Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

After giving everyone about a minute to think about it, Eris asked Nina again, ”Well, what lunch can you afford, while still having enough for a room and to fix your broom?”

”The...” Nina hesitated, then meekly replied, ”The 5 Copper lunch?”

As the little girl replied, her tummy actually rumbled, causing her to blush bright red. Clearly, she was hungry, probably not having had anything for breakfast before rushing out of the orphanage to make it to this early morning lesson.

Some of the children in the hall laughed, while others had their stomachs join in the chorus of complaints.

Seeing, and hearing this, Eris laughed happily and shook her head, ”Sorry, Nina, if you want a roof to sleep under and to get your broom fixed so you can work, you can only have the free lunch.”

Nina deflated hearing this, as if she really could only have the free lunch the guild provided instead of the tastier 5 Copper lunch which included Princess Bread, as many people had begun calling it after learning Princess Christina, Guild Master Eris’ friend and sister, was the one who made it for them.

Once the lecture hall quieted down again, Eris proceeded to solve the problem on the board, explaining her steps along the way, and then concluded by saying, ”This is why math is important, so you can figure out how to keep yourself warm and fed when people ask you to pay for things.”

””Yeesss...”” the student all replied, drawing out the word somewhat as children often do when they are half-convinced, half-not-convinced.

Eris, of course, understood this, but didn’t try to push her pupils any harder today, knowing that would be counterproductive. These children had to realize the importance of knowledge on their own, otherwise they would never be motivated enough to study and learn. All she could do was offer encouragement and not give up trying to teach them.

Thinking this was a good place to stop for the day, and realizing that lunchtime was actually fast approaching, Eris put down her chalk and dusted off her hands, ”Alright, class dismissed. Tomorrow, Teacher Timothy will be here to talk about adventuring, so don’t be late!”

”Yay!!” Many of the children cheered when they heard this.

Whether it was because the dreaded math class was over, or that it was now time for food, or because Timothy Balfour would be here tomorrow to share fun stories with them was unclear, but it was probably all of the above.

As the children filed out of the lecture hall, Sasha and Elliot made their way down the steps to where Eris was currently wiping down the board with a rag.

”Good work, Eris,” Sasha patted her daughter on the head, eliciting a big happy grin from the girl.

”En,” Elliot followed up, ”You’re so much more sensible than your mother was when she was your age, I tell you...”

”I’ll tell Mother you were slacking off again, Dad,” Sasha cut in, glaring at her father threateningly.

”Ahem ahem, as I was saying, you’re doing very well, Eris,” Elliot got the message, cleared his throat awkwardly, and abruptly changed course.

He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, watching over his precious granddaughter, but his wife might have a different opinion, especially since Teagan was currently buried in paperwork and couldn’t be here for Eris’ lecture herself.

That said, Elliot didn’t forget to make a mental note to share Sasha’s embarrassing childhood stories with his granddaughter when they were alone later, Hmph, you think you can threaten your Old Man and get off scot-free? You’re still too naïve, little girl!

*Pinch!~*

”Ow! What was that for, Sasha?” Elliot winced after feeling his daughter grab and twist the exposed skin on his forearm, exactly like how his wife would when she was angry at him.

”That’s for plotting against me!” Sasha snorted, not having missed the cunning glint which had flashed across her father’s eyes just now.

While Elliot grumbled something about ’unfilial children’ and ’nagging women’, Eris, feeling very happy with the work she was doing right now, wisely ignored the antics of the ’adults’ and simply smiled happily, ”Thanks, Mom, Grandpa!”

Ever since the guild opened, Eris had been coming here every day she could, helping out with everything from the kitchen, to the teaching hall. It was extremely fulfilling for her to see the bright smiles on all the faces of the people she was helping.

What’s more, she got to interact even more with the people helping her Junior Sister and Senior Brother, many of whom would show up at the guild as volunteers, guest lecturers, or to simply post jobs.

For example, a number of the older kids had been employed by the managers from Princess Bakery as the shops owned by Tina where safe places they could earn a good wage at.

Lucas’ many ongoing projects also recruited heavily from the Rising Phoenix Guild on both a temporary and permanent basis.

Old Braxton from the forge, Head Manager Victoria Moore, and Dean Shaw from the Urban Development Team were particularly frequent guests in fact, as each of them found the young, flexible, eager minds here quite suited to learning things like smithing, book keeping, or trades-work.

All this was to say that if Eris wasn’t training or cultivating, there was a good chance she would be at the guild, and today was no exception.

What was different about today though, was that Eris was only planning to be here for a few hours in the morning, as she had somewhere else to be in the afternoon; everyone did, in fact, because today was June 4th, Christina’s birthday.

The party was set to start a little later in the day, when the sun had passed its peak and it wasn’t quite so hot outside, but that didn’t mean there weren’t preparations to make, especially for Eris who needed to change into the fancy new outfit Lucas made for her.

With that in mind, Eris beckoned to her mom, said goodbye to her grandpa, and dashed for the exit.

Seeing her daughter back to her usual rambunctious self, running through the halls, dodging people as she went, Sasha couldn’t help shaking her head, thinking Eris was still a child at heart, ”Don’t run too fast!”

”It’s fine, Mom!” Eris turned back while still running, yelling as she waved happily, only to round the corner to the guild’s reception hall and bump into someone.