Is it because my (not really) brother died so vainly in such a short time?
House Zahav's castle had more than enough spare rooms. The room prepared for lessons with Hilda was one that had been remodeled for the purpose.
Screeech.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, a space appeared that was similar in overall structure to my own room but furnished and decorated for study rather than daily living.
Convergent evolution, was it? They say that even different species develop similar traits when living in similar environments.
It seems interior design follows a similar trend. If the purpose is the same, the structure ends up similar too.
What is there to hide? The room remodeled for lessons with Hilda evoked memories of a school classroom from my previous life.
Not a university lecture hall, but more like a middle or high school classroom scaled down for one person.
...How nostalgic.
It was just a vague feeling, but I never expected to suddenly catch a whiff of Earth like this.
Lost in sentiment for only a moment. Was she waiting ahead of time? The woman seated at the room's single spacious desk stood up and looked my way.
Her black hair, tied back simply for ease of movement, swayed. Her straightforward gaze fixed on me.
A refreshingly tall stature. Long, straight limbs. Precise movements. And breasts large enough to seem like they might get in the way of swinging a sword.
The slightly tight ceremonial robes, which would normally just accentuate the cut of the fabric, instead highlighted the wearer's exceptional figure.
As I stared blankly at her, she clenched her right hand into a fist and lightly tapped it against her left chest.
It was knightly etiquette, but... wow. Look at them jiggle.
"Greetings, Young Lord. I am Hilda Hereib, the one assigned to handle your education this time. I serve as vice-captain of the Silver Lion Knights."
"I know. For a second there, I thought this was my room again."
"...I'm honored that you remember."
"Your expression is awfully stiff for someone like that. I heard you volunteered for writing, etiquette, and aura—all of it?"
"That's correct."
"Why? Was a knight's salary not enough? If you need more... you know?"
"We don't have time for idle talk, so let's begin the lesson right away."
"Tch. No fun."
I shrugged and sat at the desk. Hilda, sitting opposite, handed me a sheet of paper she had prepared in advance.
Looking over the paper, I saw rows of unfamiliar symbols made up of straight lines and dots.
I knew these were Imperial script. But beyond that, they were closer to pictures than letters as far as I was concerned.
I skimmed it roughly and looked up. Hilda opened her mouth.
"Lady Karen gave me a rough idea, but... just to confirm once more. You don't know how to read or write at all, you've never learned etiquette since birth, you possess mana but don't know how to refine it into aura, correct?"
"Yeah. So we have to start from the very beginning, step by step."
"...Understood. Then, first, look at the paper I handed you. Ah, you have it upside down. Yes, like that. Today's writing lesson goal is to memorize the characters on that sheet."
"Just that?"
"Yes. All Imperial script is made by combining these basic characters. However, this is just your homework, Young Lord. The actual lesson content is more extensive. Before we dive into the main lesson, I'll give a brief explanation of the origins of Imperial script."
"Origins, huh..."
"Does anything come to mind when you look at the characters I just handed you?"
"Hm."
I stared quietly at the paper. After gazing at it intently for a while, a faint sense of familiarity emerged.
"...These are sword scars?"
"Close. The Empire was founded by the first Emperor, who ended a chaotic era with blood and sword. I'll explain the details during etiquette class later, but due to that history, the Imperial characters were created by the first Emperor incorporating parts of his swordsmanship. Thanks to that, someone discerning like you, Young Lord, can sense them as sword marks or blade trajectories."
Hilda's lesson continued in a very textbook fashion from there.
Explanations to spark interest and aid understanding, time to memorize what language requires rote learning, followed by problems of appropriate difficulty to test and apply it.
...Now I get why Karen assigned Hilda as my teacher.
Hilda might not have the profound knowledge of true experts, but she was incredibly skilled at teaching.
And this is a bit separate, but... the more I learned of Imperial script, the more it felt similar to Hangul from Earth.
Not in appearance, of course. The grammar is the same, it's made by combining basic characters into letters, and those letters combine into words and sentences.
Is this a common trait of constructed languages?
Suddenly, my vow to cause chaos during lessons came to mind, but... I still need to learn to read.
Illiteracy is too embarrassing.
Besides, how much chaos could I really cause just with writing lessons? I decided to save it for the upcoming etiquette class.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Hilda looked at Enoch, who was burying his head in the paper to memorize the basic characters, with a fresh expression of surprise.
Everything in the world has gains and losses.
House Zahav's bloodline generally possessed superior physiques, but they were clumsy when it came to using their heads.
Not that their intelligence was low. It's that they developed a habit of finding thinking bothersome.
