The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 190: The Fox, The Wolf, And The Wardroom

Chapter 190: The Fox, The Wolf, And The Wardroom

Kir got to the construction site for the Academy a bit later than he’d hoped, but only because he’d needed to go over details on how to properly make the cylinder and safety mechanisms. He very much emphasized exacting precision for each part.

He didn’t know if he’d only get one chance to feed Kangetsu, so he wanted to get it right the first time.

When he asked for Kordia, he was directed to the wardroom.

Kir hadn’t thought there would be too many casualties associated with construction, but what he found inside were mages - their mana strongly indicating either magic focused on generating force or working stone - mostly suffering from mana exhaustion.

One of the secrets he’d learned from Lumin was that mana exhaustion could happen when the body directly converted fats into mana, instead of passing the energy from the fats through the body. Alternatively, a body that couldn’t handle a large intake of mana experienced a more acute form of this exhaustion.

When he’d asked why it was secret, Lumin answered, "I imagine it’s because some fool thought getting fat would increase his mana, and probably died from it. But most witches learn it without becoming archons."

Even Kiryu didn’t have a theory on why that was, so it was something Kir looked forward to discovering more about should it pop up.

He approached Kordia with the paper-wrapped pastries in a small bag.

She was presently steaming towels in water with her magic, a small, steaming pyramid of them waiting to be taken to the dozen or so patients.

"Hey there," Kir said smoothly, leaning against the wall.

"Did Nurse Bush send you here? Please just find a cot if you need it," she said, keeping her focus on boiling the water.

"I was hoping you could take a break," Kir said, smiling slightly through his wolfkin glamour. "I heard you like sweet tofu."

"I’m flattered, but I just had my break," her ears flicked the way they did when she lied.

"Oh this should be good," Kiryu said sardonically.

Kir tsked in annoyance, not realizing he’d made the sound out loud.

He took a step closer and reached. "Come on, Kordia-"

Almost as soon as he made contact with her, Kordia’s hand came up and a shock of electricity - the real kind, not magic - ran through him.

He’d taught her that spell himself.

When he came to, she was standing over him, and the entire tent had turned to look.

"I don’t know how you know my name, creep, but I hope this teaches you not to lay a hand on women," she kicked for his groin, and Kir’s vision went white with the bad kind of pain.

"What the..." Kordia had clearly noticed a distinct lack of contact with expected parts.

"It’s me, Kir..." he said in a pained whisper.

"Oh my gods... I am so sorry..." Kordia panicked. "Do you need a hot towel?"

"Not for my crotch!" Kir groaned. Getting kicked in the box didn’t hurt in a debilitating sense, but it hurt a lot.

"I’m sorry! I get hit on a lot, especially with all the beastkin helping with the rebuilding. Here, let me use a spell-"

Kir shook his head and pushed her hands away. "Save it for those who need it... I’ll be fine," he stood shakily to his feet, noting that there was a fake patch of burnt fur on his arm that corresponded to the real burn Kordia had given him. "Actually... if you don’t mind..."

As Kordia started healing his burn, using the silvery flame of her fox fire, which kept the pain down. The patients who saw the exchange started chuckling.

"Girl’s got that fox fire!" one catkin man said.

"Leave the little ones alone, wolfkin!" another cackled.

Kir bent to pick up the bag of pastries - which thankfully landed unspilled - and handed it to her.

"Not here," she said, before gesturing for him to go outside.

As Kir slightly limped out, Kordia announced "Pastries for everyone!" to a round of cheers. That had not been his intent, but they were hers.

He waited within sight for a few minutes until she made her exit, leading him to an alley formed entirely out of construction materials.

As soon as they were out of sight, Kir let the glamour drop, bending down to kiss her. For a long moment they simply stayed there, making out, until at last Kordia came up for breath.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything’s fine. I came to pay you a visit. I thought you’d recognize my voice."

"I’m entirely certain that thing makes your voice deeper," she said. "Could you not hear it?"

Kir grew pensive. He’d specified it should filter out most of the glamour for him, but he guessed that also extended to the other modifications. "Hmm... I guess not," he admitted.

"Is that it?" she asked, looking at his ring.

"Yep, this is it. All those spells in one little package. Lumin’s been complaining for days that it cost her a fortune."

"And I thought her paying your debt was expensive... she must really want something from you."

"Well, I’ll be teaching without pay, essentially. But at least the room and board is free."

"With, um, what you plan to do to the Syndicate... maybe you could get some gold from them?"

Kir had told Kordia about his feud with the Syndicate. She was on board from the moment he told her about how they’d tried to kill him back in his home village.

"I don’t want to benefit from taking them out," Kir said. "Whatever they lose can go to the city or whoever."

"But what if the city just tries to give it all back?" Kordia asked.

"Assuming the Syndicate comes to claim it, that just means more targets," Kir pointed out.

"Just be careful, Kir. I don’t want to lose you too..."

Kir kissed her. "I’m unsealed, Kordia. No mercenary mage is going to take me out now."

"What about a mercenary archmage?" she asked. "There’s more of them with every battle..."

War, it turned out, and especially the Heavenswar, was good for battlemages to hone their skills and isolate what they wanted to specialize in. Since becoming unsealed, Kir had practiced equally the skills he wanted to maintain, which had more to do with fundamental forces than the classical elemental model of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water - and sixteen primary combinations thereof - that this world believed in.

Kir hadn’t seen the blueprints for the new Academy, but he suspected its architecture would reflect those beliefs, the same as before.

"No archmage is going to get me either," Kir replied.

"You know you don’t have to do this anymore..." she touched him where the oath mark he’d once shared with Noir had been.

Since the night Noir died, Kir’s sense of the oath had been reduced to only a minor sensation present when he held Kangetsu. He would not discard the oath he’d taken, though he could now be far more tactical about it since its power over him had been reduced.

"It’s important to me, Kordia... but I won’t let it ruin our lives. I promise."

She stretched up to kiss him once more. "I trust you," she said. "Wait up for me tonight?"

"Of course," he replied, returning her kiss with interest.

They parted soon after.

As soon as he was back at the manor, Lumin summoned him to tear him a new one.

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