"So, we have two days to make Lady Eris respect me and want to learn magic, reading, and mathematics of her own accord," Rudeus concluded.
Hearing that, I nodded. "Yeah, all three of those things are what Eris hates the most."
It wasn't for no reason that no tutor had succeeded in educating Eris for quite some time. After all, they were handed the hardest job. Unlike me, who "volunteered" for the position of "punching bag," so the Boreas young lady had no objections.
So this challenge for Rudeus seemed much harder than my case.
"I've tried tempting her with delicious food and sweet words a few times, but no result," I added. "She says if she needs to read or do math, she can just hire a servant to do it."
And actually, I used to think that made sense too. Until I genuinely started worrying about Eris's future.
"If even someone the young lady truly likes, such as yourself can't get through to her then it's tough."
"Let me repeat, there is absolutely nothing going on between Lady Eris and me."
"Alright, I'll believe you for now." No, he didn't believe a damn thing. "But I think I know how to make the young lady want to learn on her own."
I felt a bit uneasy. But in the end, I let my curiosity win. "What's your plan?"
"Make those things something the young lady thinks she 'absolutely must know.'"
Roughly speaking, Rudeus's idea was to turn the remaining two days of the trip into a series of days where Eris would realize how inconvenient it was not knowing how to read, write, do math, or use magic, and change her mind to demand Rudeus teach her.
In short, what I should do now is trust in Rudeus.
…
Basically, convincing Eris to go out in the morning with us was quite easy. I just had to go to her room and say, 'Well, since we're here, let's go play,' and Eris's eyes lit up, brimming with energy.
When I mentioned hanging out with Rudeus and Sylphiette, she let out a rather disappointed 'oh' but agreed to come along. Of course, she didn't forget to fire off a chilling warning:
"If I get bored, I'll punch both you and that mage. And you are forbidden from dodging."
Well, challenge accepted.
Breakfast afterward was quite peaceful. Mostly it was Paul recounting his exploits back when he was an adventurer, trying to show off to attract Zenith's attention. In the end, the only one paying attention was Eris. If she had a tail like the beast race, it would probably be wagging non-stop.
From what I noticed, Zenith seemed to be a follower of Millis, so initially, I was surprised she accepted a husband with two wives like this. After the 'incident' where Paul got the maid Lilia pregnant, Zenith became visibly colder toward Paul. I heard they don't even sleep together anymore; basically, separated but living under the same roof. I think that was letting him off easy; if it were someone like Isolde, she probably would have chopped him into several pieces or at least left the house.
Speaking of children, I also got to meet Norn - Zenith's daughter, and Aisha - Lilia the maid's daughter. Both children were very adorable. Their skin was soft too; it felt really nice to touch. Looking at them made me want to grow up quickly to get a wife and have a brood of children like that.
After breakfast, Eris, Rudeus, and I left the house intending to go to the big tree to carry out our 'operation.' On the way, we met Sylphiette. That girl seemed worried about me and Eris, so she kept clinging to Rudeus. Occasionally, the green-haired elf would glance back, worried if Eris would suddenly attack like yesterday. From what Paul and Rudeus had said, Sylphiette had been bullied a lot because of her hair color, so such timidity and caution toward outsiders were understandable.
Surely, if we're talking about bullying, there must be a reason, right? An ordinary person looking in would be curious why such a lovely girl would be bullied. Normally, one would cherish and adore her to no end. Well, the answer is racism.
Not because she's an elf.
Elves, dwarves, hobbits, or beastfolk are races generally accepted in most human nations, and specifically in Asura. Only the demon race is discriminated against in this Asura Kingdom and many other places.
Because the demon race was humanity's enemy in the Human-Demon War with Laplace over 400 years ago and a few wars before that. Since then, humanity has been somewhat wary of the demon race's existence. Even though demons occasionally appear here and there and aren't hunted down thanks to a certain treaty between two races. But the discrimination is still there. Rudeus also mentioned his master was a demon, which is why she could be a legal loli, and it seems she also faced quite a few difficulties due to discrimination.
