CHAPTER 3: A PROBLEMATIC EDUCATION

**Greg**

Similar to Chersea and Cherflammen’s time-reckoning before we introduced the calendar, Cherflammen’s ‘time’ was chaotic, with only the terms ‘weeks’ and ‘days’ used to show the passing of ages. And the idea of it was credited to Alexa, who was also said to be confused with the demons’ system of determining the dates of their events. She taught them how to use the weeks and days, or so as they claimed. But the demons were not even aware of ‘hours’, ‘minutes’, and ‘seconds’…even the ‘years’. They would only refer to the events, and use those as ‘markers’ in which they would teach their history.

For example, the servants of the House Usarved would tell me that Lady Noir was born 109,523 weeks after the death of Lady Cassandra David—a major event in demon-kind. Her current age was 2,833 weeks…

“…”

Honestly, I find it weird that Alexa gave them the ‘weeks’ and ‘days’, but never the ‘years’, ‘hours’, ‘minutes’ and ‘seconds’. Or did they forget about it?

Interestingly, if I computed those figures based on an Earth calendar (with approximately 52 weeks in a year), it would put Alexa’s death happening 2,160 years ago. And Lady Noir’s ‘Earth’-age at 54 years old.

Yeah, she’s way too old than me, who’s supposed to be at 25 years. But demons have different bodies than us, so I guess her age’s still young by their standards.

“…”

And come to think of it…Lady Ruro, the Beastman Saint, is said to have seen and fought side-by-side with Alexa. So, if that’s true, then she’s two millennia old by now.

Wow. I didn’t know I’m living with real, living heroes of old, huh? As someone who loved history—on Earth and on this one, I’d say it’s a thrilling discovery. However, that would have to wait; I got to deal with the current problems I’m facing here.

Anyway, enough with that. Back to the chaotic ‘time-reckoning’, just like in Chersea, the demons of Cherflammen knew the ‘day’ had ended when they took a ‘long sleep’.

Nevertheless, for a place like the Conclave which conducts ‘round-the-clock’ classes, a day was ended only when the ‘long sleep’ bell was sounded. Still, even with that, there were demon educators up and awake, teaching students who attend their lectures during the ‘sleeping hours’. So really, I couldn’t understand the purpose of ringing the ‘long sleep’ bell.

As for me, I don’t know how the Conclave create its schedules. The administrators just told me to ‘come to school whenever you want to teach’. And I was left thinking, ‘what if I don’t want to teach?’, what would these folks do?

“…”

Ah no, my goal here is to get my student’s ashes, so I need to impress the people here.

So, time cards and login hours be damned, I prepared myself to come to my class.

----------

Lady Noir eventually woke up just as I was about to leave the dorm room.

“You’re really diligent, aren’t you, Sir?” was her ‘greeting’ to me when she saw my scholar’s uniform. “Didn’t you just come to your class yesterday?”

“Hm? Isn’t it normal?” I asked, deliberately averting my eyes as she walked around. “And won’t you dress yourself up, milady?”

“Shevaun’s still sleeping.”

“Oh…” I was about to ask if she couldn’t do it herself, but then, I remembered how the maidservants back in Castle Darkmoor treated me. I guess a noblewoman like her won’t move and clothe themselves unless their servants came with them, eh? And also, Shevaun’s supposed to be Lady Noir’s chamberlain, so she should wake up before her mistress…

“This is where Shevaun grew up,” the Usarved Princess seemed to have read what’s on my mind and explained. “She’s more at home here, than in Castle Darkmoor. That’s why, as her kind and understanding mistress, I just let her be. After all, once we are all inside this place, noble titles are disregarded.”

“I see…” I suddenly remembered the goblin girl I fought with some time ago. “If your titles are dropped once you come here, then what about the goblin who acts like she’s someone ‘high and mighty’?”

“Ah, Lady Srexe?” Lady Noir chuckled. “I don’t know what her deal is . She’s my ‘self-proclaimed rival’, and tries her best to run after my achievements even though she already failed multiple times.”

“Hoh…looks like you inspired and pissed a lot of people with your education, huh?”

