When his part ended, Caelan instantly grabs the energy drink cup near him and chugs it down in one sitting. The guy breathes heavily. His face looks pale, though it gradually becomes normal again after he regains his breath. Not something to be surprised though, the guy just read out loud a long history lesson without taking any break.

"It's…so long! And hard!"

That's what he said.

"I see you have yet to lose your ability to read, Caelan."

Says Deborah, accompanied by a smirk.

"Good job."

I comment in response. The guy really needs a break right now.

"I have a feeling that you intentionally made him read the longest part first, Iola."

I say my thought out loud. The girl in question opens her eyes a little wider in surprise. That little reaction of her obviously tell me that was her plan all along.

"What? Really? Hey, is that the truth?"

Equally surprised, Caelan waves his head around as he glances at the others in search for an answer.

"Great, you just have to spill it out."

Deborah gives me a pissed look. Since when did they plan this out? Do girls in this world have hidden telepathy or what?

"Just…think of it as a punishment of yours, Caelan. Since you were there, that makes you an accomplice as well."

Iola answers. That settled it.

"I'm an accomplice, an accomplice…"

The guy slams his head onto the table and his notes. Seems like being called an accomplice for a crime he didn't (want to) commit make the guy feel pretty bad. It's not my business though. I don't have time for stupid hijinks in study hours. When you study, you focus on studying, not stupid shits.

With the quill pen in my left hand, I write down the summary for all the stuff Caelan just said out loud. The writing of the book may seems long-winged, but I think the authors did the best they could to convey large amounts of informations using the most interesting way possible to prevent the drowsiness a standard history lesson may induce. However, making it interesting is one thing, to make it easier to remember is another, and with their use of proses, the latter part is a failure on the authors part. Well, it's always the student's job to filter out what are worth remember and the rest.

Yes, only a fool would learn everything he was taught at face value. I don't believe in the concept of work hard. Diligently study every single words you were taught is the same as riding a wooden cart with two square wheels. You don't praise someone for going miles and miles with a square wheels cart and call that working hard. It's pure foolishness. Work smart, not work hard!

Caelan also writes down his notes when he finished whining. When we are both done, it's time to continue the lesson.

"So, before we continue, is there any question?"

Question? Well, I have some. Lots of them, in fact.

"What happened to the Light Seal and the Dark Seal. Did they disappear after their bearers'r death?"

Anul gave Primus his Seal in a dream, and the twins from the Heaven Realm got theirs since birth. While they sound very important, there is a chance they were just a one-of-a-kind thing and disappeared with their bearers's death.

"On the contrary, no. After the death of Primus, Enas and Dyo, several other bearers appeared over time, even to this day. In the Demon Realm, a Dark Seal will appear on someone when Anul deemed them worthy to bear his will. And in the Heaven Realm, they somtimes appear as a birthmark on destined newborns. A common belief is these children have special hidden talents and a great destiny awaits them. When they grow up, those people called them Heroes and grant them the mission to slay our Demon King."

Iola answers.

This sounds familiar. It's like an overused plot for a Dragon Quest game, where heroes band together to put an end to a scheming Demon King hell-bent on destroying the world for unknown reasons. And now I got to jump on the wagon for a similar ride, except I'm on the bad side now.

"If so, then all the Dark Seal bearers will be called Demon King as well?"

I ask another question.

"No no. The number of bearers in each centuries while not too many, but at the same wasn't too few, Akuma. A Demon King is the one sitting on top of the Demon Realm, and certainly no good thing would come from a realm ruled by a bunch of different kings, right? And so, after the increase of seal bearers, the current leaders at that time decided to create a ritual to choose the most worthy Demon King from the Dark Seal bearers. Though to be accurate, rather than being chosen, the bearers themselves have to earn that right."

"Earn?"

That part piques my interest.

"Combat. The bearers and their followers would band together and engage other bearers in combat. The last one remain shall be crowned Demon King and become the king of all under the realm."

Suprisingly, Deborah suddenly chooses to join the conversation and explains that bit to me. Is she also interested in this topic?

"The ritual is called a 「Banquet」. When the Realm is in need of a new King, a Banquet will be declared, and seal bearers across the land will make a pilgrim to the sacred capital of Irkalia to join the feast, which main dishs consist of the flesh and blood of their fellow seal bearers that share the same ambition. All this slaughters are made in the name of choosing a worthy king."

Let's just hope Deborah means the flesh and blood part figuratively rather than literally.

After replying, Deborah returns to her indifferent attitude like always, one have to wonder why did she choose to interject in this matter earlier.

"Hey guys, how do I gain a Dark Seal?"

"No one knows, Caelan." – Iola answers Caelan's question. – "People said that only the most outstanding and exceptional individuals would be chosen by Anul and granted a Dark Seal. The common norm is to train yourself a lot and become the strongest. One may say "Effort" is a deciding factor, but it's just one way. No one really know how this thing works."

So, if "Effort" is what granted a Dark Seal, and what is the criteria of the Light Seal? To be happened to get lucky during your earlier stage of life inside your mother's womb? Seems fair, real fair.

"So, are these seals have some kind of special ability, like increasing the power of their bearers?"

I ask another question. This time, Iola seems eager to answer.

"It's a wrong notion that many believed. The seal bearers themselves said that they feel no sudden surge of power ever since they received their seal. HOWEVER…"

Iola puts on a emphasis on her last part. If it doesn't increase any power, then what use would a fancy seal like that have other than being a mere tatoo-like decoration?

"The scholars have already did extensive research on the seals, and have came to a very weird conclusion, that is the seals have the power to manipulate fate itself!"