So what about Sylphy's case—a girl who is clearly a half-elf, with a purebred elf father and a mother who is a mix of beastfolk and human; why is she discriminated against like a demon?
It's because of her hair color as I said before.
Hair color is the basic thing to distinguish which race or region people belong to. Like silver hair and golden eyes being a characteristic of the Dragon Tribe; usually, humans or other species won't have such an appearance. This is the exact reason why wherever I go, I'm rumored to be of the Dragon Tribe even though I am clearly 100% human; it's truly unjust.
And it seems Sylphiette faces a similar situation. She has emerald green hair—a characteristic color found only in the demon race, and more specifically, the Superd race.
Yeah, the race that went crazy slaughtering friend and foe alike while serving under Laplace. So naturally, Sylphiette was seen as a demon, bullied and shunned by the other kids in the village.
Though honestly, if Sylphiette were really a Superd, bullying her would be an indescribably stupid act. Who would go bully a child belonging to a race with terrifying combat power and schizophrenia? If it were me, I'd be running for my life.
Ah, I forgot, those kids are genuine brats. They aren't smart enough to realize the problem.
Although we seem to have a similar situation of bearing the appearance of a species different from our true origin, it seems Sylphiette and I aren't very alike. I was born looking quite like any other Notos family member, brown hair, green eyes. Yet after the rescue of Tristina, my color changed. While it seems Sylphiette was born with green hair.
Many people thought it was just natural luck of the draw. But according to Master Reida, nothing happens 'naturally' like that, so I'm a bit curious if there's a special reason behind my and Sylphiette's cases.
I discussed this with Rudeus last night, and he didn't seem to know either. And according to Rudeus, aside from her special hair color, Sylphiette isn't anything too extraordinary. She has long ears of the elf, develops with height and weight like any other child, and has no super strength or special abilities of the Superd race.
While I don't have anything special of the Dragon Tribe either. If anything, maybe just a slightly magical environmental perception ability.
Or is it simply a recessive gene suddenly surfacing? I'm not well-versed in genetics, so I have no idea.
"If there must be something I have to say, Sylphy is very super cute as an ideal wife." - He said that and it made me really concerned about their relationship.
I also talked to Eris about Sylphiette's hair. The young lady seemed not to care at all about the existence of the elf girl; when I mentioned 'that green-haired elf from yesterday,' Eris was like 'who?'.
So I told Eris if she sees anyone with green hair, don't panic. She nodded.
But it seems that wasn't enough; the result was Eris still staring intently at Sylphiette. So now the two girls just kept looking at each other all morning, one wary, the other afraid, even though both were equally harmless.
Ah no, Eris is not harmless. And Sylphiette isn't as weak as she looks either. These two are strong and scary as heck!
Come to think of it, looking at these two girls is like Bulbasaur and Charmander. Since I'm holding Charmander, I must be Green, and Rudeus is Red. And we are about to have a pokemon battle.
"..."
Starting to think nonsense again, let's focus on the matter at hand.
So I looked over at Rudeus, winking to communicate.
"What now?"
Rudeus winked back. "Stick to the plan."
And we moved according to the plan. Rudeus led the way, followed by Sylphiette, then me blocking between the elf girl and the Boreas young lady.
…
Upon arriving at the big tree where Rudeus and Sylphiette's group usually hung out, Rudeus immediately turned around and performed a noble's greeting.
"Yesterday was just a misunderstanding, so let's start over today. My name is Rudeus, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Hearing that, I immediately greeted him too. "Hello Rudeus, very pleased to meet you. My name is Atur. And this lovely elf with hair as beautiful as the color of the forest is…?"
I intentionally mentioned Sylphiette's hair color and praised it. This was Rudeus's suggestion to make us less awkward and easier to make friends. Of course, he also threatened that if I had any intentions toward his 'future wife,' our one-day friendship would end right there.
"Ah, I… yesterday already…"
Sylphiette seemed confused by this greeting. Understandable, she had introduced herself yesterday, so having to say it again was weird. But it seems this friend also understood the situation, so she immediately continued.
