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Chapter Text

Frieren, as she breathed a sigh of relief, sweat fell from her brow as the midwife held before her a baby girl that whined but did not go as far as cry her lungs out. The midwife smiled as she handed Frieren her baby, "congratulations, it's a girl!" the midwife said, as Frieren smiled in return while accepting the baby as she layed on the guest bed of the clinic.

The little baby girl looked back at her with wondrous eyes that were as blue as Himmel's eyes, while her hair had the luster and color of her own. "Himmel really did give me something to remember him for that night…" Frieren softly spoke as she held her baby in her arms, while the baby herself yawned and began to snooze off, earning an amused smile from Frieren.

"I think I'll name her…Teufel." Frieren nodded to herself.

10 years after the demon king was slain

Frieren smiled as she taught her little Teufel magic, the young half half took to her lessons life a fish living in water. It made her lessons easier to teach, as the young girl even wanted to learn how to fly like she does.

She did make the journey to visit Himmel every few years of course, since Teufel was his daughter as well, and it was really nice to see him smile each time she came to visit him; he even once said Teufel took a lot after her in the behavior department, which she couldn't fault him for.

If anything, Frieren really didn't know how Half elves age and developed their minds, so everything she chalked up with little Teufel, was just an half elf oddity. Easy to advance in mind while staying young, since the little girl still looked like a toddler, but matured in mind like a human, maybe more so.

She wasn't to complain though, little Teufel was always asking to learn new things, and she obliged the young child of hers.

20 years after

In the passing years since she gave birth to the half elf child of hers, Frieren was presented with more interesting topics as she conversed with her child as they traveled the countryside and practiced magic.

Little Teufel, though a toddler she was, but very mature in mind, had begun to deviate in other aspects of conjuring magic. Her half elf child began summarizing that she wanted to add mathematics into the equation of spells.

It was adorable to watch as her little girl muttered about using vectors and algebra to her spells, while using a stick to write numbers into the ground. Sure, she taught the girl some basic math, but she didn't figure little Teufel would advance past her teachings and develop her own math on top of what she was taught.

Perhaps she was now, at the moment witnessing the next Flamel, a new branch of spell magic that integrated math into the mana that is spent and used.

Frerien was pretty sure her teacher was looking down at her from the heavens in amusement, the combination of human and elf in one being, bringing forth a new age of spells…it was a nice thought, to bring a life into the world that would one day shatter the foundation of spells and mages.

Much like how her Teacher laid the groundwork for mages of today.

50 years after

Little Teufel, looking like a child nowadays instead of a toddler, looked back at Himmel, who smiled back at his daughter with an aged face and beard, "You've become short over the years…." Teufel spoke straightly.

As promised, the party gathered to watch the meteor shower from a better vantage point as suggested by Frieren, now however they had a plus one given the circumstances between Frieren and Himmel.

Himmel laughed at his daughter's straightforwardness and attitude, "You sure do indeed take after your mother." He remarked, while Frieren tilted her head in curiosity.

"Well…she's not wrong, humans do seem to lose their height when they age…" Frieren remarked, earning some more laughter from Himmel and Heiter, with a twinkle of amusement in the eyes of Eisen.

Chapter Text

Teufel, 10 years after Hero Himmel's passing

Teufel honestly felt it ironic that the name given to her was in germanic origin, even more so with what it translated to; however, she would be remiss to also acknowledge that everyone notable she's met in her third life so far, has had their own names in some germanic word for their name, so she really shouldn't complain.

Currently as of late, She and Mother have been traveling the countryside for a bit, mother said she wanted to visit Heiter some time within the next few years and check up on him; in the meanwhile, the two of them have recently stopped at a small quaint village near a coastline. Right now, Mother was off in one of the stores looking for any manner of oddities, while she herself opted to stick outside a small restaurant that hosted a variety of delightful snacks.

Sitting at a two seat table right outside a bakery, Teufel sat while having to use her knees to sit on for better height to reach the table; curse this body of hers that's been taking forever to reach an acceptable height for her, but what was she to do but weight for her Half Elf body to age forward at a snail's pace.

In front of Teufel was a plate of sliced berry pie, the young elf half had a fork in one hand, and an ink well pen in the other; grumbling a bit herself after finishing a bite of her pie, Teufel looked at her pen. She was fine with using it, but it was a bit annoying to be careful with the ink. She's tried looking for graphite pencils, but the product in question has yet to be created or even researched upon.

The best Teufel was able to get was the current writing tool she had right now; it also did not hurt that her mother taught her a spell to erase written mistakes, so at least there was that.

Place her fork down after finishing her slice of berry pie, the young half half gently pushed aside her place and pulled her note book closer to her so that she could jot more notes down of everything she could comprehend about the spells of this world so far.

Teufel's mother was once the apprentice of Flemme, a great human mage that not only taught her mother how to wield magic, but was also the sole reason that mages today were even able to exist without fear. Flemme was responsible for laying out the groundwork for study on magic, during a time when demons were more prevalent to lay waste on humanity and the late civilisations of her mother's race.

She once asked what her mother thought of the topic of demons, and her simple answer was, 'The only good demon, is a dead demon, simple as that. They do not comprehend love, hate, compassion, they only comprehend strength and power.' were the words of her Mother's opinion on Demons.

And to be fair, in Teufel's mind, that seemed rather…actually, she did not know what to think of her mother's opinion against Demons, cause she has yet to meet one; but if every story she's heard about demon kin from not just her mother, but also tales and books, Demon's themselves were indeed a race of very problematic entities. They never sought peace, only death against other races, and quite often if it suited the demon's taste, the taste of human flesh.

Honestly, Teufel could not refute the racism if an entire race never saught anything but the death of other races; it also did not help matters when the demonkin were once horrendous looking creatures in ancients past, and only now they were mimicking the looks of humans and others for reasons unknown.

Blinking a bit to herself as she gazed down at her notebook, she looked at her notes of Zoltraak; the very spell itself came from understanding how the spell worked after her Mother fought a demon named Qual. She said that the demon himself was still alive but sealed away, something about which she would have to go back and finish him off now that his magic was no longer a threat.

She had asked why her mother did not finish him then, and the simple answer she got back was that his magic was easily able to penetrate her barriers; now after many decade of humans and her deconstructing the magic to learn it better and know how to better counter it, the modified spell itself had become an arsenal amongst mages of the current time.

Teufel began to write a bit into her notebook as she tried to think of the exact numbers and intricacies that went into creating the spell as well as how much mana was needed; so far, she has had to make guess work on measuring her own mana, using such tools of creating her own device that could absorb mana. It was more or less designed like a weight of sorts, the more mana she put in, the higher the small ball went up in its little device container.

She couldn't put too much in, as the device was still sensitive, but she was able to get out of it a baseline for her mana output, and work from there to know the feeling of how much mana she needed to cast Zoltraak.

"Hmm.." Teufel hummed to herself as she mentally calculated how much was needed for the spell, before jotting down a few more notes of her simple illustration of said spell she drew into her notebook.

Nodding to herself, the young Half half finished her notes and shut her book, before placing her stuff into her briefcase her mother got her. It was a nice simple gift her mother got her for her 50th year, just after she went with her mother and her party to watch the falling stars one more time together.

Shutting her briefcase close, Teufel frowned a bit and looked up in thought for a bit; she remembered the funeral of her father, her mother shed quite a few tears, while she had felt some fall from her eyes. The man was a noteworthy man in his own right, she did not expect to feel an emotion for the man himself at his funeral, but she supposed a part of herself did in fact feel sad to see an actual father figure of her's be in his own coffin.

She never got to be there for her original parents, she never got to know her parents of her second life, but having parents again and actually being around both of them, did bring an emotion she long thought was gone.

Teufel smiled a bit, she supposed this new life of hers wasn't so bad.

Chapter Text

Twenty Years since Himmel's Passing

Teufel was not sure why, but her mother had dragged their journey through the central provinces, the two of them did not even bother passing through the Holy City Strahl as her mother was seemingly intent on looking for Heiter.

While Freiren took the lead for the journey, as she usually did, Teufel herself walked beside her mother to her left, in the midst of jotting down a few notes into her pad of paper.

The little Half-elf carried on her back a few luggages that looked a little too much and too big for her size, but through the wonders of various magic spells her mother taught her, Teufel was able to lug around enough supplies for her journey.

Frieren of course opted to stick with her suitcase of luggage she used to lug her things around with a single hand, but for Teufel, she wanted to optimize the spells of lightweight and minor gravity spells to their utmost usefulness.

There was a time when Teufel asked her mother if there were specific gravity spells that focused on attacks, such as creating a field around one's enemy to flatten them to death, and Frieren responded that there was in fact one.

Let it never be said that her mother knew more than one way to kill a demon, but often chose lower tier spells on top of keeping her mana concealment spell up at all times.

When asked why she kept her mana concealed to such a degree at all times, Frieren explained to her daughter that it was a lesson and order from her Teacher to keep her mana down, as to fool any and all demons whenever Frieren dealt with them.

It was also that day that Frieren ordered her daughter to do the same, and to be frank, Teufel saw merit in the act to beguile a species that sought the destruction of others.

Back to the matter at hand though, as Taufel walked beside her mother, she adjusted the pack on her back with a little haft, and continued her brisk walk with her mother Frieren while reaching back and slipping her notepad and pencil into a side pouch of her backpack.

As Frieren herself approached a scraggly looking old and dead tree, she looked up at in confusion, "I think….we are lost…" she remarked, while looking side to side.

Teufel however gave her mother a flat sideways look, "I think we missed the path to Heiter's many times ago." she stated plainly.

Frieren blinked a few times, before turning her head to look down at her daughter, "Then…why didn't you say anything?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Teufel thumbed at the nearby bushes, "Cause we're being followed," she explained, while the sound of the nearby bushes ruffled before a young girl slowly walked out, prompting both mother and Daughter to turn and greet the child.

"Hello…" The young girl greeted the two with an innocent look, while holding a basket of mushrooms. "I thought you two were lost…and well…" the young girl then looked at Teufel with a curious gaze, "I wasn't sure if I should have approached you or not." she remarked.

Teufel was about to speak to the girl on how she should speak to strangers so easily, but her mother beat her to the punch by stepping forward and asking the girl, "Well, now that you're out and approached us, do you perhaps know where a man known as Heiter lives?" she asked earnestly.

The young girl smiled a bit, but not by much in way of expression as she stared at Frieren, "I see, so you two are visitors." she stated, before turning to leave, "If you follow me, I can lead you there." she finished saying, while she began to lead the way.

"Great!" Frieren expressed kindly, and followed the girl, with Teufel coming in tow.

Heiter's Home

"I'm a bit surprised you're still around, you corrupt priest." Frieren commented in a frank but jesting attitude towards her former party member, who was now a very old man. The two of them were currently in one of the main rooms of the priest's house, as the elf herself sat near a table while the Priest busied himself putting some wood into the fireplace for the coming chill of fall weather.

"Haha." Heiter chuckled warmly as he chucked a small log into the fireplace, "Well this old bag of bones has a few more time left in it…" he remarked back to Frieren, and turned to look at her, "Just wish I had more in me." he digress as he finished chucking one more log into the fireplace, before making his way to the table that Frieren sat it.

While the two former party members chatted on various matters, within the kitchen room, Teufel had busied herself making something with roasted beans she acquired through an expensive trade. The girl, who introduced herself to Teufel, Fern, was in the process of making tea while using a stool to stand over the island counter.

Teufel, who had just pulled out a few things from one of her suitcases she had imbued with magic to lighten their load, brought out herself a gadget of sorts that looked foreign to Fern as she finished brewing Tea for Heiter and his guest Freiren. "What's that stuff?" she asked innocently, while placing two tea cups onto a plate for her to begin pouring tea into them.

Having to use her levitation spell to reach over the island counter, since Fern was using her own stool, Taufel was in the midst of taking out her own kettle, before looking at Fern with raised brow of interest. "Oh, this?" she asked Fern, while gesturing at the odd looking device, and received a nod from fern.

Teufel smiled a bit thinly, "A rather…costly item I managed to get my hands on, it's supposed to help drip boiled water through these roasted beans after I grind a measured amount of them." she explained to the young girl, as she began the process of brewing her own coffee in a very elaborate way.

Using various intricacies of magic and mana stones, Teufel was able to make herself coffee; the effort of casting fire was easy, and acquiring clean waters was just as well, but finding the supply of the exotic bean known as koffee was very taxing on her funds.

Teufel supposed trade was just not prevalent enough for it to be a common commodity; at least chocolate was more widely traded at the very least.

"Oh." Fern commented back with a nod as she finished pouring tea into two teacups, "Does it taste good?" she asked.

Teufel shook her hand with a simple smile, "Not really, it has more of a bitter taste, but it's great for early mornings, and the flavor it provides when served hot." she answered.

"Hmm…" Fern mused, "...can I try some?" she asked, before reaching to grab the plate of teacups to serve Heiter and his guest fresh tea.

Teufel shrugged in response, "I suppose I could part with an additional cup to serve for you." she answered.

Fern smiled back before taking off to serve the tea, "Thanks!"

Later

"AAAAHHHH, BLAST BLAST, BOOM, BOOM! BLOW IT ALL UP!" Screamed Fern in hyper active mode, her eyes bloodshot, while she held her staff Heiter gave her as a present. Gone were the build up shots she attempted in causing a hole to be blasted through the far off rock, instead, Fern opted to fire off countless low mana cost shots down at the ground far below to work off the energy she felt buzzing in her body.

In the back, Frieren looked on with a flat look, while Teufel expressed a surprised expression.

"...you're not allowed to give children koffee any more." Frieren stated plainly, before tilting her head, "Although, now I wonder if that koffee boosts mana reserves…she's been going at this for an hour now." she remarked.

Teufel however slowly glanced at her mother with a certain look, "How was I supposed to know the quiet child would change personalities!?" she asked with a wide eyed look. "I was only being a kind guest in sharing my supply of koffee!" she refuted.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Strahl, Holy City Capital

Exiting out from the bookstore, now with a few books under her ownership and stored away in her briefcase she carried with her, Teufel turned and waited for Fern to exit out as well. As the young girl Fern exited out, both of them began their trek through the city. As the two of them strolled through the streets, Teufel chose to speak up to the young girl to chat and pass the time.

"So Fern." Teufel spoke aloud, her voice carried over the soft thrumming of city goers and crowds that walked the streets, "What other spells do you know, besides the one you are practicing?" she asked, while making a momentary glance at the girl walking beside her.

"Hmm?" Fern momentarily glanced back at Teufel as she walked with the half elf girl, "Oh, uh…" She paused speaking as her eyes trailed upwards in thought, before looking back down over at Teufel, "Well, other than Zoltraak, I've been trying levitate, but Master Frieren says I should stick to Zoltraak." she answered earnestly.

Teufel nodded in understanding as the two of them continued to walk side by side through the bustling streets. On any other given time, it looked like two young girls without parents with them; for the two of them, it was a fifty year old girl traveling with a young child.

Teufel spoke up as they rounded a corner where there were more businesses and street markets, "That understandable, after all, you already seem to understand how to access your mana at such a young age, you should also ask my mother to teach you mana detection along with mana concealment." she noted with a nod to herself, "But of course, after you master Zoltraak, then I'm sure she'd be welcome to teach you." she assured her.

Fern frowned for a bit, before speaking her mind as she remembered something, "But Master Frieren doesn't seem like she'd want to stick around that long…" she remarked with a furrowed brow.

Teufel paused in her steps to speak plainly with Fern, while Fern herself stopped as well to see what the young half elf had to say, "Well…" she began to say, as if she were measuring her words wisely, "Heiter is…"

"You don't have to say it." Fern interrupted Teufel with a sad look, but softly smiled anyways, "Master Heiter…he's not long for this world…but I am thankful." she said softly.

"Right." Teufel nodded, seeing that the young girl was more mature for her age than she assume, Teufel spoke more with a curt tone, "If that is the case, then I believe it wouldn't be far to reason that Heiter wanted mother to take you with us on our trips after his passing." she stated.

"You think she won't mind?" Fern asked Teufel as the two girls began continuing their trek onward.

With a flat look on her face, that expressed some measure of annoyance that she could not help but let show, Teufel spoke. "At least I won't be the only one getting my mother up and ready to go in the mornings." she commented.

While Fern glanced sideways to look at Teufel, she spoke with a confused tone, "I'm sorry? Your mother has trouble getting up?" she asked.

"Just…" Teufel began to say, before releasing an annoyed grunt, "Nothing." She shook her head as Fern walked beside her, and looked at Fern with a sideways glance back, "mother can just be a bit slow in the mornings, that's all." she grumbled.

"Oh." Fern remarked with a wide eyed look, and nodded in understanding, "Then, why don't you let her drink your koffee?" she asked with a tilt of her head in wonder. "Didn't you say it's good for mornings?" Fern followed up by asking.

Teufel paused in her steps, as she thought back to the time she offered her mother a sip. As Fern too paused to look at the other girl in curiosity as the half elf thought over what was asked.

Past

With a yawn, Frieren, wrapped in her outside camp blanket, rolled around to blearly look at the campfire going again, the early morning temperature of spring being a bit nippy, but the fire gave her some measure of warmth.

Blinking a bit more as she witnessed her young daughter handle the fire herself, the half elf girl was in the midst of assembling something over the fire, and finishing it, before turning around to rummage through one of her suitcases.

She didn't want to speak yet, as she was still a bit tired, but she kept a curious eye open and watched her daughter come back with a kettle and a small wooden box with a lid on it.

Once Teufel came back to the fire, she set aside her things and sat with her knees bent, and began to stoke the flames a bit with a stick. The young half elf momentarily looked up, and noticed her mother was somewhat awake, and expressed a surprised look on her face, "did I wake you?" she asked.

"No." Fireren shook her head as she layed on her side while still wrapped in her camping blanking, letting out another yawn, before looking back at her Daughter once more with a tired morning look, "Are you making breakfast?" she asked.

Teufel shook her head as she began to set up something over the fire, "No, I'm making coffee. I just bought the supplies for it during our last trip through the city we just passed through." her daughter explained as she began boiling water in the kettle she placed over the fire.

"Hmm." Frieren made a curious look as she steadily sat up in her cover, and gently pulled her arms out to unwrap herself from her blanket, "What's koffee?" she asked as she finished unwrapping herself, and conversed with her child while hugging her knees to her chest with a smile, "Is it delicious?" Frieren curiously asked.

Teufel shook her head again, and explained as she began setting up another standing with a glass pot and everything, "The seller said it's great for waking up to drink, but it has a bitter taste to it." she answered as she worked the process of making the stuff called koffee.

While Teufel brewed her koffee, Frieren tilted her head in wonder as she continued to converse with her child, "You like bitter? I thought you liked sweet things like that chocolate bar you bought last year."

As the kettle began to whistle from steam exiting its spout, Teufel took the kettle off from the fire before she conversed more with her mother while she began to gently pour her boiled water into the koffee making mechanism, "doesn't mean I can't have a broad taste for things." Teufel explained with a curt tone.

"Hmm." Frieren hummed in a somewhat agreeing tone, and smiled again, "I suppose so…is there enough for two?" she asked, wanting to try the koffee drink that her twenty year old daughter bought for herself.

After finishing the pouring of the boiling water from the kettle, Teufel looked back over at her Mother while she placed it in the kettle to converse with her, "Should be, I made enough for a couple servings." she answered.

"Nice." Frieren said with a smile as she leaned her chin down against her knees as she watched her daughter lean over to one of her open suitcases and pull out two cups with handles on them.

"Just a warning though." Teufel spoke as she placed the cups atop a flat rock that she had grabbed from somewhere to have a flat surface, "It's best you sip, not drink." she warned while she began pouring the koffee into the two cups she set down.

"Sure." Frieren noted, "I've drank hot tea before, so it should be the same, right?" she asked as Teufel carried over a cup of the black looking water. "Huh…you sure it's safe?" Frieren asked as she accepted the cup from her daughter.

Once Teufel walked back to her spot to pick up her own cup, she looked back at her mother, "It is." she assured her mother, before she began to take a small sip from her cup.

"Hm." Frieren hummed as she watched her daughter frown a bit as she lowered her cup from her mouth, "Is it that bad?" she asked her daughter.

"...no." Teufel answered with a shake of her head, and looked elsewhere but her as she took another sip from her cup of koffee. After finished her second sip, Teufel lowered her cup away from her mouth and spoke with a put off tone, "It just doesn't measure up." she spoke in a frank tone.

"To the sweetness of chocolate?" Frieren asked with a curious tone, "Or tea?" she added, before she chose to take an experimental sip of her own. As the flavor and bitterness touched her tongue, she couldn't help but express a dour look on her face. "This is bitter." She spoke observantly as lowered her cup from her mouth, but began to feel something stir within her as the koffee began to work its way through her system.

As the two drank more of their drinks in mild silence, the sound of the campfire snapping and cracking from the flames burning through the wood filled the air around them, in the far off distance around them, morning birds began to chirp a bit.

Once Frieren finished her cup, she lowered it aside to place it down, and sat up from her spot; Teufel in the meanwhile, having finished her cup of coffee, poured herself another while Frieren walked off. "I'll be back, I have this strange built up energy that's bothering me." Teufel's mother spoke while giving her daughter a glance back, before walking off into the woods.

Teufel watched her mother leave through the woods, before she disappeared fully; the young half elf looked at what remained of her brew, and noted there was barely any left for another cup, and shrugged to herself. She would finish what remained of it all, and begin cleaning up camp.

With one last sip of what remained in her cup of Koffee, Teufel stood up and began to put out the fire, before she started the process of cleaning the camp site up; while the young elf was packing her stuff up, and loud boom cause her to jumpscare a bit in surprise, and then look up as a flock of birds flew away from the direction that her mother went.

With an uncertain look about her, Teufel felt out with her mana detection to make sure her mother was alright; feeling out and finding her mother's mana signature, she noted that her mother was indeed fine, and was currently heading back to the camp. Whatever her mother did, she must have used a spell that caused the loud noise.

As Teufel finished packing up her own things, Frieren finally returned with a satisfied smile, "We should leave." she spoke plainly.

"...what did you do?" Teufel asked with a now curious look as she stood among her things, "I heard a loud boom." she remarked.

"Yeah…" Frieren answered, before looking a bit dour, "Excuse me." she pardoned herself, before rushing back off into the woods. "I don't like koffee!" Teufel's mother hollered back.

Teufel wasn't sure what the matter was with her mother, but now she felt something in her own bladder, and began to feel squeamish. "Oh…." she realized, as to what her mother was doing, before she chastised herself.

Koffee was not just a stimulant to the mind, but to the body as well. And her mother was feeling the full effect of the stimulant, and her as well. Clicking her teeth in annoyance, she should probably not consume koffee that often, as now she was needing to use the bathroom as well.

With a bit of a grumble to herself as Teufel's mother finally came back, the young half elf excused herself next and left in the opposite direction, "I'll be back." she hollered.

Present

"Mother doesn't like koffee." Teufel explained to Fern with a straight look in the eye, "Something about it gives her too much energy, and other things." she added.

"Like what other things?" Fern asked, curious as to what other things were.

With a flat look, Teufel spoke, "Remember what you needed to do after you had your caffeine rush, crashed, and…well…had to excuse yourself?" she questioned with a look in her eye.

With a look of understanding on her face, Fern spoke with a calm tone, "Oh…" she remarked, before frowning a bit with a nod.

Chapter Text

Strahl, Holy City Capital 

Done for the day, Teufel and Fern were on their way out of the city to make it home before dark. Fern was the first to speak up as the two girls walked through the dwindling crowd of people that walked the streets of the city, “Hey.” she spoke with a curious tone while walking beside Teufel.

Teufel, with a tilt of her head a bit to show that she was listening, glanced to her right where Fern was walking beside her, “Hmm? Yes?” she questioned the young girl walking beside her.

“What do you like about magic?” Fern questioned the half elf girl, who she has come to know for a good year or so. 

“Hm.” Teufel hummed thoughtfully as she stewed over the question. Her mother Frieren had asked her that question before, and all she supplied with was, ‘It’s hard to say, but if I had to say, I enjoy the fact that it’s still a field of study that can be expanded on.’ were her words given to her mother, which earned a smile in return from her mother Frieren, but that was over forty years ago.

Many years later, she still enjoyed magic, and the amount of spells Teufel’s mother had shown her were numerous; however, her mother had expressed that her expansive knowledge of spells paled in comparison to an elf named Serie.

Thinking about it now, her opinion was still the same, but somewhat different as well after many years of attempting to see how well she could apply her second life knowledge of spell formula casting to this world’s mana spell casting. 

There was a very well built foundation of magic spells to work off from, all of which stemmed from the many centuries of the legalization of studying magic; mother Frieren had explained that her Teacher Flamme was the very reason why mages could exist today, as the threat of demons and their magic was too great to not study and counter attack with.

And that not even going into detail of how recent the inception of the mage shield and Zoltraak came into being, but that was a topic for another time.

“What I like about magic….” Teufel spoke finally after a few minutes of stewing over her thoughts, while Fern listened to the Elf Half, “I think what I like about magic is that it is a very open field for new things to develop.” she started to explain, with a thoughtful look on her face.

With a glance at Fern, Teufel continued to speak as the two girls walked together, “But ideally I enjoy the fact that it allows us to venture forth with greater possibilities the more we study into it.” she nodded to herself at the end.

Fern glancing up in thought of her own reason for liking magic, smiled a bit to herself, before giving Teufel a sideways look, “That sounds more than what I like about spells, or what got me to like magic in the first place.” she remarked with a shy look.

With a curious look on her face as the two girls rounded a corner on the street, Teufel spoke back to Fern, “Really? What was your first spell that got you to enjoy magic?” she asked earnestly. “Mine was when I saw my mother float in the air and fly.” she offered her own answer to her question.

If there was anything to be had with the girl, Fern, was some common ground, and magic was definitely one of them for the young half elf. Teufel was already sure that Fern would most likely join their journey, so becoming friends and stalwart allies was pertinent for Teufel, as the human girl had quite the potential with magic. The young girl already has an aptitude in concealing her mana, to the extent that she could move while doing so while her mother Frieren has to stay still for her to be able to properly conceal her mana.

