Chapter 23

Language Class
"Um, I’m Hachi. I’m five."

"Hachi is a dogkin, and he’s Nachi’s younger brother. Hachi, this is Vio. She’ll be studying with us starting today. She’s also five years old and a human.

Alright, now that everyone’s introduced themselves…

Vio, your goal is wonderful. It’s great that you’re putting in the effort to reach it."

Once everyone had finished introducing themselves, the teacher wrapped things up.
Thanks to Hachi, the dragon craze had settled down for now.
I returned to my seat and faced the teacher.

"Setting big, medium, and small goals is very important. In order to achieve those goals, it’s also important to make a plan. Let’s take Vio’s example from earlier and think it through."

As the teacher spoke, they began writing on something like a blackboard.

"If we treat these as big goals, in what order should we write them? Let’s think in terms of large goal, medium goal, and small goal. Who knows the answer?"

The students raised their hands, and the teacher called on one of them.
The blackboard was updated to read:
[Dragon: Big Goal] [Dungeon: Medium Goal] [Bronze Rank: Small Goal]

"That’s right. This order is correct.

Now then, the goal of reaching Bronze rank is likely something close to all of you.
What should you do to achieve that goal?"

"Get stronger!"
"Earn points!"
"Level up!"

Oh no, I almost laughed, but the students were completely serious.
Len, who confidently answered “Level up!”, this question is asking *how* to level up, you know?

The teacher calmly wrote down what the students were saying.
They’re such a pro. Amazing. I admire them.

"A lot of ideas came out. This idea of ‘gathering information’ may seem plain at first glance, but it’s extremely important.

Many people think adventurers can just get by with fighting, but lacking information can easily get you killed.

That’s exactly why the guild has such a large reference library.

You might think you know something and still mistake a medicinal herb for a poisonous one.
Or you might think it’s safe because normally only horned rabbits appear, but suddenly a wolf shows up.

So when heading outside the village, it’s recommended that you research magic beasts, monsters, plants, and the like."

At first glance, it seemed like a normal school, but listening to the content, it was clearly overseen by the Adventurers’ Guild.
Kathe, who gave the idea of “gathering information,” blushed when the teacher praised her. A blushing beauty is a lovely sight.

Next to the “Become Bronze Rank” goal, a string of phrases was written down.
It’s still strange how everything can be read so naturally in Japanese.
The words "Dragon" and "Dungeon" were erased, and only the words listed on the right side remained.

"Now let’s take a look at each part of the plan.

Let’s start with ‘get stronger.’ There are several things that connect to that. What do you think they are?"

"Build stamina!"

"That’s right. What else?"

"Do running drills!"

"Work hard in Teacher Edel’s class!"

"Heh, yes, if you put effort into Teacher Edel’s class, you’ll get stronger."

Under the phrase “Get stronger,” the teacher added the selected words from the right-side list.
The chosen words disappeared from the list.
The same was done for “Gather information” and “Prepare equipment,” with selected words added underneath them.

"Excellent.

As you can see, even just the goal of ‘getting stronger’ has many steps.

This is what it means to make a plan.

Under ‘build stamina,’ you could add even smaller goals like how many sit-ups per day.
Under ‘running drills,’ how many laps along the village fence.

By setting these small goals and plans, and steadily working through them, you can eventually reach the goal of ‘getting stronger.’"

This is basically an explanation of to-do lists and the concept of building confidence through success, isn’t it?
And they’re teaching this to five- to nine-year-olds? This class is way more advanced than I expected.

"Now something was added under ‘gather information.’

Yes, learning to read and being able to do math, exactly.

Hachi, Tony, do you understand why it’s important to learn these things?"

"So no one lies to us when giving us money."

"Yeah, and reading documents takes a lot of words. I used to think just looking at the pictures was enough, or that I could just ask someone if I didn’t know."

Right, that might be fine inside this guild, where everyone’s like family, but adventurers are expected to travel.
And if they go to a country like the neighboring Empire where beastfolk are discriminated against, someone uneducated could easily get swindled in a contract or worse.

And there’s no guarantee the person who teaches you something is telling the truth.

When you don’t understand the point of learning to read, it’s easy to think “as long as I can read it, that’s enough,” isn’t it?
Ah! So that’s what all the teacher’s buildup was leading to!?

Their subject is “language and literacy,” right?
Amazing! I looked at the teacher, impressed, and our eyes met.
The teacher smiled sweetly, pressed a finger to their lips, and gave me a wink.

This village is insane.
Everyone is way too moe.
A “shh” and a wink? Some people really *can* pull that off.
And this is directed at five-year-olds, mind you.
Thank you, stern-looking teacher, for your powerful wink.

While internally being swept away by a storm of shameless moe-giddiness, I just barely managed to hold onto reason and gave a small nod.
Thank goodness I’m an adult.
If I were really five years old, I probably wouldn’t be this flustered.
Maybe I’m just a slightly rotten adult. I should be more careful.

The teacher resumed the lesson as if nothing had happened.
Since the students were different ages, they probably weren’t doing the exact same lesson.

The three sheep sisters were given some kind of handouts to read through.
Tony and the others were given sheets of paper and small blackboards.