Well, now ain't that a weak power. I almost laugh out loud, but held myself back since I didn't want to kill Iola's rare enthusiasm.

"Easy easy, Iola. No need to get so worked up."

Deborah interjects yet again.

"Now now, you do know I'm very interested in these topics."

Suddenly, Iola's eyes seems like they're sparkling (figuratively). It is compareable to that of Archimedes's Eureka! moment, without the streaking naked part. Iola surges from her desk to look at Deborah closer in the eyes.

"Hey I know. How about you explain it to them instead, Deborah?"

"What? Why me?"

Deborah doesn't seem to be interested.

"Come on, both of us know you are the real expert in this topic."

"Okay girls, I don't care who, just give me the explaination I want. We don't have time to waste."

Tired of their hijinks, I speak out my mind. However, that doesn't kill the enthusiasm inside Iola's eyes. She looks like she's hell-bent on making Deborah assume the role of Ms.Exposition.

"So tired with you…"

Deborah sighs in defeat as Iola goes back to her seat with a triumphant smile. Deborah then reluctantly performs her role as our new Ms.Exposition, though not before she puts her notes on to the middle of the table and gives me a cold glare, or should I say another cold glare.

"Put your eyes and ears to work, because I won't repeat a second time."

"Yeah yeah."

Seriously, what's her problems? Does she has her period on 24/7?

"A common belief in Airumel is every living beings, be it Lielos's or Anul's, sentient or not, all have their life determined by fate since birth. Even though most of these beings are capable of thought and choice, all of their actions would inadvertently serve to fulfill their own destiny. All of these destinies vary from person to person. There are those who were born just to become a grunt foot soldier and end their lives as an unknown corpse in the battlefield. Those who are lucky get to be something higher, like a noble or a king. They get to live a fulfilling life until death. However, their destinies may have already been determined, but the details on how it will happen usually depends on their own actions and outside influences."

Deborah pauses to take a breath before continuing.

"Like, let's say you were told you will die on a battlefield, but details like when, where and how would be decided by you. You may die the moment you make the first step if you are weak, or after thirty years or so, provide you are strong enough. How your destiny happens is of your chosen. A linear from A to C, which B is the middle line that could be bent however you fit. That being said, you may also see yourself died before fulfilling your destiny, you could say it's some sort of accident on a spiritual scale. It's a very relative concept. There are many reasons for this, but the most common ones are because you just got bad luck, or your fate was intertwined with someone's own fate and caused a paradox."

Deborah demonstrates by drawing a straight line with three dots consist of A, B and C on her note. The first one is linear, just like she said, from A, to B then end at C. Then, Deborah draws another three dots with the usual A, B, C. However, this time, the B dot is up above and farther than the A dot. That doesn't mean she can't connects all three of them together. I guess this represents the non-linear nature of B – the middle part influenced by a person's choice. Finally, Deborah draws yet another three dots, this time they are linear like the first one, but the straight line ended at the B dot, represented by a X mark over the dot, and another straight line from above crossing the B dot, dubbed the D line by Deborah.

"Then there come these guys. The seal bearers."

She draws yet another picture, this time by drawing two dots standing opposite of each other. One she noted the name Heaven Realm above, the other is Demon Realm. Deborah then begins to draw some…stickmen of all things. She draws four stickmen with stick swords and bows on the Heaven side, and a horned guy wearing a black cloak that ooze "EVIL!" on the other.

"Your drawings are terrible."

"I didn't hire any art critics, thank you."

Deborah grudgingly answers. She still tries to finish her lesson despite her attitude, though.

"Akuma, Caelan. In your mind, what is the mission of a Hero?"

"Hmm. Slaying the Demon King?"

Says Caelan. Since the guy have been pretty silent for a time, I let him answers the obvious question instead.

"Wow. He knew."

Iola comments in a surprised tone of voice.

"Good job Caelan. Now I really believe you did graduate from the elementary classes as you said before."

"On top of my class, in fact! You better remember it!"

Caelan proudly answers Deborah. Welp, this guy is an idiot alright. Without giving Caelan any attention, Deborah continues.

"Let us not waste time. It is indeed the mission of Hero is to defeat the Demon King, one could say it is their destiny and the very reason they were born for. But, the mission of a Demon King however is not just the extinction of their Heroes nemesis, but to lead the Demon Realm to glory and destroy their enemy's alliance."

"Then what does it has to do with the seals?"

I ask my question.

"The seals's mission is to ensure the success of their bearers's mission, at all cost."

"At all cost?"

That would mean no matter what, a Hero would have to slay a Demon King, and likewise on the Demon King's part ?

"To make it easier to explain, let just think of the Seals as a guide. Until the confrontation of their respective seal bearers, nothing would be able to sway them from that path. In a sense, they become invincible with the protection from fate itself."

"Like, you could stab them all you like and they'll just laugh it off ?"

"It's…more abstract than that. Here is an example."

Deborah points her quill pen to the stickman she drew earlier.

"Let say…A Dark Seal bearer are standing in front of four human warriors. The seal bearer was wounded prior, and thus isn't at his full strength, speed and power. In this hypothesis, arrows alone are enough to kill the bearer. At this distance, the percentage for the human archers to make a accurate hit is 99%. Since he is wounded, the seal bearer has no way to lower the archer's hit ratio, and of course, he could evade the arrows if they belong to the remaining 1%. So, this is the question: Would the seal bearer get shot with the 99% ratio, or would he successfully evade with the 1% ratio?"

Well, 99% seems like an impossible ratio to miss a shot. That is like pointing a gun near point-blank at a glass bottle. Only an idiot would have miss such a shot. However, since I have spent nearly a month in this world, keeping a mundane mindset while people around you can shoot magic out of their hand everyday may prove to be fatal.

