This was the 2nd time the blood hawks had returned this day. The 1st time was when Zhao Hai had been sleeping, but he had left the letter which was meant for Wales with Cai-Er, who had then passed it over to the blood hawk. This time, it must've brought back Wales' reply.
As it turned out, the moment Zhao Hai appeared in the space, he saw a blood hawk standing in front of Cai-Er. When it saw Zhao Hai, it walked over to him and used its hook-like beak to peck on his face gently as a show of affection.
Zhao Hai patted the blood hawk's large head gently while Cai-Er passed a letter to his hand. Zhao Hai could easily tell that Wales had been worked up, since the words on the letter were hastily written.
Even so, Zhao Hai understood what the letter was trying to say. Wales' intention was to have him hand over Gasol. On the back of the letter was a very simple map, and he let the blood hawk lead the way.
Zhao Hai didn't have an opinion on this matter, since he was going to West Wonder King's territory for a few days. He wasn't in a hurry, so he returned to Iron Mountain Castle once more after putting the letter away.
Greene and the others were now discussing the matter of building the school . Fortunately, there were relatively few people in Iron Mountain Castle, so it would be easier to set things up.
But what Zhao Hai had meant was that they must not do things half-heartedly just because they only had a few people. The framework must be set properly in order to make a decent example. If there were other schools to be made later, they would be able to use their first school as an example to do so.
Just then, Alaes and Alea both returned from outside. They were bringing a battle flag in their hands, which had a head of a bull with large horns painted on it. It was none other than the friendship flag of the Large-horned Raging Bull Tribe.
Zhao Hai took the flag, glanced at it, and passed it over to Meg, who was at his side. He turned to Alaes and said, "Alaes, you must count the number of children you have as fast as you are able to, and find a teacher. The school must be built at once."
Alaes and Alea both heeded his order with a sound. Zhao Hai turned to Greene and said, "Grandpa Greene, I'm leaving this to you. We still have to return to the prairie. I just received word from Wales to give Gasol to him."
Greene nodded. "Relax, young master. Everything's normal in the castle and nothing has happened. The firewood for winter has also been prepared, so there's nothing to worry about."
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Zhao Hai laughed. "Very well, then. Actually, we don't need too much firewood for winter now. Cai-Er's flowers can spread heat during the winter, so that the castle will not be too cold. We now have so much food we will never be able to finish it all, and there's no lack of meat. Right now, I still think we should build a battle ration factory as soon as possible. With Alaes and his people joining in, producing the rations should be easy. We aren't short on argali, so everyone will have something to do during the winter. What do you think?"
Greene nodded, "How many argali have we gotten this time, young master?"
Zhao Hai 'glanced' at the space, and said, "About 30000 of them, all from Alaes' tribe."
Alaes and his people did not show any sign of discontent. Since they now belonged to Zhao Hai, the ownership of the argali was not even a question. However, Alaes frowned slightly and asked, "Young master, I recall that our tribe had more than 50000 argali. How did it go from that to 30000?"
Zhao Hai did a double take, thought for a bit and replied, "They probably ran off during the fight between me and Gasol. No matter. 30000 is enough for us. Looks like we'll have to raise more of them. Right now, the blue-eyed rabbits which we've been raising in the ranch can more or less supply the Fansile Duchy. Later on, we will focus primarily on argali."
Greene nodded, "Very well. Oh right, young master. We can also open a goat hair product factory. We'll hire Alaes' people for this as well, and let the slaves learn from it. What do you think?"
Zhao Hai nodded, "Alaes and his people are the best in this field. You just arrange things accordingly. We don't need to worry about the goat hair processing. With them, we can now do what we couldn't before."
Alaes and Alea couldn't help but straighten their backs. Beastmen were so simple; they had been afraid that Zhao Hai would look down on them after becoming his underlings. Now, with Zhao Hai's words, they felt truly happy.
Zhao Hai glanced at them before continuing, "Grandpa Greene, find an empty plot of land specifically for cavalry training. Alaes and his people are beastmen, so we must not let them forget their roots as riders. Besides, we have the room. Preparing a training field for them isn't a difficult matter. When those kids take their lessons, we'll have to set up riding lessons for them as well. We'll let Alaes and his people pick someone to be the teacher for those lessons, while grandpa Kun Zheng can also provide some guidance. After all, humans have their own ways when it comes to riding."
