The Meaning of the Pact

“I told you I don’t need it!”

“I… won’t listen!”

“This…!”

Theodore glared at Leon, bristling. Leon didn’t care whether Theodore did or didn’t.

He wasn’t trying to help Theodore because he liked him anyway.

If I help this guy like last time, Sian will praise me again? Leon smiled, feeling good just imagining it.

Theodore glared at Leon, grinding his teeth.

“Alright, you two. Come here.”

“……!”

“……!”

Before a full-blown fight could break out, Sian, who was standing apart, approached and called the children, clapping his hands. Theodore and Leon’s bodies flinched.

From today on, Leon was going to be educated as well. But beastmen were a race that found it difficult to receive general ‘education’.

Before humanization, beastmen learned how to live as animals from their parents.

They did receive some education after humanization. But that was different from general education.

The illiteracy rate of the Beastman Kingdom was enormous, with most beastmen not knowing how to read and write the Imperial language, even their parents.

So Sian decided not to expect much from Leon.

The goal was just to teach him to read and write the Imperial language at a basic level.

Actually, Leon in the original work couldn’t even do that much. Sian looked at Leon with a smiling face.

“Here, take this.”

“……?”

Leon received what Sian was handing him with a puzzled expression.

When he looked, it was a very thin book. Question marks kept popping up above Leon’s head.

“A book…?”

“It’s a textbook for the Imperial language.”

“A textbook…?”

“Yes.”

But Sian didn’t know yet. How much time it would take for Leon to completely master this thin children’s textbook. So, for now, he could only smile softly.

“First, you have to learn the letters. Follow and write the letters in that textbook. Today… shall we learn just five?”

“Uhm…”

There are over thirty basic letters used to write the Imperial language.

If you add the letters used only between nobles, there are more than fifty.

Theodore was already familiar with the basic letters and was learning the noble language, but Leon didn’t have to go that far.

But there were quite a lot of basic letters, so it would take a long time just to learn them all.

So, he thought it would be best not to be greedy from the first day, to learn five first, then review them the next day, then ten, then fifteen… In this way, he thought it would be good to memorize them in order.

“The shapes… are strange.”

“Yes, they’re squiggly and look like worms, right?”

“Worms…”

You shouldn’t make them think learning letters is difficult when you first teach them.

The Imperial language, in particular, was a more geometric and complex language than English, which was considered difficult to learn in the first place in Korea.

The clever Theodore memorized everything as he was taught without any problems, but Leon wouldn’t be able to, so it would be better to make him feel as familiar as possible. Sian taught Leon the letters as if it were a game.

“Theo, you’re going to study with this textbook from today.”

“……Yes.”

“……?”

While Sian was teaching Leon, Theodore was reviewing what he had learned in the previous lesson.

Sian, who was looking at Theodore’s somewhat dark and downcast face, recalled a conversation they had had a while ago.

[Is that child going to be Sian’s disciple too?]

[Who? You mean Leon?]

[Yes.]

[Uhm…]

Theodore asked with a very serious face. Actually, Sian didn’t take that question seriously at the time. So, he answered with a light heart.

“Leon… It would be a bit difficult to take him as a disciple.”

…….

Because the recognition of master and disciple was vague for a free-spirited beastman, and he was highly unlikely to play the role of a ‘master’ in the general sense for Leon. He was just going to teach Leon with the obligation to protect him.

……?

But somehow, Theodore looked relieved at that time. Sian felt somewhat puzzled, but he didn’t think too deeply.

He just thought he was excited to study with a child he was staying with.

“Do you want to study with Leon? Hmm, but there’s a big difference in your progress…”

“No, it’s not like that. Just…”

“Just?”

Theodore, hesitating a little, parted his lips. The peach-colored cheeks, showing a shy expression, were particularly striking.

“You said I was the only disciple, Sian-nim. I wanted to know if that was true.”

“Ah…”

Now that he thought about it, he had said that.

When he first asked Theodore if he wanted to become his disciple, Theodore had asked if he was truly his only disciple.

And Sian had answered yes. He had even said that it would be like that in the future.

At that time, he hadn’t thought there would be a madman who would become a disciple of the evil dragon, so he answered like that, but Sian hadn’t expected Leon as a variable either.

But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t take a beastman as a disciple.

Anyway, it had been over a year, and he still remembered.

He wouldn’t have known, if he were Sian the dragon, but Theodore was an ordinary human.

