The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 323: A Miserable Meal - Part 1

Chapter 323: A Miserable Meal - Part 1

"You’ll be my queen, so it’s only right I listen to you," Kassin replied.

Kir’s smile dropped.

"Y-yes..." Kordia’s ears flicked a bit. "Did your mother tell you that?"

"She did..." Kassin’s blushed and his ears twitched, and Kir noticed his ears were less mobile than hers.

"A wise woman, then," Kordia said, stealing a sardonic glance at Kir as Kassin looked away in embarrassment.

"Want some Instaskin for that plasma burn?" Kiryu chuckled as they entered the cafeteria.

"Sure. Give me the recipe."

"I’m a physicist, not a doctor."

Emissary Jeviel was seated where Lumin usually sat, on the occasions she came down to eat - which tended to be at weekly staff lunches. He was at the very center of the table, and Michelle was seated at his left hand. And to his right was Tohn Goldman.

Kir had to suppress the urge to snarl at the sight of him. Over the last two years, the human man had been responsible for foiling some of his Ghostheart raids in the Kingdom of Amrita. Fake blue-light calls, soldiers posing as slaves, and even a group of slaves pressed into suicide attacks against him had all been tactics he and his people had used, and Kir had vowed to kill him on sight...

"I see him too, kid. But this isn’t the place. Don’t give them a reason to tear your life apart over lunch."

"He dies tonight..." Kir thought back, but something seemed off about Tohn. Jeviel glowed with dense mana, as did Michelle, but Tohn’s body seemed to have his mana too evenly distributed. It was completely abnormal.

Kir saw Kordia look nervously at him, her eyes drawing down to his clenched fists. Though he succeeded in his raids, he’d never managed to find and end Tohn’s father, who had gone to ground immediately after Kir "liquidated" all of the slaver family’s precious metal assets in a literal fashion.

Undaunted by the Emissary’s power move, Lumin took the seat across from him, sitting with her back to the hall full of students as she behaved as if nothing was amiss.

Kir followed her example and followed her indication to sit on her right, while Kordia sat to the right of Kir and Kassin took the seat to her right...

"Prince Kassin of Gra’Rhuel, a pleasure to meet you," the Emissary smiled but did not stand, much less offer any form of physical greeting. Because he had his wings out, it was likely getting up would at the very least be awkward, and risk slapping the faces of his own guests.

"I heard there was a new embassy from Heaven here," Kassin replied. "I didn’t expect we’d meet so soon though."

"It’s always a pleasure checking in on royalty," Jeviel’s lips parted in a predatory smile. "Especially those with potential like yourself."

"It’s an honor," Kassin replied. "This is my fiance-"

"Kordia van Mora, yes, I know. I would love to speak with you two when I’m not burdened by business... which with all the excitement in this city, might not be until Heavensday!" He laughed, and everyone at the table but Kir, Michelle, and Lumin, laughed along in various states of authenticity.

Michelle looked like she was about to ask to get on with it, but she held her tongue.

Kir, for once, shared her sentiments.

However, there was a protocol for the staff table when hosting. Students working as waiters took their orders and drinks were served while their meals were prepared.

Kir’s notice of the strangeness about Tohn was answered when the man sighed. "I wish I could be dining with you, but it’s a bit later in the day here."

When Kassin made a curious remark, Jeviel said, "As he is performing a valuable service as an advisor to various teams around Ayther, Heaven has seen fit to provide its own magic to help him coordinate amongst the various nations who require the protection of their property. He is not here but is being projected remotely from his office in Amrita. Thus far, young Goldman is proving highly capable in his role."

The look of pride on Tohn’s face made Kir want to kill the Emissary right then and there before promising to finish what he’d started. How could he look so smug about the atrocities he had committed?

What burned the most was that for all his successes, Kir still felt he’d failed in Amrita.

"Why invite him here?" Kir asked coldly. Realizing Tohn was out of his reach was quickly putting him in a bad mood.

Tohn looked at Jeviel and received a nod to continue.

"I have a technical question," the man lifted up a scroll, upon which was sketched a likeness of Kir’s rifle. "I’ve heard you’re versed in both magic and smithcrafts. Do you think you’d be able to replicate something like this?"

Kir pretended to ponder the scroll before answering, "What is this, some kind of elaborate smoking pipe?"

"It’s a weapon. More complicated than a crossbow, but also more deadly."

"I’m not in the habit of making weapons for people," Kir replied.

"But can you do it, yes or no?"

Chancellor Lumin cleared her throat loudly. "Answer directly and don’t lie," she advised as he looked her way. A small, darkened illusion held in her palm was angled so only he could read ’The Emissary has a truth reader.’

