“Aargh why! It makes no logical sense why that order is used!” I growled in frustration and cradled my head in my hands. With a smile, Jane walked over to survey his progress, and after picking up the parchment which he was using to practice on, that smile quickly turned into a frown.

“No, that’s wrong. The syntax isn’t the same as what you’ve told me about your language, or even Japanese. It goes adverb, verb, subject, pronoun, and adjective, with their own respective particles modifying each part of speech. Come on, you’ve made such good progress in studying the words, you just have to put them together in the right way.” Jane leaned over Leon as he was studying at the dining room table. Like she had just said, I had made considerable progress learning a new language in the past week.

However, studying for days on end and doing nothing else besides eat and sleep had taken its toll on me and my progress was now crawling to a standstill. Aware of this, and taking note of the ever-growing dark circles under my eyes, Jane proposed a plan.

“Say Leon, why don’t you go hunting with Brago today? We were talking recently and he mentioned how much he wanted to see you in action again.” The former knight had stuck around after he offered to help the household with chores and hunting for meals during his return with the promised scythe, and subsequently finding out that both Jane and Bella had very little meat in their diets. The scythe was one which I recognized was made of the same material as the pitch-black axe I wielded against the bandits earlier in the week.

Upon seeing it, a smile lit up the faces of both Jane and Bella alike, before Jane whisked the weapon back to her lab to study. Minutes later, she returned to the dining room table with the box of ancient Japanese artifacts from the Gold Continent that she then placed in front of me.

“Here. I’m going to translate some basic Azurian words into Japanese for you, so try to follow along. The alphabet has 20 letters that each take on a different sound when a diacritical mark is added underneath them. As such…” and with Jane droning in my ear, three days had passed. As I was now, I could probably stand to go for some exercise lest my muscles start to atrophy.

Jolting up as my reminiscing stopped, I put down my writing quill and said, “Alright, is he in the usual place?”

“Of course he is. You couldn’t get that girl to stop listening to him if you paid her.” Jane winked and walked off to return to her lab. I rolled my eyes and walked up the stairs towards Bella’s room. Since Brago had become a pseudo live-in butler, he had spent every morning before going to hunt talking to Bella and teaching her of the outside world, and the many civilizations on each continent.

As a former advisor and confidant of the King, he was privy to the inner workings of many countries that even Jane hadn’t an answer for. However, Jane was initially worried about the motives behind Brago’s loose lips, but eventually chalked it up to goodwill and a mere whim before ignoring it altogether.

As I came up to the door I heard loud laughter from inside, and slowly opened it in curiosity. Bella was talking about… swimming, I think? Meanwhile, Brago laughed and spoke over and over about embarrassment, leaving Bella with a shade of red on her face. Finally, Brago noticed me standing in the doorway and held up his hand in greeting.

“Hey there Mr. Amnesia! We were just talking about you.” It made me tilt my head, but I decided to pay it no mind. In all likelihood, Brago was just teasing me as he had only days ago when he revealed he could speak Japanese. Apparently, being the King’s right hand wasn’t just for show, and Brago had mastered the languages of several continents in order to hold amicable relations with them.

Having already learned the Gold Continent’s language, it wasn’t too hard for him to adjust that to the intricacies of Japanese, and he picked up the language in the span of a mere 2 days. I stood in the doorway and let my eyes shift to Bella, who had turned away from me and was bent over her own desk, apparently also studying the differences between our languages.

Moving my eyes back to focus on Brago, I motioned for him to join me outside the room, which he obliged. We continued down the hall a little until out of earshot of Bella, when I told him that Jane had suggested I hunt with him.

“Fantastic, we’ll leave as soon as I get my things packed!” He headed for the stairs, and I started walking towards my own room when I heard his footsteps pause and then turn back to face me.

“Wait Leon.” Curious, I turned to see the man with a serious look on his face, and his arms crossed. “Why did you drag me out of the Bella’s room to tell me that? Surely you could have told me with her there.”

I heard a door unlatch behind me and a creak on the floor as Bella reacted to her own name being called. I knew she couldn’t understand me anyway, so I just told him the truth, “She’s a detriment to us if we are to go into the forest. Not only did she get herself almost kidnapped last time because bandits had been tracking her, but she couldn’t even raise a finger to them either. All she is good for as she is now is chopping wood and picking herbs. If only she had inherited the same magic abilities as Jane…”

I stopped my flow of thoughts and turned back around, leaving the mouth of Brago agape at my bluntness. I changed into light clothing, instead of the heavy tunic I had been using during my days here.

When I walked out of the room the hallway was vacated and Bella’s door was closed, probably a good sign that she had returned to studying. I headed downstairs to the front door but was stopped by Jane, who held the scythe in her hands.

“You aren’t serious.” Jane just smiled and shoved the hefty weapon into my hands. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a struggle to wield it. I wonder if it also had something to do with how quickly I recovered, but quickly put it out of my head. That was just probably another question I’d solve after regaining my memory completely.

I swung it around a couple times before letting the shaft rest on my shoulder, blade pointed towards the earth. Jane whistled and performed a mocking clap, “Brago’s intuition was right, you do seem to possess an unusual ability.”

I tilted my head, drawing a sigh from the demoness. “Your proficiency with multiple kinds of weapons, silly. I was worried that you would become unhappy with this nation, and specifically with the politics of of it since you were dragged into them through no fault of your own. However, I would like you to take a day and discover the flora and fauna of the Azure Continent, Please acquaint yourself with nature and enjoy your hunt.”

She shooed me out of the house, and before I could utter a word the door was slammed mercilessly in my face. Unleashing a sigh of my own, I turned towards the forest, scythe still perched on my shoulder, and walked towards the waving figure of Brago Shields in the distance.

---

“Are you going to come out, dear?” Jane turned towards the top of the staircase, and at a teary-eyed Bella sitting up there.

“You want to laugh, don’t you? I said I was done with your machinations and yet the moment I’m hurt emotionally, I come crawling back to get comfort from you.” Bella showed a sad smile, but Jane simply said nothing, climbed the stairs, and brought Bella’s face into her breasts.

“Silly child, family is more than something that can be broken from a meaningless argument. Come, tell me your problems. Did you manage to tell Leon about your progress?”

Bella shook her head, “How can I tell him I can talk to him now after he called me useless!” She sobbed lightly, her feelings hurt by someone her age for the first time in her life. Jane merely bore with her and stroked the poor girl’s hair.

“Hmm, I suppose we could ask Brago to start teaching you the sword while I’m giving Leon language classes. However, It’ll be a lot of hard work, for very little reward.” Bella raised her head, and replacing the sadness in her eyes was a fierce determination.

“Grandma, we both know that if I want to stand with him, I’ll need to learn to protect myself to even glimpse the heights he’s headed for.”

Jane cradled Bella once more, and almost missed her granddaughter whisper, “Especially if he decides to become an adventurer.”