Learning Etiquette

Ethan, Lo, and Flaubert left the library and went to a nearby pub where they met with the other knights of Kastell for lunch. While they were eating, Clovis explained that he had found twelve young people who had the appropriate qualifications to be squires. They were all prepared to support and assist the knights that they would be assigned to, by doing things like maintaining equipment, and taking care of horses, and would be prepared to learn from the knights. Ten of the prospective squires were young mercenaries between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Of the other two, one of them was an apprentice field alchemist who could serve under Gozbert Techniek, and the other one of them was an apprentice mage who could serve under Oda Tovenaar. Ethan agreed that these twelve were good choices, and told Clovis that they could go ahead and hire them.

"By the way, how money much do squires typically make per year in salary?" Asked Ethan.

"Typically, about five gold coins per year. This is, of course, in addition to getting free room and board." Said Clovis.

[I see. So, they make about half of what the average knight makes. I suppose that I should pay them half of what I am paying these knights, so five gold coins plus five large silver coins would be a good salary then.] thought Ethan.

"Tell them that I will offer them five gold silver coins plus five large silver coins per year." Said Ethan.

"Very well, my lord. By the way, did you learn anything interesting at the library today?" Said Clovis.

"Yes. I learned the 'bronze protective barrier' spell, and the 'close range fire attack spell'. I would like to learn more spells, but I think that my memory may be at its limit for today." Said Ethan.

The knights all looked at Ethan in surprise.

"Just so that I'm understanding you, you mean that you learned about those spells, or you started to learn them right?"

"No, I mean that I learned them well enough that I think that I would be comfortable casting them. By the way, why don't more people in this land learn magic. From what Mia told me, even some wealthy people with high mana capacity don't learn many spells. That seems like a waste to me. It seems to me like these magic spells are pretty intuitive, once you learn the Magicae language, and the words of the spells, while a bit redundant make sense after a while." Said Ethan.

The knights just looked at Ethan with shock.

"It takes a normal person several months to learn even a single combat spell. Even if you learn the Magicae language to the point of being fluent, one wrong word makes the whole spell worthless. While the delayed spark spell is shorter, combat spells are thousands of words each. You must memorize all of the words of the spells in the exact correct order. That is why most people don't learn magic, and certainly not two combat spells in a half of day. I was considered a prodigy in my youth, and it took me several weeks to learn the 'close range fire attack spell'." Said Clovis.

"Really? It's not that hard. In fact its redundancy and repetition are actually helpful in memorizing it. You don't have to put your memory to every single individual word in the spell, just memorize all of the blocks of text that repeat, and string those blocks of text together in your mind. That way, you're only actually putting your memory to thousands of words, but rather several sections of less than a hundred words, and getting those segments together in the correct order." Said Ethan.

Clovis thought about this for a moment and then said.

"I suppose that that would make the process easier, but even so, you are memorizing hundreds of words in a foreign language a single morning." Said Clovis.

"I've always been good at both language and memorization. Plus, Magicae is very similar to a language that I have studied extensively." Said Ethan.

"Well, you're certainly very skilled and smart if you were indeed able to learn both of those this morning. Anyway, let us meet back at the inn for dinner this evening." Said Clovis.

"That sounds good." Said Ethan.

After lunch, Ethan went back to the same archive room that he had been in before, and looked for any books about etiquette for nobility in Vorbei. Just as he found a book that looked promising, he glanced over at the old man who had called him a 'little foreigner' earlier. Now that he got a good look at the old man, it seemed that he was one of the national ministers who voted against Otto Von Geld, although Ethan did not know what his name was or what he was minister of. What really caught Ethan's eye about him was that he had a mortar and pestle in front of him and was grinding a yellow substance that smelled suspiciously like sulfur into a fine powder. He also had, on the table in front of him, a small pile of a blackish powder and a small pile of white powder.

[ I have a sneaking suspicion that that is sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. Is this person seriously making gunpowder in a library? Please tell me that he doesn't plan to ignite it here. What kind of a maniac would ignite gunpowder in an archive room of a library? And he had the nerve to say that I'm being disturbing in the library while he's practically making a bomb.] thought Ethan.

"Excuse me sir, but perhaps the library is not the best place to make gunpowder." Said Ethan.

"You know about gunpowder?!" Said the old man.

"Yes. I am aware of the existence of gunpowder. Perhaps you should chose a better venue to make it because the substance can actually be quite dangerous if you're not careful." Said Ethan.

"How does a foreigner like you know about gunpowder, a substance so novel that only a few people are actually aware of its existence?" Said the old man.

"I've known about it for a long time. Now, I think that your experiment with gunpowder is not appropriate for this setting." Said Ethan.

The old man thought for a moment.

"Wait, you don't happen to hail from east of the Ancient Forest, do you?"

[I guess that this is the story that I've been going with. There's not much reason to be totally honest with this old man anyway.] thought Ethan

"Yeah, something like that." Said Ethan.

"So then you must have been the person who showed it to that Von Ritter lady." Said the old man.

"Yes, I am." Said Ethan.

"How long have your people been using this substance which can concentrate enough energy to create an explosion without magic?" asked the old man.

"For centuries, but I really don't think that this is the proper time or place to discuss it." Said Ethan.

"Yes, I suppose not. I would like to learn more about this substance though. My name is Josef Von Buch, the Minister of Education for this kingdom. My house is at Number 18 Straße Street right here in Vorbei City. Please tell me what your name is and where you live so that I may send you letters inquiring about this substance." Said the old man.

"My name is Ethan, and I am the new Baron of Kastell where I plan to live soon." Said Ethan.

"Ethan Von Kastell…" Josef muttered while he wrote that down on some loose parchment and then collected his powders of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur, and then left the library.

[Now that that's out of the way, I can finally get back to reading about etiquette.] Ethan thought as he opened the book which seemed to be about etiquette for the aristocracy of this kingdom. It was pretty exhaustive about what to do, what not to do, how to speak, and how to act. He read until the evening when he finally thought that he had a good handle on how to act as a noble, and was comfortable that he wouldn't embarrass himself at any formal event that he might have to attend.

He then left the library and made his way back to the inn with two of his knights accompanying him.