Chapter 19

Thank you for reading.

Regarding the parts that have been published, I have intentionally left the typos, omissions, and additions as they are, hoping that they might serve as reference material later on.

Please understand.

There are people who use the typo reporting function to proofread.

I am declining requests other than typo and omission reports.

If it becomes too much, I will block them.

Please bear with me.

I don’t really understand, but it seems I’m worrying the head chef.

Hmm, could this be about whether it’s okay for a child to educate another child?

Yeah, I think so too. If it were someone else, I’d stop them.

But once words are spoken, they can’t be taken back. Besides, Mr. Romanov really didn’t want to be Regulus’s tutor, so there was no other way.

In fact, while Mr. Romanov gives advice on my curriculum for Regulus, he doesn’t actively get involved.

But then, what should I teach a three-year-old?

At the very least, reading, writing, and basic arithmetic are essential, as they are fundamental skills that adults must have. So, reading fairy tales and counting numbers are necessary.

In that case, how about children’s picture books?

After returning from the head chef’s place and finishing lunch, Regulus took a slightly early nap.

As for me, I explored my room.

My room has a chest, a bed, a desk, and a lamp. However, there were no toys.

This isn’t because I tidied up after gaining memories from my previous life; it was already like this when I woke up.

It seems that it wasn’t because I thought I was going to die and tidied up, but rather that there were none to begin with.

The problem is that I can’t tell whether this world simply lacks toys or if I just didn’t have any.

I realized there was no origami paper when I started doing handcrafts, but I hadn’t thought about whether there were picture books or not.

I guess I’ll have to ask.

So, I caught Mr. Rottmayr, who was passing by, and asked him.

“...Children’s books, you say?”

“Yes. Simple reading and writing, and arithmetic to learn...”

Mr. Rottmayr seemed to be pondering something as he opened his mouth.

“Sir, reading, writing, and arithmetic are not something common people usually learn.”

“Huh!?”

“In the market, buying and selling goods and writing one’s name can be managed somehow, but anything more than that is only learned by merchants or nobles.”

“Eh... That’s... quite a problem...”

“Occasionally, churches or noble philanthropic activities teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to common people...”

“Ah... Of course, Kikunoi doesn’t do that, right...”

“Yes.”

Oh, I didn’t want to know this truth!

This is something that needs to be addressed, but it’s beyond my capabilities as a five-year-old. I’ll put it on hold for now and focus on Regulus.

“I will learn about the lives of the people in the future. For now, I can’t do anything about it; I lack the power. To gain that power quickly, I need to create a curriculum for Regulus.”

“For Regulus...?”

“Yes, if I succeed in Regulus’s early education, I can use it as a foundation to establish early education. For that, I need to work hard and get my father to invest in education for Kikunoi.”

By the way, Kikunoi is popular among adventurers, but the taxes are high, and it’s declining. Could it be because of the lack of education, leading to a shortage of talent and an inability to understand the situation?

That’s scary.

Thinking about Kikunoi’s poor situation, I start to sweat a little.

But even that is beyond my capabilities. That’s the domain of adults.

I’ll leave the outside world to the adults. I’m already busy enough trying to maintain peace at home.

“Ah, I digressed. So, there are no children’s books, right?”

“That’s correct. However, noble children usually have private tutors before attending a young school. In such cases, they receive handmade textbooks from their tutors.”

“...I didn’t receive any textbooks, though?”

“You, Sir, are already capable of reading, writing, and arithmetic at the level required for entering a young school, as Mr. Romanov has informed me.”

“Hmm?”

“When you read embroidery patterns and use a ruler to cut fabric, it’s a waste of time to teach you the basics of a young school. It would be more beneficial to teach you about mana nerves and world affairs. Therefore, all the decisions are left to Mr. Romanov.”

“Eh...”

No way!? That’s what Mr. Romanov meant by ‘interesting child’!?

This is indeed a ‘cheat’ for me.

I’ve acquired skills that others would need to work hard to gain, but it’s not all good.

But what’s done is done, and there are children who would be in trouble if I were to remove these skills now.

I’ll have to pay the price for this shortcut eventually, but not now.

More importantly,

If there are no picture books and little to no reading, writing, or arithmetic, it’s obvious that there are no educational toys.

“...If there are none, I’ll make them, Hototogisu.”

“Hototogisu...?”

Mr. Rottmayr looked confused, but I didn’t have the time to notice.

I bowed and said, “Thank you,” then immediately went to my room and took out my hobby materials.

I had felt, buttons, cotton, thick paper as a work surface, needles, and thread.

Thanks to the skill ‘Blue Hand,’ I can cut fabric without patterns or chalk, which is very convenient.

I cut out two sets of felt in the shapes of a fox, a raccoon, and a rabbit, and sewed buttons on the back of one set. I also embroidered the names ‘raccoon,’ ‘fox,’ and ‘rabbit’ on the other set.

I then sewed the two sides together, stuffing a little cotton to give them some thickness.

After making three small stuffed animals, I started to feel a bit tired. Even with the skill’s assistance, there’s a limit to what small hands can do.

At such times, I really want a sewing machine.

Next, I made three buttonholes in the center of a larger piece of felt, tied them, and checked if the buttons on the stuffed animals fit properly.

The prototype is complete.

All that’s left is to make a few more similar mechanisms and sew them together like a book.

“A book of my own!”

The imitation of a certain blue raccoon... no, cat robot, I couldn’t tell if it was accurate or not.

Thank you for reading.