Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 332: Chapter 20: The Public Security Bureau _2

But Winters hadn’t anticipated that the old charlatan’s laziness was an ingrained habit. The young Hunter and Horseboy often found excuses to skip out on lessons. Reed didn’t mind; in fact, he was happy for the free time.

“Earning an extra salary, you should at least do some work, right?” Winters sarcastically said to the old charlatan.

Unexpectedly, Brother Reed casually pointed at Pierre, “If it’s just teaching these two youngsters to read and do arithmetic, then Mr. Mitchell is surely up to the task.”

The reason Pierre was there was because of his mother.

Upon hearing that Lieutenant Montaigne had requested Father Reed to teach the two little Dusacks, Mrs. Mitchell sent Pierre over too.

However, Mr. Mitchell was already literate and could do arithmetic. According to Gerard Mitchell, it was his wife—Mrs. Ellen Mitchell—who had personally taught their son when he was young.@@novelbin@@

Winters had no choice but to explain that he had only asked Father Reed to enlighten the two little Dusacks, and that Mr. Mitchell wouldn’t learn anything new.

But to his surprise, Mrs. Mitchell replied, “It would be beneficial for Pierre to spend more time in the company of Father Reed and Lieutenant Montaigne. The boy is always getting into trouble; we ask that you strictly supervise him for us.”

With Mrs. Mitchell’s reasoning, Winters had no room to object. Moreover, ever since he had arrived in Wolf Town, he was deeply indebted to the generosity of the Mitchell family. Compared to that assistance, adding another desk and chair beside the two little Dusacks was hardly a repayment.

Thus, Pierre Gerardnovich Mitchell became the third student of Brother Reed, who, far from refusing newcomers, did not take the opportunity to ask Winters for a raise.

Anglu and Pierre were already playmates, and Bell, who had temporarily lived with the Mitchells during the wolf calamity, had also become part of their group.

Nominally, Anglu and Bell were guards, but in reality, they had little to do. Pierre, as the sole child of the estate owner and mayor, also had nothing to do and was idly mischievous.

The three little Dusacks, when together, didn’t merely cause three times the trouble—they caused trouble to the third power.

Whenever Winters left the town hall, the three boys would sneak away right after him. Old Reed would turn a blind eye, very pleased to have more time for a nap.

Fortunately, all three had both respect and fear for Winters, so he still had them under control.

Back inside the town hall, Pierre was caught off guard when Father Reed called on him.

The old monk, without wasting words, wrote a few sentences on a piece of paper and handed it to Pierre, “Kid, read this.”

Pierre took the note, looking blankly at Father Reed.

“Read it!” The old monk, who knew not where he got the vine stick from, gave Mr. Mitchell a whack.

Pierre jumped in fright and stammered, “Clumsy, stupid Jinding Mountains. Fuck. Sheep. Herders… is the best description for my friends… Anglu and Bell.”

Anglu and Bell initially struggled to hold back their laughter at the first part, but they were stunned when they heard the end.

Brother Reed yawned and said indifferently to the other two little Dusacks, “Do you understand now? If you can’t read, you won’t even understand when others are insulting you.”

After that, Reed asked a few mixed operation math problems. Each time, he first asked the other two little Dusacks, and while they were still counting on their fingers, Reed would turn the question to Pierre.

Pierre quickly gave the answers, but his voice became lower and lower, while the other two little Dusacks became increasingly ashamed and silent.

Brother Reed yawned again and asked carelessly, “You’re about the same age. Pierre already knows how to read and calculate, what about you two?”

The little Horseboy Anglu hung his head, and the young Hunter Bell clenched his fists tightly, staring at Father Reed. Pierre, at a loss, sought help from Winters with his eyes.

“Oh well, I won’t be hard on you,” sighed Brother Reed, before scribbling something on the paper and passing it to the two little Dusacks, “You two just copy the word I wrote here, and you don’t have to come to class anymore. You can’t fail to do even this, can you?”

Bell was the first to grab a pen and paper, leaning over the table to get to work.

