The Villainess Will Live a Good Life

4. Learning

Originally posted: Dec 1, 2022 Edited: Apr 30, 2023.

Nana wished she could say that she was loaded with top quality information since she just reread the early parts of the novel. Unfortunately, that wasn't totally the case. Sure, Nana knew about the plot and all major characters. She also knew how this culture operated. But there were details that affected her life that were not included in the book.

On a rare day, one where she was left alone by her brothers, Nana tried to write down what she knew. Yes, Nana had paper, though it was closer to papyrus. She had a quill and ink to write with too. She loved how novel it felt. Neither could compare to their earthen counterparts, but they were both considered impressive tools reserved for nobles or the wealthy.

Beastmen do have a written language. It was a simpler one made up of symbols and pictures like hieroglyphics. Nobles were taught how to write though it was never expected of females. Females would still learn the skill since it made them appear more valuable, but they rarely used it if at all. It was a waste since they never had to use it practically. Those in the higher positions of the city used it to track items, wealth, and take a census. Elizabeth introduced roman numerals at some point too... but Nana was getting off track.

Nana used those symbols and mixed them with the English and Japanese so no one could read her notes. Nana rolled her eyes. Look at her, putting in all this extra, and probably unnecessary, effort.

"Let's see," Nana muttered. This world had a heavily skewed female to male ratio. Ratios that were roughly like this:

Mammals: 1 to 10.

Birds: 1 to 15.

Reptiles and amphibians: 1 to 30.

Arthropods and fish: 1 to 100.

Nana winced. The severity of that hit her harder now that it was her reality. No wonder a lot of males come off as desperate; they were.

Sympathy took energy Nana didn't want to spare, so she moved on. Every city and tribe had their own unique customs and traditions, but they shared several cultural traits. These included: Polyandry, for increasing birth rates and protection for females; higher expectations for males, as they were the support for any family or community; leadership being determined by power, since beastmen respect strength. This city was one of the two exceptions to the last rule.

There were more, but these seemed to be the most notable ones. Nana was also feeling somewhat lazy. She tried to drum up the motivation to continue. The whole reason she was going over these things was to avoid forgetting important details.

"Let's see..." she mumbled.

On the topic of power, beastmen gained it by hunting, fighting, and surviving. Nana liked how basic that was. Although females almost never gained strength like that, the novel mentioned a female warrior queen who earned her third power mark. That was an impressive feat for most males, let alone a female.

Nana loved the idea that there was a strong female out there, but she wasn't going to follow in that female's footsteps. Battle was not for her. There were ways to get around that, but they had there own complications. So no, Nana was not aiming to increase her power. It wasn't like her family would let her anyway.

Since females with strength were limited to the mention of that one character, Nana was going to make a note indicating male usage of power as the general rule of thumb.

Males can exert power which, from Nana's understanding, was a spiritual type of pressure. It could be used as an effective intimidation tool that could scare off or reduce the moral of those weaker than the male exerting it.