That evening, Kaze was accompanied by Lunaria to the cathedral after they departed from the research facility.
Upon reaching the front of the place, Kaze decided that he needn't enter to show his respects. The reason for coming to the cathedral in the first place wasn't for a visit, but rather to pray towards Goddess Tiel and thank her for her advice. Since Tiel gave him her advice regarding meeting Lucentia under the tree, he had progressed not only his relationship with her, but also with Lunatea. It helped the overall relationship with his sisters since he was now also open to pursuing Lunaea and Luniel, hence why he wanted to show his appreciation to her.
"Kaze, are you sure you're fine with simply praying from the front? We can walk in," Lunaria asked Kaze, watching him get on his knees and putting his hands together.
"No, its fine. I wouldn't want to disturb anyone who could be inside," Kaze rejected her suggestion with a kind smile. "Besides, this is a simple prayer, it doesn't require any sort of ritual."
"Ah… if you are fine with it," Lunaria reluctantly nodded.
"Do you want to pray too?"
"No, I'm fine. I don't seem like it, but I'm not much of a devotee."
"Alright. Please wait for me then, it won't take long."
Kaze closed his eyes and uttered a silent prayer. His intentions were already filled in his heart, meaning that he didn't need to speak out loud for a goddess to receive his prayers. After all, a god or goddess had power that was unimaginable to mortals like Kaze. If Goddess Tiel was able to summon him into a different realm, have a talk, and send him back without time even changing, then it definitely proved that gods and goddesses had a different kind of ability compared to magic.
Halfway through his prayers, he picked up on the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. They came close to him but stopped where Lunaria was standing. He didn't feel it to be a concern if the footsteps approaching them stopped by Lunaria, meaning they were either waiting for him judging by the silence or that they were waiting for their turn to pray. As such, Kaze quickly finished the rest of his prayer and turned around, greeting the person who had approached them.
"Laevia-sama?" Kaze recognised the Empress and quickly bowed. "I just finished praying."
"It's fine. You could have entered to pray too," Laevia patted his head, treating him like a child. "You don't have to be so uptight around me, you know."
"Mother, I don't think anyone can naturally say they aren't nervous around royalties," Lunaria sighed at her mother. "Besides, he would be nervous if his girlfriend's mother were around him."
"Ara? Is that so?" Laevia pretended to look confused and acted concerned. "Should I be more open with him then?"
"T-Thank you for your kind consideration, Laevia-sama, but I'm fine for now," Kaze sweatdropped, defusing the situation before it got any worse. "Will you be praying too?"
"Nope. I just happened to be passing by when I saw you two," Laevia shook her head. "Shall we return if you're done? It is almost dinner time."
Heading back to the palace, Kaze stifled a gasp when Lunaria laced her fingers around his as they walked since prying eyes were not easily found at this time of the day. She could show her feelings for him more easily, such as handholding while walking together. With Laevia walking in front of them, since she was the Empress, Lunaria didn't need to fear her mother making fun of her expressing her love with her lover.
Once they had returned, Lunaria and Kaze took a quick shower together before they headed to the dining room where everyone was. Dinner was served as usual with the casual discussion of the events of the day, though much of the topic circulated around Kaze's absence. It was not revealed that he went to the lab to get himself tested after all, so it would cause some of his friends to become curious, though some of them quickly concluded he went on a secret date with Lunaria.
Dinner ended with an announcement from Reginsleif and Laevia to all at the table as soon as Lunaea and Luniel showed up, looking rather frazzled they were forced to get away from their research.
"Guests from Czech, I hope you enjoyed dinner provided by our finest chefs," Reginsleif started off with a warm greeting before proceeding into the main topic. "Today marks the end of your 5th day in Aravel, I sincerely hope everyone had a pleasant time here. The schedule for tomorrow will be announced shortly through your pamphlet, so please check it out before you turn in tonight. The day after tomorrow is a free day for everyone here to prepare for the surprise we have next week."
"We won't reveal anything about our surprise yet, so look forward to it during your break day," Laevia smiled mischievously at the group, causing them all to groan in agony since this meant they must suffer another day of wondering what the dragonkin rulers had in mind for them that they hadn't experienced yet.
