Chapter 375: Educators and Educated
Today was the day to help Jackie-san seriously and when I went to the blacksmith shop, Jackie-san was putting the finishing touches on a big hammer, a thick axe, and a plane. ……That’s fast. Too fast.
“That’s what Goto ordered, right?”
“Hey, Bocchan. Yes, that’s right”
“How come it’s already done……?”
“Dan-san did most of the work”
“Even if you say you did it”
The furnace and tools themselves are the same, but is it possible to do it so fast? ……When I thought about it, Jackie-san revealed the seeds.
“He picked out some reusable items from the scrap iron yard in the back of the building in no time. There’s some junk there from the previous generation”
“What a bunch of junk they have in there!”
Around Polka, where there is no such thing as a living vein of ore anymore, you can’t necessarily treat ironware with care, even if it is broken. In many cases, they are useful for hammering other things, so it is common knowledge that if you take scrap iron to a blacksmith, he will take it back for a little money. However, scrap iron varies in quality and size. The usable ones are quickly processed, but there are also many unidentifiable and mysterious metals mixed in that are difficult to deal with and are kept in the storehouse. There is indeed a warehouse behind the blacksmith shop where such items are collected. I used to get in trouble with my mother for using it as a playground. ……Those old junks looked like treasures to the kids. But as I recall, Keel, who was on a treasure hunt with me, chipped and ran into the junk and got covered in blood, which made my mom turn pale. My father was easygoing, saying, 「If you put him in the spa, he’ll be cured in no time」, but my mother apologized to Keel’s parents and had the warehouse declared 「Andy´s off-limits」. Anyway.
“I’m glad I found someone who can use such a thing from such a place……”
Basically, they were all trash. The ones that can be used are quickly reprocessed into products and this will not change even in Jackie-san’s generation.
“I’m surprised too. He was just looking for something and then he picked up a few things and after a little tapping, it was ready to go”
“And that’s how you end up with something like this……”
The carpentry tools that Jackie-san is gripping and chamfering look like they are brand new and well-crafted.
“It is often said that dwarves are gods on this road and it is true. They have intuition and ideas that are on a whole other level”
“Good grief……”
“……Little Peter, he is going to have a lot of fun”
“N, No No, it’s possible Grandpa Dan is just too much of an expert”
I hurriedly dismissed the dreary prospect of Peter overtaking me while I was still a kid. Yeah, it’s not all about sense.
As for Goto’s carpentry tools, they’re almost done, so we just have to wait for the dragon flight to arrive and let Boyd and Lantz take them. ……Well, Boyd is here now, too. It’s good that he’s here as a caretaker, but according to Hilda-san, it seems that 100-man commander Becker and General Bird are mostly healed, so I wonder what he’s doing now. ……Thinking, when I suddenly turned my feet to the outskirts of town, I found Anzeros as expected.
“No, take a bigger backswing! Get into it! You can’t make small motions like I do until you know how to shoot properly!”
“Y, Yes, sir!”
“Shout!”
“U, Uryaa!”
“What’s with that child’s playful voice! Give it all you’ve got from the bottom of your stomach!
“Uryaa!”
……Boyd was being forced to take a huge swing with a big wooden sword.
“What are you doing……?”
As I approached leisurely, the snow surface began to roughen from the tip of the sword as Boyd took his second big swing and the snow blew up into a white pillar and went on its way.
“Shockwave……?”
“Ah, Andy. Did you see it?”
“I saw it……but I didn’t know you could really do it”
I was impressed. Even Aurora managed to learn it with the help of Anzeros and Bonaparte, but Boyd, who has been training in martial arts for less than a year, can do it.
“I can barely get it out five times a day. I haven’t figured out how to put my energy into it yet, so I have to swing it over and over again and when my mind goes blank, it seems I can finally get it out”
“S, Swinging as hard as you can is more tiring than you think……”
“That’s also training. It takes half a day to clear the rock god labyrinth. Even if you’re tired, the rock dolls won’t wait. It’s better to swing as many swords as possible”
“U, Ussu”
Boyd follows Anzeros’ advice and returns to practicing shooting shockwaves again.
