Who is the Teacher? (1)
“Ah, before that, Village Chief.” Since he had decided to teach Ben, there was something he needed to take care of. “What is it, Teacher?” “Those human traffickers. What are you planning to do with them?” “We’ll contact the mainland and hand them over to the soldiers. They tried to sell off the lord’s subjects without permission, so they won’t be seeing sunlight for quite a while.” “That’s not what I meant. I think there’s still something they haven’t done yet.” “Pardon?” “You haven’t searched their bodies yet, have you?” “A body search…?” “They were paid a deposit. We need to get that money back. They might be carrying something dangerous, so I’ll help!” Patrick approached the three bound men with a smirk. The swindlers felt an involuntary chill run down their spines. “Th-the deposit is in the pouch on the left side of my waist!” “Now, now. Don’t think you can just return the principal. What about interest? The world isn’t that easy, you know?” His tone made it impossible to tell who the real villain was.
The advance payment—reportedly the village chief adding some of his own money to the village funds—was returned to him untouched. But the trio had been carrying quite a few other useful items. Two decent longswords, boots and a belt made of monster hide, a robe lined with high-quality fabric, and jewelry set with crystals. Most notably— “Detection spell scrolls?” “Yes. It seems they bought several scrolls containing detection magic to check which children in the village had talent.” “Oh-ho.” “We confiscated four, but I used one to verify if it was real. My apologies.” “That’s understandable. A mage would need to verify such things, after all.” “Yes. There are so many fakes out there.” “So this one is real?” “Yes.” The soldiers who had rushed over after receiving the report brightened at Patrick’s words. As he had noticed before, they were remarkably flexible. “If there are three left… we’ll have to take two as evidence. We were thinking of giving the last one to the mage as a reward for reporting the incident. How does that sound?” It was obvious the soldiers planned to pocket two scrolls and were offering one in exchange for his silence. Understanding their meaning, Patrick nodded without hesitation. “I’m grateful you’re leaving even one behind.” “Good that we understand each other.” “And this. It’s not much, but please accept it.” “What’s this?” After checking the contents of the small pouch, the soldier’s face split into a wide grin. “You’ve come all this way—surely you should wet your throat before heading back?” “My, my! I’ve never seen such a polite mage before!”
The items confiscated from the trio were sold to the merchants who had arrived with the soldiers. Patrick handed a portion of the proceeds to the soldiers. It’s a shame, but this is the only way to avoid future trouble. Since he was tied to the island and couldn’t leave freely, maintaining good relations with the soldiers—who could make things convenient for him—was essential. “I saw you placing an order earlier.” The soldier, now in a good mood, struck up a friendly conversation. “I was thinking of getting a few more kinds of seedlings and seeds. While I’m at it, I might as well pick up some magic books too.” “Magic books? I heard those are incredibly expensive.” “Fortunately, beginner manuals aren’t too bad.” “Beginner manuals? Ah, you mentioned teaching the village kids.” “Yes. I’m not at a particularly high level myself, but I should be able to handle the basics, don’t you think?” “True. If they show talent later, they can always find another teacher. Well, good luck with that. We’ll be on our way!” Even though the soldier’s words carried a subtle hint of condescension, Patrick simply laughed it off and bid them farewell without showing any displeasure. Ben, who had been listening, shot him a glance. “Kid.” “Yes, Teacher.” “A child shouldn’t be reading the room around adults like that.” “But…” Patrick roughly ruffled Ben’s hair, as if the boy were already trying to act like a proper disciple, then strolled back toward his house.
“Master! Make me some fried sweet potatoes again!” “Do you have to eat something sweet first thing in the morning?” Ben, who had already been dropping by the house constantly, began treating it like his own home after that day. “I brought the sugar myself!” “That was this month’s tuition.” “You’re not even teaching properly.” “I’ve told you several times—feeling the mana in nature comes first.” “Not that. I mean drawing magic circles and memorizing incantations!” “How can you run before you can walk?” Realizing once again that he was no match for Patrick in verbal sparring, Ben puffed out his cheeks and began protesting with his entire body. Patrick, of course, ignored him completely. “Go outside and get some fresh air. Quickly.” “What if I catch a cold?” “If you don’t study properly, I’ll call your parents for a meeting.” “Wow, that’s too much!” There was no winning against the parent-summoning card. After roughly shooing Ben out, Patrick began writing several words on a sheet of paper. Careful, careful. Remembering how expensive the paper had been, he couldn’t afford any mistakes. Once he had neatly written dozens of characters, he began pasting the paper onto a flat wooden board using flour paste. “There, done.” What he had made was a set of word cards. I have to teach him how to read first before he can even look at a beginner’s manual. On the first day of lessons after taking Ben as his disciple, Patrick immediately ran into a problem. —I can’t read. Since the beginner’s manual hadn’t arrived yet, he had written down the incantations he knew on the dirt ground, only for Ben to place his hands on his hips and proudly declare that he was illiterate. —Is that something to brag about…? —It’s not bragging, but I’m not ashamed of it either. —Why? —None of the kids in our village can read. —…… And so, Patrick found himself in the position of having to teach reading before he could teach magic. It was like an exam student showing up asking to go to university, only to discover they couldn’t even do basic addition and subtraction, forcing him to pull out an elementary school textbook. This is just my luck. He was already beginning to doubt whether taking the boy on as a disciple had been the right choice.
