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Nariko had been looking forward to exploring more of Hellscape since she had been reincarnated nearly a week ago. They headed towards the market district which was the centre of Hellscape. Nariko standing near the colossal statue looked up at it in awe wondering what it was depicted.

Just by looking at it she could tell only two things about it, the first point is that it alluded to the fact of some sort battle that had taken place in this realm’s history, and the second point showed that this battle took place against some form of a beast.

Mana walked up from behind standing next to Nariko, “It’s a lot bigger when you’re standing close to it” she muttered.

“You mean that this is your first time seeing it?” Nariko asked pointing towards the statue.

Mana shook her head in response, “I have seen it before, however, this is my first time seeing up close like this…” she stood there thinking to herself for a moment “…I suppose I was never really thought about seeing it, to be honest, it didn’t come across my mind”

As they both stood there taking in the view, Nariko couldn’t help but ask. “So what is the statue actually depicting here?” her intrigued growing by the minute.

“To be honest…I actually don’t know…well it’s clear that it’s depicting some form of battle” Mana muttered.

“It’s the Battle of Dreaden Vale”

Startling the two girls they both spun around to see Varan standing behind them wearing casual clothes looking at them stoically. What the Hell! Is this guy like a ghost or something he just appears out of nowhere! Nariko thought as she couldn’t comprehend why Varan would be at the same place as them on the weekend.

Mana bowed, “Master Varan, it’s good to see you”

Varan lifted his hand for a brief moment, “Please, enough of the pleasantries it’s bad enough having to deal with it as it is” he replied as he casually yawned.

“You mentioned that this statue was about the Battle of V-Vale?” Nariko asked wanting to find out more.

“Battle of Dredean Vale, it happened around a thousand years ago…” Varan walked closer towards the statue pointing at the smaller humanoid figure before them “…it shows the final stand between Grand Elder Satan 1st against the Forsaken beast, Balgea”

Nariko and Mana were somewhat surprised they never thought that Varan would have been knowledgable of this kind of stuff, the two of them just presumed that he slacked off because he always seemed drowsy in the academy whenever they both saw him outside of classes.

“Wow, I never took you for the knowledgable type” Nariko muttered aloud.

“Well, it sort of comes with the territory of being a demonic noble…” he paused for a moment before turning his gaze towards Nariko “…I’m sure Lord Lucifer at some point will drill on that information as you get more use to the life of nobility”

Nariko turned away with an exasperated look on her face, Yay something else that I’ll have to learn and remember of the top of my head in the future, she sighed a little upon having that thought cross her mind.

“Say, Master Varan, it’s unusual to see you walking around without Syl following you around,” Mana asked nonchalantly.

A proud look suddenly covered his face, “I conveniently had enough chores saved up for her so that she wouldn’t be following me outside the academy grounds anytime soon” he finished with a slight devilish laugh.

I got a feeling this guy is totally m̲a̲s̲o̲c̲h̲i̲s̲t̲, both Nariko and Mana thought to themselves as they both stared at Varan quite unnerved by his sudden change in persona.

“So are you two doing here?” Varan asked. Nariko surprised by how quickly he suddenly went back to his old self like nothing had happened made her feel a little be uncomfortable.

“Nariko wanted to do some more exploring around the capital seeing that it’s her first time being here” Mana explained.

Varan standing placed a hand on his chin for a moment thinking to himself, “I guess living out in the Straits does have its disadvantages, but what’s so interesting about Hellscape anyway?” he asked Nariko.

Nariko was about to answer his question before she stopped herself, she hadn’t a clue on how to respond only just remembering that demons didn’t really have much in the form of entertainment.

“I-I was just interested in what people do here for fun” Nariko hastily responded not really thinking how it came across. Mana herself was quite surprised by her friend’s forwardness on the matter.

Varan’s expression hadn’t change instead he casually replied to Nariko’s question, “To be honest, I’m rather surprised you’d into something like that”

“Into what exactly?” Mana asked she too had been interested to know how people in the Demon Realm had fun on their days off.

His cheeks started to turn slightly red clearly a little embarrassed by what he had in mind, “Oh, i-it’s nothing, forget I said anything” he responded trying his best to play it off casual as to not dig himself a deeper hole.

Nariko stood right of Varan unnerved the latter as her look of determination emanated from her expression, “If you know something then tell! I want to find out as much as I can about this city!” she demanded.

“Are you sure that you want to go to this place…” Varan backed up a little as Nariko inched ever closer without realizing herself “…I don’t think you two will be interested in such a thing in all honesty?”

“Try me” Nariko bluntly replied. Mana standing behind her friend sighed as she watched Nariko press Varan for her need answers to her questions.

Sighing in defeat Varan agreed with Nariko’s proposal, “Fine, I’ll show you to the place”. He then started walking in the opposite direction of the statue. Both Nariko and Mana chased after him not wanting to be left alone in the middle of the city.

They followed Varan as he showed to the place had been talking about previously. Leaving the refined market district that was spacious and littered extravagant architecture the trio soon began to pass through a district that had been slightly less well off compared to the one from before.

Whereas in the market district the gothic buildings were better upkeeped, the building in this district was less so. Although none were crumbled where they stood or destroyed you could tell just by the smell that this district wasn’t looked after as much.

A few of the building’s windows and roofs had fallen into disrepair as they walked by dark alleys, Nariko spotted children and adults hunched over on the floor dressed in nothing but ragged and torn cloth linen draped over their bodies.

She could tell just by looking at them that these people were suffering from malnutrition. Nariko and Mana couldn’t help but feel out of place in such a place especially the way they were both dressed.

“Don’t worry, they know better than to attack someone of nobility” Varan reassured the two girls.

As they continued walking it wouldn’t be long before they came out onto what seemed to be the main road of this particular district. As Nariko looked around her she spotted what looked be military personnel patrolling the streets, they wore black and red cloth clothing under their metallic battle armour, their horns protruded crafted slits of the helmets. Over their shoulders, it looked as if they were carrying some form of a rifle.

Nariko thought that such a thing was limited to certain members of the military, but seeing the two soldiers walk past her she came to the conclusion that firearms were a commonplace in this world. After all, it made sense considering no one could harness any magical power.

“Hey! This way you two!” Varan shouted back to both Nariko and Mana from a distance getting the duo’s attention. Both the girls ran to him not wanting to be left alone in a place like this.

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