"He will survive with only 1% chance."

Deborah nods to confirm my answer.

"Seems like you got it already. That is what makes the Seals so frightening. They can defy logics, turn black into white like it's just a cakewalk if it's what it takes. Once a seal was embarked on a person, the seal itself will make it damn sure that their bearer will fulfill their bestowed destiny, no matter what stand on their path. One could say a seal bearer was favored by fate itself."

"Scary…"

Says Caelan. Iola seems like she also has something different to say.

"What a blessing."

"I find it to be more than a curse, though."

Deborah answers with a saddened reaction. I hold the same view as her. It's like your whole life was decided from birth, and fate itself will make it damn sure that you will not stray from your path. From an outsider's perspective, favored by fate seems like a blessing, but in the bearer's eyes, it would actually a curse, a terrible one that can only be removed by death.

"Well, do you actually notice something, Akuma?"

"Hmm?"

What does she means by that? Oh wait, come to thing of it…

"If it's their destiny to face each other, how would things resolve between a fight of seal bearers?"

"Hoh…so it was worth teaching you."

Deborah smirks as she hears my question.

"It's simple. Fate stops being bias toward anyone, and it just lets the bearers resolve the fight themselves. You could say the only moment they would be free from fate is a fight with their enemy seal bearer. This doesn't just happen between a Light Seal and Dark Seal, however. This effect is also at work when two bearers of the same kind of seal get together. That's why some Heroes prefer to make a party with normal warriors instead of their fellow bearers."

And I guess this is how we got the "A brave hero makes friends on his journey to defeat the evil Demon King" story. Would be nice if half the kingdom and a princess to marry are throwed into the lot as rewards.

"Well, shall we get back to the history lesson? We're getting sidetracked for too long already."

"One more question one more question!"

Caelan interrupts Deborah's line, accompanied by his waving hands.

"Does a seal appear anywhere on the body?"

"Why are you interested in that...?"

I let out my voice in a worry. Did the shock of seeing Deborah in undies actually awaken Caelan's hidden male instinct? So this is my fault?

"Well, technically…yes. The most usual places is in the back of the hand, or under the collarbones. They may even appear on the bearer's eye. However…"

Iola answers...with a blush on her face.

"They also sometime appeared in places that are slightly…hard to speak of. Like the 69th Demon King, Madam Istar…The cruelest and most violent Demon King in history…who unfortunely has her seal appeared on her…buttcheek."

Well, it's understandable. I would become the cruelest Demon King as well if the mark of my great destiny is located on my buttcheek.

Speaking about buttcheeks, the scenery before when I entered the room begins to appear again in my head…

"Enough of buttcheeks already! Get back to study!"

Deborah embarrassedly shouts. Well, she's right, enough of buttcheeks already. Get out of my head, buttcheeks.

"Right right. Well, I guess it's my turn this time."

In order not to waste anymore time, I immediately take up the book and read the content out loud. However, unlike Caelan, I will speak only about the summary of the content, instead of reading everything word to word to save time and breath.

--------------------

When the Creation part ended, the next part was the Construction, a period of time used to strengthen each other's faction.

After the end of the Founding War, the Heaven Realm alliance's old leaders each took their own path. They went to uninhabited lands with their followers, declared themselves Kings and built their own nations. Small countries quickly rose like mushrooms in a forest. At this time, there were several small scale civil wars inside the Heaven Realm's territories to distribute the lands and resources among each other, mostly between the human factions, since they were the most numerous. The defeated nations were annexed into the land of the winners. A chaotic time full of bloodshed and violence.

However, things weren't better in the old continent of the Demon Realm. The death of Primus happened when internal strife was at its highest. And his death were simply a flaming torch thrown at a mountain of straw. In the next few years, clans and tribes kept fighting over the total control of the alliance. The only good thing that happened in this time was the lack of outside enemies for the Demon Realm, since their enemies were also busy fighting among themselves.

Wars came and went, but it never disappeared from this world, only let peace temporarily took its domain until the day conflicts once again came.

The world filled with light wasn't any less chaotic that the time it was shrouded in darkness. However, in chaotic time, there would always be heroes who rose from the mass to bring peace to the land. And when I said heroes, I prefered to the Demon Kings of this Era, since of course, this book was written by demons.

Just like what Deborah said earlier, after Primus, the Dark Seal didn't disappear. Instead, it was granted to another three candidates. One from the Devilmen clans, one from the Vampire clans, and one from the Orc tribes. Declared themselves the successor of Primus, each of them took control of their respective race and clans under their own banner, they conquered numerous lands to be their territories and when the time was right, all three declared war among themselves.

A stupid and barbaric method, but it was necessary evil. When words were useless, you could only bring order by the use of strength and violence. The strong would only gathered under the one stronger than them. With the three seal bearers fighting among each other, only the strongest would get to be the ruler. Two tigers cannot share one forest, of course. In the end, the one who triumphed was the Orc seal bearer, and he became the 2nd Demon King in history.

This Demon King has learned from Primus that the former Demon King's kindness would prove nothing useful to rule the unruly demons under the Realm. And so, in order to secure a future where internal strife would never happen again, the newly crowned Demon King ruled those under him with an iron fist. He performed several bloody purges, started with his fellow seal bearers's clans that he fought and win. He rooted out the rebellious factions and secured order to the state. The new Demon King began to make laws to effectively rule his people, with harsh punishments awaited those who defy his laws.

That apparently wasn't enough in his eyes. The orc thought he needed something to unite the numerous clans that made up Demon Realm under a common cause. And just like how the humans created the Light God Church to wage war with the demons, the new Demon King gathered a group of old demons from all kind of clans to form a new religion. This group would be eventually be known as the 「Elders」, and they were tasked with the management of the newfound of Dark God Church, a religion in which they worship Anul.

