The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 70: The Grudge - Part 1

Chapter 70: The Grudge - Part 1

By the time afternoon rolled around, Kir was nursing quite a lot of bruises from all the training the arcane knight cadets did.

His assessment about their operating beyond the level of Olympic athletes turned out to be more than correct. He’d been able to fight Ata because he’d been warmed up and fresh, but as the day wore on, he struggled to keep up during the sparring matches.

Thankfully he was expecting his magical uniform to be delivered to the school within the next few days. He’d remembered after receiving his helmet and had rushed with Rain to the store to put in a commission and get his measurements taken. Soon he’d no longer have to worry as much that he’d run out of clothes, even though it had cost him a pretty penny, Rain had managed to talk down the price.

His current shirt, however, increasingly felt like it wasn’t going to survive until then.

Throughout the day, many of the cadets would come and go, but for Kir, that prospect involved more travel than was convenient. He’d gone up to the Academy cafeteria for lunch only to find a long line that kept him from eating until he had only ten minutes left to get to his next Arcane Knight training session.

He was surprised, however, when another student joined him in the elevator.

It was the girl with the potion from the entry exam. "Oh... Hi... um... Kir," the girl said as she entered the elevator from the Girl’s Dorm with a tray full of green potions in round bottles stacked two high. She very studiously avoided eye contact with him as she looked at the corked glass bottles, her wavy blonde hair covering her face.

"What floor?" Kir asked.

"Oh, um, ground floor," she said.

The elevator started moving down slowly. The button was already pressed so Kir didn’t have to do anything. He leaned against the clear glass of the elevator. "I’m sorry, but I’m at a loss for your name," he said. She was wearing a second-year uniform, and he recognized her from the entry exam but that day had been rather full.

"It’s Ann," she said, continuing to stare hard into her potions.

"Ann. Got it. Are you training with the cadets too?" he asked, trying to fill the time.

"You don’t remember me, do you?" she asked instead of answering him.

He tried to search his memory in case they’d encountered each other after the exam but came up empty. "We met at the entry exam, right? You’re the girl who had the unique potion," he smiled gently, not that she could see. "Now that I think about it, I’m curious as to what you made."

Instead of being happy with his answer, her face reddened and she looked down even harder. "We... actually... um... before... met before..."

"We have?" Kir asked, right as the elevator doors opened. Two steps out from it they came face to face with Lugh.

Kir was front and center as he saw Lugh’s face go from happy expectation to being absolutely livid.

"What the fuck are you doing with my sister, hellspawn?!" he shouted.

Behind him, the shout immediately drew eyes from all across the courtyard. The cadets all had the interested look of people about to view a dramatic play for free.

"Lugh..." Ann tried to say, right as Kir answered.

"Nothing, Lugh," he replied in a level tone, crossing his arms. "We were just having a nice chat about potions." Unconsciously, his tail whipped into a more alert position.

"You don’t get to talk to her!" Lugh growled, reaching and tugging Ann away and behind himself. "So piss off, she doesn’t need to learn any demonic poison you’ve come up with and she doesn’t want to talk to you."

"I’ll talk to whoever I want to, asshole," Kir growled back, feeling his anger stir. "Maybe you should do the world a favor and cut your tongue out. Did you ever think that Ann can talk to whoever she wants to? Anyone would be better company than you."

"I’ll rip your horns out and use them for wine!" Lugh shouted as he approached. He tried to throw a punch but Kir was ready for it. He stepped aside, and Lugh’s momentum took him a few steps past him before immediately turning for a followup-

"Lugh, please don’t-" Ann tried to speak but suddenly a new voice cut into the situation.

"What’s going on here?" a human male in full plate armor approached. He had brown hair clipped short and a burn scar occupying the left side of his face from his chin to his skull. His armor was worn and scratched in places but clean. While his armor was rather plain and unadorned, but his cape - purple cloth edged with thread-of-gold with the Arcane Knights heraldry sewn large at its center - more than made up for it.

Lugh shot to attention and saluted, fist to his heart. "Nothing, Knight Commander."

"It didn’t sound like nothing, cadet." He returned the salute at half the speed Lugh used and Lugh relaxed a bit, lowering his fist. "Whatever grudge you’ve got going here, figure it out on your own time or issue a challenge."

The Knight Commander turned to Kir, but Lugh raised his voice and said, "I choose to challenge, Knight Commander."

Kir watched as the Knight Commander’s sole eyebrow rose before he turned. "Do you accept the challenge, young demonkin?" He looked at Kir with a face that said the entirety of his regard for Kir - which at this point didn’t seem to be much - would rest on what Kir did next.

"I accept," Kir finally answered.

"And what will you each be fighting for?" came the next question.

"For honor!" Lugh answered. "I’ll teach this demon a lesson with scars."

The Knight Commander seemed unfazed by Lugh’s bloodthirsty response. He looked to Kir.

"For Lugh to leave me the fuck alone," Kir snarled.

The Knight Commander chuckled. "The acceptable answers are Honor, Justice, and Strength," his staring at Kir intensified. "These are the values of the knights who defend their homes. Of course, you may also forfeit." Despite seeming to be a middle-aged human of shorter stature than him, Kir knew he was in no position to look down on the man who was essentially his host while he was stuck with the Arcane Knights.

There was also the fact that he didn’t want to back down.

"Justice then," he answered, staring back at the Knight Commander with just as much intensity as he received.

The Knight Commander turned to stare at Lugh for a long second before raising his voice, "Cadets!" Almost as one, the conversations in the area ceased. "We have a challenge. Honor and Justice." Even without shouting, his baritone voice seemed to boom, enough to where Kir wondered if he was using enhancement magic for it. "Clear the ring."

As the entire area filled with the sounds of shuffling and rearranging, the Knight Commander turned to Ann. "Ah, the new potions I take it," he reached out a hand and Ann nervously watched as he plucked one of the bottles from the tray. He pulled the cork out and gave it a sniff, then drank it down. "Hmm. A little weaker than normal rejuvenators, but the taste is much better."

"Th-thank you, Lord Commander," Ann said as he set the empty bottle on the tray and took two more.

"You may go ahead and start selling it." He reached into his purse and produced two small silvers, dropping them on the tray. One bottle he tossed underhanded at Kir, who was a little surprised but managed to catch it. The other he handed to Lugh.

The two of them whispered back and forth for a while, and Kir grew suspicious when he saw Lugh smile. His enemy promptly turned around and walked into the center of the circle cleared by the cadets, drinking his potion on the way.

Plucking the cork from the bottle, Kir sniffed and then down the contents. A familiar taste filled his mouth. It was just like Briget’s recipe!

The taste was a bit muted overall and more heavily herby, but the attempt was there. Kir could tell she’d probably added a bit more water than strictly necessary, and there was almost no sweetness to it aside from the slight hint that came with the taste of lemon.

Kir knew Brigit added sugar to her potions - he’d assisted her in making many of them - and he’d seen how costly sweets were in the city. Thus he could tell that Ann probably couldn’t afford the sugar to copy the recipe completely.

He could also tell she’s used a heavy hand with the bitter talonroot. It left an aftertaste that Brigit’s rejuvenation potions never had.

He suspected the Knight Commander had given him and Lugh potions so they would both be fighting as fresh as possible.

"Fighters to the ring!" the Vice Commander shouted after a moment, and Kir sighed and walked to the edge of the circle opposite Lugh.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.