The atmosphere around the table remained tense and awkward for a minute or so. Nobody seemed to want to talk as they ate their food silently. Then, one person approached the table.
Danny looked quite disturbed as he sat down and looked at Isla. He had a very deep frown on his face.
“Isla… I saw that…”
“I saw him too,” Isla replied as she took another spoonful of food and put it in her mouth.
“…” Danny blinked in shock. “What happened?”
“He sat down next to me and tried to strike a conversation for some reason.” Arthur shrugged. “But, I didn’t entertain him. He was too annoying.”
“… Did you say anything to him?” Danny asked in a hurry.
“No, I didn’t say anything. But, the fact that he knows me is quite weird.”
“Now that I think about it. How did he know that you’re with us?” Emmy rubbed her chin with a thoughtful expression. “He isn’t someone that randomly tries to strike conversations with others. So, the fact that he tried to approach means that he knows something.”
“What could he even know?” Arthur asked.
‘I have been anonymous this entire time. I barely even interacted with Isla and the others. Besides, what is he going to win from trying to approach me? If his target is Isla, then I’m the most useless person he might target. I barely know anything about her.’
Arthur was a little disturbed by his first interaction with this boy but he wasn’t too worried about him. Arthur wasn’t a pushover either and he will only become less and less of a pushover with time.
“…” That entire time, Isla herself was completely silent as if the matter wasn’t related to her. However, everyone can see that she wasn’t in a good mood.
“Stay away from him as far as possible. Don’t talk to him or he will flip you on your head and make you spill everything you know without realizing it.”
“I’m not that stupid, ok? I know how to not spill stuff out.”
“No, you do not seem to understand. That person isn’t someone you can deal with. Now that he has his eyes on you, you better not talk to him even if he tries to talk to you.” Danny facepalmed. “Even I wouldn’t dare to try and face him.”
“Again, who is he? I want to know.”
“His name is Lamenter Ferrin.” Isla finally opened her mouth and spoke.
“Lamenter? That’s his name?” Arthur frowned weirdly. “What kind of stupid name is that?”
Never in his life did Arthur hear such a name for a person. ‘Did his parents feel a lot of grief when he was born so they named him Lamenter? I feel bad for him.’
“His name isn’t the problem. It’s his identity. When it comes to influence, he is second to only Isla. His family, the Ferrin family owns 60% of all computer chip manufacturers in the world. They can easily topple down entire countries if they wished to.” Danny replied.
“What?! That much?!” Arthur blurted out.
‘I never heard that name before. But, the fact that they have such a monopoly on the computer chip market… That is…’ Arthur’s view of Lamenter instantly changed when he heard that piece of information. It wasn’t an understatement to say that Lamenter was as influential or slightly less influential than Isla.
“He’s also…” Then, Emmy tried to speak, only to hear a spoon drop to the table.
Everyone looked at Isla with a confused expression. The only one who understood the hint was Emmy.
“Ehem, anyway… As we said, stay away from him and tell us whenever he tries to approach you in the future. He isn’t someone that gives up easily… He never gives up easily.” Emmy muttered with a mysterious tone.
“…”
A gloomy, almost depressing atmosphere loomed over the entire table. The entire lunch was completely ruined in a few seconds by that boy. The solemn silence was the only thing left there.
“Hey, guys!!”
At that moment, Herculia appeared near the table with a wide smile on his face. “Sorry! That took longer than I expected. Huh? Why does everyone look gloomy?”
“…”
“…”
The group stared at Herculia weirdly, not knowing what to say.
“You’re late…”
***
With that, an hour swiftly passed and the lunch time was done so the group headed back to their classes for the second half of the day.
The schedule told them that the first lesson was ‘Divinity Online’ history. That was perhaps the thing Arthur was looking forward to the most. After all, he was completely fascinated by DO’s history and lore, especially after seeing bits and pieces of it across his journey through memory gates and the bits and pieces of storytelling riddling every encounter he had.
‘I’m sure I will get a lot of useful information that could help me in the future. There is too much I don’t know and too much I want to know. I usually wouldn’t want spoilers like this, but this world is simply too big to discover everything alone. It is simply impossible.’
Learning history through school was the best tool if Arthur didn’t want to waste time traveling everywhere just to piece things together.
He sat down and the professor walked back into the classroom carrying his device.
“Welcome back.” He said as he put the device down. “This lesson we are going to begin our deep study of the world of Divinity Online. I know most of you are very much new to such a thing. But, to clarify, the Divine Realm is an extremely rich world filled with tales of the past, the present, and even the future. There are things that you might be able to discover on your own, but there are also things you could never see unless you study every single aspect of it. And that’s where this particular subject comes in.” He said as he tapped the table gently.
“We are going to take particular parts of the history of the divine realm that do not coincide with what you shall see across your journey. However, even these side stories of sorts are going to benefit you in understanding the world, how it works, and how the different races that live in it behave and act.”
“Mm, question.” A student lifted her hand nervously.
“Yes?”
“Are we going to learn about how the Gods died?”
“No. As I said, we aren’t going to learn about the main events and more about the culmination of events surrounding the main things to give you an idea of how the world was during certain periods of time in the Divine Realm. In fact, our first lesson today is going to be the perfect example to explain that.”
As he said those words, the title of the lesson appeared right in front of everyone’s eyes and it was a few words. ‘Arcania’s Desert.’ written in a sandy color.
“Arcania’s Desert?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. ‘Wait, that name is familiar isn’t that where… Yes! That’s where I fought that Ethereal creature a while ago!’
Arthur didn’t forget that brutal battle with the monster in that memory gate and the place where it happened. Arcania’s Desert was a name embedded into his memory and now… He was about to learn more about that place.
‘Wait, this is actually pretty good. I am curious about that place.’
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