"With patience and time all things are possible. So in that sense, yes." Kir’s eyes flicked over to the Emissary, who was trying to subtly stare into one of the rings on his hand, which had a stone that turned blue.

"How much would you accept to replicate it? Or create a countermeasure?"

"It’s not a matter of money," Kir said. "It’s a matter of time, and I have none for something like this."

Tohn frowned and looked over to Jeviel.

"Any more questions?" the angel asked.

"That was all, Emissary, thank you."

"Keep up the good work, Mr. Goldman. I’ll find a way to motivate him yet." With a wave of his hand, the hologram of Tohn disappeared, and the angel reached into the chair and removed and stored a device that, while ornately decorated in gold, was something Kir recognized.

"Huh. Must not be a lot of innovation going on up there," Kiryu gave voice to the same thing Kir was thinking.

It struck him as odd that Heaven wouldn’t just analyze the sketch of a gun for Goldman... but what if they couldn’t? Or maybe they were hiding that they knew what guns were... Remembering his encounter with a trio of Executioners, it struck him as strange that they had halo-mounted cameras but had used swords...

"Guess History should come with a warning. Progress NotGuaranteed."

"Might I note that you were quite rude despite never having met the man," Jeviel said, placing his hands together and resting his elbows on the table. "Do you know him?"

"I know his reputation," Kir said. "As a perpetrator of atrocities. Ones that I will not assist in furthering."

"Slave talk, nothing more," Jeviel waved a dismissive hand. "Those desperate to be pitied will spin the wildest tales. No doubt you’ve heard as many lies as I have by those seeking asylum and handouts here in Norneau," he addressed the last to Lumin.

"Nothing unrealistic," she replied coolly. "Was that all you wished to accomplish today?"

"Hardly. Ah yes, food."

He let his arms down as, of all the things he could have ordered, a pizza was laid before him.

Kir’s order was a bacon sandwich, with lettuce and tomato, and his plan was to wait until the angel was gone to eat it.

"Careful Emissary, those tend to come out quite hot," Lumin warned as the Emissary lifted fork and knife.

"Hmm..." he passed a hand over the steaming pie of cheese, meat, and vegetables, then set his utensils down. "I suppose while I wait I could ask a few more questions," he eyed Kir. "I understand that you are constantly shielded... and that you also wear a protean siphon as clothes?"

"Both are true," Kir said.

"Enlighten me."

"I have a running bet that any of my Amendatory Arcanics students can get a passing grade and twelve gold out of me if they can make me bleed. So far, none have succeeded."

"And the mana siphon?"

Kir shrugged, "Having a constant drain on my mana means a longer period without experiencing an overage." Mimzy was also a constant drain on his wallet since the only clothes she could reliably remember by eating were magical ones.

"Your protege described it as fascinating when one of my workers visited her this morning."

Kir tensed. Moshui was supposed to be receiving her tools and equipment at his house, which meant the Emissary was not-so-subtly telling him he knew where he lived...

"Moshui enjoys a good magical mystery," Kir said.

"As do you, I hear. Thus far you’ve managed to reverse an anti-mage’s condition, facilitate a spirit binding, and detangle the souls of twinborns... to say nothing of your theoretical publishing on thanergy."

Kir’s efforts in Amendatory Arcanics had not gone unnoticed by the academic community at large, especially not after he was mandated to publish his experiments and their results. Completing Keiya’s bond with the spirit Nimfi had been more incidental to its discovery. Fixing the damage Daisy’s anti-magic was doing to her mana-gate was Moshui’s doing, and Kir had given her full credit for it. With the twins Briar and Thorn he didn’t so much detangle them as refine their linked souls to operate at a distance of a few kilometers... and his work with Bailey Black had quickly concluded once the latter decided to graduate and marry his childhood friend, but not before Kir determined that it was the act of dying, even amongst things as small as cells, not the presence of the dead by itself, that fueled the bloody expression of magic.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t been able to help Encke with her social anxiety, though the giant girl did pass all her practical exams by the skin of her teeth, which meant she stayed in his Amendatory Arcanics classes. She was in the cafeteria today, seated nearby and eating a mountain of baked potatoes with butter and sour cream.

She was also in the class Kir thought of as "The Physics of Magic 101" and was repeating it because she’d failed her exam last semester, but she’d proved quite helpful with the latest students to wind up in Amendatory Arcanics, after last semester had been just her and the twins before Kir "detangled" them.

"Understanding magic is a long-term goal of mine," Kir answered. "And I learned a lot about how it works from the various ways it worked differently for my students."

"A true pedagogue then... I think I have more of a sense of your character now," Jeviel’s smile was so self-assured, it made Kir want to draw Kangetsu-Dar under the table and blast him right there. "Now, let’s discuss something more... political..."