“Maybe…” the Usarved Princess had a poignant look on her eyes, “…it’s just that, well, I’m good at what I do. If I went outside my space, I’m a nobody anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm…let’s just put it this way; between the goblins and the Usarveds, we’re longer-lived. In fact, the Usarveds have the longest lives among all the demon clans of Cherflammen. Thus, we’re more inclined to study the story of our people, than the goblins, who are much adept in tinkering and creating machines and buildings.”

I was thinking when I heard that. This was Cherflammen, so their culture was vastly different from us, humans. Nevertheless, I was more concerned about Noir’s story; for one, her words sounded like the clans here were inflexible in their expectations from their members. Like, if you’re an Usarved, you should only be a historian. Likewise, if you’re a goblin, your choices only lie in engineering.

Isn’t that too limiting?

“Ah, won’t you take a break for now, Sir?” Lady Noir put up that suggestion. “I mean, you’ve been teaching for several days now. Don’t you get tired of it?”

“Err…isn’t that natural?”

“For you humans, I guess so. I’ve seen how you and the Human Saint teach every day at your Academy. But we’re in Cherflammen, Sir, take it easy.”

“Nah, I’m more used to working each day,” I laughed. “Besides, I don’t get the use of your ‘long sleep’ bell here. The demon folks come to class whenever they like it, disregarding the ‘long sleep’ and the bell altogether.”

“Ah, it’s just the administrators carrying out the traditions.”

“Traditions?”

“Lady Cassandra David instituted it. She wanted to keep track of the ‘days’ so everyone knows when the ‘break days’ are.”

“Break days?”

“Yep, in case you don’t know yet, Sir, we also have days here where everyone would stop studying and take easy. Those two consecutive days were considered the end of the old week and the start of a new week.”

“Kind of like the Saturdays and Sundays in my world, huh?”

“I guess so?” the demon princess said. “Reading from her diaries and notes, I think Lady Cassandra David loved those days more than the study days.”

Heh, how typical of Alexa. Well, it’s not like I don’t understand her; I think I’m yet to meet someone who hated Saturdays, more so if it’s Sundays.

“Looks like you remembered something, Sir?”

I nodded, “True. One thing that made me close to Alexa is, we both love ‘break days’. But yes, when it’s time for work, I work.”

“Hmm…such admirable dedication, Sir!”

“Thanks!” I guess we’re about to reach the end of our conversation, so I got my things ready and unlocked the dorm door.

“Uh…”

“You need something else from me, milady?”

The Usarved Princess was silent for a few moments before she said, “Sir, I really love how you teach.”

“Thanks…I guess?” I could tell there’s something else that Lady Noir wanted to tell me, but as I don’t know what to say to her, I just blurted out whatever words that came into my mind in the heat of the moment.

“Yes…and I really want my peers to experience that; it’s one of the reasons I brought you here.”

The demon princess was lost in her thoughts, her mouth was becoming loose. In accordance to what I and Shevaun talked about her circumstances before, I subtly reminded her, “You mean, your brother recommended me, right?”

“Oh, ah! Yes, m-my brother, Prince Hurion…yes. He knows how you teach, and believes it would greatly help the Conclave.”

“I see…” was the only phrase I uttered. Deep inside my head, I’m getting the feeling that Lady Noir brought me here to ‘trigger’ something. I don’t know what particular matter it was, but listening to her words made me reach that conclusion.

However, I should not lose sight of my original goal here: Alexa’s ashes.

Sensing that our talk was getting heavier, Lady Noir quickly shifted the topic, “In any case, I hope you enjoy your class here, just as you love conducting your lectures back in Chersea.”

“Of course!” I winked at her.

----------

So yeah, this was the Conclave. The pride of the demon race. The beacon of truth and knowledge throughout Cherflammen and the most visible legacy of this world’s revered hero, Cassandra David. Although I heard that there were other schools founded in various parts of Cherflammen after it, this academy had long occupied a prestigious place among the hearts and minds of every demon—both in the past and up to the present…

Such is the influence of the Conclave, that every research, data and other information that came out here are treated as an absolute rule…at least, in the demon world.

“….”