The Orc Demon King made this religion the national religion that all must follow. It was met with postive reactions, since the demons of the Realm has already worshipped Anul from a long time ago. This helped a lot in the unification of the residents of the Demon Realm under a common banner. However, this came with a cost, a very ironic cost for the Orc Demon King.

The Orc tribes has no common god that was well known like the other races, however, they have their own religion in which they worshipped their heroes and founders, namely the four Orc brothers that made drastic changes to their whole culture. They were revered as War Gods and were worshipped by a sect of Warrior Monks. The law to change their religion had greatly affected the Orc tribes. While they knew full well the consequence of disobeying the Demon King's will, they couldn't bring themselves to abaddon their old ways. They were wiser than the old selves they once were, however. Their religion sect exiled themselves to prevent another bloody civil war that the Demon King worked so hard to prevent. And one thousand warrior monks set their foot on to the Nereus continent at the North to make it their newland.

This was also the start of a side story, a trivial one, but interesting nonetheless.

This land wasn't as barren as the orcs thought. The orc monks unexpectedly met the dragons living in this continent, and they initially refused to let this small orc tribe inhabit on their own land. But, the Dragons has made a condition to give the orcs a chance: They have to defeat one of their own in order to earn the right to live in this continent. The Orcs accepted. The dragon chosen for the task was the weakest among his brethren. His name was 「Alwaid, the Sickly Dragon」. Born with the rare ability to get sick, this terminally-ill dragon fought against the Orc monks and lost. Alwaid died, but not without bring down the orcs's number from a thousand strong to a few hundreds before his death. And so, the dragons upheld their promise, and allowed the orcs to settle in this land.

Back to the Demon Realm once again. The policies made by the Orc Demon King proved to be very effective. Order was restored, and the ream was stronger than ever. However, after the exile of the warrior monks, dissent for the Orc Demon King was slowly rising among the Orc tribes. Little did he know that karma would eventually bite him in the back one day.

During a visit at the border, the Orc Demon King and his guards were attacked by a band of warriors led by a Hero, who has sneaked past the border with the simple goal of slaying the current Demon King. The guards and the Demon King himself were strong, but the surprise element had already gave their enemy a lot of advantage. Their formation was broken, the guards were killed one by one. Using the time his men gave him, the wounded Demon King made his escape. Luckily, or unfortunately, there were several Orc legions in some guard posts nearby. The Demon King made some signal asking for help. Yet, none of those legions mobilized their force to help their king due to dissent for the Demon King. And thus, the Hero party made short work of this once mighty Orc and returned to their homeland in victory.

Luckily, due to the changes the former King made to the Realm's ruling structure during his time, chaos didn't befall the land when the news of the Demon King's death reached the ears of the commoners. The current ruling power had been given to the hand of the Elders as per law made by the former King. In order to prevent another bloody struggle for power among the seal bearers, the Elders decided to keep such bloodbath among the seal bearers themselves, and set stage for such things to happen in order to choose a new Demon King. This has became the founding of the 「Banquet」, a party of flesh and blood made for those who embark on their path toward Kinghood.

And thus, centuries came and gone, along with eighty Banquets for the next eighty Kings.

In the last day of the Month of Dark, I.G 1614, the Elders that worshipped Anul could no longer feel his presence on this world. This was also the same time most of the Dragons that lived in the Nereus continent decided to open a portal to another dimension called 「Celestia」 and left this world.

At this time, the civil wars of small kingdoms in the Heaven Realm had been put to an end, and the surviving nations once again reunited as another alliance in order to prepare for the threat the demons pose. An alliance made from nine kingdoms, they called themselves the 「Nine Kingdoms Alliance」, which consists of:

「Kingdom of Light – Luminis」 – Home to the Light God Church and the faithful Paladins that fight evil and demons in Lielos's name.

「Kingdom of Sun – Solis」 – A kingdom of knights founded by the disciples of Enas, and their legacies were carried on by the famed Yellow Knights.

「Kingdom of Moon – Lunae」 – The operation base for the deadly yet mysterious Moonlight Assassins.

「Kingdom of Fire – Ignis」 – Its founders were the Wizards descended from Dyo's children, and became the land of knowledge where Wizards were born and trained.

「Kingdom of Water – Unda」 – The land of sailors and sea creatures, and home to the Alliance's Navy. They were unmatched when it comes to naval warfare.

「Kingdom of Metal – Metallum」 – The most populous human nation of the alliance, they were known for their skills of smithery.

「Kingdom of Wood – Lignum」 – The country of Elves and Wisps, in which the biggest forests of the continent were occupied to be the founding land of their nation. The Elven women's beauty were said to be rivaled by none.

「Kingdom of Earth – Terrae」 – Which was located under the mountain ranges at the farthest of the west. The rich resources under the earth gave these born-architects a fortune beyond their wildest imagination.

「Kingdom of Wind – Eurus」 – These archtree forests that pierced the sky were the home for the young Beastmens. They tamed the wild flying beasts here to be their rides and serve the alliance as their Airforce.

Despite being called the Nine Kingdoms, there were only eight kings that acted as this alliance's leaders. This was due to instead of a kingdom, Luminis was a theocracy, with Lielos being their one and only king. And so, while every conferences between the kings always have seats for nine, only eight kings would show up everytime.

Apart from the Nine Kingdom Alliance, there were still several small nations far south of the west continent, however, the book provided no notable nation at this time.

---------------------------------

"With this comes the end of my part."

