Some of them looked rather worn due to 'extensive quality testing', but due to speedy delivery, Commander James Eddings decided to accept them anyway. "We need them, and we need them now."

"How come? I thought the World War was over." Mindy blinked.

"So did I. Tell that to the raiders showing up on our sh.o.r.es."

"Raiders? Where are they from?"

"Where are they NOT from? We're getting raids from all sides! Even the Wilds are trying to cross the channel to take a bite out of us!"

As Mindy concluded her deals with Ashdale, Remian and Phoebe watched from the side.

"You look proud." Phoebe mentioned, seeing Remian's expression.

"I am proud. Of her." Remian admitted it freely.

"She's come a long way. I hear she was just a scared orphan waitress hiding in a tavern, too afraid to set foot on the street."

"She was, at first." Remian nodded.

"But you taught her. You raised her. And now…" Phoebe shook her head. "Whatever did you feed that girl?!"

"Roast meat, usually. Whatever the hunters brought back." Remian thought back. "Then we went around to see the world and we ate all sorts of stuff from wherever we landed. I think she has a thing for La Vivan cheese and Germati sausage."

"So is that the secrets to her success? The cheese and sausage?" Phoebe chuckled. "Come on, Remian. Spill it. What did you teach that girl?"

"Teach her?" Remian thought back. "I taught her to read and write properly. I taught her math. And I taught her to go learn how to do whatever she wanted to do. All of that is just a starting point. The rest of her success… is hers."

"Not entirely, I think. You understate your role in her success." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Who was it who gave her the materials for her first airs.h.i.+p? Who was it who had Arnold teach her engineering and mechanics? Who was it who brought her around the world, introducing people and ports and routes to her? Who was it who gave her the money to start trading and build her own business?"

"Who, indeed, I wonder?" Remian put on an innocent look as if all that had nothing to do with him.

"You gave Mindy advantages the likes of which most children in this world could never even dream of having." Phoebe paused. "Except perhaps for George and Tim."

"Hey, all I did with Tim was put him in charge of the cheese."

"But in George's case, you gave him everything. You gave him KarGoth. And what about Darian? And Eriane?"

"I… actually didn't do anything for them." Remian suddenly had a guilty look on his face. "All I did was bring them here and let them free. In Darian's case, you should look to Doom, not me. Even if I wanted to do anything for them now, it's too late. Their needs and interests are beyond my ability to provide. They're already stepping out on their own paths by themselves. It's best I just let them grow."

"Still, I bet they'd love to have some guidance from you. Despite all your downplaying, I suspect every kid in the Wildlands would love to have a mentor like you."

Remian looked at her sideways. "You're talking about that new school I'm planning, aren't you?"

"Well, yes." Phoebe admitted it frankly.

"Do you want to join me in teaching the young ones?" Remian offered straight out.

"You want me to take a cla.s.s? Or lecture on a subject?" Phoebe mused. "I could teach first-aid…"

"No. There will be no cla.s.ses. No lectures." Remian told her. "We're going to teach in an entirely different manner. Think about it, Phoebe. The entire school design is based on one thing; the need for factory workers. All their education is mainly for the sake of filling in a workforce. Schools like that are all over the world. That isn't the kind of school I want to run. Any school can raise factory workers. I want my students to do something different. To be something different."

Phoebe faltered. "George, Tim and Mindy?"

"Exactly." Remian nodded. "And none of them has ever received a single lecture from me."

"An elite academy…" Phoebe muttered. For an instant, a bare instant, a dark shadow seemed to cross her face, with her eyes seeming to gaze into a scene far away and long ago. "How young do you intend to start them learning?"

Remian straightened. "No younger than age five. Any child below that should stay with their parents."

"Learning letters at age five, huh?" Phoebe frowned, seeming half-distracted with her own thoughts.

"Not unless they're interested. Mainly, it should be about character and athletics. Health and hearts." Remian said. "I don't expect to see them studying before they're at least seven. We need to focus on storytelling and character-formation. Also, they should build their bodies at that age. I want to see them running around all day, climbing and jumping and swimming if we could manage it. On top of that, I want them to wear thickly padded armor."

"Children wearing armor? Can they even put it on?!" Phoebe was bewildered.

