It was loud. Insanely loud. Quarrelling kids were always loud, but I would never forget the two nine year olds screaming at each other. The reason was quite hilarious though. One of them claimed the other threw his lunch on the floor and demanded that he was given food.
Jokes on him, the cafeteria around the corner offered free lunch for students who didn’t have the means to pay themselves. And honestly, he looked like one of these peasants who could apply for this program. Anyways, after weeks in this school already, I was quite accustomed to the scene and couldn’t help but to smile wryly.
“Lucy?” Asked the boy in a similar age like the brawlers right next to me. Snapping out of my little daze, I looked at the book he was holding and towards his finger.
“That’s an ‘q’. You write the capital version of it with a circle and a little line … like this.” I drew a capital Q onto the floor, knowing full well he would forget it after a while anyway. Teaching this one was always like hoping a bit of water would remain in a sieve. Theoretically impossible, but I haven’t given up yet.
The boy continued to read for a little while in which I took my own book about the usage of mithril for the crafting of magical circles. Sadly, I was interrupted a bit too often by kids who didn’t know the alphabet yet, or by some who said goodbye because they had to help out their parents at work. Still, I was able to skim it through halfway until an older lady approached me.
“Thank you for helping out at this school once more, Lucy.” She said and bowed deeply. Truly, these schools didn’t pay well enough so that a lot of teachers bothered to come by. Classes were around eighty kids large, so every help was welcome including mine of course.
“Oh, I don’t mind it. I have nothing to do anyway while my sister teaches here.” I said and smiled brightly. Hannah who I spotted turning around a corner wasn’t that happy though. I knew she was incredibly stressed around these little balls of happiness, but I still thought it did her good to interact with others who didn’t have any hidden motives. Sighing silently, I picked up the straw hat to my side and stood up while putting it on my head.
“Headmistress.” Hannah nodded towards the woman, even though it was probably disrespectful for her to interact with the older woman so brazenly. “The promised twenty days are over. I know the students have a lot of questions left, but I achieved what I wanted to.” Even after all these emotionless words, the headmistress had nothing but a thankful smile on her face and thanked Hannah repeatedly. It took a long time for us to leave the shabby school in the commoner district, especially because Hannah apparently increased the interest of some students in history by a wide stretch.
Sadly, I wasn’t the one the kids were interested this time, but that was to be expected as I acted rather detached from them. Sure, I helped them whenever they asked me to, but I didn’t go out of my way to make friends with them. I knew of the dangers they faced just because I was in this school and I didn’t want to hurt them through my sheer existence.
But hey, this way it wasn’t even that hard to walk away from them in my airy summer dress, a straw hat on my head and surprisingly, no gloves whatsoever. It turned out that wearing gloves around peasants wasn’t necessary because they didn’t even know how the rings the king uses to marry others looked like.
“I´m so tired.” Hannah mentioned as we left the school grounds once and for all. We soon found ourselves on a rather packed street and so we kept our voice rather low.
“Tired? You are only teaching recent history though. Your curriculum is basically ‘demons bad’ and that’s it.” I claimed and chuckled happily. Compared to her part, I had it even worse as I wasn’t even paid for teaching the sieve that there is a difference between a small L and a capital i.
“It´s a bit more nuanced that this. Telling children the difference between the wasp massacre and the fall of Constantinople is a bit hard.” I involuntarily opened my mouth a little bit as I was quite horrified by what she said. Constantinople was the largest city in the north until … well until it wasn’t anymore. It should have been easy to explain that the evil demon king ordered that while the wasp massacre was … definitely not something for children.
“… what kind of faces did they make as you told them that demonic wasps are laying their eggs within living beings?” I asked with a lot of interest. Not that I wished Hannah told them the truth, but still. It would have been interesting.
“Why should I ever tell them that? What´s wrong with you? I told them wasps are uncontrollable creatures and that not even the demon king has any sway over them because of how animalistic they are.” I nodded repeatedly as if I already knew what she would say. I obviously didn’t think one second Hannah would scare them shitless. Obviously.
