Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 135: Lessons in Numbers and Favors

Theo wasn’t wrong. Damien couldn’t read the local script at all.

"Well then... I’ve been giving it my all lately," Theo added, glancing at him with a tired but hopeful expression, "and I might be feeling just a little... worn out."

Damien immediately understood what Theo was hinting at.

"Want to indulge a little?"

"Yes!" Theo responded enthusiastically.

Before he knew it, both Sebas and Lorenzo had disappeared, leaving him alone with Theo. Naturally, they moved to Theo’s soundproofing bedroom for privacy.

For someone so exhausted earlier, Theo seemed to have regained his energy rather quickly as they entered the bedroom together.

Simple calculations, huh, Damien thought.

Hmm...

...

With experiments canceled and nothing else to do, Damien found himself lying on a bed, idly passing the time with the only other person in the mansion who wasn’t busy.

Even though everyone else was bustling about, he couldn’t shake the guilt of being one of the only ones lounging around.

"Want me to teach you numbers? That’s an easy favor," came a voice.

Damien had just asked Elyon, the resident elf who also had nothing to do, for a favor. Elyon lived in the forest behind the mansion and spent time with Damien, Theo, or Sebas when the mood struck. Most of the time, though, he simply relaxed—or played with Damien.

In other words, Elyon was as idle as Damien, if not more so. This seemed like the perfect chance to ask Elyon to teach him something.

Learning to read from scratch felt daunting, but numbers? That seemed manageable.

"Alright then, I’ll be in your care, Teacher."

"Teacher, huh? Not bad," Elyon said, clearly pleased. "That means you’re now my apprentice—not in magic, but close enough. An apprentice must always obey their master, remember that."

"Yes, Teacher," Damien replied with a grin.

Elyon looked adorably smug.

Teacher-student roleplay, huh? Not bad at all.

"By the way, are you planning to learn magic?" Elyon asked. "If you are, I could teach you that too."

Elyon had grown quite fond of Damien lately, so much so that even Sebas occasionally seemed surprised by how doting he’d become.

Damien got the sense Elyon might agree to anything he asked—but he didn’t want to push his luck and risk annoying him.

Still, the idea of learning magic...

"Well, about that..." Damien began, explaining what had happened at the magic laboratory.

"So yeah, I’ve kind of given up on using magic."

"Hm..." Elyon listened intently, his expression pensive.

"Do you have any ideas?" Damien asked.

"...It’s hard to say for sure right now. Once Theo has some free time, we should have him recheck your mana flow."

Given Elyon was Theo and Sebas’s master and had lived for over 600 years, Damien figured he might notice something everyone else had missed.

The idea that he might still be able to use magic excited Damien despite the earlier incident.

"Oh, but aren’t you planning to leave the mansion soon?" Damien asked, recalling something Elyon had mentioned before.

He hoped Theo would finish his work before that happened.

"Ah, that. I’ve changed my mind," Elyon said. "I’ll be staying here until I grow bored."

"Really? Did something catch your interest?" Damien asked, surprised.

He vaguely remembered someone—perhaps Theo—mentioning that Elyon disliked being in human settlements. What could have changed his mind?

"D-Don’t make me say it, you inferior species," Elyon snapped suddenly, his cheeks flushing red.

Damien grinned knowingly.

"Oh, Ely, that was such a sweet thing to say. I’ll count this as a favor you owe me now."

The thought that Elyon was willing to stay in a place he disliked, just for Damien, made his heart flutter a little.

"Well then, before we start studying, how about I use that favor now... okay?" Elyon asked, giving him an adorable upturned glance.

"Sure! Bring it on!" Damien replied, smiling brightly.

Damien wrapped his arms tightly around the small figure of Elyon, who lay beside him.

"First off, this country—no, most countries in this world—use a decimal system. Do you understand the decimal system?"

Their playful banter had settled, and the two of them were now lying on the bed, engaged in a lesson on numbers.

"Yeah, my world used the decimal system too," Damien replied.

"Good, that’ll make this quicker. Measurements, currency, even time—though the terms might differ between countries, they’re generally based on the decimal system."

Huh, so that’s why the clocks in this world only had 10 marks on them, Damien thought.

"While some countries have their own unique number systems, most use—do you have something to write with?" Elyon asked.

Oh, right. Damien realized he hadn’t prepared any writing tools for this "study session."

Since their lesson had started spontaneously after their playtime, his lack of preparation was hardly surprising. He remembered seeing a math notebook lying around. Maybe he could use that?

"Wait a second, I’ll go grab something."

As he began to get up from the bed, Elyon grabbed his arm to stop him.

"No need. I’ll summon it here. ■■■■■■■■."

With a chant, a stack of paper and something resembling a pencil appeared in Elyon’s hands.

"Whoa! That’s amazing!" Damien exclaimed.

So magic could do stuff like this, huh? His excitement shot through the roof.

"It’s an apportation spell," Elyon explained, looking rather proud. "It allows you to summon items from far away—or send them elsewhere. It’s quite advanced magic, you know."

Damien couldn’t help but think it was impressive—but also unnecessary, considering he could’ve just walked a few steps to get the notebook. Did Elyon want to show off a bit? 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Still, he found Elyon adorable, so he reached out and patted his head.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Elyon protested, though he didn’t resist.

Cute.

"Alright, let’s get back to it," Elyon said, recovering his composure. "Most countries use shared symbols for numbers 0 through 9. While exceptions exist, they’re extremely rare."

Elyon scribbled 10 simple symbols—numbers—onto the paper for Damien to see.

"But why?" Damien asked. "If the languages and scripts differ, wouldn’t the numbers be different too?"