?In a certain area of Napuna, a group of people consisting of men and women were isolated and exempt from the violence that currently befalls the inhabitants of the capital city. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Although they can’t see anything, they still have good ears to hear the screams and cries outside. Every time they heard it, their hearts shook in fear. Fearing that they might be the next targets.

Their nose retains the ability in sensing smells. Every time they smell a metallic scent, their bodies tremble.

A vivid scene of swords cutting through flesh right before they were captured remains clear in their mind.

These people never are in a war, never take part in contributing to it and never opt for violence once in their life. A rare circumstance for someone who was born in a turbulent era.

Yet, nothing happened to them. They were unharmed in any way. These people don’t know the reason why they were safe.

The soldiers simply capture them and put them here. The only answer the soldiers give is that the count has strictly given his order to not do anything to them. Occasionally, the enemies would come and drop food for them.

In the corner of the room, one of them starts to talk to the other out of boredom.

“How long has passed since we were in captivity?” She looks relatively young compared to others. Probably in her mid-thirties.

“I’m not sure, Stella. According to my estimation, probably five or six hours.” replies the old woman to the kind-looking young lady.

Another one interrupted, “To be more accurate, it’s already past dusk. That’s what I discovered based on the dead body here.”

“Ugh…For god’s sake, Alex! Stop playing with a dead body. What if you contract a disease?”

“Then, you should concoct a medicine for him, teacher,” Stella added.

“Stop backing him up, Stella.” The old woman rebuked her student. “What do they want to do with us?”

Stella shrugged her shoulder as she expressed her opinion. “I don’t know but based on the piles of books and historical documents they’ve been collecting, maybe it’s related to academics.”

The old woman looks around, every single person captured in this room is a scholar.

There are about twenty to thirty of them in total.

The old woman sneered, “Are you really such barbaric people like them are the type of people that appreciate knowledge?”

Stella had no reply to that question. The enemies’ conduct doesn’t represent the behaviour of educated people.

Their little chatter abruptly stopped midway the second they heard the door open.

A well-dressed man stepped into their imprisonment room. His movement isn’t that of crude soldiers. Seeing his unperturbed movement, the scholars there are quick to discern this man’s identity.

It’s Count Naharog, the attacker of this city. He caught them off guard by throwing a bonded person to the ground.

“Stop wriggling like a worm, Wendall.” He said while landing one of his feet on the old man’s body. The count scanned the entire room to see their reaction.

‘Wendall!’ Exclaimed the scholars. To think the prime minister of this kingdom was in such a sorry state.

A smile gradually emerges on his face as he begins to compliment them, “As expected of scholars, all of you keep your head cool despite being captured by us.” He then sighs and mumbles some words, “If only the citizens give us the same cooperation, we wouldn’t have to waste so much ammunition.”

“Cut the crap! What do you want to do with us? Where’s our family?” The old woman suddenly spoke up and broke the silence between the count and them.

The count’s face brightens up when he looks at the old woman. He recognises her well.

“Look who we have here, isn’t this the famous Stacy the Mad Scholar? Luck is not on your side, huh?” tease the count in a contemptuous manner. This old woman is always a prideful person. It is nice to see her in a bind.

“Just answer my question, you snotty brat!” Stacy’s patience dissipated at an alarming rate. Stella did her best to calm her teacher. The current circumstances are not the same as when meeting the king where her teacher can act haughtily. They couldn’t afford to offend the count.

“Prideful as always, eh?” The count smirked at her. Despite his want to beat the hell out of her, he must honour his end of the deal. “Don’t worry about your family. They are safe, sound and unharmed in any way. You all are to be sent to Bideford where you’ll be a great service to the king.”

“I knew it! Both of you are in cahoots!” Stacy pointed her finger at Count Naharog.

“It’s a mutual and profitable deal between us. We both had a grievance against Napuna and we both wanted something out of it. In Ryntum’s case, their king wants the prime minister, the intellectuals and knowledge stored here. I can assure you that Ryntum will treat all of you well. That brat has high regard for knowledge. I am sure most of you have heard a rumour about Ryntum, right?”

Stacy fell into deep thought. As someone who travels a lot in search of new medical knowledge, she is naturally aware of the major events occurring during her travels. Thus, she also heard about the rumours surrounding this newly independent kingdom.

It’s just that she doesn’t have an opportunity to make a visit. Especially to see the famous architecture of the government complex.

Moreover, from the hearsay of the merchants, she encountered, the kingdom has made a leap bound especially in terms of the government system, social hierarchy, education and innovation.

Although Stacy is a respected scholar in the capital, her scale of teaching was limited only to the noble children and a few commoners. Such a small-scale spreading of knowledge doesn’t please her at all.

Not to mention, Royal Territory in general imposed very tight restrictions on the commoners to prevent them from seeking education. Nobles’ families obviously followed the king’s footsteps.

Only an odd noble family like Ryntum provides education to commoners. They naturally receive scornful remarks from time to time. But, that’s it.

Ryntum while still being a part of Bagyarosia is powerful after all. Even the king needs to be careful.

For commoners to be able to seek a sentence of knowledge, they need to go through unimaginable amounts of hardship and difficulties.

The majority of them lost their sense of self-esteem and decision-making at the end of their journey for knowledge.

They were reduced to nothing but a puppet for the nobles to control.

She wouldn’t care too much if that’s the only case because she herself is also a noble by birth. With her background and reputation, she’s able to loosen this restriction a bit and widen her number of students by picking up some talented commoners.

But, most noble children did learn from her because they felt intrigued by it. To be precise, it’s a momentary spark of interest that will gradually lost with the passing of time. Also, they merely want to be different from their peers and show off their advantages at the banquets or social events.

None of them was absolutely serious about being a medical expert like her except for Stella, an orphan commoner she picked up in the slum.

If count’s word and the rumours are true, she happily agreed to obligate with their arrangement and move to Bideford. She wants to judge with her own eyes this so-called paradise of scholars.

Seeing Stacy stay silent, the count opens his mouth. “I know you had a lot of consideration, Madam Stacy. But whether you agree or not, it’s not you who decided it.” He shifts his attention away from Stacy and speaks to other scholars. “Anyway, I need to sort out all of you. While I am speaking nicely to you, step forward one by one. State your name and field of specialization.”

The scholars helplessly do as they were told. None of them had the guts to go against the order. One by one move forward to give the information needed. The whole process took less than an hour to finish.

Soon after, a complete list was in the count’s hand.