“I-I was just trying to make sure you didn’t … you didn’t … you know.” I muttered and squeezed my way through a crowd of people in front of a clothing shop which apparently had five percent off on winter clothing that day … in early summer.
Like always around this time, the street we were on was bustling with activity, mostly from merchants selling their ware, carriages heading towards the noble district and pedestrians carrying all kinds of stuff. Here and there, I could even spot a few adventurers doing their thing in the middle of the most populous city of this world … I seriously didn’t know why they were there, especially in full gear but whatever. There was no danger in this area, otherwise we would know.
It didn’t take long for us to head back to the place we stayed the last few weeks which was a rather simple bar with several apartments above it. It wasn’t the worst place in the commoner district, nor the best one. With its wooden shutters in front of the window, a stone foundation with wood on top, it was completely average in every regard except for the liquor. The host apparently made it on his own and added a very sweet flavour to it.
“Hey Lucy, are you going to sing tonight?” The black haired man asked the moment we stepped into the bar. At that point in time, lunch was served to the few costumers by him and it smelled suspiciously like the meal I introduced him yesterday.
“Only if you sing with me!” I said and dashed upstairs before he could answer. I could hear Hannah grumbling about my childish behaviour behind me as I waited in front of our room. Sadly, there was only one key which meant we were kind of forced to enter and leave together. Well, that wasn’t a real issue though because in the last month, we were basically inseparable.
With a loud creak, resulting off the old age from the inn, the door opened and revealed a modest sized room. One bed, a small table with two chairs and a wardrobe were the only pieces of furniture inside but despite all that, this room was miles better than other lodgings provided most of all because of the luxurious bed which didn’t use straw as a mattress.
That was all unimportant at the moment though. In front of us was an envelope containing several pieces of paper. It was probably squeezed beneath the door to avoid the host having to relay it to us altogether. After closing the door quietly, Hannah picked it up while I threw myself on the mattress and grabbed the blanket with my hands.
“You know we don’t have to crush the church of death?” Hannah mentioned while looking through the pages.
“They do evil.” I claimed without much of a thought behind my words.
“There are a few drug addicts around the corner supplied by none other than Tom himself. He is an evildoer as well.” Hannah mentioned casually. Her claim was probably true as Tom had a firm grip on the underworld and profited from nearly every criminal activity, but I still thought the comparison lacked somewhat.
“But he is my evildoer. You know why I cannot let them live.” I stated drily and buried my face into the nearest pillow. I had to admit that I would miss this life Hannah and I had for a little while. It was calm and gave me a vastly different perspective on life in general.
Lars, the host for example had problems with his teeth and his wife Melinda was asking him time and time again to visit the dentist. The dentist on the other hand didn’t have any methods to fix Lars´ teeth and could only yank them out forcefully.
These were the problems normal humans had to deal with and I never really thought about their issues. I still didn’t bother much about it but I felt as if I understood humans better after living their life for a little while. They all had little aspirations to achieve more, they liked to nag about their fellow humans and weren’t bothered by the grand scheme of things most of the time. That there was a war in the north for example didn’t bother many. The frontline was far away and it went on for several years already. That was their new normal and they had already adapted to it.
It showed how little we had in common, no matter how I acted. I aspired to be more than they could ever dream of, my issues were creeping onto me the more I wasted my time while theirs were very far away. But we also had stuff in common. I liked great food, and so did most of them. I would have loved to spent time with my family while watching how Lars played with his daughter. But other than that?
I didn’t understand their desire to hear me sing. I didn’t get why the bar was packed whenever I sung a folk song. I certainly couldn’t comprehend how the host liked to play chess with the same costumer over and over again without betting anything. I simply didn’t get their kind of fun. But I did get one thing. These activities would be fun for me as well, just that I needed to do these with the right person. Crushing a random person in chess was boring, but playing with Hannah did have its perks.
But interest in the activity itself? I simply didn’t have that. Anything normal, anything without giving me a certain kick just turned bland after so many years of living.
During this time in which I was once more showed how different, or rather abnormal I was, I did note one important fact. These normal citizens also strived for freedom, be it from the state, their parents and sometimes even from the gods. They wished for independence, which I saw as magnificent.
At least there was one thing we had in common.