Fern, with brightness in her eyes at the mention of mage flight, smiled in return of Teufel’s answer, “hm…I remember seeing a butterfly spell that got me interested in magic.” Fern said to Teufel, and looked ahead as she thought back to the day she saw the magic trick she once saw, “I wanted to learn it as one of my first spells…it was so beautiful when I first saw it…and I wanted to cast it myself.”

Teufel nodded in understanding, and glanced back at Fern, “Have you ever learned it?” the half elf asked the girl.

“Yes!” Fern gently nodded with a shine in her eye as she conversed with Teufel, “Master Heiter even gave me the book for it!” she explained.

 As the two girls headed towards the gate exit of the capital to head back home, a duo of pedestrians walked past the two girls, their path taking them further into the city after arriving to the city late into the day; both were female and measured out around Frieren’s height, one of them had elven ears under her golden hair, her golden eyes expressing a bored look until her eyesight batches the sight of the young elf looking girl walking beside another girl towards the gate exit.

The other female that was walking beside the elf, had long flowing light- brown hair that almost reached her backside; the human looking female noticed her master was grinning an amused expression as the elf herself trailed her eyes back forward while continuing to walk.

Sense expressed a plain look, but inside she was curious, so she spoke up, “Master Serie, did something catch your eye?” she asked in a soft but curious tone.

As Serie continued to walk beside her apprentice, she spoke up with an upbeat tone, “Yes, something did…” she answered while the two females strode towards the Continental Magic Association of the Holy City, and like the city of Äußerst, the Holy City’s mage association itself holds mage exams.

Sense, growing a bit more curious now as to what her master caught that earned her attention for a bit, spoke again, “What was it?” she asked.

While Serie walked, she spoke in a genuine tone of amusement, “nothing really…just…it has been a long time since I saw a young elf, or half elf that is…” Sense’s master mused with a wistful look in her eyes.

With a somewhat wider look of an expression, Sense spoke with her master more, “Wait, one of those girls we passed by, was a young elf or half elf?” she inquired, for as far as she knew, it was very rare for elves to birth any new elf into the world. She didn’t pay enough attention to the girls, to notice either of them having pointed ears.

“Hmm.” Serie hummed a bit as her eyes glanced to the side with a small smile gracing her lips, behind her and Sense, the two girls were already far outside the gates, most likely heading back home to somewhere in the countryside before the day ended. “I believe…it’s a half elf…the more I feel out for her mana…” she mused with a very amused smirk next, before looking back forward as the two of them headed towards the headquarters of mages of the city.

“I see.” Sense noted with a slight nod, the two of them continued their trek towards their destination, before Serie spoke aloud with a tone of interest. 

“I think I’ll stick around for the third class mage exams in this city for the following few years.” Serie remarked with an intrigued look in her eye, earning a surprised look on her placid face.

“Really?” Sense questioned her master.

While the two of them reached the street leading straight up to the building that housed the mage exams and all manner of other things pertaining to mages, Serie spoke back to her youngest apprentice, “That other girl, she was unconsciously concealing some of her mana. Whoever is teaching those two, I am very curious to see what person that is in charge of those two.” she explained, and nodded forward towards the building they were heading towards.

Sense began to express some amount of confusion at her master’s decision to stick around, “So, just seeing a young elf, has warranted your attention enough to stick around?” she questioned.

“What?” Serie questioned back as the two of them stopped atop the stairs between the columns that held up the overhanging roof of the brick and mortar building, the Elf herself couldn’t help but express in an impish smile towards her apprentice, “Feeling a little jealous I have my sights on new prospects already?” she poke fun at her young apprentice.

Sense blinked once, before giving her master a flat look on her placid face, “No…not really. Just making an observation.” she returned back with an answer in a flat tone.

Serie, frowned a bit, before smiling back once more and began to head into the building with her apprentice in tow, “You really are hard to play around with.” she noted, earning a frown from Sense as she followed her master inside the building.

Winter, Heiter’s Cabin

With her staff in her hand, the more she looked at the additions she made to it, the more it seemed impractical, well, at least for the spade part, the blade part however could still serve its purpose; Mage blade was still at the forefront of her mind as she looked at the bayonet part of her staff, while she held it up to her line of sight.

Frowning a bit, Teufel looked down at the spade part on her staff; the addition was added not but a few years ago, and she wanted to see if any spells could benefit from the spade. It was a creature comfort for her, something that could be utilized in any given situation, but with how this world’s magic system worked, and how early it was for humans to still come up with spells, Teufel was now thinking back on her choice of attaching the spade.

With a furrowed brow, Teufel concentrated her mana at the end of her staff and attempted to see if the metal spade could withstand being reinforced by her mage blade; As the half elf girl stood outside in an open field several yards away from Heiter’s cabin, she casted a spell that caused a magic ring to encircle her trench spade. 

Channeling a bit more mana into the spell to see how far she could reinforce the metal, Teufel was about to pump more magic into the spade to project shark edges on its sides, before hairline cracks began to form on the metal itself.

Ceasing her experiment with the spade and her mage blade attempt with the shovel part, Teufel scrunched her nose up in annoyance as she lifted her staff end up to inspect the spade. “I am very lucky mother and I never gotten into a combat situation yet.” she mused to herself with her eyes narrowed at the hairline cracks in the metal spade.

Traveling across the countryside had made her a bit…slow, to say the least. She was planning on testing the spade and bayonet the first chance she got with spells, but then other things came up that earned her attention, such as the grimoire books that her mother shared, to the various cities they visited.

“I was wondering when you’d figure it out.” Teufel’s mother spoke behind her, making her jump a bit as she didn’t even bother keeping her mana detection up. Figuring it was safe, Teufel had felt like going lax would let her enjoy her time out in the countryside. 

Turning around in the light snow packed ground, Teufel noted that her mother was now dressed in her winter clothes and coat; Teufel of course wore her own as well, which matched the color scheme of her mother’s coat, but was as far as it went.

Grumbling a bit to herself, while giving her mother a glowering look, Teufel spoke back to her mother Frieren with a frank tone, “And you didn’t want to tell me because?” she questioned her mother.

Frieren simply smiled back in amusement toward her daughter and spoke plainly, “I wanted you to figure it out yourself, why else do you think I let you walk around with those things attached to your staff?” she asked with a tilt of her head in questioning.

Looking back up at her mother with a flat look, Teufel spoke with a mild incensed tone, “I spent money on this mother!” she pointed out, only to earn a smile in return and a headpat that left Teufel grumbling at being treated like a kid…human kid, that is, she still had the body of a young elf body, but the mind of an adult.

“Well, next time, think ahead and ask first!” Frieren told her Daughter while removing her hand from her daughter’s head, and palmed her hip, “There’s no shame in still asking for help, even though you have a mature mind, you're still my daughter after all.” Teufel’s mother explained with a smile.

Relenting from her glare, Teufel sighed to herself. Perhaps she was getting too gung ho at the time when she wanted the attachments, thinking she was experiencing those silly cliche isekai stories…well…she was, but this felt more like a slice of life sort of experience. Her mother and the party she was part of already defeated the demon king, the land was saved, all that remained was the aftermath of the adventure her Father and Mother took on with Heiter and Eisen.

“Mother.” Teufel began to say with a curious tone, earning the attention of Frieren as she looked back down at her Daughter’s face, “There is one question I’d like to ask, that’s been on my mind for a bit.” 

“Hmm?” Yes?” Frieren asked, “What would it be?” she questioned her daughter,

“Well…” Teufel said as she held up her staff to show the bayonet part, “If certain metals do not interact well with mana….” and it was really something she should have looked into, than going straight in with, in hindsight that is, “Is there any metal that does interact well with mana?” she asked with a studious look in her eyes that glanced at her staff in hand.

With a nod from her Mother, Frieren spoke, “There is, the gold and silver that Stahl coins are made from, can be imbued with magic, and those are just the two types of metals that I know right now off the top of my head.” she explained.

Cupping her chin, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she stewed over the explanation given to her, “So essentially, I should replace my blade with silver, correct?” she asked, earning a shrug from Frieren.

“That’s if you wish,” Frieren answered, earning another grumble from Teufel. “Though truthfully…” her mother spoke up again, earning a look from the daughter, “I think you should just remove that metal altogether and practice first with whatever you are doing without it, then make the adjustment to whatever metal blade you plan on using.” She nodded to herself at her own explanation. 

“...this is going to cost me…” Teufel noted to herself with an annoyed look on her face, earning amused look from Frieren, as her mother reached out again to pat her daughter on the head.

“Hey, we could always go dungeon exploring, who knows, we might even find the type of silver you need.” Frieren encouraged her Daughter with a soft smile.

With a flat look that Teufel could not help but express, she looked at her mother’s face, “Just don’t expect me to pull you out of a mimic chest again.” she remarked, earning a sheepish look from Frieren, before her mother turned away and poked her fingers into each other while pouting a bit. 

“Hey…you can’t blame me for trying!” Frieren tried to reason with her daughter by always inexplicably ending up trapped in the mouth of a mimic chest, “The chance of finding a grimoire inside those chests were too great!” she followed up with saying.

Unable to help herself, while apparating her staff away to be hands free of it, she threw her hands up in exasperation, “Yeah…of a ninety nine chance of it being a mimic from the detection spell you cast on every chest you think has a grimoire in it!” 

“...the one percent chance is still worth it…” Frieren pouted out while looking away from her daughter.

Seventy plus years! It was hard to count the years go by, when she didn’t age that much, or barely at all, but in her years of being around her mother, her elven mother can never resist the lure of opening a chest.

In the passing months, Frieren would spend her time helping Fern practice and better cast the Zoltraak spell she had been practicing in earnest. For Teufel, the young half elf spent the rest of her winter time in measuring out how far the metal blade on her staff could withstand mana infused into it. 

Oftentimes during the winter, Teufel would attempt to cast cleaving spells to chop wood. The precision needed for a precise cut left the half elf needing to calculate her mana output, as putting too much mana into her attempt of this particular spell caused the logs she would cut to turn into a blast of splinters. The best catalyst so far was her staff, and that was after she twisted the blade and spade off to remove the weighted ends.

With a swing of her staff after imbuing it with a mana spell, Teufel swung down at a log standing upright atop a tree stump; from out of the end of her staff, a wind-like blade was conjured out from the tip of her staff and down through the log that Teufel swung down at.

After a few seconds passed of Teufel holding her staff at the end of her swing, she watched the log split apart, making the young Half elf express a smile. Behind her, Fern began to clap in earnest.

Having not been able to sense the little girl walk up and watch her from behind, Teufel jumped in shock and whirled around in surprise, causing the young girl to smile in amusement at Teufel, who in turn grumbled at the other girl’s uncanny ability to suppress her presence around others.

In the Springtime and summer, Teufel spent her time near a waterfall; with her staff raised, she wanted to test something out and casted levitate on the water itself. She hadn’t tried lifting metric tons worth of water, in comparison to the luggage she would carry on her back, and so far, she wanted to test the limits of what levitate could do.

Swinging her staff aside as she readied her spell up, a blue circle glowed beneath her feet, before Teufel thrusted her staff out and casted her spell upon the water that fell over the cliff; within the center of the waterfall, like curtain being pulled up by its center, the water itself began to lift and flow back up.

Teufel herself was feeling the strain already as she felt the flowing water push back against her spell that caused it to lift up into the air as more fell. With a frustrated look on her face, Teufel soon let up from the spell and allowed the water to flow back down on its own.

Not taking into account how much water she caused to be backed up, Teufel was treated to being heavily splashed by the gushing water that fell down all at once; expressing a dour look on her face, Teufel blew a wet strand of her hair in her face, before resorting to using her hand to pull it away and behind her ear.

Chapter Text

Heiter’s Cabin

Within the spare bedroom that is shared amongst the girls of two beds, one bed has Frieren sleeping on her side under her covers with a spot beside her empty. Across the room, is another bed but small, and empty.

The door to the guest room is left slightly ajar as Fern exits her room with a yawn, covering her mouth as she does so as she walks through the cabin in the early morning.

As Fern enters the kitchen area, she is greeted to the sight of the half elf daughter of Master Frieren in the midst of putting together some things into her suitcase of hers.

“Early riser too?” Teufel questioned idly at Fern as the half elf girl finished stowing away her things into her suitcase before clasping it closed with a click of its latches.

“Mhm.” Fern nodded slowly as she rubbed the early morning sand from her eyes, and approached the island counter where Teufel was standing with her Stool, “You leaving somewhere?” she asked curiously.

“Not anywhere far, really.” Teufel answered the girl as she pulled her suitcase off from the counter and took it with her as she hopped off from the stool, before facing Fern with a straight look in the eye, “Just going to find a place to practice some spells I’ve been working on.” 

“Oh!” Fern remarks with a more curious look in her eyes as she spoke with Teufel, the young girl’s attention was now on Teufel as the half elf girl made her way to the exit. “Can I come watch?” she asked with a spark in her eyes.

Teufel, as she approached the exit door, turned to look back at Fern with an uncertain look, “I suppose you can.” she answered, earning a small smile of excitement from Fern.

Later

It took a bit of a while to truly understand the system of magic that was available to her in this third world she’s come to know, over eighty years of her half elf life was spent studying the intricate ways she could cast magic from the modist amount of spells that her mother has taught her. 

Standing atop a hill that overlooked a massive lake, Teufel held with her the magic staff her mother gifted her; beside Teufel was the haphazardly made equipment of measuring her mana output to give her a read on casting her spell for their duration, power, length and so on and so forth. 

Sitting in the grass not far from her, Fern sat atop a lone rock as she watched Teufel bring out her equipment; when she asked what everything was out of childish wonder, the half elf girl answered to the best of her ability for the young girl to understand.

Teufel, as she used her mana measure tools, wanted to be sure of her experimentation of spells she held at her fingertips, or in this case, at the tip of her staff. It was one thing to just feel the mana you were casting from her body, it was another to get the exact measurements of what she was doing. Sure, she could never make a tool that could measure the max strength of her mother’s mana pool, she didn’t have the equipment built to handle it.

“Hmm.” Teufel pursed her lips in thought as she started up the spell for Zoltraak, only pouring enough mana in to make a small bead of light to exist at the tip of her staff; her eyes drift to the propped up time beside her, noting the mana stone bobbing up and down a little, while the gyroscope like circlets around it spun in place around the object as it floated above the measuring box she built. 

Her eyes then drift to the circlet bracelet on her wrist, to make sure the two were in synchronized between each other; willing magic to her eyes to view her own mana pool, Teufel is able to see the device she has created siphon off from the bracelet she put on her wrist for the device to work remotely. Ceasing the action, Teufel nodded to herself and initiated the spell Zoltraak, and shot out a thin beam through the air.

Thwip

Like a whistling beam of a bullet flying through the air, but without the boom of the gun itself, Teufel took notice that her modified Zoltraak spell only managed to make it several few yards away from her staff starting point. The whole point of this exercise was to get a general gist of her mana output and measure it, and how little a viable Zoltraak spell was if it was condensed further down to a thin-like needle attack.

It was barely anything really, in the grand scheme of all the other spells her mother had shown her, as Zoltraak was far from the only attack spell, but it wa s a key factor of why mage shields and magic clothing today are different. Once what was pretty much a dangerous spell, was and has been reverse engineered by mages to improve on and develop better defenses against.

For Fern, the young girl was curious as to why Teufel casted such a weak version of Zoltraak, barely any better than her best attempt. But then she noted that Teufel was barely trying with the spell, so she was probably just making a practice shot before actually casting anything meaningful.

For Teufel, as she stared outside across the lake with her staff held aloft, Zoltraak was just another spell in her arsenal, but for her mother, father and their party that had to go up against Qual that the spell originated from at the time, it was one of the most dangerous demon spells they had gone up against at the time.

Blinking to herself as Teufel removed her wrist circelet so that she could utilize her full mana pool without breaking her measuring device, she stewed over her thoughts more as the morning sun broke over the trees, its sunlight reflecting off the surface of the lake she stood not far from.  

The more time she spent in this world, studying its magic system, its available grimoires, the more Teufel found that she did in fact enjoy magic to the fact that it was pretty much a field of study that could be developed on, to be researched, to be invented with. It was practically a wild west field of study, even years after the Great Mage Flamme passing.

From what little Teufel has learned over the years from her mother about Flamme and the era she lived in, magic was a taboo area of field to study and was seen as demonic; it was only after Flamme managed to convince the emperor at the time of the largest unified empire on the continent to allow the field of study country-wide.

But now, as Teufel stood atop the hill she picked to do a few magic spell exercises, the half elf girl could appreciate the fact she exists in a time that doesn’t involve some hamstring superstition against magic. 

Course, she still lived in an early era of man, but at least she wasn’t in an area of witch hunting and fear of magic; being fearful of magic was irrational, being fearful of the caster was not. Same reason you should not fear a gun until some idiot picks up one and doesn’t know the first thing how to properly wield it.

Analogy aside, Teufel’s eyes scour the area of the place she chose to practice her spells at, and noted how serene the place felt. Hefting her staff up to her side once more to begin another practice run of spells, Teufel now wanted to test how well the spell formulas from her second life could translate into the magic system of this world.

With a free hand off from her staff, the half elf girl gently waved her palm through the air, and with some satisfaction on her part, Teufel was greeted to the sight of the observation formula that allowed her to detect a battlefield in a more detailed manner than just feeling out for mana as any other mage would.

Fern’s eyes shine in childlike wonder as she witnesses a magic spell that she had never seen before, and it made her want to question Teufel ever more as time dragged on for the two of them; but Fern wanted silently watch the other girl as she casted her spell, she could ask later afterall.

Back with Teufel, It took her more than thirty years, but with a victorious smirk now gracing the half elf’s lips, she was able to reverse engineer the spell to work appropriately in the magic system of this world; she had the others of course, but this spell she liked to have as its practicality won out. 

Keeping the observation formula up, as she felt enough was in her mana pool to sustain it being projected out in front of her, that, and to better keep an eye on her perimeter, Teufel began a slew of other formula conversion tests.

Past

“You planning on making your own grimoire, or something?” Frieren asked her Daughter, as the two of them sat within an inn and restaurant where tables were filled by occupants, one of which was filled by Frieren and Teufel as the two of them arrived just in time to acquire an available room to sleep in.

Teufel, who was in her own chair while sitting on her knees to reach the table, looked up from her personal notebook that she had been writing into with crudely made sketches of various circles and the spell names underneath each one. “Hmm?” she hummed in questioning as she looked back at her mother’s curious look.

Frieren leaned against her palm while resting her elbow on the table, and pointed at the book the Teufel was writing into, “Those spells, they look like they’re made for destruction or something, from what I can read from this spot.” she observed.

“Er…” Teufel mumbled something to herself, before clearing her throat to speak more clearly with her mother as she continued writing into her book, “Not really, these are just rough drafts of some spells I wanna…create…” she trailed off saying while measuring her words carefully.

“Neat.” Frieren remarked, a proud smile gracing her lips as she looked at her Daughter work at creating new spells, “How long do you think it will take till you can try them out?” she questioned her daughter with a proud smile.

“It’ll be a while, I don’t know.” Teufel answered with a shake of her head as she flipped a page to a fresh empty one, where she could continue sketching the writing down her notes, “I still need to convert what I know of the magic spells you taught me, and translate them into appropriate math formulas.” 

“Huh…” Frieren mused as she tilted her head a bit while still resting her chin into her palm, she expressed an excited look on her face as she watched her daughter, “Well…I look forward to seeing the fruits of your little venture.” she mused.

Present 

With her observation spell formulae still up, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she casted a levitation spell on several nearby rocks that rested beside the lake shore; as the half elf brought the rocks to float up next to her, she began to test the other few formulas she had been converting over to this world's magic system.

If she wanted to properly describe what it was like in making up the difference between the two world’s magic systems, it was like writing a language into a different one; you had to understand the meaning, and translate it appropriately to mean almost the same thing in the one you want to work with. That was the closest of course that Teufel could represent it in her mind between the differences of the two magic systems.

Right now, as Teufel allowed her ammunition of rocks to stay afloat beside her, she began to cast an enchanted round over one of the rocks; with a green hue that covered the rock, Teufel’s staff began to emit a magic circle in front of it as she held it up beside her.

‘An Artillery round first.’ She thought to herself as she primed the rock ready to go flying across the lake and into the mountain side; frowning a bit to herself, she measured the length that she would need the spell to go, and made a few corrections to the spell.

Since she didn’t have any bullets that had sealing formulas inside them for the spell to work correctly, Teufel had to readjust and add a few extra steps into the spell for it to work with mundane objects, such as rocks. She’d most likely not get the same result she would expect with a bullet, but with a few added adjustments to make sure the rock would go boom, she made as many substitutions into the spell so that she could appropriately recreate an artillery spell.

With a whirring sound as the rock began to spin that Teufel focused on ‘shooting’ at the faraway mountain, the half elf held her staff with both hands before releasing the rock off into the distance.

THIWP

The rock flew off life a bullet, it made a harsh whistle while doing so as it flew across the ocean, occasionally skimming down across the lake water before curving back up into the air and towards the far away mountain.

Teufel, who watched it all happen with the enchanted rock, narrowed her eyes in annoyance, as she watched the rock lamely curved through the air, making a green trail of magic trail behind it as to flew off; the half elf noted that without the nuance of having a grooved barrel and bullet to work with, of course the projectile would fly off course from their intended destination.

KRAKOOM

She watched trees and dirt get blasted into bits from her artillery spell, missing its mark by just several yards away from her intended mark.

Fern watched with an uncertain look in her eyes. From her point of view, sure, the spell was new to her, but it looked like Teufel was not expecting the outcome. The half elf was definitely unsatisfied with what she was able to do, going by the facial expression she was making.

Narrowing her eyes a bit, Teufel knew of the homing cluster spell, and decided to incorporate the homing part into her artillery round spell. It would help her aim and lock on to specific areas she wanted blasted, and she would have more control over where her spell would land.

With a fervent look on her face, Teufel held her staff more tightly as she covered another floating rock she was levitating beside her with an enchanted round spell, and had it ready to go. Mentally preparing the added layer of spells into the rock, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she fired the rock off, with another sound of a crack through the wind.

This time, as Teufel watched her projectile rock shoot through the air with a straight shot, the rock itself hurled across the lake and passed the opposite lake shore until it finally hit the far off mountain with a thunderous boom.

KRAKOOM

Teufel witnessed as her artillery spell successfully landed and caused quite the little divot into the maintain side; from the opposite side with Teufel, the young half elf looked down at her observation formulae spell that was still up, and waved her hand in front it to weave a different spell into it. The image of the far side mountain was projected into the observation spell, allowing Teufel to see her work as she weaved her hand again through her spell to zoom in.

Seeing the zoomed in image of what her artillery spell was able to do up close without having to fly all the way there and see for herself, Teufel noted with a satisfied smile that the surface was burnt black with crumbling rocks and boulders falling bit by bit until everything rested.

Fern clapped a bit for Teufel, as the other girl no doubt successfully accomplished what she set out to do. 

Teufel turned to look at Fern with a confident smile, “Thank you.” she remarked, before frowning, “But unfortunately, there’s still some tweaking that needs to be done with that spell I casted.” she groused a bit.

“Oh.” Fern noted as she ceased her clapping and held her hands atop her lap as she conversed with Teufel, “But it hit the side of the mountain, wasn’t that your intended target?” she asked with an attentive curious look.

Teufel shook her head while she turned to look ahead across the lake, and held her staff beside her into the ground as she inspected her work more through the zoomed in image on her observation formula spell, “Yes, but it needs more control, I don’t want a spell that needs additional spells laced into it…” she began to thumb at her chin in thought, “I have the theory and practice down, all I need left is to fine tune them…” she mused.

With an ever childish wonder present on her face, Fern asked more questions, “So how long have you been working on these spells then?” she asked.

Teufel waved her hand through the air to cease her observation spell for the time being, and turned once again towards Fern to speak directly with the girl, “A few decades or so…” she answered with a momentary sideways glance once more across the lake, before she looked back at Fern.

Fern Smiled as she stood up and brushed off her lap of any grass or dirt, “This was fun to watch, but I really should head back and get some morning tea started for Master Heiter.” she remarked, before Fern looked at Teufel with an uncertain look, “do you want any?” she cautiously asked.

Teufel shook her head, “No thanks.” she waved her hand in denial, “I still have some koffee grounds left to last me a few more days.” she answered.

“...I see…can I have some?” Fern asked with a shine in her eye.

Teufel blinked a few times, unable to keep an incredulous look from forming on her face at the child’s want to drink the coffee that made her crash for the rest of the day, “...mother says I am not allowed to give children any more Koffee.” Teufel answered with a straight face.

Undeterred, Fern stepped forward closer with a fervent look in her eye, “But aren’t you over eighty? That’s practically an adult’s age.” Fern argued.

With an annoyed look on her face, Taufel argues back at Fern, “...I could…but then she will ground me from learning any more spells from her for a hundred years.” she reasoned.

“....ah…I see…” Fern noted with a downcast look, before looking back at Teufel with glint in her eye, “Promise you’ll let me drink some when I’m older!?” she asked.

Offering a shrug to Fern, Teufel spoke with an uncertain tone, “If I can procure more of it.” she answered, earning an appreciative smile from Fern.

Author's note; This would have gotten out earlier, if my power didn't go out...I'm just lucky google doc automatically saves, otherwise I'd have been pissed midway.

Also, the only reason I wrote this, was that I believed, if given the chance with being in a world similar concept, Tanya would undoubtedly try and see if she could newgame+ her spells over to her current life.

Chapter Text

Heiter’s Cabin

After the two returned to Heiter’s cabin, the day continued as usual; as noon approached, Fern was already outside practicing her spell in her usual spot with Teufel’s mother taking a quick break from decrypting the book Heiter gave her to check on the progress Fern was making. 

