Failures Can! (part 2: First day, first lesson)

Somewhere else in the school, the rumour had already started to spread.

Cindra, a student in 2-B, was in her classroom, having a heated discussion with her classmate Shizuku. She wasn't even paying attention to her fellow students who were studying next to them. After all, she knew full well that nobody would be able to understand what they were saying.

"I-It's not like I'm making this up! That demon lord is here in this academy!"

Shizuku didn't seem convinced at all and tried to argue back, but Cindra only got more excited about it. "You don't believe me? If you're an expert on demons, then tell me why he hasn't been summoned yet?"

"Ah... You mean the hero, right?"

A weak response from Shizuku made Cindra get annoyed. "Don't say 'ah'! Who else could it be? The hero was supposed to arrive two years ago to defeat the Demon Lord, remember?"

"What does that have to do with anything? Two years ago, there were already students here in this school."

"Then explain it to me! Why isn't he here now?"

Shizuku groaned as she sat down on her desk. "Well, it's not my place to answer questions like these..."

"That's what everyone says when they can't give out information." Cindra suddenly looked around the classroom. "Hey, Ms. Kuroki! Tell me the truth! Are you hiding something?"

"H-Huh? W-Wait a minute, Cindra!"

Kuroki hurriedly stood up from her seat and walked over to Cindra. With her usual grin, she asked, "What is it? Did you need something?"

"No, no, nothing like that..."

"Then what do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about some things."

"Uh-huh... What kind of things?" Kuroki tilted her head curiously, but it seemed like the girl had no intention of telling her.

"Nothing important," Cindra replied.

"All right, if it's not too much trouble. But please try to make it quick, since we've got class in ten minutes."

"Okay, okay... Fine. Well then, here goes. The demon lord is here in this academy."

"What?"

The room went completely silent. Everyone in the classroom stared at Cindra with wide eyes. Even the teacher, who was just a few feet away, froze momentarily.

"Are you serious?" Kuroki asked cautiously.

"Yes. He came to this school for some reason."

"But how would you know that?"

"I heard it from that old guy. The director."

"Director?"

"He said that the demon lord has come to this academy and that the hero will appear soon."

"This is all hearsay. There's no way it's true."

"There's no point in arguing about it."

"S-Stop it! Stop it, you're scaring me!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll let you go now!"

"W-Wait!"

Cindra turned to leave and ran out of the classroom.

"Sheesh." Kuroki shook her head in disapproval. "You're pretty gullible, aren't you?"

"Why are you being so mean to her? I mean, I don't think she's lying or anything..."

"I know what you're trying to say, but let's keep this between us, okay? We don't have time to waste talking."

The classroom was filled with chatter after Cindra left. 

                                                                            *****
The bell rang, declaring the start of the first lesson in the demon lord classroom.

Goro and the 7 other students were sitting in their seats before Baal, the demon lord, and Alice, his assistant.

Today's lesson was about summoning magic. Alice was lecturing them on how to summon magical beasts from a distance with magic.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for someone who had spent time in a certain country with a high rate of summoners; however, there was one thing that made this class unique: it didn't have any practical exercises. The reason was that Baal had no intention of letting anyone use real magic yet. He wanted his students to learn through study instead of using force.

"Summoning is an art that requires both knowledge and experience," he said. "I've seen many people who could easily call up a single monster but failed when asked to do so with multiple monsters at once."

He continued by explaining the basics of summoning.

"First off, you need to know what kind of summoned creature will best suit your purposes. There are countless types, such as fiends, spirits, daemons, demons...etc. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to figure out which will be most effective for each situation. Also, some creatures are better suited for large-scale battles while others can only survive in close-quarters combat. For example, you wouldn't want to bring a hydra into a massive battle where there would be too much open space for it to spread its heads and tentacles."

Baal paused for a moment before continuing.

"Well, that would make an amusing scene! Especially if a girl makes that mistake…"

The girls' faces became red as they felt uncomfortable.

“FOCUS ON THE LESSON!” Alice shouted at him angrily.

"Sorry, sorry!" Baal apologized and continued his lecture.

"There are also different ways to summon. Some common methods include using a talisman, a stone circle, or a sigil. Most of them work well enough, but I think those with more experience should try something else. Here, let me show you the method I prefer."

Baal held his hand out toward the blackboard. A small ball floated into the air and landed in it. It was the size of a marble, and it glowed faintly.

"This is called a Koudon. Anyone here familiar with it?"

All the students shook their heads.

"Kou...what...?" Reina muttered.

"A Koudon is an incantation used to summon an elemental spirit. This type of spell requires a particular form of magic known as Shinto Magic or Magic of the Gods. With this, you can summon creatures such as fire elementals, lightning elementals, wind elementals, earth elementals, and water elementals. They're all quite powerful, but they each have their advantages and disadvantages."

"What about magical beasts?" Atsuko asked.

"You can summon monsters from the beast realm, but they aren't as useful since they require a huge amount of mana. Even then, their abilities vary greatly depending on the monster and the user. If you don't know what you're doing, you might cause yourself more harm than good."

Baal took a few steps toward the student as he continued explaining.

"And then you need to decide on a suitable location to summon the creature from. A summoning circle is usually used, but there are other ways, depending on the type of monster. If you're summoning a fiend, you'd probably want to use a forest or swamp rather than an urban area. It'd also be a good idea to get a solid barrier around you, since monsters like to use their brute strength for the attack. And lastly, you should prepare yourself mentally and physically. Summoning takes a lot of energy, so you'll need to gather enough strength beforehand."

After finishing his lecture, Baal turned to Goro.

"Alright, pale boy! Show me what you've got! You didn't forget our bet! If you can't impress me, then you will be with us every day."

"What?! Wait, what?!" Goro exclaimed in surprise.

"You heard me! Now show us what you've got!" Baal ordered sternly.

"Ugh..." Goro groaned. He knew Baal's ego was way too big to back down now.

With nothing else to do, Goro stood up and took a deep breath. The rest of the class was looking at him.

"Guess I have to play with your rules! What should I summon?"