"Of course, I learned it while attending classes at school."
"Do they teach that kind of stuff in school?" It's a bit sad to say this, but Mira never went to school.
Not just her, there are many people in the guild who never attended school properly.
For literacy, it mainly depends on elders to teach it; some learned at home while their parents were still around, some learned after joining the guild, and others learned at church.
Natsu is probably the most impressive; he said Igneru taught him how to write.
But when he got to the guild, he found the script different from what he learned, and Erza had to press his head down and reteach him.
Rhode once suspected that dragons might have their own language and writing, but Natsu said the language was the same; it was just the script that differed.
Sadly, seven years have passed, and even if he were to write now, he couldn't do it anymore.
Now Magnolia has magic classrooms and regular schools, but it seems they're not very widespread.
Everyone thinks that as long as you can recognize words and do simple arithmetic, that's enough. There are some who want to learn more magical knowledge, but very few are committed to becoming scholars.
Like Reby, who especially loves reading and has profound knowledge, probably seems like an oddity in the eyes of ordinary people.
Mira learned to read and do arithmetic from her parents before they passed away, and she also taught Elfman and Lisana for a while.
The three siblings never went to school, so Mira isn't sure if schools have the kind of courses Rhode mentioned.
Her knowledge about personal health was gradually self-taught and involved incidents she doesn't like to recall, thinking she might die.
Rhode thought of many things and suddenly felt a bit sorry for her, and then also for the guildmates.
"At the schools where I'm from, they do teach it, probably around the age of twelve or thirteen..."
At twelve or thirteen, Mira was already working hard to make a living with her younger siblings.
Suddenly, Rhode hugged Mira. For someone like him, who never worried about a livelihood or went hungry, it's hard to imagine how much hardship Mira endured from an early age.
"Why all of a sudden?" Mira wondered if she misread the situation, as she seemed to see affection in his eyes.
"In the future..." Rhode wanted to say, "In the future, I'll take good care of you," but he changed it to, "I'll tell you more about my life in the future."
Mira placed her hand on Rhode's shoulder: "I thought you didn't want to talk about the past."
Rhode nuzzled her hair: "Now I want to share it with you."
Mira nodded gently: "Okay."
First, falling for someone, wanting to know more about her, and then wanting her to know more about himself. Rhode didn't know if this was normal or if something was out of order.
Anyway, it didn't seem to matter to either of them now.
No, it did seem to matter; Mira's mood seemed to have improved.
...
They've taken ferries, horse carriages, river crabs, and raced magic four-wheeled vehicles together, but it seemed this was their first time taking a train ride together.
The train here seemed to always have extra capacity; anyway, in Rhode's few experiences riding trains, he never saw a fully occupied carriage.
Logically, the railway company should cut a carriage or two, but one wonders what the operators are thinking; aren't they afraid of going bankrupt?
However, that's not something Rhode can worry about. Having a spacious carriage is nice too; he can cozy up with Mira and enjoy the scenery.
When tired of watching, he lay on her lap to see the view.
You could tell Mira was indeed in a good mood because before they left, she specifically changed into the first outfit Rhode had picked for her.
A white off-shoulder T-shirt, with a knot on the side making it a crop top that exposes her waist.
She wore blue denim shorts, with a white belt that seemed decorative, hanging loosely without actually keeping the shorts up.
Rhode lay on his side, reaching over to touch Mira's emblem but got his hand slapped away, so he switched to rubbing her belly instead.
No one was watching anyway, so Mira let him be because it felt nice.
As a return gesture, she kept twirling Rhode's head around.
Rhode thought that wasn't a return gesture but a cost he had to pay.
In the latter half of the journey, the two switched positions, with Rhode now playing with the little ponytail on her head, occasionally taking off the small rubber band and putting it back to practice his skills.
With that position, Mira lying down was fine, but side-lying seemed quite something else.
Therefore, Rhode took out the task files; right in front of beauty was a good chance to train his willpower. Perhaps after passing this test, his spiritual power would rise significantly...
That's nonsense; mainly, he didn't dare to relax too much.
Although last time wasn't due to negligence, this time they also couldn't afford to be careless.
"Violet Town, they say the scenery there is as beautiful as its name... and so are the girls. Ow... don't pinch me, that's what some uncle in the guild who went there said."
Rhode rubbed his waist and continued, "That might be why it's being targeted. Crime syndicates kidnap underage girls for 'grooming,' then sell them overseas."
Mira got serious too; she had already seen the basic information, now reviewing the key parts Rhode marked.
Rhode pointed to a simple map line: "There's a main road in Violet Town that leads straight to the port, and at full speed by carriage, it only takes two hours to get the girls to a ship, after which they can't be found."
Mira nodded: "Plus, such ships might not blatantly dock at the port; we can't wait for them to come."
"With such a long southern coastline, we also can't watch over so many places at the same time; we can't possibly lay worms all along the coast to bite any ship they see."
"We can only wait in Violet Town for them to repeat their crime, but we can't just watch children get taken; we must capture and interrogate them after."
Mira flashed her Devil Hand briefly, then retracted it; she didn't mind briefly becoming a demon to deal with such people.
Rhode frowned: "But... there's no guarantee we'd get accurate information that way; running into tough nuts that alert them would be troublesome."
Mira pondered and said, "So the best way is to find a little girl who isn't afraid of danger to let them take, so we can follow."
Fishing with law enforcement... Rhode first thought of Wendy but quickly dismissed it.
The kid had said she wasn't good at combat, and if she got hurt, Rhode would feel guilty for a long time.
"I mean..." Mira waved, her form transformed, suddenly becoming much smaller.
High ponytail, big ribbon, with a deliberately pitiful expression: "Big brother, can I be the bait?"
"This is how you looked when you were younger..."
Mira made a playful face: "So, would anyone want to kidnap me?"
Rhode said honestly: "I want to kidnap you right now."
Mira feigned a frightened expression: "So scary, big brother, will you protect me?"
Now he wanted even more to abduct her.
Rhode sighed: "If you keep acting, I'll get taken away by the security team once we get off the train."