"Lunaria, don't you know what we would be doing?" Irene pleaded with the eldest princess.
"Nope, don't have a clue," Lunaria made a mysterious smile, one void of revealing whether she truly knew or not that caused Irene to groan.
"Kaze, please find out for us," Chris patted his shoulder.
"We leave it to you," Yuuji nodded in agreement.
"Seriously… haven't you been treating me differently ever since I became Lunaria's lover?" Kaze sweatdropped at his friends' sarcasm. "It's not like I suddenly gain access to national secret."
"Maybe, maybe not," Yuuji and Chris grinned away while Albert calmly consoled Kaze, being the only one to not make jokes.
Thankfully, the teasing stopped for Kaze when the end of the announcement came. With everyone retiring for the night, Kaze gathered in the common room with his friends for a few games together. It was a relaxing night, to say the least, as they waited for the announcement on their pamphlets. Lunaria and the other princesses, aside from Lunaea and Luniel, joined in on the fun since it was a chance to bond with their human friends.
"Ah, the pamphlet has updated."
"Oh?"
Mitsui was the first one to notice the words on the pamphlet shifting. This prompted the others to take out theirs and view it, with Lunaria leaning over Kaze's shoulder to get a look at what was planned tomorrow.
"… Eh? Classes?" Noel tilted her head. "We have classes in the morning?"
"Ah, I think father wanted to give everyone a brief introduction about the history of Aravel and enlighten everyone about the relations we have with other nations," Lunaria smiled after reading the schedule. "Judging by how we only have 2 hours of class planned after breakfast followed by a social event before lunch, I would infer that to be the case."
"Heh~ now that you mention it, I don't think we have ever heard much about this nation before," Mitsui pondered about the issue. "This would be a surprisingly good chance to learn."
"Feel free to ask any questions you have tomorrow," Sera reminded her friends. "If the Emperor's the one teaching, he would be more than willing to answer them."
"Are you not participating tomorrow?" Irene asked the elf.
"Nope. Rena, Shoko and I are exempted," Sera shook her head. "We have other businesses to attend with Laevia-sama."
"I see, that is unavoidable then," Yuuji nodded understandingly. "The three of you are probably familiar with Aravel history anyway, so there's no need for such a class."
"While that is true, I can't deny that I want to be in the class," A wry smile crossed Rena's face. "Hearing a lecture from Reginsleif-sama sounds amazing."
"But we don't even know who is the one giving the lecture," Shoko shrugged, not looking too bothered about missing class. "I suppose we should stop playing now; everyone needs some rest for tomorrow's slightly earlier class."
With that came the end of their game session. Returning to the bedroom with Lunaria, Lunatea and Lucentia each gave Kaze a good night kiss in their efforts to reach out their feelings to Kaze. It was a rather funny contrast, considering that Lucentia passionately gave him a smooch without batting an eyelash while Lunatea had to force herself to peck his lips with her face turning red. Entertained nonetheless, Kaze responded equally by returning the kiss before retiring to the room with Lunaria.
"Kaze, let's take a dip before sleep," Lunaria suggested to him once they were alone. "If you feel up for it."
"You really like taking baths, huh?" Kaze chuckled and got to his feet. "I'm game."
"Sorry, it's a habit," Lunaria said so while stripping with her back towards Kaze. "The warmth of the bath water helps keep me calm and soothes me on a bad day."
"But today is not a bad day?" Kaze questioned her gently.
"It's not, as I said. Simply a habit," Lunaria purred, dragging Kaze along with her across the room towards the bathroom. "How can it be bad if you're always with me?"
Thankfully, Lunaria showed him mercy both in the bathroom and in bed out of consideration for tomorrow.
- - - - -
Once everyone was done with breakfast, they gathered at one of the rooms normally prepared for briefing where a long table with chairs had been provided. The group waited in the room, with the inclusion of three of the dragonkin princesses excluding Lunaea and Luniel, for their lecturer to appear. Unsurprisingly, it was Reginsleif and Tuarle who came through the door.
"Good morning everyone," Reginsleif, wearing slightly more casual clothes compared to his grand Emperor royalty outfit, greeted everyone energetically with Tuarle walking in behind him, still in her maid outfit as usual. "If anyone was wondering, Tuarle is here for assisting me."
