“Okay, now read this passage.”
Lorn stood beside me, hand on my shoulder as she read along with me. Scrutinizing every word as I spoke, pointing out when I misunderstood a word or skipped words.
“The territory of Morus is the final established territory within the empire, the territories flanking it being the furthest territories east of the empire.”
I struggled with the reading but found myself improving with time, my writing proved much more difficult as everything I wrote was choppy and illegible. The language began to click as time passed. It was like I was simply refreshing knowledge I’d had for a good period of time already. It makes me wonder if the progress is only because I’m so young right now.
“Okay, next section.”
Lorn guided me along with her finger, tracing underneath each line of letters.
“The territory to her north, Damus, is the northern frontier, the region with the greatest active expanse of the empire. The territory to her south, Va-Va-….”
I struggle and find myself unable to say the region name for some reason. Like something is pulling at me.
“What does this say?”
I pointed to the name of the region sheepishly. While I was fairly confident and moving forward with most I read, this was making me struggle surprisingly heavy. Lorn took a moment before reading it, looking to me for a moment.
“-Va-ren, the warring south, an old state of the empire, given reign of its old ways and ruled by numerous houses.”
Lorn finished my sentence and looked at the book she had chosen for us to read from. At the continuation of the sentence, I felt a strange sense of nausea, holding my stomach for a moment.
Did I eat something bad?
When I collected myself, Lorn looked as if she were debating something within her head.
“This one may have been a poor choice Kiyomi, sorry for choosing a hard one.”
Lorn apologized, shifting the book and proceeding to look over the passage once more.
“N-no, it’s fine. I guess I was better at this than I really was. “
I attempted to brush the comment aside. Looking at me for a moment, she moved the book back to its spot in front of me.
“Your call, this will make your geography a lot faster to go through too. Getting this through to you will be a lot more effective this way.”
She then proceeded to flick the tip of one of my horns.
“Ow, really?!”
I was reflexively grabbing my horns at the tips.
“You looked like you were nodding off earlier.”
Lorn said, smiling smugly.
You just like to see me pout, damn sadist.
For the grandmother type, Lorn was mischievous. I had learned this quickly as she liked to keep some individuals on their toes. The longer I was around her and the others, I noticed they all had their own ways of interacting. For Hatsumi, it was jokes squeezed within their conversations wherever they could, and for Callum, she squeezed them into well-timed prods about his constant sexual activity.”
Seeing him come home at night with women this whole week, I never saw, but it was very easy to tell…Perv.
“Next section now, you finish this, and you’re free to go~.”
Lorn said, nudging my shoulder.
“Wait, really?!”
I ended up responding energetically.
Over the past week, I’ve actually been picking up on Lorn’s lessons much faster than Hatsumi’s, not at the fault of Hatsumi but that everything Lorn taught clicked. Abnormally fast at that. I’d been faking hang up’s and slowing down to make it seem like I was picking up the lessons normally…it didn’t always work. But, it was chalked up to me avoiding work rather than trying to hide the fact that I was learning a bit too fast, even for my own comfortability. This was all like it was a warm-up, and being freed from the day's lesson meant I got to do what I’d done to pass the time while I waited for Hatsumi to return on Lorn’s days.
“I mean, unless you’d like to spend time with me instead of “Booby spider,” would you?”
Lorn gave a mocking smirk.
…You mumble after passing out once, and this is what happens…
“W-wah-eh, n-no! Watching Avery cut up the monsters is cool!”
I weakly tried defending my new pastime.
“Mhmm, aaaand it’s not because she’s been taking some scales or feathers from each kill and giving them to you? Hmmm?”
Lorn had placed her hands on her hips as she began questioning me.
On the extra time I found myself with, the choice was loitering in Lorn’s office or head downstair’s to bother the guild staff and “Auntie Avery.” I call her “Auntie” at this point because it was her only term for me sitting behind the carving counter and watching her work. I was confined to the guildhall for now, so that was the best I could hope for to pass the time. Watching Avery work felt like good entertainment and a way to get some passive learning in. I would get to see a lot of monsters in a safe place and know what exactly I’d have to look forward to. Besides letting me watch, she often liked to give me small trinkets from the scraps. Small scale plates, teeth, and whatever else she was given to dispose of or re-sell herself from the monster. Apparently, she’d taken a liking to me, and this was her spoiling her “niece.”
