Emilia looked at the food can she was holding, and timidly handed it to me.
“Would you like some?” (Emilia)
“Sure.” (Anos)
I grabbed a can of food and picked up some salted meat.
I brought it to my mouth and ate it.
“What are you doing? You shouldn’t eat with your hands.” (Emilia)
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a fork or any utensils.” (Anos)
“You’re not an animal. Come here for a moment.” (Emilia)
Emilia patted the rock she was sitting on, and I sat there.
She took out a handkerchief and wiped my fingers. Then she gave me a fork.
I used it to skewer the salted meat and bring it to my mouth.
It tasted a bit salty, but the spices blended well with the flavor of the meat, and the more I chewed, the more flavor I got.
“Children have it so easy. It’s like they’re free of all worries.” (Emilia)
“Do you have any trouble, Emilia?” (Anos)
“That’s Emilia-sensei to you.” (Emilia)
After saying that, Emilia sighed.
“You need to work on your language, Anosh-kun.” (Emilia)
“Why?” (Anos)
“Because the way you speak is exactly like that of the nastiest man in the world.” (Emilia)
Refreshingly enough, her reason was just her own prejudice.
Emilia put her cooked beans in her mouth and munched on them.
Her eyes were staring blankly into the void.
“…Anosh-kun, you’re royalty, aren’t you?” (Emilia)
“So it seems.” (Anos)
“You know… I used to be royalty as well.” she muttered with a sad expression on her face.
“Is that so?” (Anos)
“You won’t believe it, but I was turned into a mixed-blood demon by an evil mage. I was proud to be royalty. I was living a happy life. But when he took that away from me, everything changed.” (Emilia)
While munching on the salted meat, I listened to Emilia’s words.
“Everyone I meet looks down on me. They never take anything I say seriously, and they don’t even pay attention to me. I lost my job and was so embarrassed I couldn’t even see my family anymore. Even if I wanted to work, being a teacher was my only option, but there was no way for anyone other than royalty to be allowed to work as a teacher…” (Emilia)
I reached for the canned bread and brought it to my mouth.
It was hard, and dry, but quite filling.
Well, two thousand years ago, people sometimes ate bread that was as hard as a brick.
This bread wasn’t too hard for my teeth, but I couldn’t say that it tasted very good.
“…I spent every day in misery. Even though I worked to earn money, I was immediately treated with hostility because I was a mixed-blood, and I got into quarrels. I could only earn a handful of money, and only afford low-quality food. I lived in a filthy place, not knowing what I was living for, and I felt like I was desperately gasping for air…” (Emilia)
“But you’re a teacher now, aren’t you?” (Anos)
“…I am…” Emilia said with her eyes down.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m happy again.” (Emilia)
No surprise there.
If me being a child made it easier for her to talk, then I might as well have her get it all off her chest.
Perhaps she would feel better afterwards.
“Hmm. Why is that?” (Anos)
“…I realized something after coming to this city.” Emilia said in a gloomy voice.
“Ordinary people who don’t have Magic Eyes only think of me as a human. But the way humans treat those ordinary people is the same as the way the demons in Dilhade treated me…” (Emilia)
Emilia realized that normal interactions between humans were the same as when she felt she was looked down upon as a mixed-blood.
There was no way she wouldn’t know what that meant.
“…Those disdainful gazes I thought I felt on me were actually the same gaze I used to direct at mixed-bloods…” she said, crouching there and burying her face in her knees.
As if she didn’t think that explanation was clear enough, Emilia added a few more words to supplement it.
“The one who was actually looking down on me was none other than myself… I was simply afraid of being looked down on… where though no one else was looking down on me…” (Emilia)
I heard her grumbling a bit.
“But what am I supposed to make of it…?! All it did was throw into my face the fact that I’m just a lousy, awful, helpless scumbag… And nothing… Not a single thing about me… has changed…” (Emilia)
Emilia made her body even smaller so that she could hug herself.
“…Anosh-kun, you saw it for yourself too, right? I’m a teacher in name only, and I have nothing to show for it. I’ve only been here for a short time, but the students make fun of me so much they don’t even call me sensei…” (Emilia)
Emilia raised her face slightly, with her eyes full of tears.
“Now that I think about it, I guess this is the curse that evil mage saddled me with… Being royalty was just a title. Aside from that, I was a nobody… I wasn’t even a teacher… I was just a powerless little whelp… and an irritable fool who did nothing but look down on others…” she confessed to vent out her suffering.
“I’m not like Eldmed-sensei or Shin-sensei… I’m not a proper demon, and I can’t teach people anything…” (Emilia)
Biting her lip, Emilia spoke in a weak voice, as if to force her words out.
“…But even if I’m aware of it, it’s too late for me to redeem myself…” (Emilia)
She hugged herself tightly.
“…I can never… become a proper demon…” (Emilia)
“I don’t really understand complicated stuff.” (Anos)
When I said that, Emilia looked at me.
“…I guess not…” (Emilia)
“That aside, this salted meat is a little too spiced for me.” (Anos)
“…You’re so silly. You’re supposed to eat it with the bread.” (Emilia)
“That bread is too hard.” (Anos)
“That’s why we use this oil.” (Emilia)
Emilia dipped the bread in the fish oil.
She brought the bread to my mouth as I munched on the salted meat.
“What do you think?” (Emilia)
“It’s delicious. The bread is soft and the meat has just the right amount of salt.”
“I know, right?” (Emilia)
Emilia’s expression softened just a little.
“Now I learned something new.” (Anos)
“Anybody knows that sort of stuff.” (Emilia)
“I didn’t.” (Anos)
For a moment, Emilia froze.
She was staring hard into my eyes.
“I’m sure there are many different ways to eat a year’s worth of food cans.” (Anos)
“If you don’t mind this sort of trivia, I’ll teach you about it again.” Emilia said as she smiled in astonishment.