Damn, that was long-winged alright. After I'm done, just like Caelan before me, I immediately chug down all of my energy drink down my throat. It feels so refreshing. This one sensation is what makes life worth living! Well, one of them, anyway.

Iola can be seen writing down notes, while Deborah just continues being Deborah by staring at people around her without doing anything. On the other hand, Caelan seems confused to the point I think his head is on the verge of exploding from information overload.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Easy there Caelan, stay with us."

The guy looks dizzy, so of course being the nice guy I am I give him some concern that doesn't come from the bottom of my heart.

"Seems like he reached his limits."

Says Deborah.

"Well, let us have another small break then. Caelan, go fetch us some more drinks."

Despite being tasked to be our errand boy yet again, Caelan takes Iola's task with a smile on his face. Seems like he's more fit for physical jobs rather than thinking. And so, with him out of the picture, only I remain in this room with two cute girls by my side, kya ha ha! Not that it would change anything, though.

Well, no time for meaningless thought, I still haven't write down my notes. Better do so before we continue.

As I write down my notes, Iola once again wanders around the room, while Deborah just keeps sighing from the sight.

"Hey Deborah, did you finish that new novel of yours?"

"Which one?"

"The one with the flame dragon. The title is "The Knight and the Flame Dragon", I think."

What a cliché title.

"Oh that one. It's pretty bad for some reason. Still good to kill time in class, though."

As Iola finds the book in question, she returns to her seat with the book in hand. A small book with violet cloth cover, it is the size of a novella, but still bigger than the light novels back in my world. It is strangely familiar, though. I have a feeling that this is the book Deborah was reading at the time I took a stroll near her class. The day where I had a chat with miss Walpurga.

"Didn't you say you like it?"

"Well, I do like it, doesn't mean I can't criticize it for its flaws, can't I?

Did she glue a knife in her mouth and called it her tongue or what?

"It's interesting enough, isn't it? A lone knight on a journey to save a princess from a fire breathing dragon. The author indeed have a wild imagination. A fire dragon, heh, never thought of that before."

Hmm? Now this is strange.

"Yeah, I wonder where on Airumel did the author find the idea of a fire-breathing dragon. But I'm more upset for the fact that the dragon kidnapped the princess and locked her in his lair for no reason. And how the hell can a dragon kidnap a princess without smashing her to bits from its strength, anyway? This dragon failed at being a dragon!"

Well forget about killing princesses for a moment, I'm more interested in the fire-breathing dragon bit.

"What do you mean when you girls said a fire-breathing dragon being interesting?"

It was done to death in my world alright, and since this world has living dragons, isn't it a common sight to the point they would get bored of it ?

"Because fire-breathing dragons don't exist."

"What?"

I am stunned from Iola's answer.

"What do you mean they don't exist? Isn't the most common image of a dragon is a big ass lizard flying in the sky burning down villages with its breath, kidnapping princesses and sleep in its lair under a mountain of gold and treasures?"

Well, I think I have said too much back there.

"Weird people with wild imagination are everywhere, I see. Maybe you should become an author instead?"

Says Deborah. If she doesn't have an answer for my question, why can't she keep her mouth closed?

"It may be a common sight in your world, but no one here ever saw a fire-breathing dragon before. There was no record of such creatures. Fire-breathing dragons are just a myth."

Iola answers.

"Dragons were creations of Anul. However, Anul himself did not have the ability to create light and fire, it's unthinkable his creations would have such abilities."

Iola brings out a good point, though.

"It's like telling a god to create a stone he cannot lift."

Deborah seals the deal with her comment.

"But don't you have the title of Flame Dragon among the students?"

"Rather than a title, I feel like they were mocking me instead when they gave me that moniker."

Well, according to what I heard, she DID burn down the whole main hall. But I thought she would be happier when being compared to a myth rather than something really exists. Will she be happier if people call her the Flame Lizard? If they actually exist?

"I think you're misunderstanding something, Akuma. The dragons weren't actually well respected by the residents of the Demon Realm. While their godly powers were worthy of praise, their ignorance on the world earned them hatred from the Realm's inhabitants. You may interpret her title as a praise, but it doesn't stem away the fact that more than half the people in this land hate the dragons."

Well, okay, this is new to me.

At that very moment, Caelan barges in with new drinks in hand. It's like the guy has an internal guiding system on how to get into the room at the right moment.

"So refreshing!"

Says Caelan as he happily chugs the drink down his throat after he's done distributing the drinks.

"Well, let's hope that put your mind at ease, because we still have a lot to review."

Says Iola. I guess this means break time is over, time to get back to business.

"I guess it's my turn then, the next part is rather short. However…"

Suddenly, Iola brings her gaze to Deborah's direction.

"Could you do me a favor and take on this part for me?"

"What?"

I don't understand her reaction at first, only when I take a glance at the next part's title that the truth behind Deborah's response becomes clear to me.

The title of the next part is [Great Demon King Dargoth].

The man, the legend, or whatever they called him. Dargoth seems like a great guy, his name comes up almost everywhere. But what is the truth behind his story? I guess this the part where we learn about him. About Deborah's grandfather.

"You like bullying me that much?"

"Actually no, but I begin to see the appeal."

Iola answers Deborah with smile. This girl, she's actually really dangerous!

Deborah sighs as she unenthusiastically glance as her book. From my eyes, this sight of her looks like it was mixed with some disapointment, yet a few part has some sadness blended within it. Just what is her life story, and her deal with Dargoth?

"I have a feeling you planned this all along."

"Maybe. But, I think sometime, we have to face our past in order to move on."

Deborah gives out another sigh in defeat.

"Okay, you win. The next time, please stop inviting me for a study group like this."

