" Kids! Kids... be quiet... classes... start..." Mori chan tried to assert himself as always. First with calm and friendly words, which never caused silence, then in a decidedly louder tone:

"In three devils' names! Sit! At once! Or I'll light a fire under your ass," he addressed the mixed crowd of children and giggled, as always, at his success in getting their full attention. He could always count on his voice.

The small slim man with the slightly feminine features, lived quite well in this town. The princess paid him generously for his services, which he knew how to use skillfully. Actually he was a traveling charlatan, earning his living with fortune telling, herbal elixirs, his cooking and of course singing. A small demonstration of his talents had been enough to convince Princess Johanna, despite the sheriff's objections, and so he had been in her service for several weeks. As a girl for everything. That is why his nickname was Maid Mori chan.

One of his duties was to teach. The children should learn to read, write and calculate and besides that a lot of nonsense was done and most of all sung. Even if the students didn't want to obey despite the cursing, he could immediately cast a spell on them with a song. And this must have been the same for the blond hero, whose letter was now lying on the boy's table, waiting to be handed over. And that shouldn't take too long, because the teacher walked through the rows and stopped in front of Skippy's seat.

"Are you already writing love letters?" he wanted to know amusedly from the redhead and tapped on the envelope with his slim finger.

"Me? No, not me, but--" Skippy turned the letter over and Mori made big eyes. His name was written in a very scrawly font, ... eh ... nickname: "Only for maid Mori chan", and underneath a little smaller: "An admirer. The surprised man had apparently mumbled the words out loud, when suddenly the whole class was laughing.

"What?! Stop it! Who can make such a joke with me?" A punishing look struck every single one of the students, who continued to giggle cautiously and formed hearts with their hands.

The lesson was over and Mori was happy when everyone rushed outside. Only Skippy remained in his seat. Finally, he had to make sure that his mission was done.

"Master Mori chan? Won't you open it?" he asked cautiously.

"No!" came the quick answer and the letter landed in a basket for the firewood. The boy jumped up and picked it up again.

"You must look inside. It is very important. I... I promised him. ... Otherwise I can't meet Torin Hood." Mori's eyebrows curled up towards the middle of his forehead.

"Whom... did you promise?" He got curious. "Torin Hood, you say? You want to meet this thief and good-for-nothing? Just don't take his example. He's ignorant and stupid."

"No, that's not true! He sure isn't!" said Skippy, ranting and raving. "But I don't care what they say anyway, I'm gonna be just like him. Torin is a hero! ... And now you finally look at the letter so I can get out of here," he urged, holding the envelope out to the teacher and struggling impatiently as if he had to go to the toilet. "Well then," grumbled the annoyed man, simply tore off the upper edge of the envelope and pulled a note from it.