Dying Ichor

SIX

Two days passed for Elias. He had gotten accustomed to the camp without much trouble much to Gino's relief.

He never once complained about anything. He took everything he was given with a small smile and always responded with a thanks. If Elias was being honest, he was also living a pretty good life so far.

The food was actually pretty good even if it wasn't like the ones at his family's home or Lapetus' cooking. He moved into a smaller tent with a small bed, but Elias was easily able to sleep in it. He also spent his time with the children and told some stories and jokes to Brisa since he found her company to be enjoyable.

Not only that, but Elias was also sometimes found teaching groups of soldiers how to read and write.

Surprisingly, the boy had forgotten that because he was in Ancient Greece, not many people knew how to. While literacy might be widespread in in Greece and Rome, the only people who knew how to read or write were people like priests or scribes. Families like his were required to learn so it was understandable Elias knew how despite the fact he came from a different era.

Plus, by some miracle, because Elias had been transported into this era, he automatically knew the language and alphabet of Ancient Greece. So he took whatever knowledge he had from the twenty-first century and incorporated it into his lessons. Elias made it simple enough for the soldiers to understand so getting them to learn wasn't so hard. Each of them were quick to pick up on it.

Later on, the small groups became even larger when word got around about a noble helping others learn how to write and read. Only a small few were literate since they came from righteous families, so many came to check Elias' lessons out.

But because so many had come, Elias often struggled with teaching and was close to collapsing from stress until Brisa came and offered some help. She wasn't as bright as the lord nor did she actually have the confidence to look at the scary people, but Elias was the person who saved her so she wanted to repay him.

And shockingly enough, Elias found out she learned just a bit of the alphabet and was pretty fast on picking up on his lessons.

This must be what they call a genius.

Elias didn't hesitate to send her over to help other men from time to time. He would often go over to check up on the girl to see if she was struggling, but she was doing well so he left her alone for the majority of the time, trusting in her abilities.

"You did that wrong," Elias softly said as he helped someone correct his mistake. "This comes after, but everything else is correct."

He looked back up to check if the man had been listening, but he had been staring at Elias.

The boy scrunched his nose and asked, "Did you get it?"

The man blinked a few times before coming back to the real world.

"No... sorry, could you repeat that?"

"It's alright. Right here, you made a small mistake."

He continued to help these men for a few more hours until his throat felt patched for speaking so long. Elias didn't particularly like talking to anyone all that much since he'd rather be inside studying up on ways on how to return home.

A small container of water was given to him. Elias took it without much thought and thanked whoever handed it over to him.

"Welcome."

Elias nearly spat out the water from shock when he realized it had been Ares. His voice sent trembles down the boy's spine, making him remember just how timid he was around this guy.