Side Story 90: The Future of the Past (3)

As I began traveling with them, I had one question: why couldn't any of the troupe members read or write?

"Why can't we read or write? It's simple. We've never been taught."

Rubel-san's answer was exceedingly concise.

Leaving arithmetic aside, being unable to read and write was somewhat unusual on our continent. All five members of the troupe being unable to do so was especially strange.

Not just in Rudek—every country should have schools where children could learn to read and write. My birthplace was a small fishing village, but even there, a hut had been set up to gather children from nearby settlements and teach them their letters.

For a fee, they would also teach arithmetic. Since my village was near Gaedeland, quite a few parents thought it would be good for their children to know arithmetic for the future.

So, despite being a run-down fishing village, I recall that the children there were relatively good at arithmetic.

Everyone had their own circumstances, so one or two people who had never learned to read and write would not have seemed strange, but...

So I finally worked up the nerve to ask. This was the answer I got.

"Not a single one of you has ever been taught?"...