Chapter 38 — History, Books, Elves, and Not

Editors: PROCRASTINATOR & GREETER

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

After whatever the hell that class was, I began heading to mythological history… the thing I’m supposed to be studying. It’s about the Mythic Era, which according to Kurui, was any time before the Entity War 50,000 years ago.

 

“Hey, Ei, Vampires are scary, aren’t they?” (Sylventris)

 

Did I mention Sylventris was in that class too? It seems right up her alley…

 

“Totally.” (Ei)

 

You’re talking to a Vampire right now…. Well, time for the next class.

 

“Welcome to class everyone. I’ll be your teacher for Mythological History, Francis von Enolc XXIX, or as my colleagues like to call me, Memory Bank. Bank for short.” (Bank)

 

What the hell is a Francis doing here??? He looks almost exactly the same as the one that Francis Alpha killed… (A/N: I’m definitely not too lazy to look up the alpha symbol…)

 

“The Grand Sage decided to have me teach this class because some guy calling himself the ‘Alpha’ keeps dumping memories of old into me… Well, let’s hope you can learn something.” (Bank)

 

…Is this guy a USB stick but for Francis?

 

“Now, you’re probably wondering why this isn’t covered in your normal history class. It’s pretty simple. We don’t know much. The Grand Sage refuses to answer our questions, saying we need to ‘find out ourselves’ or something. Then most of the other sources have amnesia to prevent themselves from going insane… So, you’re left with me. The memory bank of some psychopath.” (Bank)

 

I think this guy needs a hug… Although I wonder what information he has if Francis is using him to store memories. How old is Francis anyways??? Well, I doubt the Cult of NULL can do anything with Kusanali here. Besides, this guy has been here for over 2,000 years according to my classmates so he shouldn’t be a threat.

 

“Well, on with the lesson.I’m sure you’ve seen the floating islands in the sky, also known as the Shattered Plane. Well, they were made during the War of Gods 50,000 years ago…” (Bank)

 

War of Gods? Sounds like the Entity War. Kurui already told me all this!! Wait, I thought they said that people didn’t know about this? Maybe I can learn something new then… Besides, the point of view of the mortal races is probably different.

 

“Some of the rocks came from… somewhere? Anyways, the previously not shattered plane got shattered by the impact of these rocks, turning it into the shattered plane. Had it not been for the sacrifice of that plane, the Material Plane would have been the one to be destroyed and thus all of us would be dead.” (Bank)

 

…Kurui left that part out. Interesting.

 

“Well, let’s talk about before the War of Gods. That’s what this class covers mostly. Back then, it was said ‘True’ versions of the races walked the world. Apparently, they were heavily influenced or made out of something like mana but not quite. It might have been Primordial Energy, but we aren’t sure.” (Bank)

 

It was probably Primordial Energy… Especially considering its name.

 

“Anyways, these ‘True’ versions of the races were obscenely powerful. Something about how the casted magic was fundamentally different allowing them to shape the world around them in ways we could only dream of now. Very few members of the True Races survive to this day, with the most notable one being the King of Dragons, one of the five remaining True Dragons.” (Bank)

 

. . . So is that why the Dragon King can edit appraisal messages probably. I wonder what the other True Dragons can do.

 

“Remilia and Flandre Crimson are also likely True Vampires but they refuse to answer the question, so we don’t know about that either. High Elves like to claim that they are the ‘True Elves’, but that’s not actually true, so don’t believe any who tell you that. Not that you’d be likely to find a High Elf in the first place. Although, you should be asking Professor Umbra about High Elves since they are one.” (Bank)

 

Another three people I want to meet one day… Well, maybe it’ll happen. Who knows?

 

“Well, let’s go over how magic was made next…” (Bank)

 

Hmmm… Sounds fun! (A/N: Go read the side story if you want to learn, no point to copy paste it. Here’s the link: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/857739-diary-of-an-adventuring-vampire/chapter/934061/)

 

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[“Volty”’s POV]

 

I am Earl Voltrek. One day a woman came to me asking for my help. She said she would pay with money and… other things…

 

Either way, my clan of Vampires is now baring their fangs on the Elven capital. For some reason, I’ve only been told to make a diversion across ten points within the city…. Seriously, what is that woman planning?!

 

So far there have been six envoys from the Vampyric Shogunate in order to stop us… Those fools. There are only three things that speak to me: Money, women, and violence. Talking is not an option.

 

The damn Shogunate is a pushover. We Vampires are made of mana. It is proof that we reign supreme over this world! We embody its very nature! All other races had best learn to bow before us! This will be the first demonstration thereof! 

 

(A/N: I’m really starting to hate Voltrek… Well, that’s intended I suppose.)

 

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[Ei’s POV]

 

Class ended after those two topics… which was rather unfortunate. People asked wayyy too many questions about how magic came to be. Well, we have lunch, or as they like to call it, “luncheon”, and then research time… 

 

Well, I have no researcher to shadow nor an internship so I guess it’s free study? Maybe I can go look for that High Elf professor. Or I could read. I already did a lot of that though…

 

Hm…

 

Library it is! I have no need to eat anyways.

 

“EI! WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING OFF TO???” (Sylventris)

 

“The library?” (Ei)

 

“Which library, you dumb High Elf.” (Kambia)

 

Looks like I got caught. Wait, there are multiple libraries?

 

“You really are an idiot… There are three libraries on campus. Each one has different books in it.” (Kambia)

 

“Which one do you recommend?” (Ei)

 

“The third one. I’ll take you there…” (Kambia)

 

“Hey! Isn’t that where all the bullies hang out?? Here, follow me! I’ll take you to the best one!” (Sylventis)

 

Bullies? Hmmm… Too weak. Not worth the effort to fight.