It was loud. Insanely loud. Quarrelling kids were always loud, but I would never forget the two nine year olds screaming at each other. The reason was quite hilarious though. One of them claimed the other threw his lunch on the floor and demanded that he was given food.
Jokes on him, the cafeteria around the corner offered free lunch for students who didn’t have the means to pay themselves. And honestly, he looked like one of these peasants who could apply for this program. Anyways, after weeks in this school already, I was quite accustomed to the scene and couldn’t help but to smile wryly.
“Lucy?” Asked the boy in a similar age like the brawlers right next to me. Snapping out of my little daze, I looked at the book he was holding and towards his finger.
“That’s an ‘q’. You write the capital version of it with a circle and a little line … like this.” I drew a capital Q onto the floor, knowing full well he would forget it after a while anyway. Teaching this one was always like hoping a bit of water would remain in a sieve. Theoretically impossible, but I haven’t given up yet.
The boy continued to read for a little while in which I took my own book about the usage of mithril for the crafting of magical circles. Sadly, I was interrupted a bit too often by kids who didn’t know the alphabet yet, or by some who said goodbye because they had to help out their parents at work. Still, I was able to skim it through halfway until an older lady approached me.
“Thank you for helping out at this school once more, Lucy.” She said and bowed deeply. Truly, these schools didn’t pay well enough so that a lot of teachers bothered to come by. Classes were around eighty kids large, so every help was welcome including mine of course.
“Oh, I don’t mind it. I have nothing to do anyway while my sister teaches here.” I said and smiled brightly. Hannah who I spotted turning around a corner wasn’t that happy though. I knew she was incredibly stressed around these little balls of happiness, but I still thought it did her good to interact with others who didn’t have any hidden motives. Sighing silently, I picked up the straw hat to my side and stood up while putting it on my head.
“Headmistress.” Hannah nodded towards the woman, even though it was probably disrespectful for her to interact with the older woman so brazenly. “The promised twenty days are over. I know the students have a lot of questions left, but I achieved what I wanted to.” Even after all these emotionless words, the headmistress had nothing but a thankful smile on her face and thanked Hannah repeatedly. It took a long time for us to leave the shabby school in the commoner district, especially because Hannah apparently increased the interest of some students in history by a wide stretch.
Sadly, I wasn’t the one the kids were interested this time, but that was to be expected as I acted rather detached from them. Sure, I helped them whenever they asked me to, but I didn’t go out of my way to make friends with them. I knew of the dangers they faced just because I was in this school and I didn’t want to hurt them through my sheer existence.
But hey, this way it wasn’t even that hard to walk away from them in my airy summer dress, a straw hat on my head and surprisingly, no gloves whatsoever. It turned out that wearing gloves around peasants wasn’t necessary because they didn’t even know how the rings the king uses to marry others looked like.
“I´m so tired.” Hannah mentioned as we left the school grounds once and for all. We soon found ourselves on a rather packed street and so we kept our voice rather low.
“Tired? You are only teaching recent history though. Your curriculum is basically ‘demons bad’ and that’s it.” I claimed and chuckled happily. Compared to her part, I had it even worse as I wasn’t even paid for teaching the sieve that there is a difference between a small L and a capital i.
“It´s a bit more nuanced that this. Telling children the difference between the wasp massacre and the fall of Constantinople is a bit hard.” I involuntarily opened my mouth a little bit as I was quite horrified by what she said. Constantinople was the largest city in the north until … well until it wasn’t anymore. It should have been easy to explain that the evil demon king ordered that while the wasp massacre was … definitely not something for children.
“… what kind of faces did they make as you told them that demonic wasps are laying their eggs within living beings?” I asked with a lot of interest. Not that I wished Hannah told them the truth, but still. It would have been interesting.
“Why should I ever tell them that? What´s wrong with you? I told them wasps are uncontrollable creatures and that not even the demon king has any sway over them because of how animalistic they are.” I nodded repeatedly as if I already knew what she would say. I obviously didn’t think one second Hannah would scare them shitless. Obviously.
