As soon as the girls and I finished our task of carrying the mountain of barrels up from the ravine, the three of us returned to our quiet little life. The only difference now was that, instead of it being just the three of us all the time, we went to eat breakfast and dinner at the construction site, chatting with the villagers. I felt a little antsy thinking about the construction going on while I was just taking it easy in the cabin, but it wouldn’t help any for me to try to rush things. And I realized I had a favor to ask of Mary, now that we found ourselves with more time on our hands.
“There’s something I hoped you could help me with, since you’re a knight—well, no, actually, since you were raised as a noble.”
“Of course. What can I do for you?”
I’d been a bit hesitant, but Mary’s warm response put my mind at ease.
“It’s about Ann. Do you think you could teach her to be a lady? She used to live with her aunt, who didn’t exactly help with that, and it’s not something I can teach her. I just want her to grow into a proper woman.”
It wasn’t exactly my place to worry about these things. I mean, who was I supposed to be, her father? But the thing was, I just couldn’t deal with it anymore! The way she acted around me was driving me mad with temptation, and I needed any help I could get.
“I see. I’ll do what I can.”
Mary looked uncertain about the task she’d just signed up for, but she reluctantly agreed.
A few hours later, Mary returned to me dripping wet, with Ann in tow.
“Aoi, I have nothing left to teach Ann.”
Already?! No, no, I had to at least hear her out.
“Mhm. So, what have you taught her so far?”
“I knew already that I had nothing to teach her regarding either personal grooming or attitude. Her manners may not be as refined as a human noble’s, but they are more than sufficient for one who was born a peasant.”
“Oh, huh. Well, I guess she wasn’t unrefined to begin with. Ann, did someone teach you etiquette?”
“Yep! Sara taught me all about it when she studied manners.”
Sara did act like a proper lady, despite living in a tiny village. If Ann had learned from her, she probably did have a decent grasp on it.
“Next, I attempted to teach her about cooking, cleaning, and laundry. The domestic skills. As a noblewoman, I have little experience in such things, so I could only teach her the basics. However, I must admit that I am not exactly gifted in those pursuits, and though I gave it my all, I burned the food, broke the broom, and fell into the spring while attempting to do laundry. Humiliating though it is to admit, I required Ann’s assistance with every task.”
Mary reported her failure in painstaking detail, tears shimmering at the corners of her eyes, a little quiver in her lips. I found myself unable to do anything but listen. I’d realized she wasn’t exactly great at housework, but I’d never imagined she would be that bad.
“That’s gotta be just because you don’t have enough practice. Like, you know, you’re great with swords and all because you practiced a ton, right? You’ll be great in no time if you just practice cooking and cleaning, I’m sure of it! I’m not any good at them either, so let’s have Aoi teach both of us!”
“Thank you, Ann. Yes, I’d like that.”
Ann’s attitude towards Mary had changed remarkably in the few hours since I’d seen them. She used to look up to her like a wise master who could do no wrong, but now she was acting more like a little sister who had to cover for her klutzy older sister. Not exactly how I’d expected this whole thing to go, but you know, maybe it was for the best in the end. Sadly, this meant I was still the one in the house with the highest level of Mom Power. I was glad they relied on me and all, but the irony of it made me weep.
From that day on, I observed as Ann instructed Mary in housework. Ann had always been a fast learner, but it seemed she was also an excellent teacher. Her lesson on peeling potatoes was impressively thorough.
“Okay, watch how I do it! You gotta hold the knife like this, and the potato like this. See? And then the trick is, you move the potato instead of the knife to cut it.”
Ann demonstrated with a little twist.
“Okay, now it’s your turn. First, show me how you hold it. Just like that, perfect! Okay, now try cutting it... That’s it! You’re so good at it!”
“Really? But I’m peeling off so much of the potato along with the skin.”
“Nah, you’re doing great. First, you gotta focus on getting rid of the parts you can’t eat. Like, with potatoes, it’s important to cut out the sprouts and stuff. You’ll get better at peeling off less of the meat with practice.”
“I-Is that so. Oh, this is such a relief. I’d convinced myself I simply had no talent for these pursuits, but if you believe I can do it, then it must be true.”
A little lesson, and then a heaping helping of praise. Ann’s teaching strategy put a big smile on Mary’s face. When I’d started teaching Ann how to play games, I’d remembered something a veteran had once told me. People don’t learn unless you show them how to do something, let them do it themselves, and then praise them when they do it right. That was how I’d taught Ann, and now she was paying it forward.
“Check this out, Mary!”
Ann had run off to hang our clean laundry on the makeshift clothesline we’d put up in the sunniest place in the ravine. Mary turned to me.
“She’s such a sweet girl.”
“Isn’t she? Ann is a handful, but she’s worth it, and more.”
“To think I once believed her less than human. At best, I used to see the Daemons back home as servants, never as people.”
“That’s just how you were raised. I can’t blame you.”
It would be natural enough to fault her for holding that viewpoint in the past, but this world was far removed from my own. And hell, my own world had gone through its own crises with discrimination, and still did today. Who was I to lecture her?
“Yes, it’s a view shared among humans, especially in my country. But seeing Ann has forced me to rethink it. I once took pride in being a knight, and in supplying servants... No, in kidnapping. I’ve extinguished many a smile under the pretense of ensuring prosperity for my fellow humans.”
What a tangled situation. This world’s peoples had ethnic conflict, ideological conflict, and racial differences to divide them. It was hard to find a right answer to this, if there even was such a thing.
“You know, Mary, I’m just a labyrinth manager. Just one of the Great Dark Lord’s lackeys. And hell, I’m not even from here. So I don’t know much about the conflict between humans and Daemons, and this may not sound terribly convincing as a result, but I think it’s wonderful that you’ve opened your eyes and started making your own decisions, rather than just believing what you’ve been told. Thinking for yourself about what’s right and what’s wrong is a good start.”
Of its own volition, my hand plopped down on Mary’s head, so I decided to go with it and stroke her hair. Seeing her down in the dumps helped me realize, for the first time, that she wasn’t just a knight. She was also a girl, a little younger than me, and sometimes she needed to be cheered up.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like a child. I do not approve of this.”
And yet, in spite of her complaints, she didn’t shake my hand off.