"I am Sylphiette…"
"Wow, beautiful name, just like-" I didn't finish my sentence before feeling killing intent from Rudeus, so I stopped my usual flirting mode and switched to healthy socializing mode. "Hello Sylphiette. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Then I shifted my gaze to Eris, with a beaming smile. "Milady, please introduce yourself."
"Tch." Eris clicked her tongue, arms crossed in dissatisfaction, but reluctantly grabbed the sides of her skirt and curtsied slightly. "I am Eris Boreas Greyrat."
She had absolutely no intention of hiding a bit of her annoyance or cracking a smile. It seems my etiquette lessons recently have gone down the drain.
"Stop beating around the bush." Eris ran out of patience immediately after. "Whatever tricks you're planning, just do it."
"Come on, we're not planning any tricks." I said with a smile, but my expression probably looked no different from a shady merchant luring a customer. "Just planning to play together, right guys?"
"Right, right!" Rudeus nodded furiously. "Atur and I came up with this game last night, it's really fun. Hope you like it."
Rudeus took out two pieces of wood carved into the shape of a short paddle, along with a few soapberry fruits.
We were about to play hanetsuki—traditional Japanese badminton.
Why hanetsuki? How does that help with learning? Everyone must be thinking that.
Right, this game has zero value in learning, surprise! But that was a very 'sophisticated' plan (hopefully) of mine and Rudeus. Specifically, the conversation last night went like this:
"We will use the 'Amadare ishi wo ugatsu' (constant dripping wears away the stone) method as you did," Rudeus said, his index finger making a motion of pushing up glasses even though there were no glasses. "If it was effective, it means we should continue applying it."
"It's been a while since I heard a Japanese idiom." I chuckled. "But what do you mean by 'as I did'?"
"Well, as you said, you won the young lady's maiden heart through sword training and cooking for her, right? Then we will recreate that."
"I don't think you should sword fight with Eris."
"I don't intend to either." Rudeus shrugged. "I mean I will play with the young lady like a child and become her friend."
"Aha!" I clapped my hands together with a 'slap.' "So at the end of two days, Eris will say 'I'm only going back with my friend,' and then you're hired."
"Exactly." Rudeus nodded with a triumphant smile. "Then I will capture the young lady's heart."
…
Anyway, that's how it happened. Minus the 'capturing the heart' part, I supported it. After all, I felt Eris was a bit too dependent on Ghislaine and me. I always thought a child needs more than one friend; she would become too dependent, potentially causing many problems later if that relationship broke down. It's best to intervene.
Wait, am I thinking exactly like Paul? Though I don't want to admit it, Paul has a point, but I still don't quite accept his methods.
Back to the game. When Rudeus and I demonstrated how to play, Eris's face suddenly became much less grumpy. She immediately ran out, snatched my paddle, and challenged Rudeus.
Result: Eris won. Then she played against me while Rudeus played with Sylphy.
Before long, morning turned into noon. Everyone was sweating profusely. Although it was a bit strange playing a Japanese folk game in another world, it had been a long time since I could truly live like a child. So you could say my mood was quite good. It seemed Rudeus and Sylphy felt the same. Eris was even happier because this was the first time she truly got to play with friends her age.
And more importantly, she won every single match.
"Ha ha! You guys are still too green just like that girl's hair!" Eris boasted with hands on her hips. "This is exactly the power of a swordswoman."
Our original plan was also to let Eris win a lot so she would be happier. Because winning anything is fun, right? When happy, it would be easier to improve relationships.
But honestly, there was no need to go easy; the red-haired young lady was more than capable of destroying the whole group, even taking on both me and Rudeus at once. Truly terrifying. Eris really had a knack for these athletic games; with just a few clumsy hits at the start, she immediately looked like a professional athlete and completely dominated.
But regardless, the first step was a success. Eris was happy, so that was enough.
Ultimately, sitting under the tree eating the food Rudeus had asked Lilia to prepare beforehand, the four of us were immediately able to talk like friends.
"So are we going to play more hanetsuki or whatever later?" Eris asked excitedly. "I'll take on all three of you at once."
"If we keep playing, you'll definitely win." I nodded, conceding, sticking my thumb out; that was the signal to start phase two of the plan. "How about we play another game? Does Rudeus have any other games?"
