Chapter 6

The next day after meeting Rady and Diego at the south gate, Mika headed to the church early in the morning. Rady had spoken as if it were a given that Mika would go to the church today, and now he understood why. Today was the day of the "Sun School."

Despite being called a school, there was no actual school building. It was just an open-air classroom. Once a week, the church held a study session for children on the day of the Sun.

The day of the Sun was a day of the week in this world, similar to Sunday. The week consisted of six days: the day of the Sun, the day of the Moon, the day of Fire, the day of Water, the day of Wind, and the day of Earth. A month had five weeks, and a year had twelve months. In other words, a year had 360 days.

(Perhaps it's due to the orbital period?)

Mika had thought that astronomy in this world was not very advanced, but since there was a calendar, it must have been studied to some extent. Even the heliocentric theory existed in ancient times, though it wasn't accepted. It was possible to establish a calendar without much relation to astronomy. There would be discrepancies and contradictions, but they could be adjusted as needed. Even with some discrepancies, having a calendar was easier for daily life than not having one at all. Some calendars were established based on simple astronomical observations and the timing of floods. Mika didn't know the basis for this world's calendar, but it would be easier to accept it as it was.

(...But it's hard to say.)

The months were grouped in sets of three, and they were called the Earth Month, Water Month, Fire Month, and Wind Month. For example, the first month of Water was called "Water 1," the second month of Water was "Water 2," and the third month of Water was "Water 3." After that, the first month of Fire would come. The dates in this world were not written as "month day," but rather as "month, week, day." For example, New Year's Day would be "Earth 1, 1st week, Sun," and New Year's Eve would be "Wind 3, 5th week, Earth." As a Japanese person who likes to abbreviate, Mika wanted to abbreviate it to "Earth 1, 1 Sun" or "Wind 3, 5 Earth," but he decided to keep it to himself.

(If I replace the months with 1 to 12 and the days with 1 to 30, it would become a kind of code?)

This would be very easy for Mika to understand, but it would be difficult for others to understand. Even if written in Japanese, it would be like a code. The language was special even in the original world, and in this world, it was truly a "foreign language." Incidentally, Mika had no trouble with the language of this world. This was thanks to Mika Noisheim's memory or the body's memory. He could speak two languages without any effort.

Mika continued walking and arrived at the church, which was located beyond the central square. The Noisheim family lived near the southeastern edge of the village, so it took about ten minutes to walk there. Unlike ordinary houses, the church had its walls painted white and its roof blue, making it very noticeable. On top of the roof, the symbol of the Church of Light, six rings, was displayed. The six rings were arranged with four in a vertical line, and one ring on each side of the second and third rings.

(...It reminds me of a Clione.)

Just thinking about it, Mika imagined a Bakalcorn flying out of the top ring and almost burst out laughing. He quickly covered his mouth and told himself to calm down. It was a trick he often used when he almost laughed out loud while looking at his phone on the train. Even though his shoulders were shaking, he probably didn't fool anyone.

The Church of Light was a religion that revered six deities: Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Originally, these six deities were equal, but for some reason, the Church of Light was named after the deity of Light. In this world, it was common to rely on the Church of Light from the cradle to the grave. Mika had no qualms about seeking help from the church only when necessary, even without being particularly devout. He was flexible, like eating cake and receiving presents at Christmas, ringing the temple bell a week later, and visiting a shrine on New Year's morning. If the Sun School, a study session held at the church, was a normal part of life for children, Mika had no objections, except that it was a bit troublesome.

There were already about six children gathered in front of the church, chatting noisily. Not feeling like joining in, Mika greeted them with a "Good morning" and sat at the edge. About ten chairs were arranged in a semicircle near the entrance of the church, which was usually enough. There were more children in the village, but the Sun School was voluntary. Once children could read, write, and do basic arithmetic, they naturally stopped attending. If more than ten children gathered and there weren't enough chairs, they could get more from inside the church. In recent years, more than ten children had gathered only when Mika first started attending. After a while, older children stopped coming, and the number fluctuated, but there were usually about eight children. Normally, one more child would participate, but since it was voluntary, not everyone came every time.