No one answers Deborah. She just opens wide her book in prepartion for her job. To be told the story of a legend by his direct descendant. A part of me feels exicited by the thought alone.

Then, Deborah opens her mouth and begins.

--------------------------------

Deborah starts the third part with some information about the 80th Demon King. For every Demon King who fell, another one rose from those who braved through the bloody Banquets. This had been going on up until the death of the 80th Demon King. During a brief time when a Banquet happen, the Demon Realm would be leaderless before a new King was chosen. The Nine Kingdoms Alliance saw their chance in that window. They took lots of preparation for another large scale invasion to eliminate the threat the Demon Realm posed.

When the 80th Banquet happened to choose the 81th Demon King (Apparently, the demons count the struggle during the 2nd Demon King's rise to power as the first Banquet), the Alliance took the initiative and begin their invasion. Most of demons's West coast had been quickly taken by the sudden blitz from the Floating Sea. The reformed armies under the Demon King's changes were strong in power, and their leading generals had done a great job holding the enemy with everything they have, but since the chain in command was in shambles from the surprise attack, they could not reorganize themselves for a coordinated counterattack and was pushed back.

This was also a moment that marked a new page in the history of the Demon Realm.

The 80th Banquet was canceled, not because of the orders of the Elders, but from the act of seven candidates who were in the middle of fighting themselves. They abandoned the feast, and headed toward the frontline. Using their privilege as a seal bearer, the seven of them took command on the army and led the soldiers for a grand counterattack. Under their leadership, the fight to regain what was lost only costed seven months, which made it the fastest war resolved in the whole history of the Demon Realm. This victory was not only thanks to them, however, but it was also due to the strength of the soldiers bolstered by the changes the Kings before them made. Nonetheless, the Realm once again rejoiced for victory against their enemy.

Yet, the demons never thought the end of a war would led to the start of another war.

A coup d'etat happened, led by those seven Dark Seal bearers and their followers. All of them got tired of the Demon King system, and wanted to change the Demon Realm to their own liking, first by taking out all the roots of the old government. The Elders were hunted, killed, purged, but a few survived and went into hiding to preserve their old culture. After that, each of the seal bearer went to different lands across the Demon Realm and killed everyone who stood against their path. Every resistance movement proved to be nothing more that a futile attempt, and only served to be the ending of another tragedy.

With this came a new era, an era that once again divided the lands into seven domains, ruled by one of the seven seal bearers. The seal bearers called themselves the Lords, but to this day, they are remembered as the 「Original Seven」, which their members consisted of:

「Lucyfel, the Mother of Calamity」 - A fallen angel who switched side to Demon Realm.

「Sanat, the Defier of Mortality」 - A wrathful necromancer with unknown origin.

「Liwyatan, the Dark Queen」 – Once a noble and just queen, this elf was betrayed by her kin in the rose of the new Elven kingdom Lignum and was driven out of the land.

「Asmodi the Hedonist」 - The first incubus created. He was rumored to had a thousand lovers, at the very least.

「Belzaboul, the Butcher of Life」 – A gigantic and barbaric Orc who regularly feasted on the flesh of his kin.

「Manmon, the One who desire All」 – A noble Devilman who was also the richest living person at that time.

「Belfegore, the Sleeping Beast」 – A werebeast hermit who spent most of her time mediating in the mountains.

The way of ruling for each of these lords were different among each other. In some domain, people lived pretty carefree, like those who lived at Belfegore's domain since she rarely did anything. However, in other lands, the terror the people there suffered was unimaginable, like those who lived under Belzaboul, who had a daily routine of making snacks out of random people he found on his strolls. Nonetheless, this warring, divided states were not something the people of the Demon Realm desirde. Their hope for freedom was manifested by the following Kings, chosen during small Banquets held by the remnants of the Elders. Everytime a new King was chosen, the people rose up to destroy the Original Seven's authority.

However, the lords were as cunning as they were cruel. Every attempt to destroy their regime ended up with the destruction of those who dared to rebel The skills and leadership they displayed during the counterattack against the Alliance had became something that earned the hatred of the Demon Realm's inhabitants. Not even generations upon generations of Heroes were able to repel these beings. Despite their differences, all the seven lords were willing to cooperate when their rule was threatened. That was what made them so frightening. All seven lords have their own set of views and actions, but they held no ambition to become a supreme Demon King and were contented with what they had. That meant they would do anything and pay any cost as long as it helps them maintaining the status quo.

The suffering continued until the end of I.G 1863. Which marked another turn in history.

A lone man, with unknown origin, took on a journey throughout the land, from domain to domain. Every place he went, destruction followed. But what he destroyed was the lord from the land that he walked through. One by one, the strange man took down each of the lords of the Original Seven. Even when the remaining ones banded together to get rid of the unknown threat, little did they know that what they prepared was nothing more than saving the man the trouble of finding them. And within a year, all seven of the dreaded lords were defeated.

The name of that man was 「Dargoth Draconis」.

The man had his own plan, however. What he left in his wake was a crumbled nation, due to the defeat of those who ruled it. But, this was just the beginning of Dargoth's tale.

The first act Dargoth took was asking the support and loyalty of the former lords of the Original Seven to rebuild the land, all except Belzaboul, who he killed during their encounter out of disgust. Only five of them accepted this proposal of him. The one who declined was Sanat the Necromancer. He was exiled by Dargoth to prevent him from become a future threat, after having his asset and personal army confiscated. Then, Dargoth sought out the old Elders and asked them to recognize him as the new Demon King.

To Dargoth, this was very necessary, since this great man was no seal bearer. And he became the 85th Demon King, the first one to become a Demon King without a seal, thanks to the support of the Elders and the people of the Demon Realm he saved.