Teufel herself spent the opportunity to see what her mother was working on, as the young half elf girl climbed atop the chair next to the desk and open the book up; a lot if it was in an old language an runes that she hadn’t seen since her mother took her into a dungeon to explore for a bit.

As Teufel sat on her knees atop the chair to give her the boost she needed, her eyes skimmed through the various inscriptions, occasionally turning the page to view the various detailed pages that showed circled ruins with inscriptions of the same language she could not read. 

Shrugging to herself, her curiosity satiated, Teufel closed the book back up and swung her feet out off the chair to hop off and make her way out of the room. She could work on her book for the rest of the day, since she already did enough spell testing in the morning.

Making her way out of the room, Teufel saw Heiter in the midst of sitting at his table, holding a cup of tea in his hands while glancing out his nearby window to view nature; the half elf herself calmly walking through the room to reach her suitcase and take out her book and writing tools, it was prudent she record her progress and figure out where she was standing in everything she knew of how well the magic system of this world could incorporate the spells from her previous life into this one.

So far, she has had success, but it requires heavy modifications into the spells and translation of different mana usage; in any other story, Teufel is sure some power fantasy trope would allow her to instantly use her spells from her last life, but this wasn’t that. Both magic systems were very different, and thus, she had to pour an immense amount of time into understanding the fabric of magic that could be weaved.

The intricacies of everything that was this world’s magic, had quite a few categories to fall into; Offensive, Defensive, Support, Goddess’s magic, curses, and the various spells that did not fit those categories were relegated to ‘other’, which was more often than not, non combat spells.

If you asked her, they should just name the branch of magic non-combative, but she supposed this world was still developing its magic system, and she’d no doubt be around long enough to witness it.

Teufel, once she reached her Suitcase, hefted it up by its handle, and carried it with her to the kitchen; she could use the bar stool to sit on to do her personal work, record her progress and measure out her spells; measuring it out into numbers was an entire process into itself, as her mana stone measuring device could only handle so much.

Realistically, if she wanted to measure out mana spells better, she’d have to come up with a better means, doing the math demanded a lot of hypothetical numbers; if there was anything she was thankful for though when her mother took them on a trip to an eastern harbor, was finding all manor of exotic merchandise from overseas. Finding an abacus was one of the items she bought, something the seller was surprised to see a young girl want.

It was only after a little discussion later with the foreign seller between him and mother, did the merchant offer to show a twenty year old half elf how to work an abacus. Suffice to say, it was a close to having a computing calculator as she could get, hell, even in her first, life, the Abacus was still in a practical use in asian countries, so having the abacus on hand was a good thing to have for calculating her numbers out.

As Teufel passed Heiter and into the kitchen, the old priest himself momentarily looked away from his window and smiled softly as he watched the young half elf walk off to sit atop his bar stool by the kitchen island counter, and begin taking her things out from her suitcase. “Teufel,” he said, earning the girl’s attention as she pulled out a book, inkwell and pen along with a wooden object with beads in it.

“Hm? Yes?” Teufel inquired as she sat with a sideways glance at the old priest, her voice being loud enough to make it back into the room with Heiter in it.

Heiter spoke with a somber tone in his voice, “Do you think you’ll ever forget me in that long life span of yours?” he asked.

With a frown now on her face, Teufel placed her hands down against the counter and turned her head fully to look over at the old priest with a frown, “I hardly think you’ll ever be forgotten, Heiter, much less by the world itself. I highly doubt I'll ever forget you either.” she said with a clipped tone and furrowed brow.

“Hm.” Heiter nodded with an amused smile, before glancing away from Teufel to look back out through his window, “Just asking…” he said, before chuckling warmly.

A silence permeated the cabin afterwards, with the only sounds being Teufel as the half elf began to jot into her book with her ink pen, followed by the clacking of wood from her wooden tool; Heiter spoke once again while still looking out his window, “Sorry for asking that, it just feels weird being at the end of my life…all those years went by…and now it feels like it was all a haze…” he spoke wistfully as he remembered the times of all the hero party’s adventures.

“Well…” Teufel spoke up, as she paused in her work atop the counter, earning Heiter’s attention as he looked back over at her, as the half elf looked up with a far away look in her eyes, “At the very least, you will not leave world without leaving a legacy behind, and not in the conventional offspring sort of legacy.” she remarked with thoughtfulness, as she looked at him sharply.

Heiter chuckled with mirth, as he leaned back into the backrest of his chair while conversing with the half elf, “I sometimes forget you’re not just some young looking girl.”

“Right.” Teufel groused back with an annoyed look, only to earn another chuckle of mirth from Heiter, “But I suppose you should count yourself lucky in reaching this far of an advanced age. Not many humans make it as far as you.” she quipped.

With a wry look in his eyes, Heiter spoke back to Teufel. “No…I suppose not.” he remarked, before looking out his window, “Perhaps I could reason it’s just the goddess’s grace granting me the opportunity to save one last soul.” he quipped back.

Teufel narrowed her eyes at Heiter and his comment about the grace of the goddess, but chose not to comment and try to rebuke the dying man’s words. As ill as she had it with anything concerning religion, she was not about to get into it with Heiter. 

Looking back at her work, Teufel reached forward and began getting back into sketching and writing into her book of what she’s been able to ascertain so far with the translation of spells she has been able to incorporate from her past life into this world.

With another book out with scrawls of numbers written all over the pages, Teufel slid her fingers along the abacus as she began running calculations on the various spells she had casted today. Going off what she felt from her mana stone measuring device, and observation spell that helped on top of it, the half elf girl did her calculations before scrawling into her actual spell book that she has been recording her spells into.

“Teufel.” 

Pausing in her idle work that has given her something to do over the decades, the half elf looked up from her work and over at Heiter as the old priest spoke with his attention still out the window, the sound of birds chirping outside echoed through the wooden walls, “I know I don’t need to ask, considering who she’ll be around, but…” Heiter trailed off as he looked back over to Teufel with a warm smile, “Be a good friend to Fern, she’s been through a lot, and I will feel better knowing she’ll have someone to rely on when I’m gone from this world.” he explained.

Teufel, uncertain how to take the request, simply acknowledged the man with a slow nod, “I have not had any other reason to see her anything but.” she remarked, earning an appreciative smile from Heiter.

Strahl, Holy City Capital

Another day, Teufel ventured out on her own this time, finding her way into the city once again as the young half elf of eighty plus years old strolled through the busy streets of the city. This time around, Teufel wanted to visit the Assassociation branch of the city. Her curiosity of the goddess’s magic had her wondering how close and different the branch of magic was to common magic that she was familiar with.

A few folks batted an eye in the direction of the half elf, as the young looking girl child strolled through the streets. As Teufel turned around the corner of a street, her sights were soon set on the sight of the mage association building. Never having had the opportunity to learn what the goddess’s magic is with how restrictive knowledge was on the subject, though…restrictive was a bit heavy worded. 

It was really hard to find any books or grimoires containing the goddess’s magic, so Teufel’s only conclusion was that it was heavily kept within the holy cities and the mage's association buildings. The best description she got from Heiter, was that it is a branch of Magic utilized by priests with the assistance of holy scriptures. 

“Those with a natural talent for the Goddess's magic are said to possess ‘the Blessing of the Goddess’.”

That all meant that an actual supernatural entity had their fingers steeped into the world in some fashion, and Teufel wanted to see what was pertaining to the subject of magic that was blessed by a supposed goddess.

“Ara ara, what’s this, are you lost little one?” a soft voice spoke up as Teufel walked past a bakery store.

Halting in her step with an impossible to hold indignant look on her face, Teufel whipped around to glared up at the person that called out for her, “Ma’am.” she greeted a woman that stood outside her doorstep of her shop. “Please, I am a half-”

“Oh well aren’t you the cutest thing!” The female baker cooed as she bent down at her knees to converse with Teufel, only to earn an even more angered look on the half elf face, “And so well polite!” she remarked.

With a twitching eyebrow, Teufel grounded out, “Ma’am…I am eighty-”

“Tell you what!” The lady remarked as she lifted her finger up, “I have a few extra bagels, and you look too cute to let go around on an empty stomach for the morning!” the female baker gushed.

“Ma’am!” Teufel spoke with the volume of her voice a bit higher, “Please. I am-” she tried to explain to the woman that she was not some little girl…well…she was, but her age was way beyond some lost little girl of around ten or so.

“You stay right there! Miss Brezel has some spare baked goods to give a cute looking girl such as you!” The woman remarked in a cooing voice, before getting up to head back into her bakery.

“Ma’am, wait no-” Teufel tried to stop the incessant attitude she was given, and the treatment, but was already too late as the baker lady was already inside her store.

Grumbling to herself, Teufel palmed her face as she tapped her foot and waited for the lady to come back, and explain the situation to herself. She’d rather not have the woman come back thinking she was interacting with a young girl, and was instead speaking with an eighty plus year old half elf.

Her stomach all of a sudden began to grumble, making her sigh in annoyance. Perhaps she was hungry…

Walking away from the bakery, now with a small basket of baked goods in hand, Teufel had refused the woman in accepting the bagels and loaf of bread without paying anything in return; the conversation between the two eventually had Teufel insist she pay some amount, with the bakery lady relenting with an amused look on her face.

So with the little distraction out of the way, the half elf strolled along the streets once again towards the mage association building. 

It wasn’t long until she reached the building, and needed to walk up the several steps that led up to the front doorways. As Teufel finished taking a bite out of the bagel she was given, she placed the rest of it back into the basket in her arm while she approached the doors.

“Hupp.” Teufel exhaled as she hopped and partially used some levitation to reach the doorknob, and pull the door open before letting herself in.

Entering the building, Teufel was treated to the sight of a large and round desk manned by two workers, two doorways to the left and right, two sets of stairways leading up to the second story, and at the back a double doorway leading to the back. 

With her plan for the day in mind, Teufel continued onward to help herself at the front desk.

Serie

It was…weird for her to wait on something, it felt…very different than most of the times when she just lets time pass by. Her curiosity however had Serie stick around the capital for longer than she usually stuck around, before returning to Äußerst for a time. 

Her patience however was rewarded in a way, as she took a stroll through the building alone; Sense had other duties to attend to, than to be beside her at all times, and really, it tended to get annoying when her apprentices flocked around her for too long. She wasn’t some defenseless elf that needed any guarding. 

If anything, she was the danger to anyone and anything. If Serie so chose, she could snap her finger and cause an entire mountain to become nothing but rubble; course, that was an under exaggeration….she could snap her fingers and cause an entire mountain to become building blocks to build another kingdom with all the spells she had memorized over the many centuries she’s come to know as her life.

Wait…where was she going with this?

Serie’s sudden lapse in thinking, as she strolled towards the front desk room, was interrupted as she let herself into the room, and spotted the very half elf girl she saw with a human girl child not but a year or so ago…it was kinda hard keeping track of the years honestly.

“Well if the library is restricted to civilians, then what does it take for me to acquire the means to gain access to it?” The half elf asked the front receptionist woman, who was looking down at the young half elf with an amused expression mixed with what looked like she wanted to dote on the girl.

As Serie walked closer to the front desk, the receptionist lady, who had to stand up and lean over her desk to converse with the half elf, smiled back down at the half elf girl, “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until next month when the fourth grade mage exam is hosted.” she answered the young half elf with a demure smile while resting her cheek against her palm.

The half elf tsked to herself, before sighing, “I suppose I can’t fault the rules really.” she groused, “It would be quite irresponsible to just let any normal person just read the books without knowing how to properly cast spells.” she nodded to herself, before thanking the woman and taking her leave.

“Hold on.” Serie called out as the Half Elf girl was about to leave, the elf herself allowed herself a small smile of intrigue as she walked over to the young half elf.

Teufel

Turning around when she heard someone speak up to wait, Teufel saw a short woman with pointed ears head her way. “...another elf…” she softly spoke in surprise, having never seen another elf other than her mother in all her many years. 

The elf woman on the other hand widened her smirk as she approached Teufel, “What, never seen another elf other than your parent?” the elf asked with a tilt of her head, while still expressing some amusement on her part.

Teufel, for her part, narrowed her eyes a bit at the elf woman as she approached her at a steady gait, “...you said parent, but not parents…” she observed.

“I know.” the elf woman expressed in mild amusement as she finally reached Teufel and stood not far from the girl, “It’s your mana, I’ve been around long enough to know the difference of what a half elf has versus a full blooded one.” she remarked.

“I…see…” Teufel drawled out, while she herself expressed a raised brow of curiosity, “And you are…” she waited for the elf woman to introduce herself.

The elf woman on the other hand, smirked ever more in smugness, “Serie, but I’m sure you already know enough about the elf that is attached to that name, no?” she questioned with a tilt of her head.

“Oh…” Teufel’s eyes widened a tad bit, before stepping back to really understand who she was speaking to, “oh!”” she began to remark with more surprise, “I see….um…” Teufel began to fumble her words, as she did not know if there was some sort of decorum amongst elfs, or if she was supposed to give respect to the elf in some way. “Well…um, my Name is Teufel.” the half elf stammered out.

“Relax.” Serie spoke up, smirking at Teufel in her own way, “I’m just pleasantly surprised as you are, but in a different way.” she remarked.

Teufel blinked a few times at Serie’s words, before asking the pertinent question, “I’m…sorry?” she hesitantly worded out.

“Don’t be.” Serie spoke back to Teufel in amusement of the young half elf’s attitude, “So who’s the parent? Someone I know perhaps…on second thought…” she began to look sideways with a frown, “I probably do know him or her…” she mused as an afterthought. 

“Oh.” Teufel nodded in agreement, “I believe you should know her, my mother is Frieren.” she answered Serie, who began to slowly look back at her with a widening look of shock.

“....eh…?” Serie spoke with a surprised look, “She…who…” she tried to speak with an astonished look.

“What?” Teufel asked Serie with a confused look, “Did it not come to mind that my mother would ever have intercourse with someone?” she asked with a confused look.

“Let me guess, the father is that Himmel hero.” Serie suddenly asked with a flat look.

“....well…yeah…in fact.” Teufel answered.

“Hmm.” Serie made a musing sound as she looked off to the side in thought, “Never would have thought she’d beat me to the punch in making a child.”

With a somewhat wide eyed look, Teufel looked back at Serie, “Excuse me?” she asked.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Serie shook her head with an annoyed look on her face. “This conversation is boring me, come, I wanna talk about spells.” she ordered, before turning on her heels and headed back towards the doorway that she came out from.

“....” Confused, Teufel was not sure what the elf expected, but Serie turned and looked back at the half elf with an annoyed look, “Did you not hear me, follow me or be banned from this building for a hundred years.” she hollered over.

“Hey!” Teufel spoke back with an indignant look, “You can’t just do that!” she remarked as she followed after Serie, “That is completely irrational!” she complained.

Unbothered by the attitude she was given by Teufel, Serie walked with the half elf in tow, “I can and will, get used to it child.” 

“I’m over eighty years old! That is not a child’s age!” Teufel said back to Serie in an annoyed tone.

“Oh, I know.” Serie answered back with a rueful smirk, as the two eventually walked through a hallway, “But that is a child age for elves and half elves, get used to it little girl.” she quipped back.

Chapter Text

Serie

It was a surprise to be sure for the long lived elf to know Frieren had relations with Himmel the hero, but it was also a nice blessing that the half elf daughter that came from the two's relation had an appetite for knowledge on magic; Serie was also very curious how far Flamme’s apprentice’s child took after them, and what sort of magic the young half specialized in throughout her early years of living.

If there was one major staple that surrounded most mages of the current era, was that they focused on a specific spell outside of their repertoire of spell knowledge; sure, any mage could learn Zoltraak now-a-days, and plenty others could learn from their masters a slew of other spells, but what sets most mages apart were their specialization in a spell that catered to their imagination of weaving magic.

It was quite amusing too, in Serie’s opinion, that throughout her time of living, that the amount of magic spells that have come into existence barely scratched the surface compared to the amount of spells that could be deciphered from the goddess’s scriptures.

While Serie and Teufel entered and walked through the hallway that led to and from the main lobby of the magic association building, Serie spoke with her gaze fixated forward while her pointed ears picked up the soft pitter-patter sound of the young half elf's feet. “I am curious, compared to your mother and Flamme that taught her magic, what have you come to know about magic in your early years of living?” Serie asked with a bland tone, with a hint of curiosity slipping in.

Taufel, who glanced back at Serie to her right, spoke back to the elf, “Hmm…” the half elf pursed her lips with a furrowed brow as she looked forward with a thoughtful expression, “It’s a very open field of study.” Teufel offered a simple answer, to which earned Serie’s attention with a sideways look.

“Hmm.” Serie hummed in thought as she allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as the two continued to walk through the hallways, her own bare feet making soft pitter-patters against the floor as she walked, “Oh?” she mused, before making a quick glance at the half elf beside her that was comparatively shorter than her, “Do expand on that reason, if you would.” the elf requested with a gleam in her eye.

Teufel, looking back at Serie with, stared at the elf with an analytical gaze, “Well-” the half elf began to explain with a thoughtful look upwards, “If I had to look at what I know so far about the magic spells I’ve learned so far from mother, much of the magic system desires a prerequisite of using a vivid imagination.” she explained while looking sideways momentarily to mutter to herself, ‘ it also explains why the spade shattered…’ 

As the two rounded a corner in the hallway, where there were multiple doorways leading into other rooms, Serie’s attention was caught on by what Teufel told her, “Hmm?” she began to remark as the both of them passed a wandering group of mages that stepped aside for Serie and Teufel to pass by them unhindered, "I take it you let your imagination run uncontrolled in some spell attempt?” she asked, her interest piqued with the half elf and her approach to magic.

With a sour look on her face, Teufel spoke back to Serie with a frank tone, “Yes, and it was a lesson learned early enough outside a combat situation.” she answered with a straight look back at Serie.

With a smirk, Serie expressed her thoughts on Teufel’s answer with an amused tone, “So what else have you done concerning magic?” she asked as the two of them pushed their way past a double doorway that led into a moderate sized garden, “You’ve lived long enough to develop your own magic, yes?” she questioned the young half elf.

While Teufel and Serie made their way towards the center of the garden, the half elf Teufel spoke back to Serie with a cautious tone, “I…” She began to say with an uncertain look on her face, as the two of them halted in the midst of the open area of the building, “Well I can say I developed my own magic in a way…I have been trying to develop something of my own.” Teufel began to explain.

Teufel

If she were any other person, or even a human of this world, she’d say this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to converse with the renowned Serie, the living Grimoire and head of the Continental Mage Association, but considering her circumstances, this was an inevitable discussion she would doubtlessly have with the mythical Great Mage; her mother was the apprentice of Flamme, and Flamme herself was the apprentice of the very elf herself in front of Teufel.

Really, if anything, Serie seemed more curious about the half elf’s discovery of magic, and what she’s learned so far; it was a given that the elf mage was adamant to know what Frieren has been teaching her own daughter.

Opening her mouth to speak, Teufel expressed a curious look on her face as she continued to speak with Serie, “I’ve also been experimenting on various other means to conjure magic with, and so far, the compatibility has borne some fruit after many trials and errors.” the half elf explained to Serie.

Serie seemed to allow a curious look of her own to cross her features as she faced Teufel, a gleam in her eyes gleamed a bit as she spoke with the half elf, “Oh? Do tell.” the elf urged Teufel.

For Teufel, she was sure it has been attempted before, but at the current stage of humanity and how far education has come for the world, she wasn’t sure how far arithmetic mathematical equations have developed in the world she has come to know for her third life, “Well…” she began to answer with a sideways look in thought, “Imagination was all well in good in the first two decades of my mother teaching me magic, but I wanted to tried other methods to expand how efficient spells could act in any given circumstances.”

Looking back at Serie, Teufel spoke with a reserved tone, “I’ve attempted many times to use mathematical equations into the mix of conjuring magic.” she explained, “There has been quite the divide in what spells work well with equations.” Teufel discussed with an annoyed look.

Serie smirked with a smug look in response to Teufel’s explanation, “Let me guess, your offensive spells are the divided ones, while the rest of what you know, do not mix well with mathematical equations?” she questioned the half elf with an amused look in her eyes.

Teufel looked back at Serie with a flat look, “Yes, but after many configurations to the equations of math I applied into the spells, I’ve found that some needed adjustments, while others were simply incompatible with mathematics conjured into the mix.” 

“hmm…I see…” Serie mused with a more interested look in her eyes, “I highly doubt using something grounded as math, helped you conjure your spells.” she remarked, earning a nod from Teufel.

“You could say that, but it also helps me conserve mana in casting the spells.” Teufel refuted with a straight look, “Imagination, be it limitless, still needs mana to fuel it for spells, thus I have found using a certain setup of mine I created to help me create certain spells that relies on efficient use of my mana, to help me understand the feel of how much mana I need to pour into my spells.” she explained to Serie, earning a rare chuckle and smirk from the elf herself.

“You remind me a lot of Zahlen.” Serie expressed with a sideways look of nostalgia, “He never reached the plateau that Lernen reached, but he was very astute that math had a place in magic casting.” she remarked fondly, before looking back at Teufel with a sharp frown, “Unfortunately, he never lived past his forties, the war with the demons saw to it that he was needed at his hometown.” Serie stated with a flat look.

“Oh…” Teufel remarked with an uncertain look, “I…at least he defended his home…right?” she asked cautiously, the Elf Serie seemed to have some fondness for whoever this Zahlen was, which the name itself was far too coincidental for the mage himself.

“”Yeah.” Serie responded with a gruff and annoyed look to the side, before stepping off to walk around the garden they both stood at the center of, “But he was not the only one to delve into arithmetic spells, nor was he the last, but over the centuries, the common belief of using one's imagination always triumphed over using something grounded.” the elf mused as she reached out to brush her hand along the tulip flowers in the garden bed she walked beside.

Serie paused in her steps and looked back over at Teufel with a rueful smug look, “Magic in of itself, does not like to be contained to the whims of our world, it is why imagination is our staple, for imagination is boundless and limitless.” she followed up saying.

Teufel, who still stood at the center of the garden, spoke to Serie, “On that, I understand, it took me decades even to learn that I had to create my own spells to work with the combination of imagination and arithmetic equations.” 

“Oh?” Serie began to remark with newfound interest on the subject, and turned herself fully to face Teufel and walk back over to converse with her at a slow gait in her walk, “You’ve made your own spells?” she inquired, her interest seemed to always pique on the subject matter pertaining to spells.

As Serie stopped short a few steps away from Teufel, the half elf herself spoke with an uncertain look, “Well…it has taken me a while to get them working, but I have had success recently in finally getting them to cast the appropriate way I intended the spells to act.” 

“Care to…show me?” Serie asked Teufel with a growing smirk and gleam of interest in her eyes.

Elsewhere Near Heiter’s Cabin

Fern

The young girl could say the recent years of her life living with Master Heiter was fun, interesting, and full of life, more so for Master Heiter himself than her really, ever since Mistress Frieren and her daughter came to visit.

Mistress Frieren herself has been very helpful in making her efforts in mastering Zoltraak that much faster, and her ever studious venture of repaying Master Heiter for saving herself from ending her life. She wanted to be able to fend for herself, so that master Heiter could pass on knowing she would be okay on her own.

And while she knew the half elf was older than her, by many decades even, it was a quiet part of herself that was glad to have a friend around, albeit one that was older than her but looked around Fern’s age.

Currently on her own while Mistress Freiren was inside with Master Heiter in deciphering that book of his, Fern was presently trying out that spell she saw Teufel did with the logs; with her staff out in her hands, the young girl levitated a log to stand upright on the stump. It should be simple really, imagine her staff to a sharp axe as she swung it into the log, only with magic, she could imagine so much more.

Inherently, if Fern did this right, she should imagine the log to be a stick of butter while her staff was the sharpest butter knife in the world. Mistress Frieren always said that imagination was a key factor to any spell, and what Teufel did with her attempt in splitting a log down the middle exemplified that. A perfect cut.

Getting herself into a stance with her staff, the young girl Fern hefted her staff over her shoulder in a ready position to swing it down at the log; puffing her cheeks out as she readied her first attempt, Fern imagined the spell she witnessed, gathered her mana appropriately, and with a great overarching swing, Fern swung her staff down at the log standing upright.

THUNK

Blinking a few times as the harsh sound of wood echoing into her ears died down, Fern lifted her staff up and inspected her work, and smiled a bit as she noticed a small cut sliced into the top of the log that still stood upright; Mistress Frieren was right, things took practice, but with a lot of effort, she could accomplish what she wanted.

With a nod to herself, Fern hefted her staff back over her shoulder and began to walk off to her practice location; she couldn’t divert her attention away mastering the Zoltraak spell, as Fern had no idea how much longer master Heiter had. 

Inside Heiter’s Cabin

The old priest could not help but chuckle warmly at what he saw outside his window, as he stood with his cane in hand to help him stand; stepping away from his window, Heiter walked towards his table to sit and finish the rest of his tea.

As he sat down, Heiter expressed a warm smile; while the old priest picked up his cup of tea and sipped from it, he had pleasant thoughts that he would be leaving this world as having done one last good thing…besides saving the country from the demon king.

Even Eisen himself invested himself in teaching some young kid how to fight, contrary to the boy’s attitude of being a coward. 

“You think I’m brave, fighting those monsters and demons? Think again, Heiter. Everytime I fight, I find myself shaking, but that doesn’t stop me from fighting.”

Taking another sip from the fresh brew of tea that Fern made before she left the cabin, Heiter could not help but think of the words Eisen said about his opinion of being a capable fighter.

Unable to suppress a warm chuckle from his lips, Heiter lowered his cup of tea and set it down so that he could gaze out through his window. Everyone in their party would be leaving a legacy behind. Himmel left behind a very surprising legacy in the form of Teufel, something neither he nor Eisen saw coming, as both of them believed Frieren would understand to reciprocate the feelings Himmel had for her. It was good though, in the end, that Himmel passed away knowing he left behind something of his to Frieren.

Frieren

The more she delved and decrypted the book Heiter asked of her to work on, the eventuality of her coming to terms that the ‘corrupt’ priest was just stringing her along to stay and help Fern complete her mastery over Zoltraak.

