51: That's absolutely unbelievable!

Inside the room.

Lister looked at the sweating Malo and asked, "Malo, do you have something to report?"

"Lord Lord, I do indeed have something to report." Malo wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, "Currently, the other craftsmen and I have prepared the wooden materials for the Curved Plough, but regarding ironware, aside from the farming tools of the Ironthorn Town peasants, there is no surplus."

"However, the peasants are currently sowing Winter Wheat, so the farming tools cannot be requisitioned and dismantled. Therefore, I have come to you for help."

Lister showed surprise after hearing this. "You prepared the wooden materials in less than two days?"

"Yes, Lord Lord. When laying the water pipes, we cut down a lot of Cloud-Piercing Wood and didn't use it all, so there happened to be some left over."

Lister nodded, showing a look of realization, and felt relieved at the same time; as long as it wasn't a case of cutting corners.

Then he spoke, "Don't worry about the ironware issue. I bought a batch from a merchant passing through Ironthorn Town last time. I was originally going to give them to you, but I got too busy and forgot about it."

"In a moment, arrange for a few people to go to the castle cellar and move those iron tools away. Consider these my personal sponsorship for you craftsmen."

"Besides this, do you have anything else?"

"Nothing else. I thank the Lord Lord for his generous gift on behalf of all the craftsmen." Malo expressed his gratitude and praised him sincerely.

At the same time, his understanding of Lister's noble bearing as a Lord was refreshed once again.

Giving away such expensive ironware just like that—one probably couldn't find another Lord like him in the entire kingdom.

Lister gladly accepted Malo's praise; he never quibbled over this 'small change'.

He knew deeply that only when the territory developed and the subjects became wealthy could he become even wealthier.

If he were like some other Lords who only knew how to blindly extract wealth without regard for the lives of their subjects, then such a practice of draining the pond to catch the fish would mean his end was not far off.

At this moment, the sound of knocking came along with Thomas's voice.

"Lord Lister, magistrate Hobbes (Brutus) has arrived."

"Let him in."

As Lister's voice fell, the door opened, and Brutus walked in quickly.

Malo, who was to the side, wanted to excuse himself, but Lister signaled for him to stay and wait.

Coming before Lister, Brutus bowed respectfully and said, "Lord Lister, may I ask why you have summoned your subordinate?"

Lister picked up the proposal on the desk and said with satisfaction, "Hobbes, I have already read your proposal. There are no problems. Next, you can begin to implement it."

"Any personnel and resources you need within Ironthorn Town can be deployed as you wish."

"However, during the renovation, I need you to first set aside two planned plots of land. One is for building a Workshop; you and Malo can discuss the specific details after you return."

After a pause, he continued, "The second is for building a new school. The current school in the territory is too crude, there are only two teachers, and what they teach is too simple."

"So I need you to help me look for some teachers who are capable of handling the initial teaching work. If you can't find any, I will think of another way later."

"From now on, all children in Ironthorn Town who reach the age of five must receive an education at the school. For now, the years of study will follow the Church Academy's standard, with sixteen as the limit."

"This can both reduce the burden on most subjects and improve their labor force, while also raising the overall cultural level of Ironthorn Town."

"I hope that the subjects of our Ironthorn Territory can eventually become talents with the same abilities and knowledge as those who graduate from the Church, Royal, and other academies, or even stronger than them."

"Of course, if this is the goal, the initial teaching will certainly not be enough. Therefore, teachers need to be constantly sought out, and every stage of learning must have teachers with corresponding knowledge."

"This is a gradual process; it can be done slowly. It is easy to fail if one tries to achieve it in one step, but there is a high probability of success with steady progress."

Listening to Lister's grand words, the uneducated Malo was incredibly excited. Although he couldn't fully understand, he just felt it was amazing.

And at this moment, Brutus's heart was also beating violently. He felt incomparable shock at the 'ambition' Lister displayed.

He knew very well how difficult this idea was to realize. After all, he was a graduate of the Church Academy, and the power of the two great academies was already deeply ingrained in his heart.

Not to mention their monopoly status in the kingdom, just the time they had been established and their profound teaching foundations were enough to make others despair of ever catching up.

Yet when this unrealistic idea came out of the mouth of the man before him, he couldn't feel any sense of doubt, only deep admiration and submission.

But excitement aside, he still maintained his rationality and spoke up to remind him, "Lord Lister, your idea fills your subordinate with admiration, but there is currently one problem: the cost of study."

"Because of the preciousness of knowledge, school tuition is not low. Although the fees of the only existing school in Ironthorn Town are not considered high in the entire kingdom, they still cost one copper coin every three days."

"Not all subjects can afford this cost. Therefore, your requirement that all children over five must enter school to study, I'm afraid..."

Brutus did not continue. Just as he thought Lister might show a difficult expression or even back down from the challenge...

Lister chuckled and said, "I understand what you mean, but you don't have to worry about this problem, because I am going to implement a new model of education called Compulsory Education."

"Compulsory Education?" Brutus was somewhat puzzled, and Malo beside him was even more bewildered.

"That's right, Compulsory Education." Lister affirmed once again and then explained, "It means that children of a certain age must receive a certain degree of education, and I have decided to implement a completely free system."

"Completely free!" Brutus cried out in shock.

It was simply a fantasy!

The definition of this Compulsory Education was as shocking as if a Great Archmage had dropped a Great Mana Bomb in his heart.

Malo rubbed his head and asked incredulously, "Learning can actually not cost money? Then who's going to pay for it?"

Lister showed a gentle smile and said, "I'll pay. To be precise, a portion of the funds will be allocated from my Lord's taxes to be used for the various operating costs of the school."

"Drawn from your taxes, Lord Lord?" Malo looked disbelieving, and then said with the 'honesty' of an Ironthorn Territory subject, "But you already reduced our Lord's taxes by half before. Now this tuition also has to come out of your taxes, isn't that too..."

At this moment, these words coming from Malo's mouth sounded incredibly strange. After all, which subject would care about a Lord having too much tax revenue?

And this was precisely because of the great image Lister had imprinted in the hearts of his subjects during this period.

If it weren't Malo but Charlie here now, he would have said the same thing.

Lister waved his hand and said with a sincere expression, "It's no matter. As long as the children of Ironthorn Territory can have books to read, what does this bit of tax revenue matter?"

Hearing this, Brutus, who was still in shock, came to his senses and then said with eyes full of extreme reverence:

"Lord Lord, your subordinate offers the most sincere praise for your greatness!"