Anyway, enough of those. While it may sound grand to others, in reality, this place was as the same as the previous ones I’d went to. The buildings looked similar to the ones found in my old school—though with a few ‘demon-style’ aesthetics added (I’d say elegant architecture, not the ‘evil-looking’ ones that was common on Earth when one mentions the word ‘demon’).

The entrance to one of the Conclave’s ‘academic’ buildings resembled that of a typical Japanese high school, complete with lockers painted in white. However, in contents, it was used more as a cabinet for books and other things of the students rather than a space to keep their shoes. The student population of the Conclave walked around the campus and inside their classrooms with their footwear from the outside.

Pretty similar to my own country’s custom. If we wish to keep the floor clean and shiny, we would wear ‘foot sacks’ over our shoes instead.

Well, in any case, there was no sizeable crowd of students coming in for class here, for as I said earlier, the classes were conducted ‘round-the-clock’. It was up to the students to come to those or not; so long as they complete the required ‘units’ of their level.

Now I’m getting a general idea on how Princess Noir finished her ‘schooling’ in record time.

Continuing on, as there were only a handful of students preparing to attend their class, I looked around just to see if there’s anyone I could recognize…at least through their faces. One of the matters a teacher like me often encounter at every beginning of the school year was the fact that we couldn’t remember the names of our students in one or two classroom lectures. It was a known fact that even when the classes end, there were still some students that we had no idea of their identities. We only knew them by their face…

“…”

There were several demons around me, though I couldn’t recognize any of them. And it won’t help that they were turning their faces away; they could tell I was human, just by looking at the shape of my ears. And though the Conclave ‘accepted’ me as a special scholar because of my personal knowledge of their hero’s life, there were still lingering amounts of suspicions and doubts as to the purpose of my presence here.

It’s not like I can’t understand them, nor am I offended. Their reaction is normal; given the bad history between them and us, humans. That’s why I need to make good impressions.

----------

Anyway, since the people around me were averting their faces, I decided to just take a leisure walk around the hallways. Unlike in my old world, I’m in no time pressure to come to my class, so I went around to observe the Conclave casually for myself.

Think of it like I’m a supervisor doing his rounds. Not only do I get the opportunity to get myself acquainted to this place, I also have the chance to get to know everyone.

“…”

I thought I would have a peaceful ‘observation’ all the way into my classroom. Soon, however, something—or someone—caught my attention.

“Come on Nari! Tama’lee needs some help! Let Tama’lee borrow Nari’s notes!”

“No.”

“Please help Tama’lee!”

From where I was, I could see a muscular demon lady, with a single horn on her head, pleading before another demon girl with three little horns and dark sclera in her eyes. Initially, I thought the former was bullying the latter, since her body size hopelessly outmatched the three-horned girl. However, upon listening to their talk, I realized the bigger demon lady was just asking for her friend’s notebook.

“I taught you,” the three-horned demon girl told her friend. “Three times already.”

“But Tama’lee can’t seem to get it!” the muscular demon lady countered. “Teach Tama’lee again!”

“I’m tired.”

“Don’t give up on Tama’lee!”

Watching them felt like I was on a comedy show with bad comedians. Normally, I would just let it pass and continue on my way. However, I heard that the three-horned demon girl had already taught the bigger demon lady ‘three times’ of the same lesson.

“…”

And since I’m aiming to impress, I went over and tried to talk to them.

“Hey!”

“Kyaaa!” both of them were startled when I showed up. The muscular demon lady even hugged her friend in surprise.

“I’m sorry for the sudden appearance,” I tried to smile my way out. “My name’s Greg, and I’m here as a special scholar.”

“Oh! Aren’t you the human special scholar?” the muscular demon lady asked. “Tama’lee knows about you!”

“Nari Tambara,” said the three-horned demon girl.

“Eh?”

“Nari just said her name, Special Scholar!” the muscular demon lady explained. “Just like Tama’lee said hers.”

“So, uh, you’re Tama’lee and she’s Nari Tambara?”

The bigger demon nodded, and added, “Tama’lee’s from the Orc Clan, while Nari is from the Tambara Clan of lycanthropes.” She also pointed out to the horns of their heads to show the difference, as well as their skin tones.

