The Struggle of a Weak Aristocrat in a Different World Our Domain is Surrounded by Large Aristocrats

C78: Conversation with a history teacher

“Mist, there are a few extra conditions, but here’s our contract.”

Mist, whose beautiful hair swaying like a cherry blossom in the setting sun, takes the royal decree from me and begins to read it standing up.

Even in this deserted corridor, I could hear the joyful goodbyes of the students in the distance. Looking out the window, I saw some students leaving school in a huddle and others joking around, enjoying their youth.

In the midst of all this, I called Mist into the hallway leading to the teachers’ building.

“Ha ha……you really added some extra conditions.”

Mist gave a different dry laugh and looked at me with a bitter smile. You really don’t like Alice, do you?

“I can handle this.”

I bobbed my head in shame, and then Mist laughed and said like she always does,

“I don’t have a choice. Well, maybe it’s more convenient the other way around.”

I questioned Mist’s words. On the other hand, what does it mean to be convenient? What in the world was the purpose of her making such a request to come to my territory for a trip?

The fact that I couldn’t see Mist’s intentions filled me with dread, but no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out, so I told myself not to worry about it.

“You had a hard time getting this, didn’t you?”

Mist picked up the imperial decree, shook it messily, and said so in a mischievous voice.

“Well, you know……”

Indeed, I had a hard time getting her to sign it. But on top of that, I had no use for Alice after I got her signature, so I tried to leave immediately, but it was a long time before I was released because Alice insisted. Of course, we did not study at all.

“Hahaha. I guess so. So, since you called me here, are you planning to go to the history teacher now?”

“That’s right.”

Yes, I needed to catch the history teacher before he went home, so I called Mist all the way here. We’re in the same class, so we should have gone together, but since Claire made me stand out yesterday, I didn’t want to stand out any more, so I called Mist.

“Let’s get going.”

I was startled by Mist who casually started walking towards the faculty building.

“What? Don’t you have to ask anything?”

When I stopped her, she turned around, her cherry-red hair softly emitting a fresh, sweet scent. Then, Mist opened her mouth, looking truly happy.

“I trust you, Chris-kun. It’s more fun not to know!”

Mist’s words convinced me that that was also true. Come to think of it, that’s the kind of person Mist is. The mysterious trust is unsettling, but there’s no point in worrying about it.

“I see. Shall we go then?”

“Yes.”

The two of us walked side-by-side down the road, glowing in the setting sun.

＊＊＊

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, Mr. Dreschord and Ms. Mist, isn’t it? What can I do for you today?”

The history teacher came out from behind a stack of books and looked at us with a roll of his eyes.

The teacher’s room was filled with many thick books, stowed here and there, but still cramped and piled up on her desk. This school had a small room for each teacher.

“I’d like to ask you a few questions about my studies, if you don’t mind.”

“You’re a good boy, Chris. It’s good for young people to study hard.”

The teacher, rubbing his long white beard, looks like he’s going to listen to me.

“Well then……”

I kept asking difficult questions about history, and the teacher was very polite about it.

“Thank you for answering my questions.”

“It’s my duty as a teacher. I’m going to make a difficult test this time, but I think you’ll do well, Chris.”

Okay! I was able to extract the words for the test from the teacher. The questions I’ve been asking are just stalling to get the natural flow of things.

“What do you think a really hard test is?”

“Tests are difficult because they are meant to verify how well a person has learned something.”

“Then what is the power of history?”

I had heard from this teacher what history was for, but I dared not fall in love with it.

“That’s the thing. History is the power of knowing the past and using it as a lesson to think about how to live in the future.”

“The real way to learn history is to figure out how to live it yourself! If you just want to know what happened, you don’t have to memorize it, you can just open the textbook!”

“You’re right!”

The teacher smiled happily. I smiled inwardly, too. Then I gave Mist the eye sign, she grinned and opened her mouth.

“The meaning of a test is to check a person’s ability. I was wondering if just memorizing something would be a test of one’s knowledge of the study of history, but now I understand.”

It seems that Mist has understood my intentions.

“But it’s very difficult.”

“Chris, are you feeling weak? Isn’t it worthwhile because it’s history, even if it’s difficult?”

“That’s true, too, Mist.”

The teacher gets a huffy look on his face at our charade.

“Yes, yes! The previous tests were inadequate as a test of the discipline of history! If we’re going to make it harder this time, we might as well make it that way!”

Okay! It seems to have worked.

By having Mist, the daughter of his lord, present and anticipate this kind of test the teacher would be forced to create it. The only problem is, if this teacher feels I’m wrong, he won’t make this test, but judging from his reaction, I’m sure he’ll do it.

This solved my time problem by not making me memorize a huge amount of history. Furthermore, by turning it into a test of thinking skills, this test of how to learn from history what to do in the future and how to live will be an important force in the coming war.

Therefore, the people who score well on the difficult test made by the old sages who have been working on self-improvement will be the ones who will survive or be active in the coming war.

The more of these people there are, the more likely they are to prevail. Some of these people may even betray their families to protect themselves. But even against such people, I’ll receive information that they are wise people who make the right decisions and that I cannot be too careful from the start.

I was intoxicated with the feeling of being lifted up to heaven from the hell I had been plunged into.

“Thank you very much.”

“No, thank you. It is necessary to talk to students once in a while.”

I said my goodbyes and left the teacher’s room. On the way home, when it was completely dark, Mist suddenly asked me,

“Are you sure that was a good idea?”

I didn’t know why Mist was asking me that, so I was dumbfounded, and Mist added.

“I was on board with you, Chris, but I was wondering if you were okay with the test, which is going to be extremely difficult.”

“Oh. You mean that.”

“When making these kinds of thinking questions, it seems like there is no answer, but there is.”

“What do you mean?”

It is a common sense cultivated in modern Japan. The answer is to put yourself in the questioner’s shoes.

“People have a strong need to get out of loneliness, so they feel happy when others recognize their existence. In addition, people justify themselves even by tricking others. In other words, if you answer with an idea similar to theirs they will say [I have the same idea as you. My idea has been affirmed, I have been accepted.] This makes them happy and they naturally circle the question paper.”

Mist nodded admiringly.

“I see. So you should know what the teacher thinks.”

“Yes. Then, if I memorize the answers derived from this teacher’s range of papers, the answers will come naturally.”

When I said that naturally, Mist put her hand over her mouth and started giggling. What did I say that was so funny?

“Ha-ha-ha! Chris, let’s get married!”

“Yeah, I’ll be over here. 〜〜〜〜〜〜〜！！！！！”

There was no context, so why would I?

I ran away as fast as I could.