Listen, I can’t help it if some of this stuff looks nice! And it’s cool! I don’t have anything else to occupy me right now.
After the second day with her, I’d collected a small bag of bits, and one of the clerks actually offered money for it. So in the final case, I figure Avery is at least paying me to spend time with her.
“Okay, ready?”
Lorn asked, finger underlining the next section on the page.
“Ready!”
I took a breath before continuing.
“These Territories are known as the “Hand” of the empire, outstretched and expanding with time, as they are bordered by no other nation.”
Stopping with Lorn’s finger, I looked up to her, waiting for her approval. She looked at me for a moment before smiling and placing a hand on my head.
“Good girl, you’re free to go.”
She gave me a toothy smile, patting softly before removing her hand and walking over to her desk, sitting on the edge.
“At this rate, you won’t be learning from me in the next year, and I’ll be tossing you over to Callum.”
Lorn said, shrugging faintly.
And there went my mood. Should I stall and stretch this out?
“I won’t really need to train with that perv by the end of the year, right?”
“To be honest, I would pick no one else over him. He knows where to place his limits, and he won’t bring any of his activities around you while teaching you.”
Lorn said confidently.
“The sooner you learn your sword, the better; besides, you won't be doing much else when I’m through teaching you what I can.”
Lorn spoke once more, looking to the table I had placed my sword on earlier in the morning.
“You’ve got a major boon with that thing kid, don’t underestimate it.”
She said, staring at the sword.
Is a user-locked sword REALLY that special?
I thought to myself for a second.
“But enough of that, it is time you headed down. Booby spider is probably missing you.”
Lorn teased.
You don’t have to remind me, Bye-bye grandma elf.
Immediately at her word, I picked up my sword from the table and made my way out of the room, and made way for the carving counter. My small feet still audibly creaking the wood beneath each step as I jogged out of Lorn’s office and down the stairway to the balcony area. Coming out of the stairway, Maria was just heading to speak to Lorn.
“Lady Kiyomi, you’ll be glad to know the Revenants have entered the city walls. Your Mother will return shortly.”
Maria said, bowing her head as I passed rather than either of us stopping.
“Thank you, Maria!”
I left the Mother comment be; she had referred to Hatsumi that way to me since the beginning of the week. Apparently, she was adamant about doing so, it wasn’t uncomfortable, but I’m sure it was strange for the others. Probably very much so for Hatsumi. She seemed to avoid calling herself, so, for her sake, I don’t think I could call her that, given it seems it hurts her.
I slowed as I reached the balcony, thinking back to the time with Hatsumi over the week. She was very clingy, considering we were outside the city walls, I could understand. While the day she was teaching me about the plants of the local area went rather smoothly. The second day I was with her, she was already teaching me monster tracks and signs, and well, we ran into a “Trap-door Tortoise.” Imagine a cross between a trap-door spider and a snapping turtle. It wasn’t a common monster to see in the area, And Hatsumi didn’t anticipate one. So it was rather shocking that suddenly a tree next to me was shattered, and I found myself staring down a tank-sized turtle with spider fangs, hissing at me. It missed, thankfully. I cringed, thinking back to the moment.
I can’t believe I pissed myself in front of her. That thing, I’ve seen scarier shit, but that was so sudden. It barely missed me.
I clenched my fist, thinking of it. It was staring at me. Waiting to take a second strike, probably thinking I was in shock-
I can’t believe I fucking pissed myself! Ugh.
-Or that I never saw it. Stupid move on its part, as the next moment Hatsumi flew in from the side and slammed into its head so hard that it fell back into its burrow slightly before trying to right itself. It never got farther than a foot before she seemed to conjure a bow made of light, and my eyesight was filled with some sort of blinding flash; it sounded and felt like lightning struck nearby. By the time my sight returned, the place where the monster's head was, was now a smoldering fleshy stump.
“Kiyomi, are you alright?!”
