WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Medieval Heretic King is Too Good at Developing ◈
Chapter 99: The Winter of Prague
──────
A little earlier.
January 1423, the royal palace office in Prague.
It had already been three days since Žižka left for the Balkans with the steel cannon.
Snow fell endlessly beyond the window.
Frost lay white over the reed beds along the Vltava River, and occasional flurries struck the glass and melted away.
Before me, meanwhile, lay a mountain of documents piled up like a castle wall.
“...”
Half were financial reports submitted by Abraham.
The other half consisted of petitions, appeals, and every kind of miscellaneous complaint sent up from the provinces.
‘You expect me to read all of this?’
It had been two years since I became King of Bohemia.
And for exactly two years, I had keenly felt that wrestling with these endless piles of paperwork was more arduous than defeating enemies on the battlefield.
“...Staring at them won't solve anything.”
With a deep sigh, I picked up my quill.
The ink had hardened slightly. That was only natural, considering I sat furthest from the fireplace.
After warming the ink bottle slightly near the candle, I set my pen to the parchment again.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Only the dry sound of a quill scraping across paper echoed through the silent room.
Then.
Squeak.
Careful footsteps sounded behind me.
Someone was creeping closer while holding their breath.
Without stopping my pen, I spoke.
“Šárka, no matter how quietly you walk, you can't stop those floorboards from creaking.”
“Ah.”
A small sigh escaped from behind me.
“I was caught again... When will I ever manage to surprise Your Majesty?”
My personal attendant, Šárka.
She had been a maid in the Sternberg domain before I ascended the throne and promoted her to palace attendant, but her old habits remained unchanged.
Today, too, she stood before me in her familiar apron, carrying a silver tray beneath one arm and a linen towel in her other hand.
“You've been shut in your office since this morning, so I thought you might be hungry. It's linden tea, freshly brewed in the kitchen. I put in plenty of honey.”
Šárka placed the tray at one side of my desk.
Her hands moved skillfully as she measured the space, making sure it would not strike the piles of papers.
“Thank you.”
I lifted the cup and took a sip.
The delicate scent of tea and the sweetness of honey spread through my mouth.
The moment she put down the tray, Šárka began inspecting the office from one end to the other.
Before long, as though she had found something, she narrowed her eyes.
“Your Majesty, shall I grind some ink for you? That ink bottle looks nearly empty.”
“Hmm?”
“And Your Majesty, that candleholder is too far to the left. It casts a shadow over your right hand when you write. I'll move it to the right.”
She went to the window and scraped away the wax that had run down the candleholder with her fingernail. Then she trimmed the wick with scissors, making the flame burn brighter.
The practiced touch of someone who understood her master's work routine and removed small inconveniences before they arose.
It was a skill she had developed as a maid.
But...
“Šárka.”
“Yes?”
“I've told you several times. You're a palace attendant now. Moving candles and grinding ink are tasks for the other maids.”
Šárka paused, but only briefly. Soon, she resumed trimming the wick as though nothing had happened.
“I know. But... I don't feel at ease unless I do it myself.”
“You don't feel at ease?”
“Yes. I've always done these things since Sternberg. If I leave them to someone else, I keep worrying that the ink bottle might be too far from Your Majesty's hand, or that the candle is at the wrong height...”
Šárka added with an awkward smile.
“It is sort of a hobby. The other attendants spend their time embroidering or praying, but this makes me feel more at ease. If I don't do it, I feel anxious instead... Hehe.”
She felt anxious if she did not work.
Perhaps it was similar to how I could not sleep in my previous life unless I organized experimental data in the laboratory.
“Good grief... Fine. But don't lift anything heavy. Make someone else carry the water buckets and firewood.”
“Yes!”
Šárka nodded brightly.
Once she had finished, she seemed unable to contain her curiosity and gradually edged toward my desk.
Then she cautiously glanced at the densely written pages.
“By the way, Your Majesty, what are you doing right now?”
“I am planning to overhaul education as a whole.”
“Education?”
I set down my quill and leaned back in my chair.
Explaining it to clear my head was not a bad idea.
“Right now, free education exists only in Prague and Sternberg. Even there, it goes no further than reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.”
“Isn't that already amazing? I learned my letters there too. Two years ago, I couldn't even write my own name.”
Sincere gratitude filled Šárka's voice.
