It was now several weeks into the cold season and everyone had already begun to settle into their new schedules. Most of the people in their tribe were still, mostly, just relaxing at home with their families. However, there was a lot more that could be done while living in the inner city than could be done when they were living in the outer city. There was less risk of freezing to death and everything was interconnected, allowing people to more easily travel around, even during the cold season.
One of the big things that was happening was that there was a new school system. Fern was the main teacher and he held classes five times a week with twenty five people attending each class. The first four days had a single class per day with two different groups showing up on alternating days. Group one would attend class on day one and three while group two would attend class on day two and four. Then, on day five, Fern would hold two classes where everyone would be tested on the knowledge they had been taught earlier in the week.
Fern was a very suitable teacher as none of the females in their tribe felt intimidated by him and none of the males would mistake him as trying to threaten them. He tended to be a very bright and friendly personality and he was also well-versed in everything he was teaching, which made him an excellent teacher. Thus, he was put in charge of teaching reading, writing, and basic math to all fifty students who had signed up for the classes.
Iris had been a little bit concerned that she might not be able to get enough students to sign up for the classes, but that hadn't really been an issue. Everyone had been eager to learn, especially since they had made the classes free for the females in their tribe, kept the costs reasonable for the males, and even advertised the possibility for higher-earning jobs in the rainy season for those who successfully graduated from the classes.
Of course, their city now had more than five hundred people living in it, so fifty students was hardly enough to meet the ten percent requirement for the quest. However, Iris didn't want to make the classes overcrowded, nor did she wish to overwork her rabbit husband. It wasn't like they couldn't hold some more classes during the rest of the year either. It was just unlikely that they would be able to get as many participants due to many of their citizens wanting to concentrate on other work during that time of year. Still, if the bulk of the learning was completed during the cold season, then it was still likely they would be able to reach their goal within the one-year time limit.
Iris had also gotten Basil to agree to host some basic first aid classes this cold season. Since fewer males were getting injured due to no one being out hunting, it created a lot more free time for those working in the clinic. While Iris had tried to encourage Basil and Alder to accept more apprentices, she hadn't been successful. Alder was, apparently, too close to passing away and didn't want to take on more than one apprentice. Meanwhile, Basil was convinced that things would be fine once Pearl and her mates returned to their tribe since there would be two apprentices then.
It had taken Iris a bit of heated discussion talking about how difficult things had been in the aftermath of the wild beastmen attack as well as the fact that their city's population was only bound to continue growing to convince Basil to do anything. They ended up compromising by having him agree to teach a basic first aid class once a week to anyone who paid a fee to attend it. If he found anyone particularly outstanding amongst the bunch, he would consider taking them in for an apprenticeship. However, he had no plans to teach anyone else everything he knew since he felt two fully-fledged witch doctors, alongside him, would be more than enough.
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Basil planned to just have a few extra apprentices to run the pharmacy, but it wasn't like he could just have completely clueless people handing out medicine to others. It was better for those helping in the shop to be able to identify the various medicines and who it was appropriate to sell them to. Then Hudson and Alder's apprentice would manage the clinic while Basil worked in the medical workshop, only stepping in when necessary. Anything more than that, he argued, would only lead to power struggles and resentment in the future.
Iris had no intentions of forcing the issue, so she had just left things at that. Of course, there were other topics to be taught as well, one of which was combat training. Ember had to scale things back a bit due to being inside a cave system, but he continued to do combat training in the mornings in the dedicated space for it. Meanwhile, Iris decided to start her own program aimed at females in the separate gym space set aside for females to train and cubs to play.
None of the females were really willing to take things to the extremes that Iris did. They didn't want to participate in combat training and to be on par with their males. However, plenty of them were willing to do exercise and basic defense in case of an emergency. Some people were still only participating due to wanting to do what Iris was doing, but she'd take the wins where she could get them.
Iris spent a good bit of time developing a proper exercise regimen that involved a series of stretches, running, exercises, and teaching some basic defensive measures. Caspian tended to be the one to attend these morning sessions with Iris since he was the next weakest mate she had after Fern and Hazel as well as being rather well-known with most of their citizens being comfortable around him. Whenever Iris needed a partner for workouts, Caspian would be the one to stand there as she elbowed him in the ribs and tried to get out of his hold for self-defense or to help with holding her feet as she did sit-ups.
This new exercise regimen ended up being a lot more popular with the females of their city, but many of them were still reluctant to do any of the more difficult exercises. Stretching made them feel good and they enjoyed giggling at the various silly poses that were required. Running was a fun group activity and they could do so at whatever pace was comfortable while gossiping amongst themselves. Even the self-defense seemed intriguing, so many of them would sit in to watch the demonstrations, even if only a few were confident enough to actually try it for themselves. However, doing sit-ups, push-ups, and lifting stone weights was difficult and boring, so many of them chose to abstain from such activities.
Iris couldn't really blame them as she hadn't really enjoyed such exercises when she had been living in the modern world either. She had always been the sort who preferred some light yoga followed by running on a treadmill, bicycling, or following a dance exercise video. As a result, her arms and core had been rather weak and it had made participating in actual combat difficult after transmigrating to this world. Iris no longer wanted to be a damsel in distress, though, she wanted to stand strong and be the sort of leader her people deserved. So, she was much more motivated to do what she could to ensure her own safety, even if her mates were unable to help her in time.
While Iris was open to other subjects being taught in the schools, in the long-term, she restricted classes to only those that her mates were teaching, for now. She wanted her citizens to experience what it was like to be students and to attend school before allowing them to be more creative and come up with their own classes to teach. Even then, the classes and their associated class fees would require approval from the city leader before being allowed. Iris didn't really want to control everything their citizens did, but she did need to ensure the teachers were teaching quality classes and weren't trying to overcharge others, which would only result in further issues.
Still, Iris was quite happy to see just how enthusiastic everyone was to learn and grow. It gave her hope for the future and she hoped the trend would continue.