“Hoh…” I tried examining them as quickly as possible; I don’t want to be called ‘rude’ for looking too much. So, if I may say, the orcs of Cherflammen have a single horn, green skin (like the goblins) and muscular body frames, while the werewolves here possessed three little horns, dark sclera and human-like skin color.

“Special Scholar needs help?” I heard Nari asked her friend.

“Tama’lee doesn’t know,” was the orc’s reply, with a shrug.

“Ah, my apologies for disturbing you guys. I can’t help but listen to your talk earlier.”

“It’s Tama’lee’s fault,” the werewolf reiterated.

“It’s fine! It’s fine,” I chuckled. “In any case, do you guys need help?”

“Tama’lee is!” the orc girl raised her hand. “Tama’lee is stupid, see?”

“…” I was impressed by her quick admission of her fault. However, I don’t think it was the case, though. “Hm…don’t say to yourself you’re ‘stupid’. You can think rationally, only it was hampered maybe by your circumstances.”

“The Special Scholar thinks Tama’lee is smart?”

I nodded. “So, what’s your problem?”

The orc girl grabbed a notebook placed on her skirt and gave it to me. Then she flipped it open, showing the part of her notes where she was having difficulty. I looked at it and was horrified. No, it was not because it’s so difficult; rather, I’d say it was too easy even for a 5th Grader.

“What are the transitions of matter?” I read the question. “It’s been a while since I last encountered this stuff, but aren’t those melting, freezing, evaporating, condensing, sublimation, and deposition?”

“Ooh! Right, those are the ones Tama needs!” the orc exclaimed.

“Wait…” the werewolf suddenly said.

“What is it, Nari?”

“Matter transitions,” the werewolf answered her friend. “I know three.”

“What?” I looked at them, surprised at Scholar Nari’s words. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh right!” Tama’lee replied. “The teachers of science say that there are only three, Special Scholar Sir! Melting, boiling and freezing.”

“Huh? That’s stupid!” I blurted out, but quickly relented on what I said. “I…I mean, that’s wrong! There are six phase transitions; melting, in which a solid matter changes into a liquid state. There’s freezing, which is the reverse of melting. Then, evaporating—not boiling—that changes liquid phase into gas. The opposite of it is condensation. The final pair are quite rare, but it happens. Sublimation is what we call the process of change from solid to gas, and its counter is deposition.”

The two scholars only stared at me with blank wonder.

“Err…don’t tell me, your teachers didn’t teach you that?”

“Actually, Special Scholar Sir, this is the first time Tama’lee and Nari heard of the other three,” the orc revealed. “Can this be a new discovery?”

“No, it isn’t. I just passed to you the common knowledge back in my old world,” I told them. “Heck, even Alexa—I mean, Lady Cassandra David should know of this stuff—”

Wait…on a second thought, I guess not. If I remember correctly, Alexa had a problem with her science teacher. That pockmarked-faced bitch was always bugging me about my advisory student, who was ‘not listening’ to her apparently, only for me to find out that she’s a sadistic fucker towards my charges because they’re the last section.

It must be that Alexa doesn’t care that much on science, hence the wrong information taught to the students of the Conclave.

“…”

This is a huge problem…

Well, in any case, since I’m already here, I sought to correct their knowledge as well as add to what they knew.

----------

At the end, it was a fun experience, teaching those guys. I mean, it’s not everyday you get to talk casually to an orc and a werewolf. Honestly, the idea I had about an orc came from the Tolkien books I read, and I’d say, if I followed that it won’t end good for me. The same with the werewolves, which was a staple of horror-fantasy stuff on earth. Both were always portrayed as misshaped, sanguinary villains always hunting for human flesh.

“…”

While here, they were hunting, yes, but for scientific knowledge. Tama’lee—in contrast to her ‘Earth’-fantasy counterparts—was a cheerful orc, if not ‘happy-go-lucky’. Meanwhile, Nari was a quiet one…almost limited to a few words every time she speaks, similar to the Dame Sasha Atkins. I thought her surname was ‘Tambara’, but as in turned out, it was actually the term of the people of Cherflammen for werewolves.

Oh well, I’m quite happy I already made my first few friends among the students.

“Oi!”

