plants, calculated according to 1,000 people, 2 gold lang a day, more than 700 gold lang a year, even if you add clothing, manor renovation, and the salary of Anne and others, it will not exceed 1,500 gold lang a year.

That sounds like a lot, but it's nothing compared to what he's done.

And with his current net worth, he really doesn't care much about this money, not to mention that he can ask his senior sister for reimbursement at any time, just the gramogram and phonograph have earned him more than 20,000 gold francs in the past few months.

……

A month later.

The estate has completely changed.

Several simple wooden houses were built on the vacant lots, and the interior of the castle-like main building was removed as much as possible to accommodate more and more people.

After the number reached 800, Colin decisively asked Jennifer to stop the search.

Eleanor and two other failed mages on her team were pulled by Colin to help Anne's "Teacher" team. Angelo and the others remained in the Chamber of Commerce, assisting Wald's growing work.

Matthew, as usual, followed everyone with his sister to the place of study.

However, halfway through, he was told that they would go to a different place to continue their studies today, and he and his sister happened to be separated.

This made Matthew, who had become accustomed to a comfortable life, nervous again, until the manager told them to return to their old place at night.

He and a group of others were taken to a shack converted from stables.

Standing in front was an elderly man.

It is evident from his special clothing and the anvil next to him.

It's a blacksmith.

……

Meanwhile.

Ellie, along with the rest of the group, was taken to a smaller, more elaborately decorated room.

The girl who had taught them a lesson stood in front of them again.

"Hello everyone, my name is Annie, and from today onwards, I will teach you about the elements and magic."