Proofreader: Coolio Friendo

On entry, it was apparent that the professor was fanatical. The walls were covered in mural-like depictions of historical events, pedestals were decorated with replicas of legendary weapons, and even a finger of the demon king encased in an adamantine box had been present. Skimming the walls, however, it seemed to be a whole bunch of random imagery. No kind of heroic figure, no master evil depictions either. It was all vivid colours, strangely resembling bits and pieces of what exists in this world.

“This… is… quite something,” Uriel muttered softly.

Purely looking at the decor and effort put into this kind of classroom was insane in itself, I almost felt claustrophobic in here.

“Yeah- who knew someone could be this dedicated.”

“Welcome you two, it’s nice to see students nice and early, "A man approached from behind us.

The man behind the ancient history class, professor Tobuscus. His long brown hair, heavy eye bags and glasses added to the mad scientist look. Despite being taller than most students, it was hard to notice from his constant hunched-over posture. His role in this game amounted to nothing but a precursor to the future events, which is what I planned to utilise.

Immediately she began trembling again in front of someone else, “Ah- Ye- yes!”

I guess she can only manage a normal tone with friends.

“And you?” He faced me.

“Indeed sir. This subject has piqued my interest incredibly.”

“Is that so?” His eyes brightened with a tint of gladness, "I'm glad that at least one student is fascinated by such a deep and knowledge-filled subject!”

However, he stopped for a moment, pausing without a reason.

I looked at Uriel who sported a disheartened look.

“Sir, are you alright?”

“Hmmm… Ah yes!” He escaped his immersion and burst into action, “I forgot to tell both of you wonderful students my name. Haha, I am Tobuscus, the professor for the Ancient History course.”

After surprising us, he walked back to his podium organising what seemed to be a stack of teaching papers. To which Uriel sighed in relief.

I heard her mumble, "So he was fine."

“Yeah… he is quite a sporadic person isn’t he?” I commented.

“Y- you heard me?” Uriel' stammered.

“I have pretty good ears, and you’re the only other person here-“

Whoosh-

The door slammed inward with a ferocious sound, revealing a small but firm figure. We met eyes, revealing a dismissive glance from her side.

Her side profile was immensely beautiful, one could see she was a heroine even from afar. Her blue hair shimmered in this dark lighting, showing a hint of that stone-like character she was designed to be.

‘Lisana… I wouldn’t have to worry about her for a while,’ Such a thought reassured me. Within the game, she would only open up upon building up a certain level of affinity, or after you solved the issue regarding her lost sister in a later episode.

“It seems a daring student has entered the classroom!” Our professor declared amongst the three of us.

“…”

She ignored Professor Tobuscus' remarks, remaining still. All while displaying the same old ice-cold face.

“Find a seat while we wait for the rest of our future heroes to arrive.”

“…” Lisana silently sat down in the far corner of the room.

Once again, silence found itself stuck inside the room, allowing me to guess the first signs of the future. The murals on the walls themselves indicated what had occurred in the past, or at least it did in the game. Which when following normal trends, always has some kind of resurrection of a big bad.

The murals and artefacts are usually attributed to one's ability to guess the route's future, but as I noticed earlier, it was pure chaotic randomness.

Truly, it fits the random theme of Hell’s Paradise. It seemed I had to fully rely on my interactions with the main cast to predict the upcoming events.

“Hah… I thought I had some leeway here,” I sighed to myself.

In resignation, I turned my head to Uriel who sat next to me. Her innocent eyes seemed perplexed at my action, prompting a chuckle to escape my mouth.

“Why- why are you laughing?”

“Your face.”

Instantly she assumed the worst, “Is there something wrong with me?!”

“No, no, it’s just funny.”

“Is th- that bad?”

“Hahaha-“ I couldn’t help but laugh at her panic.

“You’re laughing again?” Her confusion just got worse and worse.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Before I could say another word, I felt a signature slap on my back.

“Ooo. Did we miss something?”

It was obvious who it was, without a doubt.

“Fen, You’re here already?” I asked with my back facing him.

“No, he’s still outside.”

“Wait what-“ My face would definitely be a sight to see right now.

“Ron! Don’t scare Luke like that!” Her voice was unusually stern, calling Rodney by a pet name of sorts.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice you making friends for once."

“You two know each other?” I asked.

Rodney moved to Uriel's side, “Yeah we were both picked up by the church at the same time, so we’ve been together for a while.”

“So, childhood friends,” I stated.

“Yep, and during all this time she hasn’t gotten comfortable with anyone but me," He met my eyes and said, "Can’t lie this is new.”

A relationship? Considering they’re both protagonists, this may very well fuck up the story later.

“Are you two-“

“I can guess, and the answer’s no," Rodney covered my mouth with his hand while leaning in, "We’re friends plain and clear.”

“What was the question?” Uriel naively questioned us.

