The Migrants
The Migrants
After the gangboard was lowered, the passengers, with all kinds of luggage on their back, began to walk down the trestle. Most of them had never set foot in this strange land before, so they seemed quite confused. The sailors behind were urging them to hurry up, making them feel terribly uneasy.
As the crowd began to thrust forward, a middle-aged woman accidentally slipped. She lost her balance and nearly fell from the trestle. Luckily, a younger woman instantly stepped forward and grasped her wrist, saving her from falling.
"Thank, thank you." The middle-aged woman thanked her profusely with one hand on her chest to calm herself.
The younger woman, however, just smiled and waved her hand, indicating that it was no bother.
Ferlin Eltek was waiting at the dock. He immediately recognized this agile young woman. She was Irene, his beloved wife, the Flower of Tomorrow of Stronghold Theatre. She wore a white dress, and her long hair was coiled up on top of her head, making her beautiful and graceful as before.
Though the heart of the First Knight was beating with excitement, he waited until she had safely landed on the dock. Then he immediately rushed forward to hug her tightly, in spite of the looks and shouts of the people around them. She was startled by the unexpected hug, but once she recognized Ferlin, she responded to his hug gently.
"I was so terrified to hear that the duke was defeated. When you were in Longsong Stronghold, I never got the chance to see you," she whispered into his ears, "Fortunately, you're safe now."
"I was imprisoned in the dungeon of the lord's castle. The guards wouldn't have let you in," Ferlin let go of his wife and said, "how have you been these past two weeks?"
She was silent for a while and then told him, "I left the theater."
Ferlin immediately understood what was left unsaid. When he was still the First Knight of the Western Region, only the duke would dare to harass her. But when he became a captive of His Highness, those who coveted her beauty no longer hid their desire. They had been waiting for the opportunity to possess her. If she had continued to go to the theater to work, it would have been a suicidal effort.
"That's all right. I got a job here, and the salary isn't bad." He reassured her. "Let's go home first."
"Home?" Irene was surprised. "We don't have to live separately?"
Generally speaking, the prisoners who were neither redeemed nor sentenced to death, would work as poor laborers. They had to live in tents or barracks which were crammed with prisoners. They had to sleep on the ground which was covered with wheat straw. The families of the prisoners would be treated similarly. The women had to live in another barrack and also sleep on the ground. When the prisoners were working, the women had to tidy up the men's barracks, prepare meals and do laundry.
Thinking of that, Ferlin felt touched by his wife's choice. If she stayed at the farm of Longsong Stronghold, at least she had her own spacious room with a comfortable and soft bed. Yet she still chose to come to Border Town alone, just for him. Even though she thought she had to live with other women in a small room or a tent and would be forced to work, she did not hesitate.
"I'm a teacher now." He picked up Irene's luggage and held her hand, heading for the New Civilization District. "As a teacher, I got my own apartment for free."
To be honest, when he first heard the treatment of the teachers from His Highness, he did not expect much. As a prisoner, having his own room would be great. Even if it was a wooden hut with a leaking roof and broken windows, it would be a good shelter after he tried to fix it. He had never expected that the houses for teachers turn out to be so... regular.
Entering the new district, the streets became wider, and the ground was paved with gray gravel. The roads had been flattened by the stonemasons so that it was comfortable to walk on them. At first, Ferlin could not understand why the stonemasons would bother to waste labor and time. Then he saw how heavy rainwater flowed along the gravel, sinking into the ground and then into the deep drains on both sides of the road. Compared with the narrow alleyways in Longsong Stronghold, which were often muddy and covered with puddles on rainy days, these streets were obviously much better.
Irene looked around and asked with confusion, "These houses seem to be newly built. Have we gone the wrong way?"
"No, my dear. We're almost there."
After they had passed two more corners, Ferlin Eltek stopped in front of a two-story brick house, and said to Irene, "We're here."
"Where?" She looked around and then turned to the new house in front of her. She covered her mouth with surprise. "Is this whole house our new home?"
"Of course not." He smiled. "This is the Teachers' House, and we live in an apartment in the middle of the second floor. Let's go upstairs."
He opened the door with a key from his pocket, and led her by her hand into the new home. There were a living room, two bedrooms, and two auxiliary rooms, and were well decorated with furniture. It was not large, but surprisingly comfortable. From the living room decoration to the bedroom layout, they were all refreshing. Now with Irene, the hostess of the home, it became even more perfect.
"Oh my goodness. Are you really taken as a captive here?" Irene ran from one room to another eagerly, carefully looking at everything. She was as excited as a child. "We're really going to live here, right?"
"Yes, of course." Ferlin, with a smile of content on his face, took some bread and cheese from the cupboard and laid them on the table. "I'm guessing you didn't eat anything on the ship. Come, let's eat something. I have to go out to work later."
"Yes, you're a teacher now." Irene ran back to her husband. "Which noble family's children are you going to teach?"
"Not the nobles. The subjects of His Highness."
"Subjects?" Irene was dazed for a moment, and then asked, "What do you teach them?"
Ferlin picked up a book from the desk and handed it to her. "I teach them how to read and write. His Highness gave me this... 'textbook'."
When he had chosen to be a teacher, he had been afraid that he was not competent enough to do it. After all, teachers were usually knowledgeable, white-haired masters. But His Highness said he only needed to teach according to the textbook. When he read the so-called "textbook", he got to know that there were many details and methods in teaching others to read and write.
Everything was listed inside, from the methods of teaching to the content. On the first page, there was a list of dozens of frequently asked questions and answers for new teachers. For example, the question for how to become an excellent teacher, how to motivate students to learn or how to test the students, and the answers were plain and easy to understand, but yet gave the reader lots of inspiration. Before he even began his first course, he was already deeply intrigued by this book.
So was Irene, clearly. She had lived in the theater since her childhood and had read more books and scripts than Ferlin did. He had once thought, with her beauty and wisdom, if she had been born in a noble family, she would have been a distinguished lady known by the whole Western Region.
After reading through several pages, Irene suddenly raised her head and asked, "Did you say... the salary for teachers isn't bad?"
"20 silver royals per month, with an increase of five each year."
"There isn't any theater here, right?"
"No... there isn't." Ferlin hesitated, as he had already guessed what his wife was thinking.
Sure enough, she closed the book and smiled. "Then I'll also be a teacher, dear. Just like you."