Hatsumi yelled.
Immediately after the body fell, Hatsumi rushed to my side in a panicked state and began grabbing me, looking up and down my body rapidly before bringing me into a tight hug. I could hear her swearing and saying something, but I couldn’t tell what specifically as my ears were ringing from the lightning strike still.
“I-I think I’m alright.”
I didn’t feel anything out of place other than my soaked pants.
“Oh, thank the gods! I think we’re good for the day; wanna head home?”
She let go of me for a moment, looking in my eyes and awaiting a response. At the time, it looked like she was crying, and her face was pale.
“Sure.”
I responded before being held into her chest once more.
“Let’s head home, sweetie. We have another lesson this week, but we’ll keep it to one of the campgrounds around town. I can't handle that kind of event again.”
Hatsumi said. It felt as if she were holding back the desire to sob as she was sniffling lightly.
The week was rather basic, and I had already endured another near-death experience.
At least I made it five days before that happened.
I thought to myself. Besides being able to read again and knowing some basic math in this world, that was the most important lesson I got this week.
Be careful, and don’t let your guard down in the wrong place.
The only lesson I had from Hatsumi later in the week was more on plants, but we kept it simple and went over various herbs that were in storage instead of finding them in the wild.
Throughout the first day, I’d found out I would be learning and training six days out of the week. The first day was with Hatsumi looking over trees and plants in a guide she had given me, the second-day Lorn began teaching me how to read, the third was the event with the Tortoise, on the fourth, Lorn taught me more reading and some basic math, the fifth was the herbs, and today was more reading followed by basic geography of the larger nation we were part of.
Since I was done with my education, for now, I could spend some time watching Avery work while I waited for Hatsumi to return. Thinking through the week, I was down the stairs again without realizing it. And in my view-
Booby spider
-Avery was waving one of her swords in the air, calling to me. I could just barely hear her over all the chatter from the adventurers and workers.
“Hey, Kiki! We just got one you haven’t seen yet! You should hurry before we start!”
Why does she have to call me that now?
“On my way, auntie!”
She was also calling me a nickname already. Grumbling to myself, I moved with a slight sense of purpose. I did enjoy seeing some of the monsters before ever getting carved. I wanted a good idea of their sizes after Wednesday’s event. Approaching the counter, I jumped and pulled myself up. After which, Avery picked me up from the counter and stood me next to her; she was quite strong so moving a child over the counter the rest of the way seemed fairly easy for her from my perspective.
“Okay, so what d'ya think?”
The Arachne seemed proud of herself as if she’d killed the monster in front of us. Meanwhile, I stood there in awe for a moment. It was a rather large creature, but its body was laid out on its side so it couldn’t be seen from the other side of the counter, or at least I couldn’t. It looked fairly similar to a Carnotaurus, a large bipedal dinosaur with small horns and stubby arms.
“It’s cool! I saw the t-rex skull in Lorn’s office, but I didn’t think I’d see one of these!”
I found myself looking over the thing in awe.
If only there were opportunities like this on earth.
“Ah, what?”
Avery asked, confused at my speech, before looking as if a light bulb appeared in her head.
“Oooooh, the Skulker.”
She continued.
Figures, this is a different world. It’d be stupid to assume everything followed over to this world.
“What is this one called auntie?”
I asked, poking the carno’s horn.
“This devil here-“
She started as she grabbed a sharpening stone. Running a knife along its length before turning back around to face me.
“-Is a Stalker. They show up from time to time and eat a newbie or two before we can usually get to them.”
Avery continued.
“Thankfully, this was a kill Hatsumi and the others landed this morning that another team rolled back on a cart.”
She finished talking and smiled, stopping next to me.
Is she trying to make Hatsumi and the others seem cool to me?.. Well, I mean, it’s working.
“They got this one before he became trouble, so let's start cutting.”
She then handed me the knife.
“Uhm, what is this for Auntie?”
I asked innocently. I could feel my face twitch slightly as before frowning weakly. I knew what it was for, but I was hoping to get her to rethink it for a moment.
“Exactly what it looks like; you’ll help me cut this guy up!”
Ahhh, great.
