Bab 3: Is Math really a big thing?
It's still my story.
Continuing from back then, my father didn't came back even after a day had passed.
I was feeling hungry already and asked the chattering neightbors for some food, but a lot of them snorted and brushed me off instead. Noon was soon setting in, and I haven't had anything for a while.
As a four year old kid, this body sure wants to take in some more nutrients. I'm having quite a headache now that I'm about to starve. This makes me remember back then when before I was sent to the orphanage.
Enough of those memories, they're blurry anyway. Food is the only thing that I want right now. Water can go later...
"Hey kid! Come here!"
Some adult was probably referring to me so I turned around.
He was running towards me... with a quarter loaf of bread in hand.
"Thanks mister...?"
"Your father is a friend. Those neighbors of yours are squabbleducks, I don't know how they can't even spare a bit for you. Here you go."
Was commenting about them really necessary? Thanks much though.
I gobbled the food before ten seconds... it wasn't enough, but enough to get me by until probably dinner.
"He should have went at my place yesterday, and was expecting him around noon but didn't made it. Looks like he's not here either. Wanna come with me instead?"
"I stay at home, and wait," I said, replying to the guy. Of course with a kiddy accent. Not sure if he's really father's friend though.
"Smart boy. I'll go back when I have news of him."
After he went off and my feet dragged me to sleep again, there was still no news.
***
Next day passed, father and the guy hadn't returned either. I feel like dying already. I tried to look for food outside, but without luck. I didn't want to turn to thieving since doing so with this small and weak body, I'll be caught within seconds. I put my faith in my parents instead and waited.
The poverty is real.
***
I was feeling weak already, just about time, mom.
***
***
About an unknown period had passed, my mom was pressing her palm on my forehead with a towel. She seems distressed.
I feel like sleeping...
*slap*
"I know you're awake. Come, eat first."
My mom then told me what happened these few days.
It seems that my father... really did went missing. His condition shouldn't have been that bad though, and only told me to not worry about him. After telling that much, she just waved her hand and pretended that I wasn't able to understand anything and told me about her hunt before she came home.
It was quite a bit careless of them to leave me here, to be honest. I almost thought I was abandoned. Maybe Dad just forgot to leave some food or money before
I kept quiet instead, and remembered my appointment with the girl. I asked if today was a weekend, and quickly got up and took the book hidden under my pillow. My mom seems surprised as I took the book and her jaw dropped as I went out.
Just as I was about to get a few steps further, my ear had been pinched with accompanied by scorching pain. She then took the book, flipped the pages, and looked at my eyes.
"Did you stole this?"
"No. Dorother lended me the book."
My mom's expression became worried, but softened a bit after. Then I told her about the door and how the girl...
***
The next day.
"You're quite late. You seem eager! Yes? Let's go to a different place."
I girl with a yellow and black dress in certain patterns was waiting on a tree on a less traversed part of the city. I didn't pay attention when we first met, but I only realize now that she has black hair and it turned silvery on the end, as if magical. She looked like she would be a fine beauty after she turns into an adult.
This place seems dangerous, or is it just really peaceful here?
I hadn't even mentioned the book, yet Dorother walked already.
This will be the first time I'll be going outside home for a bit farther than usual. I tend to just stay at the house since my parents might worry as the city is big, and you could get lost in the slums so I didn't dare. This body is quite small and wouldn't get somewhere very far anyway.
The way she walked seemed precise and made me wonder if she practiced some kind of movement technique or if she danced and subconsciously patterned her steps with counts. Either way, I realized we were going further away from the houses in the slum area and finally there was a spacious area with a lot of people.
The place looked beautiful. There were various decorated plants and people that wore colorful clothes. The place seemed brighter and there were even a few horses being rode on. A few merchants scattered in various positions here and there and the place seemed lively as if seeing a new world.
Unfortunately, my clothes, hair, appearance... got a fair share of attention.
I can hear whispers and murmurs mentioning dirty, nasty, and foul things being said towards me. Not that I care about it if there was only one people, but since my whole life, this was my first time experiencing this kind of humiliation.
"Humph!"
Dorother stepped lightly, and a wave of light circled out and came out from that foot. Winds were strong enough to be visually seen and produced by that step, and the people initially looking at me went off and tended to their own businesses.
"This is the problem with these people. Let's go."
She strutted and I followed after her.
After a few straight paths and turns, we eventually reached a building that looked like a dome, or was this the church everyone goes to in this place?
Everything was either gray or black, as if they hated white or something. It was a strange feeling that seeing a church not in some dazzling color that made it seem divine.