The young Hunter wasn’t writing; he was tracing. He imitated every curve very carefully, but still, his letters were crooked and twisted, like those of a child just learning to write. After finishing, he passed the feather pen to Anglu.

Anglu looked pitifully at Winters, who nodded expressionlessly.

So, the little stable boy also leaned over the table and copied it. However, because he pressed too hard, the tip of the feather pen broke off.

“No need to rush, write slowly, try to write better,” said the old monk, handing Anglu a new feather pen.

In the end, Anglu also completed the “copy,” his handwriting was even more dreadful to behold than Bell’s.

Monk Reed took the paper back and examined it carefully, then sneered and asked, “Are you idiots? You just write when asked to write? Do you know what this is?”

The two young Dusacks stood there petrified.

The old monk unfolded the paper—he had handed out a folded sheet, and on a part Bell and Anglu had not seen, there was additional content.

Monk Reed shook the paper in his hand and said, “This is a ‘slave contract,’ and by signing it just now, you are no longer free men but my slaves. I can trade or execute you as I please.”

The two young Dusacks were stunned.

“Think I’m scaring you?” the old monk scoffed. “Don’t believe me? Let the lieutenant and young Michel have a look.”

With that, he passed the contract to Winters.

After reading through it carefully, Winters said, “This is indeed a standard personal rights trade contract. Paratu doesn’t allow the use of slaves, but permits the slave trade, and Monk Reed now has the right to sell you elsewhere. However, this contract is not valid in Vineta, because Vineta does not allow any form of slavery. If you escape to Vineta, you’ll be free.”

Pierre took over the paper and, after reading it, also confirmed Winters’s words.

“It was you who tricked us into signing!” Bell yelled angrily.

“Who can prove that?” the mendicant monk said with disdain, “You were the ones who signed this contract in black and white. If anyone’s to blame, it’s you for being illiterate—signing anything without knowing what it is, not realizing you’re being sold into slavery. Don’t agree? Here! Pierre, you write it down too, just like I did.”

After saying this, Father Reed thrust the contract into Pierre’s hands.

Pierre stood there dumbfounded, not moving to write.

“Look! Mr. Mitchell knows what this is and knows not to sign,” the old monk taunted. “But what about you two? You know nothing, signing whatever I tell you to. You didn’t learn the shrewdness of the Dusacks, inheriting only their recklessness.”

Anglu was flushed with shame, while Bell’s eyes were filled with fury.

Monk Reed didn’t waste any more words, tearing the contract in two and stuffing it into the hands of the two young Dusacks.

“Take it,” the old monk said with indifference. “If you don’t want to be sold into slavery without warning in the future, go learn all the words on it with Mr. Mitchell. If he doesn’t teach you, then he intends to trap you. Now, out you go.”

Bell was the first to turn and leave the room; Anglu followed him, and Pierre also hastily pursued them after giving a bow.

Once the three young Dusacks had left the town hall, Winters could not help but ask, “Is it necessary to do this with a few children?”

“Sixteen is not so young. Had they not been Dusacks, they might have already married,” the old monk yawned. “And who knows, maybe these kids will hate me for a lifetime, but they might never learn the lesson.”

“You’ve thrown all the teaching work to Pierre, aren’t you just collecting a salary for nothing?” Winters suddenly grasped the crux of the matter.

Monk Reed laughed heartily, “Teaching someone to read is not worth money; knowing how to teach someone to read is worth a salary.”

While the lieutenant and the monk chatted idly in the town hall, a new wooden house was rising across the road.

Whole logs were being transported from the logging site by cart, and carpenters, plasterers, and laborers toiled, sweating profusely, with one wall already erected.

This was the number one event in town recently, an important piece in the puzzle of the prosperity and growth of Wolfton, longed for by Gerard Mitchell.

This wooden house, projected to be even bigger than the town hall, is the future Wolf Town Security Office, which will have functions like the stationed officer’s office, an armory, jail cells, and barracks for the guards.

Whether Winters liked it or not, whether the impact was good or bad, he had ultimately left his mark on this land.

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