“Okay, now read this passage.”
Lorn stood beside me, hand on my shoulder as she read along with me. Scrutinizing every word as I spoke, pointing out when I misunderstood a word or skipped words.
“The territory of Morus is the final established territory within the empire, the territories flanking it being the furthest territories east of the empire.”
I struggled with the reading but found myself improving with time, my writing proved much more difficult as everything I wrote was choppy and illegible. The language began to click as time passed. It was like I was simply refreshing knowledge I’d had for a good period of time already. It makes me wonder if the progress is only because I’m so young right now.
“Okay, next section.”
Lorn guided me along with her finger, tracing underneath each line of letters.
“The territory to her north, Damus, is the northern frontier, the region with the greatest active expanse of the empire. The territory to her south, Va-Va-….”
I struggle and find myself unable to say the region name for some reason. Like something is pulling at me.
“What does this say?”
I pointed to the name of the region sheepishly. While I was fairly confident and moving forward with most I read, this was making me struggle surprisingly heavy. Lorn took a moment before reading it, looking to me for a moment.
“-Va-ren, the warring south, an old state of the empire, given reign of its old ways and ruled by numerous houses.”
Lorn finished my sentence and looked at the book she had chosen for us to read from. At the continuation of the sentence, I felt a strange sense of nausea, holding my stomach for a moment.
Did I eat something bad?
When I collected myself, Lorn looked as if she were debating something within her head.
“This one may have been a poor choice Kiyomi, sorry for choosing a hard one.”
Lorn apologized, shifting the book and proceeding to look over the passage once more.
“N-no, it’s fine. I guess I was better at this than I really was. “
I attempted to brush the comment aside. Looking at me for a moment, she moved the book back to its spot in front of me.
“Your call, this will make your geography a lot faster to go through too. Getting this through to you will be a lot more effective this way.”
She then proceeded to flick the tip of one of my horns.
“Ow, really?!”
I was reflexively grabbing my horns at the tips.
“You looked like you were nodding off earlier.”
Lorn said, smiling smugly.
You just like to see me pout, damn sadist.
For the grandmother type, Lorn was mischievous. I had learned this quickly as she liked to keep some individuals on their toes. The longer I was around her and the others, I noticed they all had their own ways of interacting. For Hatsumi, it was jokes squeezed within their conversations wherever they could, and for Callum, she squeezed them into well-timed prods about his constant sexual activity.”
Seeing him come home at night with women this whole week, I never saw, but it was very easy to tell…Perv.
“Next section now, you finish this, and you’re free to go~.”
Lorn said, nudging my shoulder.
“Wait, really?!”
I ended up responding energetically.
Over the past week, I’ve actually been picking up on Lorn’s lessons much faster than Hatsumi’s, not at the fault of Hatsumi but that everything Lorn taught clicked. Abnormally fast at that. I’d been faking hang up’s and slowing down to make it seem like I was picking up the lessons normally…it didn’t always work. But, it was chalked up to me avoiding work rather than trying to hide the fact that I was learning a bit too fast, even for my own comfortability. This was all like it was a warm-up, and being freed from the day's lesson meant I got to do what I’d done to pass the time while I waited for Hatsumi to return on Lorn’s days.
“I mean, unless you’d like to spend time with me instead of “Booby spider,” would you?”
Lorn gave a mocking smirk.
…You mumble after passing out once, and this is what happens…
“W-wah-eh, n-no! Watching Avery cut up the monsters is cool!”
I weakly tried defending my new pastime.
“Mhmm, aaaand it’s not because she’s been taking some scales or feathers from each kill and giving them to you? Hmmm?”
Lorn had placed her hands on her hips as she began questioning me.
On the extra time I found myself with, the choice was loitering in Lorn’s office or head downstair’s to bother the guild staff and “Auntie Avery.” I call her “Auntie” at this point because it was her only term for me sitting behind the carving counter and watching her work. I was confined to the guildhall for now, so that was the best I could hope for to pass the time. Watching Avery work felt like good entertainment and a way to get some passive learning in. I would get to see a lot of monsters in a safe place and know what exactly I’d have to look forward to. Besides letting me watch, she often liked to give me small trinkets from the scraps. Small scale plates, teeth, and whatever else she was given to dispose of or re-sell herself from the monster. Apparently, she’d taken a liking to me, and this was her spoiling her “niece.”
