Volume 10 - Chapter 3 – Study Group (1/2)
10-03 Study Group
“Good~morning!”
“Good morning!”
The cheerful greetings of the children resounded in Kaina Village.
“Yes, good morning.”
“Good morning.”
The children had come to gather at village chief Gheebeck’s residence. They were children taking part in Mine and Elsa’s study group.
There were nine of them. A small number. There was simply not a lot of children to begin with.
“There’s very few of them, huh.”
Mine also noticed it. That was because normally it wasn’t unusual for families to have over three children.
Elsa too had three siblings, albeit from a different mother, while Mine even had seven siblings.
“It’s because of the bad food situation, isn’t it.”
The village chief Gheebeck caught what Mine said to herself.
“Mine-san, it is actually because some men were conscripted, and also an epidemic disease eight years ago played a part.”
He was still talking to her in a slightly formal manner.
“An epidemic disease, you say…”
Previously, Rock had also talked about this with Jin. Although Rock had told Jin the main cause was conscription, the epidemic disease had in fact been serious.
At that time Rock had yearned to be a knight and had gone to the royal capital so he didn’t know of it very well.
“It was a harsh time. We lost half of the village, and to prevent contagion we had no choice but to burn all the dead to ash. That’s why we don’t have any proper graves for them.”
“So that’s how it was…”
Gheebeck continued to talk to lighten the mood that had become a bit gloomy.
“But the number of inhabitants will go up soon.”
“Eh?”
Mine who had been looking down raised her head.
“I don’t know whether it’s because the burden on the villagers became a bit smaller ever since since Jin came last year, or because of the hot springs, though.”
“Ah, you mean that there are people who have become pregnant?”
Elsa who was next to them looked like she didn’t understand, but as you’d expect Mine could guess.
“Yes. The bellies of five women have become bigger.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it.”
As they talked, Hannah turned up.
“Auntie, no wait, sensei, good morning.”
“Yes, good morning, Hannah-chan. Shall we begin soon?”
They had already exchanged greetings at the house, but Hannah had been told to draw the line between that and the study group, so she put it to practice.
Adding Hannah there were ten children in total. They were aged from seven years old to 14 years old.
“Good morning, everyone. I’m your sensei, Mine. This is my daughter Elsa who’ll be my assistant.”
“Mine-sensei! Elsa-sensei!”
The children were lively.
“Alright, calm down.”
Mine clapped her hands and made the children go silent, then said,
“Since this is the first day, let’s begin with self-introductions. Although we might all already be acquainted with each other, but since sensei came to the village only few days ago we don’t really know a lot about you. So please tell us.”
Ye~s, the children replied.
“So let’s begin with sensei. I’m Mine. 35 years old. I’m not from here, but from Egelia Kingdom. Elsa here is my daughter. Now then, Elsa, please introduce yourself.”
“…I’m, Elsa. 17 years old. I’m from Shouro Empire. I’m not very good at talking, but let’s get along well, okay?”
Once Elsa had finished speaking, the children burst into applause.
“Mine-sensei! Elsa-sensei!”
“Show us magic again!”
When she had shown her magic after the icehouse was built, Elsa had become admired by the children.
“Well then, please introduce yourselves one at a time in turns starting from over there.”
“Yeah! My name’s Patty! I just turned eight. Umm, my dad is called Linus and he’s good at making things out of wood. My mom’s Sera. She’s a bit scary when she’s angry but she’s good at making food.”
“Thank you, Patty-chan. Next one, please.”
“Yes! I’m Mario. My father is Rock and my mother is Molly.”
Like that, the children introduced themselves.
Once they were done the teaching finally began.
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin had been watching the situation a little distance away but when Reiko tugged his sleeve and he guessed she had something to talk about they went to the back of the village head’s house.
“What is it, Reiko?”
“My apologies, Laojun has something to ask you.”