“As you might already know, great focus is needed to get a skill without the skill book, but that’s vague, right?” Cindy started her explanation and everyone nodded.

A small relief escaped her before she continued.

“But what papa had told me might help us. He said a very wise man passing by had told him that the [Body], the [Mind] and the [Spirit] needed to be in harmony in the task of breaking a skill. It will need focused action, enough knowledge, and Spirit’s strong but calm desire.”

He agreed inside as it made perfect sense. The time in the forest with Nusia is everything but calm desire. He felt like he was possessed compared to last night’s calm passionate lovemaking.

Well, before he got the skill at least. Practicing the skill’s suggestions nudged inside his head had driven the woman into a frenzy.

That aside, what Cindy had said might sound easy but he didn’t think it would be as easy. Any slight distraction could have impeded the process, but he had never thought his weakness would be an advantage here. He had always easily gotten lost in his current interest until people around him had complained about it.

The [Body] and [Spirit] requirement might be able to be overcome by sheer effort alone, but the [Mind] might not be that easy. Knowledge might be the key to why the people in power stayed in power. The ridiculous price for a skill book told him that.

A few gold coins might already be enough to feed five people for months.

And that was only his estimation.

“How much a loaf of bread again,” he asked the green-haired lady.

“Ten copper bits for an edible one,” she replied.

“Others are as hard as rocks,” complained the tomboy.

“How many copper bits to a gold coin?”

“Not sure about that,” Cindy chimed in. “But thirty copper made one silver slate, and twenty slates equal one gold coin. At least, what the shopkeeper told me.”

That is six hundred copper for a gold coin that could buy sixty loaves of bread. “How much does one person eat in a day?”

“Maybe two loaf of bread?” Jane suggested.

“Then, five people would eat ten each day which means, one gold coin could feed us for at least sixty days.”

“That’s more than two Terra cycles if it doesn’t go bad. But they always do. But how? That’s what the shopkeepers always said,” Cindy said in disbelief.

He looked up and around. Everyone was staring at him with eyes wide open. As he said, he could easily get lost in his thoughts or his focus. The strong grip on his arm told him that even Nusia was surprised by this.

“Just a rough estimation, not real calculation.”

“You can count!? To how many? Can you teach us?” The three girls asked one after another.

Artus chuckled. “Of course, this is just very basic, how much do you know?”

“Um, I can count to ten?” Cindy held up her ten fingers. The two girls nodded with her while Ken acted like he hadn’t paid any attention.

‘So, yeah, basic education for the commoners is almost non-existence,’ he lamented. ‘How hard it is to control information if you don’t even have basic education?’

“Well, everyone has to start somewhere,” he said while he tried to give the best of a smile.

And so began the impromptu basic arithmetic lesson. It began from how to count more than ten to addition and deduction. There was no blackboard to make the job easier and so he had to make do with small sticks and stones.

Nusia got up to leave after she had enough with the excuse of going hunting. Kent got up after her and stated that he wanted to follow and learn from the girl.

Everyone was pretty surprised by the young man’s statement.

Artus gave a shrug when Nusia turned to him as he knew that she could take care of herself better than him. The girl had many years of experience under her belt despite the youthful look which even he had always tended to forget.

Multiplication and division were more difficult for anyone who had just learned. The three remaining girls had understood the basic concept after a few explanations and examples, but they would need a lot of practice.

He gave them a few problems to apply their new knowledge and the practice was met with goggles at first. The problems helped a lot, and the girls hit a few eureka moments when things started to make sense to them.

Their skill breaks after that had almost floored him.

He found it easy to teach these girls, but he didn’t think it was because he was great at teaching. It was easy because the girls were really smart. They applied what Cindy had told them to get the skill break.

He leaned back to the wall in relief when they started to discuss things in between themselves. The simple living room didn't have much but the most basic things. A fireplace, wooden flooring with a rug used as a mat. There was no chair or table and everybody just sit on the floor.

