Language Cheat Reincarnation – Young Girl VTuber Saves the World
Chapter 371

Chapter 371. [People Who Can't Count To Ten]

"Uh... are you okay?"

Sorry. The pot... ――broke―― it's a problem.

I spoke to one of the locals nearby.

They all wore troubled expressions, staring at the broken pot with a hole in it and the pile of fish stacked up high.

Over the past few days, I had made some progress in deciphering their language.

Though still broken, I was finally starting to communicate with them verbally.

"Repair... 'pot'... uh, 'can' be 'good'?"

'Cannot do.――because――'

There were still parts I couldn’t understand, but it seemed the pot couldn’t be fixed.

In that case, it looked like they’d need to take the pile of fish home individually for cooking instead of using the big pot...

'――Divide, do?'

'Trouble.'

'Trouble, cannot, many――'

They exchanged looks.

This was unusual for them, who always acted on impulse and emotion.

'Everyone, 3――, divide――'

'Good, can.'

'Bad, none.'

"What!?"

As soon as someone suggested it, they all tried to take three fish each.

Wait, that’s definitely going to leave fish leftover!

Given the massive haul, there were probably about five fish per person.

I couldn’t stay silent.

"Why not 'divide' 'all' at 'once'?”

'...? Cannot do.'

'Cannot, do.'

The locals, who were about to take the fish, paused at my words.

What did they mean by “cannot”?

'Divide, do, can?'

"Huh!?"

Before I knew it, they pushed me toward the pile of fish, as if challenging me to try.

"I-I don’t really get it, but... okay, then."

With that, I began dividing the fish. Five per person should be fine, right?

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..."

I gathered the same number of fish into separate piles.

The atmosphere around me started to buzz strangely.

"Huh?"

I turned around to see them staring at me as if they’d witnessed something unbelievable.

Confused, I kept working.

When I said “1, 2, 3,” things seemed normal, but...

“4” caused a ripple of tension in the air.

Then...

“5” elicited something close to a shriek.

What the heck is going on!?

"Uh, with reactions like that, it’s kind of hard to keep dividing these..."

'You’re amazing, amazing, soooo amazing～～～～!!'

'Amazing!'

'Amazing!'

"Uh, w-what!?"

For some reason, the locals started praising me one after another.

While I stood there in complete bewilderment, one young man stepped forward.

‘I can do it. I’ll divide a lot――

He seemed to be saying he could handle this too.

I gave him space to try.

He stood proudly in front of the pile of fish.

One by one, he started counting the fish.

'1, 2, 3.'

But his hand stopped after “3.”

As I tilted my head, trying to understand...

'Hand!'

It took him some time, but he finally said the word “hand.”

The people around us burst into laughter, as if to say, “Of course!”

"Wait... no way!?"

I thought back over my time here.

Could it be...? No, I was sure of it. These people...

...Barely have any concept of numbers!?

It wasn’t that they lacked numbers entirely.

But their understanding of numbers was remarkably vague.

"No wonder."

Now that I thought about it, even the mom who’d helped me always served random portions of fish.

She’d say, “3 for eating”, but it’d be 4 or 5 instead.

In their language, “3” and “many” were expressed with the same word. I thought that explained it. But that wasn’t all.

“A newly born language, huh?”

I remembered once talking about infants.

At birth, humans can recognize numbers up to “3.”

This innate sense includes addition and subtraction, recognizing when things are added or taken away.

"But that's the limit."

For these people, “3” was often the largest number.

What was fascinating was that they seemed aware of numbers beyond “3”, judging by the reactions of the young man earlier.

And “hand,” as he said, likely referred to the number “5.”

Here, it seemed “5” and “hand” were expressed by the same word.

In many languages, numbers are based on human fingers—like one hand or both hands.

It seemed their language followed the same principle.

“That explains a lot.”

As I mentioned earlier, they lacked a concept of time.

I had already guessed why from my experiences here.

In the Amazon jungle, the temperature remains consistent year-round.

There’s little need to track the seasons.

With sunlight blocked by branches and leaves, it’s always dim, making day and night blend together.

"But that wasn’t the whole story."

Their weak grasp of numbers... their lack of counting days... was another reason they had no concept of time.

The relationship between time and numbers is fundamental.

It’s even said numbers arose from the need to track harvest times in agriculture.

However, as hunter-gatherers, they had no such need for numbers.

Language is interconnected.

A change in one area ripples through other parts.

'Amazing! Amazing!'

In the end, I divided the fish evenly, all while being praised.

But let me be clear:

If you think these people are “fools” for not being able to count to “10”.

You’d be making a huge mistake.

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