Currently pouring herself over the book in question as she held an ink pen in hand and scribbled words into a readable text on blank sheets of paper, Frieren found many inconsistencies within the book itself that held nothing close to immortality or longevity; perhaps if she decrypted everything, she would be able to make a concise effort of seeing if what the book held within its pages encrypted wording of an actual spell.

Really, she has come across quite a few grimoires and books that made her put in the work in seeing behind the wording, and finally understanding what spell or spells the book was written for; so it would not surprise Frieren if this book was one of those that require extra effort in deciphering the passages of words apart.

Oftentimes, books would detail a recipe for cooking, but when you picked apart the letters, the books conveyed the actual spell; other times, the books were full of poems or a complete story. Frieren herself enjoyed a bit of the challenge itself, but sometimes she liked it better when the books just out right convey what spell or spells they were intended to teach, which was more often the not most of the books she had found or acquired over the many centuries.

Pausing in her work of decrypting the book in front of her, Frieren looked up and out the nearby window of Heiter’s study, “hmm.” She hummed to herself in thinking, her eyes took in the peaceful sight outside Heiter’s cabin. Teaching Fern was interesting in of itself as a side bit to the current work she was doing, and Teufel was enjoying sticking around and visiting the nearby city. So she could not really say she hated sticking around for too long.

Looking back at her work in front of her, Frieren continued to think to herself; Fern shouldn’t be too far along in her mastery over Zoltraak, so she should hurry in deciphering the book. She wanted to leave and continue exploring the countryside, rather than stick around in one spot for too long.

She had done it before, before Himmel and the others came to her to acquire her help, but after experiencing the journey of exploring the many wonders of the countryside, Frieren could not help but express within herself her fondness of delving into dungeons, wandering into caves, and discovering hidden an ancient temples.

Perhaps it was her nostalgia of the very short ten years she’s experienced with Himmel, Eisen and Heiter, but it was also her longtime passion of gathering spells and grimoires; to discover how much humans have developed magic long after her master convinced the emperor to allow study into magic.

Smiling to herself, Frieren went back to work deciphering the book in front of her. Whatever the book was hiding, she was sure Teufel was having just as much fun in exploring whatever caught her fancy in the city; as young as she looked, that child of herself was fully capable of defending herself from any would-be bandit or annoyance, she saw too it at that in making sure that the young half elf knew how to properly project a shield as well as fire off a spell expertly. 

Chapter Text

“Show me.” Serie told Teufel with an expectant but very curious look as she grinned a bit at the half elf girl.

Teufel looked back up at Serie with an equally curious look at the elf woman, “I can…and I do have my work documented…” she began to say with a certain look on her face, “However, I am not about to just show and give my work for nothing in return.” Teufel challenged back.

Serie, with an ever widening grin, looked down at the half elf girl, “Oh? Even better. Tell you what.” she began to bargain with the half elf child as she paced around the girl, who tracked her movement as the elf circled around the girl, “If you provide enough evidence and substantial written work, then I will provide you a grimoire of your choosing…” she trailed off saying while circling back around to look directly at Teufel.

Teufel’s eyes where now as sharp as ever at Serie’s bargain, and could not help but gleam a rather expectant smirk of her own, “I see…” she said with an anticipated tone, “Then I shall leave for the day, I’ll be needing to gather my things and come back tomorrow to earn a book.” she challenged back.

“Good.” Serie remarked with a smirk, before allowing her expression to become dull as she looked elsewhere, “Now begone, and make haste.” she ordered with a bored look on her face, earning an annoyed look from Teufel as the half elf marched off.

Present

Continental Magic Association Building

As Serie stood outside with Sense standing beside her while standing away from the entrance, the elf and apprentice watched the half elf girl walk back to the cabin she said she was staying at for the time being. While Serie expressed an amused but small smirk on her face, Sense kept up a placid and calm look as she watched the little half elf girl walk off.

“Sense.” Serie spoke up, earning a slow look from Sense as the young first-class mage lady looked over at her master, “Do you ever get the feeling you will ever see a new field of study in magic in your lifetime?” the elf asked in a very curious tone.

Sense, tilting her head a bit at the question, gave her master a negative head shake after thinking on it, “No, Mistress Serie.” she answered, before looking back in the direction of the young half elf girl that was already far off in the distance down the street. “Does it have to do with that girl you spoke with?” she asked curiously. 

Serie, looking back in the same direction too, spoke with an ever present excited small grin, “It does…” she answered as the two stood in silence for a bit, before Serie spoke some more on the topic, “I do so hope she has substantial evidence of her work.” she began to muse, earning more of Sense’s attention with a calm sideways glance. “She’s had all the time to document her work afterall.” Serie said as she watched the Half elf girl finally disappear as the girl turned on the street.

Getting a little more curious now, as to what the girl researched on that has caught her master’s attention in such a way, Sense spoke with a soft curious tone, “What is the girl researching on that has caught your interest, mistress Serie?” the young first-class mage asked, as Serie began heading back in through the entrance with Sense following after her.

While the two walked in through the front entrance, Serie spoke with a momentary glance over at Sense as they walked through the building, “There have been mages throughout time that have wanted to test mathematics with magic, with Zahlen being the most recent one.” the elf answered her apprentice as the two of them continued to walk beside each other.

Earning a curious but attentive look from Sense, Serie took that cue to continue on, “That Teufel girl, contrary to her looks, is over eighty years old, and in that time, has had enough time in a field of study where Zahlen failed to continue before his life was cut short.” The elf explained to her young apprentice.

“I see…” Sense said, her tone still placid but a hint of curiosity were in her eyes as she looked forward while walking alongside her master. “Then I see what your question meant.” she remarked in her ever soft and placid tone.

Heiter’s Cabin

With the day waning into the twilight hours, Teufel was presently making her way out of the woods and into the clearing where Heiter’s cabin stood; the half elf walked at a relaxed gait as she headed towards the front door. While Teufel approached the front door, from out of the woods in the opposite direction of where she came from, came Fern with a basket of herbs and mushrooms she collected from the woods.

“Oh! You’re back!” Fern remarked in an observant tone as the young girl hurried over to go inside Heiter’s cabin along with Teufel. “How was your visit to the city?” she asked the half elf girl with an excited tone.

Teufel, who was in the midst of reaching up for the doorknob to Heiter’s cabin front door, paused and looked over at Fern as the young girl caught up with the half elf, “It was…” she paused in thinking while opening the door for Fern to enter first, before letting herself in next, “interesting to say the least.” she answered with a thoughtful look.

As the two girls entered the cabin, Fern spoke again to converse with the half elf, “Did you find whatever it was you were looking for on your own?” she inquired as the two of them calmly walked through the main room of the cabin.

“More like someone found me, really.” Teufel answered Fern with a frank tone while she entered the kitchen area with Fern following after her.

“Oh!” Fern said with a surprised look, she herself stepped into the kitchen to begin making the dinner prep with the herbs and mushrooms she found in the woods. “So that means you did not have the time to look for any books on goddess magic and how it works?” she asked earnestly.

While Fern pulled herself her stool to allow her access to the island counter, Teufel was in the midst of pulling out one of her suitcases that she stored beside the kitchen window that was just precariously lying there. “Unfortunately, no, but an equal opportunity presented itself during my trip in the city.” she answered while hefting her suitcase over onto the floor while kneeling next to it.

As Teufel unclasped her suitcase, she continued to talk with Fern, “I know I should have asked Heiter for any knowledge on goddess magic, but given his state, I did not want to pester him.” she commented.

Fern nodded in understanding as she began chopping the mushrooms with a simple knife, “I’m sure he’d be fine with it, nonetheless.” she argued with a small smile.

Just as Teufel was about to deny the help from an aging man that was in such an advanced age, Heiter himself spoke up from the other room, “What’s this I hear?” he asked as he hobbled his way into the kitchen with an amused look on his face. “Teufel, I couldn't help but overhear you two from the room over.” he remarked.

“Ah.” Teufel expressed with an uncertain look as she remained on her knees next to her suitcase, her gaze directed over up at Heiter who stood in the entrance way of the kitchen, “I didn’t want to trouble you, really, and sought some knowledge on goddess magic.” she answered the aging priest.

Heiter chuckled warmly as he stood with his cane in hand helping him stand up, “Think nothing of it, Teufel, if you had asked, I would have given what books I have, no reason to go off on your own like that without asking.” he remarked with an amused smile.

Teufel sighed to herself, and smiled a bit back at Heiter, “That…that is acceptable.” she answered the man, before getting back to digging through her suitcase. “But, regardless, I plan on going back to the city tomorrow, I have some business to finish, and a grimoire to acquire.”

Frieren

Noting that the day was almost over from the window of the study she was working in, Frieren sighed to herself as she pushed herself away from the desk, the chair itself that she sat on made scratching noises against the floor as she pushed the chair out from under her to stand up and leave the room.

Making her way out of the study, Frieren internally thought to herself; while it was nice to stay in one spot for the time being, she really liked to head out and explore a dungeon or two to find a grimoire or a hoard of treasure. ‘It’s been more than…what…three or so years since Teufel and I came here?’ Frieren thought to herself in questioning, unsure how much time had passed, be it a year or so.

While Frieren walked out into the main room that led to the kitchen and cabin entrance door, she saw Heiter standing in the middle of the entrance to the kitchen, speaking with Fern and Teufel, whose voice she heard along with Heiter’s while she was making her way through the small hallway of the cabin.

“-without asking.” Heiter finished speaking, while Frieren walked toward him.

Teufel spoke back at Heiter from within the kitchen, “That…that is acceptable.” Teufel’s voice echoed from out of the kitchen as the half elf herself was in the midst of doing something. “But, regardless, I plan on going back to the city tomorrow, I have some business to finish, and a grimoire to acquire.”

Heiter, who turned around, greeted Frieren with a nod before making his way to the table in the main room.

At the mention of a grimoire to acquire, Frieren spoke up as she walked into the kitchen to converse with her Daughter, “What’s that about a grimoire?” she asked with an interested smile, to which Teufel looked up from her briefcase, “Ah, it’s a bit of a story, really.” Teufel answered Frieren.

“I see.” Frieren mused on what her daughter said, approaching her half elf child to see what she was doing, “It’s been a bit of a day for me really, deciphering that book…what sort of event did you run into that makes it a story?” she asked her daughter.

Teufel, Pausing in her current activity of rummaging through her suitcase of booklets, looked back up at Frieren with a cautious look, “Well….” she started with saying while looking up unsuredly, before looking back at her mother with a steadfast look in her eyes, “I sort of ran into another elf…someone I know you are familiar with.” she answered Frieren.

Her attention now fully on Teufel, Frieren bent at her knees to converse more directly with her daughter, expressing a surprised look, “Oh…was Serie at the city?” she asked, more surprise than anything.

It was a possible outcome for Frieren’s daughter to eventually meet Serie, one way or another, but for the life of her, Frieren never imagined it to happen so soon…or maybe it was just the right time?... ‘I wonder what Serie had to say to Teufel when the two met.’ were Frieren’s passing thoughts.

Teufel, going back to arranging the booklets in her suitcase to take out and go through as she took out some and left in others, spoke back to Frieren in a casual tone while her focus was on her various booklets, “Yes, in fact, she was.” Teufel nodded as she finished taking out the booklets she wanted and set them aside, before shutting her suitcase closed.

“Hmm… I see…” Frieren said with a curious tone, “And she was the one that offered a grimoire to you?” she asked inquisitively, watching as her Daughter carried her suitcase back to where she got it from, and picked up another one to set down and open.

“More like she gave me a challenge for one.” Teufel answered her mother, the half elf girl began to rummage in her other suitcase of various leaflet pages of papers that detailed many intricate number formulas and inscription circles written by the half elf in her ever ongoing project with calculations.

“Sorry, but who is this Serie elf you two are speaking about?” Fern spoke up as she finished chopping a few radishes, and pushed them aside while setting down her knife.

“Hmm?” Frieren hummed as she calmly stood up and looked over at her impromptu apprentice she had been teaching over the years or so she had been here, “Oh...right…” Freiren nodded in understanding that Fern wanted some context to who she and her daughter were speaking about, “Uh…How should I put this…” she remarked while tilting her head a bit as she thumbed her chin in thought.

Looking back at Fern while Teufel was busy doing her own thing in the background, Frieren spoke with the girl as she approached the island counter to converse with Ferm “Serie…is…well she is a very long lived elf…she was the master to my master, so to speak.” She tried to answer the human apprentice of her’s as plainly as possible.

Looking to the side a bit, Frieren also added, “Though, if you need to know any more than that, she is also head of the Continental Magic Association.” she explained, haphazardly shrugging.

With a wide eyed look, “OH!” Fern remarked with a surprised expression on her face, and looked over at Teufel who was in the midst of organizing her booklets and notes together, “And you met her?” she asked, surprised at the luck that Teufel had.

Grumbling a bit to herself, Teufel spoke back to Fern as she finished organizing her things together and put them all back into the suitcase she brought out, “Met and coerced to follow her.” she answered.

“Let me guess.” Frieren started saying with an unsurprised face, “Do what she says or be banned?” she questioned her daughter.

As Teufel finished packing her notes for tomorrow, she stood up and faced her mother with a raised eyebrow, “What, do you know her that well enough?” her daughter asked her.

With an amused smirk, Frieren spoke back to Teufel, “Let’s just say, I doubt she changed that much since the last time we met.” She explained.

“Figures.” Teufel commented, as Frieren’s daughter walked over to Fern, “Need any help finishing dinner?” her half elf daughter asked the human apprentice of hers, while Frieren walked away out of the kitchen to wait for dinner to be finished.

“Oh! Sure!” Fern’s voice echoed from the kitchen as Frieren made her way towards the table that Heiter sat at.

While the two girls helped themselves in making dinner for the four of them, Frieren spoke up as she pulled a chair out from the table of the main room to sit with Heiter and converse with him. “I should be about half way done with that book you need me to decipher.” she talked to him.

With an amused look in his eye, Heiter looked back at Frieren with a knowing look, “And? Anything so far you learned from the book?” he asked.

Frieren shook her head calmly, “Nope, not really, just a lot of recipes for making soups. The Sage is definitely hiding something in his notes though, something I’ve come across in other books from his time.” She answered him.

Chortling a bit on his part, Heiter spoke back to Frieren with a fond smile, “I thank you though, for all your work…by the way, your daughter had brought up something that you should know.” he remarked, earning a curious look from Frieren.

“Oh?” Frieren began to inquire, her attention on Heiter as she looked at the priest, “What it be?” she asked the old priest.

“Oh, you know, just the curiosity into goddess magic.” Heiter answered Frieren with a small but amused smile, “She’s welcome to try her hand at it, and I have the books on the subject.”

“Huh…” Frieren began to muse as she conversed with Heiter, tilting her head a bit in thought, “Do you not need to go through something first or something to even cast goddess spells?” she asked Heiter.

“Well…” Heiter began to explain with an uncertain look, “The Goddess magic is utilized by priests, and Teufel is no priest for one thing, and second, the spells are done with the assistance of holy scriptures.” He explained shortly, earning a nod from Frieren.

“That’s right.” Frieren commented, “I remember you always needing that one book of yours to cast the spells you learned.” 

 Heiter, smiling back at Frieren, “I’m actually touched you remember that much.” he remarked in jest at Frieren. “In those ten years of our adventures, I wasn’t sure if you’d bother to remember much of it at all with that long lifespan of yours.”

Frieren expressed a frown at that, “Not my fault those ten years felt go by fast, you humans see time flow differently.” she shot back at him, earning a hearty chuckle from the old priest.

“Anyway…” Heiter continued from where he left, “I do not know if Teufel would even possess the natural talent like I did, as priests are usually granted the blessing by the goddess herself to be able to cast such spells.”

Remembering the vague memories of the various murals she’s seen of the goddess herself, and how they always portray her with pointed ears, Frieren had a passing thought of asking Serie a pertinent question, but chose not to say it to Heiter.

Opting to otherwise nod to the aging priest, “Who knows…” Frieren said with an amused smirk, “she might like Teufel and give her a blessing to cast her spells.” she joked, earning a chuffed chuckle from Heiter.

Author’s notes; Anyone else play genshin impact? The latest Archon Quests of Natlan was quite the…experience shall I say without spoiling anything for anyone that does play the game and has yet to play the chapters.

Chapter Text

Past

Teufel, 10 years of age

It was a stark realization, that in my present situation, there would be no reason to find a reasonable career that would provide a retirement; I could invest in some guild businesses that relied on trade, use what I know to help a growing trade business, but that would demand that I stay in one spot for a considerable time.

Not that that would be a problem, given my situation as a half elf. My mother herself is an elf and well over a thousand years old, and she herself was a full blooded elf; that made me think about it, as many iterations of elves in plenty of literature from my first life never stayed true to one defining age limit of elves and half elves.

Back to the topic of what to do with my life, I suppose I could invest in a venture that was not too risky, and regularly receive updates via snail mail; given how mother enjoys her traveling, and taking me with her on her travels while at the same time teaching me how to cast magic, I would be stuck for the foreseeable future of having my mail sent to father. 

I’m sure father would appreciate the income, after I find an appropriate venture to fund; Perhaps after mother finally takes me into a dungeon, I can acquire myself whatever treasure that I find and use that to fund my need for a steady income.

It certainly beats seeing mother worry about if we have enough funds to stay for the night at an inn, before bargaining with the workers with applying her magic to help in any endeavor they need done. A lot of the times, the requests mother gets is cleaning up statues, restructuring walls, to defeating the local monster menace.

Half the time, the pay is passable, other times, she just accepts the offer of letting us stay for the night at whatever place we are at for the time being. 

“Hey.” my mother’s voice prompted my train of thought to cease, as I walked beside her on a dirt path. “We’re finally at the harbor.” Mother remarked as she and I reached the apex of the hill we walked up on.

Hefting the slightly oversized baggage that I insisted I carry with the assistance of using the leather weight spell mother taught me, I beheld the sight before me as Mother and I stood atop the hill where the dirt path led up over and back down towards the town harbor.

Seeing the sight of what looked straight out of a fantasy old picture, given the state of wooden ships and sails that propelled them forward with this assistance of wind, and the many horse drawn carriages that went in and out of the harbor. “You think someone painted this scene and framed it?” I asked my mother.

From the corner of my eyes as I beheld the scenery, mother smiled in amusement as she too looked forward at the harbor, “I’m sure someone did, I do not doubt that one bit…come on.” she urged me with her as she and I began making our way down the hill.

Whatever the case may be that mother wished to visit this harbor for, I certainly could not complain. The sea breeze was a definite welcome feeling and smell, a stark contrast to my busy first life and ‘hectic’ second life of seeing the ocean.

Present

Teufel yawned as she was in the midst of checking her briefcase, instinctively covering her mouth while yawning before bringing her hand away from her mouth to completely shut her briefcase back up. Her dream last night seemed to replay a bit of her early memories as a half elf, the harbor her mother took her to was very diverse in a collection of goods and wares.

If she remembered correctly, it was right around the time she wanted to figure out on translating what she knew about mana in her second life, and made a bid in an effort to see how well mathematics worked in this world’s magic system.

Short answer, it did not. It took her decades just to reconfigure everything she knew about this world's magic, just to get an artillery formula spell to work.

Imagination was definitely a better tool than using math magic, by far in the long run, as calculating everything down to its molecular structure was a very heavy undertaking task; theoretically, if she wanted, she could cast a nuclear spell with her own imagination, given the fact she knew what an atomic bomb could do, or not, she had not tried the thought yet.

Realistically…she would rather not test such a feat unless she was good and ready to test her luck…preferably with a heavy load of barrier spells, a barren open field, and no one around to suffer the blast radius.

The thought of creating this world’s first war crime spell aside, Teufel stood up from kneeling next to her briefcase, and walked to the kitchen island counter, before hopping herself up on the stool that Fern used to give herself access to the countertop.

Grabbing her mug of koffee to drink the remaining bit of the drink she had available, she really needed to see if the city sold any koffee grounds.

With her last bit of koffee drunk, Teufel set the mug back aside and hopped off from the stool before making her way over to her briefcase to pick it up; with her work inside it all neatly organized and packed, the half elf was safe in the knowledge that the trip back to the city would be uneventful.

“Going back to the city?” Frieren spoke softly in a questioning tone, interrupting Teufel’s thought process as the half elf turned around, only to find her mother standing in the midst of the entrance to the kitchen.

“!!!” Teufel, withholding a shout so as to not cause a ruckus, stumbled back with a surprised look on her face, while clutching her chest as she felt her beating heart increase in tempo before calming down. “Mother!” Teufel hissed in a low tone of voice, before changing to look like that of a surprised expression, “You’re up early!” she remarked.

Teufel had made sure she did not bother either her mother or Fern from her getting up and out of the guest room, she also was sure her mother was not that well versed in being sneaky on her; that, or her mother was holding back on her or she was just too absorbed in her thoughts to notice and hear the soft footsteps of her mother.

With a mischievous look on her face, Frieren smiled warmly down at her daughter, “I know. I thought I should come with you.” she answered her daughter, before suddenly frowning with a sideways look, “Besides, I need some supplies from the city.” she idly added.

“....Right.” Teufel commented at her mother’s explanation, and gave Frieren a judgemental look.

With a slightly offended look, Frieren looked back at her Daughter, “It’s true…I do need more supplies…” she wanted to mope a bit as she pressed her index fingers into each other, “And maybe a few books…and some snacks…and.-”

Withholding herself from eye rolling at her mother, who no doubt just wanted to leave the cabin for the day, and was probably getting cabin fever, Teufel spoke back to her mother with a calm and patient tone, “Mother.” the half elf spoke up softly, her expression flat as Frieren looked at her daughter with an embarrassed look.

“Sorry.” Frieren said to her daughter with a sly look, “Poor excuses, I know.” she told Teufel.

“Right.” Teufel agreed with her mother, and moved to leave the cabin with her briefcase in hand, “You just want to make sure Serie doesn’t do anything bad or something, right?” she questioned her mother as she reached the front door.

Frieren, having walked along with her Daughter to the front door, reached for the doorknob first to open the door for her daughter to let her out first, “Something like that, and I’m feeling a little stir crazy.” Frieren commented back to the daughter as the duo exited the cabin and started the journey to the city in the early morning.

‘Thought so’ Teufel mentally thought to herself as the two walked beside each other towards the city of Strahl.

Continental Magic Association Building

While indeed, her mother did want to come back with her to the city of Strahl, Teufel could not blame the elf for wanting to stock up on supplies for the upcoming winter, so as to not need to leave the cabin and its surroundings. The both of them had bought a few things from a store that sold the necessities for writing, before mother and daughter continued their journey towards the destination Teufel had in mind from the start.

Presently, as Teufel and Frieren stood within the main lobby of the building of mages, the elf herself couldn’t help but look around in curiosity.

“They have expanded this building quite a bit since I was last here….” Frieren commented as she and Teufel approached the front desk.

Before either Teufel could respond to her mother’s comment, or Frieren could say anymore about the expanse of the mage building, Serie’s voice broke through the atmosphere of the lobby. “But of course, cause why else would human’s settle for just a simple building?” Serie remarked with a sly smirk as she walked down from one of the staircases.

As the elf walked down the staircase, behind her, her mage apprentice Sense was not far behind her. Serie continued to speak as both mother and daughter directed their attention to her as she spoke aloud for her voice to reach them, “Frieren, I know you felt my mana from afar from that nice little cabin in the woods, but it took you this long to visit me?” she asked smugly.

Teufel looked between her mother and Serie as Frieren walked over to meet Serie halfway within the midst of the lobby, while Sense stood behind to watch from afar with a bored look on her face; the young apprentice herself gave Teufel a momentary glance of attention before drawing her gaze back to her master Serie.

While Frieren and Serie stood apart from one another, Frieren spoke back to Serie in a blase tone, “Not really.” she answered, earning an annoyed look from Serie, “I have my own things to do, then to periodically visit you every hundred years.” She shot back, earning a heavy frown from Serie.

“Try a thousand years, Frieren, much has changed over the years.” Serie wanted to scold Frieren for her sense of time, “I get you were the one that was part of the hero party, but it would be great if you bothered to drop in every once in a generation of humans to show how a mage really operates.” she remarked while shooting an annoyed sideways look off into the air. 

Frieren, unable to help herself, expressed a flat look back at Serie, “Yes, well, Flamme insisted I never leave a mark on history, until I defeat the demon king.” she answered the other elf, earning a curious look from Serie the moment she mentioned Flamme.

“Of course that old apprentice of mine would plan that far ahead…” Serie grumbled as she walked off towards the back of the lobby, before pausing in her steps, “But enough about this…” Serie remarked, annoyance laced into her tone, the elf glanced back at Frieren, “Today, I wish to see what your daughter has come up with, as I am very curious as to what spells she concocted up with mathematics.” she announced.

With a dawning realization on her face, Frieren spoke with some interest in her tone as she glanced at her daughter, “Oh, does that mean you finalized your project?” she questioned her daughter.

Seeing the attention drawn on her, Teufel spoke back to her mother with a pointed look, “I’ve stress tested two…no, three spell formulas so far, but it has been a slow discovery of what works and what doesn’t.” she answered her mother plainly.

Serie, smirking a bit in satisfaction at what Teufel was claiming, spoke back over to the daughter of Freiren, “Good, all the more for you to test your spells again in a more controlled environment, I want to see where you succeeded and Zahlen failed.” Serie spoke with a fascinated look in her eyes while keeping a smirk up.

Looking back over at Serie, Teufel questioned the elf, “I’m sorry, who?” the half elf said, her expression was that of confusion, “I do not know who that is.” 

Serie, expressing a bored look while looking off to the side, a habit she tends to express a lot, spoke back, “I suppose you would not, nor any of the others that have attempted any merit of incorporating math with magic.” she wistfully remarked, before turning fully to continue heading to the back, “Now come, I grow bored of this room.” she ordered in a crisp tone.

