25
Chapter 25
I opened my eyes and woke up.
Beside me was Luna, still groggy and half-asleep.
"Are you awake?"
"Uh, eh?"
Has it only been a little while?
I left Luna as she was and got up to wash up first.
I felt too gross to just go to sleep after everything we did yesterday.
When I came out, I saw Luna fumbling with the smartphone Estella gave her in front of the empty fridge.
Luna spotted me and rushed over, calling me Dad.
What she showed me was a simple smartphone screen.
"I don't know how to use this."
That was it. Luna didn't know how to use a smartphone.
I tried to teach her how to use it, but then I discovered something even more shocking.
Luna couldn't read.
I fell into deep thought while looking at Luna (preschooler, illiterate, 11 years old).
Now that I think about it, should I be sending her to school?
I started wondering if Spirits capable of transforming into humans were required to receive basic education.
For now, I took out my phone and sent a message to Estella.
[Me: Luna welded my front door shut, so I can't get out.]
[Estella: ?]
[Me: But there's no food in the house.]
[Estella: ??]
[Me: So please do some grocery shopping and have it delivered to my place. I'll send you the money.]
[Estella: ???]
I then sent her a list of ingredients for the food.
At least the immediate crisis was averted. I won't have to starve now.
I shifted my gaze from the phone to Luna.
"Luna, do you want to go to school?"
Upon hearing my words, Luna shook her head violently from side to side.
I guess hating school is universal, no matter which world you're in.
There isn't much information available about young Spirits. Most are raised under the care of older High Spirits. Naturally, they aren't born with any innate knowledge; they acquire it from those High Spirits.
"Luna, how did you learn to speak?"
This made me think that, unlike typical Spirits, there's a high probability Luna wasn't cared for from the start. Or perhaps she was, but for some reason, she ended up in a situation where she could no longer receive that care. Either way, I needed to find out how she learned what she knows.
"By watching people talk."
"Huh?"
"I understood it after listening to people talk for a while."
Hmm, if I were dropped into a foreign country for a few years, would I be able to speak this fluently? To be honest, it wouldn't be easy, but I wouldn't say it's completely impossible.
I considered this as the case where she wasn't cared for for some reason. I'm not sure if Spirits have their own separate language system, though.
But would it really be possible to converse this fluently just by watching humans live for eleven years without any formal education? I don't know about others, but I definitely couldn't.
This would be the case if she had never been cared for from the very beginning.
My thoughts leaned more toward the idea that she had stopped being cared for for some reason.
In either case, it was enough to conclude that Luna's learning ability is remarkably high, so there wasn't much point in distinguishing between the two.
"Well then, Luna, since you hate school, shall we learn at home?"
I didn't go to college, but I graduated high school with pretty good grades. I had studied hard as a kid just to get some attention from my parents. I've let it slide since then, but I was confident I could teach her at least up to a middle school level without any issues.
"Yep!"
Luna's face brightened as she nodded.
Since Estella would be grocery shopping anyway, I thought it would be best to start lightly, just focusing on getting her to recognize letters for today.
***
Estella was greeting the morning as usual, lounging around in bed.
Fighting during the entrance ceremony and exploring the ruins of the Demonic Realm just a day later was quite exhausting. Teleportation via Star Radiance was abnormally efficient compared to standard magical teleportation, but that didn't mean it cost nothing.
"Come to think of it, that guy looked like he was at his limit. I wonder if he made it home and got some rest?"
She thought of Lee Seo-ha, whom she had left with Luna the previous evening. Of course, Luna would have contacted her if something happened, but the guy didn't seem to realize when his body had reached its breaking point.
"Is he just used to it?"
If that were the case, he didn't seem physically trained at all when she first saw him.
"Hmm..."
She pondered why, but nothing came to mind. Now that she thought about it, though they had talked a lot, he rarely spoke about himself. Based on his name, she could guess he was from the First Continent, but other than hearing him badmouth his parents—which suggested a poor relationship with his family—she knew nothing about his hometown or what he did before coming to the Academy.
While she was lost in thought, she suddenly received a notification on her phone.
"Luna, did you fail?"
Contrary to her expectations, the message wasn't from Luna, but from Seo-ha.
The opening was strange.
He told her some absurd story about Luna welding the front door shut so he couldn't leave the house.
No matter how much she had told Luna to keep a close eye on him so he wouldn't wander off, how could an eleven-year-old Spirit weld a metal door?
Young Spirits are weak. That's why High Spirits hide them away carefully so other High Spirits can't find them.
The next part of the message was enough to leave her speechless.
He was asking her to do the grocery shopping for him.
"What, does he think I'm some kind of butler or maid?"
She had been more than happy to help because the things Seo-ha had asked for recently were all serious matters. She wasn't that much of a pushover.
No matter how kind, cute, and beautiful she was, she couldn't just do everything he asked.
To begin with, she had the ability to weed out those who saw her as a doormat. She was capable. Of course, that ability didn't seem to work on him, but having dealt with such people for a long time, she prided herself on her ability to judge a person's character through their words and actions.
But thinking back, she did tend to act a bit emotionally when helping him. Specifically, in cases where he made it look like a situation that required her help, only to ask for something trivial.
The request to move some luggage into his house was ridiculous, even thinking about it again.
Of course, just because she was slightly emotionally swayed didn't mean she had any intention of doing something malicious.
"Not that he seems like the type of guy I'd need to do that to, anyway."
She got out of her plush bed and stretched.
"Nnnngh."
She sat in front of the mirror and tidied up her messy hair.