“” Nothing.””

I locked eyes with Rodney, surprisingly he wasn’t too bad of a guy when he wasn’t beefing with Vyke.

“OI You shitty paladin! Get over here and-“

Speak of the devil.

Not only did Vyke arrive, but the rest of our class poured in. Furthermore, I saw Erin with a small graze on her cheek, along with an excited Fen. Probably from the aftermath of the duel.

“Students! Cease your chatter immediately!” Tobuscus ended our fun.

Similarly to Mary’s class, it was a pain to pay attention to. However, I needed to listen here for the slightest glimmer of the future.

“Students, who here are aware of what transpired during Hell’s War?” It was a simple and basic question to which everyone raised their hands.

All except me.

Erin and Fen who just arrived shot me some confused looks.

“Well that is fine, we are all here to learn. For our newcomer to history, who is willing to volunteer to give the basic overview of our history?”

A delicate hand from the middle of the room was raised without delay.

“Hell’s War, a time in which every possible race had seemingly gone berserk. From Gods to Demons, Angels, Elves, Humans, Giants, Titans, and even Otherworldly entities, had engaged in thousand years of perpetual death. In this time, the strongest entities the world has seen ceased to exist. The significance of this war is greatly attributed to the current fractured state of our world."

“Quite impressive Princess, you may sit back down.”

Despite being instructed to return to her seat, Luna turned toward me unleashing a condescending smirk.

It was immensely petty.

“Now, using our Princess’s explanation as a basis we will begin to cover a range of topics which have brought significant changes to our societies because of the war.”

From here on out, I would have to listen intently despite the pain brought to my ears by his nonstop talking.

"In these two semesters, we will cover three main topics, magic development, societal and racial dynamics, and lastly, the timeline of the Hell's War."

Compared to the game’s normal history, while it did cover a war, its scale was much smaller. The existence of gods, angels, elves, and other races was excluded.

'Great Demon War' was how it was referred to.

Extrapolating from what has been said so far, what’s certain is that, the lords of each race that has been eradicated, will be resurrected. This is only true, however, if it follows the general trend of the game.

Meaning that demons, Angels, Titans and aliens may become enemies at some point.

Despite all of this information, the intended conclusion of this world remained completely elusive to me.

-x-

“Thank you for listening, and may you all receive good luck in your studies and combat.”

“Finally…” I was free at last.

I laid flat out across my desk.

“Are y- you alright?” An angelic voice reached from beside me.

“Too… much… information, my head.”

“I can try to heal your headache!”

Light surrounded me, filling my body with an unknown source of invigoration.

“Woah, what is this?” I asked, not seeing this type of healing spell in the game before.

“It’s just a bit of holy magic, you should be fine soon.”

Well, it was convenient so I wouldn't pry.

“Thank you, my head’s finally starting to relax," I continued smiling, "kinda like how you should too.”

Uncharacteristically, Uriel let out a smile rather than any remark from our previous conversations.

I could see how so many people would begin to view her as the one and only holy saint.

“You know, you should smile like that more often.”

“Wha- what do you mean!”

“Exactly what I said.”

I felt a bit of Deja vu, since we held this same talk before entering class.

“You should go now, the girl dorms are in the other direction from the boys-“

“I can’t."

Her flat rejection left me in a subtle shock.

“Luke, your sense of direction is…” Uriel broke eye contact with me as she tilted her head toward the wall.

“Shit?" I had almost forgotten. "You make a good point.”

“I didn’t think of using such vulgar language!”

“Sure, sure.”

“I- just, please follow me.”

She controlled her temper perfectly, unlike a certain busybody. Truly a saint.

“Ah! Wait, Luke was it?” Before we left the class Professor Tobuscus called out to me in specific.

“Yes?”

“I ask for you to stay after class for a moment, is that fine?” He asked politely.

I locked eyes with Uriel, who remained silent.

“Ah yeah, it’s okay.”

I might have been tripping, but I swear I saw her smile disappear for a moment.

“Sorry, I’ll see you at a different time.”

“Yes! I- I- goodbye!” She strangely seemed embarrassed and hurried off.

“It seems the two of you are close?" He seemed unsure how to word it.

“Sir. The point.”

“Yes, of course, the truth is, I was wondering where your origins lay. Not one person has not heard of the war. I didn’t expect a student, especially one of the Platinum Generation to not know of such common knowledge. You even scored a perfect on the written exam, so the lack of such knowledge is unfounded.”

“The thing is sir-“

Before I answered, I felt a distinct pair of eyes watching me. This was not the first time, it was all too familiar. I wasn’t sure if it was my Outer Eye alerting me, or if it was a gut feeling.

However, I couldn’t answer if someone was listening in, my lies could easily be discovered if it was properly investigated.

“Is there something wrong?” The professor's concerned voice added an unknown volume of pressure.

I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place.

'Just what do I do here man?'