At the height of his power, and the support of his subordinates and subjects, Dargoth kick-started a total cultural and economic reformation on all fronts to rebuild his nation. One of the noteable cultural change was the enforcing of Last name to the people of the Demon Realm.

The demons valued individuality. They viewed the personal strength higher than that of a collective's. Also, the Last name wasn't something new, the problem lied on the fact they were created by the humans ever since they became too numerous. To adopt the culture of the enemy wasn't something the demons would easily accustomed to. However, that didn't stop Dargoth on his path of reformation. Steps by steps, he enforced rules and made identifications for all the demons, giving out benefits of having names to identify their kin. Eventually, Last name became accepted by the demons and was still used to these days.

The next reform he did was territorial division. He divided the vast Realm into provinces for several clans and tribes to rule. However, he didn't give the new rulers of those provinces the right for an autonomous governing system. This was where he put the members of the Original Seven to work. For every several large provinces, he appointed a member of the former lords to once again became a Lord of those places. However, he also didn't give the new lords total control of the land, and limited their ruling power instead. Using the new rulers of the province, Dargoth put those rulers under the new Lord, with the rulers having combined political power equal to that of the Lords themselves. This served to prevent a state where the head of the lands abused their power or neglected their responsibility, just like how the former Lords acted, nor would it allow the lesser rulers to run wild without control. It was not a far stretched to say Dargoth created several small constitutional monarchies to govern the vast Demon Realm. Like the last name, this system was still uphold even to this day.

His reformation didn't stop at just that. He still had more use for the former lords of Original Seven. His next act was to created a council to rule the Realm together, with the former lords and the King as members. In this ruling doctrine of his, when an important matter came up and could not be decided alone, the council would be summoned to find a solution, usually by the method of majority votes. Each of the members would have one vote for each problem, only that the King's vote always have the value of two. This helped lessen the dependent of the Realm onto the King, and to maintain a working chain of commanding in the time where the leaders weren't available. Just like earlier, this system was also used even to this day, and the new members of the lords remaned themselves the 「Seven Pillars」 instead.

Dargoth also made more daring reforms. There were two policies that are very notable, one was the widespread development of education. During the old regimes, education was not an important factor. Most of the knowledge a commoner had came from teachers who regularly held small-scale classes. Schools and academies were only available to nobles and those with money. What Dargoth did was encouraging the mass to pursue higher education. He built public schools that anyone could attend and gathered the resources from the biggest schools to make a chain of academies that would eventually known as the 「Four Great Academies」.

The next one was to allow trading with the Heaven Realm. Before his rule, trading with the enemies did exist, but only in the black market, the endless tax money that could be collected was wasted due to the prejudice that made open trading with their enemy impossible. What Dargoth did could be intepreted as making a large banner that said "Hey, sell me your stuff and we'll let you buy our stuff". Due to the differences in currency, Dargoth gave his order to perform trading by using the crystals mined deep in the earth as currency. The crystals used were naturally solidified soul energy, which had no method to be artificially made. It could be used to become materials for weapons or armors making, and has lots of use for mages and alchemists. And thus, this policy was well met by numerous merchants, even from the Heaven Realm's merchants themselves. With this act of his, and the following streams of tax money, the new policy had helped a lot for the Demon Realm's improving economy.

For these reforms, Dargoth had earned himself the ire of many conservatives nobles of the Realm, and even the kings of Nine Kingdoms Alliance, despite profiting from trading with the Demon Realm. Dargoth had enemies outside AND inside. Assassination attempts were his daily meals, along with the influx of Heroes who were after his head. None of the attempts worked. His rule however was still short, only lasted for twenty years. Dargoth finally met his fate under the blade of the greatest Hero ever produced.

That Hero was named 「Erdrick」. Due to this brave act of his, he was called a 「Savior」 for slaying the most dangerous Demon King ever lived. However, despite his grand achievement, the detail about his adventure during Dargoth's rule to his death was unknown and lost to time. There were no written record, nor a living witness to tell the tale. What remained were ruins and craters that survived the stream of time, which indicated a very large scale war that spanned almost all of the Demon Realm's territories during Erdrick's adventure.

According to the theories of demons's historians, the lack of info was theorized to be the result of the pillaging and destruction of Demon Realm's history records during the Alliance's invasion, along with the massacre of witnesses. However, theories were only theories. Details of Dargoth's last ten years rule remained vague, only his achievements were securely recorded and passed on to the future generations. What holes left in history became tales and legends of the valiant Dargoth who freed and enlighted the demons, before dying by the blade of the evil Savior. For his service as a Demon King without Dark Seal, he was dubbed the Great Demon King by those who know of his tale.

With the death of Dargoth, history once again turned its page, and the time after his reign was used to marked a new age from the aged antiquity. From the I.G calendar, all of Airumel had agreed to use the P.D calendar as the new mark of time, which was P.D 0000.

End of lesson.

--------------------------

"So, that's the end. Are you happy?"

Deborah slowly closes her book. She writes down the noteworthy details and when she's done, Deborah just stares at the scenery outside the window without saying anything. It's hard to tell what she's feeling right now. The girl just spoke out loud the life and death story of her grandfather. Well, I'm sure as hell I won't feel normal if I'm in her shoe.

"You did well, Deborah."

Says Iola. On the other side, Caelan seems confused. Well, maybe the guy is trying to piece the large amount of information together in his head.

"The next part is pretty trivial, since it's just the summary of the lesson. So, I shall compensate by teaching several trivial yet important information. Let us begin, you got any question?"

"This place…it is really Dargoth's castle?"