 

“I’ll just go with Sylventris then… Those bullies are too weak to be fun to fight.” (Ei)

 

“You… *sigh* Just go.” (Kambia)

 

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I’m in the library reading books. Lots of books. Maybe too many books. 

 

A librarian walks up to me.

 

“Hey… Are you actually reading all these books?” (Librarian)

 

“Yep. This is my 47th book today.” (Ei)

 

“But you only arrived here an hour and a half ago?” (Librarian)

 

“Yeah. These books are fun but too short. I’ve been averaging around three minutes per book so far.” (Ei)

 

“Eh?” (Librarian)

 

Looks like librarian-san broke. How many pages per minute is that you ask? Around 200? How many words per minute is that? Like 55,000 or something? I could read faster if I tried.

 

Since I don’t want to bore myself in classes, I’ve decided to independently study some other subjects… like plants. I’ve learned so many types of trees that I don’t think I could fit all the types into my inventory… which is infinitely big.

 

Well, it only feels like that. Besides, I learned how to make a few poisons. It might be useful some time. Well, I still have a poison of paralysis I think somewhere… I got it in that dungeon from a while back.

 

Hmm… That’s the next thing to learn about! Dungeons! I kinda wanna raid another one some time. It was fun.

 

“Hey, nerd!” (Bully)

 

Oh, great. The bullies arrived.

 

“Hello there.” (Ei)

 

Let’s try the method called, “ignoring them”. Maybe that will get some results. Besides, I’m too busy learning about anemones right now. The plant, not the animal. Did you know that anemone is actually a genus of flowers?

 

“What’re you wearin’ that hood for, little girl. Scared?” (Bully)

 

Sea anemones are actually pretty interesting too. Although, it's pretty difficult to spell. My dyslexic brain can barely handle it. They attach themselves to crabs. I wonder if they do that here too? I don’t want to have to fight a massive crab with a giant sea anemone on it though.

 

“Oi! Answer me!” (Bully)

 

“Quiet. It’s the library.” (Ei)

 

Hmmm… Maybe adding coals to the fire isn’t the greatest idea. But I have nothing to lose. Well, back to sea anemones. They feed off of little plankton in the water. I think. I forgot. Despite having an insane memory, I forget things on occasion.

 

“You little! I’m gonna kill you!” (Bully)

 

Go ahead and try.

 

“Get them, Cthulhu.” (Ei)

 

Hehe… sentient cape to the rescue! They stretch out and slap the bully’s face. Oh, wait, there’s actually a few more and I have been surrounded. I guess I’ll have to do something.

 

I stand up.

 

“Well, I’ll ask you all nicely one time. Would you please let me read my book?” (Ei)

 

This fight isn’t really worth my effort.

 

“Don’t just stand there, idiots! Get that bitch!” (Bully [the original one])

 

“We here that you’re the new #1. It’s all because you’re a High Elf, isn’t it?” (Bully #2)

 

Eh? How’d that get out?

 

“Don’t look so surprised. We, the Badgers, know everything!” (Bully #3) 

 

“Well then, thank you for the invitation to expand my peripheral vision.” (Ei)

 

Well, hood’s off.

 

“Damn. Maybe we can have some fun too.” (Bully #7) (A/N: Yes I jumped numbers :)))

 

“Periphe-what? Get her!” (Bully Leader)

 

Four to the left. Four to the right. Three behind. Five in front. Two above. I should be able to take those out.

 

“My, my, what’s going on here?” (???)

 

Another challenger?

 

“Gah! Scram!” (Bully Leader)

 

“My, who said you could run~?” (???)

 

I finally can see the owner of the voice and it’s a man? Woman? I can’t tell. Person with long, white hair (NOT silver), blue eyes, and a relatively thin body. The voice is more on the feminine side, but as far as I can tell, they are as flat as a board. They have pointed ears too… Maybe this is the Umbra person that Professor Bank was talking about? 

 

They are dressed in all black with white patterns across the fabric. It resembles a dress a little bit, but it isn’t exactly one.

 

“Spirits of Darkness, come forth and bind mine enemies! [Shadow Hands]~” 

 

Hundreds of black, semi-transparent hands pop out from the floor, ceiling, walls, and shelves.

 

“Gah!” (Bully #5)

 

They wrap around the bullies and slam them into whatever surface is nearest to them.

 

“Bullying people isn’t very nice you know~ And look at all this damage you could have caused. I’ll let you off with some detention though~ Don’t be late to my classroom. We’ll begin in 10 minutes~!” (???)

 

…

 

“Oh I forgot~ You’re still tied up. Why don’t you try and escape faster? I’ll have to give you more detention if you’re late, you know?” (???)

 

Remind me to never get on this person’s bad side.

 

“Thanks for the assist… Who are you by the way?” (Ei)

 

“I’m Professor Umbra. Oh, and in case you’re confused I use they/them pronouns! Don’t forget or I’ll have to give you detention too~” (Umbra)

 

Hmm… so it was about what I expected.

 

“I heard some clamoring about another High Elf so I came to take a look, but you’re no High Elf, are you?” (Umbra)

 

“Uh…” (Ei)

 

“I won’t ask~ Even if you aren’t a High Elf, you sure look like one. It’s best we have each other’s backs~” (Umbra)

 

Umbra is… quite the interesting person. 

 

“Well, I’ll be going now~ I’m in room Gamma-29 if you ever want to say hi.” (Umbra)

 

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Before I knew what had happened, a week had passed. And that is when things begin to take a turn for the worse…