Chapter Nine: Learn a little

Liquid silver shone under a cresting moonlight that bathed the entire garden in an ethereal light. Plar alabaster reflected against the night with a luster that stole the breath from Akatsuki's sails. Curiosities decorated the clear cloudless sky that was the girl's eyes. They were a place to get lost within, and Akatsuki counted it as the third world he had visited.

"Hmmm?" Her tone was quizzical, almost mischievous, as it escaped her cherry blossom lips. "No answer?" She all but teased cocking her eyebrow. She had heard him speaking to himself.

Akatsuki would have to divert the conversation to something more amusing. He leaned forward, touching the girl's soft pale cheek. A gentle smile graced his lips as he spoke.

"The countless curiosities within your gaze, of course." It was a bit forward, but it had the desired effect, so who was Akatsuki to complain.

The kingdom Akatsuki found himself within seemed to roughly follow the social standards of ancient Europe with noble titles and even kings, but that's as far as it went. One big difference was that women could and did hold land and titles. Even same-sex marriage was allowed and encouraged, so when Akatsuki, now Ashley, a relatively attractive female, was so forward, it was hard for anyone to keep their cool.

The girl stepped back, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly apart. The silver-haired girl's face was brushed with red, and Akatsuki could almost see the gears turning as her rattled mind tried to keep up. Akatsuki did his best to stifle a laugh. After a few seconds, the girl's eyes narrowed, and Akatsuki knew his ruse was up. Her checks, still rose with embarrassment, puffed, and she crossed her arms in protest.

"If you don't want to share, you could have just said so." Her tone was annoyed as she sat down next to Akatsuki on a few large rocks. Akatsuki had stashed his weapon before flirting, and seeing no real reason not to join the girl, he sat next to her.

Quiet overtook them for a period, simply content enjoying the night's cool air. Before long, the two began talking about this or that. He came to find out the girl was his new tutor, and the conversation started with the constellations, which held wild fantasy, much like the ones in Akatsuki's original life. In this world, the constellations represented fantastical battles between gods, and the stars were remnants of their struggle. In Akatsuki's opinion, it was a childish, naive tale; war never created beauty, only pain, and destruction.

The conversation ended with a query about the region's political turmoil, and Akatsuki suspected these questions to be far closer to an investigation than idle chit-chat. However, the woman was not pushy and let the inquiry go after it was clear Akatsuki either didn't know or wasn't willing to share.

Eventually, Akatsuki tired, he got up, bowed to his new instructor, and headed to his room for a much-needed sleep despite finding the whole situation untasteful. For the first time since he woke up in this world, incessant whispers didn't plague his dreams. The whispers weren't quite a dream, more the echo of one, and his mind could never quite piece together the vision when he woke up the next day. They usually left him feeling sluggish in the morning, which was another annoyance to add to the growing list.

The following day Akatsuki woke up refreshed, even if he was greeted by his new tutor an hour earlier than he was used to. He was accustomed to waking to find the doctor patiently waiting to check up on him, which he had done even after giving Akatsuki a clean bill of health. Akatsuki preferred the doctor's company since he enjoyed sleeping in during his new life.

Tutoring began with the basics, and Akatsuki started the slog of pretending. He acted like he was learning mathematics and science for the first time. The introduction of magic had stunted the growth of particular subjects, so his topics were more akin to elementary school lessons. Although he knew that magic curriculum existed, his newfound teacher seemed to avoid the issue skirting around it each time it came up.

Katarina, his teacher's name, had explained that only nobles and merchants learned mathematics and science. It was closer to how people treated art and electives in Akatsuki's original world. The two subjects were barely considered essential in this strange world, and the idea was foreign to Akatsuki. History, geography, and various other matters about the world around him were pretty interesting, and he didn't have to fake not knowing them since he had, in fact, never learned the history or the geography of this world.

He currently lived in the kingdom of Astell, which was neighbored by an old empire. The two warred in recent history and were presently in a time of peace and close corroboration; evidently, the hero of the war had married a princess from the empire or some such nonsense. What Akatsuki was genuinely interested in was this world's version of geography.

The world was mystical in a way that earth never was, even in its most fantastical examples. The study of the world was called adventuring, and its goal was to survey the world and document natural treasures, unique geography, and, most importantly, the location of monster nests. The surveyor's guild studied this world's adventuring, which is really just an adventuring guild by another name.

Another week passed like this, and Akatsuki's understanding of the world he was in deepened, alleviating one of his deeps seeded worries plaguing him since waking up in this world. Now if only he could do something about his emotions. Akatsuki still trained his body, not the amount he'd like to, but it was better than nothing. As he developed his body, his emotions became increasingly under control, or perhaps that was just what he told himself...