Chapter 72: 32

Volume 1 – 32 – Tooru: The Sea, The Acorn & The Dusk

The orange glow of the sunset reflects from the waves of the sea.

The dusk is short, and as I listen to the seabirds calling to each other, I stand there like a wrung-out rag, a little depressed and uncharacteristically melancholic.

“… …”

I sit on the embankment without stepping onto the beach, just staring at the distant waves. I am relieved to have reached the end of this day without dying. I’m really tired.

Tired and… sleepy.

I’m so exhausted.

I want to teach the children, because I want them to be motivated about learning. After all, no matter what the adults say, it all comes down to the kid. No one can really force a child to go to school if they don’t want to.

With that thought in mind, I gathered up the children and lured them to my side with sweets. With some help from the local bishop, I taught them about history, the myths of this country, simple words and even calculations at the vacant lot by the church.

History and myths could be learned when told as stories. In addition to educating them on the history of their own country, the storytelling method also stimulates their curiosity and encourages a real interest in learning.

The stained glass windows of the church depict the myths of Maydea. I used it as part of my visual cues when teaching them about myths.

 

Then, one of the children straightforwardly asked:

“Hey, so, you say that nine gods created Maydea, right? But, why does the ninth god look forward while the other gods look sideways?”

“That’s because…”

Honestly, I didn’t know either.

The motifs on the stained glass window are based on the ancient mural painting on the sacred grounds of Vabilophos. The title of the mural is called ‘The Return of the Gods’. This much is common knowledge.

 

However, as a layperson in this matter, I cannot give a more detailed answer about the specifics of the mural.

Still, if I cannot at least make up an answer for these children, it might negatively impact their desire to learn. While I was racking my brain for ideas on how to answer them, the bishop laughed and said, “That’s a bit of a tricky question, isn’t it? Hmm, let’s see. When The Return of the Gods was painted, it was done in the era where it was common to draw both people and gods looking sideways.”

That’s right.

Now that I thought about it, nearly all the murals I had seen thus far featured gods and people facing the side.

“As for why the Ninth God faces us… Well, that’s because a frontal face placement means ‘death’, or has death-related meanings. To put it simply, the Ninth God is painted facing us because he is Para Hadefis, the Agent of Death.”

“Ooohhhh…”

I too am amazed by this information.

It was a great opportunity for us all to learn something. Though the children did not appear to understand the full implication of the information, they looked interested.

Indeed, each god has some governance over something. The God of Fertility, God of War etc. However, the Ninth God is a front-facing ‘Agent of Death’ which seems to imply that his governance goes beyond just death and was an actual representation of death itself.

 

Still, no matter how interesting the subject matter is, children will eventually lose interest. The restlessness overcomes them and they will either run off to play or for work. Others, such as Antonio, will even instigate the others into play.

Indeed, when someone yelled ‘Let’s play tag!’ studies are abandoned and the children start running off towards the town centre.

Naturally, I am ‘it’.

I have to wonder, do the children enjoy getting chased around by me, or do they just want to make a fool of me, or do they just simply hate studying?

Of course, if I try to force them to study, they will end up refusing to go to school. Therefore, I could only go along with their little tricks and play with them when the mood strikes them. If you must know, playing with kids is really tiring.

However, this used to be my town and I had explored all the nooks and crannies of this place as a legendary chimney sweeper and knew the best places for kids to hide in. I know all the usual escape routes too, but it still takes a while to round them up.

It has become a daily routine for me to gather with the children in the plaza after playing their games. The next part of the routine is the sweets disbursement, supervised by Yodel, the Big Brother of Candy. [1] While candy is being handed out, that is when I take my break.

After studying for a bit more, the children would play tag again. These tag games happen twice a day in between study time. Like some kind of timetable.

 

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“Gosh, kids are really energetic…”

As I sit by the sea, I pick up a stone and throw it into the ocean.

I let out a big sigh.

Really, I am surprised to find just how energetic these kids are. They are innocently enthusiastic and are not at all timid as they literally run circles around me.

 

I am never this tired even after sword practices.

Each day, after I return to the mansion, I have to think about what lesson to conduct the following day.

Each day, in between lessons, there would be the obligatory tag races.

Makia still refuses to see me.

It has been days since I last set eyes on her.

“… …”

Swish, shwaaa, swish, shwaa….

The sound of the waves is comforting, and the sea breeze feels good against my face. I feel like [1] my troubles are getting further and further away…

Clonk.

Something strikes me in the back of my head.

Surprised, I look around, blinking the vague lethargy from my face.

“…?”

A large acorn is rolling away from me.

 

Is that what hit me?

 

Acorns and the sea don’t really go together, so where did this thing fly out from?

 

The smell coming from it is nostalgic and a little sweet.

“… Makia?”

I looked around for the source of the smell but could see nobody and nothing that stands out.

There are just the usual busy Karted coastal streets. Makia can’t be here. If she is, she wouldn’t just throw one acorn at me.

She would have taken my obvious lack of awareness to bombard me with a whole basket of acorn bombs instead.

“… …”

Odd.

I could have sworn that I felt her presence just now.

I must have been very exhausted.

 

[Gumihou: Lol, for a Demon Lord, this guy is not too bright, eh.]

 

[1] Filling in the ‘Unspoken’. Often, when it comes to Japanese novels, the translation might feel a bit lacking since the author deliberately choose to use fewer words and let the reader fill in the blanks through a preset cultural understanding.

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