# Chapter 16
Teaching subjects other than literature wasn’t particularly difficult. They were mostly fact-based information, so there wasn’t much of a problem. Rite followed along with most things without difficulty, but he was weak in arithmetic.
“How old am I?”
“Thirty.”
“And you?”
“Eleven.”
“Then what is 30 minus 11?”
Rite wore a perplexed expression at my question. He seemed flustered when the number exceeded what he could count on his fingers. After pondering for a moment, Rite began drawing apples on paper. Thirty apples.
Not just simple circles, but carefully drawn apples with stems, thirty of them, and then he started coloring them in black one by one.
He can’t do mental arithmetic? But he doesn’t need to draw the stems too, does he? I wonder why he’s drawing them so meticulously.
Though I didn’t understand, I couldn’t scold him for something he couldn’t do, so I decided to let it go.
That’s fine. If Rite feels he needs to draw the stems on the apples, what’s the big deal? I’ve grown more patient since I started teaching Rite.
“In spring, buds bloom; in summer, most plants become vibrant; in autumn, leaves fall; and in winter, snow falls…”
“I’ve never seen any of that, though?”
“Of course not. You live in the Winter Forest. This is based on the capital. Where’s the capital again?”
Moran. Yesterday he got it wrong, but today he answered correctly right away. I couldn’t help but smile, feeling proud of him. After giving the right answer, Rite looked at the illustrations in the book and asked:
“Then how do you know when it’s spring or when it’s summer?”
“You see that big river in the village? You can tell by that. Whether water is flowing or it’s frozen over. Your birthday is in winter too.”
Though I said birthday, it wasn’t his actual birthday. Since I couldn’t know the day Rite was born, we had been celebrating the day I found him in the forest as his birthday. So Rite’s birthday fell during the coldest part of winter.
“When is Arden’s birthday?”
“My birthday is August 28th, so summer. The place where I was born is extremely hot in summer. The sun is blinding, and you sweat easily. There’s definitely no snow, and your body gets hot even if you’re not doing anything.”
Kamalon was a region to the south of the capital. In summer, the sunlight was so hot that I often had to take refuge in the shade, but in return, winters weren’t very cold. Unlike the Winter Forest, there wasn’t much humidity, so I never got that bone-chilling feeling from the cold.
“Then is there a Summer Forest too?”
“Summer Forest?”
“Hot, with no snow, and blinding forest.”
As Rite spoke, he furrowed his brow and glanced at the summer illustration, seemingly unable to imagine it. The summer in the illustration showed lush grass growing and dew on rose petals glistening in the light, but being drawn with a black pen, it was a monotonous black and white. Just like the Winter Forest.
“Well…”
There might be one somewhere, I think. I muttered that while flipping through the book, but I couldn’t find a page with descriptions of a Summer Forest.
“Then let’s look for it together later. The Summer Forest.”
Rite’s eyes sparkled as he spoke. He seemed excited, probably because he enjoyed books with adventure stories. I nodded slightly and smiled.
“Let’s do that.”
It’s not in the book, but the Winter Forest isn’t in there either. So somewhere in this world, there must be at least one Summer Forest too.
* * *
Rite had definitely become more lively after mingling with peers. Before, all he did all day was climb up to the treehouse or read books in his room, but now he seemed to have taken a liking to hitting nearby trees with the wooden sword I made for him.
Sometimes he would tap the needles of snow-covered conifers with the tip of his wooden sword and quickly run away before the snow could fall on him. He was agile enough to have never failed at this game.
Even as I prepared simple dinner dishes in the kitchen, I kept glancing out the window several times.
I had repeatedly warned him not to go deep into the forest, but I couldn’t help worrying since Rite was a child.
Just beyond the barrier I had set up around the house using magical tools was the dangerous forest. Even though they were cheap magical tools, they were better than nothing.
“…Thanks to that, the maintenance costs are no joke.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the seed of magicians had dried up, as magicians were becoming increasingly scarce in the current era.
As a result, engineering that used external organs and aether was flourishing, and magical tools that could be used by those not born with magical abilities had developed, but they weren’t cheap. Moreover, barriers that blocked physical intrusion were a type of magic that required large amounts of energy.
When I lived alone without Rite, I didn’t particularly feel the need to pay attention to safety. But unlike in the past when I was satisfied with self-made security devices, these days I was cautiously guarding against danger to an almost compulsive degree.
It would be better in terms of long-term costs to get a house in the village… but it was safer this way than living right in the middle of the village with a child who sprouted horns.
Just as magical tools were expensive, items crafted by engineers also came at a considerable price. It was only possible because I was an engineer. If I weren’t an engineer, I wouldn’t have even dared to think about buying magical tools.
Even if I was only half an engineer now, having lived as one was quite a privilege. Thanks to that, even though I was labeled a traitor, I was able to keep my life and ended up with exile.
“Wah!”
A loud sound very close to my ear made my eardrum ring. The knife blade that was cutting carrots grazed my finger. Reflexively, I clutched my throbbing ear. For a moment, various sounds seemed to split and spread out, making it difficult to hear properly.
My shock at the sound near my ear was greater than the bleeding finger. Turning around with my hand still covering my ear, I met eyes with Rite, who was smiling innocently. He must have come inside while I was distracted, though he had definitely been outside just a moment ago.
“What are you doing?”
