Hachinan tte sore wa nai.., p.1
Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou - Volume 18, page 1
Chapter 01: Private Tutor Selection and Wisemen
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"What is all of this, Roderich? That's a ridiculously high amount..."
A large amount of documents was stacked up on the table in the study. I'm an Earl and I also fathered children, so if it's documents related to territorial management, I won't say anything even if there's a few of them. It's all for the sake of my children, after all.
But, once I took a peek at the documents, they listed name, personal history, special skills, and strengths. It's not like anything I've seen so far... No, wait, I do recall such documents. They're just like resumes, and make me remember the time when I was job hunting before graduating from university... That was a really tough time, and I never want to experience anything like that again.
Even after completing the job hunt successfully and starting my job... No, this is something I don't want to remember either.
"What might you be talking about...? These are the application documents of those wishing to become the private tutor of Friedrich-sama and the other children."
"Private tutor? My children just recently managed to hold their head steady, not to mention that they aren't even a year old yet. Isn't it way too early to choose a private tutor?"
"For Friedrich-sama and the other babies, it might be too quick, but in their eyes, it is not early at all. This much is normal."
"I see..."
Although it's going to take my children at least three years to become aware of what's going on around them, and that's already assuming a quick growth...
"Are you saying that we're going to decide on a private tutor right now...?"
"Of course. Friedrich-sama is destined to inherit the Earl Baumeister House. Your other children also bear the crucial duty of strengthening the Baumeister House's relationship with other nobility and royalty by marrying into their houses, so they require a superb education by an excellent private tutor. Therefore it is necessary to select the tutor early on."
Roderich declared powerfully.
Certainly, if Friedrich acts questionably as next family head, it might cause a decline of the Baumeister House. The same can be said about my other children. It'd have a negative impact on the Baumeister House, if they were to be evaluated badly after marrying into other families. Considering it like that, it's maybe not that bad an idea to decide on private tutors in the near future.
"Okay, I got it."
Friedrich really has it tough since the moment he was born... As for me, I never had a private tutor. At most I went to cram school.
The Baumeister Knightdom, you ask? Didn't they consider private tutors as urban legends? Over there, they used an extreme version of learn-it-yourself.
"Under normal circumstances, it would be my duty to take care of their education, but..."
"...Yeah, let's not."
Roderich is everyday busy as our family's house manager. If we added the task of tutoring my children on top of that, he'd die from overwork for real. I'm not the president of some exploitative company.
Exactly because I was a prime example for a corporate slave in my previous life, I must build a work environment that does away with such exploitive practices now that I'm in charge of an earldom.
"I am very well aware that it would be difficult for me to become the private tutor of your children with my current workload, so please do not worry. The people, who have sent these documents, are desperate as well. There is no way that I would steal their opportunity away from them."
"That's good to hear."
Private tutoring is a part-time job where they're going to come to the mansion for a pre-established period of time, teach the kids what they need to know, and then leave for the day... or not? At least that's how it was in my previous life. Some of my classmates during my university days did that kind of part-time job.
Well, the popularity of private tutors from the university I visited was low, though.
"Are they going to commute?"
"That would apply for the education of children belonging to lower nobility or merchant families, but it is different for us. We will have them live at the mansion and properly teach your children everything they need to know until they come of age. They will require lecturers who are specialists in different subjects such as manners, horse riding, swordsmanship, music instruments, and so on, but choosing those lecturers and guiding them while staying in close touch with their curriculum is part of a private tutor's job."
Ah, that means a private tutor over here is similar to a class teacher? They also choose lecturers for special subjects, huh? If they're also responsible for managing all the special lecturers, they really bear a heavy responsibility, I guess.
"My children are in for a hard life, aren't they?"
Man, I'm really lucky to be an upstart noble. My manners are questionable at best, my swordsmanship is a lost case, and my horse riding skills barely get a passing grade... Musical instruments? Do triangles and castanets also count?
It looks like the eldest son of a high-ranking noble is kept busy in various ways.
"We cannot hire someone of unknown origin. The same also applies to the special lecturers."
Now that he mentions it, all of the resumes come with letters of recommendation.
"Everyone has recommendations from nobles of baron rank and higher, eh...?"
"They were not allowed to apply if they did not have a letter of recommendation."
The shady ones are all sent packing at the application stage... if you look at the careers of the applicants, they're either distant relatives of high nobility or children of their chief retainers... nobility is through and through a society based on connections in the end...
"Everyone has graduated from the academy...?"