As she did, a maid entered, having realized it was time for her to wake up.
"My Lady, I am told that the eldest Young Master is scheduled to visit today."
"My brother?"
"Yes. Perhaps he is coming because he is worried about what happened at the Academy."
"Well, that's possible."
Listening to the maid, she changed from her pajamas into casual clothes.
"Then I'd better get ready. He'll nag me if he sees me looking like a mess."
"Yes! I will inform the Chief Butler."
As she spoke, the maid, her face brightening, quickly left the room.
"Sorry."
She tore off a Post-it and scribbled a note on it.
[Out for the night★]
Then, she pulled out a box she had hidden by her bedside.
Inside the box were quite a few bracelets.
They were all Cognitive Interference Artifacts. While they varied in grade, the one she picked was the highest quality.
It was an artifact so powerful that even someone talking to the wearer couldn't recognize who they were.
It was one of her precious treasures, purchased secretly from the Black Market.
No matter how good the artifact was, she had used this trick more than a few times, so the mansion's perimeter was likely rigged with detection magic to track who entered and left.
She had been caught because of that last time.
If she simply deactivated the artifact and left, they would detect the change and pursue her, leaving her with no escape.
"But! I received a very useful gift from a friend."
As she focused the energy from the Stigma on her back, it slowly began to emit a reddish-brown light.
With a single blink.
"Ta-da! I'm outside!"
She felt bad for the maid who was happily heading to find the Chief Butler, but her brother would surely come looking for his sister as a set, and maybe even her father would show up.
She shuddered, imagining the scene with all of them gathered.
"Everyone's busy, so they probably won't be hanging around here for days."
Next, she pulled the smartphone from her pocket.
Looking at her contacts, there were countless entries. She frowned at the messages from people who only talked about themselves, most of which she hadn't even read.
"Oh, right. I lent my phone to Luna."
"Hmm, in a way, I was only able to get out because of that guy. Maybe I should do it."
She looked at the list Lee Seo-ha had sent among today's messages. They were basic groceries for a normal home, and the quantity was quite small.
She began to weigh her options in her head.
Option 1: Go grocery shopping and hang out at Lee Seo-ha's place.
Option 2: Go hunting in the Demonic Realm and get a room for the night if it gets late.
Normally, Option 2 wouldn't be strange, but after slicing through dozens of Majins in the Demonic Realm yesterday, Option 1 was more appealing today.
"Time to go grocery shopping~"
She headed toward the Mart with a light step. She'd buy everything on the list, plus some snacks she wanted, and naturally charge it all to Lee Seo-ha.
Charging him no labor fee for this—I really am too kind.
After a pleasant shopping trip.
She stood before the front door.
Beep- beep- beep- beep- beep- beep- beep-
As she entered the passcode she had memorized, she heard the sound of the lock releasing.
Then, she pushed the door.
It didn't open.
The door truly wouldn't budge.
"Did he seriously weld it shut?"
She used Star Radiance once more to teleport past the door.
"Wow, he did a really clean job welding it."
She had thought Seo-ha was joking, but she let out a cry of admiration at the sight of the seamless weld marks.
I told him to get some proper rest at home, but I didn't expect him to weld the front door and put himself under house arrest. This is kind of...
"Hey, I bought the food."
As she turned around with various thoughts in her head, this is what she saw.
"What are the roots of x^5-2x^4-33x^3+108x^2+324x-720?"
"3"
"2"
As Seo-ha counted down, Luna raised her hand and spoke.
"Correct! 6, 3, 2, -4, -5!"
"Correct!"
What on earth is this?
"What is Article 2, Paragraph 56 of the Second Continent's Magic Patent Law?"
"Even if it is a newly developed spell from the Magic Tower, a patent lawsuit can be filed if the formulation and the operational principles of the circle match an existing registered patent by more than 90%."
Seriously, what is going on?
"Uh, what are you two doing?"
"I'm teaching Luna."
"I'm getting smart!"
"My daughter must be a genius! In just four hours, she's mastered sociology, physics, chemistry, math, literature, and everything else!"
What is that?
It was a surreal scene that made all her previous thoughts seem utterly trivial.
Failing to fully comprehend the situation, I interrupted the flow to ask for an explanation.
"Um, do you want to eat first?"
I spoke with a somewhat reluctant expression.
"Food!"
Luna scurried over to Estella.
"Yeah, I'm hungry. Let's eat first."
Lee Seo-ha also stood up and approached her.
After checking the groceries, he continued.
"You bought everything on the list. I'll send you the money."
Then he began skillfully prepping the ingredients, while Luna moved the dishes and took her seat.
Estella naturally approached him and asked.
"What's with all this?"
"Huh? Oh, it's just that Luna couldn't read, so I planned to just teach her the basics today and call it a day, but she's an incredibly fast learner."
That was the gist of his explanation.
After seeing a few letters and hearing the pronunciation, she understood perfectly, and since her speed was so impressive, he tried English, literature, and math, and before he knew it, she had reached high school level.
Since he didn't know anything beyond the calculus and geometry taught in high school, he was simply testing how fast she could solve simple problems with a time limit to see her calculation speed.
Since she didn't seem to have a limit, he just played some online lectures for her to learn from.
That was the extent of his story.
"Do all Spirits learn this quickly?"
"Do you think so?"
"Wow, my daughter really is a genius. I wonder if she'll be good at magic or alchemy too?"
"Take it easy. She's just a child."
"That's true. She's at an age where playing is better than studying."
He said this while looking at Luna.
"He's become a total doting father."