Was this the memory of a genius? Remembering the events of that time, Sian looked down at Theodore.

“Theo, were there any difficulties while reviewing?”

“No.”

“……?”

But why was his expression so gloomy? Sian, feeling puzzled, received the notes that Theodore had written while reviewing.

While teaching Leon, Theodore had been asked to solve the note exam questions first.

Sian thought that Theodore’s expression was gloomy because the questions were difficult.

But the answers written by Theodore were all perfect.

The handwriting was also fluent as usual, and there was no difficulty, so there was no trace of struggling.

Of course. Because Theodore, a genius, never forgot anything that he was taught once.

Sian tilted his head for a moment and then opened the textbook.

“Today, let’s study the Imperial language, Theodore.”

“Yes.”

“……?”

But as soon as the class began, Theodore’s face began to regain its vitality.

Sian felt puzzled again, wondering if the dark expression for a moment was a mistake.

“…So, you have to use this expression only in a limited situation. Do you understand? For example…”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Even though it was the same Imperial language class, the progress of Theodore and Leon was clearly different.

The words Theodore was learning from today were high-level vocabulary that only nobles could use.

If he mastered this part perfectly, he would be able to prevent the nobles from looking down on Theodore in high society.

Theodore was a child who would become the emperor of the Kailos Empire.

Therefore, he had to learn these advanced vocabularies.

Although the Outer Chamber and Inchamber, where the Kailos Empire was located, had been cut off from exchanges for a long time, the language was the same in the novel, so it was fortunate.

However, these subtle noble languages might be a bit different.

Well, Theodore was smart, so he would be good at acting according to the situation in Inchamber.

What was important was the adventure in the Outer Chamber, which would come soon.

Sian taught Theodore diligently today, thinking so.

“Leon, have you memorized all the letters?”

“Ugh…!”

“Let’s see.”

“……”

Near the end of Theodore’s class, Sian approached Leon, who was groaning some distance away.

Leon was startled when Sian came close and pulled the textbook and notebook towards him.

However, Leon’s small rebellion was easily broken by Sian’s gesture.

Sian, looking alternately at the textbook and notebook he had received from Leon, frowned.

“Hmm…?”

He had at least pretended to copy the letters in the beginning of the textbook, but from then on it was a mess.

He hadn’t copied the letters at all and had only drawn strange doodles.

Was this… a slime? It was somewhat distorted, but it seemed like he had drawn a slime.

“……Leon.”

“Ugh…”

“Huu…”

When he looked down quietly, Leon couldn’t say anything and bowed his head.

He seemed to be feeling guilty because he had done so much fooling around.

‘Well… I should have expected this much.’

He had thought teaching a beastman from the start would be difficult.

But he didn’t know it would be this much. Sian sighed deeply in his heart.

At this rate, he would barely learn one letter a day.

There were dozens of basic letters to be learned, and there were also many words and vocabularies to be used with them, but he couldn’t waste time learning the basic letters.

He had to teach them before the two went on an adventure.

“Leon, if you memorize all these letters today, I will give you chocolate.”

“Choco…!”

“Yes. You always eat only two, but you’ll get five today.”

“……!”

Leon’s eyes widened at the explosive number.

He had only allowed him to eat chocolate freely on the first day, and after that, he had limited the number because it would cause cavities.

In fact, Leon had even developed a slight frustration because he liked chocolate so much.

‘Choco…! Five chocolates…!’

So Leon later ignited a fierce passion for learning.

Beastmen extremely disliked learning and memorizing anything other than instinctive actions, but they were also blindly devoted to what they liked.

Especially Leon had the personality of seeing the end if he was into something in the original work.

And Sian knew his personality very well.

“Are you going to work hard?”

“Yes…!”

Leon, whose eyes sparkled, changed his attitude clearly. Sian looked down at Leon, writing the letters, with a pleased face.

It looked so cute that he was writing crookedly with his small hands.

“Teacher!”

“Yes?”

“I… don’t know this one.”

“……?”

Sian thought it was impossible, but he approached Theodore. There couldn’t be a part he didn’t know for Theodore, who learned ten things when he taught him one.

But perhaps there was a part where the explanation was insufficient.

Sian calmly stared at the part that Theodore pointed to.

“You… don’t know this?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“……?”

The part that Theodore pointed to was not that difficult.

It was a part that Theodore could understand right away if he read it once without even having to be told. But he didn’t know?

Sian was silent for a moment and then opened his mouth.