Chapter 76: Nela and Father Odom’s Passion Project

"Welcome aboard, Father, I hope you enjoy the journey." Braydon said, both figuratively and literally, as they watched Narabun recede into the distance. Whatever sweet words Nela had used to entice the man to join them, he didn't know. But now he had a priest, and once they returned, he would be able to start educating the masses. At least enough to make them usable clerks. Starting with the soldiers of course, he hoped that they would be able to take some of Rhydian's workload. Even if that was just a pipe dream, his retainer would likely find more work for himself as soon as some responsibilities were taken off his shoulders.

"I hope I will, young lord. At least it cannot be worse than the state Shuluk is in right now." Father Odom replied, he appeared to be more good natured than most of the priests Braydon had met. At least he knew what the meaning of the word humour was, the ones that Braydon had seen in Boshil were either deadly serious, or had their head stuck up their own arse.

Not particularly liking the priesthood was one of the few things that Braydon had in common with most Fiverian nobles, even if his reasons were slightly different. They did not like that the clergy were outside of their authority, Braydon's scruple was that most priests that he had met acted like they were innately superior to everyone. And not just in the spiritual sense, but a moral one too. And as their interaction with Father Odom's superior had gone earlier, they were just as corrupt as any other man. All it had taken was a portion of the money that he had made from the pirate's ship and the 'man of god' looked the other way at Father Odom moving out of the country.

"I would not put high hopes on that, Father. The nobility are no better regardless of country, the difference is that they are not in open conflict in Fiveria." Braydon made a joke in half seriousness. Fiveria was really not far from the same kind of conflict that Shuluk was seeing right now. But unlike Shuluk, it would only be more bloody. Shuluk only really had two factions from the start, the one behind the throne and the one against it. Fiveria was different, with at least six factions, it would be a nightmare if civil war was to break out. And that was if the neutral nobles could even be counted as one faction.

"You are one of the nobles of which you speak, young Braydon." Father Odom pointed out the most obvious flaw in Braydon's point, he would be calling himself corrupt with such a statement. 'So he does just use young as a prefix to names.' Braydon had not been sure when Father Odom had called him young lord, but being called 'young Braydon' felt weird.

"And I am sure that you hold some choice opinions about the priesthood, Father." Braydon's counter caused Father Odom to laugh.

"Indeed I do."

"Then I am sure that you understand the sentiment." As Braydon and Father Odom were talking, Nela and Captain approached the two. Now that they were sailing, there was not much for them to do unless something happened. At which point Captain would join those with something to do.

"I see you are getting along, that's good. I doubt we can really just go back for another priest. From what I've heard they aren't cheap." Braydon tried to stop himself laughing at Captain's joke, looking to see Father Odom's reaction. The last thing he needed was to offend the priest that he had, well Nela had, put so much effort into recruiting.

"Haha, indeed we do not grow on trees. Even Cardinal Allmon can't be letting us all run too far away." When he saw that Father Odom had not taken any great offence, Braydon released a small sigh of relief. It was good to know that he would not have to walk on eggshells too much around him.

"So what are your thoughts on the matters that I brought up in my letters, Father?" Nela decided that she would ask about the Father's thoughts on the school system she had thought up. Fair enough, considering that the whole project was her brainchild. She would obviously have an interest in the project after all the effort that she had put into it.

"Well you certainly have my interest, young lady. I would not be here if you didn't, but I do have questions about how you are planning on implementing this. It does not sound like a venture that scales well." Father Odom's eyes lit up at the mention of the schooling idea that Nela had. Braydon had no clue how it had evolved since Nela brought it up originally, but he was looking forward to it. And seeing how passionate Father Odom was, he could expect good things.

"For the time being, it does not need to be of scale. Before we can get to the education of vast numbers of people, we need to sort out what and how they can be taught. I mentioned that they do not need to be as well educated as nobles and priests, but they do need at least some formalised education if we want our people to be useful." Nela dived straight into the technicalities of what would be her and Father Odom's passion project. And from the eyes of Captain, Braydon could tell that he was both confused and had no interest in what they were talking about.

"I have some matters that I need to discuss with me first mate, don't let me disturb err… whatever it is you are going on about." Captain said as he tried to back out of the conversation before he got drawn in. Braydon let him go, with a nod, he understood the feeling. Though he normally felt it when Nela was supervising him about a particularly important letter.

"Then do you want it to be focused on reading and writing with other things on the sides, or have those as preliminary subjects before moving onto something else?" Father Odom nodded, apparently they had agreed on the scale when Braydon had dismissed Captain from the conversation. There would only be one institution, and it would slowly grow to encompass larger numbers of students.

"Primarily reading and writing before moving onto other subjects. Other than the teachers who you will need to train at first, most of the students for the foreseeable future will be soldiers. My army has almost no educated men in it, and it would hamper any large operations if it needs to be used." Braydon could answer this question, and Nela deferred to him for the answer. He was the lord of the territory and would be in the best position to know where literate people would be needed.

"Then are you planning on these people not undertaking any further education?" Father Odom furrowed his brows at this, he wanted to be able to educate people to the fullest that he could given the constraints they would already have.

"Not necessarily, just that I need them to have all the education that would be required for their roles before they move onto anything else. That would be especially critical in a crisis or a war. In normal times, they can get a fuller education but there needs to be a system in place that ensures that there can be as many people with immediately usable skills as possible." When Braydon elaborated more, Father Odom was much happier with that arrangement. There would need to be some leeway if this project was going to work in the long term.