"I wonder how today's lesson will go, father," Lunaria was the first to speak up since Reginsleif entered. "Did you actually prepare teaching materials?"
"In fact, I did," Reginsleif grinned at his daughter. "Tuarle."
At his words, Tuarle took out a few stacks of papers and passed it around the table, giving everyone an equivalent volume of paper per stack. This meant that everyone received the same number of papers containing information and illustrated pictures that would all be used for the 2-hour lecture. Everyone looked impressed that these materials were so well-prepared.
"Now then, shall we get started?" Reginsleif declared.
Waving his hand in front of a blackboard, a chalk floated up by itself and began inscribing the words 'History of Aravel' onto it. The rough edges of the continent they were on began appearing too, though it was only one of the few continents in the world that they knew about. From the looks of it, Aravel was situated slightly on the lower left corner, where a piece of land surrounded by mountain ranges was separated by border close to the ocean. Czech, on the other hand, had a definite border with multiple fractions in them to represent different governing areas and land, showing off the massive difference that Czech had compared with Aravel.
"Now, can anyone tell me some of the other nations on the continent we live in?" Reginsleif asked the group. "Lunaria, Lunatea, Lucentia, give the opportunity to your friends."
"Sir, we have the woods of Yvel on the right of Aravel," Yuuji raised his hand and pointed out. "That would be the nation of the elves. Following that, leaning slightly to the top, the land of the foxkins existed, also known as Ile."
"Correct, Yuuji," Reginsleif nodded, allowing the chalk to levitate across the board and draw out the borders. "What about the other undefined borders around the edges of the land here? As we know, Czech mainly occupies most of the central region and northern areas of the continent with a few exceptions."
"We have the human nation of Baaz located at the halfway point where the city of Yurani is located," Mitsui continued from Yuuji, pointing to the centre part of Czech. "That's the small nation that specializes in trade and providing most of the products we see in everyday life like carts, wood, and so much more."
"Correct. To the further left and right of Baaz would respectively be land for growing food and wild forests and jungles," Reginsleif helped to illustrate her point further. "It helps that we have rivers forming and flowing through the land where Baaz is based off, meaning that crops and agriculture benefits from the abundance of water available."
After giving the group a rather brief rundown on their geographical location, Reginsleif had the chalk circle a small nation at the southernmost part of the map.
"Now… can anyone tell me what part of the world this is?" Reginsleif calmly asked, even though the aura he exuded right now showed signs of aggression.
"T-The… land of the devils?" Irene nervously responded, as most of the people here already knew about that beforehand.
"Yes. While there has been no known nation or land that properly defines what they are, all we know is that the land is populated by the devil race," Reginsleif solemnly nodded. "The reason for pointing this out is because our lesson will start way back from when most of the continent was once uninhabited and unexplored, leaving only a few areas where races could start to grow. In this part of history, the devils played a significant role."
On cue, everyone glanced to their paper and began reading the first part of the written words.
"Tuarle, if you would."
"Yes, Reginsleif-sama."
At his command, Tuarle applied her magic and made a copy of the map drawn with magic before floating it in front of everyone for ease of reference.
"We shall return to a time when nations were just starting to form," Reginsleif continued, the borders on the map disappearing with multiple different colours shading parts of the defined areas on the map. "As you can see, only various places have been shaded in red. The ones left blank either meant they were untouched during that era or they are still unexplored regions compared to today."
The Emperor went on a long, interesting, and detailed explanation of how the nations roughly formed, placing more emphasis on the dragonkin interactions since he was going to focus on their history more so than the other nations. It wasn't like Reginsleif tried to omit details by purposely avoiding reference to other parts of the continent, but rather that he didn't have enough time or knowledge to do so. This caused him to be selective about the topic they were discussing, though he didn't hesitate to answer some of the questions Kaze's group had to ask.
For a quick recap of the rough details for most of the class, Lunaria helped with Kaze's notes assembly and recording. She wasn't micromanaging him, instead it being Kaze who requested for her help. Lunaria herself didn't interrupt Kaze much; she simply offered her assistance only where appropriate.
