I Got the One-Shot!
Amelia tilted her head curiously, her question still hanging in the air. Heungmi's eyes sparkled with excitement.
She clearly wanted to explain everything, but while her tails thumped merrily against the ground, her lips stayed tightly sealed.
Rune remembered the private instruction he had given Heungmi before class.
—Heungmi, if I say "uhdada da," that means no chattering.
Heungmi looked utterly confused.
—Really? Everyone else gets bored?
—There are a few who don't.
After a short pause, Rune added his best explanation.
—It's because they came here because they want to learn more than just jumping or chatting around. You came here to learn too, right?
—Ah! Okay! Heungmi will be super super quiet!
—Good.
Having finished his mental recap, Rune turned back to Heungmi.
The black fox girl sat perfectly still, remembering every single word.
When their eyes met, her mouth formed the shape of a silent "You're doing great!"
—Well done.
It was awkward to simply sit there, but this wasn't about playing. She had no choice.
I'll make sure to praise her later, Rune thought, giving her a tiny nod.
“Grrrrrr!”
Suddenly Jed clapped a hand over his mouth and pretended to shed fake tears.
Rune sensed something was wrong.
—This is bad.
It was pure instinct.
If he stayed silent, the dwarf doll would deliver a full lecture mixed with tears and snot until the day ended.
Faster than Jed could think of what to say, Rune struck first.
“Keep it moving, Mr. Jed.”
“Er, hem hem. Understood.”
Jed glared sharply at Rune, then startled when their eyes locked. He cleared his throat loudly.
Perdikion, sitting right beside Rune, stayed quiet the whole time, but he seemed quieter than usual, like he had heard something from Christina.
Jed beamed with energy and started again.
“Yep! Let me start with a proper greeting. I am Jed Musket, the founder of the Musketeer Merchant Guild, the top merchant group on the continent, and the dwarf who brought our kind into the human world.”
The hatchlings and Heungmi turned to look at the tiny wooden doll, and Jed grinned.
“Of course, right now I’m this small! Ah, I know. Don’t stare like that, Lord Rune. Anyway.”
Taking a deep breath, he delivered the rest in a single breath.
“I am a dwarf, a race outside the human world. I’ve always been worried about how to blend into human culture and how humans and dwarves can coexist.”
“Ho-oh.”
Rune listened carefully.
That was a much more convincing reason than he had expected.
Jed was greedy, so he had become a successful dwarf.
Among the many things needed for success, he was someone who could never stop studying humans.
Jed continued.
“So, Lady Christina specially asked me to teach you all about how to act around humans and other races.”
Finishing, Jed raised one hand to his lips and whispered to Amelia.
“I’ll explain the size later, Lady Amelia.”
…She definitely heard.
Still, Rune felt the reasons behind Jed’s words were quite reasonable.
—Yeah, this guy would definitely know things you can’t learn from books.
Rune had helped, but Jed’s achievements as the guild’s founder came from his own dwarf skills.
He even participated in many social activities.
It sounded realistic.
And teaching the vague parts that theory could never cover was surprisingly effective.
After figuring everything out, Rune couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
—Still, it’s amazing that Christina allowed it. Even she must have her limits sometimes.
No matter how reasonable the reason, the teacher was still a dwarf.
He had been a servant of a young hatchling just yesterday at dinner.
The word “consultation” had only appeared last night, but the essence was an assessment of talent.
He must have been very careful before deciding the training was suitable.
—To decide to entrust a hatchling’s education to a dwarf… That kind of choice isn’t easy for anyone.
Thinking that far, Rune felt something was missing.
Rune raised his hand.
“Mr. Jed, I have a question.”
“Yes! Lord Rune. Ask away.”
After lowering his hand, Rune spoke calmly.
“Cristina must have given some reason when she assigned this task. What exactly did she say?”
Jed let out a “Hehe” and grinned.
“Lord Rune, it’s so hard to use polite speech with me right now, isn’t it?”
“…?”
Since it was true, Rune gave a small nod.
“As you already know, the most common race on the continent is ‘human.’ They are usually young and inexperienced, so to you they might seem pitiful.”
Was it because the voice came from a wooden doll?
Rune felt Jed was speaking with a perspective that wasn’t limited to any single race.
The dwarf doll snapped its left hand open toward itself with a loud “Chak!”
“Just like me, ‘Jed.’”
“!”
Rune guessed what was coming and offered a strange smile.
—I got the one-shot!
Jed caught the look and smiled back.
“You guessed right. Exactly. I’m one of those ‘humans.’ Of course, if it feels off, you can use the casual form. Just follow the continental culture of ‘class.’”
Rune knew that humans changed their attitude depending on rank and subordinate status.
But for the sake of concentrating Amelia, he quietly nodded.