Most of their discussion came from their previous dealings in currency exchanges and purchases. Their main drive was whether or not they were swindled. The discussion went on as each one of them pointed out the other’s weakness or mistake without any reservation.

He could tell that they were very close while he couldn’t even remember the last smaller girl's name. She was too smart for her size.

Cindy got up after a while and went over to the back. She returned with a pot and a few cups in hand before she poured the steaming hot water from the fireplace into the pot.

She brought the tea over before she sat right beside him. The spot where Nusia was leaning at him while they were having the discussion. She leaned over dangerously close as she placed the cup in front of him.

“Thank you for teaching us,” she said before anything became more awkward.

“You are welcomed,” he cited in auto mode. “I’m glad I could help.”

“This is going to be useful to us for the rest of our lives,” she said as if she heard it somewhere before. “You know what others had asked for in return when we asked them to teach us to count?”

“I don’t know, but I won’t ask for anything, the skill breaking method is enough for me.”

“They ask for two coins,” she said as if she hadn't heard anything he had said.

“That’s… really expensive,” he agreed.

“And to spend the night with them,” she added with a snicker. “Every time they spend some time teaching.”

“That’s horrible,” the words came right out of his mouth without him even thinking. The girls were staring at him when he realized it.

“They were trying to take advantage of you,” he added the unnecessary comment just to make his opinion clear.

Artus took the cup and had a sip to calm his nerves. He might have been a bastard to an evil lord-father but at least he lived well and warmly.

If people were willing to take advantage of others to this degree, he could already imagine when things got desperate during the long winter. He almost could see it. Food or money could run out or get stolen. Even clothes and firewood might not be safe from theft.

He shuddered at the thought of waking up for the first time during winter.

“Can I borrow your arm? I’m cold too,” said the girl beside him. “You won’t take advantage of us, right?”

“No, I won’t,” he said and braced himself to open his arm. It’s just cuddling but the last topic they were talking about had made him nervous.

Cindy leaned on him after a short hesitation herself and she placed her head below his chin. Artus rubbed her back and acted like he was cuddling an older sister. After feeling the tense leaving Cindy’s body, Artus breathed in relief himself.

“I haven’t dared to be this close to a man before,” she quipped.

“I can tell,” he answered. “Their hands are too... handsy?”

“Yes, I always wonder why men can’t just cuddle,” he could feel the pout on her face.

Artus chuckled in relief. “They just can’t help themselves, it’s in our blood.”

“Our blood?” peered at him.

“I’m but a man, Cindy, and all men have the urge, no matter who,” he said to be honest. “But not letting that urge to take control makes a true man. Mother had said that.”

Jane who was next to come and borrow his other half. The room was still cold even with the fire going, not to mention they were just sitting around, not moving much. Some extra warmth could make a lot of difference.

Like Cindy, Jane hesitated before settling down and relaxing. His reflex of kissing the poor girl’s head stirred the girl a little before the last of her defenses collapsed. It must have been scary living on their own without anyone to lean onto. Well, without getting molested.

The last girl went to sit beside Cindy and cuddled into her. The really quiet girl might have a history with men or she had simply grown up without a father. He didn't mind it one bit as he had run out of shoulders to lend.

He had lent many shoulders to many girls before. They had a hard time in their lives while knowing he had no chance with them. The moment anyone got close, one way or the other, they would hear about his past mistake and distance themselves.

No one cared what he had done to help them as everything would be seen as his evil plan. The not-so-handsome nice guy always had evil plans behind their heads while the handsome men were easily forgiven for the things they had already done.

It might be a rant but it is also the truth. It’s in human nature and he had accepted that.

Bitterly, if he might add.

He kissed Cindy’s head and she squeaked in delight. Like the two, every single one of them had enjoyed the 'fatherly' show of affection back then. Well, even from another man. Women are strange creatures.