Only two years ago, most commoners in this country had been illiterate. Being able to write one's own name was a privilege in itself.
“Yes, and more people are gradually learning to read and write because of it. But if we stop there, education loses half its purpose.”
“Why?”
“Think about it. Say there is a farmer who can read. What can that farmer read? Tax notices, church postings, perhaps a newspaper at most. Then what? What comes after that?”
“Um... After that...”
Šárka tilted her head, resting her chin on one finger.
“Exactly. There is no after that. Knowing how to read and understanding and using what you read are entirely different matters. We have only put a sword in their hands. We have not taught them how to wield it.”
I pointed to the middle of the document.
“That is why I will establish secondary education. Those who complete the primary course will study at a higher level. History, theology, the basics of law, natural philosophy... A course where they learn how the world works, going beyond mere reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
“Wow... Is that like a university? Like Prague University?”
“No. University comes after that. Secondary education is like a bridge between primary education and university. Not everyone needs to attend university, but everyone should at least possess basic knowledge.”
But learning needed a purpose.
No matter how good an education was, people would lose their motivation to study if they had nowhere to use it.
“That is why I intend to create the Royal Administrative Office.”
“An administrative office?”
“Simply put, it will be an institution that gathers people who work for the country. At present, local administration is handled by lords or officials appointed by those lords.”
“Ah, like the chamberlain?”
I sighed and shook my head.
“If they were as competent as Konrad, that would be fortunate. Most are officials who only line their own pockets, or relatives of nobles occupying posts despite not even being able to read ledgers. Those people are managing the people's taxes.”
I clicked my tongue and continued.
“I will establish the office and place state-appointed administrators under its authority. They will be selected through examinations, not bloodline or personal connections. Completing secondary education will grant extra points on the examination. Those who pass will be paid by the state and sent to the various provinces.”
“Ah... Through examinations? Not because they're nobles?”
“Of course. Ability will be the standard.”
Those who completed secondary education would be eligible to sit for the examination. That would give people a reason to pursue education.
Those who passed would be assigned to the Royal Administrative Office, but sent outside their home regions to prevent collusion with local lords.
They would be evaluated at fixed intervals, then promoted or demoted based on their performance.
It was a reconstruction for the fifteenth century of the strengths and weaknesses of the civil service examination system I had learned about in Korean history class, along with the modern civil service system.
“Then everyone will have a reason to study. If they pass the examination, the country will give them work...”
“Exactly. Study, and you get a job. Get a job, and you can make a living, so you study more. I gain capable people and reduce my administrative burden. The people receive competent officials, and their lives improve. Everyone benefits.”
“Wow...”
Šárka's eyes sparkled.
“That is incredible, Your Majesty. Though it sounds like something from another world to a commoner like me...”
“Why do you think that?”
Šárka flinched at my question.
“Pardon?”
“I asked why you think it is something from another world.”
Šárka appeared to choose her words for a moment before speaking carefully.
“I mean... Even if people receive an education, won't the ones who enter government posts still be the children of nobles or wealthy merchants? Even if examinations are fair, only certain people have the time and means to study. A maid from an orphan's background like me... Ah, a palace attendant like me, how could I dare?”
Deep resignation filled her words.
The wall of status determined from birth.
Maids lived as maids, while nobles lived as nobles until they died.
That was the unquestioned common sense of this age.
I watched her for a moment before speaking quietly.
“Šárka.”
“Yes...”
“The recruitment examination for the new administrative office will have no gender restrictions.”
Silence fell.
Šárka blinked.
“What?”
“There will be no restrictions based on status, either. No, in every institution I establish in this country, neither gender nor birth will remain a barrier.”
Šárka's mouth fell open.
I rose from my seat and walked to the window.
Beyond the glass, Prague's rooftops lay covered in white snow.
“Are women less intelligent than men? Can they not write? Can they not calculate? No. Half the teachers at the primary schools are women, and their results are even better than the men's. Their students have the highest attendance rates.”
I turned to look at Šárka.
“Then why should only men hold a pen, organize ledgers, and calculate taxes? Is it truly rational to bind half the population to kitchens and spinning wheels?”
This did not come merely from twenty-first-century morality.
That was part of it, of course, but practicality mattered more.
Bohemia's population was less than one million.