Listen, I can’t help it if some of this stuff looks nice! And it’s cool! I don’t have anything else to occupy me right now.
After the second day with her, I’d collected a small bag of bits, and one of the clerks actually offered money for it. So in the final case, I figure Avery is at least paying me to spend time with her.
“Okay, ready?”
Lorn asked, finger underlining the next section on the page.
“Ready!”
I took a breath before continuing.
“These Territories are known as the “Hand” of the empire, outstretched and expanding with time, as they are bordered by no other nation.”
Stopping with Lorn’s finger, I looked up to her, waiting for her approval. She looked at me for a moment before smiling and placing a hand on my head.
“Good girl, you’re free to go.”
She gave me a toothy smile, patting softly before removing her hand and walking over to her desk, sitting on the edge.
“At this rate, you won’t be learning from me in the next year, and I’ll be tossing you over to Callum.”
Lorn said, shrugging faintly.
And there went my mood. Should I stall and stretch this out?
“I won’t really need to train with that perv by the end of the year, right?”
“To be honest, I would pick no one else over him. He knows where to place his limits, and he won’t bring any of his activities around you while teaching you.”
Lorn said confidently.
“The sooner you learn your sword, the better; besides, you won't be doing much else when I’m through teaching you what I can.”
Lorn spoke once more, looking to the table I had placed my sword on earlier in the morning.
“You’ve got a major boon with that thing kid, don’t underestimate it.”
She said, staring at the sword.
Is a user-locked sword REALLY that special?
I thought to myself for a second.
“But enough of that, it is time you headed down. Booby spider is probably missing you.”
Lorn teased.
You don’t have to remind me, Bye-bye grandma elf.
Immediately at her word, I picked up my sword from the table and made my way out of the room, and made way for the carving counter. My small feet still audibly creaking the wood beneath each step as I jogged out of Lorn’s office and down the stairway to the balcony area. Coming out of the stairway, Maria was just heading to speak to Lorn.
“Lady Kiyomi, you’ll be glad to know the Revenants have entered the city walls. Your Mother will return shortly.”
Maria said, bowing her head as I passed rather than either of us stopping.
“Thank you, Maria!”
I left the Mother comment be; she had referred to Hatsumi that way to me since the beginning of the week. Apparently, she was adamant about doing so, it wasn’t uncomfortable, but I’m sure it was strange for the others. Probably very much so for Hatsumi. She seemed to avoid calling herself, so, for her sake, I don’t think I could call her that, given it seems it hurts her.
I slowed as I reached the balcony, thinking back to the time with Hatsumi over the week. She was very clingy, considering we were outside the city walls, I could understand. While the day she was teaching me about the plants of the local area went rather smoothly. The second day I was with her, she was already teaching me monster tracks and signs, and well, we ran into a “Trap-door Tortoise.” Imagine a cross between a trap-door spider and a snapping turtle. It wasn’t a common monster to see in the area, And Hatsumi didn’t anticipate one. So it was rather shocking that suddenly a tree next to me was shattered, and I found myself staring down a tank-sized turtle with spider fangs, hissing at me. It missed, thankfully. I cringed, thinking back to the moment.
I can’t believe I pissed myself in front of her. That thing, I’ve seen scarier shit, but that was so sudden. It barely missed me.
I clenched my fist, thinking of it. It was staring at me. Waiting to take a second strike, probably thinking I was in shock-
I can’t believe I fucking pissed myself! Ugh.
-Or that I never saw it. Stupid move on its part, as the next moment Hatsumi flew in from the side and slammed into its head so hard that it fell back into its burrow slightly before trying to right itself. It never got farther than a foot before she seemed to conjure a bow made of light, and my eyesight was filled with some sort of blinding flash; it sounded and felt like lightning struck nearby. By the time my sight returned, the place where the monster's head was, was now a smoldering fleshy stump.
“Kiyomi, are you alright?!”