“The most obvious one is noble attitude. Even without that, there are many ways.”
The usually boisterous dwarf Jed was different now.
When Amelia focused, his tone became strangely cheerful yet serious.
“Lord Perdikion’s most frequent encounters with humans are during his adulthood tasks. They’re bad at pretending to be someone else.”
Jed clasped his hands together and went on.
“So, if you look older than the person you’re speaking to, it’s fine, but in the opposite situation, your appearance, rank, or even situation might naturally call for respectful speech.”
Wink.
Jed winked and added with a flourish.
“I, this Jed, have closed many business deals perfectly!”
At those words, Heungmi raised her thumb.
“Amazing, Mr. Jed! I mean, Master!”
“Eh hem!”
Fueled by Heungmi’s praise, Jed began the lesson.
Amelia scribbled notes on the paper with small sounds.
Heungmi made a pout because the letters were slanted.
“Heungmi. Like this… you’re pressing too hard… your writing gets ruined.”
Amelia beside her grabbed Heungmi’s hand and helped her write.
“Like this?”
Perdikion didn’t write at all and just listened to the explanations.
“You don’t write, big brother?”
“I already know it, so no need to write it out.”
“I see.”
Rune hesitated for a moment, then picked up the pen.
—Come to think of it, I’ve never properly written characters before.
For practicing concentration, writing in neat brush style was one of the training methods.
Although the tool was different, Rune adjusted the pressure he felt through the pen and began to write.
Occasionally Perdikion would give quiet advice.
—Write it a little more softly.
“Okay.”
As soon as he tried, the letters improved dramatically.
Since this was the first lesson, the time was spent on a general overview rather than advancing the lesson.
“The lesson is over! I hope you have a wonderful next class!”
At the energetic bow from the wooden doll, Heungmi waved one hand.
“See you later, Master Jed!”
“T-thank you…”
Amelia, who had been too nervous for the first lesson, let out a long breath after class and checked her schedule.
Rune was just about to stand up too.
“Wait, Lord Rune, please stay a moment.”
“?”
Rune looked at Jed with confusion.
Perdikion, who hadn’t taken out his writing tools once during class, also glanced at Jed.
“Just a short while. Please.”
Jed squeezed his thumb and index finger together while winking.
There was no reason to refuse, so Rune nodded.
“Go ahead, big brother. I’ll catch up in a minute.”
“Understood. I’ll tell Lady Christina you’re coming late.”
The next lesson was a hand-to-hand combat class taught by Christina.
“U-unless I know… it’s okay…”
“Of course! Lord Rune is great at everything!”
Amelia and Heungmi, receiving combat lessons from Dullahan, waved their goodbyes and left.
“What’s going on?”
The lone Rune asked.
Jed smiled cheerfully.
“Oh dear! You can just act normally like before after class. It must have been awkward and hard, right?”
“A little.”
Rune let out a small sigh without realizing it.
The start had been great, but watching him deliver lessons full of strange timing had left him feeling very frustrated.
“What’s the matter, Jed?”
“Nothing special, Lord Rune.”
Jed’s happy face suddenly became serious.
“Hm. I just don’t understand why it feels this way.”
“?”
Jed rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger, hesitating as if something was bothering him.
Finally, Rune gently urged him.
“I have to go to the next class. If it’s not urgent, tell me later.”
“Ah, no! I’m not in a hurry. I just don’t know how to explain this.”
Flailing both hands, Jed started.
“This is my feeling, so it’s hard to say exactly, but have you received many similar lessons to the ones I’ve conducted?”
“…Why?”
There was something that bothered Rune inside, but he calmly reversed the question.
Not noticing that, Jed shook his head side to side and opened his mouth.
“This is really strange. Is it because my body changed? I don’t know why I feel this way.”
“What kind of feeling?”
If Jed saw something strange in Rune, there was a chance Christina might feel the same.
“I know that Lord Rune is a hatchling who has spent most of his time at Lady Christina’s lair. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“That’s correct.”
When Rune confirmed, Jed listed his thoughts in a stream.
“Lord Perdikion probably knows a lot about human culture by now. But Lord Rune, who hasn’t seen a human once, seems to have a similar feeling, don’t you think?”
Jed raised a hand to cover his eyes, then opened them wide.
“It’s like ‘I know everything but I want to pretend I don’t and listen.’ It wasn’t exactly that, but…”
“Me?”
At Rune’s question, Jed opened his palm and shrugged.
“Eh, of course I didn’t mean you were staring that hard. It was just… odd. This is really hard to explain.”
Raising only his right index finger, Jed waved it and continued.
“Lord Rune, your age is similar to mine, but your eyes look like you’re from a distant, ancient life. Wow. I thought this Jed had lost all his instincts.”
“…?”
His intuition was sharp.