Getting Educated

Once Marco returned to the bedroom, Tom grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom. Marco looked around to see that he had managed to do a lot of tidying up in that short amount of time, and he went to sit on the bed and just stretch, working the soreness out of his arms. He rubbed his neck, and carefully prodded at his horns, hoping he hadn't damaged them while headbutting Talamor earlier. But they seemed fine. He idly tapped his foot, not really sure what to do. Then he got up, going over to take out his laptop and turning it on. Funny enough, there was Wi-fi here. He took a moment to absorb the oddity of that, and then clicked on the one that was strongest, its name written in an unfamiliar demonic script. After a few moments, it asked for a password.

Marco walked over to the bathroom door. "Hey, what's your Wi-fi password?"

"Uh... I don't know off the top of my head, I just kept it as the default letters and numbers. Look on my desk, it should be there somewhere."

"Great." Marco went to search his desk. There were lots of notebooks and papers though, and he hoped that the password would be labeled. But try as he might, he just couldn't find it. After a few minutes, he gave up. He just decided to watch a video he had downloaded ages ago.

This kept him entertained until Tom came out of the bathroom, dressed rather formally. Marco admired how the fabric fit his body so nicely, making him look slimmer. "You look nice. Why the fancy outfit?"

"They want me wearing stuff like this during rehearsal. When the actual day comes it will be even more fancy clothing, but for now they want me to get used to walking around in this. It's stupid but yeah."

"Ah, that sucks."

"Yeah. Oh well." Tom slipped on a pair of dress shoes. "You ready to go to the library?"

"Yep. Also I wasn't able to find your password."

Tom went over to the desk and opened a drawer, sorting through it for a few moments before pulling out a tiny notebook and flipping through it. "Found it." He brought it over.

"Huh. I didn't even look in that." Marco read it and typed in the password, managing to log in. "Nice, thanks!"

"No problem." Tom put it back. "Let's go, before my parents get impatient."

He led the way out, giving Marco a much better tour than his mother had. He dropped him off at the library, wished him luck, and said he probably won't see him again until lunch. Then he was jogging away.

Marco rolled his shoulders, preparing himself for whatever demon was waiting beyond the doors, and strolled in. He immediately stopped in his tracks, eyes growing wide as he stared at the immense bookshelves that seemed to go on forever, the mahogany desks, the plush armchairs. It was the kind of library that he could see himself spending hours in, surrounded by piles of books and just reading his heart out.

He finally walked forward, calling out, "Hello? Clericus?"

Someone stepped out from behind a bookshelf, shushing him. Actually, they didn't step, they slithered. On a back half like that of a massive snake, their upper half humanoid and wearing a purple vest. Their silvery hair was pulled into a long ponytail and they looked down at him from behind circular reading glasses. Their head was easily held eight feet off the ground. Startled, he backed up.

"What do you need?" they asked.

"Are you, uh... Clericus?"

"Yes. And you are?"

"I'm Marco, I'm engaged to Tom. The queen wanted you to teach me about being a lord?"

"Ah yes, she told me you would be stopping by. Very well." He turned away, crossing the room. "Follow me, I've already set out the books you'll need to study."

Marco followed him, watching his tail snap back and forth powerfully, candlelight glinting off the blue scales.

"So uh... I don't think I've seen someone like you before," Marco said, hoping that wasn't offensive.

Luckily, Clericus seemed used to people saying that. "No, you probably haven't. I am a naga. We don't tend to spend much time in the Underworld but through circumstances I don't feel like explaining, I ended up down here. Thankfully my intellect gained me the favor of the king and queen and they allowed me to work here in their library. I teach history to those who wish to learn it. I'm also rather studied in economics and customs, no doubt why you were sent here. There is a lot of work to be done when running a kingdom and you have no knowledge of the subject. So expect to be in here a lot."

"Fine by me." Marco felt small next to the huge naga, whose largest body section was so big around that he wouldn't be able to get his arms around it, and even his humanoid torso was muscular. When he turned to look back at Marco, Marco realized that his eyes had slitted pupils like a snake and didn't seem to blink. They were solid silver.

