The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 220: Amendatory Arcanics - Part 1

Chapter 220: Amendatory Arcanics - Part 1

,"No one signed up for my class?!" Kir was incredulous as he stood across from Lumin in her office. It was still in her manor, but now her manor was at the very edge of the promontory where the school had once been.

Moving the structure had been quite the spectacle for the city, and even Kir wondered at the sheer tonnage being floated. He would learn later that the manor had once served as the Academy in the beginning of Norneau’s history, and had been moved to make way for the towers that had replaced it.

"Don’t feel too bad," Lumin said. "Everyone’s still getting their feet underneath them with the new Academy, so it wasn’t unexpected. Oh, but I suppose I should have phrased it better. Not enough students signed up for your class. I could hardly justify having you teaching only Kordia and her friend."

"You said I would be teaching special students. There aren’t that many around in the first place."

"I did, didn’t I? But I think you fail to grasp exactly what I meant," Lumin reached under her table and pulled out a stack of papers. "These five students will be the ones you are teaching. They are from different years, and each has developed unique problems with their magic. I am hoping your unique insights will help them come out of their issues to function normally. You should also know about them before the, ah, previous teacher in your position tells you his opinion. Since we’ll be dining together before the semester starts."

Feeling like he didn’t have much of a choice, Kir flipped through the pages. Second from the top, he recognized one name. "Daisy Della Recca. You want me to teach Daisy the Destroyer?"

Months ago - though it felt like years at this point - Daisy had challenged Kir to a duel over Rainier. She’d wanted Rain’s attention and something akin to "saving" him from having lunch with a demonkin like Kir. Suffice it to say, Kir had spanked her in the duel.

"I’m aware of your previous history with Miss Recca, and her disposition towards Kir Gale. I am also quite aware that you will be teaching under the name," she sighed, "Kiryu Nasumi. So I see no reason for animosity between Professor Nasumi and Miss Recca."

"I haven’t even accepted the job," Kir said.

"You will," Lumin said.

"Why, because you’re going to threaten me?"

"No, because I’m going to pay you. I would never threaten you without due cause, and you’ve been most cooperative."

Kir’s jaw dropped. He’d already put a few plans into the works, mostly through working with Moshui in her capacity as an independent enchanter. It was a relief he wouldn’t be entirely relying on those projects, especially when he didn’t know how long it would take for them to come to fruition, but until that point, he and Stella had decided to bring in funds by opening an "atelier" on the first floor of their house. It had taken a lot of effort for Kir to reign in Stella’s ideas to "just a massage parlor."

"Oh don’t be surprised. You settled your debts with me, so it’s only natural I actually pay you. I was saving the surprise for after your first month though," the youngish-looking hag chuckled. "But also, in case you don’t recognize the opportunity, the fact that people can develop problems with their magic is connected to something I know you have an interest in: the very nature of magic. How it ties to body, mind, and soul has been a mystery almost no mage has been willing to explore."

As understanding dawned, the gears started turning in Kir’s head. "Why?" he asked.

"Because of cases like the students you see before you." She reached, and when Kir handed back the papers she fanned them out. "And the fear that exploring such fundamentals would sunder a mage’s abilities and expressions. There’s a reason mages trying to gain more power unnaturally is such a common trope." She cleared her throat, "But let’s continue."

Shuffling over to the next page, she explained, "Keiya Menaeon Lihros; a fifth-year whose specialty is potions. Last year she began to have problems with her magic. Every spell she tried to apply would inevitably come out in liquid form, and it has flummoxed her professors as to why. Her grades haven’t slipped, but if she’s unable to perform practical exams outside of potions, her time at the Academy will end after this semester."

Kir had heard of magical maladies, but only in the vaguest sense. His mother, Bridget, had mostly dealt with physical injuries and illnesses; especially diseases and parasites since infections and the like could not be cured by magic, though oddly poison could.

"Briar and Thorn," she indicated two sheets. "I doubt you noticed these twins given your brief time as a student, but they were in your year group. For some reason, alone, they are nigh-incapable of making a decent spell, but together they produce spells that are many times more powerful than what they should be working with as first years. They don’t have specialties, but they like plants, having grown up in a world tree."

"How is that possible?" Kir asked. "The, ah, dulling and amplification effect."

"Dulling... I like that term. I imagine it has something to do with casting circles. In the same way that mages can amplify magic in groups, I believe these two do so on a permanent basis," Lumin replied.

Could it be a form of quantum entanglement? But at the macro scale? Or maybe souls...

"Beats me. Sounds interesting though," Kiryu chimed in. "Wonder if they’ll pull the one-mind-two-bodies trick like twins with synchros. Those were always a laugh, especially when it became legal in MMA."

"Are you planning on badmouthing a bunch of kids?" Kir challenged his other half.

"Oh hell no. But I’ll badmouth a bunch of shitty young adults if that’s what this batch turns out to be. Like that Daisy bitch. Felt like I was gonna die whenever one of her spells hit us."

And speaking of Daisy...