From that day forward I became their instructor in the basics of language, magic, and math.

'Repeat after me:'

'Ah!' "Ah!" "Ah"

 

'Buh!' "Buh!" "Buh"

 

'Cuh!' ' "Cuh!" "Cuh"

 

'Duh!' "Duh!" "Duh"

This started becoming the norm, where I first began with matching sounds with letters.

I won't lie, this will likely be a difficult project. I mean, I was taught elvish, but to learn and to teach are two very different things.

It's also in part thanks to the noticeable difference in education levels between the two.

Leon clearly already knows the basics, seemingly knowing the basic letters of the elven language, and even basic words.

Willow on the other hand?

Nope.

Nada.

Nein.

Not a single thing.

I've already got a good guess when it comes to the way she's lived up to this point, and this only confirms to me that she was likely isolated in her own life.

I'm sure she was an orphan now, since most orphans don't learn letters and the like, with Leon having been lucky to have been raised in a supportive rural village, but Willow was not likely as lucky.

She might've had parents, but if she did, they clearly taught her zilch in the years she's been alive.

Regardless, her education was severely lacking to say the least.

The fact that she knows how to talk seems to be more of a miracle by the minute.

[Bloodline suppression]

Pardon?

[It's a case where a superior bloodline dominates inferior ones. For creatures in the wild, it's a powerful tool to help young beasts with great potential avoid being killed. ]

Stolidus sighed, as he and I both came to the same conclusion.

[But for a child trying to adapt to society...]

... It's basically a wall that separates her from others.

[The high elf domination is far stronger for elves, so any elf near her likely showed an instinctive rejection of her. Adults are better at it, but they likely still felt uncomfortable around her.]

That explains a lot.

It does lead one to wonder if the elven kingdom knew this from the beginning, and thus always had blank slate rejects wheeled in ready for reeducation. Hence why they forbid education.

It's a disturbing thought to say the least.

Regardless, this means I had to start from scratch when teaching her the basics of language.

And Leon is happily playing along.

He doesn't seem uncomfortable near her at all.

[He has strong mental energy. Were there a strong mental energy amongst you, they'd quickly recognize his potential.]

Is that how come he's so stealthy?

[It's easier to stealth if you can subconsciously block your presence from the minds of others]

Wow...

It's a shame I don't know what mental energy is, because it sounds like we're missing out on his potential.

[Definitely. Not unexpected though. Mental energy is not a school studied much in the empire, so the number of people who could properly teach Leon are limited ]

But you could, right?

[Nope. I could install the knowledge in you, and you could teach Leon, but that risks your own inaptitude ruining Leon's ability. I suggest you just let him develop naturally, and let the pieces fall where they will fall.]

Snort. Of course you would go with the flow.

Whatever. You're not completely wrong anyway. For now, its beneficial in allowing Leon to be a good companion to Willow.

Of course, math and magic will be far more difficult to teach to a certain extent as well.

Magic more so, since Willow was a high elf and was already capable of magic. In this regard, I'm not sure I'm qualified.

I'm actually teaching magic solely to Leon for now, and math as well.

He knows basic math, so I'm pushing up his schedule a little, teaching him this while I work on the basic alphabet with Willow.

Servante keeps a close eye on our lessons, making sure we don't slip anything in that he doesn't agree with.

Before this, he'd basically always been outside, as if to consciously avoid contact with both children, but now you can practically feel his presence in the room at all times.

It was annoying, but bearable.

---

"You're a good teacher" Lenore commented out of the blue.

It'd been 3 days of teaching the young children when I had heard this statement.

'You flatter me.' I respond, because from where I stand, I would hardly call my teaching so far great.

Lenore shook her head. "You're patient." she insisted, continuing her argument. "You know how to interact with kids, and are taking it slowly, and keeping Leon in check quite well. I don't know if I could do that."

I shake my head. 'I think you'd be a great teacher if you put your head into it. And I'm sure Servante could if he wanted to'

Lenore gives me a piercing look. "You really are like a real noble you know that?" she said, feeding me a backhanded compliment as well.

I verbally chuckle.

'Well, one learns that to deal with nobles, it is best to talk like them.'

"I doubt they'd let someone with no power talk to them like that."

'If you're better at it than them, then they'll never pick up on it, or they'll figure you're too stupid to realize it. '

Backhanded compliments are always more fun if they think they've been unintentionally insulted, and can't take offense without looking overreactive.

Lenore nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." she said thoughtfully.

The air between them got awkward for a second.

Lenore broke the silence first.

"I wish I could do something for Willow." she said, as she said, the burden present in her words.

'And you have, allowing me teach her some language and magic.'

Although she smiles, Lenore seems uncomforted.

Her gaze as she watches the children play on their break time seems burdened.

"When I first saw Willow, I felt so bad for her." she said, watching as they acted out their imaginations.

"An orphan, dirty and unwanted, she was practically a skeleton." she frowned as she recalled that distasteful memory.

