The Road To Peace

Chapter 6: Clara Valac

Being stared down by the anxious attendants made me feel less confident than before, but I still kept up a relaxed appearance. Clara was fidgeting again, this time more with unbridled excitement than nervousness.

Having noticed this, Amaryllis smiled. "Clara," she started, "would you mind teaching Iruma the basics?"
Clara eagerly nodded her head while Shell sputtered in a mixture of relief and disbelief.

"With all due respect, Lady Amaryllis, Wouldn't I be more suited for this? As her senior surely I'm more fit for-"

Amaryllis silently raised her hand, silencing the proud demon.

"Shell," Amaryllis spoke in her sickeningly sweet voice, indicating her annoyance. "While I do believe you're an amazing attendant, I do believe you don't personally want to train Iruma. You would just be doing it for appearances' sake."

Unable to argue, Shell looked down at her feet. Her body began to shake in anger as her bottom lip quivered and she closed her eyes to hold back her tears.

"You are right, Lady Amaryllis. I would not have done a proper job teaching him due to my bias. Please forgive me." She gave a deep bow.
"Be sure not to question my decisions again."
With that, Amaryllis dismissed Shell to work on studying something. Shell made her way out of the room, shooting me a nasty glare before shutting the doors.

I've been receiving so many menacing looks that I thought nothing of her at this point.

"Now while you teach him, I will watch over you from my desk; just don't bring him out of this room under any circumstance."

"Understood!" Clara replied joyously, doing what I assumed was a demon's salute in a rather weird motion before hurriedly pulling me off to a corner of the room.
She sat me down on the floor and quickly made her way to the far wall, making sure nothing was in the way. Once she had confirmed that she wouldn't make a mess, she smiled.

"Now for your training!" She shouted, patting a bright yellow pouch on her side. It began to glow a small, blinding white before she reached into it, pulling out a huge white board. It landed with a loud crash and thud, having apparently dragged some dry erase markers with it.

She picked up a random marker and drew a cute drawing of Amaryllis, herself, Shell, and me, repeatedly glancing at me for reference. Under Amaryllis's illustration was the word "leader," under Shell "superior," under herself "apprentice," and under me "recruit." After finishing, she turned to face me, puffing out her chest in pride.
She clicked the marker cap back onto the marker and used it as a pointer for the board.

"This is Lady Asmodeus Amaryllis! Previously apart of the 13 crowns of the netherworld! She left though because some bad guys went BAM and Bwoamie!"

The rest of the lesson could be summarized as follows: Amaryllis, one of the highest-ranking demons in the netherworld, stepped down from her position after a war broke out, me to respect Amaryllis, Clara, and Shell as my superiors and my upcoming training under Amaryllis herself. Of course, with Clara's exaggerated onomatopoeia and vague telling of events, I'm surprised I was able to understand any of that at all.

"You understand, right, Iruma-Chi?"
Taken aback by the sudden nickname, I nodded.

"It is weird for boys to be here, but I'm glad I can make another friend!" She continued a one-sided conversation.
She tried to rush up to my side but stopped herself instead, choosing to pull something out of her interdimensional pockets. It was bags of chips, candy, and sodas.
As if on cue, my stomach growled. I was losing my strength again, so I pitifully plopped down onto the floor. Again, I instinctively reached for them, remembering the time I spent working for a meal when I was with Alifus. I couldn't stop myself from crawling toward Clara.