[Contrary to what some might assume, Akechi doesn't value academic intelligence over any other kind. There were those types in Shido's circles; businessmen that could quote Sun Tzu freely, programmers who followed Searle, old money who indulged in Kant. Academic intelligence meant very little to the sort of person you became, let alone if you were smart or not. Someone like Maria strikes him as the type who could certainly give her own worldview produce something intriguing from it, even if others would dismiss it as lower class nattering.]

To tell you the truth, book smarts aren't everything. I'm sure you know that. [Although he's still unclear on her time period exactly, he understands enough to know only the nobility would have access to them most of the time. And since when did they make smart decisions?] But the reason I like books so much, aside from their availability to me and my own desire for them, is just that... I like stories. Even dense books are telling a story in some way. It just might not be a very fun one.