"It was infuriating, even though I understood the elves around her wouldn't be comfortable around her, I couldn't help but blame the adults for turning their backs on a child. And the other people who weren't elves, who willfully ignored such children."

'You wanted to help her.'

She nodded. "And we've fed her and helped her. Yet she didn't seem that much happier than before." Sigh. "It's not like I don't know why."

I nod. 'The no interaction rule.' I snort disdainfully, without hesitation.

Lenore shoots me a look. "Don't say that in front of Servante again." she warned. "He's very much a by the books kind of guy, doesn't like people who break rules."

I retort. 'Bad rules are meant to be broken, especially when they tell you to isolate children. '

"It's meant to prevent the influence of the other noble families from corrupting the children."

'If the royal family cannot prevent infiltrators from breaking into their order, then there is more to worry about than brainwashing children.'

She rolled her eyes. "It's not that simple." she protested.

'It is that simple. The child needs help, and you've ignored her, ignoring the natural rule of the older caring for the younger.'

"Are you suggesting that I ignore the long-held rules and traditions of the elven kingdom?"

'Long held does not mean correct, merely that it is old and meant to be replaced. Make stupid rules...'

"I can't believe a turtle is telling me to break the rules." she said exasperatedly, yet she seemed a bit more upbeat than before.

'I'm a talking turtle monster who knows multiple dialects as well as human fundamentals of magic.' I point out. 'I'm a walking rule breaker.' I jokingly respond.

She laughs. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wanted to get it off my chest. Despite being a turtle, you feel really reliable, really sturdy."

'Tough shell, after all. I would hope I'm tough and sturdy'

"All right, all right, you can stop with the turtle jokes. I just wanted to talk to someone about it, and Servante is, you know?"

'A prude. As men would say, he has a stick up his ass.'

Lenore chuckled, as she gave Earl a grateful glance. "Thanks, that makes me feel better." she said as she went over to the kids to call them back onto the cart.

Earl mused as he watched her get ready to leave.

After observing both Servante and Lenore, he had deducted that she wasn't a bad person and neither was Servante, both were just simply following the rules they had been taught to enforce.

It was disappointing that he could only teach Willow so little, but there was hope that Willow would gain life by traveling through the empire, and see new things, experience new things, and develop her own views, the rules of the old be damned.

He never appreciated it when nobles harmed and brought others low for their own benefit, and did his best to avoid such poor actions, and condemned those who openly did so.

Hey...

Come to think of it, maybe that was why he got assassinated? He was an avid protestor for commoner's rights. That might've gotten him a good deal of undesirable attention.

Not like his cousin could've pulled all that off on his own, not without backing.

Oh well. Too late for that.

As long as he remained within certain limits and avoided stepping on too many toes when teaching Willow, nothing bad will come of it by the years end.

---

Willow was catching up and by the fifth day, she had learned all the basic sounds associated with the basic lettering, something I was thankful for. She seems to be a rather quick learner, though that may also have been an effect of having to be quick on her feet and learning how to survive on the streets without any support.

The trip to skip town was going well enough, with no active interference up to this point.

So they were settling down for lunch, to allow the kids to play.

Servante insisted that they speed up, and hurry along to the town, but I insisted that we slow down. Even if the carriage lacks the issues a normal carriage has, kids will get bored locked up all day, and with Lenore's aid, we managed to convince him to sit down for a meal.

So, we were settled for a meal.

Stew, using the meat of a normal deer Lenore had managed to catch.

While we were eating,

Rustle

something stirred the grass.

Immediately, we were ready, with Servante immediately moving the kids behind him and Lenore moving closer to the front of the danger.

I also prepared, standing there. Not much for me to prepare.

"Show yourself!" Lenore demanded as she aimed her blade at the bush, a saber from what he could tell.

A green creature came out of the grass, taller than the children, but still shorter than the elves.

Despite the normal clothes it wore, and the hair that adorned its head, I undoubtedly knew what it was.

A goblin. A lost less ugly than usual, and a lot less wrinkled, with sharper eyes for sure, but a goblin, nonetheless.

It had carefully raised its hands as it entered the clearing and shivered under the sharp gaze of the two elven guards.

"Greetings!" it rasped, desperately trying to put up a friendly front.

'Put your weapons down.' I said to the two, causing Servante and Lenore to look at me in confusion.

"It's a goblin." Lenore pointed out, and Servante nodded. The goblin's eyes widened at that, looking at me with newfound appreciation.

"A talking one, but a goblin nonetheless." he said, pointing out the obvious.

"Rude!" the goblin retorts, only to be threatened with a blade for his outburst.

I can't help but roll my eyes at the importance of that statement.

'Yes, he talked. And has hair. And wears custom tailored clothing.'

"He could've stolen it!" Argued Lenore.

'... Do you not know what a sapient goblin is?'

"...A what now?"

"Nope"

... Are they stupid?

How do they not know what a sapient goblin is?