Chapter 7 (1/2)

Volume 1

Chapter 7

After school .

As Rio was called by his math lecturer to visit her after school ended, he currently stood in front of his lecturer’s laboratory room .

The laboratory was located in one of the library’s basement rooms .

Rio knocked on the laboratory door .

“…”

There was no reply .

He tried knocking again .

This time loud noises could be heard from the other side of the door .

Alas there was still no reply .

(Is anyone inside?)

Rio knocked again this time applying more strength .

“Pardon me . Sensei!”

“Da—! Sorry for making you wait! This place looks a bit better now! Y-You’re Rio right? What is it?”1

By the way, Rio was almost hit in the forehead by the opening door . It was due to his superb reflexes that he managed to avoid it .

What appeared in front of him was a beautiful young girl elegantly drinking tea by the window .

So surreal was the scene before him that he was left momentarily stunned .

“Ah— yes . Today during class, Sensei told me to come after school ended to receive supplementary lessons . ”

“Aah—, I see . It must have been very difficult for you today . I was concerned about the extent of your knowledge . I only wanted to see where you stood, but ended up humiliating you as a result . ”

She said that while making an apologetic expression .

Rio did not react to the regretful looking teacher .

“Ah, no . It is only natural that Sensei would be interested in the extent of a scholarship student’s knowledge . Actually it is I who must apologize for taking up Sensei’s valuable time to tutor me . ”

The girl’s eyes widened hearing Rio’s answer .

“Heh~ . Despite being a commoner’s child, you’re very clever for a child your age aren’t you? Are you really 7 years old?”

“Yes I am . Say Sensei, you’re also considerably young aren’t you? I was surprised someone as young as you is a lecturer . ”

“Is that so? I’m already 12 years old . Well the truth is I’m barely at the age where I can graduate from the elementary course . It’s just that I skipped a few grades so I’ve actually already graduated from the advanced curriculum . ”

Thanks to Rio’s flattery the girl became more attentive and talkative .

“Truthfully, while I’d like to only concentrate on my research, lecturing in my spare time allows me to take a breather . ”

Wrapped in a robe, she proudly puffed her chest . Rio was a little amused at her action .

“That’s really impressive . ”

“Ehehe~ Ah, you just transferred in so I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself yet . I’m Seria2 . Seria Claire . I’m of noble descent but I dislike formalities so it’s fine to act as you usually would . ”

“Yes, my name is Rio . A pleasure to meet you . ”

“Hai~ Hai~3 Best regards to you too Rio . Anyway don’t just stand there, please come in . ”

Seria beckoned Rio to enter .

(S-So messy…)

He instantly did a double take seeing the chaotic state the room was in .

“Ah, it’s a bit messy . Here, you can sit on this chair . ”

(…a bit?)

There was something very wrong with that statement but he pretended not to notice .

As Rio took a seat, Seria pulled out a sheet of paper and laid it on the desk .

“Well then, first off, do you know what numbers are?”

“I do . ”

“Fu~n, then there are eight books . You finish reading six of them . How many books have you yet to read?”

Seria threw a simple math problem at Rio for him to solve .

“Two . ”

Rio replied immediately .

“Ara, you can perform mental arithmetic? How about addition?”

Receiving the unexpected reply, Seria asked Rio .

In this world, commoners could not even perform simple arithmetic without aids .

“Yes, I can . ”

“Okay then how about this?”

Seria wrote the same question on paper but this time in numerical form .

“I don’t know, what is that?”

Since Rio was unable to read he could not understand the formulas written .

“E~tto… So you can do calculations but not read numbers?”

“That is correct . ”

“Oh my, what a bizarre combination… I guess it’s not impossible . Commoners usually can’t afford paper after all…”

Seria looked at Rio with a tinge of shock .

“Alright, I’ll teach you numbers for the time being . I’ll write down the numbers 1 to 9 . Please memorize them . ”

With that said, Seria quickly wrote the numbers down .

Written numbers were not difficult .

Staring at them, Rio only needed a few dozen seconds to memorize all of them .

“I’ve finished memorizing them . ”

“Eh, already? Then please write down the number 1 to 9 . ”

Turning the paper over, Seria passed it over to Rio .

Rio accurately wrote down the numbers .

“Correct . Furthermore such elegant handwriting…”

“Um… can you please show me the number zero4 so I can use it for my calculations?”

“…you understand the concept of zero? To be knowledgeable of ideograms5, numbers, and arithmetic… right . …This . ”

Rio requested Seria to write it down on paper so he could memorize it .

“So that’s how it is . Thank you very much . Anymore more than this I’ll be wasting Seria-sensei’s time . Is it fine for me to take this sheet?”

Because Seria looked like she was in the middle of something and his business with her was done, he thought it would be best for him to leave .

“Wa-Wait a minute! You can take the paper but can I have a look at it before that? Ah, I also wanted to write down some practice question so don’t leave yet!”

Rio faltered due to Seria leaning her body over too closely .

Taking out a new sheet, Seria quickly jotted down some problems .

There were fifty problems in all composing of the four basic calculations .

“Then please start . ”

Briefly scanning through the contents, Rio understood that the problems were extremely simple .

He finished all of them in a mere span of 5 minutes .

Watching him breeze through the problems only served to increase Seria’s shock .

“I’m done . ”

Seria immediately started checking his answers upon receiving the paper .

She did not need to check over every answer to know the results of his exercise .

“All the answers are correct…”

While saying that, a bitter smile floated on Seria’s face .

“Well it’s only this level of math . Everyone in class can do this much right?”

At Rio’s words, Seria could no longer hold back her laughter .

“Ha, haha… haha… Indeed some of them can do this much . But you know, only a few students in your grade can manage this much . Besides, none of them even come close to matching your mental arithmetic skills . ”

Only then did Rio notice .

Even among nobles, only those with decent academic abilities were sent to school .

In fact, it was a way of boasting about their children’s intellect .

If that was the case then it was no wonder that Rio was misunderstood .

“Hah… things will become troublesome soon…”

Feeling annoyed, Rio prepared to rise from his seat .

“It’s okay . I have time so don’t worry about it . Let’s talk for a bit . ”

Seria firmly held down Rio’s shoulders to prevent him from leaving .

The pleasant scent of flowers tickled Rio’s nose .

“You were an orphan living in the slums until just recently right?”