"We'll have the teachers put the armor on them. I'll have the Adventurers Guild help out at the pre-school as missions for the low level Adventurers." Remian nodded to himself. "The Guild has always accepted children as young as nine as Adventurers. These days, most of their missions involves planting seedlings for the Reforestation. They can help out in the pre-school and model activities for young ones to follow, including dancing, sports, and yes, wearing armor."

"That actually sounds like a fun pre-school."

"It should be fun. Most of the time, they should be playing. That's how children should learn; through play." Remian thought for a bit. "Though it would be good for them to learn about food and what's good to eat and what not to eat in the Wildlands. They should be brought out on foraging trips through the outskirts of the Farming areas and around the Black Depths Lake."

"Isn't that too dangerous?!" Phoebe yelped. "There are all sorts of Wilds out there!"

"We'll have the Wilds protect them." Remian a.s.sured her. "We'll have the wolfcats and the lynxmice watch over them. They can even have their own Comrades. They could learn Comrade-care as a subject. Self-defense too."

Phoebe shook her head. "What kind of building would you need for a pre-school like that?"

"I was thinking it might be better not to have a building. Maybe an airs.h.i.+p, or a tree-house." Remian paused. "But in the end, I'll settle for a circular creche."

"A what?"

"It's like a playground with trees and platforms and safety netting. It's open air, with only an outer railing that goes around a circular platform ten feet off the ground. That would be the first floor. The ground floor has an open central area which should function like a playground and below the platform we could have lockers and open air cla.s.srooms…"

"Open air cla.s.srooms? No walls? What if the kids run out?"

"Let them. Let them run around freely. They can join run in and join a cla.s.s if they're interested and run out to play if they're not."

"But… but what if a child never goes to cla.s.s?! Runs around and plays all day?"

"Then we have ourselves a superb Adventurer. I'm actually more worried about the opposite happening." Remian shrugged. "But it's easy enough to motivate someone to learn something. The key is they'll be learning for the sake of accomplis.h.i.+ng something. We just need to give them missions that require those skills. For example, let's have an end-of-pre-school game involving a treasure-hunt with written clues. Warn them about that at the beginning of their second year. They'd have to know how to read to find the treasure."

"And the treasure is…?"

"A hundred tokens that can be exchanged for several top choices of differing prices. Or sold and exchanged with their friends." Remian shrugged. "It's one way of learning about currency and trade."

"And… how much would it cost for a child to enroll in this pre-school of yours?"

"Cost?" Remian snorted. "For my own people, it's free."

"It sounds like it's going to run at a huge loss."

"It's no loss. They'll be involved with the Guild before long and earning Guild Points by doing missions for me. Reward for labor, based on success, regardles of time taken or what it cost them, rather than payment for hours. It's a whole different system from the norm of this world."

"Is that even necessary? They'll need to live in this world, after all…!"

"You don't get it. I need to raise a whole new generation from young who think and function differently from factory workers. I need to forge a whole new culture that's never been seen in this world." Remian grimaced. "I think we might even need to raise a nomadic tribe."

"A nomadic tribe? Remian, what are you preparing these people for, exactly?!"

"What, you say…?" Remian took a deep breath. "I need to prepare a future generation for a life without a homeworld. A generation that can live in stars.h.i.+ps and build a Warp Gate."

"Wha…" Phoebe drew a blank. Somewhere between 'life without a homeworld' and 'stars.h.i.+ps', Remian had completely lost her.

"It won't be that hard." Remian consoled her. "For a middle step to s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, we have airs.h.i.+ps. Once we can manufacture ultralight carbon fibre polymers and graphene, building airs.h.i.+ps suitable for living in shouldn't be too far off. Already there are people who live big parts of their lives flying around. Just think about Mindy."

"And all that starts with running around a playground all day?"

"All that starts with healthy bodies and sound character." Remian said. "Reading and writing is optional, available, but not required until they're seven. That's when they start studying, but again, they won't be in cla.s.srooms or desks."

"Another open air playground?!"

"Not quite." Remian chuckled. "I think we'll do it the way Mindy was taught. We'll have them travel the world on airs.h.i.+ps, doing missions and taking cla.s.ses to learn what they need for those missions. Everything from math and language to protocol and cultural comparison."