The academy is an educational institute comparable to a combination of graduate school and university on modern Earth. I guess it's difficult for someone to even apply if they haven't at least graduated from there. It's something like being required to have a 『university degree』 during recruitment.
"Still what's with this number of applicants? Isn't that a bit too much?"
The competitive rate is several hundredfold, meaning, the acceptance rate will be much worse than the chance the Lost Generation had in finding a job.
"They're all desperate, so it's only understandable. After all, they could become the 『Teacher』 of the Baumeister House's future patriarch."
According to Roderich, being the teacher of a noble's eldest son is a very desired post.
"Given that they will be in charge of educating their lord for many years, their influence on their pupil, despite being in a lord-retainer relationship, will go well beyond their position."
"Even a family head would find it hard to ignore the advice of their teacher, huh...?"
It also means that they'll be able to change their job into becoming a chief retainer of the noble family. Historians and others have been referring to those in charge of teaching their lord as 『Sensei』.
"But, if generations of family head teachers become chief retainers, it'd break the mold of chief vassals."
Noble houses with long histories have accordingly adopted countermeasures for that. They send excellent children of their house and retainer families to the academy to get them educated over there on the assumption that they will become tutors for the family afterwards. Or, once they finish their tutoring period, the noble house would prepare another place of employment... a lucrative job.
His Majesty's teacher is currently working as the headmaster of the academy. Since he has been in charge of His Majesty's education, his achievements and popularity are outstanding. As for the Baumeister House, our retainer ranks are still thin, so if we have the teacher of Friedrich-sama and the other children join their ranks after they are done with the education, it will stabilize the family. Even if that does not work out, your prestige is extraordinary, Milord, therefore the tutor of your heir will be able to freely choose his next employment."
"Okay, that makes sense..."
That explains the huge amount of applications, I suppose...
"So, how are we going to select one of them?"
I think there's simply too many applications. If we were to interview all of the applicants, we'd never finish.
"First we will screen them by their application documents. They have been told to present an education plan of how they are going to go about teaching your children, in addition to letters of recommendation."
"I see."
That's indispensable. Even if they're going to educate my children, it'd be bad to force my children to study too much by clogging up their schedule too much. I only studied seriously before exams and job interviews—though I guess that counts as countermeasures and not education.
I think children also need some time to play. I'd really like the tutor to be flexible enough to allow my children to regularly take a breather.
"So we're going to narrow down the candidates through an application review. That's fine... huh?"
Who's going to handle that troublesome task?
Aaahhh! Me!?
"...Me!?"
"Is there anyone else who could do it? It is the selection of the tutor for your children who are going to carry the future of the Baumeister Earldom!"
"Figures..."
"Of course I will also participate in the screening. After a
In short, they'll be what you'd call school friends.
"That means Eru's boy as well?"
"Obviously."
I see. So Eru's son Leon is going to receive the same education as my children. Then I should get him to participate in the selection process.
It's definitely not like I'm dragging Eru into this because it's going to be such a pain! Even Eru should wish for his son to become a retainer who can support the Baumeister House's next generation. Therefore it's only normal to have Eru, Leon's father, to help with the document screening! Yep!
"We'll call Eru over as well."
"That is a valid judgment."
With Roderich agreeing on this, it was decided for Eru to participate in the screening.
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"Ugh... All I can see are letters... Even when I close my eyes..."
"Good work, Eru."
"Vel, you roped me into this, didn't you?"
"No, no, not at all. That wasn't the intention at all. Leon must receive a superb education as well. Making sure of that is the duty of his parents, isn't it?"
"As expected of you, Milord."
"(Haruka-san, it's a bad idea to take Vel's words at face value...)"
How rude! I really believe what I've been saying... it's just that I won't deny having had other motives, too.
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At last, the document screening for the tutor has come to an end. Using the just cause of it being for the sake of his son's education, I called over Eru to help out as well, but since he usually doesn't come in contact with so many documents, it seems like the letters of the application documents have fully imprinted themselves in his mind.
Then again, the same applies for me as well.
"Still, this number of applicants is truly incredible."
"There were also many bigshots among the nobles who wrote letters of recommendation."
Since it'd affect the education of their daughters, Ina and Luise actively joined the conversation, too.
Having said that, such a number of applications, despite the restriction of the letters of recommendation to be above baron rank... Moreover, as it'd be pointless to present letters of recommendation from nobles I don't know well, the majority was issued by acquainted, high-ranking nobles. Cardinal Hohenheim, Minister Edgar, Minister Rückner, Earl Armstrong (Doushi's big brother), and so on...