The basic summary regarded the dragonkin's race's growth as a whole. From becoming associated with other beings to helping with de-escalation of conflicts, they managed to grow into a powerhouse that was both valued and intimidated others due to the power of a dragonkin. The biggest turning point was definitely the war, which not only caused there to be a severe decrease in dragonkin population, but also the devil population.
To understand the war, a few factors like the causes of the war must be understood. One of the main reasons why war broke out in the first place was due to racial tensions with the devils. Back when there was a sort of alliance going on between different races, the devils were the only ones to not side with anyone. It was not known what goal the devils had to achieve from doing so, but they were the one who initiated the conflict.
By tempting some of the factions over to their side, an all-out war soon broke out. This was also what caused there to be multiple nations to develop over the centuries. Since Reginsleif himself played a major part during the war, it was accurate to say he watched nations rise and crumble in his life. Most dragonkins in Aravel experienced the same thing, whether it be because of outside influence or any other factors.
"Reginsleif-sama, how is it that after centuries, the dragonkin race is still much smaller compared to when your kind first started out?" Yuuji asked.
"When I mentioned the devils creating factions, I meant everyone being involved, including our fellow dragonkins," Reginsleif heaved a sigh. "All this led to multiple splitting, such as humans fighting over the influenced, dragonkins fighting their kind, and even… devils themselves have such a faction."
"Eh? You mean not all devils agreed to the plan?" Kaze widened his eyes at this revelation.
"Surprised? I'm not shocked that you never learnt that part of the history. Certain details have been changed, omitted, or forgotten over time. Unless you had someone who existed during that period of time, you wouldn't have known that there was a minority that split away from the devils at the time. They disagreed with the actions taken," Reginsleif smiled wryly at this. "Didn't I say? Everyone chose sides, even the devils themselves. Till today, those who were omitted from their kin's act of war live generations later. They are formally known as 'fiends' to distance themselves from their evil-acting kins, although the word 'fiend' does not show their kindness either."
"Reginsleif-sama, if I may," Tuarle nervously interrupted the Emperor just as he was about to divulge further. "I believe any more discussion of this topic is…"
"Taboo? If my wife wants to reprimand me later, let her," Reginsleif simply laughed it off. "I believe knowledge should be accurate, unbiased and real. There is no need to fear letting it be known as long as it could do no harm more than it could do good."
"A-Alright…" Tuarle heaved a sigh and addressed the room. "Everyone, from here on out, please keep everything you are told to yourselves. While this isn't exactly confidential or a nation's secret, it is considered taboo by your standards."
Everyone visibly gulped at this statement, even the princesses themselves. After all, this meant their father was about to divulge something they hadn't even known before to everyone here. Whether or not it was serious or controversial, everyone readied themselves for the big reveal.
"As you know, people take the side that benefits them the most during times of crisis. It's our nature, we can't do anything about it," Reginsleif continued. "Unless you have strong moral values, it would be hard to determine whether or not you would be tempted to the other side. That was what happened with the devils, truthfully speaking. In search of power, they were misled by the sole being we all thought had always been divine… the gods themselves."
Silence filled the room instantly, creating an atmosphere so thick that it felt like a knife couldn't even slice through it.
"Hold on, before any of you call me out as blasphemous or going against the whole god-goddess thing, I need to clarify," Reginsleif grimaced. "The divine god that misled the devils and led to the whole war starting, eventually involving the need for other gods and goddesses to act had always been a single god. He, or she, alone, had the capability to turn our own kind against us."
"… A-And that god is…?"
"The god of apocalypse. There has never been a name to address the god like with Goddess Tiel, but no reason for why that is so exists. All that you should know is the god of apocalypse transferred a fraction of its power to the devils, enabling them to gain power that exists to this day. We call that 'Chaos Magic'."
In this world, there are a few categorisations of magic, the most common being common magic elements and rare magic elements. However, there also exists magic outside of the realm of being limited to those elements as well. The few typical examples would be 'Singularity', magic that does not exist on the common and rare element but is able to branch out to create its own network of magic uses, 'Skill', being those either learnt or inherited like the 'Dominion' skill obtained by dragonkin royalties, and 'Identity', magic that exists on a realm of its own and unable to be replicated by any sense.
