Nakama was still sleeping soundly when Gaius left his tent for History class. A feeling that he needed to know about this world was burning within him by the time he fell asleep last night, and the result was him being here today.
The classroom seats were arranged in a five-by-five arrangement, and in accordance with his seating preferences in his past life, Gaius had chosen a seat in the back row. Gaius fiddled with the stone chair as a woman walked into the makeshift classroom.
Like the soldiers outside, she wore a khaki uniform that reminded him of the military uniforms of World War I, but save for a green triangle on her left chest, her uniform had no other decorations on it. Her hair was tied up into a little bun, and her crystal-clear eyes looked the thirty-odd students inside appraisingly.
She stood at the table and chatter died down. “I’m Instructor Marie, and I’ll be taking you kids for History. This will primarily be a lecture class, so your job is to listen and learn. That is all. Now, before we start, does anyone know why the Congress treats History with importance?”
“Ma’am!” A girl at the front stood up.
“What’s your name, girl?”
“Linda, ma’am.”
“Okay, Linda, what’s your answer?”
“The Champion Polaris once said ‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it’.” Linda sat down.
“Correct. The legendary Polaris once said this to us when he descended a hundred thousand years ago.” Instructor Marie nodded in appreciation. “We go through this quote today because of the recent war. Just as how the Cardinal Champions were summoned to subdue the demonic races, the Constellation Heroes of today were called forth to subjugate us. By and large, they have succeeded.”
Called forth? Gaius frowned, and then stood up. “Ma’am, does this mean that the Constellation Heroes are people from another world?”
“You’re…?”
“Gaius, ma’am.”
“You are correct, Gaius.” She smiled gently. “And from our records of the past, and whatever we know of the Constellation Heroes, they apparently came from the same world. They call it Earth.”
He swallowed lightly. “What sort of place is Earth?”
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“Apparently, it is a world without magic. The Cardinal Champions found Orb more interesting than Earth, since they could, to quote their words, do so much more here.” The instructor nodded her head contemplatively. “One can only imagine how horrible Earth was for them to say that. They must have lived lives so mundane that a world threatened by demons were actually preferable.”
Suppressing a grin, Gaius replied, “Were there any differences between the Cardinal Champions and the Constellation Heroes of today? If they did come from the same world, surely millennia must have passed there too.”
“That’s a very interesting angle to approach. Indeed, if we could compare the lifestyles of the Summoned of the past and present, we could track technological development in their world.” Marie’s expression darkened after those words. “I don’t think I’ll be able to conduct such a study, though. Humanity is currently hostile to the beastfolk. What a pity.”
“Now, like I was saying, the Constellation Heroes were summoned to subjugate us, and by any rational assessment, have succeeded. To our knowledge, our Ark City is the last surviving beastfolk city on the Southern Continent. But we cannot stay that way forever.” She adjusted the green triangle on her chest. “Therefore, as part of my history classes, I will also teach the art of guerrilla warfare and wilderness survival, which Champion Octantis passed down to select troops eons ago.”
The instructor clapped her hands, and a soldier walked into the small tent, carrying a box of what seemed to be uniforms. Marie pointed to him. “Today, we have a special guest. He’s Instructor Aziz, and he’ll be teaching volunteers and taking them for field-training. Registration is open only for today; I highly recommend it.”
The soldier nodded curtly. and the matt-grey badges on his chest shone dully. “Anyone taking my segment will find every other class redundant. The stuff I teach are more advanced, after all. But once you enter, you cannot leave.”
“You have until the end of the class to decide,” said Instructor Marie. She nodded at Aziz, and he walked towards the back of the tent.
Gaius licked his lips. The way both instructors had put it, taking Aziz’s class covered a great deal more material than the standard classes, which would be comparatively more useful when it came to leaving this place. Raising his hand, he asked, “How much harder will your class be?”
The retreating instructor paused. “There is a substantial risk of death.”
A ripple ran through the small crowd of students, and chatter intensified. The unfazed instructor resumed his walk, blending into the background as he leaned against the tent walls.
“Silence!” Marie clapped her hands. “Instructor Aziz will only be taking in students who showed up for today’s classes, so this will be your only chance to learn from him. But by no means is this compulsory.”
“But again, I recommend it.” She shook her head wryly. “By now, you must have realised that the government’s taking-in of orphans and the homeless to give them education and training was the result of extraordinary circumstances. When enough people have joined us, the Congress would then press this camp to conscript everyone within to join the frontlines.”
“Personally, I don’t like this.” The instructor folded her arms. “Only three of you here are twelve, or will be twelve next year. Therefore, we talked to the camp commandant to open up pre-emptive training for those willing. Instructor Aziz being here is the result.”
With a sad smile on her face, she took out a small notebook. “We’ll be beginning lessons now. We’ll first start off with Orb’s creation…”