School
"Come here you little punk! Return me my coins!" Vincent yelled and waved his walking stick at the kid.
"Why be persistent old man? Come on, it wasn't me!" At a distance, the kid shook his head, denying the allegation.
"I warned you. Come're you brat!" the old man walked forward. Increasing his pace bit by bit, he raised his stick in the air, threatening to strike.
"No! Not me! Drats!" the kid ran, bumping into a few pedestrians along the way. As he gained speed, he slipped in the crowd and disappeared.
Vincent increased his pace, following the kid but couldn't keep up and lost him. Panting, he threw the stick on the ground and stomped on it in frustration. After catching his breath, he spread his arms out and spoke loudly, addressing the public "My dear townsfolk! How long? How long shall we suffer under the yoke of abuse these outsiders have inflicted to us? They steal from us each day!"
After drawing the attention of the onlookers, he slowly picked up his walking stick and pointed it up the sky. "I say, my townsfolk, it's about time we punished these punks!" The crowd chattered, some of them cheered in agreement.
He went on with his speech. "Bronze's good, porcelain's great, they bring us jobs, but outsiders steal from us." Waving his stick in the air, he yelled, "These thieving punks have got to go!" The crowd cheered louder and started chanting, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The outsiders have got to go!"
The little demonstration caused a public outroar, increasing hostilities on both sides – the old residents versus the new settlers. Each time a skirmish started, both Rock and Ray had a headache subduing the participants. They trusted the chief's decision to keep the outsiders, but secretly inside, they question it.
A dejected Rock found himself at the Stannouses', narrating the story to his nephew. Ray was also there, listening, nodding in agreement to Rock's grievances about the refugee policy.
Linus was unconvinced. He was the architect of the policy to assimilate the outsiders and having studied much about the society in his past life, he was no stranger to xenophobia. He knew the risks before even suggesting the measure to Julius.
"We took the parents away for work, and they had no choice but to do so because they are poor. Now, no one's in charge of the kids. It is said that idle hands cause trouble, so we cannot leave it at that Uncle." Linus told Rock.
"Do you suggest we give them kids work to keep them from trouble? What can those tiny hands do effectively but bring trouble?" Rock was lost and so too was Ray.
"I suggest you keep patrol while I work on the solution. We'll build a school to keep them brats busy." Linus said.
"What's a school?" Rock asked.
[Skill
"A school is a place like Gordon's. See, the kids at Gordon's learn new things like letters and numbers, and they do not cause trouble. The stories Gordon tells them teach them how to behave well. But if we added more kids, Gordon and Nina won't be able to keep up. I wish to build a place that can accommodate the children. A place to learn. A school." Linus explained.
"I see. It's a wonderful idea, but nephew, that costs us money." Ray raised the problem.
"It costs more money in damages to other people if we leave them be. Property damage and theft potentially lowers our income by scaring buyers of our goods to come here and trade. In addition, graduates of the school can do learned things like writing and maths, which makes them more capable at keeping accounts." Linus reasoned further.
"Oh, yeah. Enqui taught you well." Ray finally saw the light.
"I didn't have the opportunity to tell my old man before he left, but I have enough in savings, so if he doesn't like it, I'll refund it." Linus said.
Linus spent the rest of the day and night drawing the blueprint of the school on wooden planks using charcoal sticks. He didn't only draw the building's layout, but he took care of the perspective drawings too, showing the viewers the vision of what the school would look like when done. It wasn't easy. How he wished he had better writing media and implements.
He took the planks to Simon's place, asking the carpenters to build it. Simon looked at the plans and immediately understood what it took to build it. Everything was understandable, except for the whitewash part.
"My boy, can you enlighten me how this whitewash works?" Simon asked.
[Skill
"Old Simon, I wanted the building to last to make the investment worth it. Unlike the earthen structures that we traditionally build in our settlement, whitewashed earth is less prone to erosion. Dried earth returns to being mud when exposed to water. White washing prevents that from happening." Linus explained.