However, for magic like Chaos Magic, the only category fitting for such type of magic would fall under 'Origin' category. The name for the category was self-explanatory, origin being that the magic originated from beings beyond this world and common sense. With its function and extent of being used unknown, Chaos Magic was essentially what made devils bothersome opponents.
"As some of you here would know, having fought devils or witnessed their power beforehand, how powerful they are," Reginsleif paused to observe everyone's facial expressions before continuing. "Depending on your personal view, you should feel thankful that the said Apocalypse God has been defeated by the gods themselves. The Apocalypse God does not exist anymore, but it is hard to say if it could reappear in the future, knowing the gods having divine power far beyond our comprehension."
"Reginsleif-sama, I think we should stop," Tuarle quickly gave her opinion when no one in the room responded. "Our time is almost up anyway, so we should leave some room for questions."
"Oh my, you're right. We only have 10 minutes left," Reginsleif chuckled lightly and sat at the edge of the table. "Let me apologise if the contents of the lesson today warped your perception about the world we live in. As Tuarle had stated, don't tell anyone whatever you have heard regarding the Apocalypse God and Chaos Magic. It is simply for enlightenment that I decided to bring this topic up against my better judgement. Any questions?"
The class ended without a word from anyone. Since they were all too troubled by the new knowledge they had received, it defied their common understanding of how the world worked. From there being an Apocalypse God to how the devils obtained their power, everything felt surreal. After all, everyone lived in an era where no such trouble was found due to the events of the past shaping a better future for them. Learning about the unspoken truth of the war baffled everyone, wondering why such an important thing was lost from history. Even the records of their history had been warped to make it look like nothing as big as a god's intervention took place.
According to their schedule, the next thing on the list was lunch before another event organised for them without anything specifically stated. This gave the group a chance to rest, digest the information given and get ready for lunch. Even at the dining table, they could not tear their minds away from the lesson earlier.
Reginsleif, who went against his wife's instructions to not tell the group about the Apocalypse God, had a guilty smile on his face at the dejected spirits the group had. Laevia already knew what happened since he told her about the contents of the lesson himself. Coupled with Tuarle being there as an observer, Laevia could only sigh because she already expected this sort of reaction from them. This was also why she thought it a bad idea to suddenly divulge this sort of information.
"Dear…"
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You know it feels weird to simply leave out an important info when explaining about the past."
"Hah… why didn't you listen to my advice? I don't know how we can go on with the following activities planned…"
"It's not that bad. Look, Kaze seems fine?"
"Kaze, are you not bothered by what you were told?"
When faced with an inquiry from Laevia, Kaze looked up from his plate and smiled nervously.
"I mean… I was bothered, but then I realized there was no point being bothered by it?" Kaze explained. "After experiencing quite a few mind-blowing things already, such as wyvern riding and all, I don't think I should feel worried about the past. It already happened, didn't it? So I just treated it as something to take note of and moved along."
"That is… some impressive mental fortitude you have," Laevia sweatdropped at Kaze's statement. "I entirely agree with you, Kaze, but I'm just surprised you could digest everything told so easily."
"Not really. I still have troubles overcoming the fact the gods had to vanquish one of their own," Kaze sighed. "I never expect even the divine beings would have agendas of their own."
"It is best not to dwell on the reasoning that much, Kaze. You could think of the gods as an outsider who cares for our world," Laevia tried to reason it out. "When you get involved in something, you unintentionally want to make it the way you like it, no? The gods don't interfere in our world as much as you would think since they prefer to let the world play out by itself, but only where necessary. The Apocalypse God is an extreme example, to say the least, which will never happen again."
Laevia's words put everyone at ease. As someone who was revered as the Saintess, no questions were asked when they put their faith in Laevia. She was already well-known as someone who communicates with the gods indirectly, meaning that she was essentially receiving the word of god. While there hadn't been a religion made centred around her due to how the dragonkin community treats their gods, it was clear that she was on another level as a person, being both a royalty and a Saintess. Thus, as humans who were influenced by stories of gods, it was natural that they would gravitate towards Laevia's words easily.
Lunch came to a peaceful end, and they gathered at the common room as usual for the next activity. There was nearly no news about what they would be doing now, which made the group start to guess if this was a secret event of sort.
