Chapter 79: Born Under the National Flag
“Your Majesty, the time has come. The president of Astal United University has been waiting outside for about an hour and a half.....”
The female secretary answered a call from outside, then leaned close to Mitia’s side and spoke softly, her fluffy white cat ears atop her head twitching from time to time.
“So soon?”
‘Mm...’
Putting down the documents in her hands, Mitia pinched her brow.
As her undertakings spread wider and wider, Mitia’s working hours had imperceptibly lengthened, from just a few hours before to now stretching into more than ten hours.
The construction of infrastructure, the allocation of light and heavy industry within the nation, the development of national defense science and technology, education for all age groups, the promotion of improved crop varieties—Mitia had to closely monitor every aspect.
Because the governance policy of today’s Ceres Federation was completely different from that of the former feudal kingdom, many things were unprecedented.
The resistance brought by traditional, entrenched ideas could not be underestimated.
In fact, she did not spend as much time on the actual work itself; most of her time was instead consumed in wrangling with these people.
Especially...
those scholars in the field of education.
Ceres was truly short on intellectuals right now, so no matter how displeased she was, she had to endure for the sake of the nation.
In order to relocate the universities to towns and villages, quite a few scholars came before her to argue, saying things like how hard it had been for them to escape the countryside through study, and now Mitia was sending them back again....
But such arguments only made her more determined in her decision~
At present, the students in the few existing universities all came from the families of high-level farmers and above under the old kingdom.
They had already been essentially detached from farming life back in the kingdom’s days; they might never have even worked the land.
Only because they had not reached the level of large estate owners had they survived at all.
If this group entered the education system, what kind of composition would the education sector have in twenty or thirty years? Diluting their influence was something that had to be done.
And so, yet another had come to bother her.
Mitia sat in front of the dressing table, while the cat-girl secretary carefully undid her coiled hair, then deftly repinned her silver hair, revealing a smooth forehead and slender neck.
With the right accessories and a shining black evening gown, she looked dignified and elegant.
As Empress, she always had to consider her external image, for she was the face of the Federation.
However, when meeting her own people, such formality was usually unnecessary.
Her formal attire this time was in fact meant as a signal.
Mitia entered the reception room.
The president of the United University, the over sixty-year-old Old Evan, quickly paid his respects.
Mitia inclined her head slightly in return and invited him to sit.
The secretary, quick-witted, brought tea for the two of them.
Old Evan glanced at the cat ears and fluffy tail of the secretary, leaning back slightly with a look of disgust on his face, as though seeing something unclean.
A flicker of embarrassment passed through the secretary’s eyes, but she maintained her smile.
After placing the tea, she quietly withdrew.
In the Kingdom of Ovinia—or in fact most kingdoms—when beastfolk appeared, they were usually sold as female slaves.
Most were either forced into the flesh trade or kept as someone’s private pets.
In a sense, beastfolk had become synonymous with the sex trade.
But Mitia had already resolved this problem long ago.
What needed to be abolished was abolished, and she had even deliberately purchased a considerable number of beastfolk from Paria.
This was both to gain more labor force and to dilute, by sheer numbers, the previous association of beastfolk with that sordid industry.
However, changing people’s mindset was not so easy~ Old Evan was not the first, nor would he be the last man to show such an expression.
Old Evan did not touch the tea, but impatiently asked Mitia: “Your Majesty... why must the universities be moved to remote villages? Isn’t that too far from the cities?”
Mitia gracefully sipped her tea, then set down the cup and replied leisurely: “It may be far from the cities, but it is closer to the poor and lower peasants~”
“I have read the new textbooks you submitted. The number of daily lessons is very high. Have you not considered how the great number of part-time worker-peasant students are supposed to manage?”
“I believe you have not considered it, since you used a full-time course model. So, I have considered it for you.”
At these words, Old Evan retorted: “But... if they cannot keep up, should they not be eliminated? That is the natural law. If those worker-peasant students cannot keep up, then let them go back to farming, each contributing as they can.”
“Running universities in remote mountains, how could good talent be cultivated that way? Since the universities are being run, I believe they should still follow the old model.”
“According to your opinion, we have already absorbed the best experiences from home and abroad. The students cultivated with these textbooks will absolutely become the pillars of the nation!”
As he spoke, Old Evan grew more animated, his spirit renewed as he loudly painted grand promises.
Mitia only lifted her gaze, looking at him with a half-smile.
“Utter fucking nonsense!!!”
“Your Majesty!”
A loud shout came from outside.
The reception room door was forcefully pushed open.
An elderly man with snow-white hair rushed in, and upon seeing Mitia seated in the main chair, quickly bowed deeply.
“There’s no need to be so formal.”
Mitia immediately rose and helped him up, signaling to the two guards outside the door, who wore helpless expressions, to withdraw.
The old man’s name was Abbot, now nearly eighty years old.
He had been born as a merchant under a noble lord’s domain.
Though of humble birth, he had great cultural attainments, and in middle age had even refined part of the theoretical foundations of magic.
After retirement, he spent years traveling the kingdom’s borders, surveying the lives of the common people at the bottom, writing detailed reports, and submitting them to the Royal Capital to request grain and material aid for the poor.
Thus, he enjoyed immense respect in the Kingdom of Ovinia.
Mitia also held him in great respect, rehiring him as the vice president of Astal United University.
With such academic standing and advanced age, it was no wonder the two guards had not dared to stop him.
“You!!! Utterly without grace!”
Sprayed in the face, Old Evan’s complexion turned the color of pig liver.
He pointed at Abbot, wanting to lash out, but recalling his lofty position and the need to maintain decorum, in the end he could only spit out that single insult.
Abbot ignored him, instead turning to Mitia and saying: “Your Majesty, when I was young, I was single-minded in my studies. My academic performance was always at the top among my peers, but because of my parents’ lowly status, I had no way to pursue further education.”
“Later, I applied for a job as a menial worker at an academy. While working, I could occasionally overhear the teachers’ lectures. At night I would recite them over and over. I learned faster and better than those noble children sitting in class!”
“But I could not sit inside, because my bloodline was deemed unworthy. I was only qualified to sell my life on the battlefield for them, until I met my mentor, who finally gave me guidance.”
“And that opportunity—I had waited for it since graduating at thirteen, until I was thirty years old!”
“Universities must be run in the towns, rooted in the soil! For so many years, the ruling class used culture to restrain us. Was it our fault that we were uneducated? No, it was not!”
“This debt can only be laid upon the noble landlord class! They feared us learning knowledge, they feared us refusing to submit.”
“Our universities must cultivate successors who inherit new ideals, not a so-called new generation walking the old path! Not spiritual nobles riding atop the laboring people!”
“This is absolutely not about cultivating just a handful of so-called elites! This is a matter of direction, of the future itself!”