While Serie walked off with Sense, who spared the mother and daughter a glance before following her master, Teufel looked up at her mother’s face with a questioning look, “Was she like this the last time you interacted with her?” she asked.

Frieren took the initiative of following after Serie with Teufel walking in step with her mother, before she opened her mouth to speak while expressing a dulled look, “More or less, the only thing different is now she’s in charge of all this mage stuff, last I heard.” she answered her daughter’s question with a haphazard shrug.

krackoom 

Serie watched from the side of Teufel as she witnessed what the half elf called a penetration formula, of which required an object to use as a projectile; Serie had one of the attendants within the testing field grounds to procure a few ball bearings that they had on hand. 

Expressing some modicum of intrigue, to the spell that relied on a form of mathematics that Teufel claimed worked with the spell formula, Serie spoke with some reservation in her tone, “And that’s the best the spell can do?” she asked, prudent on knowing if the girl was holding back, or if there were levels to the spell.

Far away from them all, Frieren and Sense included who stood a bit back to watch the demonstration of Teufel’s research, the targets that the half elf was charged with testing her spell on were multiple tall slabs of granite; each one had a hole smaller than the last until it stopped at the second to last one, ten in total.

Teufel could not help herself but glower at the elf as she held her staff at her side, “this is the second time I’ve casted the spell. As I said before, what I’ve been researching has been many theoricals, I’ve just now gotten into the practical use after much calibration of the numbers and mana needed!” 

Serie continued to look at the work that the half elf’s spell accomplished, and smirked a bit, “Good, then that means there’s much room for improvement.” she applauded, before looking back down at Teufel. “Now what other spells can you show that are in the practical phase!?” she questioned urgently, fixated on seeing new types of spells.

Over with Frieren, as she watched her daughter project and show what she called an observation formula, a spell of which showed a remarkable detail of all the mana signatures within a given radius, She spoke to the human girl that stood beside her, “So…how has Serie been treating you as one of her apprentices?” she questioned the girl with remarkably long hair.

“Hmm?” Sense dully looked over at Frieren beside her, and spoke in a nonchalant tone, “She’s been a good teacher, really…” she answered the elf, “A bit hard to please though, when she keeps measuring us up to flamme…it gets really grating sometimes.”

“I heard that.” Serie hollered back at Sense, before resuming her conversation with Teufel as the half elf showed the elf how her spell worked.

“Well it’s true.” Sense hollered back dully, before calming her tone back down to speak plainly with Frieren while glancing at her, “But yes, Serie has been a very good instructor.” she nodded gently.

“Mhm, I see.” Frieren commented with a small smile, while Teufel began to show her a different spell called ‘artillery shot’, “I’m actually surprised it took her this long for her to take up another apprentice, it’s been well over a thousand years since she took in my master Flamme after all.” she commented idly.

 “Oh…Oh no, I’m just her recent apprentice.” Sense shook her head at Frieren as she explained the situation, “I’m not sure if she took on any more before Lernan, but he is her oldest apprentice thus far.” she corrected Frieren.

Tilting her head a bit at what Sense said, Frieren nodded to herself, “Yes, I assumed too much I suppose.” She remarked with an upward look in thought, before glancing back over at Sense, “Perhaps I should have popped in every hundred years or so.” she shrugged to herself.

With an amused smile but dull look in her eyes, Sense looked back at Frieren, “I must say though, it is a bit of a refresher to speak with another elf other than master Serie. I’ve never seen another elf other than her.” she couldn’t help but comment.

KROCKOOM

Unable to help but duck and cover their ears from the blistered sound of Teufel’s artillery spell, the half elf had aimed at a faraway granite obelisk that was now a pile of rubble. Sense was the first to speak as she uncovered her ears after reflexively needing to wince at the sudden loud sound, “What was that?” she questioned.

Serie, who still stood beside Teufel, frowned a bit at how loud the spell was, “Indeed, young child, spell don’t normally cause that loud of a sound…” she paused at her words as she tried to dredge up what spells might cause such a crack of loud sound.

Teufel looked at Serie with a pointed stare, “That would be…” she drawled out as she seemed to measure her words carefully, “The sound barrier being broken by a physical object.” she answered.

“Sound…Barrier…” Serie narrowed her eyes at the words, as she stewed over the explanation the half elf gave, “That…is not…hmmm….” She paused in her words again as she cupped her chin in thought while tilting her head a bit, “Wait…no…yes…Sound having barriers…I can see how that would exist…” she mused, before glancing at Teufel with a shining smirk, “Where and how did you come up with that concept?” she asked.

As Teufel began going into detail of what she knew about sound barriers, Sense looked over at Freiren who was expressing a proud smile, “Did or do you teach anyone else?” she idly questioned.

With a glance back at Sense, Frieren nodded once and spoke, “I sorta am at the moment, she’s been practicing Zoltraak.” 

“That’s…quite an undertaking task.” Sense could only comment with, and gave Frieren another sideways gaze, “But I do look forward to seeing if she shows up for the next third-grade mage exam.” she nodded to herself as she looked forward, “And I’m sure Master Serie would be too.”

Author’s note; There is a fine line between using mayo and miracle whip… then there is using ranch or blue cheese for buffalo wings, choose wisely heathens.

Not Beta read at the moment….

Chapter Text

Continental Mage Association

Testing grounds

After demonstrating to Serie the few spells Teufel managed to work in conjunction with using mathematics, the young half elf was now tasked in showing her written work that she brought with her. With a simple wooden table available for Teufel to set her things on it, the half elf had her briefcase atop it with it open for all to see the many stacks of papers and notebooks she stashed into it. Given her current body height though, Teufel was given a stool to stand on while Serie stood beside her as the elf watched the half elf pick out her notes. 

Frieren herself was standing opposite side of the table from her daughter, she’s seen enough of the work her little Teufel has put into her project, so it was no surprise to her to see so much written work involving many diagrams and numbers; there was a time her little Teufel needed help understand their world’s magic, but after that, her daughter took on magic like a duck to water.

Sense, seeing the amount of work the half elf put into her study of math being interwoven with magic, whilst standing on the same end of the table as Frieren, looked over at said elf with a curious look and calmly spoke, “By the way, there was a girl my master and I saw walk with your daughter out of the city a year back, is she your student?” she questioned, curiosity burdening her mind to ask the elf outright.

“Hmm?” Frieren hummed in question, giving Sense her attention while Teufel was organizing her paperwork from out of her briefcase, “Oh…” the elf began to say, smiling a bit in response, “Somewhat, I’m helping her finish develop her mastery of Zoltraak, on top of some other business have for the temporary time I am staying in this region.” she answered the apprentice of Serie.

Eyes widening partially at the tidbit of information, Sense looked at Frieren with an uncertain look, “But that girl couldn’t be anymore than eleven or twelve when I last saw her.” she remarked, surprised that a young girl was practicing her mastery over such a spell.

Frieren shrugged at Sense’s response, “She’s been doing fine so far, she just has trouble keeping her mana steady and consistent for the spell to work at its peak performance.” she answered, expressing a small smile.

Looking up over at the two, Serie allowed herself a smug smirk at Sense, “You should get used to the idea of old spells becoming easier to cast as time moves forward, Sense, not but fifty years ago, give or take, Zoltraak took any normal mage a considerable effort to understand and cast.” She informed her study, earning the attention of both Sense and Frieren while Teufel busied herself pulling out her notepads and making sure they were what she needed.

With a somewhat annoyed look that Sense gave her master, she spoke with flat tone, “Master, I just turned twenty, I’ve yet to even experience that length of time, so please, do not confuse me with Lernen or someone else that knows what it was like for spells of old to become common practice.” 

Unable to help herself in giving her apprentice a smirk, Serie looked over at Frieren with an expectant look, “Nevertheless, after this is over, if that young girl of yours finishes her mastery of Zoltraak in time, I am sure the upcoming third grade mage exam would be easy for her.” she noted.

Looking up while pausing in pulling out another notebook of her work, Teufel looked at Serie with a curious look, “Are there advantages to earning such a rank?” She questioned the elf, surprised at herself that she did not particularly know that much of the world she had come to know in her third life.

After hearing the half elf speak beside her, Serie looked back at Teufel, “A few.” the elf answered, before gesturing at all her written work she pulled out, “But we are getting off track a bit.” Serie remarked with a satisfied smirk while Teufel continued to pull out her written work, “I’ll look into copying these documents with one of my spells.” she noted, giving Teufel a sideways look of appreciation.

Pausing in checking her papers of various diagrams she had drawn out for her spells, Teufel looked over at her mother with curiosity, “...Mother…did you ever know any such spell?” she asked, as such a spell would have been instrumental in creating copies of her work early on in case some of it was destroyed.

Two years spent rewriting her notes after losing it from water damage, a hassle she later made sure to always keep her documents safe inside her briefcase.

Frieren shrugged at her daughter with a nonplussed look of indifference, “I do…but you never asked…” she answered with a certain shine of amusement in her eyes.

“...Right…” Teufel glowered a bit at her mother, before finishing up in pulling out her last notebook. 

The table was now covered in years of paperwork and notebooks that Teufel had spent delving into her field of magic study, Serie reached out and grabbed a notebook to begin flipping through it to skim through it, “This is good…very detailed…” she noted, and placed it down to pick up another notebook that was nothing but writing inside it, “And good penmanship.” she added, before putting it too back onto the table.

Teufel looked at Serie expectantly, “So…is the deal settled then?” she questioned the elf, who continued to look over her books and papers with an excited look.

Pausing, Serie placed the piece of paper she had just picked up to look at Teufel with a satisfied smile, “Yes, I do believe you accomplished the challenge I gave you.” she answered, while turning fully to look directly at the half elf that was standing on a stool.

“Do you already have a spell in mind that you know you want to learn?” Serie questioned Teufel, expecting the half elf to ask for some spell that her mother probably does not know.

Teufel pursed her lips in thought, before answering while giving her mother a sideways look, “That depends…mother, do you know a spell that aids the thought process of the mind?” she questioned Frieren.

With a surprised look on her behalf, Freiren tilted her head a bit to the side, “hmm?” she made a thoughtful look before shaking her head, “No…not yet…” she answered.

Serie expressed a satisfied smirk at the two, and looked at Teufel, “Of course you should ask what your mother knows first” she commented to the half elf with a broad smirk, “Afterall, she has lived long enough to have a wide knowledge of spells.” she noted, pleasantly glad the half elf had enough sense that she had two present elfs that could teach her spells.

With everything said and done, Serie had Sense acquire some help in gathering some blank books for her to copy the written work of Teufel; it was later after everything was finished, that Teufel packed her written work back up and followed Serie and Sense with her mother to a room where Serie kept a good portion of her grimoires within the building.

Later

A loud creaking sound of wooden doors opening greeted the room and the present three soon-to-be occupants as Serie led Teufel and Frieren into the room, Sense had wanted to busy herself with her own personal study of magic for the rest of the day, which suited Serie just fine.

As Teufel followed Serie in, with her mother trailing behind her at a relaxed gait, the young half elf took in the sight of the room; a few tables were littered with piles of books, to which she had noted the table were either built sturdy enough for such a feat, seeing how the piles nearly reached the ceiling, or the table were enchanted with magic to withstand the weight.

Given the circumstance, Teufel wagered the tables were built to be sturdy to hold such weight, but after a time, an enchantment would be needed to hold the insurmountable weight of books that piled atop them.

Teufel also saw that plenty of book piles littered the floor, which left her in the belief that Serie really needed to acquire herself bookshelves than simply let what she could only assume were the many grimoires that the elf had collected over the many centuries.

“Enjoying the sight?” Serie questioned the half elf as she approached her lone stone chair, and turned to sit in it, “It’s nothing like my personal room in Äußerst, but it holds a good collection of my grimoires.” she said to Teufel with a smug smirk as she relaxed in her chair.

Blinking a bit at the sudden question, Teufel stood before the half with Frieren standing beside her taking in some of the sight of the room Serie took them into, “I’m sorry to ask, but do you have anything against bookshelves?” she asked, since the topic was provided for her, Teufel gave Serie a questioning look, “Surely it would be better to shelve these books in an orderly fashion.” she pointed out.

While Frieren looked around and nodded in agreement, as it did make sense to have at least some orderly sense, Serie ceased making her smug smirk, and frowned a bit when she was questioned by the half elf. “I would…” she began to answer, and looked sideways a bit with a pondering look, “But I never get around to it…” she mused, before looking back at the two, “But you are right, it would be sensible to have these books shelved.”

Frieren, ever curious about the state of the books, with some looking ancient, questioned Serie, “Some of these books look beyond a thousand years.” she remarked, and looked straight at Serie, “I’ve never really looked at your collection of books to notice much until now.” she noted.

Serie glanced in Frieren directions, and spoke back to the elf with a proud smirk, “I have a few that are two thousand years old.” she informed her, “I have, in fact, quite a few spells on hand that can rejuvenate papers, repair books, restore them.” Serie then leaned to her side to reach for one of her books and held it up for the two to see, “This one is my favorite.” she remarked, its age looked remarkably pristine.

“This book.” Serie held it firmly in both hands, and smiled broadly, “Is over three thousand years old.” she said, a certain spark shone in her eyes as she presented it to Teufel and Frieren for their eyes to see, “A goddess grimoire, no less.” she smugly finished explaining, before setting the book aside.

“A goddess grimoire?” Teufel thought to herself with a questioning look on her face, and spoke aloud with a pertinent tone, “Wouldn’t such a book belong in a more protective place?” she asked, before realizing something, “You copied its contents.” she pointed out.

Serie smirked at Teufel as she rested her chin onto her fist as she shifted her seated form into a cross legged one, “Indeed, I did. Afterall, even if I returned the book to its pristine condition, it wouldn’t do to have such a rare book of an age go missing and lost to time.” she answered, earning a nod from Freiren in agreement, while Teufel looked around a bit more.

“So.” Serie spoke some more, watching the half elf look around, “Tell me, what sort of method do you want enhanced thought?” she questioned the girl.

Looking back at Serie, Teufel dwelled on her thought for a second, before answering the elf, “That depends, I want something that can aid my thoughts without severe side effects.” she answered.

Frieren looked at her daughter with an ever curious look, “Care to elaborate on this spell you are looking for?” she asked Teufel, “It might help narrow the specific spell that a grimoire would provide.” Frieren explained to Teufel.

Earning her attention, Teufel looked back up at her mother, “a combat advantage, really.” she answered, earning some note of understanding in her mother’s eyes, “While the spell I am looking for may help the thought process in thinking over things, I am looking for something that will help me in combat.” 

“Oh.” Frieren realized, and turned to fully face her Daughter with a more curious look, “Is it because of those instances we ran into dragons and other beasts that dwelled in the dungeons I took you with me into?” she asked, remembering when she and her daughter went on more adventurous tasks after she was sure Teufel could handle herself in combat.

Teufel shrugged at her mother’s question, “Not exactly.” she began to express an uncertain look, as she thumbed her chin in thought, “It’s not that hard to out think a simple beast or dragon that acts on instincts.” she explained, and began to look once more around the room at all the grimoires available, “If anything, I want something that benefits me in potential conflicts against other human mages, a trump card perhaps if possible.”

“Ah.” Serie noted, her interest peaked a bit as she removed her chin from her fist and rested her arms down against her knees and leaned forward with a keen look in her eyes, “That does indeed help narrow down the list of grimoires I have.” she remarked, and hopped down from her chair to walk over to one of her piles of books, “In fact, I have several books that provide different methods of enhanced thought.” she added.

Frieren, still looking down at her daughter, tilted her head a bit in questioning, “I would have thought that you wanted such a spell to fight against potential demons.” she noted, an ever curious tone in her voice, before looking off to the side, “Then again, I can count the few times on one hand that human mages have beaten me before.” she nodded to herself.

While Serie was sorting over the various books she had on hand that would suit Teufel request the best, said half elf turned to speak directly with her mother, “Exactly the point. I am under no illusion that I will one day find myself in a situation that requires some hyper thought process in a combat situation, if anything…” Teufel turned forward to cup her chin and angle her head up in thought.

“Perhaps a calming spell would suit me otherwise, to help me mentally in such a situation…” she mused with a narrowed eyed look.

Pausing in thumbing over the covers of her grimoires, Serie looked over her shoulder with a tilted head, and smirked a bit, a certain shine sparked in her eye, “You know…you could become my apprentice and learn all you want.” She proposed, giving Frieren a rather devious smile.

“Denied.” Frieren spoke immediately, earning a raised brow from Serie and a surprised look from her daughter, as she stepped forward, a firm look present on her face, “You already have an apprentice of your own.” she affirmed.

“Oh please.” Serie brushed off Freiren’s denial, and went back to looking through her grimoires, “Sense is just one of my apprentices, I can have more than one.” She then pulled a few books off from the pile she was looking through and carried them back to her chair, “And besides, I am pretty sure your daughter would do better under me than you.” she remarked smuggly. 

Teufel, not one to be left out for her choice in the matter, glared a bit at the elf, “Excuse me, but such a choice should be up to me, not either of you!” she said, giving her mother a rather annoyed sideways look.

Frieren grumbled a bit, realizing that her daughter was right; she already lost Himmel to the ravages of time, and she still regrets not simply living with him like a normal family with their daughter, but now she has to live with the fact that she didn’t spend more of those precious times they had together as a family. It was one of her failings she realized too late, now she wants nothing more than to have Teufel with her at all times.

“But my answer will be no.” Teufel continued with saying, earning a surprised look from Frieren, and a disappointed one from Serie. “I appreciate the offer, but for now, I am comfortable with traveling the continent with my mother.” she remarked, earning an appreciative smile from Frieren.

Once Serie seated herself into her chair, she eventually smirked a bit at Teufel’s simple explanation, “That’s fine…” she mused, “But the offer still stands even a hundred or even a thousand years from now, I can wait.” Serie smiled.

Teufel grumbled a bit, “You make it sound like a half elf’s lifespan stretches as far as a normal elf’s.” she remarked, earning a chuckle from Serie and an amused look from Frieren, which made her look between the two, “What?” she asked the two.

Serie looked over at Frieren with an ever amused smirk, “You forgot to tell her, didn’t you?” she probed the other elf for the answer.

Frieren shrugged, and gave Serie a plain look, “The topic never once came up.” she answered.

Serie glanced back at Teufel, and rested her chin into her palm, while said half elf was giving her an expectant look, “I do not know where you got the notion that half elves do not share the same life expectancy as normal elves, but you are wrong.” She informed the confused half elf

Serie began to tap at her cranium with her free hand after setting aside the books she carried under her arm with it, “The only difference half elves have with normal elfs, is that their minds and mentally develop faster. Essentially, they take from their human side the positive side effect of developed minds faster.” 

The elf then pointed at Teufel, “At your age, a normal elf would still act like a child, but since you were born of man and elf, you are given the benefits of both worlds.” she informed the child of Frieren.

“...Ah…” Teufel realized, realizing her mother never did worry that she’d have to see her own daughter age and die before her eyes.

With the minor topic about elves and half elves finished for the time being, Teufel would spend the remaining day choosing which grimoire suited her the most, with the help of Serie explaining what spell did what and how far it matched what the half elf was looking for. By noon, both mother and daughter left the building, with Teufel carrying a book under her arm.

Seeing them off, Serie kept her smirk up as she watched Frieren and Teufel disappear from sight and leave the city; it wasn’t long until a set of soft footsteps stopped beside her, letting her know Sense finished what she wanted to do and was now standing beside her. 

“Let me guess…she denied the apprenticeship.” Sense asked with a nonplussed look, not at all worried that her place beside Serie would ever be replaced. She was after all among a long line of apprentices that Serie took under her, so she would have been surprised if she was right that Serie wanted the half elf as an apprentice.

Especially given the circumstance of who the half elf came from, from the Great Mage Flamme, to the Demon Slayer Frieren, to now Teufel that has now proven that mathematics had a ground in magic.

Frowning a bit, with some stark annoyance marring her features, Serie shot her apprentice Sense a sideways glance, “Am I that predictable?” she questioned her.

Sense, allowing a soft smile of amusement to for once grace her features, still looked ahead while paying no mind to the look her master was giving her, “Master, you can be rather simple at times…” she answered, before excusing her to head back in.

“...These apprentices up mine are getting more sassy with each generation….” Serie grumbled to herself while looking off to the side with her annoyed look still present.

Author’s note; I wanted to write this chapter sooner, but then I came down with a cold, and that blew the wind out of my sails. Then, to top it off, I got a bit too addicted to playing 7 days to die console edition. Had a lot of fun playing the old alpha console version, so it was quite the new experience to see everything changed.

This chapter is not beta read.

Chapter Text

Teufel

With her research submitted to the wider community of Magic, Teufel now finds herself spending a good day inside Heiter’s cabin reading the grimoire Serie gave her in recognition of her challenge she gave the half elf; seated where her mother usually spends her time deciphering the book Heiter gave her, Teufel’s eyes roamed each page of her rewarded grimoire, taking in every word to studiously understand the spell she requested to learn.

It didn’t take long for her to understand the concept of how to cast the spell on herself for the spell to work its magic, for the lack of a better term that is; on the basis of how magic usually works in this world, imagination was the forefront key. No math needed, just her limitless imagination. 

Closing the book with a satisfied look on her face after finishing her reading of the grimoire, Teufel released a breath of air and pushed herself away from the desk in front of her, and hopped off from her chair while carrying her grimoire with her. As the half elf’s feet touched the floor with a dull wooden thud, she promptly made her way to the exit of the room, briefly casting a glance at Heiter’s bookshelf as she did.

Just before Teufel reached the door however, her sideways gaze at the bookcase caught her attention to a specific book that had its spine cover read ‘First Holy lessons of the goddess’. Pausing her in steps, Teufel quirked a brow, and remembered one of the reasons she had gone to the city, before being sidetracked with that elf Serie.

Placing aside her grimoire on a nearby table beside the door, Teufel headed out of the room and went looking for Heiter; it would be rude to ask before inquiring of reading the book. She was not looking to be some priestess or anything like that, but her curiosity was still there about how Goddess magic worked.

Heiter

The more seasons passed, the more he felt his bones ache worse, and the ability to stand and walk difficult. With a warm smile however, as he sat in one of his wooden chairs of the main room adjacent to the kitchen Heiter reminisced that his life was quite full and was fortunate enough to remember the years past.

More specifically, the ten years he and his party traveled up north to defeat the demon king, and even beyond that, he knew in his heart that he provided enough lessons to would-be priests and priestesses that wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Why, not long before he met the little girl he had come to accept as his surrogate daughter, Heiter distinctly remembers two young boys that aspired to be adventurers; if memory serves him right, young Sein sent him a letter that he became a priest like him, while his friend went off to become a warrior.

With a hearty chuckle as he viewed the outside from his window while leaning forward on his cane, Heiter was amused that left that much of an impression on Sein.

The soft pitter patter of footsteps alerted the old priest to know that Frieren’s daughter was heading his way into the main room, prompting him to sit up a bit to see how the half elf was doing in her study of the grimoire book she came back home with. 

Turning his head somewhat to see the girl make her way into the room he was in, Teufel spoke up with a straight look, “Heiter.” She gave him a nod of greeting, as she stood to speak with him.

Heiter responded in kind with a nod and smiled warmly at Teufel, “Done already?” he questioned the half elf, earning a nod from her.

As Teufel approached the old priest with a relaxed gait in her walk, she spoke with the old man, “It was surprisingly easy to read through, I half expected the need to go through it all within a week.” she explained.

Chuckling softly, Heiter nodded in understanding of what Teufel described, “I would assume so, Grimoires are after all supposed to help a mage understand a spell rather quickly and easily.” 

Nodding to herself, while cupping her chin in thought, “Oh, I know. I’ve read one before, I just…” she began to shake her head a bit before looking back at Heiter, “Well, I suppose I was expecting a more thorough read of the book, considering the spell involves the mind itself.” she shrugged to herself.

Chuffed a bit at the Half elf’s expectation of the grimoire she was given, Heiter simply reached out and patted the young half elf’s head, earning a somewhat annoyed look from her before retracting his hand to rest it back on his cane with his other hand. “That’s the magic, of well…magic.” he explained with much amusement, “I’m sure your mother drilled it enough times into your head that magic is very easy to learn once you learn how to harness your imagination.”

“Imagination…right….” Teufel drawled out, before giving Heiter a more straight look, “But let’s put aside this idle talk, there is something I wish to ask of you, something I should have asked a long time ago.” she stated with a firm look in her eyes.

Widening his eyes somewhat at the seriousness in the girl’s voice, Heiter questioned Teufel with genuine interest. “OH?” the old priest began to say with an attentive look in his eyes towards Teufel as he turned in his chair a bit to give her more of his attention. “And what pray tell is it that you wanted to ask me?” he questioned the half elf girl with burgeoning wonder.

Teufel, momentarily sighing to herself, looked straight at Heiter, “If you would, I would like to learn goddess magic, if it is possible.” she requested.

Heiter’s eyes slowly widened with a surprised face, before chuckling once more to himself, “you really are like your mother.” he remarked, earning a curious look from Teufel, prompting him to further explain, “Why, just the year prior, your mother requested if I had any goddess magic grimoires or any way of teaching her a holy spell, and I obliged her.” he smiled remarkably happy.

Teufel tilted her head a bit in questioning, as she folded her hands behind her back as she conversed with Heiter, “Oh…so which was it? Did you teach her something, or give her a book?” the half elf asked.

Sitting back to rest against the backrest of his chair, Heiter looked forward away from Teufel as he reminisced the day he showed Frieren how to cast a single goddess spell. “I taught her a spell of course, but that was just that, a spell, nothing really intricate that would not need a holy book to help her cast it.” he explained, before looking back at Teufel.

“I see…” Teufel remarked while thumbing her lip in thought after reaching up to do so, while her other arm remained behind her back in a casual manner, before relaxing both of her arms by her sides as she conversed more with Heiter, “Do all Magic of the goddess require a book?” she followed up with.

Heiter gave Teufel an amused look, “Why, do you plan on becoming a priestess all of a sudden?” he questioned the half elf girl, earning a minor knee-jerk reaction from her.

