Chapter 44

“Whaaat! Why…? I don’t want to do something that tedious!”

It’s rare for a teenager to actually love studying, but in Angelica’s case, this was just too much.

“No, you are going to study! I mean, you’re the Hero, aren’t you!? Are you really okay with being dumber than the Demon King!?”

“Urgh! That might be true, but I have love, courage, and justice on my side, so I’m fine!”

There it was—the classic tactic of using noble-sounding words as a smoke screen.

I held out a pen to Angelica.

“Fine. Then write the words ‘courage’ and ‘justice’ for me. You can just use the margin of this book.”

“Don’t mock me. I’m a Hero!”

She got them both wrong.

This was bad. If she couldn’t even manage individual words, her sentence structure was bound to be catastrophic.

“I’m seriously going to put you through the wringer from square one… Our goal is to get you to the point where you could pass the entrance exam for Masgenia University.”

“To make me challenge a ‘dungeon’ with the highest difficulty in the world… just how cruel can you be…?”

If that were the case, it would mean several hundred people are clearing the world’s most difficult dungeon every single year…

It was the moment my duties as a father increased by one.

The following night, I was in Angelica’s room.

Angelica was seated at her desk, and I was standing beside her.

Naturally, Lateia had agreed with an enthusiastic “That’s wonderful~♪”. No parent, Lateia included, would ever object to a plan that would make their daughter smarter through study.

“Uuu… if I knew it would come to this, I should have just defeated the Demon King in battle…”

Look, even if you’d managed three lucky critical hits in a row, I still would have won with ease…

“First, since I don’t know the true extent of your abilities, I’ve prepared an introductory language textbook. I assume you’ll understand at least this much—”

“Zzz… snore…”

You fell asleep way too fast!

What is this? We haven’t even started… Usually, falling asleep happens when you’re studying alone and things get monotonous. How can you sleep while I’m literally talking right next to you?

I shook Angelica by the shoulder.

“Wake up. Honestly, how did you even fall asleep? Are you sleep-deprived…? Did you stay up late…?”

“I get eight hours of sleep a day.”

So she was getting proper rest. That meant her body was likely having a literal rejection response to the act of studying…

“First, try writing the following words. I’ll grade them right here.”

“For something like this, can’t I just grade them myself? It’s just a matter of whether I remember them or not, right?”

“That’s perfectly logical, except for the fact that you absolutely won’t study if you’re left alone. You need someone to supervise you.”

“I see. So the Demon King really can’t trust the word of a Hero after all.”

No, stop trying to escape by turning this into a Hero vs. Demon King issue. You’re just a moron…

I let her work at it for a while, but her “vague memory” rate was incredibly high.

On the other hand, regarding reading, she seemed to understand daily-use vocabulary well enough to get by.

In other words, it was a clear sign that she simply hadn’t studied properly.

The human world doesn’t have compulsory education, does it? Maybe I should suggest it…

“Yeah, I can read all the vegetables and fruits. I’ll manage the writing too if I practice. I think I can clear this much by the end of the day.”

“Such rapid growth. This is my true power.”

Nobody stumbles at words like cabbage or onion.

Still, I should probably use praise to encourage her. Or rather, there are so many things she’s bad at that if I just listed them all, she’d end up hating studying altogether.

“Yes, magnificent! As expected of the Hero! Next, let’s write down the names of things in this room! Go on!”

“Demon King, you’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“It can’t be helped since you’re genuinely an idiot…”

Don’t snap out of it now; just stay flattered.

The hollow study session continued for a while after that.

However, perhaps because her starting level was so low, her growth was fast, and she seemed reasonably motivated. No more falling asleep.

“Now, write each one ten times! This is a world where it’s just a matter of whether you memorize it or not! If you commit it all to memory, you win! You can do it! You are the Hero!”

“Wall, wall, wall, wall, wall, wall…”

Angelica wrote the words while chanting them under her breath.

I started to feel like I was performing some kind of specialized torture, but I was doing this strictly for her own good.

“Good! At this rate, you’ll be able to pass the university exam in a year! Keep at it! Glory lies ahead!”

“Window, window, window, window, wind-do, wind-do, win-doze, win-doze, doze, dozing… zzz…”

She finally fell asleep again. That was a sophisticated way to drift off, like some kind of free association…

I picked up her practice notebook.

Somehow or another, it looked like she had become able to write most everyday words.

“So it’s not that she’s a slow learner. It’s just that she hasn’t done a single bit of work until now.”

Umu, Angelica—even if it’s painful, face it. One who faces hardship is a true Hero.

Also, I’ll be teaching you arithmetic, history, and other subjects later. Be prepared for that.

Just then, Lateia walked in carrying tea and sweets.

“How is it going? Are you studying hard?”

Angelica bolted upright.

“Whoa, snacks! Snacks! The smell of snacks!”

She woke up in response to food!

This girl lives by her instincts way too much…

Lateia whispered into my ear.

“Angelica is simple at heart, so be sure to flatter her well~.”

“So you’ve realized that too, Lateia… I guess that makes sense…”

“Depending on how she’s taught, she has the potential to absorb a lot. After all, she grew enough in swordsmanship to actually become the Hero.”

True.

She had cleared today’s goals.

In fact, if she can maintain this pace and keep learning, is there a possibility she could actually become quite clever?

Perhaps I’m being a bit too much of a doting parent…