"We will conduct our classes here." Clericus gestured to a desk that was stacked with thick books, a leather-bound notebook sitting open among pens. "Take your seat."

Marco sat down, and Clericus moved around to the front, lowering himself so they were on eye level. His body wrapped around the desk, and his tail came up to move a book in front of Marco, flipping it open.

"How familiar are you with the history of our current government?" Clericus asked.

"Not too familiar," Marco admitted.

"So I should start at the beginning?"

"Yeah."

"I see. Alright. Pay attention and make sure you take notes, because I'll be quizzing you regularly. Fail to pay attention and I might just have you for a snack." Clericus's tongue flitted out to taste the air; it was forked. He drew it back in and Marco swallowed. "The history of this family began long ago."

Marco hastily looked down at the book and read along as Clericus spoke, writing down nearly everything in the notebook. He had started out interested, but it grew boring after a while, as he was told of vicious battles and struggles for power, the accomplishments of each set of rulers and how they changed the kingdom for better or for worse. Clericus didn't skip a single pair, and there were hundreds. And any time there was a big war or other major event, he made sure he told him all about that as well.

They had only gotten through about a thousand years of history before it was time for lunch, but Clericus didn't let him go immediately. Instead, he quizzed him. Marco found it very difficult to recall everything, but he answered the best he could. He got quite a few names wrong, and each time Clericus's tail would smack him in the back of the head. It was annoying, and he was very glad when he was allowed to leave.

"The king and queen likely will have other plans for you after lunch. We will pick up when we next see each other." Clericus pushed a couple books into his arms. "Read the next chapter of The Royal Lineage and review what we went over today, and do the same for Wars of the Underworld. It will prepare you for your next lesson."

"Okay." Marco picked up the notebook and walked out, sighing as he felt the beginnings of a headache. He was already tired and it was barely noon. He wondered how Tom was doing.

It took him a while to find his way back to the dining hall. Everything looked so similar when all the walls were the same kind of stone. But he eventually got there, and was relieved to see that Tom was there eating, and his parents weren't present. He hurried up to join him, and Tom smiled and stood to greet him.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Tom held his arms out and drew him into a hug, and Marco was very startled when his lips slid against his. Only for a moment, and then he was leaning back and sitting down once more.

Marco stared at him, fingers touching his lips, cheeks burning as he sat too.

Tom leaned in and whispered into his ear, "We're madly in love, remember? We've been apart for a while so it's expected for us to kiss each other upon seeing again."

Marco supposed that was true. He nodded and turned to examine the food. There was chicken and duck available, roasted potatoes, butter, various sandwiches, and soup. He helped himself to some tomato soup and a sandwich, digging in.

"How was the studying?" Tom asked.

"Fine," Marco replied, distracted. He kept thinking about that kiss, quick as it had been. He couldn't believe Tom had actually done that. Sure, they had to keep up appearances, but for Tom to just kiss him like that... it had surprised him. Especially since he had liked it. He really was conflicted on his feelings for him.

Tom said, "Is everything okay? You're being a lot quieter than usual."

"I'm fine. Clericus just taught me a lot of stuff and I need to take it all in."

"Ah, okay. I thought my kiss had taken your breath away."

Marco snorted. Then he smiled, laughing. "You're so stupid."

Tom laughed too and lightly punched his shoulder. "There's a smile. So you got lectured at by Clericus, I bet that was fun. Was he nice to you, at least?"

"Kinda. He threatened to eat me if I don't pay attention but he was nicer to me than your mom."

Tom nodded. "Yeah, Mom can be pretty mean but she really only wants the best for me. She wants to make sure you're right for this."

"Mm. Where are your parents right now, by the way?"

Tom thought about it, then said, "Dad had a quick lunch and now is out checking with the training squadron, did you know our army does its basic training right near the palace? Indeed, there's a small opening in the rock face down at the base of the palace, and once you get through there it opens into another cavern, where a small military base is. Heavily guarded and everyone who joins our army has to go through that training. They also have a really nice food court there."

Marco was interested. "Huh, I'd like to visit some time."

"I'm sure we will. Dad goes there all the time to increase trainee morale. He likes to fight with various instructors and beat them to amuse everyone. So yeah, that's what he's doing right now. As for Mom, she's going over the details of how rehearsal went and probably changing things around yet again. I'm sure she'll be here soon. Maybe."

