“That will be all for today’s class. I can see that everyone is working hard, but please don’t push yourselves too much,” said Karl as he left the classroom, leaving behind words of concern for everyone.

After the teacher left, I called out to my classmates who were about to leave the classroom and tried to stop them. I wanted to suggest something that came to mind during class.

“Hey, everyone, can I talk to you for a moment?”

When I gathered everyone’s attention, I conveyed my idea: “Shall we have a study group at my house? We’re all sacrificing our sleep to study, right? I don’t think that’s very efficient. Besides, I think it would be more productive if we taught each other the things we don’t understand. What do you think?”

“Will Lark-kun teach us?” Roeck was the first to react to my words.

I turned towards Roeck and replied, “Of course, I’ll teach as well, but I also want everyone to teach me the things I don’t understand. Each of us has our strengths and weaknesses, so let’s complement each other’s weak points.”

“I think it’s a great idea! Let’s do it!” Roeck said with a smile, and the other classmates agreed.

With me leading the way, we all headed to my house one by one.

For the time being, I directed everyone to the living room, and they each took a seat. Our living room and table are unnecessarily large, so even with all the classmates, it didn’t feel cramped. By the way, we didn’t have enough chairs in the living room, so I brought some from the storage room.

First, one by one, we announced which subjects we were good at and which ones we struggled with, and we divided ourselves into several groups so that we could teach each other. I took on the role of teaching particularly difficult problems.

With the preparations complete, the study group began. Everyone actively asked questions and taught each other, and it seemed to be going well.

At some point, I thought I might get hungry, so I briefly left the living room and went to the kitchen.

When I returned after making a sufficient amount of grilled onigiri, about two or three for each person, everyone started eating them happily in between their studies. Shafal also appeared at some point and indulged in a little bit of snacking while being fussed over by everyone. Snacking is not good, but I think it’s great that he resisted the temptation and didn’t eat them all.

After some time passed, several challenging problems emerged within the group that no one could solve.

Well then, I guess it’s my turn soon.

“I’m not really good at teaching, so if anything is unclear, please let me know right away,” I said before going around each group. Following that, Lia continued and made a statement to everyone.

“Lark-kun may say that, but he’s actually good at teaching, so it’s a good idea to take proper notes.”

“Hey, Lia. I don’t want you to raise the bar… but oh well. Let’s get started for now.”

Slightly nervous, I started teaching the problems. I was worried if my explanations were difficult to understand, but everyone understood them well, which was a relief.

Let’s continue like this… I thought, but just as I was about to do so, I got stuck on a certain arithmetic problem. It was an ordinary word problem at first glance, but I couldn’t figure out how to set up the equation.

How do you solve this? While I was contemplating, Roeck, who was in a different group, popped up from the side, “Lark-kun, maybe you can use this formula for that problem?”

“Huh? Oh, you’re right… I didn’t notice.”

Roeck smoothly solved the problem and continued to do so. As expected, being the son of a great merchant, arithmetic seemed to be his specialty.

Since then, Roeck and I started teaching difficult arithmetic problems together, not just me. By the way, teaching others is more beneficial to studying than I expected. Opening this study session was definitely the right choice.

Finally, I taught the problem that Leon couldn’t understand, and the study session came to an end.

“Lark-kun, it was very easy to understand.”

While we were tidying up together, Leon praised me.

“Thank you,” I thanked him while blushing, and Melia, who is also good at arithmetic like me and Roeck, asked a question, “Hey… Lark-kun, why are you so smart?”

To be honest, the biggest factor is the benefit of “Enhanced Memory Capacity,” but there’s no point in saying that outright.

After thinking for a moment, I decided to give a safe answer, “…Maybe it’s because I’ve always read a lot of books.”

“I’ve been studying by reading books since I was young too, but I didn’t become as smart as Lark-kun,” Melia said with a hint of frustration.

Well, everyone, take care.

By the time we finished tidying up, it was already getting dark, so I saw everyone off at the entrance.

While preparing dinner, I informed Father that dinner was not ready yet because he had returned home. He said, “I understand,” and helped with the preparations.

I made meat dishes and salad and set them on the table when Shafal emerged from inside my body.

“Oh, we have vegetables today too,” Shafal said happily and started munching on the salad. It seems that since starting to exercise, he has become conscious of healthy eating.

During the meal, Father spoke up, “By the way, Lark, I heard you had a study session at home today.”

“Oh, how did you know?”

“Well, I happened to pass by a carriage with Lia when I was coming back. It was a route that she never uses when going from the academy to the castle, so I asked about it and heard that you were having a study session at our place.”

“I see. Thanks to the study session, I think I’ll manage this test. Teaching others helped me organize my thoughts.”

“In swordsmanship and physical techniques, there are times when you notice flaws in your own movements when teaching others. It’s the same thing, I suppose.”

After finishing dinner, Father and I took a bath together and returned to our respective rooms.

