Chapter 102: A New Curriculum

“The new apprentices can only do odd jobs for now. To turn them into stonemasons who can handle projects on their own will take at least five or six years of training.”

Viru himself had started the same way — doing odd jobs while learning from his father. It had taken him a full five years before he could barely be considered a qualified stonemason, capable of handling small construction tasks.

The larger projects were usually given to veteran stonemasons with over a decade of experience, who would then direct the younger ones in a division of labor.

“You’ll be in charge of the current construction projects while also teaching the new apprentices through hands-on work. I’m not expecting them to be useful right away.” 

Owen said.

The early stages of construction could only progress slowly — Owen understood this well. The real key was making sure that training new talent kept pace.

Leaving the entire Bianshu town’s renovation to Viru alone would indeed take far too long.

If new stonemasons could be trained along the way — even if they were still young — they would still be a strong force driving the town’s development.

“At the moment, the number of craftsmen in the town is too small. I’ll think of other solutions.”

Owen continued.

Generally speaking, all craftsmen in a territory were considered part of that land’s “living assets,” and the lord would never allow them to leave for work elsewhere.

So, directly recruiting enough craftsmen from other places was nearly impossible — unless you negotiated with another lord beforehand and paid to hire their craftsmen, which came with a hefty fee.

Or, you could conquer another territory, take all their craftsmen for yourself, and send them to work in your lands.

The nearest city to the garrison town was the Dongsheng Fortress to the south. Given the current relations between the two sides, borrowing craftsmen from them was impossible.

Attacking Dongsheng Fortress wasn’t realistic either. Even though Owen wanted to settle scores with Duke Eddie, he had to admit that the other side’s walls were much stronger, and his own musketeer and artillery units hadn’t yet reached the level of combat readiness needed for siege warfare. Defense was fine — offense would be reckless.

“…Alright then.”

Viru could only accept this arduous task. With him being the only veteran stonemason in the garrison town, he could already see that he was going to be busy for years.

It wasn’t that he disliked having more work — it was that he had high standards for himself, and the buildings he completed were always of excellent quality.

That was why he felt some pressure.

Could he really oversee a construction plan on such a huge scale? If even a small quality issue arose, his hard-earned reputation could collapse overnight.

Next, the two of them discussed each blueprint in detail.

Since almost everything to be built was something Viru had never worked on before, Owen needed to make sure he fully understood the designs before entrusting him with the work.

On top of that, Owen ranked the projects by priority. The first urgent task for Viru was — public toilets.

They couldn’t let people keep dumping their waste into the Wei River.

After learning about sanitation from Winston, Owen finally understood why commoners were so prone to illness — most of it came from unhealthy hygiene habits.

If those habits could be changed and people could adopt good sanitation practices, more children would grow up healthy and strong, and tragedies would be reduced.

Furthermore, concentrated waste, once fermented, could be turned into organic fertilizer for farmland.

Owen had initially found the idea of such fertilizer disgusting, but Winston’s method was sound. So, he steeled himself and decided to adopt it.

Of course, building public toilets was only one of many measures.

Owen also planned to have Clive intensify publicity efforts to make the public aware of the importance of hygiene.

Schools would also introduce dedicated hygiene classes so that students could develop proper habits from a young age, while also influencing the adults at home to change their old, unhygienic ways.

Since habits could not be changed overnight and would take a long time to correct, this matter needed to be implemented as soon as possible and could not be delayed.

After the discussion ended, Viru left with the blueprints, but not long after, someone arrived at the castle gates requesting to see him.

When he learned that the visitor was Theresa, Owen immediately granted permission.

When Theresa entered the room, she was holding a brand-new book made from plant-based paper.

“Lord Owen, I’m sorry to bother you.”

“It’s fine. What brings you here?”

Owen also noticed the book in Theresa’s hands — the text on the cover had been printed using a movable type printing press.

The printing press had only been created recently. Each type block had been carefully carved by carpenters, along with special ink for printing, which together had taken quite some time to produce.

Now, books could finally be mass-produced and bound, providing schools with relatively inexpensive educational materials.

With this, schools could teach students much more knowledge.

In matters of education, Owen always followed Winston’s advice and kept increasing investment.

This was an investment in the future of Bianshu Town, and there was no room for stinginess.

“Recently, I noticed that the priests teaching at the school have been studying some very strange knowledge.” 

Theresa said, raising the book in her hand. 

“I heard you plan to introduce several new courses at the school, one of which is called Basic Science.”

“That’s right. What about it?”

This Basic Science book was a collection of simple, fundamental concepts from physics, chemistry, biology, and other disciplines, compiled by Owen.

But having the book wasn’t enough — at present, Owen was probably the only person in this world who understood its contents.

For that reason, he had to personally take time to teach the priest-instructors first, so that they could then teach the students.

If possible, Owen also intended to personally teach the course himself. After all, science was a completely new field, and not everyone could grasp it as quickly as he could.

“Lord Owen, I’ve read this book.”

Theresa set the book down and walked up to the desk. 

“There’s so much in it that seems unbelievable — like how air is made up of different kinds of gases.”

“That’s right.” 

Owen nodded. 

“The book even describes experimental methods that can prove it.”

“No, that’s not what I’m concerned about.”

Theresa shook her head, placed the book on the desk, and leaned in closer.

“Lord Owen, I heard that you wrote this book yourself. I’m curious — how did you come to know all this knowledge?”

“This…” 

Owen was momentarily speechless.

In his eagerness to push forward the education reforms, he had completely neglected to consider this question. Viru had asked something similar before, and he had brushed it off.

Should he reveal Winston’s secret? Or continue to dodge the question? Theresa was, after all, someone he trusted greatly.

Perhaps sensing his difficulty, Theresa straightened up and said. 

“Lord Owen, if you feel it’s inconvenient to say, you don’t have to.”

Hearing that, Owen felt a slight sense of relief — he truly had no idea how to explain why he knew so much about science.

“But…” 

Theresa suddenly said with a sweet smile.

“I do have a request.”

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