"Lunaria, you really don't know anything?" Irene asked the eldest princess, who was currently sitting on Kaze's lap.
"No idea. Mother made it vague for us too," Lunaria shook her head. "It probably is supposed to act as a surprise."
"Alright then," Irene shrugged before glancing at Kaze, who was currently stroking Lunaria's head from behind. "Kaze… you might want to reconsider flaunting your love with Lunaria."
"Ah? I'm not exactly flaunting anything though," Kaze gulped, wondering why Irene was warning him. "Is something wrong?"
"I think… Lunatea and Lucentia might be jealous," Noel added from the side.
This caused Kaze to tilt his head and looked at the two princesses. Sure enough, Lunatea and Lucentia both had pouts on their faces while staring enviously at Lunaria. In response, Lunaria tilted her head and kissed Kaze on the cheek, causing him to blush at how open she was.
Lunatea and Lucentia couldn't handle the mental harassment they were receiving and stomped over to his side. With each one taking an arm, they cuddled tightly to him with the intention of getting some attention from him. Lunaria didn't say anything to her sisters' actions, thinking of it as fair game that they were trying to win Kaze's heart. Either way, she was confident that Kaze would forever be loyal to her after the past few days' worth of interaction with him.
Of course, Kaze also intended to remain loyal to Lunaria. However, he couldn't simply ignore the wishes of the two sisters who were trying to win over his heart as well. They were respectful enough to not blatantly approach him when the others were around or when he was with Lunaria, with the only exception being now. Even Kaze understood that they had a limit of enduring how much their eldest sister was practically teasing them, causing him to show them pity.
Kaze stopped petting Lunaria for the time being and gave the two some of his care. Lunatea and Lucentia each responded happily to his hand resting on their head and rubbing it gently. Tilting their neck so that their heads could come closer to him, their grip around his arms loosened in response.
"You're already subduing the princesses so easily," Yuuji laughed from across the room. "Are you sure you don't want to date them yet?"
"I only started dating Lunaria for 3 days, I don't think it would be appropriate if I suddenly accepted another two lovers," Kaze sighed. "Besides, I already gave them the chance to try and win me over on their own efforts."
"So this is just a temporary prize?" Lunaria asked with a grin. "Kaze, you sneaky guy."
"It's your fault, Lunaria-nee," Lunatea pouted. "You know Lucentia and I are trying our best to refrain ourselves and you tried tempting us."
Thankfully, the sibling squabble came to a halt when Laevia showed up with a few guards. It was obvious that the group would now be led to the location of the social event, though they didn't expect to be led by the Empress herself.
"Everyone, we can leave now if you're ready," Laevia said so with a smile. "Oh, Kaze. Already taming my daughters with your charm?"
"N-No, Laevia-sama. This is…" Kaze immediately blushed and tried to explain himself, only for Lunaria to press him down onto the couch so he couldn't escape.
"I shall let my husband know that he can safely entrust Lunatea and Lucentia to you," Laevia giggled. "More importantly, you would have to set aside your session with them since we already have something planned for you all."
Kaze cringed in shame as the rest of his friends laughed along with the Empress's remarks. It was rather unusual for a ruler to joke about giving their daughters away to another man, but that was precisely what made Laevia feel more like a mother than a ruler of a nation.
Without further teasing, the group were escorted to the front yard of the palace, where there was a huge land area with trimmed grass at the base of the mountain. Each one of them were handed a necklace of sort, which they were then told to wear around their neck. Only Lunaria and a few others had an idea what the necklace was by their groans.
"Mother, isn't this a device to restrict us from using magic?" Lunaria groaned, putting it on reluctantly.
"Yep, because it is in relation to what we will be doing."
Laevia clapped her hands twice and everyone's pamphlet released magic particles, informing everyone of an update to their pamphlets. Taking them out to have a look, they all seemed surprised by the updated content.
"A treasure hunt?"
"That's right! Since having a treasure hunt would be problematic if we have people using magic to cheat, we have decided to restrict your usage of magic temporarily," Laevia gave a nod at Lunaria's words. "Shall we have a breakdown before we start then?"