I completed my daily prayers and lay down on the bed. Thanks to the study session, I had confidence in tomorrow’s test. As I became more relaxed, the next problem came to mind.

The next problem—yes, it was about the new rice dish I would sell at my shop.

“It’s about time to think about the next product… A rice dish that is easy to eat… Something that can rival grilled onigiri… Maybe I can boldly try selling rice bowls (donburi) dishes, but with the layout where the kitchen occupies seventy percent of the first floor, it would be difficult to secure eating space. On the other hand, if I open the second floor, there won’t be a break area for Leticia and the others. The worst-case scenario would be placing tables in front of the shop, but it would obstruct the passage…”

As I pondered about it, I started dozing off, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

◇

Finally, the day of the test arrived. When I went to the classroom early, all my classmates had already gathered.

“Everyone, you’re early today. What’s going on?”

“Lark, if it’s alright with you… could you teach us a little bit?”

I asked, and Lia answered on behalf of everyone.

There was no reason to refuse, and until the teacher arrived, I used the blackboard to briefly teach everyone the important points of arithmetic, history, and magic studies.

After some time had passed, for some reason, Karl arrived. He was supposed to be the supervisor for the test, but…

“Oh, if there are any questions before the test, I came early to answer them. But Lark, are you giving a lesson?” he said with a smiling face and looked at the blackboard intently. “…Impressive. It’s easy to understand.”

“No, no, that’s not true.”

“You don’t have to be modest. The flow of this history is very well summarized. I’d even like to show it to the other teachers.”

With that, Karl said and sat in the empty seat behind me.

“Um… Professor, what are you doing?”

“I also feel like taking Lark’s class. Come on, continue.”

“Y-yes.”

For some reason, I ended up teaching in front of my homeroom teacher.

In my previous life, I never attended classes in the first place, so I thought I wasn’t cut out for teaching others… But perhaps I had some talent that I wasn’t aware of?

Soon, the teacher in charge of monitoring the test arrived, and I erased the blackboard and took my seat, switching places with Karl.

After confirming that Karl had left the classroom, the monitoring teacher distributed the tests.

“Now, please begin.”

With those words as a signal, the sound of papers being turned and pens scribbling filled the air.

The first test subject was history. It mainly asked about the formation of Recommetys and was in a descriptive format, but the difficulty itself wasn’t that high.

I finished solving all the problems without difficulty and raised my head, looking ahead. Since my seat was at the very back, I could see how my classmates were doing quite well.

Then, I noticed Leon and Sera, who were weak in memorization, struggling with their heads down.

(Hang in there, Leon, Sera. Take your time to remember the problems we went over yesterday.)

Sending my thoughts silently, both of them took pens and started writing on their answer sheets.

“That’s enough. Please put down your pens. We will collect the answer sheets, so please wait in your seats.”

The proctor teacher signaled the end, gently floating the answer sheets with wind-based magic and gathering them in front.

After the teacher left, Leon and Sera approached my seat.

“Thanks to you, Lark, we managed to solve them somehow.”

“Thank you so much!”

I felt relieved hearing their words. Soon after that, another proctor teacher entered without much delay, and the test started immediately.

The next subject was arithmetic. The problems here were quite challenging, but I managed to solve them at a reasonable level. Some similar problems to the ones Roeck taught me during our study sessions also appeared, so I silently cheered inside.

After finishing all the questions, I raised my head again and observed my other classmates from behind, just like during the first test.

It seemed like Roeck and Melia, who were good at arithmetic, were smoothly writing with their pens.

On the other hand, Lia and Kagura, who were weak in this subject, were struggling with their heads down, just like Leon and the others earlier.

(Hang in there, Lia, Kagura! The problems in the format I taught you earlier are exactly the same!)

While silently cheering on, the arithmetic test came to an end. The answer sheets were collected, and the teacher left.

“Thanks to Lark-kun, I was able to answer it!”

Lia and Kagura gave me happy reports as soon as the teacher left. After a five-minute break, the final magic study test began.

Magic study was one of my strong subjects, so I was able to solve it faster than ever before. I flipped over my answer sheet and observed everyone without appearing unnatural, just like before.

Doran and Melia were supposed to be particularly weak in magic study. Somehow, I could sense their struggle from their backs.

(Doran and Melia both have extensive knowledge of specific magic, but they struggle with everything else… Hang in there, both of you.)

While cheering for them in my mind, I waited for the signal to end.

“Now, please stop answering.”

As soon as the signal to end was given, the atmosphere in the classroom relaxed.

“Good work, everyone. That concludes the test. Please take care on your way home.”

After collecting the papers, the teacher announced that and left the classroom.

As I was getting ready to leave, Doran approached me. “Lark, thank you. Without your help, this test might have turned out terrible.”

“I feel the same way. Thank you for cooperating in the study group.”

The expressions of the others also brightened. It seemed like everyone felt a sense of accomplishment.

I’m glad I could be of help.