Drawing from his knowledge of anthropology, Linus asked Simon and his crew to build a kiln specifically for processing limestone. The cylindrical kiln stood upright, with the exhaust on top, the fuel intake in the middle, and the air intake at the bottom. It takes crushed limestone as the raw material, coal as fuel, and lime as the output which comes out at the bottom of the kiln.
Once processed, the lime is dissolved in water with other whitening additives, which can later be painted on the structure, providing a primitive water proofing. Although it isn't as good as cement, Linus thought that it was good enough for the application.
The project kept the Simon and his team of carpenters occupied for the time being.
Next, Linus went to Gordon's to see Nina and the other kids.
"It's nice to see you again, my lady." Linus greeted.
"The honor is mine young sir." Nina greeted back, looking more dignified. Her appearance and manners have improved much after attending the classes.
Initially, she wanted to be a carpenter, but Simon wasn't cooperative. Even when she improved leaps and bounds, she didn't gain the approval of other craftsmen working, though she didn't mind the treatment at all. When she started attending the classes at Gordon's, she found the world of letters and numbers more alluring than craft. With her attitude and aptitude, she outperformed all the kids taught by Linus and Gordon. Eventually, she learned everything there was to learn at the meantime that now she spent more time teaching the other kids than studying.
"Nina, I need you to work on these placards. Have the kids write slogans on them." Linus told Nina.
"What for?" she asked.
"We'll take the kids outside for a parade." Linus explained the rest of the plan.
The next day, Linus, Nina, Helena, Gordon, and the rest of the kids went around the town, parading their placards with messages, "Knowledge is power.", "Words are mightier than the club.", "True power lies in friendship.", and the like.
"Come one, come all to the best school in town. Learn how to read, write, count, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. You can also listen to Gordon's myths and legends every day with food and snacks, all free of charge. This is available to children 5 to 15 years old. At the moment, classes are held at Gordon's, but in the future, they will be held in the White School Building. So stop causing trouble, and don't delay, come today and learn new lessons every day." Linus, Nina, and Gordon took turns yelling the message at the onlookers.
Days after the parade, children started coming to Gordon's to see if the advertising was true. They had fun listening to the stories and learning new things. But the highlight was the food. The chief's son gave away lunch for free to the kids, so little by little, the school gained the attention of the poor settlers. They started sending their kids to the place. Eventually, Gordon's place was so jampacked that it was no longer appropriate for the kids to study there.
Ding! [Achievement unlocked! You are hereby granted the skill
A month after, the new White School Building was completed. There was nothing else to name it but "White School", because there wasn't any structure like it in town. Standing two stories tall, its white walls dispersed the light, giving the structure a frosty look.
The children helped Gordon and Nina moved their teaching paraphernalia to the new place, carrying boxes and other things with them. With their excitement, it didn't take them long to move all the things. They couldn't wait to be branded as students belonging to the "White School," instilling to them a small but significant sense of pride.
With the newly erected school, troubles caused by the kids ceased in the neighborhood. Vincent's growing xenophobic movement also lost steam. Even the old townsfolk didn't want to miss out and had to send their children to school. There wasn't any room for discrimination as their teachers Gordon, Nina, and Linus taught them not to judge people by their origin but for the content of their character.
Ding! [Achievement unlocked! You are hereby granted the skill
With the skill
"It's been more than a month, I wonder what happened to Pops and Nora." Linus thought while practicing the alphabet with the rest of the kids.
BAM! Ray stormed the building, pushing the door violently. Running to Linus he said, "Trouble Young Master! Pirate ships were sighted near Stoneaxe. The scouts reported that there must be at least a thousand pirates in there. But there could be more coming from the sea."
"Now of all times? Their timing is impeccable. Pops, where the hell are you?" Linus said out loud.
BAM! Another warrior brother stormed the building. He ran to Linus, saying, "Young Master, bad news. The Chief is held captive in Nexus for causing assaulting a person in authority. They also charged him of kidnapping a member of the Shepherd clan. The trial will be held a week after."
Linus formed a fist, slamming it at the table. BAM! "Just what the hell happened!"
Ray, Nina, and Gordon were similarly shocked and confused by the unfortunate news.
Ding! [You have a new notification. Press OK to read.]