“I-I was just trying to make sure you didn’t … you didn’t … you know.” I muttered and squeezed my way through a crowd of people in front of a clothing shop which apparently had five percent off on winter clothing that day … in early summer.
Like always around this time, the street we were on was bustling with activity, mostly from merchants selling their ware, carriages heading towards the noble district and pedestrians carrying all kinds of stuff. Here and there, I could even spot a few adventurers doing their thing in the middle of the most populous city of this world … I seriously didn’t know why they were there, especially in full gear but whatever. There was no danger in this area, otherwise we would know.
It didn’t take long for us to head back to the place we stayed the last few weeks which was a rather simple bar with several apartments above it. It wasn’t the worst place in the commoner district, nor the best one. With its wooden shutters in front of the window, a stone foundation with wood on top, it was completely average in every regard except for the liquor. The host apparently made it on his own and added a very sweet flavour to it.
“Hey Lucy, are you going to sing tonight?” The black haired man asked the moment we stepped into the bar. At that point in time, lunch was served to the few costumers by him and it smelled suspiciously like the meal I introduced him yesterday.
“Only if you sing with me!” I said and dashed upstairs before he could answer. I could hear Hannah grumbling about my childish behaviour behind me as I waited in front of our room. Sadly, there was only one key which meant we were kind of forced to enter and leave together. Well, that wasn’t a real issue though because in the last month, we were basically inseparable.
With a loud creak, resulting off the old age from the inn, the door opened and revealed a modest sized room. One bed, a small table with two chairs and a wardrobe were the only pieces of furniture inside but despite all that, this room was miles better than other lodgings provided most of all because of the luxurious bed which didn’t use straw as a mattress.
That was all unimportant at the moment though. In front of us was an envelope containing several pieces of paper. It was probably squeezed beneath the door to avoid the host having to relay it to us altogether. After closing the door quietly, Hannah picked it up while I threw myself on the mattress and grabbed the blanket with my hands.
“You know we don’t have to crush the church of death?” Hannah mentioned while looking through the pages.
“They do evil.” I claimed without much of a thought behind my words.
“There are a few drug addicts around the corner supplied by none other than Tom himself. He is an evildoer as well.” Hannah mentioned casually. Her claim was probably true as Tom had a firm grip on the underworld and profited from nearly every criminal activity, but I still thought the comparison lacked somewhat.
“But he is my evildoer. You know why I cannot let them live.” I stated drily and buried my face into the nearest pillow. I had to admit that I would miss this life Hannah and I had for a little while. It was calm and gave me a vastly different perspective on life in general.
Lars, the host for example had problems with his teeth and his wife Melinda was asking him time and time again to visit the dentist. The dentist on the other hand didn’t have any methods to fix Lars´ teeth and could only yank them out forcefully.
These were the problems normal humans had to deal with and I never really thought about their issues. I still didn’t bother much about it but I felt as if I understood humans better after living their life for a little while. They all had little aspirations to achieve more, they liked to nag about their fellow humans and weren’t bothered by the grand scheme of things most of the time. That there was a war in the north for example didn’t bother many. The frontline was far away and it went on for several years already. That was their new normal and they had already adapted to it.
It showed how little we had in common, no matter how I acted. I aspired to be more than they could ever dream of, my issues were creeping onto me the more I wasted my time while theirs were very far away. But we also had stuff in common. I liked great food, and so did most of them. I would have loved to spent time with my family while watching how Lars played with his daughter. But other than that?
I didn’t understand their desire to hear me sing. I didn’t get why the bar was packed whenever I sung a folk song. I certainly couldn’t comprehend how the host liked to play chess with the same costumer over and over again without betting anything. I simply didn’t get their kind of fun. But I did get one thing. These activities would be fun for me as well, just that I needed to do these with the right person. Crushing a random person in chess was boring, but playing with Hannah did have its perks.
But interest in the activity itself? I simply didn’t have that. Anything normal, anything without giving me a certain kick just turned bland after so many years of living.
During this time in which I was once more showed how different, or rather abnormal I was, I did note one important fact. These normal citizens also strived for freedom, be it from the state, their parents and sometimes even from the gods. They wished for independence, which I saw as magnificent.
At least there was one thing we had in common.