"Yes! I have this really fun game." That was when Rudeus brought out small wooden sticks with two propeller blades on top. "Hai! Takekoputaa!"
Yep, it's the bamboo copter. Although the material of this item wasn't entirely made of bamboo but another similarly light wood.
Even though this world has magic, unfortunately, we couldn't attach it to our heads and 'fly freely in the sky' (AN's note: quoting lyrics from Doraemon no Uta). Instead, it would be the main toy for another Japanese folk game called Taketombo.
The objective of the game is for children to spin the propellers with their palms and let them fly. Usually, people occasionally compete to see whose copter flies longer or further after being launched. Instead, this time Rudeus and I discussed and decided to change it a bit to fit the otherworld atmosphere.
"The rules are very simple; each team will have a swordsman and a mage. The swordsman will spin the copter to make it fly like this."
Rudeus demonstrated, spinning the small wooden stick in his palms and letting it fly. Eris, seeing something fly with the wind like that for the first time, let out an 'oh.' While Sylphy also twitched her ears.
"After the swordsman releases the copter, the mage will be the one to maintain the copter's flight."
My cousin, who looks nothing like me, created a gust of wind in his palm and shot it out, wrapping around the copter, making it fly higher.
"Each mage of each team will only be able to use a single spell, so depending on the 'strength' of the swordsman and the 'finesse' of the magic, the team whose copter flies longer wins."
Just then, I raised my hand. "But isn't that unfair? A stronger mage would have an advantage. After all, you're a Saint-ranked mage; use a slightly high-level spell, and you'll blow the copter into the sky."
"That's partly true and partly not; high-level magic seems strong, but in this case, not necessarily."
Rudeus spoke while creating a wind ball in his hand and throwing it at the hovering copter. The copter, hit by that magic attack, was knocked away, lost direction, and fell to the ground with a thud.
"You can see that only by using beginner magic can you maintain the copter flying high, so it will be very fair."
Rudeus winked and gave a thumbs up; I gave a thumbs up back. Our coordinated introduction of the game was a success.
Thanks to that cooperation, it seemed both Sylphy and Eris understood the rules.
So what is the reasonable way to divide teams?
Rudeus and I discussed this issue a lot. Finally, we came to the conclusion that the best division would be me pairing with Rudeus. While Sylphy and Eris would be a team.
The reason?
Because Eris wouldn't be happy becoming a team with Rudeus for reasons everyone knows. And Sylphy herself would be shy having to cooperate with another boy because she was bullied too much by boys in the village.
So the only way was to divide by male and female, which was the most logical.
Although Eris and Sylphy might be awkward with each other, at least they had gradually become friendlier after playing hanetsuki. And indeed, both Rudeus and I wanted Eris to befriend Sylphy; as for the reason, I'll explain later.
"Hmph! Thought it was something hard, this game is a piece of cake." Eris declared boldly then turned to Sylphy. "You elf girl! We can't let those two weaklings win, understand?"
"Eh? But… I don't think I can beat Rudy…"
"Can't or not, you must win!" Eris still raised the copter like raising a sword then dragged Sylphiette to the starting line. "Start quickly, you mage!"
"Alright, count to three then start. One two…"
So the game began. Eris and I, each with a copter, spun them up. Perhaps because I was more used to this game since I tested it all last evening, my copter flew a bit higher than Eris's.
"Tch." Eris immediately clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Elf girl! Use magic to show that guy what's what!"
And the second phase of the game also began. Rudeus and Sylphiette didn't need to chant; gusts of wind began to appear in the palms of the two young mages and shot out. Neither had any trouble hitting the target; the two copters were immediately pushed flying higher than initially.
Of course, Rudeus—having also practiced—sent his copter flying significantly higher than Sylphiette's. And that made Eris inevitably frustrated.
To put more fuel into the fire, I start to laugh.
"It seems like we won huh?" I smirked.
"This is the power of boys." Rudeus and I made a high five.
"Grrr!"
Looks like someone wants to kill me huh? But it's part of the plan too.
