"Me too."

Darun was delivered his pair of shirt and pants. Finally, he was released from the rags.

His works included all types of menial jobs at the castle. Whoever found him vacant, would hand him their job.

That morning was no different. After completing the breakfast, he was handed a bucket of water and a rag to mop the floor of the main kitchen. The main kitchen was filled with raw veggies and fruits on the table and drawers. Raw meats of different types were hung on ropes on the next joined room, blood from them fell in droplets on the floor.

Darun completed most of the empty kitchen, and was moping the remaining corner.

Some people entered the kitchen, and were talking about something. He wasn’t intrigued. However the voice of a certain sky-haired girl took all his attention. His hands were dipped in the bucket as he was listening to her sharp and sweet voice.

“...765 plus 633… equals 1388…”, she was mumbling her oral calculation.

Darun also calculated in his head, 1398.

He left his rag and bucket, quickly dried his hands on his shirt.

“My lady, greetings.”, he approached her nervously.

“Greetings, Da…”

“Darun.”

“Yes, Daerun. Did you need anything?”, she smiled in courtesy.

“Uh, no, I mean, I wanted to say something. You were… adding the numbers.”, he was looking down at her parchment.

“Yes, I was calculating the ingredients needed. What about it? Did you perhaps have a suggestion?”, she smiled.

“No, the addition earlier, I think it will be 1398.”

“Oh,”, she looked at her parchment, then looked at him briefly and started calculating in her head again, looking upwards, inaudibly counting the numbers.

“You are right.”, she smiled enthusiastically. She corrected the number in her parchment.

“Who taught you counting?”, her eyes narrowed, the parchment holding hand on her hip.

“I learned them in… school.”, he thought about lying but didn't want to, and thought she would just think of him as insane like everyone else did.

“And what kind of establishment is that?”

He was surprised by her curiosity to know, and not denounce him crazy.

“It is a place where people go to learn new things, be educated.”, his nervousness slowly fading.

Her eyes wide, face smiling in wonder.

“Is this place unique to your home town?”

He thought for a few seconds.

“Kind of…”

“That’s why I have never heard of it.”, she said loudly. “So this ‘school’ teaches you calculation?”

“Yes. Calculations are called Mathematics. And many other subjects are taught there.”

“Subjects like?”, her brows knitted closer.

“Science, Languages, Business, etc.”

“Ohh… So these things are studied… Wait, even business?!”

“Y-yes.”, he was shaken by her excitement. Her eyes were sparkling.

‘Thud!’ ‘Splash!’. When they looked, they saw a servant sitting on the floor, all wet from the bucket’s water, dumbfounded. She slipped on the wet floor.

“Hahaha!”, Celestine laughed, putting a hand over her mouth to stop and hide it.

He felt a warmth in his heart looking at that girl, but Darun couldn't even begin to understand what this feeling was.

Before leaving the kitchen she told him, “I will find you again, Daerun.”, smiling, she left him. The boy wished to talk with her a bit longer.

*****

I assumed Lady Vox is too intrigued by school.

As she said, she met me that very evening in my room.

I was lying on my bed, body stinking from sweat.

When I answered the knock, the sky-haired lady Vox was there.

“Are you free now, Daerun?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Then I am coming in.”

She did.

“The room is more spacious than I remember from last time”, she said looking around. She sat on the chair, the door still fully open. “Sit on the bed.”, she urged.

I did.

Her one leg over the other. Elbow on her upper leg, and her chin resting on the upper side of that hand’s fingers.

“Now tell me everything you know about the ‘subjects’ you spoke of.”, she said seriously, “And, if by any careless mistake, you lied about your lineage before, then I will allow you one last time to correct it.”, she said intensely, her eyes sharp.

“My lady, I am Darun Nikov, and I am from a very ordinary family.”

“Fine. Then, I urge you to share the unique knowledge you acquired from ‘school’.”

“Okay. When a child can remember everything they do, they are admitted to the ‘school’. In my case, I was admitted at the age of 3. There they teach children different things for several hours a day, then let them go home. We study there for 14 years.”

She listened with utmost attention, her eyes sparkling towards my face.

“We are called ‘students’ when we study there.”

“I know what a student is.”

“Oh, I apologise—”

“Continue.”

“The main subjects taught there are, Mathematics, Languages, which are the native language and the international language, Science, which include Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and some other subjects.”

“You missed Business.”

“Uh, yes. From Business, I only studied a little bit of Economics, my lady.”

“And that is?”

“The study of… uh… finances”

“Like how much to spend and efficiency in spending.”

“Exactly, but more than that. Like there is a concept of Demand and Supply, which is based on the simple logic of ‘if there is more demand then more supply is needed and then we can adjust prices and other factors to our benefit’.”

“Like how businesses work.”

“Yes. Then…”, I looked around to summon my lost knowledge of Economics I only studied to pass exams, “There is the study of macro and micro economics, where we study the expenditure on an individual level to a big city level like Skylien’s. Then…”

“So this Economics can do the work of a high lord and run a city?”

“Not exactly, Economics is the study and research on these expenditures, alongside various refined theories and techniques. For example if the ruler wants a certain product to be removed from his region, he will increase the tax on the product unimaginably high so that no consumer can buy it.”

“But then, will not the people revolt?”

“That is why the ruler will gradually increase the tax, little at a time. In that way the people will lose the motivation to revolt, and they would also be slowly used to using the product less.”

“That is clever. I got the gist of it. But these are basic things, why do you need 14 years to master them?”

“My lady, I do not clearly remember everything, as these subjects are compilations of years of studies. There is a lot to these subjects. It is that I am not properly able to convey.”

“So, you are… Anyways, do you have any useful insights on Business?”

“I have my own understanding of it. If you would like, then I could share them.”

“Fine, go on.”

She glanced at the window for a bit. I did too, seeing her. It was getting darker.

“Business is giving people what they need. So if we can bring them something which is in great demand, then we can make huge profit.”

“That would mean barging in existing businesses, where other merchants already rule. How can a newer or poor merchant survive there?”

“If that is the only option, then a viable profit can still be made by diligent hardwork.”

“You are speaking without any knowledge of the real world.”, anger flared in her voice.

“You can also bring in new business.”, I said nervously.

“And how will that sell?”

“Business can be of two types, services or products. We can invent a new business that helps people a lot, then we can make huge profit.”

It felt like we would start our own business tomorrow.

“And what will that business be?”, she said mockingly.

“For example, there was a time when wheel was not invented, but people still lived their lives, but once wheels were made, people bought it a lot to make carriages.”

“And, I am asking you, what is such an invention you are suggesting.”

“I… can not think of anything right now, my lady.”

She looked disappointed. Sadness in her eyes.

She looked me in the eyes. I kept looking in that calm blue lake. My body shook like taking a bath in cold water.

“M-my lady, it is getting late. I need to go to the dining room. And you can not stay long either, I suppose.”, I nervously said.

“Yes.”, she closed her eyes, smiled and stood up. She stretched her body lightly, while walking, “I will meet you again.”, she said smiling, with a pair of tired and sleepy eyes.

“Which subject were you good at?”, she asked from the door.

“Mathematics.”

“Me too.”, she smiled, and left.