The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 512: Interview With An Archon

"... that we welcome you to the Norneau Academy of Magic and Engineering!"

Arc barely heard the speech delivered by Chancellor Imogen as she tried to process.

How did I make it into the S-Level curriculum...?

Special students had their pick of courses. Even though entry requirements were waived for them, they still had to pass, but with it also came access to resources that most student’s couldn’t get their hands on. For special student status, one was generally expected to have exemplary grades, a willingness to research and publish, and to have at least graduated. To go in as a first year...

Arc bit her lip to keep from shouting. She didn’t want special treatment, she wanted to earn her place. Her Father had to be behind this... Maybe that’s why he wasn’t here...

"Arcine Gale?" Arc looked up to find an elven woman staring down at her, at least until her unintentional glare caused the woman to take a step back. The woman was dressed professionally, in a dark blue suit with a lighter blue robe, and her blonde hair was tied up in a bun, all of which suggested she was one of the teachers.

Arc quickly adjusted her face, slightly blushing from embarrassment. "Th-that’s me."

"Chancellor Imogen would like to have a word with you after the ceremonies."

"Just me?" Arc asked.

"You and the other special students. Please stay in the dining hall, and I’ll come find you." The elf produced and handed Arc a tiny octahedron made of ice that somehow did not feel slick or melty, just cold. As the elf departed, a little blue creature that resembled an otter, albeit one with a green mana stone in its forehead, peeked out from the woman’s hood, which it was using as a hammock.

As the teachers started to make their announcements, mostly inviting students to join some club or other, Arc stared at her empty cup.

"You look sad. Is everything okay?" Snow asked.

"A few minutes ago I didn’t even know if I’d get in," Arc said after taking a moment to find her words. "And now I’m a special grade student... What am I supposed to think about that?"

"Oh beans... Of course you got in! You’re one of those super-smart homeschool students, right?" Arc had been ready to glare at Snow, but it seemed the girl really didn’t know who she was, and she still wanted to keep things that way. "If you didn’t get in, your name wouldn’t have appeared on the board. Everyone knows that."

I didn’t, Arc almost said. It had never occurred to her to ask about the Academy’s administrative minutiae, since the thought of dealing with anyone above a teacher’s level inevitably led her back to her family’s thorough links to the school. Hell, three of her moms were teachers in addition to their work in the city.

Arc looked at Snow and said "Thank you," just wanting to avoid any further delving into her identity, just before a strong hand clapped itself onto her shoulder.

"How are you feeling, Sugar Moth?" her Dad asked. All over the cafeteria, parents had been cut loose to interact with their young, and even Snow was chattering away with her parents and grandparents.

"I think I’m going to be sick..." Arc confessed. When he asked why, she said, "I didn’t expect to get special student status. I don’t want special treatment just because..."

Her Dad looked around before lowering his voice, "Look, Arc, the Academy’s changed a lot since your siblings started... The entry exam is more about what you know. And with how your Father and I raised you, you know a lot of things that could make you very powerful, magically speaking... Things that could make anyone more powerful..."

"What do you mean?" Arc asked.

"Imogen will explain and ask you questions, just answer her honestly, alright?"

"Dad, wait, what do you-"

"Miss Arcine? It’s time," the elven woman from before returned, with Snow already in tow. Together, they were led to an unused classroom and told to sit, as they would be called for one at a time.

With how many students had been in the hall, Arc expected there would be few special students, but what she didn’t expect was that it would just be her, Snow, and...

"Aha! I knew my rival wouldn’t let me down. I knew all that stuff about being weak couldn’t be true! You’ve been hiding your power, haven’t you!" Raven Black pointed in Arc’s face as soon as she entered the room.

"Ahem," Raven’s father, the Blood Archon, cleared his throat loudly from the door. "Raven, don’t start anything," he said with a disapproving tone.

Is he not in on this farce? Arc wondered.

"But you’re the one who says strong rivalries make stronger mages!" Raven complained.

"Get your feet under you first," he scowled, "Then figure it out." He looked into the hallway, "Come, they’re ready for you," he gestured for Raven to follow, and she did.

"See you in class, bye!" the human girl said cheerfully to Arc and Snow as she left.

"What a weird girl," Snow said as soon as the door was shut by the elven woman from before. The pangolkin girl was shuffling her claws between each other nervously. "I wonder what they’re going to ask her..."

They didn’t have much to talk about over the quarter-hour or so that it took for Professor Black to return, and when he did, Arc caught a glimpse of Raven through the door. All trace of good humor was gone from her face as she chewed her thumbnail in contemplation.

"Miss Snow, you’re next," Professor Black said.

With a small squeak, Snow departed, casting a nervous glance at Arc.

Arc was left in the room with the elven woman, who was busying herself feeding the little otter-creature on her shoulder. Though she wanted badly to touch it, Arc had figured out by now that it was clearly a spirit of some kind, and mages were notoriously protective of their familiars.

Would having a dragon be kind of like having a familiar? They can use magic a little... Like demons and angels, dragons cycled magic through their bodies to enable flight with wings that were smaller than what would be needed to accomplish such on physicality alone.

Before she could open her mouth to ask a question, the door opened and Professor Black stepped in. "You’re next," he said, his usual glower back on.

"Quit trying to scare the girl," the elven teacher chided.

"She should be scared. The highest levels of magic are not to be taken lightly." He turned, making eye contact with Arc and causing her to look away. Following him was like walking behind a living shadow, and Arc was more than aware that he could rip her apart with his blood magic if he wanted to. More than once she got a glimpse of something glowing on his left side, a small bottle of some substance she couldn’t identify, but there was no time to as he opened the door for her.

The room she entered was all grey concrete with discrete lines indicating where spell circles were stored behind panels. Not an office, but a room for practicing magic... and by the heavy, heavy feeling of it, one reinforced enough to withstand spells close to her parents’ caliber. There was no place to sit, and she was led before Chancellor Lumin and four other armed mages whose clothing screamed "magical," despite being of many different fusions of style. But what drew her eyes the most were the badges. Each wore a golden badge somewhere on their person, depicting a broken staff in the claws of a hunting bird.

One was a dark-haired elven woman dressed in Rethani robes, a nervous smile on her wavy lips. Another was a wolfkin youth with red fur and etched claws laced with gold. The third was a matronly-looking bard with a wry smile and intensely green eyes that never left Arc’s face. And the last was a half-human woman in hunter’s garb, her quiver filled with arrows all differently colored on their fletchings.

Arc swallowed, her mouth going dry. Short of facing an Archon, mage hunters were amongst the deadliest individuals in all of Norneau. While they didn’t command great spells for dealing with kaiju or reshaping the world, they were said to be the hidden guardians safekeeping the use of magic for the entire city, and four of them were in this room.

"I trust you know who I am?" Chancellor Imogen invited Arc to speak.

"Y-yes. You’re Chancellor Imogen Memoria, the Inkstone Archon." Her last name was the same as one of Arc’s moms, but she looked nothing like Malzkael. "Why are there mage hunters here?" she blurted out.

"They are here because you possess dangerous knowledge; to learn your face in case something goes wrong."

"Dangerous knowledge?" Arc asked.

"True knowledge," Imogen sighed. "I suppose we should start from the beginning then..."