Many men had died in the war, and recovery would inevitably be slow due to the aftermath of the Black Death.
With this small population, we had to stand against the Empire, the papacy, and perhaps all of Europe.
I had no intention of wasting a single person.
“A country where anyone with ability, whether woman or commoner, can become as great as a king. That is the Bohemia I will build.”
For a long time, Šárka could not speak. Her eyes trembled, and the fingers clutching her linen towel shook slightly.
Like someone who had suddenly seen a hole open in the ceiling they thought was solid, revealing a sky they had never seen in all their life.
“I...”
Her voice broke softly.
“When I lost my parents to the Black Death and became an orphan, I thought Lord Petr of Sternberg taking me in was a lifelong blessing, the greatest fortune of my life.”
Her gaze turned toward Prague beyond the window.
“Not going hungry. Sleeping beneath a warm roof. Not being beaten, and having someone call me by my name. Even that... for a child like me, it was like a dream.”
She looked back at me.
“But in the country Your Majesty is building, children like me... will not merely live with enough to eat. We can study, take examinations... and even become officials?”
“It is not that you can become one. You must.”
I spoke firmly.
“A country where people prove their worth through their own effort and ability, not where they were born or the status of their parents. That is the perfectly ordinary world I want to create.”
“...I may be an uneducated commoner, but I know one thing for certain.”
Šárka smiled faintly.
“In this wide world, Your Majesty is the only person who calls that ordinary.”
“...”
The mood had grown somewhat heavy.
I cleared my throat lightly and picked up my tea.
“Ahem! In any case, yes. Making the lives of people like you better. That is the duty of a king like me.”
That was what I said, but there was another reason as well.
‘And honestly... it is fun.’
At first, I only struggled to survive in this uncivilized, barbaric Middle Ages.
For the sake of my dignity and mental health, I made a flush toilet. Because I did not want to die in war, I made cannons.
It began as an attempt to make this terrible medieval environment a little more comfortable, but somewhere along the way, I had begun to enjoy it.
In my previous life, I had been a researcher.
Writing papers, conducting experiments, presenting results. That had been my daily life.
But once a paper was published, that was the end of it.
It appeared in a journal, a few fellow researchers cited it, and that was all.
I rarely felt that I had changed the world.
But now, things were different.
Molten iron poured from the blast furnaces I designed. Buildings rose according to the blueprints I drew. The soap I made changed the lives of tens of thousands.
As a scientist, I was leaving something in this world that would remain for a hundred years, a thousand years.
That sense of fulfillment.
It was probably the kind of fulfillment I could never have experienced in my previous life.
“By the way, Šárka.”
“Yes?”
A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I asked her.
“Have you had any inconveniences lately?”
“Inconveniences?”
“Yes. Things that make daily life difficult, or anything else. There may be things I do not notice as king. Small inconveniences you encounter while working in the palace.”
“Um, let me think...”
Šárka put a hand to her chin and thought for a moment.
“Inconveniences... Your Majesty treats me so well these days that nothing is particularly inconvenient. I receive soap from Master Josef every week, and the other attendants treat me well too... Ah, and you let us use the bathhouse every day. I never could have imagined that in Sternberg...”
Just as she began counting them off on her fingers.
“Achoo!”
“...”
“Ah.”
Šárka sniffed, looking embarrassed.
“Have you caught a cold?”
“Ah, yes... It was a little cold yesterday.”
She lightly wiped her nose with the linen towel and spoke as though it were nothing.
“When I woke up this morning, the stove had gone out. I must have forgotten to add firewood. It seems it all burned away overnight, and it was so cold at dawn that I slept with the blanket pulled over my head. Perhaps that is why my nose is a little...”
She sniffed once more, then forced a cheerful expression.
“But I am fine! One cup of warm tea and I will feel better. Who goes through winter without catching a cold once? Hehe.”
At that moment, something clicked into place in my mind.
‘That is it.’
I set down my cup.
“Šárka.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think it is natural to be cold in winter?”
Šárka tilted her head at my sudden question.
“What? Is it not natural to be cold in winter? The days become shorter, and the wind grows cold...”
“It is natural for it to be cold outside. It is not natural for it to be cold inside.”
Šárka had given me an excellent idea.
Winter starvation had disappeared through agricultural reform, but had there not still been one unresolved problem?
Heating.
Footnotes:
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