“Ha-ha, I’m fine. My plate won’t be full for too long.”
“Good to hear. Take care of yourself, yes?”
The schedule was quite relaxed to accommodate the royalty in the group. On the flip side, preparing for the tour had been very taxing, and there were a lot of out-of-the-blue requests from day one.
But grumbling about it would change nothing, so Seiichirou smiled and pressed on.
“It should be time for Group Three’s arithmetic lesson about now. Have there been any changes to the plan?”
“No, the lesson has only just started, so I believe it should be fine for the visitors to sit in.”
Come to think of it, Seiichirou had a feeling that Norbert was today’s tutor. It was the perfect opportunity to check on how things were going.
He was so consumed by his thoughts that he did not notice that the Egorovans were eyeing his friendly attitude with Siegvold with keen interest.
“Purple…” they muttered.
“By the way, Mr. Seiichirou, how are you holding up here in the relief house?” Siegvold asked out of concern for Seiichirou’s weakness to magic and magicules. The church had a higher magic density than other places because it stored the sacred object, an important magic tool, and had barrier spells cast around it.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m not here during prayer time, and the effect should be slight because I have a barrier on me.”
Aresh had cast his extra-heavy-duty barrier just three days ago. That was practically no time at all compared to how long Aresh had been absent during the purification expeditions and monster extermination mission. The barrier still had plenty of punch.
This thought sparked a realization: It’s…only been three days.
Just three days had passed since the fight after the dinner party. Even though Aresh had spent much more time away on his military dispatches, they hadn’t been living together back then. Three days without seeing his face felt like such a long time now.
In the past, Seiichirou would go two or three weeks at a time without seeing his partner whenever he was consumed with work. This would cause them to break up, of course, but his busy schedule always made him forget about the other person straight away. No, maybe it was more accurate to say that the thought never even crossed his mind. For better or worse, work controlled his life, leaving no room for tender feelings.
Why am I thinking about this when I’m guiding important foreign guests? There’s a lot weighing on this job…
It was strange to Seiichirou how much Aresh dominated his thoughts, but that didn’t change the fact that he had an important job to do. He refocused his mind.
“O-oh, I see… A barrier, hm?”
Meanwhile, Siegvold responded to Seiichirou by turning slightly red in the face and averting his gaze.
Although Siegvold possessed a lot of magic, he wasn’t too good at sensing it. He hadn’t noticed when Seiichirou had a barrier around him before. So when Seiichirou got magic-sickness, Ist showed him how “barrier spells” and “magic acclimatization” worked. Remembering this, Siegvold pieced together how Seiichirou got his barrier.
Mercifully, Seiichirou had no idea what was going on in Siegvold’s head. Since they were now almost at the relief house, Seiichirou excused himself to the Egorovans and went on ahead to the classroom to check in.
As they watched him go, the Egorovans nodded to each other. They’d seen enough of Seiichirou and Siegvold’s interaction to draw their own conclusions.
The school was just finishing up its arithmetic lesson.
The children were divided into groups catering to their academic levels. There were about twenty in each group, a mix of orphans and commoners. Since many couldn’t afford paper or pens, the woodwork and metalwork studios donated thin tree bark and inkless pens to carve with. The townsfolk offered their full support, given that the local children were studying for free. The church was quite the bustling scene these days, with more commoners coming and going than ever.
“Nice. They’re well-behaved,” Orjef murmured.
“They’re all different ages,” Luciano commented.
Seiichirou nodded. “School is an invaluable opportunity for the common-born children. Their parents are very encouraging as well, since it affects their future. Because we are only teaching the fundamentals, the groups are not sorted by age.”
“But wouldn’t some kids learn faster than others?” asked Orjef. Even if they started at the same point, a five-year-old and a twelve-year-old picked things up at a different pace.
“The lessons have only just started, so they are taking things step by step. The school plans to adjust the groups based on their progress in the near future.”
“I see…”
Since the children wouldn’t be progressing to higher education, the idea was to create an environment for easy learning. Special classes would be made for promising children who became the next state-sponsored students in Sigma’s footsteps.
“I see you value thoroughness and ability over age,” Lars said to Seiichirou directly.
Seiichirou glanced at Orjef and Zoltan, and then replied, “Of course. This is not just a philanthropic effort but a matter of raising talent for the country.”
The arithmetic lesson ended without incident, at which point Seiichirou called the tutor over.
“Oh, hey! What brings you here, Sei?” Norbert made no effort to hide his displeasure. Although he’d realized immediately that other people were observing, he couldn’t stop the class. The only thing he’d heard was that important people from another country had come to observe.
“You know I’m a guide. You can figure it out,” said Seiichirou.
“I thought it would just be the foreign guests.” Norbert whined. He was basically saying that he was more uncomfortable with Seiichirou watching him than foreign royalty.