Volume 1: Greenstone

“In the beginning, the Earth was Flat.”

An old man was sitting in front of a few little kids and pointing to a piece of paper on the ground. There was a circle with the word ‘Flat Earth’ written on it.

“Grandpa, if the Earth was Flat, then what about the Sun and Moon?”

“They were also Flat.”

The old man scratched his long beard and then wrote the word ‘Flat’ on his bald head with a black marker. The sunlight reflected off his head and nearly blinded the poor kids that were silly enough to look up at it directly.

“Aah~!”

“Grandpa!”

“Hehehehe~!” He grinned and revealed his mouth full of mostly missing teeth, “Over time, the Earth, the Sun and the Moon became less flat. Eventually turning into Disks.”

‘Disk Earth’ was written on a different piece of paper, though it was still just a circle. Then he pulled out another called, ‘Round Earth’. Eventually, he pulled over a more modern globe from a table nearby. 

“As the Earth got older, eventually those Cursed Words faded away. Leaving behind the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and the Earth we all know today.”

All around them were chirping birds, butterflies fluttering about and colorful plants. It wasn’t much of a classroom, but more like a lush garden. Occasionally there would be dogs barking or people yelling, laughing or coughing around the village full of simple wooden houses.

A little brunette boy raised his hand and asked, “Grandpa, can you show us Greenstone Mountain on the map?”

The old man smiled wryly and shook his head, looking at the old wooden globe for a while… He moved it around, squinted his eyes and pointed toward a relatively small continent in the southeastern corner. Then he cleared his throat and explained, “This is Kresvalia, Greenstone should be… Somewhere near the eastern coast?”

“Grandpa, you said it was the western coast last time.” A little blonde girl wondered, “Grandpa, do you really know where Greenstone Mountain is?”

“Left, right, east, west, what’s the difference? I’ve lived in Verde Village for my whole life. That’s the reason why I lived to the ripe old age of sixty… Hahaha~! *Cough-cough~!*”

“Grandpa, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry. I’m just old. Not sick.” The old white-beared man sighed and shook his head, “Forest, how is your father now?”

“I don’t know. Mama told me to stay with Uncle Grun to make sure I didn’t get sick too.”

“That’s smart. Anyway, where were we?” With the word ‘flat’ still written on his bald head in black, the old man pulled out a stack of papers and handed them out to the ten children. There was a word tattooed in black across his surprisingly muscular left forearm, ‘Teacher’.

“Homework! Hahaha~!”

“No~!”

“Waaah~!”

“Why?!”

Half the kids started complaining, while the other half were actually a little happy and excited. They didn’t even bother leaving to go play like the other children. Instead, they sat down in the grass and started using simple wooden boards as ‘desks’. It wasn’t actually anything too complicated or difficult.

[1. What are 10 of the most common Cursed Words?]

“Ah, I know this! Hehehe~!” The little boy with brown hair and green eyes grinned, “Teacher, Miner, Farmer-”

“Shhh! Don’t spoil the fun for your friends. You should all write down your answers first, then share them together. You don’t need to wait until tomorrow. I’ll grade them for you right now. Not like I have anything better to do, hahah~!”

“Oh, sorry… Hehe~!”

“It’s okay.” A little blonde girl to his left giggled and then continued working on the second question.

[2. How many letters are in the Alphabet?]

“Grandpa Greenstone, which Alphabet is this question talking about?”

“Orna, it’s homework about Cursed Words.” The old man used a soapy wet towel to wipe the black ink off his head as she spoke, “Obviously it’s the Cursed Alphabet.”

“Then you should make it more clear.” The child pouted and some of the other kids giggled, then she wrote down ‘26’. She hesitated for a few seconds, then added: [There are 5 vowels, 19 consonants and W/Y can act as either. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.]

She looked at her answer for a few seconds and added: [abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.]

Greenstone peeked at her answer and rubbed his aching forehead, “Orna, it’s just homework, not a test. You won’t get any extra credit for over-achieving.”

“Hmph~! It’s not my fault your Homework Questions are too vague and open-ended!”

[3. How many Days are in a Week? How many Weeks in a Month? How many Months in a Year? How many Years in a Century?]

“These questions are too easy. It’s boring, Grandpa.” Another little boy yawned and rubbed the dark circles under his pale-gray eyes. His head was shaved bald, but there were a red rash that looked like sunburn on his scalp.

[7 Days in a Week. 4 Weeks in a Month. 12 Months in a Year. 100 Years in a Century.]

“Berilo, Homework isn’t supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to keep your mind active and help you remember important things from cla-*Cough~!* Ehm, sorry.” 

The old man cleared his throat again and sighed, “You kids don’t know how lucky you are to have a Teacher. You’ll probably be the last class of my life. I just hope I can live long enough for one of you brats to grow up and inherit my Cursed Word before I die.”

“Grandpa…” Orna frowned and shook her head, “I want to become a Teacher when I grow up. But I want to ‘earn’ that power myself!”

[4. What are the most common ways to get Cursed?]

[The most common method for a person to gain a Cursed Word is simply inheritance. A master or parent will often pass down their Curse when they no longer need it or when they are about to reach the end of their life. However, another, much more difficult method is to perform a great feat in order to gain recognition from the world!]