Chapter 11
The Beginning
(11) Don’t They Have Kanji Workbooks Here?
The orphanage dinner that night was leftover stew from the Adventurers’ Guild, watered down into soup, served with hard bread and something like mashed potatoes.
…Basically the same as yesterday.
Apparently, the orphanage’s cook doesn’t have many recipes to work with. Well, at least the soup had some vegetables, right? Not exactly unbalanced. It even came with milk. Sweet, huh—oh, it’s goat’s milk. Of course I’m drinking it. Come on, height, grow!
Someday, I want to help with cooking. Maybe serve up some different dishes.
After finishing dinner and chatting with the boys while cleaning up, a sister called me over.
“You’re Shunsuke, right?”
“Yes.”
“I just fed Shito some bread porridge. His fever’s gone down and he’s looking much better.”
“That’s great to hear.”
“He said you healed him.”
“No, I just happened to wipe his sweat when he was starting to recover anyway.”
“I see… I was kind of hoping you might know healing magic.”
“I haven’t learned any magic yet. I’m only just starting to learn letters.”
She looked so desperate that it made me flinch a bit.
Then Miss Rai, the teacher, came to my rescue.
“Hey now, Sister. Don’t go scouting for clinic staff already. He’s just a little kid—there’s no way he can nurse adults.”
“But Shito was so sick, and then suddenly he’s fine!”
One of the assistant priests spoke up:
“Illnesses can’t be cured by healing magic anyway. Only injuries.”
Oh, really? So medicine’s the only option for sickness here?
“Sorry, Sister,” I said, looking up at her. “If I ever figure out how to use healing magic that works on illness, I’ll be sure to report it. Until then, please don’t get your hopes up.”
“Ugh… r-right. But do tell me, okay?”
“I will!”
“What’s with this kid? He’s so mature.”
The Sister turned to Miss Rai, who smiled.
“Right? He’s about to join the Guild’s study group—together with adults, no less. Go on now.”
“My, how impressive. Good luck!”
“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”
The Guild’s study group was held upstairs.
The second floor had a big conference room and a library, and apparently, the study sessions took place in that conference room.
Before heading up the stairs, I stopped at the guild counter to ask if they sold writing supplies.
They had black crayons—not the kindergarten coloring kind, but the thick, all-core kind that’s like a colored pencil. There were about five other colors too, but I only bought black. They also sold these white, soft round stones—wait, oh, erasers. And notebooks, either blank or with grid lines printed on them.
Man, the Guild’s like a convenience store. Open twenty-four hours, too.
I picked a blank notebook and was about to hand over a single iron coin, but the clerk said my supplies were already covered.
Guess the pearl necklace covered even this. Nice.
When I reached the classroom-slash-conference room, there was a guy about Urisa’s age sitting near the door. He was slouched low in his chair, dirty boots on the desk.
Even if he took his feet down once class started, the desk would be covered in dirt and sand—no way anyone could write on it. Not that he planned to; he didn’t even have any supplies. Hands shoved in his pockets, glaring at the door.
Ah, our eyes met.
“What the hell, brat? This ain’t no orphanage. Get lost.”
Oh wow, is this… the classic delinquent scene? You’re seriously picking on a five-year-old-looking kid? Who’s the brat here, really?
I stared at him, a bit stunned—yeah, guess every world’s got guys like this. My old high school had a few, too…
“What’re you lookin’ at? Keep it up and I’ll knock you out!”
“Ah, sorry. I was just surprised. Didn’t mean to offend.”
“The hell you sayin’!?”
Wait, what? I apologized! Where exactly is the trigger point in that sentence?!
While I was half-baffled, a quiet chuckle came from the front of the room.
“Hey, Yasu, give it a rest. That kid’s got more guts than you do.”
Ah, so Yasu is this thug’s name. Duly noted. Let’s avoid him forever.
I looked toward the voice that called him off—it was Goda.
There were about ten others around, mostly beastfolk, especially the older ones. They were all snickering at Yasu. He was human, by the way. (Yes, I used Appraisal. Human confirmed.)
Yasu snorted and then flopped forward onto his desk to sleep. Um, that’s the same desk your filthy boots were just on, you know.
“Shunsuke, over here.”
“Good evening, Goda. Thanks for helping me earlier. Did you finish off the forest boars?”
