As things finally calmed down a bit, all three of us were now sitting on the two leather couches, with Lucifer to the left of me and Ms. Zito on the other couch.
Having replaced her cup of coffee, it was finally time for a real explanation of the situation.
"So, Lucifer, how much have you told Aarick?"
"Hmm? About what?"
"You know, about the state of this world and all that."
Scratching the back of her head, the small girl wearing a black dress had obviously not told me even a fraction of the story.
"Ah, I didn't think that was so important. I just want Aarick to become strong!"
Pinching the bridge of her well-shaped nose, I couldn't help but sympathize with my teacher a bit.
"Haaa... Fine, I'll start from the beginning then. It would be fruitless to talk about exactly everything right now, but I'll at least talk you through the basics."
Giving her a slight nod in confirmation, she continued on.
"As you probably know, humanity in this world has awakened. What that means is that they receive blessings from the designated gods and they can use this power to fend off the danger around them. More or less, humanity has gained the power to save itself. Now, what kind of things would they possibly need to defend themselves against?"
Taking no more than a second to answer, I showed her that I at least had the basic knowledge of a toddler.
"Monsters and demons, I'm assuming?"
"Correct. Now, monsters go without saying, as they are mindless beasts that roam around the world fulfilling their desires without care. Demons, however, are different from monsters. We aren't beings that have to live our lives as slaves to our desires. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have some basic needs that we need to fill, but that could have been arranged in a lot of ways without killing humans."
As she stopped talking, I could only assume that she wanted me to think about just why it had come to this point, where humans regarded demons as enemies to the point where intentions and reasons were superfluous.
"My guess is that demons didn't want to cohabit with humans. Something along the lines of a superiority complex? Maybe? Either that or something happened in the past where war between the races was inevitable."
"You're wrong."
Surprised to hear her instantly dismiss the guesses that I had thought to be quite accurate, I saw her raise one finger.
"Although it is true that most demons don't want to coexist with humans nowadays, there is one absolute reason why humans detest demons. Because that is what the gods decided for them. And the reason why they decided that is..."
Suddenly, her raised finger pointed outwards, toward the girl beside me, who was now happily sipping on a cup of warm chocolate. This was surprising in and of itself, as I didn't know where she got it from, but even more surprising as she had already told us that the form she was in wasn't a corporeal body and she would soon have to return her consciousness into me again.
Noticing Ms. Zito pointing at her, Lucifer tilted her head as if confused.
"The reason is that Lucifer fucked up. Big time. And without going into further detail, as it would take too long to explain, the gods decided to use humans to eradicate us."
"I see..."
Putting my hands together and pondering about the incident deeply, it was hard to pretend I truly cared, something that sadly made the frustrated woman even more aggravated.
"Why is that your reaction?! This woman turned you into a demon, knowing that it is because of her that you will be hunted down by humans?!"
Taking a quick peek at Lucifer, who looked back at me with an 'I guess?' kind of look, I still didn't feel too bad about the situation.
"Well, I guess that's not the best of situations. But at least she gave me a chance to live. So, for that, I will always be endlessly grateful, even if it means becoming a demon. Anyway, is there anything else I need to know about demons?"
"You...! Argh, fine! I don't care! Anyway, there is not much else to know besides the fact that even if you meet other demons, they will probably not like you. In fact, just like the humans, they will also be trying to kill you."
"What?! Why!"
"Do you really have to ask...?"
'Ah...'
Suddenly, her words made a lot of sense. If it was because of Lucifer that humans desperately wanted to eradicate the demons, which in turn had caused the demons to become the antagonists of this world, wouldn't they dislike someone who was blessed by the fallen angel?
"I guess not... But that just means I will have to hide the fact that I am a demon, right? Both when it comes to humans and when dealing with demons?"
"Yes, but it's not that easy. All demons have a certain aroma to them that... Wait, why is it that I can barely smell the demonic energy inside of you?"
Standing up and making her way to the couch we were sitting on, it was hard not to get flustered when the beautiful woman suddenly started sniffing my neck.
"Sniff, sniff... How can this be?"
"Umm... Teacher?"
Raising her body, she posed a single question.
"Are you really a demon? Lucifer, please explain."
Finally being brought into the conversation, the cup of warm chocolate dispersed into nothing as she took to the stage with confidence.
"Simple! It's because I didn't traditionally convert him, instead, I chose to make a conversion based on how much he evolves my blessing! So right now he is barely a demon at all!"
Sitting back down, she didn't get agitated when Lucifer spoke this time, showing that it at least wasn't something that bad.
"I see. At least it will be easier to disguise your smell before you grow stronger then."
With my face still red from the sudden closeness to Ms. Zito, I had a feeling that it was necessary to push the conversation forward. After all, there was still an unresolved matter that I wanted to get an answer to.
"So, teacher... About the courses? What did you actually choose for me?"
Yes, Ms. Zito herself had picked the courses that I was going to attend, not minding me standing on the side still confused about whatever was going on after making me explain my status to her.
So, in the end, I still had no idea what classes I was going to attend tomorrow.
Taking a sip of her coffee, she just casually told me what she had planned for me.
"You will attend the unarmed combat course, mana manipulation training, self-study, and monster eradication."
'Oh, those actually seem to be pretty good courses... Except...'
"Hey, Ms. Zito, what does self-study mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's a course designed for those who might have specialties that the academy can't guide them in, or they might be wanting to develop themselves further in one of the other courses. Of course, they will have to do so on their own."
"But, don't I still need a lot of guidance? I mean, I just woke up, and I don't even know how to activate my abilities?"
*Tak*
Putting her cup down on the table, she smiled gently at me. A smile that I for some reason believed myself to see the face of the devil behind,
"Naturally I will be guiding you during the self-study sessions. However, don't believe for a second that just by attending your courses you will be able to catch up to the rest of your class."
As a slight shiver went down my back, I could only force myself to ask:
"What do you mean...?"
Standing up, a small glow emerged in her purplish eyes, and the air in the room got a lot heavier, almost as if I had been submerged underwater. In sync with this, a small voice spoke beside me.
"Oh, how tired I have gotten... Seems like I have to rest for a bit..."
As her body turned into smoke once again and entered mine, I wasn't exactly sure what was happening right now. What I did know, however, was that Lucifer had abandoned me.
'Lucifer!'
'-Zzz.'
'As if!'
Yet, there were no more responses coming from the fallen god that pretended to be asleep.
"So, shall we begin? Don't worry, Aarick, I will make sure to whip you into shape to make sure you can call yourself a student of Augustus with pride!"
Maybe it was because of fright, or maybe it was merely just a fight or flight response because my body started to float into the air as she spoke. So, at the very least, it was a flight response.
"Teacher, I think you're a bit too motivated about this."
"Student, I don't your motivation is up to par with the level of the academy that you are supposed to be attending."
And with that, she pulled my floating body through the air into another room, a room where I would have to spend many of my nights panting and sweating.
Sadly not in the sexy kind of way.