"Ah, okay." Marco finished off his soup. "What are we doing after lunch?"

"I have class. And you are to go outside and Dad will come and get you because he wants to have a talk."

"Oh no."

"Of the 'now that you're dating my son' variety."

"Crap."

"You'll be fine, I'm sure he just wants to lay down the law, you know how dads are. Once he's done with that he probably just wants to bond with you. You're about to become his son-in-law, he wants to get to know the guy I'm getting married to. You'll be okay. But just know that he has a hair trigger temper. Try not to upset him. If you do, just duck your head and apologize. Be submissive. Trying to argue back will just make it worse, even if you're right. Especially if you're right."

Marco chewed on his sandwich, frowning. "Okay. Do you think your parents will ever like me? Because so far your mom seems to want me to get hurt and your dad... well, I haven't spent enough time with him yet."

"Mom hardly likes anyone. But she'll definitely grow to tolerate you. And I think Dad will like you once he gets to know you. You're smart and you have an attitude, he'll like that. And anyone that I find good enough to marry is someone he'll find good enough to hang out with. You'll be fine. Even if I had chosen one of those rich demonesses, Mom would probably still be rude toward them. It's just how she is. Don't take it personally."

"I guess. So where am I going to meet Judas at?"

"Just got outside and hang out near the front gate, he'll meet you there. I can show you how to get down there to the entrance doors if you need."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how to get outside from here."

"That's fine, it's pretty hard to get around until you get used to it."

They finished eating, and Marco relaxed more, deciding not to think about the kiss for now and just telling him about what he studied. Tom had learned about that stuff long ago but he discussed it with him, helping him to understand it better. Then he told him about how the coronation rehearsal had gone. He pretty much had the hang of it but his parents wanted him to keep doing it until it was perfect.

Once they were done eating, they first went back to their room so Marco could drop off his books, and then Tom took him downstairs. They held hands the entire time and really it was pretty okay. Marco was getting used to it and it didn't make him blush at all. It just felt natural, and he even began to lean his weight on Tom after a while.

When they stepped outside, Marco learned that it was just a relative term, apparently; it didn't look much different from inside. There was still a ceiling, it was just much higher up. He could see for further out. But there was still rock underfoot too, and he could just sense that they were in a cave. But he supposed this was life now. It was the Underworld. They were underground. It was just going to be endless caves and lava and no more sky. He'd have to go back up to Earth for that.

Despite this, some supernatural force kept the area lit with somewhat red light. He could see perfectly fine, and he looked around. There was a huge amount of land in front of the palace, and he could actually see areas where there was grass and plants, though they looked like they were struggling to stay alive. And even further beyond was the wall Tom had mentioned, with a heavy iron gate as the only apparent way to leave. It was currently open but looked like it could be snapped shut at a moment's notice. He squinted. "Are there archers on the wall?"

"Yep. We're very well fortified here. This area is open to the public but it's well monitored. Oh look, that looks like Dad coming back from the base now."

Marco saw someone flying toward them on broad wings. "Oh yep, that looks like him."

Tom clapped him on the back. "Good luck. Don't get on his bad side but also don't let him scare you too much... he can light up like a furnace but you're a demon too, you can withstand anything he tries to do. Well, unless he just straight up eats you. But I don't think he'd do that. And he'll have me to answer to if he hurts you. See ya later."

"See you." Marco leaned in to hug him, and Tom hugged him tightly. Marco was somewhat hoping for another kiss, but didn't get it this time, as Tom just let go and went back inside. He tried not to let it sting. As much as they had to fake it, they weren't actually in a relationship. He shouldn't expect that from him.

Judas landed in front of him and folded his wings, slapping his hand down on Marco's shoulder. "Ah, Marco, I've been waiting to have a private chat with you!"

Marco was proud of himself for not flinching, though his shoulder was now smarting. "Oh, have you?"

"Indeed! Come, let's walk!" Judas said it like a suggestion, but his hand moved to Marco's back, nails digging in and pushing him forward. Marco had no choice but to walk with him, silently praying that he would come out of this intact.