31. Because I'm Not an Adult Yet
31. Because I'm Not an Adult Yet
"For starters, your weak points are roughly History, Literature, and Theology. Plus, there's the Noble Culture lecture... You're a first-year, not a second-year, so it's not like there's anything immediately difficult."
"...It was difficult, though."
"That's because you haven't learned any of this since you were a kid. That's why."
"Ah."
It was a bit of a pity, but it couldn't be helped.
It was the difference between nobles and commoner students.
In the first place, this was an Academy for nobles in the distant past, and at some point, they started allowing commoners and other students in.
They say that's when they started allowing commoners, as well as some demi-humans like the Snow Women.
In many ways, there was bound to be a disparity.
"Basically, the Academy's goal is for students to grow up and become good workers for the future Empire. Naturally, it includes a lot of noble-centric content."
"......That's a difficult topic."
"To put it simply, it's because they're trying to churn out officers, not just regular soldiers."
The conclusion was that it wasn't strange for Noah to find the Academy's liberal arts subjects difficult.
Although he was doing reasonably well in other subjects, like swordsmanship... the problem was that he was at a serious level only in liberal arts.
"For now, let's start with the easier stuff. As for Literature... there aren't many ways to go about it other than just reading a lot."
"......."
"You can read, right?"
"Even if I'm a commoner, everyone reads these days."
"Ah, is that so?"
...Back in my day, there were occasionally kids who couldn't read.
I guess the times have changed in 11 years.
It's been enough time for things to change, after all.
"For now, let's study things that can be solved simply by memorizing, like History and Theology. As for Literature, even if you read the text in the textbook, the exam will just feature passages you've never learned before. They tell you to interpret those, right?"
"That's right."
"11 years ago or now. Exams seem to be similar. That makes it easier."
History and Theology are literally just learning history and learning about the gods.
In the second year, you go beyond that to learn about some demi-humans, including Snow Women, and study things like symbology and ancient linguistics.
But let's skip that for now.
Anyway, from that point on, students are given a certain degree of autonomy, so the ratio of choosing subjects increases.
"History, Theology. Which one do you want to learn first?"
"History feels a bit more... difficult. There's a church in my village, so I've heard a tiny bit about theology, in my own way. But for History, most of it was stuff I was hearing for the first time."
"Is that so? Then, tell me roughly what you've learned since the first semester started."
First, I started teaching him the things he found difficult.
Content that was slightly hazy for me, too.
They were just liberal arts subjects that had no particular use after graduating from the Academy, but...
Still, there was a difference between someone who had experienced it and someone who hadn't.
I was able to recall the contents one by one more easily than I thought.
After reading through the parts Noah told me about, I was at least at a level better than a student who belonged to the bottom tier in this subject.
"Most of it is about the Eternia Empire. Well, it is the current country, and it's an empire. It's the result of conquering and unifying various countries from the past.... Most of it is the process of going from the Eternia Kingdom era to unifying it into an empire. Open your notebook."
"Yes, Noona."
Since I decided to look over his studies for once.
I took it quite seriously.
Taking responsibility for the grades of a kid younger than me was also an adult's job.
If I wasn't serious for no reason, this perverted little brat might do something weird again.
I knew he would occasionally cast glances at my body when we were resting in the lounge, so that was even more the case.
Well... even if I thought that a guy could definitely look.
"The Eternia Kingdom was a country that paid quite a bit of attention to magic from the past, and that trend had existed for hundreds of years. It started with the first king who founded the kingdom. He wielded powerful strength through magic, and through that power, he gained people's recognition. Later, he founded the country. The name of that king was......."
Boring.
Pedantic.
I started teaching him content that could be summarized like that.
Stories about the kingdom before it became the current empire.
The people who created the kingdom, the subsequent development of the kingdom, gaining more power, and the content of wars with surrounding countries, leading to the kingdom gradually gaining power, invading and conquering other countries, and finally remaining as a single empire.......
It was a story like that.
Just a story about the unification of an ordinary country.
I spent time not just making Noah read the textbook, but teaching him important parts or things that might appear on the exam.
He looked like he was listening with a more serious expression than I thought.
It was somewhat commendable that he would ask questions if there was a part he didn't understand.
In the end, he's a 17-year-old brat.
It was a student-like appearance befitting his age.
"Is it delicious?"
"It's super delicious. Should I say it feels fresher than the stuff sold at the convenience store?"