“No!” Teufel answered, before correcting herself with a more relaxed demeanor, “I mean-” she tried to correct herself, only for Heiter to chuckle at the half elf’s fumbling.

“Relax.” he waved off Teufel’s worries with a gentle wave of his arm, before placing back onto his cane, “I never once took you for the type to be such a thing, you always did come off more of a scholarly type than a religious type in all these years I’ve known you.” he remarked with a twinkly of amusement in his eyes.

“Oh…” Teufel spoke back with a somewhat surprised look, “Am I…that much of an open book?” she asked with a furrowed brow of questioning, she looked a bit worried at being called out of her personality.

Heiter simply shrugged at her question while remaining amused at the young half elf…old by human standards…it was really amusing for the old priest to sometimes remind himself that the girl in front of him was not young in mind, as her appearance belied her mature mind. “Not really…” Heiter answered the girl, earning a sharp look from Teufel, to which he only smirked at all the more, “But I’m old enough to understand people, I’ve been around long enough to pick up small things about people, regardless of the short time I’ve been around them…you should try it sometime in the future.” he spoke the last part with a wry smirk at the half elf.

Teufel simply gave Heiter a flat look, to which the old priest simply laughed at, before calming down to steadily stand up from his chair, “Now, what sort of spells are you wishing to learn that involve the holy scriptures of goddess magic?” Heiter asked Teugel as he leaned into his cane whilst standing up.

The half elf herself meanwhile looked up at Heiter’s face with an unwavering look in her eyes, “If you’re giving me options, I would prefer you to teach me what you know that involves no prayer.” she suggested, while something flashed in her eyes that Heiter placed as anger at something.

Perhaps the young girl was having trouble understanding the texts of any goddess magic books she had looked up, but that was fine, Heiter knew ways to help others in understanding how to cast goddess magic; the magic itself was a bit more difficult to understand than regular magic, but allowed a few benefits for the priests or priestesses that undergo the journey of becoming said roles.

Heiter chuckled at Teufel’s request, and shuffled over to a nearby bookcase, smaller than the one in his study, and pulled out from it a simple white book that was old and tattered. “Now if all priests and priestesses had to pray during their battle’s, I sincerely doubt any progress would have been made against the Demon King’s forces…” he mused while wistfully looking down at his first Goddess book he ever collected for his journey to become a priest.

Turning his head to look at Teufel, “Prayer is more reserved for the dead, and for the guidance of the goddess herself.” he mused while shuffling towards the front door, with Teufel trailing behind him.

Teufel herself rushed over to politely open the door for Heiter, which he nodded at the little half elf in thanks, before he marched himself outside, enjoying the slight breeze of the coming fall that he felt coming on. “I thank you though, Teufel.” he remarked with a somber smile as he slowly made his way out to the center of his front yard of his cabin, to which Teufel spoke back at him.

With her head craned up at him, Teufel asked, “Elaborate, I don’t recall ever doing something for you just now…other than opening the door…” She added the last part as an afterthought.

Using his cane to help him steadily take a knee to the soft grass below him, Heiter held his book out to Teufel for her to take, which she did with a gentle care for the book’s state of age, “Oh other than that, you did.” Heiter answered with a small smile, amusement twinkled in his eye directed at Teufel, “I didn’t think I’d leave this world without leaving you something, I’m sure Himmel will appreciate it when I see him in the afterlife.” he explained.

Teufel's facial expression remained surprised, before slowly relaxing to understanding, and gave Heiter a slow but steady smile, “...He was a good man…”

“Do you have any regrets involving him?” Heiter questioned her, the question itself caused Teufel to become still for a second, before relaxing back to normal and sighed to herself.

Quirking her lip a bit as she stewed over her thoughts, Teufel nodded before answering Heiter, “Quite honestly, I think mother and I should have stayed with father at his home for longer periods, she still misses him and sometimes wishes she and I stayed as long as he could live.” she answered with an uncertain look, “And I am sure father had some lingering thoughts of wishing we spent more time with him.” 

Heiter responded to Teufel’s answer with a knowing smile, but refused to elaborate more, “Now…” he began to start his lesson with Teufel, “How much do you know about goddess magic on the surface level?” he began with.

As Teufel began explaining what she knew so far, specifically from her many travels with her mother and the places she’s been to, Heiter would occasionally nod while occasionally correct the young half elf of what were misconceptions and further explained how intricate the system of goddess magic was. 

While the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Heiter continued to explain to Teufel how goddess magic work, and what was needed; some spells needed the goddess’s holy book to be held to help amplify the holy spells, and while a mage could indeed cast minor goddess magic, the more difficult ones needed to have the priests or priestess to keep their given holy book beside them to cast their spells like an experience mage would need their staff to cast their magic.

Not long after, while Heiter was still kneeling beside Teufel to teach the basics of how to cast goddess spells, from practical ones to passives ones, Frieren and Fern return from the young mage’s practice session of her Zoltraak attempts. While Frieren looked on at the two with a smile, Fern frowned a bit.

Fern

Seeing Heiter outside teaching her half elf friend his knowledge of how to cast goddess magic, gave Fern an uncomfortable feeling inside her chest. While Freiren headed inside to resume her work on the grimoire Heiter gave her to decrypt, Fern figured out she was feeling jealous at the attention Heiter was giving Teufel.

Her parents once taught her that jealousy was a nasty feeling to have, it was in fact the last thing she was taught about before she lost her mom and dad. 

Taking a different view at what she was seeing, Fern squashed down the jealousy she was feeling. She was already repaying master Heiter for the generosity of taking her in after saving her from her attempt on her own life, and she had been resolved to master Zoltraak quickly so that the old priest would pass on knowing she could defend herself.

Looking at it from a different perspective, the best she could with her young mind; Teufel was way older than her, and knew Heiter before she ever did. If anything, Heiter was expressing a more jovial attitude as he taught Teufel how goddess magic; the man seemed more invigorated to live for a bit longer, or perhaps that was just her and her wishful thinking.

Shaking her head at herself in dismay, Fern resolved to finish her master over Zoltraak ever faster; Teufel was a good friend, and she would be a bad person if she started to have any animosity towards the half elf. Afterall, Teufel went out of her way to buy her a pair of new shoes…that were a size too large.

“You’re a young girl, right? I bought these larger shoes for when you grow older…you know the saying, you’ll grow into them.”

An amused but grateful smile that Fern couldn’t help but express, the young girl turned to enter the cabin and began making lunch; she wanted to try making that ‘sandwich’ recipe from the book her friend Teufel bought her not too long ago. All she needed was some bread, some meat, and lettuce, a simple recipe really.

Teufel

It was night time, a clear sky with a full moon reflecting the sun’s light from its surface to the world below it, allowing the half elf to spend her time outside without any additional light source; with Heiter’s old book in her gentle grasp of her hands, Teufel looked down at it after having read the simple lessons it supposedly help young folks striving to become priests or priestesses. The spells were simple in nature, but it required the one thing that Teufel never liked in her previous lives.

Faith in the Deity that the doctrine followed.

Was she annoyed? No. Was she angry? No. Quite honestly, she never needed or wanted to be able to cast goddess magic, she really just wanted to learn how different the magic was to the magic her mother and most mages cast.

The kicker was, the doctrine was sketchy at best, from what Heiter explained to her. Have faith in the goddess, and she would be rewarded the ability to cast goddess magic; as simple as that, as if the goddess herself was a jokester and only asked her followers to have faith in her, and she would reward them.

‘Same drivel as before.’ Teufel mentally groaned. She had all manner of other spells her mother taught her, beside the spells she ‘translated’ to work appropriately from her last life into this one. Knowing Goddess magic, much more being able to cast any was not needed. There were enough priests around for her and her mother…and potentially Fern, to request aid in their future adventures should the need arise.

There was really no need for her to learn a whole new category of spells…

‘ Honestly, I don’t know why I even bothered to ask!’ Teufel snarled mentally as she raised the book above her head to throw it down into the ground, before halting herself from enacting a rash action; lower the book back down to hold it in front of her, it was a keepsake of Heiter, that he himself gifted to her, something to keep with her when he was gone.

Idly looking to the side with a grimace, she did after all keep her father’s sword, something she was surprised wasn’t kept at her father’s memorial; it still sat within her one of her briefcases, looking at the book in her hands more, it looked like it will have company now. Heiter was kind enough to go out of his way to teach her how goddess magic worked after all.

Releasing a sigh to herself, Teufel looked momentarily at the moon, before turning heel to head on inside for bed. ‘ Faith and prayer can kindly take a backseat for all I care in this life of mine! It has done me more harm than good damn it!’ Teufel scoffed.

“ On that, we can agree.” A melodus female voice spoke, as time froze for everything but Teufel, causing the half elf to curse herself that she probably jinxed herself.

“ I do not know about jinxing, but I have been watching you, as I do all my children.” The voice spoke again from behind Teufel, causing the half elf to whip around to glare at whatever deity was speaking, probably Being X in some other form. 

From out of the woods, and into the moonlight, a blurry vision of a female with angel wings gently walked towards her; the being’s figure was dressed in quite the opulent looking gown, while her barely visible feature showed a graceful face with eyes that were calmly shut as the being walked towards her with a ornate staff in hand.

Teufel rubbed her eyes with her arm, believing she was getting an onset of tiredness, but lo and behold, the image of the walking being was still blurred from her vision, just barely visible enough for her to make some defining features. “Whatever you are selling, leave me alone! I don’t want anything from you, I don’t want anything to do with faith!” Teufel snarled at the approaching being, she was pretty sure the being was the supposed goddess of this world.

She had already been burnt enough times, so to speak, in dealing with a being calling himself god, she was not about to deal with a being calling herself the goddess of this world.

The goddess figure chuckled at Teufel’s accusation, all the while approaching Teufel at a relaxed gait, “Silly child, he’ll never bother you again, so long as I am in charge of this world. He knows better than to cross other gods and their worlds.” She explained, while earning a narrowed look from Teufel.

Willing her staff to her hands, Teufel scowled at the deity while charging up a spell, “don’t come any nearer! I refuse to deal with any more gods! I had enough in my last lives! I want to be left alone by you assholes!” She screamed.

The goddess continued to step towards Teufel with an amused soft smile, and waved her hand through the air while the half elf was in the midst of charging a spell up, which abruptly ended from the mere wave of the goddesses hand. “Silly human turned half child of mine, do you really believe you could turn my own spells against me? I was the one that created them for my children.” she remarked, a very amused smile was expressed on her face as Teufel felt herself frozen now while the goddess herself was now in front of her.

The blurry image of the goddess herself was now defining, her features more visible with the distance between them now closed; the goddess knelt down to place a hand on Teufel’s shoulder, and smiled motherly down at the half elf, “ You expressed curiosity into my more personal magic, I have ordained to many priests over the centuries of my world, would you like to partake in communion with me to weave my magic?” The goddess asked Teufel, with a soft chittering laugh, “ I’d say no strings attached, but considering who you were, and still are, I can already guess you will say no.” She smiled demurely, before allowing Teufel to move once more.

Taking a couple steps back from the goddess, Teufel seethed and scowled at the goddess, “Exactly, and I would very much like it if you and any other deity being of this world that might exist, would piss off!” she yelled in anger.

The Goddess simply chortled in laughter while covering her mouth, “ That old man really did a number on your psyche, It really is a shame you are like that…” She expressed with some sadness, before straightening herself up to stand and converse with the half elf, “ Perhaps if this were your second life, or first life, things might have been different between us, but I will respect your decision. ” The goddess mused.

Teufel simply made an annoyed sound, before glancing to her side momentarily, “Well it doesn’t help that you froze me for a second.” she gruffly remarked, earning an amused smirk from the goddess.

“ What can I say? You were acting violently, and I know you don’t like haven’t your mind altered in any way to calm you down, so I simply froze you in place for a moment. ” The deity explained to Teufel with a kind tone.

Teufel simply gave the goddess a wary look, “Just…just leave me alone, if I want your actual help, it won’t be through praying!” she seethed.

The goddess tilted her head a bit, before smiling softly, “ Well, just know, I’m always watching, but when you do need help, be sure to ask during the full moon or in a church… ” she told Teufel in a motherly manner, before the image of her gradually vanished into thin air, leaving the half elf alone in the night.

Time felt like it was moving once more, as Teufel watched the tree leaves be brushed by the night breeze; the half elf narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and looked down at the book she still had in her hands, before resolving to stow it immediately into her briefcase.

Of course she wasn’t done with interacting with beings calling themselves a god…well, at least this time it did not involve some train killing her or a computation orb slowly brainwashing her to worship being X.

Author’s note; It’s sometimes hard to come up with what to write for the next chapter of any of my fics…the muse is very fickle. Now excuse me while I spend my spare time exploring the new map of Natlan in Genshin.

I unfortunately did not pull for Chasca, I already spent 50k primos to C1 Xilonen and to get her sword. Very awesome and fun character, did not regret pulling for skater gal. Now I’m just saving up for the pyro archon.

Not beta read yet

Chapter Text

Strahl, Holy City Capital

Winter came and went, with Fern managing to complete what she wanted to do with her ability to cast Zoltraak to the best of her skill with the spell. With Heiter’s health and age reaching its end, it wasn’t long before each female spent time with the man on his deathbed, some idle talk was made before eventually the fateful day came with seeing Heiter having passed away on his bed with a smile.

Frieren insisted her daughter Teufel keep Fern away so she could do the rite of wrapping the old priest up, but after much insistence from Fern herself, Frieren allowed the girl to help the process of carrying the man’s wrapped body off to the city.

Currently, the three of them stood before Heiter’s tombstone, with her mother holding in her hand some bottle of alcohol, while Teufel and Fern standing just beside her on both sides. For the half elf, as her mother uncorked the bottle of alcohol, she made a momentary glance over at Fern, and gauged that the young girl had grown by some good inches, while she was still stuck at her present height.

Keeping herself from releasing an annoyed breath, Teufel had long come to terms that it would be a long while before she ever reached the height of her mother, it just stung a tad bit to see the young girl she had come to know as a quick friend in a short time span to grow past her.

The word friend passing through her mind again, caused Teufel to think back from her previous life, of the friends and allies she made from her unit; she was the youngest out of all of them, she fought with them on the frontlines, and over the course of the years she developed a deep comradeship with them. They were competent, and held their own weight, so it was a bitter pill to swallow to watch her men die before her of old age.

Visha of course was the last one, given that she was starkly just a little older than her, and in the end, she was left alone in the world until she was greeted by death.

Now though, she was faced with having to watch a new potential competent friend age, and die…but if there was one thing she discovered from her last life, the memories of her friends suited her just fine; which logically meant that she liked to look back on her life and be nostalgic about her early life, a simple reason that helped understand any human emotion of panging for days of old.

Course, she did move on, but it didn’t help matters somewhat. She did miss Visha’s coffee, but she grew to live with the coffee she made herself.

Shaking her head of old memories and her dwelling over the past, Teufel watched as her mother spilled the bottle of alcohol over Heiter’s tombstone, something Teufel had seen many scenes play out in movies when someone close to another would do in honor of a loved one or friend; it was even something she had seen done in reality of her first life with a small amount of Sake whenever she passed by a gravesite on her walk home from work after getting off from the train.

Fern spoke up in a soft voice, “I really can’t thank you two enough.” the girl said, while looking down at Heiter’s tombstone as Teufel’s mother gently spilled alcohol over said gravestone. “Without you two, I could not have repaid master Heiter.” she finished saying.

As Frieren finished emptying the contents of the alcohol bottle, she placed it down to pick another one up and continue pouring more of the stuff over Heiter’s gravestone while speaking back to Fern, “Quite honestly, at first, I would have said you should thank Heiter for deceiving me.” she began to explain, while a gentle pour of alcohol came out from her bottle on Heiter’s tombstone.

Teufel’s mother then gently smiled, “But events tend to unfold beyond our control, this entire stay was not too bad afterall.” she added, while finishing up the last drops of alcohol onto the tombstone by shaking it up and down.

Unable to withhold a small smirk of her own, Teufel spoke up while earning a glance look from Fern, “The spell Serie granted me through the grimoire she gave was easier than I thought it would be to learn, and it has been quite a boon to alot of my research.” she commented, then looked on towards Heiter’s tombstone, “And I have something of Heiter to remember him by afterall…so this visit never was fruitless from the beginning.” Teufel then made a hard glance at her mother, who gently placed down her empty bottle.

Frieren simply smiled softly in response, and held out her hand to softly pat the tombstone once, “Indeed…” she remarked while retracting her hand away.

Fern, in turn, spoke with a direct look at Teufel, “Teufel, would it be alright if I read that book Heiter gave you?” she asked, earning a look back at her and amused smile from Teufel.

“Of course, but after I cast a paper restore spell on it.” Teufel began to say, and patted her suitcase beside her that she set aside with her large backpack, too large for someone her size, but easy to pick up and carry after a featherweight spell. “It's quite worn out, so it would not do to have it in a state that it can fall apart so easily.” she informed the other girl, earning a nod of understanding from Fern.

Situating the bottles beside Heiter’s tombstone, Frieren stepped back and turned around to face the two girls behind her, “Well now this is done and over with…” Frieren began to speak up after the two were done speaking, her attention idly glanced between her daughter and first ever student…not counting her Teufel of course. “Shall we head back into the city?” she questioned.

Teufel was the first to pick her things back up, a briefcase in hand and her backpack over her shoulders; for the half elf herself, she was sure she probably looked comical with the proportionate about of things she was carrying on her back to her size, the the wonders of magic of this world help matters greatly if one knew the right spells.

Fern nodded with a small smile, “Oh, and don’t forget, I want to stop by the mage headquarters! They're holding an exam soon, and it’s something I want to try and accomplish in acing it.” 

While Frieren smiled back in response, she looked to her daughter with a tilt of her hand in curiosity, “You mentioned wanting to give the exam a try as well, right?” she questioned her daughter.

Teufel looked back at her mother, and offered a hapless shrug, “I am curious about it, so I do not see the harm in giving a mage exam a try.” she remarked, while palming her chin in thought.

Fern stepped over to Teufel with an exuberant smile, “This will be great! That means I won’t be alone in the test!” She commented.

“Very well then.” Frieren said while brushing her hands of the leftover residue alcohol that attached to her hand after touch Heiter’s gravestone, “To the exam it is.” she nodded once

Continental Magic Association

Within the building itself, the main entrance room was abuzz with activity as many aspirant mages filled the area, some few were old but many were young and in their twenties to late thirties; some of people either stood alone or wondered about, most of the rest were huddled up to introduce themselves to make a rapport with each other, to foster some semblance of friendship amongst each other.

Afterall, most of the past third grade mage exam from the past had never situated mages up against each other, that sort of tests were oftentime left up to the higher grade exams depending on the proctors that hosted the exams.

Amongst the groups of mages that formed cliques or inner circles, one such group of mages managed to find each other talk amongst each other. 

Ton, a lithe female in her mid twenties, dressed in a brown shawl that draped over her shoulder and concealed the upper half of her white dress shirt, fixed her purple witch hat over her sun kissed colored hair that she felt was askew before patting down her burgundy knee length skirt; She had just entered through the entrance and was expecting a bit of a turn out, but lo and behold, the entire main entrance room was filled to the brim with a massive crowd of mages that no doubt came to earn their rank as a third ranked mage.

“Ton! Over here!” A familiar voice to Ton, hollered over at the young female, earning the attention of the young mage to look to her left to the source of the voice. 

Spotting a familiar face that matched the voice, Ton’s face brightened and spotted her home’s residential half elven mages, “Regen! Gattung!” Ton hollered back, before the young mage hurried over to speak with her childhood teacher and friend respectively.

Gattung, shining an excited smile, raised his arm and waved at Ton as the human mage reached them, “Ton! I was hoping you’d be here!” the young half elf boy commented.

As Ton reached the two half elves, her attention was on Gattung; The half elf boy, having yet grown since she departed her town, much less her entire life, was still dress in his rock blue outfit that had white accents to it, with matching blue boots; the boy’s silver unruly hair was still like it was since she last saw him, making him stick out a bit like his older sister with the shade of hair color…that, and the long ears that were visible to anyone else.

Ton smiled in response to Gattung’s comment, and laughed into her palm, “I might have missed this test actually, if I didn’t make my last boat road on time.” she commented back to the boy, before looking over at Regen, her master in all things magic related, “Teacher! You wouldn’t believe the adventures I’ve had!” she gushed in exuberance.

Regen, who had a matching color of hair to her brother, but with her’s being a bit short, wore a copperfield orange coat over her white dress shirt with her black pants and white shoes. The half elven teacher of Ton smiled in response to her student’s behavior, “I’m glad to hear!” she responded with a closed eyed smile, before opening her eyes to take in the sight of her student that now stood at an almost even height with her. “So, how were your travels?” Regen asked her former student.

“Hmph.” Ton huffed proudly while palming her chest, “I’ll have you know, I saved a village from an orc tribe!” She boasted, while looking smug and lifting her nose into the air, “My clay golem army made quick work with them!” 

Expressing a wry smirk, Regen was sure there was more to the story than what her former student let on, “Right…and no one else helped fend that village from an entire orc tribe?” She challenged her student.

Feeling caught up in something she omitted, Ton chuckled nervously while sticking her tongue out to the side while rubbing the top of her head nervously, “With…the help of a band of warriors…” she looked the side in shame, she did not like to lie to her teacher.

With her arms crossed, Regen smirked amusedly at her student while idly patting her arm, “hmhm, thought so…” she remarked, before reaching out to pat her student on the head, “But it’s good you were out there doing good, I knew I taught a respectable student after all.” she remarked.

Gattun smirked teasingly at Ton, and mockingly waggled his finger at his childhood friend, “Ton, Ton, Ton, you know better than to omit the whole truth from my sister, she’ll find out the truth eventually.” he teased, only to earn a soft head bop from his sister. “Hehe, sorry.” he grimaced, leaving all three mages to chuckle warmly.

Serie and Sense

From the second floor of the building, the two walked through the hallways at a relaxed pace, with Sense holding within her hands several slips of paper, “The exam has had quite the increase in numbers.” she commented while leafing through her stack of papers while walking beside her master.

Serie simply hummed in response, before speaking her mind on the matter, “I would not put it past anything for rumors to have spread of my guest appearance here.” she said with a tone of indifference, before smirking to herself, “word does spread slowly, but I have been here long enough I suppose.”

With her grip on the paper still firm, Sense relaxed her arm back down to look at and converse with her master“So you’re saying the uptick in applicants is your long period of stay in this city?” she questioned, before looking up in thought, and nodded to herself, “Yes, that does make a deal of sense.” Sense dully remarked, before looking back down over at her master, “You are a mythical figure afterall.”

Serie simply smugly smiled as the two continued to walk towards the direction of the main room entrance, “Humans can be so simple sometimes, I almost find it silly.” Serie said as she and her student reached the rails and stairways that overlooked and led down to the first floor of the main entrance room. “Indeed, quite the turnout.” she commented with a smirk.

“Hm.” Sense nodded and hummed in agreement as she looked down with her master, before Serie pointed with a very amused and surprised look, “Well well, I got to see not one, but three half elves in one decade!” she remarked, her gaze settled one two half elf mages in particularly talking with a human mage.

Looking where her master was pointing, Sense looked over, and indeed, there were two elven looking mages, their pointed ears a dead give away of their elven lineage. “That…is quite remarkable…” she replied back. Sense was not sure what set of events that caused such a turn out, other than her master’s prolonged stay at this branch building.

Serie simply leaned over against the railing, some mages caught sight of her, and even pointed up at her, to which she simply smugly smirked down at them which earned a lot of nervous looks and panic, some few saw her and left, leaving her to think that the one that left were too nervous and thought she was a proctor of the third grade mage exam….

Good, she did not tolerate cowards that did not see themselves great enough to pass a mere third grade mage exam, much less from her…

Wait…That…was not a bad idea…she was bored anyhow…

“Sense.” Serie spoke aloud, earning her apprentice’s attention, “Who is hosting this year’s third grade mage exam?” she questioned Sense.

“Hmm? Oh, let me see here…” Sense hummed to herself as she pulled from out of her shawl a few more papers, and looked through them on top of the ones she already held, “That would be Felson this year.” she answered.

“Hm…tell him I’m taking over.” Serie immediately spoke, earning a surprised look from Sense, “I want to see what sort of batch this exam will bear, I want to see what future these mages might present.”

With a plain look, almost looking like she was giving her master a deadpan look, but that was only something her master could see giving the fact she’s known her for most of her life, Sense spoke evenly, “Master…you just want to see the half elves and the girl that Miss Frieren has been teaching.” she accused, earning a smug smirk back.

With a glance at her student, Serie spoke with an amused tone, “don’t make it sound like I’m only here for that, Sense, I want to see what these other mages can do as well.” she defended herself.

Still giving her master a dull but flat look, Sense spoke, “Do you even know what sort of test to want these mages to do to earn their rank?” she challenged back.

With a Jovial tone, Serie spoke back to her apprentice while keeping her smug smirk, “Of course, but that’s for me to decide and know, so don’t worry your little head.” she waved off her youngest student.

Sense simply blinked dully at her master, before making her way off, “Very well then, I’ll speak with Felson on this matter.” she said back to her master, her voice trailing off as she departed from her master.

While her apprentice descended the stairs, Serie continued to lean against the rails and rested her chin down against her palm, and watched as three more mages entered the building, one elf, one half elf, and one very young girl. “Well Frieren…let’s see how well you did in teaching that young student of yours…”

She had a test in mind, one that involved seeing each mages spell that they specialized in the most; she wanted to see if there were any new magic spells created by mages applying for third rank, which she highly doubted; the real test would be if there was any spin or unique way the mages made on the spells they specialized in. The simple fire spell of yore from thousands of years ago had become so many subset of spells of mastery over the fire spell itself, from making lightning spells to vaporization water, the path of making a spell more unique down the road of time was so vast, it was hard to tell what the next century bore.

Serie couldn’t help but express a wide brimming smirk, “Yes, the world of magic is vast and immense!” 