I have heard this place being Dargoth's castle before, yet I can't believe such a great person once lived in this place.

"Yes. It was granted to Lord Dargoth when he first became the Demon King. When he began to make the concept of Four Great Academies come true, he fully intended to donate his castle to become one of the academies. However, due to some problems, only after his death did we make his wish comes true."

I guess she means the war and stuff. They did have an invasion or something like that during Erdrick's fight with the Demon King.

"Did he…die here?"

I ask. The book has no mention of the location where he died, but I have a feeling that he did die here…

"Yes. His corpse was found in this castle. The state in which his corpse was found was terrible according to the records, and more than half of the castle was destroyed during the fight. To fulfill his wish, the people back then repaired the castle and made it an academy eventually known as Melas. Because of that, even though it was the bottom of the academies, the fact that this castle alone used to belong to Dargoth was the main thing that attracted many youths to study here, even those from prestige families. One of them being Amadia Deveraux."

That girl? She came from a prestige family? Well, she do has that aura of a rich and noble girl, but that's just it.

"Is the Deveraux family that famous?"

"Well, Amadia Deveraux is the daughter of the 7th Asmodi. That alone makes her family famous."

Asmodi? As in…Asmodi the Hedonist? One of the Original Seven that terrorized this land?

"The daughter of the 7th Asmodi…does that mean she's a direct descendant of that Asmodi!?"

Unexpectedly, Iola shakes her head to refute my words.

"She and the first Asmodi has no blood relation. It is understandbly that you don't know, since the book made no mention of it. To prevent nepotism, Lord Dargoth made several changes to the Banquet ritual that served to find new Demon King. The first one is the discouragement of killing your opponents, and the second one is allowing those who lost a chance to serve the Realm as a member of Seven Pillars."

Now this is new.

"If a member of Seven Pillars was deemed unworthy of the position by the others, or there is an vacant position. They will take a vote to select a new pillar from those who proved themselves during the Banquet. The one chosen will have a choice to accept the new position. If they chose so, they will be crowned as a new member and gained Lordship, successing the one before them. From that point on, people would call them with their title rather than their name. For example, the 7th Asmodi has the name Ashtart Deveraux, but people would just call her Asmodi instead."

I see. When you become a Lord, you take on a whole new persona instead. People remember you by your title rather than yourself. Not sure if I want it that way.

"Must be hard, being a Lord's daughter."

Surprisingly, that line came from Caelan, who's expressing something that sounds thoughtful once in while.

"She does seem to like the expectations." – Says Iola – "Unlike a certain someone."

Iola suddenly give Deborah a glance, and the girl in question replies grumpily replies like usual.

"What?"

Says Deborah.

"If only you be more serious about the future. A lot of people is expecting you to take Dargoth's mantle and become a Demon King yourself. You know?"

"I don't care what people expect of me. I don't want their expectation."

Her words are like daggers piercing my heart. I don't let out my thought, of course. But there is this certain…pain…growing inside of me.

I dodn't say anything. Nobody says anything. The room falls to an awkward silence. Even Caelan can't think of anything stupid to say. We can only stare at each other before averting our eyes to away..

"Well…I guess we should call it a day, yes…?"

Says Iola as she tries to brighten the atmosphere. We can only agree, since it's the best solution for now. We still having a large section about the Hundred Years War in the next lesson, but I don't think there is anyone of us who is in the mood to learn anything at all. The best we can do is making random chatters and let the steam of studying out.

"Hey Deborah, have you take preparations for the Familiar competition?"

Iola asks. An honest and ordinary question. However…

"!!"

Deborah suddenly stands up, like a switch was flipped inside her.

"Deborah? What's the problem?"

"Err…no, nothing. I'm fine."

Well, standing up and acting weird in the middle of a conversation isn't exactly "Fine" in my dictionary.

"Iola, what is the Familiar competition?"

"It's a competition to gain extra grades in the semester's final. It's exclusive for members of Magic Arts only, though. It requires a mage to have a familiar to participate."

That sounds like a competition for pet dogs to compete, like those on TV, right?

"That sounds nice. Why don't we compete, Deborah?"

I jokingly say that out loud. I bet our participation will surpise a lot of people when she bring a human to a monster competition.

However, I don't have a chance to hear her snapping back at me as usual. Deborah's sweating for some reason. The girl looks nervous instead of her usual composure self. This doesn't look very good.

"Deborah? What's the problem?"

"…"

She doesn't answer my question. Not until after a minute passed.

"It's optional, and I don't want to."

"But I want to. Just let me do all the work like before. You won't have to lift a finger."

I don't mind. I enjoy letting people feel in awe of my ability.

"Just shut up! This concerns about you more than you thought, you idiot!"

Wait…what is that? For some reason, I feel weird about her statement. And it seems like Deborah also realizes her earlier mistake. She tries to cover her mouth in attempt to stop sprouting out unnecessary words, but what she already said can no longer be taken back.

"Just…forget about what I said."

Come to think of it, the actions she took that day, her disappearance, and her saddened face during my confirmination as her familiar. They were all very strange. Yep, this is weird, very very weird. And I can only think of one explanation.

"Deborah, what happened? What happened during your meeting with the Headmaster that day?

"…"

She doesn't answer. Does that pretty much confirm that I hit the jack pot? Caelan and Iola also look confused about what's happening before their eyes.

Something must have happened during her visit to the headmaster. If the thing that witch said that day concerned me, then I'll pursue it to the end of the earth!

"She said something about me to you, didn't she?"

Once again, Deborah keeps her silence. That doesn't make her any less innocent. I feel that she's gonna crack if I continue to pursue this. One more push and she's mine.

"Care to share to us your story?"