“Heh, don’t thank me for that. Barely counts as helping. Anyway, wanna grab some meat after this study session? The guys are still wrapping up but should be back soon.”
Right, Goda’s team had headed out first, so that’s why he was already back.
“I already had dinner at the orphanage, though.”
“Yeah, but the food there hardly has any meat, right? I grew up there too.”
“There was meat, but… tiny bits. Like scraps.”
“Then it’s settled. Also, I need you to heat some water for us again.”
“Wait—you’re gonna feed me steak just for that?”
“Of course. A hot shower’s essential after a hunt.”
“Hehe, got it. Can you tell the Sister I’ll be late?”
“My bro’ll do that.”
Just as I agreed to be the “boiler boy,” the Guild’s secretary came in and the study session began.
The teacher was Sere-san. Wow, she really does everything.
Long story short: reading and writing here is hard.
I’d had a bad feeling when I saw the orphanage library earlier, but yeah—there are letters like hiragana, others used like katakana, and then a ton of complex characters with two different readings, kind of like Japanese on’yomi and kun’yomi. It felt like they had as many characters as Japanese! Some of them were “ancient script,” still used occasionally—like alphabets, maybe?
But conversation is all in Japanese. The names of plants and animals differ, but the language system feels eerily similar. Funny how Japanese is said to be so hard to learn, and now I’m doing it again.
Still, I know how to learn this.
Write. Repeat. Over and over.
The memories of filling kanji workbooks came flooding back—ugh.
So I started by scribbling the equivalent of hiragana all over my paper. But the crayon was too thick to write much per page. Even whittled down with a knife, it fattened up again quickly.
I wanted to pull out my mechanical pencil or regular one from my pouch—but better not yet. Later, I’d just carve a twig into a makeshift pencil.
Ink was expensive, so I dipped the tip in water instead. The paper was rough, like straw paper, so it actually worked—and dried so I could reuse it.
And that’s how I ended up practicing characters like a grade-schooler again.
After the first study session ended, I went down the stairs with Goda and joined Urisa and Arisa, who were sitting at a table.
As soon as I sat down, Arisa hugged me and started patting me all over. I still wasn’t used to all that squishiness.
“Mmm, haven’t seen you since lunch! How’s the orphanage? Nobody bullied you?”
“I’m fine. What about the forest boars?”
“Nothing serious. Not even worth the rush. One per person, basically.”
“How many adventurers were there?”
“About twenty—five parties.”
So twenty huge boars charged at once… and that’s “no big deal”? D-rank adventurers are insane. This world really is something.
Anyway, it was time for my second dinner of the day—steak! I’d eaten at the orphanage already, so this was basically a heavy midnight snack. I passed my bread to Goda instead.
They’d even cut my steak into bite-sized cubes for me. So thoughtful. And each cube was still huge. Now this is what you call fantasy food!
“So, Shunsuke, the orphanage had a bed ready for you, but since you’re such a capable kid, it’d make more sense for you to live with us and just go to the childcare section during the day. What do you think?”
Urisa invited me warmly—even though we’d only met yesterday.
Honestly, I did feel awkward living with little kids. They’re all good kids, but they can’t really hold a proper conversation with me. I’d rather live alone than that.
“You’re offering, but I can’t pay rent, you know.”
“Don’t worry—that’s covered by your water-heating duty!”
Wait… daily showers with Arisa? That’s… not a “yay” situation, that’s a problem.
“Yeah,” Urisa said, “just being able to get hot water’s a blessing.”
Figures—Urisa seems like the type who loves cleanliness.
“Then it’s settled!”
In the end, it was easily approved that I’d commute to the orphanage.
When Urisa’s team, Uriago, went on long expeditions, I’d stay at the orphanage instead.
And so, my days began—living in their terrace house, attending the orphanage during the day.
The study sessions went smoothly. Once I’d memorized the basics—letters, numbers, and math symbols—I started reading the Guild’s library books from the corner shelf onward. I even began teaching the orphanage kids simple reading and arithmetic through games.
Sometimes, when Miss Rai wasn’t feeling well (probably faking it), I’d fill in for her by playing the harpsichord at church ceremonies.
They even gave me “performance pay,” apparently from offerings.
As for combat training—since my body was still too small—I focused on running laps around the Guild and church area.
Before long, I started running errands too: delivering letters, shopping for the elderly, helping out here and there.
And little by little, I became part of the town of Polygon.
