Chapter 57: The Goddess’s First Lesson (1)
"Are the Clouds really that difficult to catch?" Maeve asked.
Cerus nodded without hesitation. "It’s not that they’re difficult to catch. The problem is touching their fur. That part is tricky."
Maeve let out a soft hiss. Ikarus had left so quickly yesterday that she never got the chance to share any ideas about catching the Clouds without getting shocked. She could probably buy a pair of gloves from the black market that didn’t conduct electricity, but... well, Ikarus might already have his own method.
"What about Axan? Where is he?" Maeve asked again.
Cerus answered right away. "We’ve been away from the settlement for too long. That’s why he has to reinforce the barrier over and over again to maintain it."
Actually, they had only been gone for a few days. Still, it seemed the barrier had grown much weaker now that the Voryn Stones had lost their power.
"I hope he’ll be okay," Maeve whispered.
"He’ll be fine," Cerus assured her.
The conversation ended there because they had already arrived at the healer’s hut. Most of the medicinal plants had been used up, so Elder Vax didn’t have much work to do unless someone got sick.
Usually, most of his time was spent teaching the younger healers. But after ten years without a single birth in the settlement, his students had already learned nearly everything he knew.
"Elder Vax!" Maeve called the moment she spotted him through the open window. "I’m here to give you your punishment," she said it so directly that even Cerus glanced at her for a second.
Elder Vax, who had been sitting by the window, stood up and walked outside. He stopped in front of her and straightened his back. "I’m ready to hear it, Goddess."
Maeve tilted her head up to meet his eyes. No matter how many times she spoke to the people of this world, she still felt a little intimidated by how tall they were.
She cleared her throat, partly to hide her awkwardness. "I want you to build a fence for our livestock. I’ve already prepared the wooden planks for you, but it seems they’ll still need to be cut later."
Since she still had no idea what the Clouds actually looked like, she couldn’t be sure what kind of fence would work best for them.
"Goddess..." Elder Vax took a deep breath, looking at her with an unreadable expression.
At first, Maeve thought he was unhappy with the task she had given him. But after a moment, he spoke again. "That’s..." He paused, searching for the right words. "I think you should punish me more."
Maeve blinked in surprise becahse she honestly hadn’t expected Elder Vax of all people to say that. To be fair, she had been completely convinced he was a jerk after the things he had said before. But now... she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Maybe he had only spoken that way because he was worried, or maybe years of pressure and hardship in the settlement had finally gotten to him.
Whatever the reason, it was clear that Elder Vax hadn’t been thinking clearly back then and Maeve knew that nobody could stay calm and reasonable all the time.
"That’s enough for now," Maeve said firmly. "But if you treat me like that again, I can’t promise the next punishment will be this light, Elder Vax."
For a moment, Elder Vax said nothing. Then, to her surprise, he smiled. "I understand, Goddess. I’ll be more careful with my words from now on."
"Good." Maeve smiled back. "And since you’ll be cutting the wooden planks later, you’ll have to attend my class too."
Elder Vax frowned. "Class?"
Maeve was sure that he was familiar with the act of teaching, but he was probably not familiar with the term class.
"Yes!" Maeve brightened immediately. "It’s a place where a teacher teaches students new things. In this case, I’ll be teaching the carpenters a system of measurement so they can build things much more easily."
After hearing that explanation, Elder Vax finally promised that he would definitely attend her class later.
"That’s good to hear, Elder Vax." Maeve nodded. "Then I should get going. I still need to make the measuring tools."
Her smile remained on her face, but deep inside, she already knew she had given herself a huge amount of work.
After all, these aliens didn’t even have a proper number system or a way to count, which meant she would have to teach them everything from the very beginning, damn it!
"What are we going to do here, wife?" Cerus asked the moment Maeve asked him to bring one of the wooden planks into the hut.
Maeve couldn’t help letting out several deep sighs. "The first measuring tool I’m going to make is a ruler. It’s a tool used to measure length."
Cerus stared at the wooden plank in confusion. "Measure length?" he repeated. "Why would anyone need that?"
Right. Of course he would ask that.
To the people of Earth, a ruler was such a simple and common tool that most children learned how to use one in school. But to the Azuryn Tribe, who built everything by eye and experience, the idea of measuring things with exact numbers probably sounded unnecessary.
"So things can be the same size," Maeve explained patiently. "For example, if you want ten wooden boards that are exactly the same length, how would you do it?"
Cerus immediately pointed at the plank. "I’d put them next to each other."
"That works if you already have one board," Maeve said. "But what if you don’t?"
Cerus opened his mouth, then closed it again. A few seconds later, he looked genuinely troubled.
Maeve suddenly felt a little bad for him, so she said, "Exactly."
"I see..." Cerus said at last. "Now I understand why you said the carpenters will be able to work more easily later."
"That’s right," Maeve said with a smile. "But to understand how to use this thing, the first thing we need to do is learn how to read numbers."
"Well, since you’re here, you’ll be my first student!" Maeve said enthusiastically.