"That's because I just ground the fresh fruit and then froze it."
"Aha."
Studying continuously is actually less efficient.
So, while giving him snacks in moderation.
I just continued the tutoring-like thing like that.
"Noona, you know a lot...."
"I learned it once. I already told you I was an Academy student too, right?"
"That's true, but. I was a bit surprised because you know much better than I thought. You even said a little bit last time that you might not know well...."
"Even if I'm an Ajumma running a small convenience store now. I'm an Academy graduate, in my own way."
"Ah, I didn't mean it like that...."
"What do you mean you didn't. I actually just take money from kids at the convenience store. And I am an Ajumma."
Isn't that nothing strange?
Because it's true.
I am a convenience store owner, and I am a 28-year-old Ajumma.
They weren't things I couldn't admit.
"I don't really think of you as an Ajumma, Noona."
"Oh, is that so?"
"It's the truth."
"That's because you're not an adult yet."
"......."
We talk while taking a short break from class, but I wonder if it's because he's young.
He was a kid who only had childish thoughts.
"When you grow up more later, you'll realize something too, right? To begin with, look at the age gap between us, why wouldn't I be an Ajumma."
"......You're just pretty."
"Stop with the weird service and focus on your studies. Look at how much you have to do in your current situation. Hmm?"
"......Yes."
Still, he wasn't a bad guy.
When I say things like this, he inevitably nods and focuses back on his studies.
It wasn't that I hated the idea that I looked young, but....
But I didn't intend to be swayed by a boy.
I had no intention of doing that to a kid 11 years younger than me.
Furthermore, I had no intention of doing that to a man in the first place.
Unlike my friend who does stupid things because she hasn't dated once in 28 years, I have no desire to date, and in the first place, it wasn't men for me anyway.
"Sigh. I'm really worried about what you'll become when you grow up."
"Hmm.... Won't I be doing fine?"
"What are you going to do after graduating from the Academy?"
"For now, the simplest thing is.... A knight, right? I don't know how it will turn out, but I learned the sword."
"Hmm... well, that's ordinary."
Still, since I warned him once.
He stopped saying tiring things.
Just ordinary talk in between studying.
"...Ah, Noona."
"Yeah?"
"What did you do after graduating from the Academy in the past? When I heard you talk before, it sounded like you did something like an adventurer."
"I was an adventurer. Besides that, I was a mercenary, and I did a lot of things."
"......You were a mercenary too?"
"If you really want to split hairs, there wasn't actually a thick boundary between an adventurer and a mercenary. If an adventurer is active and signs a contract with some lord or financier, then they act as a mercenary, and when it's over, they go back to living as a free adventurer."
"Aha......?"
I didn't usually talk about the past that often.
In the first place, if it wasn't someone I'd known for a long time like Vivian, there was no one to talk to anyway.
And there was no particular reason to blab about my past to the kids.
"My goal was to open a convenience store or a shop. I had to earn business capital, so after graduating... I lived pretty intensely for a few years, right? Though I'm living comfortably now."
"Did you do that right after graduating?"
"Hmm.... Something like that?"
I did return to my hometown, the Snow Woman Village, for a while after graduating, but.
That's not really relevant content.
"I earned money until I was twenty-five, then talked with Vivian and opened the convenience store inside the Academy."
"Oh...."
"Originally, even if it wasn't the Academy, there were other places. But I thought the Academy would be the easiest place to do business in many ways."
Places like the Magic Tower or the Imperial Capital.
I had kept an eye on decent places, but....
The Magic Tower would have required me to keep the shop open until much later than the Academy.
And the Imperial Capital has expensive rent, and there would be too many pedantic old farts of nobles, not young kids.
So, after much deliberation, I settled on the Academy.
"Ah, and since I work inside the Academy, it's comfortable because Academy staff get housing support so they can live comfortably."
"The house you're living in now?"
"Yeah. I could buy a house, but the rental housing provided by the Academy is enough. Anyway, I live alone, and there's no one else to live with, so there's no need to spend too much money on a house, right?"
The conversation was drifting away from studying, which was a bit of an accident.
But since I thought the quota for today was sufficient.
It wasn't very fun for me to keep doing boring classes either....
And talking about myself was quite fun.
It wasn't like there were many situations where I could talk about this stuff usually.
And it was about time the student got tired of studying, too.
After spending some time chatting about things like that, it ended with me sending him back to the dormitory.