A nice chat with a nice man.

The old man told us he can't reveal his name, so I just stuck to calling him "uncle" - that's the norm in this world.

"Say, uncle, what is up with the world right now? The town over there is very, even though it's the middle of the night." I could hear people buzzing around along with the sound of metal clanging, which is probably people wearing armor.

"You can hear very far, huh? How is it that you aren't aware of what's going on right now? You must have been living under a rock." He laughed, then took a sip of tea.

"Well, that's actually a pretty close guess, even if you were just joking. We've been stuck in a dungeon for a few months now." I took a bite out of the delicious-smelling piece of meat the old man just cooked, and the taste was just as good as the smell.

Blood and Tetra also joined in on the feast, and, I mean, how could you not? The best quality meat prepared by an amazing cook is bound to be good, especially after eating awfully bland meals for so long.

"So you're adventurers. I see.. I see. Hmm, I've been wanting to ask something for a while." Oh, so that's why he had a strange look on his face.

"Go ahead."

"Your right hand, why is it replaced with a talking goat head? You said he's your companion, but how does something like this even come about?" He was totally confused.

"My name's Blood and this guy I'm attached to is the one who killed me." The goat head pointed at me.

The old man blankly stared at Blood, even more confused, but also very curious.

"Looks like I'll have to explain everything in detail. *exhale*. I'm one of the strongest bosses from a dungeon we were in." What's with the exaggeration?

"No, you're not, dude. There were five other bosses way stronger than you." I pointed out.

"Yeah, okay. Anyways, River killed me for experience and to gain access to the next floor of the dungeon, but decided that he wanted to take me along with him, just so he could use me as a gain bat." Blood explained like it was nothing unusual.

The old man, on the other hand, was lost for words. He was trying to make sense of everything the goat head just told him.

"Blood forgot to mention something pretty important. He was huge. Like, really massive. About three times my height. He was rooted in the ground, and I was in a bad state of mind, so, instead of coming up with a plan to take him out, I just put all my points into strength and pulled him out." Now that I've said it out loud, it sounds ridiculous.

"After that, he revived me using a [potion of resurrection] and we cleared a bunch of floors together. I evolved in the process and gained the ability to change my shape when I'm attached to something, so River cut off his hand, along with a part of the arm, and I attached to it. Then, I changed my size to be smaller, like I am now." He finished his explanation.

"Oh, and I might as well tell you about Tetra. She is a queen bee, and also a boss from that dungeon, who, after being killed and revived countless times by me, agreed to sign a contract with me. Now, she's a lot more chill and generally quite comfortable to be around." I also described how we came about finding Tetra.

"That's.. A lot to take in. Hoho, I wasn't prepared to meet such a powerful team along my journey." He was too overwhelmed to say anything else.

"That's how our team came to live. Now that I've told you a bunch about us, would you share some info about the invasion or whatever you called it?" After all, that's the reason I decided to have a chat.

Well, actually it was for some good food, but let's pretend that's not the case.

~~~

I was bored out of my mind, listening to his explanation about how the invasion started, but to summarise, it was everyone's fault.

A criminal group of demons killed a bunch of important humans, but the humans were too braindead to listen to the demons' explanation and took it as a war declaration.

They attacked a chunk of demon land, and the demons killed the invaders. They, in turn, took that as a declaration of war instead, and so it started, only the demon race is way stronger than the human race so it ended in a one-sided invasion.

"Tch, they could have just listened to what the other side had to say, for fuck's sake. Now all the humans are flustered and I won't be able to calmly go to a history academy." My plans went down the drain.

"Oh, you were planning to learn some history? Might I recommend an academy created for the highest cast of people to you? The rich aren't affected by the invasion much, since they live in secluded areas out of reach for any war." He fiddled his hand in a pocket and pulled out a letter.

The name, location, and other information about the academy were written on it. He also said that if I show a staff member the paper, they will let me join without any fees, exams, or any other nonsense.

"But, they're rich kids, right? They'd probably get on my nerves and keep trying to fight me because I'm a "no-name" or something like that." That's how the cliche tropes follow, and this world is full of them, so I can expect that much.

"Haha, you're right, but don't worry about it. Just show them what happens if they mess with you and you'll be able to live a trouble-free academy life." That's good.

~~~

My reason for going to an academy is simple; I want to know the lore of the world, and it's way simpler to just learn it, rather than getting random bits of unreliable information here and there.