Hatsumi yelled.
Immediately after the body fell, Hatsumi rushed to my side in a panicked state and began grabbing me, looking up and down my body rapidly before bringing me into a tight hug. I could hear her swearing and saying something, but I couldn’t tell what specifically as my ears were ringing from the lightning strike still.
“I-I think I’m alright.”
I didn’t feel anything out of place other than my soaked pants.
“Oh, thank the gods! I think we’re good for the day; wanna head home?”
She let go of me for a moment, looking in my eyes and awaiting a response. At the time, it looked like she was crying, and her face was pale.
“Sure.”
I responded before being held into her chest once more.
“Let’s head home, sweetie. We have another lesson this week, but we’ll keep it to one of the campgrounds around town. I can't handle that kind of event again.”
Hatsumi said. It felt as if she were holding back the desire to sob as she was sniffling lightly.
The week was rather basic, and I had already endured another near-death experience.
At least I made it five days before that happened.
I thought to myself. Besides being able to read again and knowing some basic math in this world, that was the most important lesson I got this week.
Be careful, and don’t let your guard down in the wrong place.
The only lesson I had from Hatsumi later in the week was more on plants, but we kept it simple and went over various herbs that were in storage instead of finding them in the wild.
Throughout the first day, I’d found out I would be learning and training six days out of the week. The first day was with Hatsumi looking over trees and plants in a guide she had given me, the second-day Lorn began teaching me how to read, the third was the event with the Tortoise, on the fourth, Lorn taught me more reading and some basic math, the fifth was the herbs, and today was more reading followed by basic geography of the larger nation we were part of.
Since I was done with my education, for now, I could spend some time watching Avery work while I waited for Hatsumi to return. Thinking through the week, I was down the stairs again without realizing it. And in my view-
Booby spider
-Avery was waving one of her swords in the air, calling to me. I could just barely hear her over all the chatter from the adventurers and workers.
“Hey, Kiki! We just got one you haven’t seen yet! You should hurry before we start!”
Why does she have to call me that now?
“On my way, auntie!”
She was also calling me a nickname already. Grumbling to myself, I moved with a slight sense of purpose. I did enjoy seeing some of the monsters before ever getting carved. I wanted a good idea of their sizes after Wednesday’s event. Approaching the counter, I jumped and pulled myself up. After which, Avery picked me up from the counter and stood me next to her; she was quite strong so moving a child over the counter the rest of the way seemed fairly easy for her from my perspective.
“Okay, so what d'ya think?”
The Arachne seemed proud of herself as if she’d killed the monster in front of us. Meanwhile, I stood there in awe for a moment. It was a rather large creature, but its body was laid out on its side so it couldn’t be seen from the other side of the counter, or at least I couldn’t. It looked fairly similar to a Carnotaurus, a large bipedal dinosaur with small horns and stubby arms.
“It’s cool! I saw the t-rex skull in Lorn’s office, but I didn’t think I’d see one of these!”
I found myself looking over the thing in awe.
If only there were opportunities like this on earth.
“Ah, what?”
Avery asked, confused at my speech, before looking as if a light bulb appeared in her head.
“Oooooh, the Skulker.”
She continued.
Figures, this is a different world. It’d be stupid to assume everything followed over to this world.
“What is this one called auntie?”
I asked, poking the carno’s horn.
“This devil here-“
She started as she grabbed a sharpening stone. Running a knife along its length before turning back around to face me.
“-Is a Stalker. They show up from time to time and eat a newbie or two before we can usually get to them.”
Avery continued.
“Thankfully, this was a kill Hatsumi and the others landed this morning that another team rolled back on a cart.”
She finished talking and smiled, stopping next to me.
Is she trying to make Hatsumi and the others seem cool to me?.. Well, I mean, it’s working.
“They got this one before he became trouble, so let's start cutting.”
She then handed me the knife.
“Uhm, what is this for Auntie?”
I asked innocently. I could feel my face twitch slightly as before frowning weakly. I knew what it was for, but I was hoping to get her to rethink it for a moment.
“Exactly what it looks like; you’ll help me cut this guy up!”
Ahhh, great.