As for us three, it seemed we were practicing writing.
The names of the village and the three of us were written on the front blackboard.
Like Tony and the others, we were given small blackboards and pencil-like tools.

So we’re not using the notebooks and pencils we brought from home.

"Many of you can read, but not many can write.

So first, we practice writing. After that, we study difficult words and the kind of phrasing often used in contracts.

You two have just started, so let's begin by making sure you can write your names and your village name."

That’s what the teacher said, so I gripped the white pencil. It was a bit thick, but not too hard to hold.

When I glanced to the side, I saw the two of them gripping it with their whole fists.
Wait, isn't that going to make writing hard? Won’t they get tired quickly?
Just as I thought, they were gripping it with unnecessary force, so their letters were shaky, the pencils kept breaking, and they looked like they were struggling.

Still, I need to learn how to write the letters of this world too.
I adjusted my posture again, looked at the blackboard, then lowered my gaze to the writing board in front of me.

(Huh? What would happen if I tried writing this in Japanese?)

Once the thought crossed my mind, I couldn’t stop wondering.
The teacher was busy with the two and the group behind us, so now was my chance to try.

さまにあ村 (Samania village)
I tried writing it in both hiragana and kanji.
Even though I was definitely writing it in Japanese, the characters I saw on the board looked like pictographs.

ヴィオ (Vio)
Next, I wrote in katakana.
Again, it turned into pictograph-like symbols. How does this work???
Does that mean I can't write in Japanese anymore?

To test it, I wrote “いろはにほへと.” (Iroha Ni Ho He To)
And this time, instead of pictographs, the text showed up exactly as I wrote: “いろはにほへと.”
What’s going on?

I tried mixing kanji and katakana and wrote something like “東〇スカイツリー.” (Tokyo Skytree)
Sure enough, there were some parts that didn't get turned into pictographs.

Maybe, if I intend to write in this world's script, it automatically converts. But if I consciously think of writing in Japanese, it stays as some kind of encoded special text.
If that’s true, then for things I don’t want others to read, I could just write it in *Japanese*.

"Oh? It looks like Vio was able to write her name and the village’s name, but what’s this other part? I've never seen these characters before.

The spoken language is shared across the continent, but I’ve heard some tribes use coded writing systems—could it be one of those?"

At some point, the teacher had come up behind me and was now analyzing the characters I’d written.

Ah, so this *Japanese* really is unreadable to others here.

“My mom used to use these letters sometimes. I don’t really know what they mean.”

I decided to cover it up with that explanation.
My dad said he’d told the teachers a bit about our situation, so the teacher accepted it with an, “Ah, right. You were traveling, weren’t you?”

"You're amazing."

"Vio, you can already write? That's so cool!"

When I turned around at those voices, I saw a puppy and kitten with sparkling eyes—cough, I mean Len and Hachi looking at me with admiration.

So this isn’t a “That’s not fair!” or “You show-off!” moment—it’s pure respect? Too cute!

"I think you two should try changing the way you’re holding the pencil."

I started by correcting how they held it.
The table was long, and we were small enough that the three of us could sit side by side at a single table.
They scooted over to let me sit in the middle, and I helped adjust Len’s grip on my right and Hachi’s on my left, finger by finger.

“Like this? It feels kinda hard to hold.”

“Ugh, it’s hard.”

“It might feel weird at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll be able to write a lot without getting tired, okay?

Let’s start by drawing a circle with this grip.”

I drew a neat circle.
It looked easy, but without the right grip, it’s hard to do well.
The two of them imitated me stiffly, hands all tense as they tried. Their hands were trembling.

"Len, it's okay to rest your wrist on the desk. Like this."

Len had kept his elbow raised, his whole arm rigid, so his circle was thin and shaky.
Keeping the wrist gently on the table, I slowly drew a circle while holding the pencil.

"Ohh! That seems doable!"

"I’ll try too!"

Hachi had been holding his hand too high and couldn’t draw a line at all.
Now, both of them followed along more smoothly, and this time they managed to draw nice circles. A little wobble here and there, but that’s just a cute touch for little kids.

“Next, let’s try drawing a straight line. Letters are made up of lots of lines, after all.”

“Okay!”

Without questions or hesitation, the two immediately got to work on their little chalkboards.
When they drew a straight line well, their tails wagged wildly; when the line was crooked, they drooped.
Their faces were serious the whole time, but their tails were way too honest—so I was being happily smacked by tail-wagging from both sides.
Ahh, so *this* is heaven!

While they were practicing vertical and horizontal lines, the teacher peeked in and looked impressed.
The boys proudly showed off their work, saying, “This one’s my best yet!”

"I never paid much attention to how pencils were held, since everyone did it their own way. But teaching them properly like this really makes a difference. I think I’ll start including that in next year’s lessons.

It’s the first time I’ve seen these two sit so still and concentrate on their studies.

Vio, you're a wonderful teacher."

If it’s hard to write, kids might get frustrated and give up before they improve.
But if you make small adjustments and help them experience success, they can enjoy it and stay motivated.

Like what just happened—“I drew a nice line!” was its own little success story.
Maybe Hachi used to just get bored and fall asleep before.

What do you think about this chapter?