“!!!” My train of thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice called out to me from behind. Turning around, I saw the little green goblin girl, Lady Srexe—the loser in our duel when I first came here—standing at the hallway with her hands folded at her chest and her eyes throwing daggers at me. I knew just from her expression that she really meant the aggressive treatment, so I asked her, “What?”

“So, you really came back here, huh?” the goblin girl smirked.

“Was I not meant to?”

“Well, no, but I’m waiting for you to come,” she said. “I want to finish what I started in that duel before.”

“Hoh…” I did not bring any weapon with me, but I guess I could fetch it once this girl started another fight. “So you really want your ass handed back to you again, is it?”

“Hell, no!” Lady Srexe shook her head. “Did I just say that, human? Isn’t it clear that it is far from my thoughts?”

Now it’s my turn to shake my head, “In fact, you sound like you’re asking for it.”

“Tch, I hated this,” she muttered.

“Did I misunderstand you, then?”

“Of course, you dolt! You don’t have any idea about goblins, huh? Even though it is you who came to our land!”

“Nope. And it’s not like I have any choice other than to go here. So tell me, what I’ve been missing about your people?”

“Well, I lost to you. Fair and square.”

“That’s a fact, yes,” I think I knew where this was going…

“And see, we goblins are bound by our honor to—”

“Nope, I refuse. If you’re looking for some ‘master’ or something, then it’s not me you’re looking for!”

“Can you wait ’till I finish?”

“Are my words different from what you’re about to say?”

“Err…no?”

“Then you already have my answer.”

At that point, silence ruled between us. Lady Srexe stood opposite of me, and I remained on my spot. If others were to see us, it’s easy to mistake us for a pair of idiots sizing up each other before letting our fists fly.

Well, I guess I already saw one person familiar to me, and I don’t exactly like her.

So, instead of wasting my time in useless conversation with the goblin girl, I was the one to give up and disengage. The moment I obliged to this troublesome lady was the moment I’d earn notoriety as a fellow ‘troublemaker’.

Fuck it. I don’t care what you think of me. I’m here to impress.

----------

I was about to continue to my room when the goblin girl lunged at me and grabbed my feet. “I’m begging you!” she cried out, “I am out of my wits here, human! You got to help me graduate my level!”

“Help you graduate? Then you should stop pestering me!”

“I’m not pestering you,” she replied. “I’m here to convince you to help me! Do you want money?”

I’ve been a teacher all my life, and for her to offer me that pissed me off. “No.”

“How about a lover? Don’t you humans like to keep lovers?”

What is this girl saying? “I don’t need one right now, thank you!”

“I got it! Let’s have sex!”

“For fuck’s sake,” I nearly freaked out when I heard that. “Do you even know what you’re saying, milady? Stop it!”

“Tch! You’re so picky! Tell me what is it that you want so that you can help me pass!”

“For someone who’s making a request, you sure are arrogant.”

“What arrogance are you talking about? I’m a noble goblin lady! It is the duty of commoners such as you to help someone like me! Be thankful I even offered you something for compensation!”

“That kind of arrogance, is what I’m referring to,” I countered. “I do what I wanted to do, even if I end up eating salt for food. And for your information, I’m also a Chersean lord.”

“Huh? You? A lord?” the goblin girl stared at my face. “Doesn’t look like it.”

“I’m outta here,” I tried to walk away. But the goblin girl never let go of my feet.

“Milord, I’m sorry! Please! Please help me graduate my level!” she repeated her plea, though this time her tone was considerably ‘softer’ than before. “I’m ready to do anything! You want money? I can give it to you! You want women? I have servants who can satisfy your desires! I’ll give you anything, even myself, just help me move up!”

The goblin girl kept on repeating her words like a monk, that soon, we began to attract unwanted attention. The other students and teachers coming in were looking at us, either annoyed by her noise, or amused of what we must’ve looked like.

And, considering I’m a ‘suspicious human’ and she’s the ‘notorious troublemaker’, us causing a ruckus this early isn’t good for my reputation as a ‘Special Scholar’ in this place…

So, not wishing to continue our bad play, I told her, “Okay, I got you. Please stop! Let’s talk about this once I have no class and other paper works, alright?”