Chapter Eighty-Three: Ranchi's Demon Affinity

o him blowing cards without much consequence.So Talia was going to begin training Lance in the ways of the demons—not doing well would mean death, even beyond death. This would push Lance's cardmakin...Chapter 84: Ranchi's Demon Affinity

As the clock in the Demon Academy struck five in the morning, time seemed to slow to a crawl, awaiting some kind of change.

A sliver of dawn light, delicate and hushed, crept in through the windowsill and into the botanical garden, falling softly between the leaves.

In the midst of the mist, a clear light diffused, and the entire demonic shadow world began to rise and dissipate like a phantom.

Ranch finally closed the book in his hands.

The next second, this ancient demonic scripture, seemingly washed by time, dissolved along with the scene of the Demon Realm Plant Experimental Garden.

In a blink of an eye, Lanchi and Hubrian found themselves standing in a transparent room enveloped by the starry night sky. Only sparse starlight shimmered around them, casting just enough light for them to see what lay before their eyes.

This is a liminal space where the real world and the shadow world converge.

Ranch saw a hairline crack in the transparent barrier in the distance. A few strands of tranquil purple, flowing light seeped out from the narrow fissure. It was a miniature void gate.

In a while, we should be able to get back to the real world by just going through it.

But the reckoning of the Shadow World seems not to have come yet.

Although the real Shadow World wouldn't process results like an artificial one, Lance heard that if too many irregular situations occurred during a challenge in the real Shadow World, it would slightly prolong the Shadow World's settlement process.

I don't know how long this meeting will take.

Rance smiled and lifted his head to look at Huberlian, preparing to chat with her.

He remembered that Huberly had been talking to him just a moment ago, but he had been so engrossed in the last few lines of his book.

Then a hint of confusion crossed Lanchi's face.

“Hubert, what’s wrong”

Lance looked at Huberlian's expression, puzzled and murmured,

"Oh, right, it's because that guy said you were a half-breed demon, isn't it"

Lance realized with a jolt that Huberlianne had been perfectly fine until the dying criminal swallowed by demons uttered the words "half-blood demon" about her. Right after that, something was off about her state.

"Hmm."

Huberly met Lance's gaze, as always gentle and kind. For some reason, the weight in her heart finally lifted a little.

By now, she was utterly convinced that she wouldn't want to lose Lance as a friend under any circumstances.

But then.

She never expected this.

"My god, you have demon blood"

Lance couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes as he stared at her and said,

This completely threw Hubertian for a loop.

This was the first time she had encountered someone who, upon learning of her half-demon bloodline, didn't express disgust but instead... genuine... favor

"Don't you really dislike demons You spent the whole day with a demon, didn't you"

Hubberly said incredulously.

She had never met anyone in the world who was so friendly to demons!

Even her father initially held a disdainful attitude towards the demon race, only gradually changing it after meeting her mother.

"Um..."

Rance hesitated, chin resting thoughtfully in his palm, his gaze seemingly lost in memories of the leadership council he had assembled at Purgatory Hall Academy.

…"

Huberley was speechless.

Well, this guy is the devil incarnate. If he were to ally with demons, it wouldn't even be surprising.

Hubert recalled what Lance had done at the Demon Academy.

I finally let it go.

"My mother was a powerful demon from the north who fled her homeland. She disguised herself as a common girl and fell in love with my father, Duke Micah Al-Ansar. They had me as their child."

Huberly lowered her gaze, her eyes seeming to hold a thousand thoughts, and confessed to Ranchi.

Huperlyan didn't know if her father, Duke Alansar, had discovered that her mother was a demon at the time, or perhaps he had known all along and was just pretending to be unaware.

Until the birth of this half-breed demon child, the truth remained concealed. Her mother soon after vanished from the city of Heston...

Hubbert still remembers the melancholic expressions her father often wore. Even after learning that his wife was a demon, his greatest desire remained to find her.

Duke Alansar was also the only one Huberlyan had ever felt, in Henton's capital city, would not inwardly despise demons.

Of course, there might be even more of these kindhearted creatures.

Lance scratched his head upon hearing this.

> It sounds so familiar.

Another demon from the North, and a Great Demon at that. Could it be Talia's relative

"I feel like the demon creatures I've met are all pretty good. Why don't people like demons..."

Lanche said confusedly.

He felt that the world was too hostile to demons, even though they posed no threat at all.

"Is it possible that you're just too kind"

Huperlan is not good at criticizing Lanci.

Just now, if someone else made this outrageous statement in the human world, they would likely be attacked and called a "Mary Sue" (a character who is overly idealized). But since the speaker is Lance, it's different. After all, even demons look like harmless little bunnies in front of him.

"Alas, this is also why I, as a duchess, am shunned in the capital city of Ekre. After the war decades ago, everyone believed that demons and humans could not coexist, even someone like me who has only half-demon blood."

Huperlyan, as if finally able to speak the words that had been weighing on her heart for so long but which she had never found anyone to confide in, spoke to Lanci.

Lance had just arrived from the southern border to the northern capital, a city ravaged by war not long ago. It was only past five in the morning on his second day here, and he still felt quite out of place.

Actually, he'll probably find out that Huberly is half-demon in a few days just by being back on campus and socializing with everyone else.

By then, it will naturally become clear what the people of this capital city think of the demon race.

That is to say, even if the people in this capital know you have demon blood, they still respect you as the Duchess, right

A hint of a smile played on Lance's lips as he spoke.

Huberly was taken aback. She gazed into Ranchi's emerald-green and warm eyes.

I don't know what to say for a moment.

She doesn't understand.

Why is it that "as a duchess, she's ostracized by everyone because of her demon bloodline" a thing.

It went into Lanchi's mouth, and it became a different story.

It seems like it could be a lucky thing again.

"You really are..."

Huppercia looked at Lance with a resigned expression, as if to say, "I'm beaten."

"That's how it was between Vivienne and me last time too, you can't follow the conversation."

Although it sounds like complaining.

But she ultimately still smiled serenely, not a fake smile, nor an acting skill she had gleaned in this fourth-tier demon shadow world, but a genuine smile that a human could reveal.wo of them walked down while chatting.Lawrence was clearly very angry at those unscrupulous journalists and media outlets.He had been acquainted with Duke Mihaela for a long time.To call this kind-hea...