Chapter 111 - Teacher

Eh?...

Erin can so easily tell when someone is lying. How are people confusing to her then?

I scratched the back of my head.

"People are pretty weird... but if you can predict what they are doing, doesn't that mean you understand them?"

Erin giggled and poked me in the forehead.

"I can't just predict everything!"

She raised her hands in the air.

"The only thing I can see are some signals. That's hardly enough to understand anything!"

I lightly rubbed the spot on my forehead Erin poked me in.

"Haha, I guess people are kinda complex. How are you even supposed to know what to do!"

Erin rolled her eyes.

"Of course, how could you not understand that?"

She poked me in the chest, making me wonder when she got into the habit of poking people so much.

Erin looked deeply into my eyes.

"I mean, shouldn't that already be obvious from how little people understand themselves?"

I furrowed my brows.

"Eh? How can people not understand themselves?"

Erin giggled mischievously

"Oh, so do you understand yourself?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well of cour-"

I cut myself off. The memories of... when I first drank some beer came back to me. Just moments before, I thought I was doing fine, then came a breakdown.

It was as though my mind was lying to myself. So that the truth wasn't visible to me.

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"Ah."

Erin tilted her head to the side with a smug, but cute smile.

"Looks like you understand now."

An awkward laugh escaped me.

"Well... yeah."

Erin stood up to give me two firm pats on the head.

"There's not too much of a point in overthinking it. Just try your best, and that will be good enough!"

I sighed softly and scratched the back of my head.

"But how am I supposed to know how people are?"

Erin shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh, you never really do get to understand them. If you haven't been through what they have, there will always be something you won't really understand."

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"Haha, maybe if I just experience everything I will understand?"

Erin pointed her index finger at my face, swinging it around frantically.

"No! People take experiences differently because of what happened in their past! In the end, you won't be able to understand them."

I scratched the side of my cheek with my index finger.

"...Eh? Then what am I supposed to do?"

Erin put her hands on her sides and stuck out her elbows like a mother lecturing their kid, just without all the maturity. She puffed up her cheeks.

"You don't have to understand in the first place! You care so much about understanding, that you forgot about what really matters!"

My eyes widened in surprise.

"Ah! What is that?"

Erin pouted and pressed the tips of her fingers together.

"Just be a little nicer to people. Understanding does nothing while caring comforts the broken heart!"

I gasped in enlightenment and hurriedly nodded.

"Ooh! That makes so much sense, your wisdom is like, so much greater than mine!"

Erin giggled and poked me in the cheek like it wasn't actually part of me, but some putty.

"Give yourself some more credit! You are willing to ask questions and learn, that means you are already quite wisdomous!"

The side of my face twitched.

...Was wisdomous a word?

I coughed awkwardly, trying not to think about it too much.

"Haha, thank you."

Erin nodded and gave an approving hum.

I looked around the room, which was empty save, me and Erin.

"Say, where are Ned and Alyx?"

Erin tilted her head to the side.

"Um, Ned said he had something to do and went outside. He seemed a little nervous about something, but wouldn't tell me what it was. As for Alyx, she wanted to study her spells alone, so I gave her some space."

I blinked a few times.

"Eh? Why would Ned need to go outside?"

Erin shrugged her shoulders.

"He wouldn't say, so I just let him go."

I scratched the back of my head.

"Ah, well alright then. I'm going to continue memorizing this spell."

My attention was once again placed on the paper in front of me, but before I could do anything, Erin grabbed my arm with both hands.

I looked back at Erin, a little confused.

"Er... what is it?"

Erin pouted.

"I'm bored!"

I nodded.

"I see."

Then, turned back to look at the spell.

Erin shook my arm up and down.

"Come on! How can you so heartlessly turn away like that!"

The corner of my lip twitched.

"...But I don't know how to deal with boredom!"

Erin hummed with dissatisfaction.

"What do you mean? It's so boring to have to stay here all the time! How have you not dealt with it!"

I tilted my head to the side and pointed at the spell in front of me.

"Well, there's always something new when I look at this thing."

Erin pouted and flailed her arms around.

"But that's even worse! It's so hard to understand it all and really just hurts my head!"

I smiled bitterly.

"Um... there have to be some other things you can do, right?"

Erin dejectedly hunched over in her seat.

"But there's so little to do in the palace! Maybe it's big, but not that big!"

I blinked a few times.

"You've gone to every corner?"

Erin nodded.

"Yes! I went to the places I could go, I went to the places I wasn't supposed to go."

My eyelid twitched.

"Eh?"

Erin coughed awkwardly.

"I went into one of the maid's rooms as she was changing. She was not happy with me."

I looked at Erin in silence.

I opened my mouth, but closed it soon after.

Erin shook her head.

"Anyway, I went everywhere and tried everything! Even the indoor hot spring!"

I gasped.

"Ah, that sounds nice."

Erin was still seated in the chair, but flailed her arms around and kicked her feet.

"It's boring! So boring!"

An awkward smile emerged on my face.

"Then how about outside the palace?"

Erin hummed sadly.

"But... I can't leave the palace."

I tilted my head to the side.

"Eh? Why is that?"

Erin angrily shook a fist in front of my face.

"Don't you remember the whole reason we stopped going to magic school?"

I raised my hands as though to surrender.

"Ah, yes, yes! But you can still go outside, right?"

Erin sighed softly.

"No... there's almost always someone outside, waiting for me. At least they won't go into the palace."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Waiting? They could be waiting for anything, no?"

Erin pouted and shook her head.

"It's different."

I scratched the side of my cheek with my index finger.

"Um, how so?"

Erin hugged herself as though trying to protect herself from a chill.

"The way they look at the palace. I can tell they want something."

She clenched her fists.

"And the thing they want is me."

I couldn't help but recall the three boys who were trying so hard to talk to Erin.

...Well, two boys now.

Although they were less than respectable people, they didn't strike me as the kind that would watch over the palace the entire time.

This made me doubt Erin a little, but I decided to take her word for it.

"I guess there really isn't anything to do..."

Erin raised her hands in the air excitedly.

"Yeah!"

I scratched the back of my head.

"But I really don't know what to do."

Erin pouted.

"Um... we can play duck, duck, goose!"

The corner of my lip twitched.

"But the person you choose to run with will always be the same and there won't even be a circle to run around."

Erin angrily puffed her cheeks and poked my side.

"Then you come up with something!"

I chuckled and tried to think of something.

...But the only thing that came to mind was memorizing more spells.

I cleared my throat.

"How about learning spells?"

Erin grabbed my arm and shook it around.

"Ehhhhh?"

I raised my free hand up.

"Wait, hear me out!"

Erin stopped, but was glaring at me.

I raised my forefinger in the air.

"What if I taught you?"

Erin puffed up her cheeks.

"I'm just not good at learning things."

I chuckled.

"Oh come on, what have you learned so far?"

Erin pouted.

"All of the simple spells with only one circle."

I nodded.

"Ah, only all of the foundational spells.

Suddenly, I froze.

"...Wait, you learned all the foundational spells already?"

Erin tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, I just can't do anything more than that."

...That meant she averaged several spells learned each day.

I decided to pretend this fact didn't exist.

After choking a little, I formed a coherent sentence.

"Maybe you just needed someone to teach you?"

Erin hummed.

"...You did teach me how to cast the earth spell."

She nodded.

"Ok!"