Teufel, Frieren and Fern

“Wow…” Frieren remarked, some surprise was evident on her face as she looked around at all the mages gathered in one place, “I didn’t think there’d be this many.” she commented while looking around with her daughter and human student standing beside her on her left and right.

Fern, who stood to Frierens right, looked around with some childlike awe, “so many mages…” she said, before looking up and spotting an elf that was looking down in their direction, “Mistress Frieren, is that the Serie elf you talked about?” she questioned while looking up at her teacher.

“Hm…it is.” Freiren responded lamely while giving Serie a momentary glance, earning a smirk from the elf herself, before both ended their trading of glances to look elsewhere, “Quite the turn out…” she commented.

“Mother.” Teufel spoke up beside her, her daughter on her left tugged on her sleeve and nodded to their far left, “I’m not sure, but those definitely look like elves to me” she said to her mother.

“Hmm?” Frieren looked over where her daughter was looking, and spotted two silver-haired looking elves, who in particular were in the middle of talking with a human female mage. “Huh…” she mumbled in thought.

As the duo of elven looking female and male finished speaking with their human female friend or acquaintance, the tall female elf glanced around before her eyes landed on them and looked surprised, before speaking something to the others; both boy and female mage turned to look at the three other mages.

“...Should we go talk with them?” Toufel proposed.

Freiren nodded, “Other than Serie, it has been awhile since I’ve seen another elf, much less ones I haven’t seen before.” she responded before she led the way towards the trio of mages.

Regen

Seeing that the no doubt elven mother of the young elf and teacher of the human girl was heading to them to speak with them, Regen wasn’t sure what to say. It’s been so long since she spoke with her elven father, and it’s been longer since she’s seen her human mother before she passed away. The half elven teacher was very curious who the adult elf was.

“Regen!” Gattung gushed in excitement, “They’re coming over to us!” he said excitedly, “What should we talk about?” he asked his older sister.

Putting on a charming smile, Regen walked towards the other trio of mages as well with her younger brother and student trailing after, “I don’t know, but let’s be courteous and introduce ourselves.” she answered, earning an excited nod from Gattung.

Author’s note; Bonus internet cookie points for whoever can figure out who Regen and Gattung are from. Shouldn’t be too hard….then again, they are from a niche franchise that I borrowed as characters.

Chapter Text

Two hundred years ago

Regen breathed heavily with blood seeping from her cranium, and some bits from her mouth, a punctured lung from being flung against a nearby boulder by the demon she was up against; she dearly wished and hoped her father got the message in time for him to come back home, word had spread that demons were on the prowl searching for leftover elves that they missed in their genocide.

With her stance held defensively, her staff held at the ready, of which the tip was a crescent moon made from the ore of a meteorite, Regen narrowed her eyes at the Demon in front of her with scathing hate; if she had not arrived on time, the beast before her would have massacred her hometown.

Regen had done her best in defending the village she was born in, she had ordered Gattung to help look after the human villagers in the woods, out of sight, while she dealt with the Demon.

The demon himself tilted his head slightly, as if observing his prey, “You do…do not feel like an ordinary elf…” the demon remarked.

The half elf, in response to the demon’s comment, simply let out an annoyed grunt, “You won’t be feeling anything after I’m through with you!” Regen hissed back in anger, she was putting up her best of looking brave and giving herself some bravado, but she knew she was not powerful or good enough to kill the demon in front of her outright.

The demon was still standing before her, he looked in mid-contemplation, or something, it was hard to tell with the helmet he wore on his head.

Böse, one of the seven sages of destruction, had acted entirely blasé during the entire fight, never bothering to look like he was struggling against Regen, the defensive barriers were her worst matchup, as the barriers themselves were practically invincible to all of her magic spells she had learned.

It was also galling with how the demon wielded his barriers offensively, from using them to smack her into the ground to hitting her like an entire boulder was chucked into her entire body, Regen was lucky at all to reinforce her body with magic to prevent the blunt trauma from practically making her a bloody smear across the grounds.

Böse relaxed his posture before moving into action by raising his arm up to finish their battle, “Now I see, a half elf, that's what you feel like.” he said, his tone was that of annoyance, while an orb began charging in his hand.

Regen scowled as she tried to stand up straight, and think of something quick to do, something to help her avoid getting hit or whatever the demon had in mind with his barrier spells.

As the air began to become more tense between the two combatants, Regen hoped her father would come and time, Böse continued to speak his mind on the matter of the half elf in front of her “Elves were a problem, we solved that, but half elves were worse.” The last line left Regen confused and angered that she was feeling discriminated against by a demon of all beings.

“I’ll show you a worse problem!” Regen yelled back with a scowl and voice of anger, her eyes reflected that of seething hatred of the demon in front of her, while aiming her staff at the demon; she would fire off the best spell she learned, a spell that the legendary Great Mage Flamme created in her fights against the demons. 

Schwarzes Loch

It was one of the most devastating spells that had come about during Flamme’s time of bringing about magic to the wider public, it took her some time to learn, not to mention it required her to search high and low for such a spell until it led her to learning it from the Mythical Serie; the only problem was, would it be enough against Böse?

Böse simply looked at her through his visor of his helm, no facial features visible for Regen to see how the demon was expressing himself, then again, even if he did, it would just be mimicry that most demons do; an evolutionary tool to fool and deceive their prey to lower their guard. “You can try all you like with that spell you are charging up, it won’t matter in the end, I shall make sure I take care of that other half elf when I’m done with you.” Böse stated, his tone inflection was that of simple boredom.

Regen’s pupils dilated and snarled with anger as she pumped more mana into her spell, “I WON’T LET YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON MY BROTHER’S HEAD!” Regen screamed hysterically in anger. Her brother was all the family she had left, besides her wandering elven father that was a monk. Her human mother had long since passed away, so the mere thought of losing her brother Gattung was too much to bear.

“Regen!” A familiar voice to Regen yelled out from the nearby woods, prompting both the half elf and demon to look to the source of the voice; however, neither Regen nor Böse had the chance to fully see who it was when Regen’s father was already planting a fist into the armored helm cheek of Böse, a loud ding and crunch of metal echoed across the field they were all in, before the impact of Regen’s father’s fist sent Böse soaring across the earth.

Once Böse righted himself in midair and planted his hand and fingers into the ground to stop himself from soaring anymore, he finally stopped while leaving behind a long trench of him stopping himself from flying off into the winds; Böse slowly stood up while reaching up to feel the indent on his helm, made from the sturdiest of metals he found and made into a helm for himself. His fingers traced the imprints of fingers and knuckles from the elven monk that was at the moment tending to, no doubt, his half elf daughter.

Meanwhile, with Regen, she looked up at her father with tears falling from the corner of her eyes, “Pa-er…father!” Her voice cracked out, while some bit of her past self wanted to say papa, like she used to when she was a mere ten year old half elf toddler, she was now a six hundred year old adult.

Her father, Kraft, simply palmed his daughter's head with a soft smile, “What, not going to call me papa anymore?” he asked jokingly, to lift some brevity of the situation, before promptly making a serious face and facing towards the demon Böse. “Where’s your brother?” he asked.

While Böse seemed contented in observing the newcomer, most likely gauging his new situation, Regen responded back to her father while keeping her mana up in midcharge of her next spell, “He’s safe with the villagers, making sure to protect them while I try and deal with this demon.”

Kraft gave a minute nod, and palmed his daughter behind him, “Stay behind me, I'll cover the front, you stay here and cover me.” He ordered with a fixed glare at the Demon, who simply looked unbothered by the new combatant.

Regen looked at her father’s broad back, feeling like she was his small daughter once again, “Be careful of his barriers…I do not know if they are resistant to physical attacks as well.” she warned.

“Right.” Regen nodded back, before Böse spoke up while removing his hand from his helm after finishing inspecting the damage kraft did to his helmet.

“This makes this a little more…problematic…but manageable…” The demon said, while keeping his posture relaxed, before shifting on to a more offensive one as his demonic magic welled up into his hands, “I had two half elves to kil-guack!” Böse was stopped in mid sentence, as Kraft was already in front of him with his palm struck out into the demon’s solar plexus.

With a determined look on his face, Kraft had his left leg out in front of him while his other was behind him while had palm struck Böse’s torso; with his other hand curled into a fist beside him, Kraft followed up his attack on the demon with a palm thrust into Böse’s chin. A hard crack and ding echoed from him impacting the demon’s chin through his helmet.

The force of Kraft’s follow up attack caused Böse to be temporarily airborne upwards, before the elven father of Regen continued his attack on the demon via leaping up a bit to twist and spin his body to spin kick the demon into the head back down into the ground with a metal crunching sound of Böse’s helmet and an earth shattering quack from the demon being kicked down into the the earth by the Elven monk.

“HWAH!” Kraft exhaled as he did not let up on the demon, upon landing back down, Kraft lifted his leg all the way up to the point it nearly angled perpendicular with his body, before swinging it back down just as Böse’s body impacted into the earth.

Before Kraft’s attack landed however, a barrier was put up by Böse as the demon quickly rolled to put his hands out in front of him.

CRACK

Kraft’s foot landed and caused dozens of cracks to appear, before suddenly giving way for the elven monk’s foot to be planted into the stomach of Böse. Throughout the entire time, Kraft’s face was of determination to end the Demon’s life and protect his children and the village they grew up in.

Böse let out a pained hacking cough, the sound echoed from within his helm that was beyond a semblance of its former self; just before Kraft could follow up with another attack, Böse quickly snapped his fingers that were covered in his demonic magic.

Already feeling the need to withdraw for the moment, Kraft leapt backwards, and just in time as a prism barrier came into existence where he once was, before it withdrew into itself until it became a small cube.

From the angle of Regen’s viewpoint, she saw her father attack Böse so quickly, she barely had the time to finish her spell she had in mind; her father was as powerful as she viewed him, but never got the chance to see him in a real fight. Seeing her father retreat for the moment, she saw that if he was there any longer on the spot, he’d have been crushed into a fine piece of cubed meat.

Regen swallowed back her nervousness, Böse had been toying with her the entire time, he could have done such a feat the entire time, but now that the demon was pressed on the back foot, he was pulling out such a defense spell for a nefarious purpose.

Regen shook her head, and finished charging her spell, and now that her father was out of the way, she could cast the spell, “Out of the way father!” she shouted, before letting loose her spell.

Not needing to be told twice, Kraft knew well enough to leapt out of the way as a large black orb was cast above Böse; the entire earth began getting pulled into the small black orb, along with the demon himself.

The half elf smirked in triumph, with her father allowing her the time to charge her best spell yet, there was no way Böse’s barriers had any practicality to defend himself from such a force of nature that was Schwarzes Loch.

Regen’s eyes widened however, as she watched her spell begin to wane and dissipate, making her curse herself that she didn’t pour enough stabilization mana into it to be sustainable enough to last until the demon was crushed into mincemeat along with the earth that was pulled into it.

With nothing else to lose, Regen aimed her staff out at the waning orb of darkness, and fired off a spell to cause it to explode and catch Böse along with it.

KABOOM

An enormous purple explosion encapsulated the area around Böse, while her father Kraft stood beside her defensively, both of them waiting for the dust to settle; as the area finished settling down from all the dirt and smoke to clear away, Regen cursed to see Böse still standing, minus an arm.

Böse simply stared back at them while the shoulder of his missing arm was shaking a bit, until an arm created from his barrier magic came into existence, “Troubling…I was not expecting this much trouble from a mere monk elf and his halfling.” the demon seemed to still be in observance of his situation, as if he was still in control of the situation.

Kraft on the other hand, kept a defensive stance beside his daughter, while Regen herself kept one up as well with her staff at the ready.

“No…I shall retreat for now…this situation is not favorable…” Böse remarked, before he vanished from sight in a blink of an eye, leaving both the monk and mage alone.

Present, Regen

After talking with the elf and the two girls that accompanied her, Regen was able to learn that only the mother was an elf, and the daughter was a half elf; it was surprising in of itself to see an elf, but to see another half elf other than her and her brother was another matter all together. 

The tidbit of information also sent Regen in thinking back to the time she had fought against Böse, and the things he said about the elves and half elves brought her back to thinking at that time and moment. 

If she remembers right, Böse had been ultimately defeated later in a century or so later. 

Regen smiled warmly towards the mother of the Half elf and doubtless teacher of the young girl beside her, “Well then, before this conversation gets any deeper, we should at least introduce ourselves." She palmed her chest, “I’m Regen.” She greeted the other trio.

Gattung expressed excitement while thumbing at himself, “I’m Gattung, nice to meet you!” 

Ton, who stood beside Regen on her left, nervously waved, “Um, hi!” 

The mother elf smiled somewhat in response to the three greeting themselves, “Nice names…well, the half elf daughter of mine is named Teufel, and the apprentice girl of mine-” said girl herself, allowed herself a smile as well, “Is Fern.” she announced.

Regen kept her smile up, as the two girls were very cute looking, and bent down to be eye level with them both, “And how old are you two?” she asked, her gaze passing over both girls.

Fern answered first with a bit of a pleasant look, “I just turned thirteen, um…just a few days ago….” she answered.

“Mhm.” Regen nodded, and looked to Teufel, “And you?” she asked the half elf, she looked around Gattung’s age when he was reaching his hundredth year, so she had to be around that.

Teufel gave Regen a straight look, and answered, “I should be reaching my mid eighties or so.” she informed Regen.

So she wasn’t that far off the mark, then she remembered something as she stood up to look at the elven mother, “Oh, pardon me, I did not get the chance to learn your name.” she nervously remarked towards the elf.

“It’s fine.” the elven mother spoke back to her with an amused smirk, before expressing a calm smile, “The name is Frieren.” the elf answered Regen.

….wait…as in…Frieren of the hero party? Frieren the Slayer? The Hero party’s mage Frieren?

“Um….” Regen nervously spoke up with a closed eyed smile, “I’m sorry, you wouldn’t by chance be the same Frieren that was part of the hero party, right?” she asked.

Frieren simply looked back at Regen with a straight look and unbothered, “I am.” she answered, before tilting her head a bit in thought, “I mean, I’ve never met another elf named Frieren.” she nodded to herself at her proclamation.

With a trembling smile at the absurdity of meeting Frieren the Slayer of all mages in person, Regen giggled a bit to herself, “Hm, wow…I…never thought I’d meet you in person.” she remarked.

Frieren simply shrugged haphazardly and gave Regen an amused smile, “I sure we would have met eventually, we do have long lifespans after all, it was never an if but an eventuality.” she informed Regen.

“I…I suppose so…” Regen said hesitantly, before giving the trio an observant look, “So…beside the point of meeting a hero in person…” Meeting Serie was all those centuries ago was an event of itself in her lifetime, and now she had the chance to meet Frieren in the midst of the third-grade mage exam.

Gattung stepped forward to speak up and add his own input into the conversation, “So which one of you are applying!?” he asked excitedly, before looking at Frieren herself, “I can’t see you applying…I’m pretty sure you’re already a first grade mage.” 

Frieren, however, frowned a bit, before pulling out something that was around her neck, “Not really, but I do have something of a certification…” she answered the young half elf brother of Regen, “This should work, right?” she asked the two half elves.

Ton spoke up with a confused look on her face, “I…I don’t think so…I’ve never seen such an emblem before.” she observed.

Regen however, looked closely at the emblem before standing back up straight to look at Frieren in a new light, “Wow…you..really go back that far?” she asked the elven mother.

Frieren simply shrugged while stuffing her necklace away under her shirt, “Humans change a lot…figures this thing wouldn’t last that long…” she grumbled.

Regen simply laughed a bit at Frieren’s blunt attitude, before looking between Fern and Teufel, “Your daughter I can understand applying, but I’m not sure about your student.” 

Fern, in response to Regen’s comment, simply puffed out her cheeks and pouted at the eldest half elf of the group, “I am applying, it was a promise I made to master Heiter before he passed away.” 

There was a story there in of itself, that much Regen could tell surrounding the young girl, but she chose it was not her business to pry further unless the girl wanted to. “Well, I wish you the best of luck! Who knows who will be proctoring the exam this year!” she informed the girls.

Teufel spoke up while expressing a keen look in her eyes, “Is always a different person for every test?” she asked the other half elf.

Regen looked back at Teufel with a thoughtful look, “It usually is, and I can’t really say for sure who will be proctoring it.” she informed the girl, “Why, you applying as well?” she asked, earning a nod from the young half elf.

Looking over at Frieren, Regen spoke to the once hero of the lands, “What about you?” 

Frieren simply shrugged, “I don’t think I will…it’s too much of a hassle to keep whatever they give you for the rank, only for it to change a century later.” she groused, while expressing an annoyed look.

“Mother.” Teufel spoke up to her elven mother, earning the attention of Freiren, “Is it really that hard to keep up with things every five decades or so at the very least, I am sure it helps matters for the traversal through various cities when documentation is needed.” she challenged.

Frieren, in response to her daughter’s question, couldn’t help but express a comical downcast look while fidgeting her fingers together, “Too much of a hassle…” she pouted.

Regen couldn’t help but giggle and laugh along with her brother and student, while Fern and Teufel gave the elf hero an annoyed look. It was really refreshing to meet Frieren the hero in such a way, it brought the mythos of the hero herself down to earth and relatable.

Felson, 2nd-grade mage

“Aaaahhh!” Felson mentally screamed in panic as he poured himself over all his papers on his desk to try and come up with an appropriate test for the sheer amount of mages he was supposed to proctor for. “Why me!? It was supposed to be a reasonable amount of ten to twenty mages applying for the exam!” he mentally screamed more in his head as he went over his various papers on his desk he had in mind for options.

“But nowI have over fifty!” Felson finally spoke aloud in panic to the ceiling with his hands on his head, before palming his desk to look over his ideas of tests once more. He then looked forward off into the space of his office, “And if that was not enough, I have Master Serie looking over the test the entire time no doubt!” he screamed, nervous sweat dripped from his brow at all the pressure coming down on him.

A sudden knock on his door caused Felson to shut up, and nervously speak up with a quivering calm voice, “...c-c-come in.” he announced.

The door to his office opened, allowing him to see who it was, making him further panic when he saw Sense let herself in, “ AAAHHH! What is it now! Am I about to be asked to make sure I do my best? Don’t let anyone but the best pass? Examine what test I have in mind? Wait, I don’t even have anything in mind yet! Wait, I did! But now it’s all out of the window with how many mages showed up!” While turmoil inside Felson’s mind was in overdrive, Sense simply approached the man’s desk to speak with him directly, unaware of the panicking fit he was having mentally.

“Master Serie wishes to proctor the exam, is that alright with you?” The first ranked mage questioned the second ranked mage.

Feeling all his worries suddenly drain from his being, Felson smiled nervously, “...Yeah…sure…” he squeaked out.

Sense nodded in thanks, “Thank you, I apologize for my master’s whims.” she informed the man.

Felson stood up straight and coughed into his fist before speaking further on the matter with a smile, "Nonsense! I am happy to hand the test off to master Serie.” he assured Sense, who nodded once more with a dull look, before excusing herself and left the room.

Once the door was shut, Felson wilted and collapsed into his check, an entire mountain’s worth of weight felt like it was lifted off his shoulders, “....wait…” He spoke to himself with a listless look, “Why would she want herself to proctor the exam?” he asked himself.

Author’s note; Saw the game trailers that all came out. A sequel to Okami, an elden Ring stand alone game, and quite a few others that piqued my interest, gonna be a busy game year, especially with the new monster hunter game coming out soon as well. Gonna be hard to balance shit.

Not beta’d yet

Chapter Text

It was definitely going to be one of those days, Datei was already feeling it as he worked with his co-worker Holz; both wore pressed uniforms, as the two of them worked in registering each Mage that lined up for the upcoming exam. There were the other four, but Datei was more familiar in working alongside his friend Holz on every given day they walked in through the front doors of the building.

“Next.” Datei droned on after stamping a mage’s papers and handed it back to them, and corrected his monocle over his eye. Being in his early forties, he was feeling his age creeping up on him.

As Datei accepted the papers from the next mage in line, and went over the names with keen eyes, he stamped the paper and handed it back to the mage and directed them away for him to accept the next one in line, “Next!” He hollered out.

“You think this influx of mages is here because of Serie?” Holz spoke up beside him, while the both of them worked around the clock to get every mage registered.

While his eyes were still focused on the next mage’s document, Datei spoke aloud, “Most likely…” He answered with a drawl, “Next!”

As soon as Holz finished one stamp of approval on a mage’s document, another took their place immediately after, “Really, that’s all you got to say?” He remarked to his friend with a wry smirk, giving him a sideways glance in the process, before looking back at his work, “Next!” he hollered.

Datei offered a shrug back at his friend, “What else is there to say?” he retorted, “Nex-oh, Miss Frieren, we were expecting you.” he greeted with a formal bow of his head towards the aforementioned mage. He had seen her before when she came in with her daughter not too long ago; their research mages were still poring over the notes her daughter managed to compile over the years.

Frieren, one of the remaining people left from the hero party, was at his front desk. “This is good, with a third grade mage rank, you can apply later for a first grade mage status…if you pass the upcoming test that is.” he added with a wry smirk and held his hand out for the Mage to hand her papers over.

Frieren seemed to want to be anywhere but here, or something else he did not know of; from behind the elf, her daughter gently pushed her mother forward, “Go on mother, it's a simple and quick process.” she encouraged.

“...Fine…” Frieren moped, amusing Datei that someone as great as Frieren the slayer had her own hang-ups and annoyances with paperwork.

The mage handed her papers over to Datei with a dour look on her face. Datei accepted the paper, quickly looking over everything to make sure it all checked out. “All good!” he announced, before stamping it and handing it back. “And you?” He questioned the two girls that accompanied her.

The daughter offered hers first, allowing Datei to look at it as well, who nodded before giving the papers their stamp as well and handed them back, “Good luck.” he bid the daughter. 

Right before he could holler next, the purple-haired girl that accompanied the mother and daughter was already up at the desk, reaching up like the Teufel girl to hand her papers over, “Ah, thank you!” he professed as he went through the same process for her papers and stamped them and handed them back, “Have fun!” He said, trying to be nice, and earning a small smile from the girl.

“Next!” he hollered while the three females walked off with their approved papers. 

As Datei continued through the motions of stamping the rest of the mages’ paperwork, his friend Holz spoke up with a surprised tone, “I…I didn’t wake up expecting to see more than one legend today…” He said while focusing on his own work.

Datei nodded in agreement, now he just wondered what sort of mage test would be held.

Frieren

She didn’t know why she listened to her daughter and student, but after Teufel insisted she at least apply herself to get some documentation for the present era, she was teamed up on by her cute little apprentice wanting to see how her teacher fared in the third grade mage test.

It wasn’t fair.

Looking up from her now notarized papers for the test, Frieren could see from afar the two half elves and human mages were still in line. When she asked what the name of the half elves’ elf parent was, they provided the name ‘Kraft’.

She made sure to remember the name, there was a chance she came across him.

Looking around the place a bit more, she noticed Serie was up on the second floor, leaning against the railing with that smug look on her face; she didn’t know what she had that expression for, the first time she delivered her master Flamme’s note to Serie, she refused Flamme’s death wish.

And now here she was, the head of the organization of mages, a hypocrite and liar.

That, or she changed her mind over the years, it was a major possibility.

Serie

“Master.” Sense spoke, her footsteps making soft sounds as Serie’s student approached her from the side, prompting her to stand away from the rails and direct her attention to her apprentice, “Ah, Sense, I take it Felson agreed to let me take over the test?” she asked, earning a gentle nod from Sense.

“Indeed.” Sense replied, her expression remaining dull and passive, before glancing to the side in thought, “Though, I think it was for the best he handed it off to you, he seemed to have been under immense pressure involving more mages to proctor than he expected when I confronted him.” she explained to her master.

Serie offered an amused smirk, “Then it was his lucky day.” she remarked, before making her way back to the rails, “Let’s see…. it looks like all of the mage aspirants have finished applying for the exam.” she announced, earning a nod from her apprentice as Serie walked over and glanced down at the first floor filled with mages and admins.

Waiting for a bit to let the mages group up for one reason or another, Serie smirked as she used a spell to let her voice be heard widely across the entire room, “Settle down now.” she ordered, earning a quick reaction as every mage looked up at her, all giving her varying degrees of awe and surprise.

Passing her gaze along the crowd, she continued to speak, “Good.” She announced, as the hushed murmurs quieted down enough for her to fully speak without being interrupted, “Now, while I know this third grade mage exam is not supposed to be anywhere as difficult as a first grade mage exam is, there should be, at the very least, a certain pedestal to hold a third grade mage to. Correct?” she spoke to the crowd, earning quite a few nods.

Serie continued to speak with a mirthful smile, “And don’t you worry.” She began by saying, her eyes swept across the crowd of mages, “I have nothing in mind that involves possible death.” She joked with a rueful smile, earning a few nervous laughs and coughs. 

The rumors and tales of how difficult the First Grade mage exams her apprentices host do spread quite a bit, of course; she was curious how her apprentice Sense would host her first test…perhaps she’d let her host a second grade mage test first….

“Now,” Serie began as she walked towards the stairway down to the main floor, “Please make your way to the back exit, we have a nice outside testing ground where I know we can put your magic skills to the test.” 

While Serie was making her way down the stairs with Sense trailing not far behind her, she spotted Frieren and her two little ones heading off to follow the crowd to the back, “Frieren, I want you to stay behind.” she announced, earning quite a few head turns looking where she was eyeing Frieren.

“Oh my. That’s Frieren!?”

“So she is an elf!”

“Hey, she looks just like that statue in my hometown!”

“Holy Goddess! It’s Frieren the Slayer!”

“I was right! She is Frieren!”

“Told you she was her!”

Serie was amused at the various reactions, but that was not why she called out Frieren amongst the crowd of mages…well, part of it was. She wanted to use Frieren as a good benchmark, that is, if she knew how to hold herself back in the test; oh Serie knew Frieren was better than any of the other aspiring third grade mages, but if Frieren has been slacking in controlling her mana, she’d be surely disappointed.

