Turning up to the academy the following day Nariko was surprised to see how many students were talking about the incident within the slave district of Hellscape. Many of the students in her class were speculating how such a thing was allowed to happen in the Demon Realm's capital some speculated that it was a plot devised by the Anti-Peace faction to undermine the Pro-Peace faction.
Others came to the conclusion that the Forsaken beast escaped from a nearby laboratory and that the scientist group in charge of it was covering the whole incident up as a purely bad luck scenario to happen.
As for Nariko, she had a pretty good idea that either of those theories was false, after all, she partially witnessed the two men squaring off against one another in that underground tunnel. Deep in thought, Nariko was unaware that someone had been calling her name.
"Oh, s-sorry" she turned to her side to see Etsudo facing her.
"Are you okay?" the demon ogre girl asked. Although her expression was blank the question she asked seemed to show that she had a genuine concern for Nariko.
"I'm fine really" Nariko tried to play it casually as not to make Etsudo worry more.
Etsudo shifted closer to her new friend with her seat. "You're a bad liar" saying it so casually almost looked to have made Nariko nervous as to how obvious she acting among the other students.
"I am that easy to read?"
Sitting there thinking to herself for a moment Etsudo swiftly responded to Nariko's question. "Most of the others don't seem to have clued in on it yet, but I guess you could say..." she for a moment before shrugging her shoulders "...I have a knack for spotting such body language in people"
"That's a pretty handy skill to have" Nariko was quite impressed she never would have thought that Etsudo had such a quality skill without the latter telling her about it. As for Etsudo, hearing the compliment from her classroom neighbour made her cheeks turn slightly red from blushing while deep in thought he suddenly remembered that she wanted to ask Nariko about something.
"Nariko"
"Yes?"
"Are you doing anything in particular for the rest of the school day?"
Nariko suddenly remembered that today the faculty staff informed them that they were allowed to spend their time as they saw fit considering the recent happenings. This was mostly due to the fact the Demon Intelligence Agency still had many areas under lockdown afraid that something similar could occur somewhere else within the capital, this made it hard for certain students and faculty members to make it to school in the first place.
Fortunately for Nariko and Mana, the mansion of House Helel ben Shachar was located relatively near to the academy so the two of them weren't affected by such procedures. It was only then that Nariko truly took in her surroundings realizing how little there was in terms of students.
"No I don't really have any plans I guess except maybe spending my free time in the academy library" Nariko answered.
Etsudo didn't answer at first she looked to be contemplating something to herself. "You mind if I come with you?" she suddenly asked surprising Nariko.
"Um, sure I don't see the problem with that" Nariko felt a little scared at first when she heard from Lord Lucifer about attending an academy, after all, at that point, it wasn't too long ago in her old life she attending an entirely different school in another universe altogether. But being able to talk to Etsudo easily like this made her feel somewhat at ease with herself when Mana wasn't around.
As Nariko and Etsudo left their classroom, the former noticed that most of the attending students were studying using the given textbooks that were provided by the faculty, however, she also noticed that the few students that weren't studying were clearly here just to muck around and hang out with their friends.
Although it seemed trivial to feel happy about Nariko felt a sense of the old atmosphere that she got in her old life. At first, I didn't think I could get by in this world dreading that it was going to feel too alien to live out my new life here, but there's something comforting about knowing just how similar this world is to my old one, Yuuma's subconscious reflected with himself.
The last time Nariko was at the academy she didn't have a chance to see the library so when entered through the two heavy-duty oak doors she was taken aback by awe at the sight of the place. The library was jam-packed with thousands of books towering upwards horizontally. At the edge against the walls were four pillars of marble reminiscent of Ancient Greece going up towards the ceiling.
When Nariko looked at the ceiling there was an extravagant painting that depicted what she presumed to be a historical event important to the Demon Realm. As she took in the details of the painting she couldn't help but wonder how it closely resembled the religious paintings that she often saw in her old world albeit with a demon touch.
She was unaware that Etsudo had walked off ahead of her noticing when she realized that the demon ogre girl was standing next to her like before. As for Etsudo, she too didn't realize that Nariko wasn't following her when she looked around seeing the latter catching up to her she waited patiently.
"Wait up Etsudo"
"Oh sorry" Etsudo simply responded. The two of them continued walking down one of the many towering aisles of bookshelves on either side of them.
Although Nariko suggested that the two of them go to the academy's library there wasn't anything in particular that she was looking for, more or less, she was only going there to do a little research on this world in order to get a better understanding considering she would be living her life here for the foreseeable future.
Almost finishing their trek through the library the two of them came across an opening which also happened to be an area where many other walkways lead to it. At the centre of this area, Nariko could see what looked to be an altar of some sorts, however, it wasn't the traditional church ones she was expecting instead it seemed to house an old book floating in the air above a pool of water at the centre of the altar.
Walking up to it Nariko was intrigued to find out more. As she neared it reaching out towards the book, the latter suddenly plunged into the pool of water disappearing right before her eyes.
"It's a Ritual Alter" Etsudo mentioned casually as she stood next to Nariko.
"What's that?" Nariko asked with keen interest.
"They're altar's that protect the most sacred of artefact's, books, weapons just about anything that is deemed valuable to the Demon Realm"
Nariko thinking to herself instinctively started to reach out towards the altar once again only to be stopped by Etsudo. "I wouldn't do that in order to use a Ritual Altar first you have to have permission from its master which in this case is Lord Belial followed by giving up something dear to you as a sacrifice"
"Meaning?" Nariko looked perplexed.
"These things were created, in mind to never be used unless it is a last resort"
"So why is such a thing in a place like this if it can't be used?"
Etsudo stood there silent for a moment thinking to herself, "I believe it's because these things siphon off mana from their master on occasion in order to survive, which would explain why it's here considering the fact that Lord Belial spends a lot of his time at the academy and his family's mansion"
Nariko made a sidewards glance towards the Ritual Altar as she turned away.
"Anyway we better hurry don't want to be late"
Nariko wondered what Etsudo was talking about before she could ask her friend started to walk away without saying a word, she catches up to her while taking another look at the Ritual Altar before looking ahead of her. That Ritual Altar sounds like it could hold some answers to some of my questions, but from what Etsudo said it sounds like it would be a good idea at the moment I bide my time instead of rushing into this, anyway, there's still plenty of other things I need to do beforehand at the moment, Yuuma subconsciously thought to himself.
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Dont worry, about this like they said "Nobody is perfection!"