This was unavoidable. With such strong bodies, their minds didn't suffer, so they rarely felt hardship.
Their instincts led and intuitions sharpened, so they often got better results with snap judgments.
Perhaps because of that, past patriarchs of House Zahav—unlike most great nobles—had a fairly high illiteracy rate.
...Enoch, with memories of his previous life, was deeply ashamed of his illiteracy, but in truth, it wasn't a major flaw for a noble in the Empire.
A noble's duty is to protect their territory's people, after all.
They don't need to be clever or learn many things. They just need to have clever subordinates.
In that sense, Enoch diligently learning to read while clutching his head was bound to strike Hilda as refreshingly novel.
'He really wanted to learn...?'
Hilda was just as surprised as Karen had been early on.
But this was merely the beginning of the astonishment to come.
'...He seems oddly familiar with it. And pretty adept.'
No matter how basic the writing lesson, studying is studying. Those who've done it before excel, while beginners flounder without knowing how.
That's why even strong motivation doesn't always yield efficiency.
As the daughter of the upstart Hereib family—a new noble house—Hilda, who had to learn all sorts of things to rise in status, knew this well.
Of course. Hadn't she gone through excessive trial and error herself?
Her skill in teaching stemmed from building everything from zero on her own.
Yes. It should have been separate from mere motivation...
Yet Enoch seemed strangely proficient. Anyone would mistake him for someone with over ten years holding a pen.
And from that Zahav bloodline, no less!
...Well, he wasn't truly of Zahav blood to begin with, and he really did have over ten years of study under his belt.
Though much had happened since reincarnation, Enoch remembered his peaceful Earth days vividly because of it.
Thus, he took it as utterly natural, but he was someone who had graduated elementary, middle, high school, and even a decent university.
A model student back on Earth, no less...!
Not that he studied exclusively, but sixteen years of pen-holding carries weight.
In the Empire, sixteen years of study from childhood would already place one in scholar territory.
Unbeknownst to himself, Enoch had let slip something like, 'Ah, this is because I'm from South Korea. I've been through the college entrance exam...'
Even after nearly twenty years in crime-ridden Calypso Territory and being captured by black mage organization, suffering horrors.
His speech had grown rough, but he hadn't veered badly astray. That was why.
Deep-rooted ethics from Earth, plus his innate temperament.
Of course, this wasn't particularly important to Enoch, who lacked self-awareness of it, or to Hilda, who couldn't even guess his secret.
The important thing was one.
'The violent Zahav bloodline... even after a lifetime in Calypso, the Empire's trash bin, never gave up on learning something.'
Learning anything, no matter how trivial, is harder than one thinks. A series of hitting walls.
Not knowing leads to walls, walls lead to frustration, yet somehow finding solutions to challenge again.
Living thoughtlessly is far easier on body and mind—that's obvious.
So why not give up learning?
'To hone himself and climb higher.'
Hilda had strong ambitions for success. Otherwise, she wouldn't have risen to vice-captain at such a young age, nor considered abandoning everything built so far for a transfer due to House Zahav's dark future.
From a new knightly house with talent but humble background, her goal was always one.
To live a better life.
...And people tend to project their own knowledge and experiences onto others.
So it was natural for Hilda to assume Enoch shared her mindset.
'Instead of getting used to life in Calypso, he resisted to the end.'
Dreaming from the lowest place, never abandoning nobility.
Suddenly, what flashed in Hilda's mind was Enoch's figure darting about and shining during the recent dungeon outbreak.
Fighting at the forefront with overwhelming force.
Retreating when needed without bloodlust, continuing precarious solo battles to protect the territory's people.
This scene had impressed Hilda, who had been disappointed not just in Enoch but the entire House Zahav.
As she conducted the lesson, Hilda's mind filled with one thought.
It had started as a well-paid teaching gig, half-forced by her father who was smitten with Enoch...
But in the end, Hilda had to admit it.
That Enoch was always sincere, and unlike other Zahavs she'd seen, worth pledging loyalty to.
Well, during the later etiquette training, he did lecherously hug her waist while adjusting her posture.
Teased her to wear a maid outfit instead of stuffy knight robes, or unbutton a few...
During aura practice, under the excuse of sensing mana flow then aura flow, endlessly fondled her lower abdomen...
But to Hilda, who had braced for worse, these were minor issues.
Anyway, hadn't he endured a full day of study and training without skipping?
...Yes. It was his masterstroke of teasing, but to Hilda—who had seen a fellow female knight retire after getting pregnant—it was no impact at all!
The gap between genuine and fake was still far from closing.