After sitting for a while, Rady arrived, and the Sun School began. The children greeted Rady energetically, and Rady smiled warmly in return.

(Still, for a man, he smiles like a woman.)

Rady was still holding a grudge over being laughed at.

Rady distributed small blackboards and chalk-like items to the children. The blackboards were wooden boards, about 30x40 centimeters in size, and could be placed on the children's laps. The surface was coated with a blackish material. The chalk, called "mark stones," were indeed stones. They looked like regular chalk but were processed to be easier to write with. A rag was also given to erase mistakes. The blackboard Mika received already had something written on it, and he quickly realized it was a math problem.

(Review from last time?)

Searching Mika Noisheim's memory, he recognized that these were review problems from the previous session. They were addition and subtraction problems with three and four digits, with two problems each. The blackboard of the child next to him had different content, probably tailored to the child's age and skill level. Mika thought for a moment, not about solving the problems, but about whether it was okay to write the answers quickly. Mika Noisheim didn't seem to like studying much. Mika himself had always hated studying so much that he wanted to slap someone who claimed to enjoy it. If Mika suddenly wrote the answers smoothly, would Rady become suspicious?

"Did you forget what we did last time?"

While Mika was pondering, Rady, who was checking on the children, called out. The other children were writing something on their blackboards, even if they didn't know the answers. Rady seemed concerned that Mika hadn't even tried.

"It's okay. I was just trying to remember what we did last time."

"Is that so? Try your best. If you don't understand, you can ask anytime."

Rady then moved on to the other children.

(I don't want to suddenly become good and attract attention, but I also don't want to be too bad and draw attention.)

Mika wanted to be a normal child who required the least attention. To reduce the risk of his true identity being discovered, he decided to solve two problems before Rady came around again, and then the remaining two after that. As he was about to write the answers, he hesitated.

(Is it really okay to write on this?)

He looked at the blackboard and the mark stone. The blackboard was just a wooden board with a coating. He was worried that the coating might come off when he wrote with the mark stone.

(...But the other children are writing on it normally, so it should be fine.)

Mika took a deep breath and started writing the answers, then waited patiently for Rady to come around again.

(By the way, the number system in this world is also base-10. It's convenient.)

Mika didn't know why the base-10 system was established in the original world, but it might be for similar reasons in this world. As a programmer, he could handle binary and hexadecimal systems, but the base-10 system was the most convenient for daily life. If this world used a base-7 or base-12 system, he could handle it, but the base-10 system was the most intuitive and familiar.

As a side note, when counting on fingers, most people fold one finger at a time, so the limit with one hand is 0 to 5. However, a very few, very few people treat each finger as a bit and count in binary. This way, they can count from 0 to 31 with one hand and from 0 to 1023 with both hands. ...Of course, this has never been useful.

After the math session, there was a short break, and then the discussion of the Church of Light's scriptures began. It wasn't a difficult topic; Rady picked out moral lessons from the stories of the deities and told them in a way that children could understand. Through these stories, the children learned the teachings of the Church of Light and practical wisdom for daily life.

For example, there was a story about a certain fruit. The fruit was very delicious, but its skin was extremely bitter. The myth explained why the fruit's skin was bitter. Originally, the fruit had no bitter skin, but it was being ravaged by troublesome animals. A deity made the skin bitter to drive away the animals and taught people how to eat the fruit by peeling the skin. Through this fable, children learned not to bite into the fruit directly but to peel the skin first.

Rady sat in front of the children and began reading the story. Today's story was about the "Deity of Falsehood." The "Deity of Falsehood" was not a fake deity but a deity who governed falsehood, lies, mischief, and secrets. As a subordinate deity of the "Deity of Darkness," the "Deity of Falsehood" often appeared in fables, playing tricks on various deities and always ending up in trouble. This was probably why the "Deity of Falsehood" was quite popular among children.

In this story, the "Deity of Falsehood" played a trick on the "Deity of Fire" and broke a precious cup. Seeing the broken cup, the "Deity of Fire" immediately suspected the "Deity of Falsehood" and tried to punish him. However, the "Deity of