My voice raised without me realizing it. Rite’s expression hardened at my scolding. “Arden?” Rite looked at me with a surprised face and then quickly noticed my finger.
“Arden, blood.”
“It’s fine, it’s nothing.”
Only then did I seem to snap back to my senses. Remembering how sensitive he had been to my blood before, I immediately used a dishcloth to stop the bleeding.
Since it wasn’t a deep wound to begin with, just applying pressure for a moment stopped the bleeding. I showed my clean hand to Rite.
“What were you thinking, shouting at someone holding a knife?”
“…Sorry.”
Rite fidgeted restlessly around me. I hadn’t meant to get annoyed with him.
Did I react too sensitively? I felt regret, but the water was already spilled. I tried my best to speak in a gentle voice.
“It’s really okay. Just be careful next time.”
Rite didn’t push further, perhaps bothered by the irritation I had shown earlier. Since hanging out with friends, he had definitely become more mischievous than before.
The slightly frozen atmosphere quickly thawed in front of the hot stew. Except for a small clash when I was serving stew into Rite’s bowl.
‘Ah, without the carrots.’
‘Why?’
Rite wasn’t picky with food. He did prefer meat, but that didn’t mean he avoided other foods. The reason for this sudden pickiness was a bit ridiculous.
‘All the other kids don’t eat carrots either.’
‘…Do you really have to copy that?’
The reason was that Ea, Cal, and all the other children disliked carrots.
Shouldn’t he be proud of not being picky? I wondered, but I didn’t want to force him to eat something he didn’t want, so I had to remove all the carrots.
It’s not like being picky will cause a major problem. Plin, too, didn’t care whether I was picky or not.
At the orphanage, they used to scold children who were picky eaters, but even as a child, I never understood that situation. It’s not like they were stealing from others because they wanted more food; they just didn’t want to eat something. Why should that be a reason to get scolded?
Rite looked satisfyingly at the stew with no carrots in it and began eating. He tore off large pieces of soft white bread to dip in my stew, and helped himself to the fruit-topped salad twice.
He looked cute like a squirrel, stuffing his mouth full and chewing. Perhaps because he was in a growth phase, Rite had a good appetite.
“Lia always wants to go first. So Cal told her to wait her turn, but she cried again. She’s a total crybaby.”
“Lia is younger than you, Rite. That happens.”
“Does being young mean everything?”
Rite looked at me with disapproving eyes. Well, even if she was younger, it was only by a year or two. It would be annoying if she kept being stubborn and breaking their rules.
“Didn’t you say anything to her?”
“No. There was no need for me to step in because of Cal.”
“So Cal is the action leader, huh?”
“What’s that?”
“Um… someone who takes the lead well?”
Rite’s expression turned a bit glum. As if he had something to say, he fidgeted with the stew using his spoon and kept looking at me cautiously. I quietly waited for the child to speak.
“Can’t I go to school too?”
I thought this question would come up eventually. After all, the school vacation had ended not long ago. Since the children who used to play from morning now had to go to school during the day, Rite probably wanted to go with them.
“I’m the only one who doesn’t know a lot of things. Even Lia knows things I don’t.”
“You’re studying too. You can catch up quickly.”
“I want to go to school and study with the other kids too.”
I wanted to send him to school as well. He talked about playing with his friends every chance he got, so why wouldn’t I want to let him go? It was also difficult for me to teach at Rite’s level. However…
“You know, Rite.”
I gently stroked his smooth head. They weren’t protruding now, but who knew when they would sprout again. Even if he could control them perfectly, we still needed to be careful, and I couldn’t send him to school when he couldn’t even control them.
“…Then, can I at least have a birthday party?”
“Birthday party?”
“All the kids have them at school.”
“…”
“Can’t I invite my friends too?”
That was problematic in many ways. If I brought a bunch of kids to this forest, I would be the only guardian, and could I handle all of them? The path from the village to the cabin, and then from the cabin back to the village. I would have to manage all the children. Even if it was just the edge of the forest…
“Can’t we just do it with the two of us? We’ve been having fun together all this time, haven’t we?”
As if he had already expected the rejection, Rite nodded without much resistance. Still, unable to hide his disappointment, he slowly tore off pieces of bread and ate them.
Seeing Rite like that made me feel sorry and concerned, but there was nothing I could do. I was already taking enough risks. Even if he wore a hat, couldn’t it be easily taken off?
When I first discovered Rite and fed him thinned fruit puree with my finger, when he had no relationships other than me and Pini, I never thought I would have these kinds of concerns.
Then suddenly, a phrase I had read in a book came to mind.
“How to Raise Your Child to Be Smart” Volume 2, Chapter 3, Relationships in Childhood: As peer relationships begin, interest in peers becomes heightened rather than in adults.
It was a part I had skimmed over without much thought, but it seemed that time had really come.
When did he grow this much? A cliché expression that I had only thought of as stereotypical suddenly came to mind. I was proud that he had grown this much under my clumsy and inadequate care. Although different from others, he seemed to be growing properly. I felt secretly proud, as if I had received verification that there were no major errors in my parenting so far.
“After dinner, let’s practice three times today.”
Rite, who had been eating bread with his head down, suddenly looked up. He seemed not to understand what I meant, so I added an explanation.
“The horns. We need to practice quickly so you can take off your hat too.”
Rite, now energized, nodded quickly. Perhaps motivated by his friends, he was now diligent in practice without complaining.