On top of that, every noble has written several letters of recommendation.
"Wouldn't you usually write only one letter of recommendation? I mean, it's fine to be sympathetic all around, but wouldn't you be later accused of lacking integrity?"
Cardinal Hohenheim signed an especially big number of letters. It looks like many priests have also graduated from the academy, but I think this matches with the old Japan where many Buddhist priests used to be intellectuals.
He's probably thinking something along the lines of... it being beneficial for the future construction of churches in my earldom if a priest becomes the tutor of my children.
"A letter of recommendation is proof that they have the will and qualification to apply. There is a great number of people who would never receive a letter of recommendation, even if they begged my Grandfather."
Elise explained the reason why letters of recommendation were always demanded.
I suppose that's why nobles write more letters the higher in ranking they are. High-ranking nobles sure have it tough with all the socializing they have to take care of.
"That means there were actually a lot more applicants?"
"Indeed. Easily more than ten times that..."
Several thousand applications for the post of my children's tutor which is limited to one person... Moreover, the several hundred applicants who advanced to the document screening phase were all elites who had won over a tenfold competition...
All I could do was laugh feebly.
"It's because a noble gets asked more the higher in rank they are... Forming personal connections while taking responsibility for those requests is what matters the most. After all, they never know when it might come in handy to have written a certain letter of recommendation."
At this point, it's being treated as luck if the person, for whom they wrote a letter, is employed. And it means they can ask to return the favor of having written a letter of recommendation as a pretext.
"I really had my fill of this..."
Even though we haven't even eaten anything!
"So, about whom we're going to let advance to the next stage of the interviews..."
"Since the number of potential applicants is simply too large, we will pool the opinions of you, milord, me, your family, and the other retainers. I do not think that it will be much of a problem if we take some time to make a decision"
"Got it."
One of Roderich's wives is Minister Rückner's granddaughter, and there are also many relatives of high-ranking nobles among my retainers. It might become troublesome if we decide too readily as there's a lot going on behind the scenes.
Just like me, my retainers have it tough since the number of fetters shackling them down has increased drastically.
I think it's no problem to let Roderich and the others narrow down the number of applicants some more first.
"So, how long do you actually plan to need for the screening?"
"It will take around half a year... we have to coordinate the opinions, too..."
Hearing that, it obviously means that the Baumeister House has clearly gained in scale. As the number of people involved grows large, it becomes increasingly more difficult to balance the interests, I think.
Then again, we don't need to hurry yet since my children are still babies.
"Also, there is one more problem..."
"What kind of problem?"
"It is about these applications here..."
"They have no letters of recommendation, right?"
Several people handed in applications without letters of recommendation. But why is Roderich showing them to me although it'd be fine to just reject them outright?
"They come from people belonging to the 『Witenagemot』..."
"Witenagemot?"
"It's an assembly consisting of sages."
(TL Note: The term 賢者 (kenja) commonly means sage or wiseman. Sage has a different implication than wiseman though. Both meanings are interchangeably used in this chapter. I'll call them sage for reasons explained below, but you should always read wiseman into it as well.
"In the first place... what's a sage?"
I swallow the comment "So this world had sages as well, huh?", and ask Roderich to give me more details on sages.
The sage I'd think of first is an almighty person who can use the magic of magicians and priests alike, just like in some RPGs. Am I actually a sage as well, seeing how I can use water-based healing magic? Then again, I guess I'm not wise enough to be called a sage.
"Sages are amazing people, right?"
"How to answer this...? It is understandable that you do not know of them, Milord. The answer to the question whether they are amazing depends on who you ask."
I didn't know about sages because I'm young? But, since they are going in and out of the sorcery guild in the capital, I should have heard at least some rumors about them, no?
"Katharina-sama and Lisa-sama might know more about them. I am no magician myself, so the information I possess is limited to the rumors I have heard so far. Thus I cannot tell whether my information is actually true..."
"I got it. Call the two and we'll ask them."
I have Roderich go to Katharina and Lisa who are currently taking care of the babies.
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"Sages, you ask...? So far as it goes I know about them, but I think Lisa-san has more details. I have only heard rumors about the existence of people calling themselves sages..."
Figures. Katharina is only one year older than me. I suppose it's not strange for her to not know much about the sages either.
"Lisa?"
"It's difficult to explain, you see. They're more or less magicians of sorts. Their mana is below the elementary level though... Also, all of them either come from good families or are rich."
"Lineage and financial standing can be related to sages?"
