Now that I’ve defeated the samurai girl Yuki and made her my servant and lover, let’s get started with something like course registration.
This week is only for orientation, so I’ll just listen to the explanations.
Surprisingly, it seems there’s plenty of room in the schedule. Basically, I can take up to four lectures a day, six times a week.
…But of the 24 slots (4×6), only about 12 per week are enough to meet the graduation requirements.
Grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry.
These six are popular subjects called the “Noble Studies,” which nobles are expected to know.
And at the academy, these are mandatory courses.
Of course, there are quite a few people like my worthless old man who can’t manage them.
But well, nobles automatically get the credits just for being nobles…
Grades are another matter, of course.
But you get the credits. You can graduate.
And then, there are subjects like music, fine arts, magic, ancient languages, theology, and internal medicine.
Alchemy, equivalent to science, and surgery and economics are considered lowly.
Because they are considered lowly, nobles don’t learn such things.
Alchemy is a scam!
Surgeons are filthy things covered in blood!
Merchants and moneylenders are lowly people dealing with filthy money!
This is! This is! This is what it means to be a noble!
Barbarbarlu!
That’s what it means.
You can’t understand?
Then let me explain briefly.
In this world, in this region called the ‘Western World,’ the central religion is ‘Holy Teaching.’
The value system here is that it’s OK to lynch anyone who goes against this Holy Teaching, or rather, you should lynch them!
The content seems similar to Christianity, but since the existence of magic is recognized, it’s quite different and somewhat confusing.
Anyway, it’s written in their scriptures:
‘The teachings of God are absolute’ ≒ ‘If you oppose them, you will be killed.’
‘The world was created by God’ ≒ ‘All natural phenomena are the will of God, so don’t question them.’
Yes, a denial of natural science.
‘Blood is impure, so jobs that involve contact with blood are lowly!’
This is probably because they have an empirical understanding that people who deal with blood often become intermediaries for infectious diseases. Thus, jobs involving blood, such as ‘surgeons,’ ‘hunters,’ and ‘butchers,’ are considered dirty and to be avoided.
I think it’s quite a reasonable religion.
For example, on Earth, ‘Muslims must not eat pork!’
One theory is that since Islam originated in a region with scarce food, pigs, which eat the same food as humans, were deemed ‘unclean animals’ because it wasn’t practical to raise them.
Similarly, since blood carries pathogens, it makes sense to avoid people involved in blood-related jobs.
…However, this line of thinking leads to a lack of development in hygiene and medicine!
And the reason why finance is considered lowly?
That’s simple.
The people in this world don’t understand the importance of merchants.
If you live in the modern world on Earth, you would naturally understand things like, ‘You have to pay back loans with interest!’ or ‘Wholesale and retail prices are different!’
But people in this world don’t get it.
Because they lack education and haven’t been taught.
Merchants raise prices to transport goods and guarantee quality!
Moneylenders do business, so they need interest to make a living!
Even if you present these logical arguments from our time, they can’t understand them.
Basically, you should understand that science and finance are not taught at the academy.
…What?
Then where are these two taught?
Well, you have to apprentice with the many alchemists and merchants out there, who are practically seen as con artists.
That’s why they are considered scams…
In short, while science and economics are not acknowledged, those who talk about them in this world are usually seen as frauds.
So, that’s how it is.
I listened to the orientation, but I didn’t hear a single useful thing.
Half of the teachers are trash who got their positions through connections.
I thoroughly debated and overpowered such people during the orientation, forcing them to give me credits. It’s a waste of time to attend worthless classes.
However, among the teachers, there were a few who were somewhat competent and some who were quite capable.
Although this world may resemble the Middle Ages, there are still intelligent people.
For example, Leonardo da Vinci was a genius of the Middle Ages, but he’s likely smarter than me, right?
That’s what I mean.
For instance, the math teacher, Goat von Maxwell.
Goat is a large man with white hair slicked back, a stern face, and piercing eyes.
Despite his age, he proudly stood with his broad chest out and called out to us in a strong, deep voice.
“Most of you are noble brats.”
His words were incredibly harsh.
Conversely, I realized that this is tolerated because he is highly competent.
“As nobles, you don’t need to look at the numbers for estate management. Because of your noble status, you don’t need to know about accounting.”
That’s true.
My old man left the management of our estate entirely to the steward.
“But!”
Goat struck his cane against the ground.
The students, intimidated by Goat’s terrifying demeanor, fell silent.
So the sound of his cane hitting the ground echoed loudly.
“But that doesn’t mean it’s okay not to be able to do it! There’s a world of difference between ‘not needing to do it’ and ‘being unable to do it’!”
Wow, he gets it.
He’s reliable.
“So, you will learn mathematics! To the extent that you can manage your estates!”
Good, good.
I’m quite good at math too.
I remember winning the math Olympiad in high school. It was supposed to be a super tough problem, but it turned out to be nothing special…
I also used to solve unsolved problems for fun during my university days and got awards for it. That was a nice way to earn some pocket money.
But there are greater mathematicians in the world.
There are mad geniuses like Ramanujan, who claim, “A goddess taught me in my sleep.”
Compared to them, I’m just an ordinary person.
“Yes, teacher.”
“What is it, kid?”
“You speak highly, but how good are you at math?”
“Oh, good question. I discovered the formula for solving cubic equations…”
Hmm, so he’s accomplished something like discovering Cardano’s formula on Earth.
That’s impressive.
I should standardize Arabic numerals and mathematical symbols and refine the current vague mathematical axioms to align with modern Earth’s standards.
I picked up the chalk.
…………
……….
……
“And so, based on elliptical and hyperbolic geometry, the parallel postulate should be rejected.”
“Indeed… That is correct.”
“We defined this as non-Euclidean geometry, so the current axioms…”
“I can accept that, but here…”
“No, that’s incorrect. Here, it should be…”
“I see. Then, for this question…”
After about five hours of discussion, I finally got him to fully accept my theory!
A great achievement!
Meanwhile, all the students had passed out.