But that frustration hadn't had time to erupt when the male team's copter wobbled back and forth more and more violently and fell at a higher speed. The distance between the two was getting shorter and shorter.
I could see the focused expressions of both Eris and Sylphiette looking at the two copters. My ears could even hear the thumping of suspense as the distance shortened, but the ground was no longer far away.
And in the end, my and Rudeus's copter hit the ground first, very narrowly.
"We won!" Eris immediately jumped up in joy and hugged Sylphiette tightly. "We won, ha ha!"
"Ah!"
So the female team won even though they were at a disadvantage from start to finish.
"Oh dear Millis, how did we lose?" I pretended to slap my forehead and lament.
Rudeus immediately played along, placing a hand on my shoulder, expressing deep sympathy. "What can you do? Clearly, Sylphy controlled her magic very well."
"Controlled well?" I pretended to ask again.
"Yeah, if you use wind magic well enough and control a whirlwind to hit the propeller base, it will spin more stably."
"Ouch. My head hurts, I don't understand anything." I pretended to hold my head and moan again. I think I would need an Oscar for my acting.
Rudeus patted my shoulder two more times then turned to the green-haired girl, smiling. "Anyway, it's all thanks to Sylphy. You're really good!"
"Really?" Sylphiette, hearing the praise, shyly lowered her flushed face, her ears moving up and down continuously.
Really cute. I wish I could have an elf girlfriend later too.
Meanwhile, Eris's excitement from winning had also faded; she turned to me after hearing the explanation. "So it's all thanks to the elf girl?"
"Yeah." I nodded in confirmation, then began to lie blatantly. "Though I don't understand anything, it seems that's right."
Eris nodded; no matter how stubborn she was, she had begun to listen to reason. Also because of that, my young lady switched to the 'acknowledging others' mode that I occasionally saw Lord Sauros do.
"Alright elf girl! I acknowledge you!" Eris stood with her left hand on her hip, right hand pointing at Sylphiette. "Your name is Sylphiette, right? From now on, I order you to win against those two brats with me."
So Sylphiette was appropriated by Eris. While we two boys smiled an extremely 'villainous' smile.
"Everything is according to plan."
Both of us said in unison and high-fived secretly. What was missing was a black notebook, and we would start writing down the names of all criminals in this world.
Alright, to explain everything, we just need to bring both physics and psychology into it.
How a copter can fly lies in two factors: the propeller's rotation speed and balance. Rotation speed goes without saying; it depends on the strength of the person spinning the copter. Whoever spins harder, it will have a higher rotation speed.
As for balance, one that maintains a vertical falling direction will fly longer. While if the axis of rotation is tilted, it will lose balance and fall faster. Basic physics.
So why did the female team's copter fall more slowly? That lies in how Sylphiette skillfully adjusted the copter to fly vertically, thereby creating the victory, exactly as Rudeus explained.
So why wasn't mine and Rudeus's copter like that? Because we couldn't keep it balanced? Actually no, everything was quite fine; even if not using the exact technique as Sylphiette, our copter wouldn't fly higher than the female team's but would fall flat like Rudeus's initial example.
The real trick lay in our copter itself.
Rudeus and I intentionally attached a little weight to the corner of the propeller on one side to create an imbalance in mass. So the more the propeller spun and the copter hovered, the more it would deviate from the vertical falling direction, thereby making the copter fall faster.
In other words, the result was determined from the beginning.
Everything that happened was just a play staged by two grown men from another world to manipulate others' emotions.
Because we chose this game because there was a high probability (and it actually happened) that our male side would have the advantage initially. And if the rest of the game was simply observation, then seeing the weaker side—which happened to be the side one invested emotions in—win would create a bigger emotional explosion.
This otherworld version of Taketombo combined 'connection' through interacting with the copter and suspenseful observation through watching the copter spin.
Like betting on horse racing. You bet on your favorite horse, see it in last place almost the whole race, then break out and run straight to the finish line like Goldship; you'd burst with joy, right? That is exactly how the psychology of a gambler specifically, and every human when they have 'invested enough emotion,' will work.
And that is also how I successfully planted a seed named 'respect for magic' in Eris's mind.