There were even six guards on the front as if the place was an embassy or something. They had no weapons though. If there was magic in this world and if they didn't need catalysts, then that would explain it.
We neared the front and the guards gave a salute. She then waved her hand and we walked inside without any impediments.
There was a big garden after the gates, with varying plants that were dimly glowing.
"These plants purify the air around here, and do not use any source power. When their dim light disappears, then we have to mine some source stones again."
Not sure if she knows that I don't understand what she's talking about, but let's keep that information in mind.
After the garden there was a short building but expanded widely, covering the entire area. The end can't be seen from where I am, nor from my height probably? The big dome that could be seen from outside was way farther than what it looked like from the gates.
"This is the school. Let's go in."
Stepping in my first foot at school, I felt some kind of vibration from where the glowing mark the Vates blessing gave me, but it didn't bother me that much so I just kept on walking. Dorother turned to look at me after that step though, and her eyes narrowed, and continued walking after a bit. Paying it no mind, I followed here.
There were a lot of rooms, and some rooms have classes ongoing, or I'm not sure. But I'm sure some of the rooms are practicing singing together in a choir as it could be heard from the outside.
Later on, I realized that there were signs that hung on the side of the doors that looked like the alphabet of Frall, which I'm supposed to be studying later.
We reached the end of the corridor and there was a big door about twelve times my size, and Dorother opened it.
A man with lean muscles, dressed in fitting black robes were seated near a window glass pane.
"Uncle, he's here."
The man stood, his shoes clacked in every step, and he went near me. A staggering height of maybe seven feet, I was like a cat before a tiger. He had long black robes that drooped down the floor.
"So... you're interested in reading?" His heavy voice reverberated throughout the room, as if heavy bells have been struck. For why his whole being felt very poetic, I don't know. All that I'm feeling right now is that this guy really feels like a genuine holy being.
"Yes sir." I then held out the book given my Dorother.
"You are from the slums, correct? A child not even looking like four years old, wants to learn. This is a peculiar thing indeed." He held his chin and looked somewhere high and I could only see his hands that were almost as big as his face.
I waited for a few seconds, and seeing that he doesn't say anything else, I spoke up.
"I am exactly four years old, sir; I can only do simple math."
His eyebrows raised, and a bit of shock could be seen from his face as he looked at me. There was some sort of pressure that seemed to hit me and I managed to stay still, yet my knees were shaking. He asked me a few math questions. From basic operations, to division, fractions, percents, etc. Then we went to algebraic expressions, getting the value of x in a problem, the Pythagorean theorem, basic trigonometry, and then he finally stopped.
He made gestures and light magic appeared displaying the numbers as if he had a holographic calculator. If he went on to calculus I'd be horrified doing things without using paper.
"This boy... Are you really from the slums?"
"He is definitely from the slums, I can attest to that." Dorother answered, puffing her chest up.
"Such eloquence, such intellect. A four year old that can do 'only' basic math... if only you also had a source spirit too, then I would have..."
Dorother seemed alerted to what the man said and asked, "He doesn't have a source spirit? But he was unfazed when he stepped inside the barrier."
"It's as I say, your current progress can't see other people's source spirit right now, but there is no doubt. It's just that it's a pity. Such a pity..."
They both had frowns and went quiet for a while before the man accepted me into the school.
After that heavy atmosphere, I was quite relieved and my knees hit the ground after Dorother closed the door behind her.
"You have no source spirit, can stand from the pressure, and can do 'only' math? Seems like a fantasy."
"What does math have to do with source spirit, and what is source spirit anyway?"
"Our school studies math, and it goes until you've memorized until the end. Some even stay for ten years before becoming a Vates. You have to be able to calculate a lot of things before you graduate. Oh boy, this is gonna be a long introduction."
Ten years? All just math? Aren't they just making math wizards?
We went back at home and Dorother conversed with mom for a bit before leaving. It was already evening by then.
"Since when did you learn 'only' math?"
Of course I learned it from the previous world, which, why would I said that anyway? Was doing math a big thing in this world? I should've probably stayed lowkey and stupid. Haven't I learned that from my job back then?
I frowned thinking of it and said to my mom that I already knew these things as soon as I've known how to count.
She was speechless for a while until we had finished dinner. I'm not sure what's with the gloomy atmosphere but hopefully it's not about father.
Or is it?
"I feel happy, but knowing that you have no source spirit... is such a waste of talent. You're still our son anyway. We love you even if you don't have a source spirit."
What's a source spirit anyway? Mom hugged me and became sad a bit before I was sent to bed. Maybe I'll ask tomorrow.
A lot of their reactions tell me that I don't have something important that would make my rebirth here a little bit depressing.
Hadiah
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