“Come to think of it, Anzeros used to swing her entire body as hard as she could just a little while ago”
“Yes,. I I remember that. I was able to shoot with that and I didn’t feel the need to be too specific……but I encountered a lot of situations on that trip. It’s better to be able to do things on the spur of the moment, like Dianne-san, in a real battle”
“It’s amazing how Anzeros can really improve things with that in mind……”
“Aurora is doing better these days with more special moves and changing her style”
“No No. You didn’t lose, Anzeros”
When I stroked her head, her hair, which is tied in a single knot between the ponytail and the nape, is a little messed up today. Anzeros didn’t seem to mind it, but just turned her mouth into a smile, as if to hide her embarrassment.
With half an hour to kill, I wandered around the town. I decided to have dinner at the tavern and decided to take a bold step in the afternoon……I was walking wherever my feet took me, when I came to a church temple. The temple is near the edge of the town. The baron’s mansion and the spa must be at the edge of town, but they are always crowded with people. The temple is not so frequented by people, except for worship services and children’s studies. Only in a town of a certain size would there be a big school and in the rest of the countryside, it is customary for both the priest and the children to be taught at the church or temple during their free time. I was also made to study by my mother, but I left it to the priest, saying that in a normal house it is enough if you can read and write in one way or another. And now is that leisure time. The spring festival is coming up, but that one doesn’t require much advance preparation. This morning is when they are supposed to be teaching the children to study. I feel like I should take a peek. ……I heard that it is out of bounds for adults to come in during study time at city schools, but temples in the countryside are supposed to be more relaxed.
“Fine, let’s go and have a little peek”
I pushed the big door and entered the chapel.
I was surprised to see an unexpected sight.
“A piece of dried meat costs nine gold coins. My mother gave me a hundred gold coins and told me to buy six of them. She told me that I could use five of them as pocket money. Now, how many coins do I have to pay back to my mother?”
It was Laurier, sitting in a semicircle, chalk in hand, teaching the children to study.
“Mash-kun, think about it”
“Yes, teacher! I’ll take the rest because it’s my mom’s fault for giving me extra!”
“No. Or rather, think about it for a moment. ……Do you understand, Yuri-kun?”
“Nine plus nine equals eighteen, plus nine equals twenty-seven……plus……uh?”
“You made a multiplication table, didn’t you?”
“E, Emm……”
Laurier is almost as tall as the children she is teaching. She seems sleepy as usual as she talks to each person, but you can feel her wonder, sense of responsibility and maternal atmosphere unique to adults.
“If you remember multiplication from one to nine, no matter how large the number gets, you will be able to do the math quickly, so let’s learn it well. So let’s review that one today, too……”
As Laurier turned away to write on the blackboard, one of the children stood up and quickly walked behind her with amazingly stealthy steps. Then, to my surprise, he reached for her skirt. ……Ah, come to think of it, isn’t he the kid who tried to turn over Irina before too? When I hesitated for a moment whether I should raise my voice and shout be careful, the child suddenly flew into the air just as the child was about to touch Laurier’s skirt.
『Waa!?』
All the children in the chapel and I raised their voices. I mean, he’s flying close to the ceiling! ……And just as I think Laurier reached out with a casual motion to the child falling from his head, the child leapt up again, this time flying in a low parabola and rolling around on the floor with his body curled up in a heap.
“……No sexual harassment”
“I, Itetete……”
The kid rolls to my feet and stops, but fortunately he seems to be mostly uninjured.
“……Ah, master”
“Oh, hey, Laurier”
I smiled awkwardly as I woke the kid up. ……I think she’s actually as scary as Anzeros.
“Ah, it’s Andy the Obi!”
It’s Andy the pervert! Run away, girls! You’re going to get pranked!”
And the kids present an honest assessment of the town’s opinion of me.
“You’ve got it all wrong! I would never touch a kid!”
I protested.
“Aren’t you doing erotic things to Laurier-sensei?”
“…………”
I do, but I’m not sure how to explain it.
‘It’s okay, I’m an adult”
Laurier puffed out her chest.
“You’re a child”
“You´re a child, aren’t you?”
“You look like a child”
“In this case, whether or not you look like an adult is an important issue”
Children are coming to do a lot of damage to me and Laurier. And Laurier.
“Shut up, you little bastards”
She snapped with sleepy eyes. The choke that makes a beckoning sound and the shocking image of the flying kid from earlier make the kids shudder. Or rather, even the children started crying impulsively. Then the priest heard the commotion from earlier and ran into the chapel.
“Wh, What’s going on!?”
“No, nothing”
Laurier blurts out. The children shake their heads hurriedly when the priest looks at them. I don’t know, I’m kind of worried about Polka’s future.