Two months into the cold season, Iris was starting to have some concerns about the most recent system quest. Apparently, from the reports Fern had been giving, many of the people taking the reading, writing, and basic math class were struggling to learn the knowledge in a timely manner. The original goal was to have them learn everything within three months since that was the duration of the cold season. Even the class fees that the males paid to take the class only covered three months' worth of classes. If they needed more help beyond that, they'd have to find time during the rainy season, pay a new fee, and start the classes over from the beginning.

That really wasn't ideal for a number of reasons. It was best if they could have fifty people complete the training during the cold season so that they wouldn't have to be concerned by the smaller number of people willing to sign up during the rest of the seasons. Iris also only had a year to teach 10% of their city's population, which amounted to 106 people. After checking her notes again, their total population was one-thousand-fifty three people or one-thousand-one-hundred-six people if the fifty temporary laborers were counted.

It was also possible that their population would continue to grow this year. From what Ash had told her, it seemed that quite a few of the males who were loyal to him were interested in their city. With Ash joining Iris's family, it was likely that there would even be some who would be willing to become official citizens. They had seen just how well her citizens were living and just how many females were in their city and it was very tempting. Most of the females were, in fact, half-orc females, but that didn't sound so bad when compared with the poor hygiene and spoiled attitude the complete females in Red Wood City had.

Sure, many of the products produced in Blue Springs City were sold in Red Wood City, including hygiene items. However, that didn't exactly mean the females there were going to bathe as often as those who lived in Iris's city. Iris tended to be very meticulous about combing her hair, bathing regularly, and wearing clean clothes. She didn't like to feel dirty or for anyone to smell the lingering stench of sex emanating from her. The females in Blue Springs City already tended to imitate Iris due to the great deal of respect they had for her and wishing they could enjoy some of the success she had, so bathing had become a regular habit for them.

However, the females in Red Wood City were just bathing so they could enjoy the pleasant scent of the hygiene products and their skin feeling better. This tended to amount to bathing once a week, at best, and they were hardly embarrassed about smelling of sex. If anything, it was almost like a badge of honor since it was a sign they were doing their best to conceive and they were beautiful enough to capture the hearts of the males in the city. Still, that didn't keep the males who had been living in Blue Springs City from seeing, and smelling, the differences for themselves.

Anyway, something had to be done and it had to be done sooner rather than later. A family meeting was called to discuss the topic and Fern explained

"I've been doing the best that I can to teach them. I've been using the wall to write everything as big as I can so that everyone can see it. I also make sure that I don't explain too much at once and dedicate half of the class time to study time and helping those who need extra help. I even stay late when asked and try to help come up with a study plan for anyone who tells me they are struggling.

Some of the students are doing really well and always end up with high scores whenever we do tests. Others are just struggling in a few areas, but a few have fallen so far behind that I worry they are only being confused when we have new lessons. Most of them seem willing to spend some extra time studying at home and have even bought extra stone tablets so they can keep copies of the basic letters and numbers to practice writing.

I think it would help a lot if we could make some extra copies of the games we were using to practice with when we learned this stuff. The only games we have officially released for sale are Checkers, Mancala, and Dominoes since BINGO isn't as good in smaller groups. I suggested they practice counting with the stone marbles from Mancala or playing Dominoes to help with the numbers, but that doesn't really help them with remembering the names of the numbers or the reading and writing aspects."

Hazel nodded as he replied

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"I can definitely see about asking some of the experienced carpentry workers and stone masonry workers to come in for a few days to make some extra copies of the games. I've actually had a few people come in to ask about the other games already, but I'm happy to do what I can to help with this."

Iris looked thoughtful as she replied

"Well, it wouldn't be bad to make some more cards that can be used for the matching game or as flashcards for learning. You can also teach them the "grow the flower" game since they can easily play that at home without any issues. It might even be good to play some of these games in the classroom so you can get more of the students engaged in learning. Maybe make a few copies of each game that remains in the classroom exclusively for that purpose.

However, I think it would also be a good idea to make some new educational games as well. It might even be fun if we start hosting weekly game tournaments in the banquet hall where anyone can join, regardless of whether they are in your class or not. We might be able to encourage the females to practice with their mates and friends, allowing more people to learn the knowledge. We'd have to come up with some sort of fun prize that we can use each week, but it would be a worthwhile investment."

Basil smiled happily as he said

"I'd be willing to make a bag of cookies for the winner each week. We can have three different sizes and have the biggest one go to the winner and then second and third place each get one as well, but in a smaller size. Most people only get to enjoy that stuff during the weekly banquet since Holly's restaurant is closed and no one is selling anything along those lines during the cold season due to limited supplies. Really, we have the best stockpile of ingredients, so we might as well make use of it."

Iris nodded as she replied

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We should, probably, come up with something else for the rest of the year, but we can consider that closer to the rainy season. Might as well ensure the prize remains special, even after sweets become more common again.

Well, I do have one idea for helping with both the reading and writing as well as the counting. We had a game called Scrabble in my world. It was a pretty simple concept, but it works pretty well for testing one's vocabulary. Basically, you have a large square board with slots to put in square pieces with letters written on them. Some of the slots have different colors with double or triple points given for a particular letter or word. The wooden pieces would need to be fairly small and need both a letter and a number on it, which gets added up to make for a score issued for the word played each round.

There would also need to be sloped trays to hold the letters and a container to hold the extra letters. Each person should only have seven letters at a time and they draw new letters after they play a word. If they don't have any usable letters, they can dump them and redraw, but they have to skip their turn. Once someone runs out of letters, the score of all the other players' leftover letters gets added to that person's score. After tallying up all of the scores, the person with the highest score wins.

What do you think?"

Hazel rubbed his chin as he thought for a bit before replying

"I'm not sure if most of the workers would be talented enough to make something as intricate as that just yet. I would likely have to make the boards themselves myself and just have the others make a container to hold everything and the pieces. That would make it difficult to mass produce, but we will have more wood to spare for the others to test their skills on after the cold season. So, I think it would be better if we just limit the copies to those for the classroom and tournaments, but not sell them just yet. How many people can play the game at the same time?"

Iris shrugged as she replied

"That's alright, there is only a short while before the cold season is over anyway. Generally, anywhere from two to four people can play Scrabble at the same time. So, maybe seven boards for the classroom and twenty for tournaments should be fine. That way, we can have a hundred people participate at a time. We'll just have to make people sign up ahead of time with priority for those who are currently in classes."

Iris didn't exactly know a ton of games that could help with the learning process. Still, she hoped that this addition would prove popular enough to help them make progress on the quest. She didn't really care about whether people were paying her family to learn how to read, write, and do basic math. It was not only more important to complete the quest, but it was also important for the city's future growth that more people learned that knowledge. Although, Iris certainly felt like it was a terrifying thought for her to lose all of her knowledge related to reading, writing, and math, especially considering how valuable it was for city management.