CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 6: NOT TO BE ILLITERATE

The one blocking the way sized up Li Yu, and Li Yu was doing the same.

He was a middle-aged man, very tall, nearly two meters by estimation, yet his physique was quite slender, looking to weigh only about sixty or seventy kilograms.

On his head grew a pair of antlers with numerous branches spreading out to the sides.

In his hands, he held no weapon, only clutching a thick book, and his eyes that gazed upon Li Yu were filled with hostility.

"Mr. Anton," Clara said as she sensed tension, hurriedly jumping between the two, trying to defuse the mood, "Are you also out for a walk?"

However, the man called Anton didn’t pay her any attention, his stare fixed on Li Yu.

"What is that book you’re holding?"

Li Yu asked, pointing to the large book in Anton’s arms.

"What... what?" Anton was momentarily taken aback, seemingly not expecting Li Yu’s focus to be there, but after a short pause, he answered, "This is the ’Mongolian Collection,’ compiled by the Agolici High Priest of the Church, specifically to teach children to learn the Universal Language of the Bratis Continent."

As Anton mentioned the Church and the Agolici High Priest, his tone involuntarily took on a note of pride.

"So you’re the teacher sent by the Silver Moon Church to the Arias family to instruct in the Universal Language?" Li Yu realized.

"I am also here to spread the glory of the Silver Moon Goddess," Anton added, "to prevent the people here from being deceived by heathens like you."

"Who have I deceived?"

"Ire... Uh," Anton almost blurted out Irelia, but managed to hold his tongue just in time.

Miss Rabbit was a red-blooded devotee of the Silver Moon Goddess, utterly devout, having even gone to the Temple for further studies, although it was unclear how she’d ended up with this heathen. But she certainly wasn’t at the point of being excommunicated yet.

Besides, Irelia was now the Green Field Master, and the Silver Moon Church’s attitude towards these Noble Families had always been to try to ingratiate themselves with them.

If he upset Irelia with a single comment, causing her to start believing in this man and whoever was behind him on whatever Saturday was, then he would truly have dug himself into a deep hole.

And if he didn’t mention Irelia, Anton indeed couldn’t think of a second person that Li Yu had led astray.

After all, Li Yu had just entered the castle not long ago. He couldn’t possibly say that Li Yu had deceived that ugly man with only half a face, could he? Setting aside whether that was true or not, that guy wasn’t even part of the Arias family, and it wasn’t Anton’s place to care what he believed.

Ultimately, the Mongolian teacher could only snort coldly, "Just because you haven’t tricked anyone now doesn’t mean you won’t in the future. Anyway, as long as you are in Teacup Castle for one day, I will keep a close eye on you. I do want to see when you will slip up."

"Fine then, teach me the Universal Language," Li Yu said.

???

Anton’s face was a picture of bewilderment.

Li Yu explained, "Aren’t you trying to keep an eye on me waiting for me to slip up? What better way than to stay by my side?"

"Then why should I teach you the Universal Language?" Anton retorted.

"In order to be in close contact with me, to observe my weaknesses, you’ll have to pay a small price," Li Yu replied.

"..."

Although Anton did not like the appearance of this Foreigner dressed in black alien attire, he had to admit that the man made a lot of sense.

He was utterly unable to refute him.

After a moment of silence, Anton then said, "Although I don’t know how you do it, you can speak and understand our language, right?"

"That’s correct, but I still can’t read," Li Yu replied somewhat helplessly.

His built-in translation feature was limited to language and did not enable him to translate written text, so strictly speaking, Li Yu was illiterate on this Continent.

This matter could be big or small.

After all, the literacy rate in the Red Lion Empire was just so-so; almost all commoners were effectively blind, even among the nobility some thought reading too tiring and chose to lie flat.

But as a modern person, Li Yu was very clear about the importance of literacy.

Considering what he had to do next, literacy was indeed necessary to schedule.

Anton thought hard, seemingly trying to weigh the pros and cons, and it wasn’t until a while later that he looked up again.

"Heh heh, it seems you have a lot of confidence in the god behind you."

"Yes, because I’m sufficiently devout," Li Yu replied.

Upon hearing this, Anton flew into a rage, "What do you mean by that? Are you insinuating that I don’t dare to be with you because I’m not devout enough? Fine, I’ll teach you the Universal Language and, in the process, tear off your poor disguise! I’ll make sure Miss Ireya, as well as everyone in the castle, sees your true colors!"

"Then it’s settled," Li Yu said.

Anton didn’t hesitate, pointing at Li Yu and immediately commanded, "Follow me now! I’ll start by teaching you the common words."

He stood tall and proud, his demeanor and tone less like someone about to teach reading and more like he was issuing a duel challenge.

Li Yu nodded, "Thank you for the trouble."

Clara watched the two people walking away, standing there dumbfounded.

For the moment, it was unclear who had won the argument, Mr. Anton seemed full of enthusiasm, whereas Merlin seemed to have gotten what he wanted as well.

But if anyone was the biggest winner, it had to be the little maid herself.

Learning to read... that ought to take a lot of time, right? And since Fosto had charged her with the day’s task of taking good care of Merlin, it meant she could slack off for the rest of the day.

Realizing this, Clara’s expression lit up with joy, and she hopped off to find someone to play games with.

...

When Li Yu returned to room number eight, his face, unusually, also bore a hint of fatigue.

He felt as though he had gone back to his senior year of high school, desperately learning English, while Anton was playing the role of that machine-gun-talking English teacher who, regardless of his classmates’ pleas, frequently dragged out the class and assigned a mountain of homework.

However, Li Yu’s gains were quite significant; he learned many words, all commonly used.

Li Yu planned to jot them down in his notebook on the subway later, lest he forget them later.

When he stepped out of his room, he saw Xu Mengyuan also standing in the hallway, ready to get off work, holding two cups of lemon tea in her hand.

Xu Mengyuan handed one of the cups to him, "Here you go, I bet you’ve been crazy busy lately. The next two days are perfect for a good rest to rejuvenate."

"Hm?"

"Today is Friday." Seeing that Li Yu seemed a bit slow to grasp, Xu Mengyuan reminded him, "You have the next two days off."

"Oh."

Although Li Yu passed himself off as Saturday, he himself hadn’t actually experienced a normal Saturday in a long time, often working overtime on Sundays too, to the extent that he had forgotten about it and hadn’t even notified Miss Rabbit before leaving.

"Can I come in tomorrow to do some extra work?" Li Yu asked.

"No, rules are rules," Xu Mengyuan replied crisply, "Besides, the equipment used for the Descent needs maintenance and care. We’ll see each other on Monday."

"Alright, see you Monday."