The scene of the young girl teaching was indeed amusing, and Jason couldn't help but smile. He truly admired the girl's courage. To have been selected from the first cohort of students to become a teacher showed that she must have been an excellent student.
To incentivize these "little teachers," Jason had set their minimum salary at twenty silver deer a month—a sum higher than what their parents earned working in a factory or on a construction site. When these children, aged ten to fifteen, received their first month's wages, the entire city was stunned. Their parents were overjoyed, but for the other 300,000 residents of Starfire City, it was a revelation.
The news that children who could read, write, and do simple arithmetic could earn more than their elders sparked intense discussion. A wave of envy was directed at that first group of students who had studied hard and been chosen for this prestigious role. This was exactly the effect Jason wanted. He was sending a clear message to everyone under his rule: knowledge is wealth. He wanted to engrave this idea into their minds, to foster a culture that valued education and respected knowledge. These young teachers were the living proof of his new creed.
Of course, the "little teachers" were clumsy at first. They were full of confusion and made plenty of mistakes as they struggled to control their classrooms. But Jason didn't care. He believed that with practice, they would gradually learn how to teach. After all, their curriculum was simple: basic literacy and arithmetic. The textbooks were all uniformly printed, and the young teachers only needed to follow along.
To ensure results, the school day was long and intense. Classes ran for nine hours a day—four in the morning, four in the afternoon, and one in the evening. Each class was forty-five minutes long, allowing for a rigorous schedule focused on language and arithmetic. Homework was assigned daily, and failure to complete it resulted in a sharp rap on the palms with a ruler. Misbehavior in class was met with a spanking. The school was a place for learning, not for play, and discipline was swift and certain.
Jason had no interest in the modern notion of "teacher-student equality." School was for studying. A teacher's authority was absolute. However, that authority came with immense responsibility. If any teacher dared to abuse their power or harm a student, the punishment was death by hanging. Jason had a particular hatred for such predators, and the laws he had enacted were designed to be a terrifying deterrent. His legal philosophy was simple: protect the victim and punish the criminal with overwhelming force.
In Starfire City, the law was not a suggestion; it was an iron-clad rule. Abducting and selling women and children was a capital offense. One caught, one executed. Jason scoffed at the idea of showing leniency to traffickers out of fear they might harm their victims. In his view, a swift and brutal response that eliminated traffickers would drastically reduce the number of trafficking cases in the long run. There were very few criminals who did not fear for their own lives.
Consequently, the laws in Starfire City were severe. Vicious crimes like murder, robbery, and rape were almost always punished with the gallows.
This strictness extended to the schools. Academic progress was not optional; it was mandatory. The curriculum set clear minimum requirements, such as the number of words a student must learn to read and write each month. Students who failed to keep up were moved to a separate classroom, where they were taught by literate soldiers. These soldiers did not care about a child's age; if you couldn't learn, you would be punished with confinement until you did. As long as a student wasn't lazy or unwell, they could meet the requirements.
Jason was providing these children with free food, clothing, and education, but not for their enjoyment. The urgent shortage of literate and numerate people forced him to take these extreme measures. He was compelling them to learn.
Perhaps, in the eyes of a modern person, this approach was harsh, robbing the children of a happy childhood. But this was Westeros, a brutal feudal society where most people couldn't even be sure of their next meal, and a simple fever could be a death sentence. Jason provided jobs so his people could feed their families. He provided modern medicine so they would no longer die from common illnesses. For the people of Westeros, this was already an unimaginable paradise. The children in his schools ate well and dressed warmly every day. Though their studies were tiring, their lives were a hundred times better than the cold, hungry existence they had known before.
The parents of these students were overjoyed. Lord Jason was not only educating their children for free, but he was also clothing and feeding them. In essence, he was helping to raise their children while giving them the priceless opportunity to learn skills once reserved only for the nobility.
Under these conditions, the school system, though unorthodox, functioned well.
Jason planned to spend the next one to two years identifying the most promising students from the 30,000 now enrolled. Once they could read, write, and calculate proficiently, he would assign them to the various administrative departments of Starfire City, easing the immense pressure on Maester Cobain and his small team. They would be young and inexperienced at first, but they would learn through practice.
Soon, Starfire City might have teenage sheriffs, judges, and clerks, drastically lowering the average age of its administrators. The thought of that scene made Jason chuckle.
After his inspection of the schools, Jason turned his attention to military matters. War was raging across Westeros, and a far greater threat was gathering in the lands beyond the Wall. The army of the dead was marching south, and the wildlings were likely already fleeing toward the Wall in terror.
He needed to increase the strength of his own army, and fast. The first great enemy he would face was not a southern lord, but the army of the dead.
For those wights, Jason already had a detailed plan. They were most vulnerable to fire. He would buy massive quantities of gasoline from the modern world. When the time came, he would unleash a fierce inferno. He refused to believe that those creatures, their bodies like dry kindling, could withstand it.
Even if the Night King himself appeared, Jason would be ready to burn him to ashes.
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