When they had sat down comfortable in their seats around the table, Lydia opened one of her notebooks and placed it neatly in front of her.
The pages of the book was filled with all kinds of notes written with beautiful hand writing and was arranged spectacularly into columns and sections with different colored inks marking various topics and subtopics.
"We'll start with history," she said, "It's super easy compared to Magical Theory or basically any other class. You just have to remember names, dates, and what happened when."
Marie nodded. "History's my favorite for exactly that reason. If you can memorize the stuff, you'll pass with ease."
Lydia opened the book. "Let's start with the basics. Tell me what you know about the history of the Ralzath continent and the founding of the Noclies Kingdom."
Lucas knew that since his predecessor knew absolutely nothing he would have to draw on his knowledge from countless hours spent playing Aquestius.
The game had been incredibly detailed in its world-building, with extensive lore documents and historical timelines that players could access through the in-game library system so he could probably give a solid answer if nothing drastic had changed.
"The Ralzath continent was originally inhabited by various tribal groups before the Great Unification Wars about eight hundred years ago," he said.
"The Noclies Kingdom was founded by King Aldric Noclies after he united the southern territories through a combination of military conquest and strategic marriages. The kingdom officially established its borders in the year 847 of the Continental Calendar."
A look of genuine surprise came up on Lydia's face. She had honestly expected him to probably list some basic dates or one or two historical figures but it seemed he actually knew a thing or two.
"That's... actually quite good," she admitted, "What about the War of Three Crowns? When did that occur and who were the primary combatants?"
"The War of Three Crowns lasted from 1156 to 1162," Lucas said.
"It was fought between the Noclies Kingdom, the Eastern Duchy of Jazhad, and the Maritime Republic of Solkier over control of the Goldshore Trading Routes. The war ended with the Treaty of Gold, which established the current territorial boundaries and trade agreements."
"I'm impressed. Even students in my year sometimes struggle to remember even the century some of these events take place in much less give such a solid answer." Marie said.
"And the nobles, what do you know about the power dynamics of the kingdom?" Lydia asked.
"Well, there are a decent number of noble families in Noclies but there are five major families that are higher than them all. First are the Zellivans, who are the current royal family who took over after the Noclies family got wiped out due to sickness, infighting and bad management of diplomatic relations, among other things." Lucas answered.
"Behind them are the four Duke families: the Tosin's, the de Rathane's, the Zevek's and the Ylois' all of whom are powerful in their own right and more effective than the Royal Family in some occasions."
When he had said Zellivans, Lucas saw that Marie had flinched a little bit. This was probably due to the trauma the family had inflicted on her for being merely an inferior distant relative.
Lydia looked at Lucas with amazement. This wasn't what she had expected from him.
After all, the Lucas Estellan she knew in class was the definition of a disinterested, lazy student who rarely paid attention and looked like he cared more about daydreaming than learning or anything else for that matter.
"I have to admit, I'm shocked," she said honestly, "Your answers aren't perfect. After all, you missed a few of the minor details about the economic factors that led to the War of Three Crowns but your answers are far FAR better than I expected them to be."
"Well, you know what they say about not judging a book by its cover. People can be full of surprises. Many surprises." Marie said, grinning and leaning back in her chair.
"Speaking of which, I think it will be good to know what kind of person my friend is here on a date with. After all, You could be a murderer for all I know. So, what's your family like? Do you have any siblings?"
The question totally blindsided Lucas. He wasn't expecting any personal stuff and had honestly been hoping to avoid anything like that because personal questions about the original Lucas Estellan's family meant digging into those inherited memories that were still pretty messed up and fuzzy.
He could only hope to throw together something that made sense from what he could remember.
"My family..." he said, "They're... well, we're not really close. My dad's always traveling for work, and my mom...she's got her own thing going on."
It was the best he could do since the original Lucas's memories of his mother were weirdly distant.
"Any brothers or sisters?" Marie asked.
"Nah, I'm an only child," Lucas replied, "which can be... pretty lonely. Growing up in this huge house with basically just the staff around..."
He stopped talking, not wanting to go into more detail since the memories were kind of blurry and he didn't want to say something that would make him look suspicious.
His awkward, kind of mysterious answers had an unexpected effect.
To the two girls, his vague responses and the slight sadness in his voice made him sound like a lonely, maybe misunderstood rich kid from a wealthy but cold family.
The way he talked made it seem like he had some tragic backstory he didn't want to get into.
Both Lydia and Marie found themselves blushing a little, their romantic teenage brains filling in the blanks with all kinds of dramatic stuff.
A mysterious, cute, rich and suddenly smart classmate with a sad past was exactly the kind of guy from those cheesy romance novels they secretly read sometimes.
Seeing the slight pink on both girls' faces and how they were staring at him, Lucas realized his vague answers had been completely misunderstood.
He cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Anyway, we should probably get back to studying—", He said.
"Yes!" Lydia said, flustered. "We should definitely get back on track. Let's... let's move on to the legendary heroes in history. That's an very important topic for upcoming midterm exams."
She flipped to a new section of her notes in a panic, her face a bright red.
She panic flipped for a few more seconds before stopping at a page that had the word 'Heroes' written at the top of the page in bold.