“Waaah!” “Kyahaha!” With the teaching materials complete, Patrick headed out to the fields to call Ben, only to find the village children had all gathered and were playing tag. “Why are you all the way out here playing?” Once Ben started visiting Patrick’s house every day, the other children—who had been watching from afar—began tagging along one by one until it came to this. “Ben. Come with me for your lesson.” “Are you finally going to teach me properly?” “You have to learn the alphabet first, you dummy.” “……That sounds boring.” “How are you supposed to read the beginner’s manual otherwise!” “Yes, sir!” As he was about to take Ben inside for their lesson, he felt a prickling sensation on the back of his head. “……” Turning around, he saw the village children staring at Ben with envious eyes. “……Would you like to study too? It’s not magic lessons yet—just the alphabet—so you can join in.” “Is that okay?” “I want to! I want to!” The children swarmed over at his casual offer. “What? You guys actually want to study?” “We want to learn how to read!” “Me too!” “I want to become a merchant when I grow up. Teacher, will you teach us numbers too?” “I want to go live on the mainland—will learning to read help me get there?” Patrick paused at their unexpected enthusiasm. But he understood what they were saying. The desire to study hard in order to live in a big city wasn’t unusual—even in his previous life. Their values differed from his own, having grown up in Seoul yet always longing for rural life, but it was only natural for people to yearn for what they didn’t have. “Is it not allowed?” Seeing Patrick hesitate, the children asked anxiously. “……Anyone who doesn’t study properly will be kicked out.” “Waaah!” “Thank you, Teacher!” And just like that, before he had even held a single proper lesson, Patrick’s number of students had increased.
“No! This one is read as ‘sky’!” “I-I know that too!” “Ben, then what’s this one?” “That’s ‘sea.’” “It’s hard.” “Tell me about it.” After repeating the word cards a few times, Ben memorized the words in no time and began writing them down. His progress was overwhelming compared to the other children. He’s pretty good. Patrick nodded in satisfaction as he watched, then suddenly realized he had forgotten something. It’ll be lunchtime soon, won’t it? Thanks to helping the villagers here and there, his kitchen was fairly well-stocked, but it wasn’t enough to feed the sudden influx of students. Still, I can’t just eat by myself like some cheapskate. There was nothing more petty than being stingy with food—especially when an adult was eating alone in front of growing children. It was the kind of sight that would make anyone frown. Tsk—whatever. Let’s use up some flour. In the end, Patrick decided to break into the sack of flour he had received from the village chief. They survived on root crops and fish every day, saving the flour as much as possible, but he couldn’t serve the children such meager fare. Thunk— thunk— “Is this how it’s done?” As Patrick, who had never kneaded dough before, struggled between making it too firm or too sticky, Ben and the other children opened the kitchen door and peered at him with suspicious eyes. “What. Why.” “Is that actually a rock?” “Hiss—” “I was just curious.” “I’m making noodles. Since you’re the ones who’ll be eating them, stop standing there and help. Is this good enough?” “I’m telling you, that’s a rock.” “……Add more water?” “Yes. Definitely.” He quickly added more water and tried to revive the dough, but it wasn’t easy. Still, the effort was commendable. “By the way, Teacher.” “What now?” “Are you making pasta?” “No. I’m making kalguksu.” “What’s that?” “It’s noodles boiled in a broth with vegetables and clams. Perfect for a hangover.” “Do mushrooms go in it?” “They’d be nice, but we don’t have any.” “Why not? We can just go pick some.” “……Do you kids know how to tell mushrooms apart?” “You don’t, Teacher.” “Yeah.” “Want us to teach you?” The student and teacher had switched places. If only I could get my hands on some pine mushrooms. Patrick’s dreams were as ambitious as ever.