Kun Zheng laughed, "Alright. I'll teach them well."
Zhao Hai nodded and looked at the sky. "I'm heading to the prairie first to alter our course. I'll come back for a meal in a bit. Laura, Meg, Nier, stay here. I'll be on my own."
Laura nodded, but Meg said, "I'll go with you, young master. I have nothing to do here anyway." Zhao Hai didn't object, and just brought her along.
Upon arriving at the prairie, Zhao Hai immediately released the blood hawk, then ordered the undead coach drivers to follow it. He then brought Meg back to Iron Mountain Castle once again.
No one could notice anything different about this convoy from its appearance. Laura's wagon was completely sealed, so no one could tell if there were any people inside.
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Zhao Hai and the others still returned to rest inside the space at night, under Laura's insistence. It was because she knew that Zhao Hai had drunk the Water Of Void, and the space was good for his body. That was why she wanted Zhao Hai to sleep inside the space every night.
Zhao Hai knew that Laura's insistence was due to her caring for him. He didn't object to that. After all, no one would disturb his slumber in the space, which was good for him. There was also no noise. He could sleep well there.
Crune's laboratory, which had originally been inside the space, had now been moved to Iron Mountain Castle. Crune had originally wanted to stay inside the space, but Laura could no longer stand him, and had chased him out to Iron Mountain Castle.
Crune didn't mind. He could settle with just a laboratory that had been readied for him. To be honest, he had willingly relocated to Iron Mountain Castle, since the environment there wasn't bad.
Over the next few days, most of Zhao Hai and the others' focus was put into the construction of the school. There were more than 200 kids from the Large-horned Raging Bull Tribe. More than 40 were over 12 years old, and more than 100 were under 12 years old, while more than 3 dozen were between 4 to 7 years old and around a dozen were under 4 years old.
Zhao Hai and the others organized them. The children over 12 years old would mainly learn literature and martial arts. The children between 7 and 12 years old would learn mathematics on top of those. The children from 4 to 7 years old would be taught like they were budding talents, with simple language and simple physical training first.
But now there was a problem, and that was teaching materials. There weren't a lot of concrete teaching materials on Ark Continent. Normally, teachers would teach the students about words, and then start by bringing out the magic or battle aura books, expecting the children to know what was written in them. Almost every school on the continent taught like this.
Zhao Hai thought that this wasn't a very good method. Kids were active, and books like the basics of magic and battle auras were some of the most boring and tasteless things. Normal children would find it very hard to be interested in them, so Zhao Hai believed that such books were not suitable to become teaching materials.
Zhao Hai had never wanted to write his own teaching materials, for it would take too much time. They could only look through the books that they had right now for something suitable.
However, Zhao Hai knew after searching that the spiritual well-being of the people in this world was sorely lacking. Books in this world were divided into 4 major kinds. 1st was magics, which included basics, techniques, visualization, research of magic formations, low-level, mid-level, and high-level usage manuals, and nothing more. One would seldom see the recollections of high class mages, because such a book would not be circulated, and would instead passed down to their own apprentices.
2nd was battle auras, which included basics, basic techniques, utilization of weapons and such, and nothing else. Like magics, recollections would be passed down to close disciples.
3rd was alchemy and medicine concoction. Such books were few in number, with few readers and fewer writers. These books would only contain basic knowledge, and nothing of post-learning thoughts.
4th was notes. Books like these consisted mainly of travelogues, which mostly introduced the lifestyles of the local countryside and special legends. Such books were many, but were not written according to a standard. Normally, they had been written by mages or some high level warriors regarding their experiences and impressions. Zhao Hai liked these books a lot, for he could learn a lot of special customs from them.
But if teaching material were to be selected from these 4 kinds of books, it was evident that none of them were very suitable. In the end, Zhao Hai decided that children from 4 to 7 years old would mainly learn literature, which would be from travelogues. Such books introduced all sorts of curious tales, which a lot of children should like. Children from 7 to 12 years old would also learn from travelogues, but such books would not make up the main part of their education, which would mostly be composed of the basic books of magics and martial arts. The teaching materials for children over 12 years old would have to be decided after confirming their development.