[70.3] The Hero of the Desert

In the evening, I watched Lene play with her hair flying around everywhere. I reached out and touched a strand, "Lene. Maybe we should cut your hair. It's getting long."

"No!" She pulled her hair out, "It helps me see!"

I raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"It's very sensitive. I can feel the changes in the air."

"Ohh."

I guess she's using her hair to feel vibrations. Almost like a bat using echolocation. 

I chuckled, "That sounds just like- EHEM."

I stopped myself before I could finish that sentence and pushed that thought from my mind.

"Master." Asmonious called to me in a sweet voice, "Dinner is finished."

"Excellent." 

I picked up Lene before she could escape and carried her to the center of the courtyard where we had made an outdoor table from stone. I put her down as Asmonious created her plate of food and pushed it to her. I took her hands and directed her to the plate of food where I then turned to help Lovi while Asmonious continued to put down our plates of food.

I glanced up and noticed the demon girl staring at us with a patient look in her eyes. I tapped a seat, "Come. Sit."

She hurried to sit where I told her, then turned to me to wait for what I was going to say next. I felt a bit uncomfortable and glanced at Asmonious who shrugged in confusion.

Seeing she was waiting for me to say something, I pushed the bowl of soup in front of her and motioned, "Eat."

She immediately started eating it without hesitation.

I went back to Asmonious and sat next to him. I let out an anxious sigh as I watched her, "Asmonious… Doesn't it seem like she only knows command words? 

He nodded, "Yes. I think that might be the case… I've heard of the human military raising demons to be used for training purposes… Perhaps she was one of them. If she was, it would make sense that they only taught her certain words."

I frowned in distaste, "Just how did they treat her? Like an animal?"

"That's what humans do. They put us in cages and treat us like animals." His eyes dulled, "No… They treat us worse than animals."

My lips pressed together as I averted my gaze from him in guilt.

What can I say to make them feel better?

Even though I was sold to a trafficking ring, I was able to break free before anything terrible happened to me.

I don't have that experience of fear as they did.

I reached out to rub his head, my actions taking the place of any words I could think of using. My eyes were averted so I missed the look of content passing through his dull, orange eyes.

Once we finished eating, we all cleaned the dishes. I could have used magic to do so, but I thought it was important to force them to do chores to learn the importance of responsibility. After that, I sighed and sat back, "Right. Asmonious, can you get me a piece of charcoal and paper?"

He did as I asked without hesitation.

I took it from him and held it out to her, "Can you write your name on this?"

She tilted her head as if confused.

Asmonious translated, "She doesn't know what 'write' means."

I pursed my lips, "Looks like I need to teach her how to write."

Lene tilted her head up curiously, "What's write?"

My face fell, "W-What… You don't know what that is?"

She shook her head.

I looked to Lovi who shrugged.

My mind felt numb, "You… You can all read, right?"

Lene shook her head, "Never heard of read… Is it food?"

Lovi clicked her tongue, "I think it's a disease."

I looked at Asmonious in desperation, "You know what it is, right?"

He nodded, "I do-"

I let out a sigh of relief. 

He continued, "-But I don't know how to read or write. I was never taught."

Have I…

Have I been neglecting these children by not providing them with an education!?

I screamed as I pulled at my hair, "I KNEW I AM A TERRIBLE PARENT!"

I grabbed the three of them and pushed them into a room with Asmonious trailing after me, "Classes start NOW!"

Contrary to how normal classes were conducted, I started class in the afternoon as soon as I woke up. I started them off with art class, as it was very important for hand-eye coordination. Then, I forced them into doing yoga so their minds would be ready to learn. Once Lene was awake, she would then join the class. I carefully helped the children progress, first working on speech, and then teaching letters. Once they were able to draw all the letters, I then began to teach them how to read and write.

"Okay. I want you all to write your names. Do you remember how to spell?"

They all responded, "Yeeees."

"Okay… Let me see what you've written."

I stopped at Lovi's first, "Okay. Not bad. Try to work on making your L and I's more straight."

She smacked her paper, "Stupid letters."

I moved on to Lene's. For her, I had to get creative so I carved letters into wood so she would be able to feel them. Then I gave her a small sandbox to write in. "Good job Lene, but try to get the letters closer together."

Then I moved on to Asmonious, his handwriting was neat and beautiful, so much so that I had to hold back tears. If it wasn't for him writing Moni and triggering some of my PTSD, I would have sung his praises from the top of the mountain.

I rubbed his head as I praised him, "You really are my star pupil! You're always so perfect! I can count on you to never disappoint me."

As he grinned at me happily, Lovi stuck out her tongue at him, "Butt kisser!"

I gave her a look, "Lovi. Don't say that or else Lene-"

"Butt kisser! Butt kisser!" Lene laughed rambunctiously before looking at me in confusion, "Wait. What's a butt?"

I cleared my throat and moved to the next demon, "Were you finally able to write your name?"

She held up the paper, "AhAh!"

My face turned pale as I read those scraggly lines.

Lovi and Asmonoius leaned forward to read it. Asmonious smiled, "So your name was Atta!"

Lovi nodded in understanding, "Now I get what you mean when you say AhAh. It's actually pretty similar."

Asmonious turned to me, noticing my deathly complexion. He tilted his head, "Is everything alright?"

I snapped out of my shock and tossed my suspicions aside. I cleared my throat and turned around, "V-Very good… All good…. Now write your name a hundred times."

Lene pursed her lips in confusion, "How many is a hundred?"

Lovi thought about it, "It doesn't seem like a lot."

I groaned, "I guess I need to add mathematics to our classes…"