Do ratmen dream of the sacred tree of spirits?

Chapter 2 "The Ledger"

After dinner, Fafnir put the lunchbox aside and took out a thick book, "Universal Language of the Western Continent and Universal Elvish Language," from the cabinet next to his bed. He had been teaching himself Elvish for two years.

The dining table became his desk, and he quietly read the Elvish textbook. Fafnir knew that studying was the only way to improve himself at this stage.

While reading the textbook, he also took out a pen and some discarded ledgers—paper wasn't cheap, and these discarded ledgers could be used for writing, which was a small privilege of Clint and Elisa as treasurers, even though in principle these discarded ledgers should be destroyed.

After a while, Fafnir felt his eyes getting sore; the light was just too bad. He looked away and found his parents sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at him blankly.

"My little Fafnir, we are such terrible parents. At your age, you should be playing to your heart's content..." Clint sighed, then continued:

"Sigh, a little over a year ago I could teach you some common Elvish, but I'm not good enough anymore. I only know a little bit of vocabulary and grammar. I still prefer dealing with numbers."

Fafnir smiled back at Clint: "Dad, I'm very content with the current situation, and you've taught me a lot about ledgers."

After he finished speaking, there was another silence.

Fafner felt his eyes had recovered and lowered his head to read and write.

About half an hour later, Fafnir blew out the candles:

"I'm going to sleep now."

He slowly slid off the chair, which was now a bit too high for him, leaving him with his feet dangling in the air.

The surroundings became completely dark, but Fafnir could still vaguely make out the outlines of objects in the darkness—this was the ratman's "night vision" ability, a gift from his bloodline.

He groped his way to a basin of water, wiped his body with cold water to clean himself, rinsed his mouth, and changed into a worn-out nightgown.

As usual, Clint and Elisa pulled back the covers, and Fafnir came between them, lying down and squeezing in to sleep.

"My little Fafnir, we're thinking of giving you a change of scenery," Elisa suddenly said softly. "When you didn't come home today, your dad and I discussed it, and we're planning to have you do volunteer work at a grammar school."

Grammar school? Fafner knew that place; it was a church-affiliated school that enrolled school-age children to learn various subjects and served as a prerequisite for university education.

"Oh, my little Fafnir, I know you long to learn, and you're of school age, but things are really terrible right now."

"We are all laborers from defeated countries, and the treaty doesn't stipulate the right to education for us, the descendants of servants." Clint's tone was somewhat helpless.

"We spoke with the butler today, and he's willing to help us get you selected to volunteer at the church grammar school," Elisa said.

"Lord Andrei, who is arriving today, will likely take these newly enrolled students to the school, and perhaps a few volunteers as well, though this is not certain."

"My little Fafnir, I'm sorry, we can't think of a better way. You're of school age, and we're very worried. We thought that if you went to a grammar school as a servant, you might be able to get into the classroom and learn something. It would be better than staying here." Elisa's voice choked with emotion.

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, thank you."

"Goodnight, my little Fafnir," "Goodnight, my little Fafnir."

"Good night."

Fafnir closed his eyes, and gradually, his thoughts began to wander.

But just as he was about to fall asleep, something he knew very well came to mind.

Fafner saw it: a book made up of thick, discarded ledgers, where all the numbers and words had disappeared, replaced by something resembling a panel.

Name: Fafner Beckett

Bloodline: Ratman (Basic Night Vision)

Total: 1. Bookkeeping (full) (100/100)

2. Common Elvish (99.6 + 0.4/100)

Change: Common Elvish +0.4 → Common Elvish (Max) (100/100).

From the time Fafnir was about three years old, this panel-like ledger would appear every night before he went to bed.

Initially, it appeared in Fafnir's mind as a piece of paper with only two columns: name and bloodline.

Fafnir was initially overjoyed, thinking he had obtained an invincible cheat code, allowing him to heavily invest in his attributes and finally live a life of "peace, joy, and happiness," perhaps even becoming a great superhuman in this world with extraordinary abilities.

But after Fafnir's numerous waits and attempts, the panel seemed completely unresponsive.

It wasn't until Fafnir, at the age of four, gradually mastered the common language of the western continent of this world, which became his daily language of communication,

One day, Fafnir secretly looked through Clint and Elisa's notebooks, as well as their treasured book, "A Comparison of Bookkeeping in the Narns Empire and the Holy Kingdom of the Elves," trying to understand his parents' bookkeeping work.

结果那个晚上，「簿记（2/100），更变：簿记+2→簿记（2/100）」的字样出现在了面板上。

After Fafnir diligently studied and changed the "bookkeeping" progress to "(full) (100/100)",

Those previously scattered pieces of knowledge suddenly merged together, and some unfamiliar concepts and knowledge points appeared out of thin air in my mind, becoming part of my memory.

Now, when the words "Universal Elvish (Full) (100/100)" appeared in the mental ledger, the words and grammar that had previously seemed obscure became as familiar and comforting as the common language of the Western Continent, or even as familiar and comforting as his mother tongue from his previous life.

Fafnir was in a good mood: Wow, it's amazing! Those grammar rules and verb conjugations that I've been memorizing for two years have become so simple. It seems that my two years of continuous reading, increasing my progress by a fraction of a second each day, has been quite effective!

However, he is also a little uneasy now, wondering if he can live a better life with these in the future. If this panel can only save him some time for memorizing words and learning bookkeeping, he will be somewhat disappointed.

By the way, his parents have already contacted the housekeeper for him, hoping that he can become a volunteer at the grammar school. Fafnir is really looking forward to it.

But he had little expectation that the butler would help him. In his eyes, Lord Lorraine's butler was mean-spirited and looked down on him because of his half-elf blood.

The butler never concealed his attitude towards Fafnir. Although the butler did not directly insult or beat him, Fafnir could clearly sense the arrogant demeanor and disgusted expression when facing him.

I was assigned to mop the floor after 8 p.m. thanks to him, which made him go hungry until 9 p.m. every night.

Fafnir's thoughts wandered for a while before he gradually drifted off to sleep.