“Move along now!” Serie urged the other mages, making a flippant gesture with her hand once she reached the first floor, prompting them to get going.

Serie couldn’t help but smirk at the annoyed expression Frieren was giving her, “Oh relax.” she chided as she approached the other elf, eyeing her two little girls. “You two can get going.” she encouraged them, smirking all the while as she stood across from Frieren.

Teufel glanced up at her mother, who nodded at her before she departed with Fern following close behind.

Serie watched the two leave, and once they were out of earshot, she looked back at Frieren with a smirk, “Curious as to why I singled you out?” she asked.

Frieren blinked back with a bored look, before answering her, “I can think of a few reasons, but I don’t see why you had to do what you did earlier.” she pointed out.

Serie expressed amusement toward the other elf, “Simple, I want to see how far you’ve progressed in controlling your mana, to see what the apprentice of Flamme has accomplished other than killing the Demon Lord in her lifetime.” she explained.

“Hmm.” Frieren frowned in thought, before speaking up, “Sounds annoying…” she stated with a displeased look.

Serie chuckled with mirth, before replying to Frieren, “Oh? I figured you’d be more than willing to show how well a third grade mage can cast a spell, set the bar for the standard of what the grade should expect out of all mages.” She challenged her.

“Hm…not really.” Frieren shook her hand, frowning a bit, “Never really cared for expectations.” she revealed.

Serie tutted at Frieren, then spoke her mind, “Really, Frieren, is it so hard to at least show some imagination for other mages to dream of attaining? Is it so hard to think of what years of experience shows?” 

Freiren offered a hapless shrug, “But that’s the thing, Serie, I’ve lived longer than any of those human mages, it’s not quite fair to make them assume that I should be a benchmark.” she rebuked.

“Oh? Then tell me, how many times have you been beaten by a human mage?” Serie challenged, only to get the question thrown back at her.

“That depends, how many times have you lost against a human?” Frieren retorted.

With a frown, Serie gave the other elf a momentary glare, “Look, Frieren. We can argue all day…” she began to pace around the other elf, circling around her to stand beside her with a sideways glance, “Or, you can help by at least showing a good Zoltraak spell. I hear that it's all the mages use these days. Try and show them a few low mana cost spells that can do immense damage!” she requested, insistent on getting the other elf to show the other mages how it’s done.

“Then why don’t you?” Frieren shot back, making Serie frown in annoyance and walk away from the elf. 

“Fine, then perhaps I’ll use that first apprentice of yours!” Serie suggested, pausing in her steps to peer over her shoulder with a smug look, “For a young girl such as her, I felt quite the measure of control of mana from her, and at such a young age! Definitely a good benchmark to show any mage can fire a Zoltraak at her age….that is, if she mastered it completely.”

Turning around fully to see Frieren actually measuring her options, judging by the look on her face, she pushed her further, “Or perhaps…I’ll use your daugh-”

“No,” Frieren stated flatly, giving Serie a stern look, “Serie, I am proud enough that Fern has mastered her Zoltraak spell, but I don’t want to pressure her to be an example.” She explained, face flush with concern. “But really, must you drag my daughter into this?” she questioned, giving the other elf a disapproving frown.

Serie backed up a bit while giving Frieren an apologetic look, “What can I say, I’ve been wanting to see how well you did in teaching either of those girls. So which is it, you, or those girls of yours?” She offered.

Frieren sighed to herself, and looked to Serie with a frown, “I knew signing myself up for this test was trouble.” she grumbled in distaste, before answering Serie fully, “I am proud enough and confident that Fern can successfully fire off a Zoltraak, but I’m not sure if Fern works well under pressure.” she explained.

Serie offered an amused smile in reaction to Frieren’s choice, “Excellent, and this will be that test for her then. All mages at a certain level will eventually need to work under pressure, and I believe this test will reveal what your apprentice can handle.”

Fern

While the clamoring and idle talk persisted amongst the crowd of mages outside the back of the building, where one could see evidence of many testings have been done involving spells, Fern on the other hand paid more attention with the discussion she was having with Teufel.

“So is this the place Serie had you show your spells at?” She questioned the half elf, who nodded.

“It is.” Teufel stated simply, gesturing over at the obelisk in the distance that showed signs of burn marks, “She more or less had me fire my spells at something like that over there, to prove my spells worked.” she informed her young friend.

“I see…” Fern noted as she peered at the object in question, “do you-” she was about to ask more, before the voice of that elf Serie stopped her from speaking any further.

“Alright, now that you are all out here-” Serie’s voice carried across the crowd, prompting both Fern and Teufel to listen her, “I’ll be having all of you cast a specific spell, and I want to see the best you can do with it.” she instructed.

Fern grew concerned, other than a few minor spells, her only good offensive spell, if that's what would be tested, was Zoltraak. She leaned over to whisper to Teufel, “this isn’t good, I hope-”

Serie’s next choice of words silenced Fern’s worries, “I want to see you all perform a perfect Zoltraak, a spell that has become almost a staple to any mage’s repertoire in the past few decades. Fern, please come up front.”

Surprised at the change of circumstances, Fern jumped a bit at being called out, before being patted on her shoulder by Teufel, probably to reassure her. Fern nodded to Teufel with a grateful smile, and made her way through the crowd, “Excuse me…pardon me.” her young voice carried into the crowd.

Teufel

Pushing her way through the crowd as well, she wanted to at least see the attempt by Fern. The girl had been earnestly training many years to get the spell down pat, so Teufel assumed the test was in the bag for her. ‘That begs the question though, what’s the perfect Zoltraak spell that Serie is wanting to see?’ Teufel asked herself.

She was more than able to cast the spell without a problem.

As the young half elf made her way to the front, she was already hearing whispers among the mages, such as “She’s so young!” to “No way a young girl can cast the spell." If Teufel was being truthful with herself, it felt like some scene straight out of a shonen anime. A young up and coming kid training their best to surpass expectation, and deliver with explosive results.

Thinking back on her second life, and reflecting on that last thought, perhaps she too had a slice of that experience….she had been too involved in trying to study and figure out a way to get a high position away from the frontlines.

Stupid Being X…at least he should not be able to show up now, if that Goddess was being truthful…but that certainly didn’t mean she’d trust the words of some deity. She already had enough dealing with meddlers such as them, and it would be a cold day in hell before she let down her guard to that Goddess if she ever showed up again.

But if she was being truthful with herself, the elven looking Goddess was at the very least amicable…bar the abrupt ceasing of her spells against the Goddess; figures the deity of this world would know better than to let her own people fire at her with her own spells.

‘Feels like there’s more to that than I know, but I can’t place my finger on it,’ Were Teufel’s inner thoughts as she eventually made it to the front of the crowd, just barely missing the sideways look she was being given by that pair of half elves and their human friend. ‘Ah, so that’s where they are.’  she mused as she turned her focus back to the front.

Witnessing the scene ahead of her unfold, she watched as Fern approached Serie with Frieren standing not far from the other elf. “So little one, how old are you?” Serie questioned Fern with a brimming smirk.

Fern looked a bit surprised, before answering the elf, “Ah, oh, I’ve just turned thirteen, miss Serie.” her human friend replied back to Serie in a polite tone.

“Where’s she going with this?” Teufel mused with a narrowed gaze.

Serie grinned wider, before speaking again, “Interesting…and you can fire off a Zoltraak, correct?” she asked her next question.

Fern nodded to the elf, “Indeed I can!” She responded, before making her staff appear in her small hands. 

“It still looks a bit comical for a small child such as her to hold such a big stick…” Teufel reflected. Then again, she had her own equally sized staff…

Serie’s smirk widened, while the crowd made murmurs of disbelief, "Excellent, now I want you to fire one off at that stone wall over there, as quick as you can…I’ll give you ten seconds to prepare yourself.” she warned.

‘ So…perhaps Serie wants to put Fern in the spotlight? Show that if they can’t fire a Zoltraak better than a child, then they fail?’ Teufel mused, palming her chin in thought on what Serie was doing with Fern.

“Right!” Fern answered with determination and stepped into place, holding her staff at the ready. 

“There’s no way-” A random mage aloud, before he was proven wrong, as Fern fired off a Zoltraak into her designated target.

Bweem, BOOOM!

Serie looked quite amused, while that apprentice of hers, Sense, spoke up on her behalf, “That was…a good one and half seconds of casting time, Master Serie.” she spoke up.

Serie smiled at her apprentice gratefully, before giving the rest of the assembled mages a smug look, “As you can see, this will be a benchmark. If you can’t fire off the same spell that a mere child can at her age,  then perhaps you’re going to need to start back at the basics…” she explained, giving the entire crowd a firm gaze. “Her precision and casting time are still in much need of improvement, but with time, I do expect her to improve. That’s what I expect out of all of you, to improve if you don’t measure up and fail.” 

The crowd began talking in hushed whispers after that, while Teufel listened to the conversation between Serie and Fern.

“I look forward to when you come for the first grade mage exams.” Serie told Fern, before ushering her over to stand with Teufel’s mother.

With Teufel, she was fortunate she had trained more than enough times with the spell, but it remained to be seen what the other mages would be able to accomplish.

Author’s note; Sorry for the delay, I got lots of other things going on…fics to write…a backlog of them, on top of a new one that has gotten my attention for the past few days. But anyways. Hope this new chapter was good enough to read.

Chapter Text

Fern

Shuffling on over to where she saw Frieren, Fern hurried over to stand next to her Teacher, “Mistress Frieren!” She said aloud with pride in her tone and expressive smile. 

Frieren greeted her student back as Fern approached her with a simple smile, Fern however looked around as she noticed Teufel was missing, “Ah, wait, that’s right, we sort of split up.” she told herself.

From the crowd of mages that would give glances to the elf and her student, Teufel excused herself through the crowd, Fern greeted Teufel with a smile. 

As Teufel approached the two, her eyes honed in on Fern herself, “You did quite well, under all that pressure.” she stated, and an observant tone laced in her voice as she stood apart from the other two.

While the test went underway for the rest of the mages, the periodic calling of names and the sound of beams of magic going off happened while the three conversed with each other. Fern looked towards Teufel and spoke with a calm look, “Thanks! After performing that spell so many times to get it right, It’s almost become second nature!” 

Frieren smiled as she reached out and patted Fern on the head, earning a more prideful look on the human girl’s face, “Now that just leaves Teufel.” she said, retracting her hand and looked to her own Daughter with an expectant gaze.

Fern looked over at said girl, who somewhat glared over at Mother, “Mother, don’t think you can skip out on this, try and at least earn that rank and document. We need that sort of stuff for our travels!” she shook her head at her Mother’s antics.

Seeing she was called out for trying to give the test the slip, Fern too piled on her concerns for the Elf, “Mistress Frieren…don’t tell me you were planning on skipping the test…” Fern didn’t know why her teacher had a bit of a childish streak in her, it honestly felt like she wasn’t speaking with a full on adult.

There were times when Freiren would act all mature, but quite often, her teacher would behave like she was barely an adult at all. 

Frieren, while in the presence of the public eye, managed to stay calm and offered a smile, “Sorry…just…kind of slipped the mind, I guess.” she answered, earning a puffy mouthed pout from Fern and a soft glare from her Daughter.

Once the moment was over however, Teufel looked back to Fern, “I will say though, you’re doing better with the cast time of Zoltraak, over time, I am sure you can fire one off within a second or last on reflex…very good for reaction times and fighting a threat.” she nodded to herself.

Zoltraak, Fern never did know the name of the spell she was practicing over the years, until Frieren and Teufel came along. She had meant to ask Frieren what she knew about the spell she was mastering, but it was Teufel that explained the spell to her.

Flashback

With her staff in hand, Fern steadied her mana and aim, before she fired off her spell towards the boulder from afar; a frown graced her lips as her spell attack barely reached the boulder; Sighing to herself, she turned and looked over at Teufel who had saw fit to stick around and help her a bit to point out what she was doing wrong while Frieren was back at Heiters. 

The elf had chosen to use today to make more progress with deciphering the book Heiter, while Teufel Volunteered to help. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask one of you…do you know the name of the spell I’m casting?” She hadn’t bothered to learn the name until now, and while she wasn’t sure if Heiter knew the name of the spell or not, Fern had felt the two mother and daughter should know at the very least.

Teufel looked back at Fern as she sat on a lone fallen log piece, her gaze expressed a simple plain look as she responded with a nod and spoke, “Not sure how you don’t know the name of the spell you are casting, but the specific spell you are using is Zoltraak.” Teufel answered her with a laidback look on her face. 

Teufel then narrowed her eyes at Fern with a quizzical look on her face, “Wait, who even taught you the spell?” She questioned, “Surely they’d have told you the name.” she pointed out with raised brow.

With an unsure look on her face, Fern reached up and scratched at her face with a nervous chuckle, “Um, I sorta went through master Heiter’s books, and found a note for the spell I’m using right now.” she answered with a soft nervous smile.

Teufel furrowed her brow in consternation, “So…you went through Heiter’s notes, and understood a basic level of the spell that was on one of the notes, and proceeded to practice it…did it not have the name of it on the paper?” she questioned.

With an expression of feeling like she was about to get in trouble, Fern reached her palm out and waved it, “Honest! I just wanted to find a spell that I could use to defend myself!” she answered with a worried look.

Teufel offered a simple shrug in response, shook her head, and gave a straight look to Fern, “We can talk about the invasion of privacy later, among other things, but for now, I’m more interested that the note you read from Heiter’s notes, didn’t have the name of the spell on it.” she explained, a curious look crossed her features while talking.

Teufel tapped her chin before she spoke again to Fern while resting her hand back down to her lap, “Heiter probably had the old notes from his visit to the mage administration building, or perhaps mother sent him those notes, honestly, any number of reasons could explain why a priest held the notes on Zoltraak…”

It went unsaid that the notes should have had the name of the spell, Fern nodded in agreement and turned to aim her staff at the boulder across the valley, “Interesting…what’s the history behind the spell though?” She asked Teufel, as she built her mana up steadily, and fired off another one, only to fail again in hitting the boulder.

Teufel watched as Fern continued practicing her spell, and spoke to the girl with a calm gaze, “From what I know, the simple story was that it’s a spell that has been reverse engineered from a Demon’s own spell.” Teufel answered, earning a curious look from Fern as she paused and looked back at Teufel.

“Reverse engineered?” Fern questioned, an honest curious expression crossed her features.

Teufel nodded and explained to Fern, “To put it simply, the spell was analyzed over the years, studied, theorized, practiced, and put into use by humans after it was sufficiently experimented to be understood as a spell for any Mage to use.” 

“Huh.” Fern mused, her curiosity a bit sated as she conversed with Teufel, “And what about the demon that used it?” she asked.

Teufel shrugged haphazardly. “I’ve asked my mother the same question actually, The Demon’s name is Qual, and right now, he should still be frozen in stone.” She answered Fern, earning a surprised look from Fern.

“Wait, what?” Fern asked aloud, a surprised look crossing her features.

Present

The story behind the fact that the Demon known as Qual was still alive but frozen in stone had surprised Fern when Teufel explained the story to her, and it was only after explaining about how mages shields had now adapted to Qual’s Zoltraak was another layer to the story.

Teufel briefly called it a pseudo arm’s race of spells, which made Fern question what she meant by that; Teufel of course had said she’d explain it more, once they actually headed out for Qual’s location, as she was sure her mother would be taking them to the demon to finish the job. 

The frozen stone spell would only last so long, and Frieren would undoubtedly want to make sure the demon didn’t raze the surrounding area to the ground before she made it back there in time.

“Teufel” Serie finally called out her friend's name, causing her to look at Teufel with an expectant look.

Fern smiled for Teufel as she looked back at Fern, “Good luck…not that you’ll be needing it of course.” she chuckled a bit at the half elf.

Teufel nodded back at Fern before she walked over to demonstrate her own Zoltraak.

While Frieren’s daughter walked off from the crowd towards Serie, Fern looked back over at her Teacher with an expectant gaze, “I almost forgot mistress Frieren, when are you planning on heading to that Qual Demon.” she asked, earning a surprised look from Frieren herself, and a few choked back gasps of surprise from a few eavesdroppers.

Frieren on the other hand, looked at Fern with an amused smile afterwards, “Ah, did Teufel tell you about him?” She asked her, earning a nod from Fern. Frieren smiled and patted Fern on the shoulder in a comforting gesture, “Don’t worry, we won’t be heading to him for a few more years. I’m pretty sure that spell on him should last till then.” she assured her student.

“I’m sorry. What was that about Qual?” A random mage asked from amongst the crowd, earning a glance back from Frieren, not bothered by the fact that some random stranger was butting into the conversation.

Fern watched as her teacher expressed back a smug look, “Don’t worry, He’ll be dead soon, we just need to finish the job.” Frieren answered back with a plain smile.

Fern’s teacher earned a few more hushed whispers in response, making Fern feel like she should have kept her mouth shut, but her curiosity got the better of her about Qual once her mind traced back to the thought about the spell she had been practicing for almost half her life.

Teufel

As much as she felt confident in passing the test that Serie presented for all the examinees, she couldn’t help but feel the elf was going to pull some stunt on her; she didn’t know why, since she has only known the elf in a short time span.

Heading out where Serie stood with Sense was not far from her master, Serie smiled a bit more once Teufel finally approached her just short of a few feet. “Now-” Serie began to speak to Teufel, an expectant tone was laced into her tone as she spoke with her, “Let it not be said I’m already acquainted with you and your mother beforehand.” She announced, earning quite a few curious looks from the crowd of Mages.

“So…” Serie spoke in a succinct tone, her eyes drifted to the far off targets that were several years away every had been shooting their spells at, “I believe this sort of test will be too easy for you…” she smirked at Teufel at the end, while causing more hushed whispers from the bystanders.

Teufel's gut instinct was right, Serie was the sort to spring something like this on her; her prior experience had already made her aware that Serie’s behavior was a bit spontaneous, and here was more proof.

Teufel glared a bit back at the elf, “You must be joking!” she decried.

Serie simply smirked back as she looked down at Teufel with an easygoing gaze, “I am not.” She retorted back, “Tell me this though, do you doubt yourself of the extra challenge?” she questioned, her gaze now felt like it was penetrating her very being by the elf, “Afterall, can a mage really regard themselves deserving of the grade they are applying for, if they can not rise to any challenge the rank may give them?” she challenged Teufel with a steadfast gaze.

Teufel’s glare remained, but lessened to a degree; Serie was a bit right to a certain degree, anything could happen out in the world, and she probably wanted to make her as an example out of the test, just like she did with Fern.

She could make many comparisons to her own past lives, and right now, Serie was expressly making her go above and beyond to attain the rank through the test she was making every mage do; she couldn’t coast through the test, and Serie was making sure she earned it and did not breeze through it in any sense of the word.

Quashing her ire towards the elf, Teufel sighed to herself and summoned her staff into her hands, “Fine…what is it then?” she asked with a glowering gaze at Serie.

A pleasant smile graced the lips of Serie as she gestured to the far off slab targets, “In under five seconds, I want you to hit all ten slab targets with one Zoltraak spell.” She ordered, a vague enough test for most, if they didn’t know how to split off a spell into numerous beams of energy.

Teufel withheld an annoyed grunt from escaping her throat, and settled with a light glare as she held her staff beside her and aimed, “Ten seconds starting now.” Serie chimed in, causing Teufel to be quick about her spell casting.

Cursing her luck, Teufel quickly projected a large blue circle with runes interlaced into the outer and inner parts of it, with chamber like holes that were placed on the outer edge; the circle spun around as the spell energy built up, before Teufel unleashed her version of the spell to fire off rounds of Zoltraak into the requested Targets at a fast rate per second.

Each spell curved and homed in on their respective slab target, before all landed in a cacophony of booms. Silence permeated the test area, before Teufel turned around to give Serie a smirk, “There, you satisfied?” She questioned, while Serie herself couldn’t help but express a brimming smug smile while her eyes drifted from where Teufel’s targets and back to her.

With a very delighted look in her eyes, Serie clapped her hands once, “Very well done…quite the…spin on the spell itself.” She somewhat joked at Teufel’s expense, while some of the mages in the crowd coughed at the joke.

From behind Serie, Sense dully looked at Serie and spoke with a dry tone, “Master, that was awful.” She commented, causing Serie to glance back at her while Teufel willed her Staff away now that she accomplished her test.

Serie thinly smiled back at her apprentice, “Oh relax, Sense, I’m just having a bit of fun here.” she chided back, before she directed her attention back to Teufel, “Very nicely done, you pass.” She congratulated Teufel, allowing Teufel to head back to her mother.

Frieren

“What sort of…variation was that Teufel did with the spell, master?” Fern asked her from beside her as the girl tugged on her sleeve, while her daughter was on her way towards them.

“Hmm.” Frieren began to mused to herself, before speaking on her daughter’s behalf to Fern’s questions, “My daughter likes to experiment with the spells I teach her, that’s one of the things she developed on her own.” she smiled proudly for her daughter as Teufel finally approached the two of them.

She had seen Teufel do other things with what she’s taught her, and if anything, her daughter should practice more with that variation of the spell; sure, one could multiple Zoltraaks in succession, and Frieren felt that her daughter could probably conjure up more of those spell circles that spun and fired off rapidly.

She’d ask Teufel more about it later, but for now, her daughter finally reached her and Fern, allowing her to reach over and pat her own daughter on the head, “Well done!” She congratulated her daughter with a calm smile.

Teufel’s cheeks lit up a bit, letting her know she was feeling embarrassed; it only made her daughter more cute as she affectionately rubbed her daughter’s head, before retracting her hand while Teufel lightly glared at her. 

“Mistress Frieren.” Fern spoke up, while Teufel reached up to fix her hair up as an ahoge ended up sticking out at the fringes of her hair; Frieren gave her student her attention as Fern looked up at her with a curious look, “do you think Serie will do the same with you?” she questioned, while earning a curious look from her daughter as well at the mention of her doing the test as well.

Frieren quickly formed a frown, seeing she had no way out of the test, that is, if Serie would call her out at all, “I honestly hope she doesn’t.” she moped with an annoyed tone, “She should already know I can cast the spell, as well as cast it however I want it to.” she explained.

As Teufel finished patting down her hair, she relaxed her arms to her sides and looked up at her mother, “Well, she already made the test different for me, what’s to say she won’t do it differently for you too.” she offered to say.

Pursing her lips a bit, Frieren glanced up in thought, before looking back down towards Serie who was in the midst of testing one of the two half elf siblings, Regen was her name if she remembered correctly. “I hate that you’re right. I know Serie enough from my own master and my own interactions, that she would think of anything to amuse herself, especially with tests such as this one.” 

Frieren watched as Regen passed the test, before Serie sent her back to the crowd before calling in the next mage, “...and the more I think about, I am starting to get curious if Serie will call me up, and when she does, what will she request me to do…already know more than enough spells to suffice for a given situation.” Frieren explained with a curious gaze in eyes. 

She…didn’t hate the elf per-se…tolerate her to be sure…dislike might be the most apt thing she’d describe her position towards her fellow Elf. “Last up, Frieren.” Serie’s voice hollered out for her, earning the majority of every mage’s attention, leaving the elf herself to let out a sigh and walk off, leaving her daughter and student behind with the crowd.

Serie expressed towards her a smug look as Frieren walked over to her with a blank look, unsure how this was going to play out. As Frieren finally approached the other elf, both of them said not a word for a few seconds, before Serie spoke with an amused tone. “You know, Frieren, in another time, I feel like I would want to fail you…you don’t look like you even want to be here.” she pointed out with a brimming smirk.

With a bland look of her own, Frieren stared back at Serie with a flat stare, “Not really, I don’t…but my Daughter and Student insist I acquire documents for being a mage…contrary to how I feel with this entire thing.” she boredly said.

Serie chuckled back with mirth at Frieren, “But here you are, the set of circumstances of having a Daughter and Student now have you here, in front of me, for a third grade mage exam…and I know very well you can fire a Zoltraak spell better than any mage here can.” she explained with a smirk afterwards.

Letting herself sigh an annoyed breath out, Frieren leveled a plain look at the other elf, “So…how do you think we should do this test then?” she inquired, her curiosity piqued a bit through the conversation she was having with Serie.

Serie began to form a bigger smug smirk, before speaking her mind, “Simple, Frieren, I'll have you pass, but…I will begin the next phase of the exam.” she announced, earning a surprised look from Freiren, and a curious but somewhat unsure look from Sense.

“Master….” Sense spoke tentatively, she looked like she knew where her master was going with this.

Not bothering to listen to her apprentice, Serie announced her next plan for the test, while Raising her voice to be heard by all and giving a glance to the wider crowd of mages, “The Next phase of this test for those that pass.”

Freiren watched as Sense was beginning to give her master a light glare, “Master…please don’t.” she worded out more forcefully.

Serie still ignored the wishes of her apprentice, “A small tournament phase, and those that pass, can earn their second grade mage certification.” she smugly announced, while Sense looked like she wanted to protest, and did.

“Master, no, that was not the plan today!” Sense called out her Master’s shenanigans with a slightly soft annoyed look.

Serie looked back at her apprentice while excited murmurs erupted from the crowd, “My association, my decisions.” she retorted back with a smirk.

Frieren, for an unfathomable reason, felt like she should watch out for her own future with her own student. “Wait. but who would be facing me if you are going through this?” she questioned.

With a slow gaze directed at her, Serie expressed an ever excited smirk, “Oh that’s simple, Frieren, I’ll be having you face me…I want to see the Frieren that defeated the Demon King.”

Author’s note; I pushed the canon off the rails a bit more, watcha going to do about it? 

Not beta read yet.

Chapter Text

Ende, 80+ years ago

Within the castle of the Demon King, the demon himself was in the middle of firing off black beams at the party of heroes, that had made it this far into his castle and his forces of demons; Frieren quickly projected up a solid barrier of magic, layering it up to protect her and the others from the incoming blast of magic.

While the magic spells blasted against her shield wall, Himmel and Eisen dashed out from both sides to keep the demon king occupied while she and Heiter stayed back; the Demon king aimed his finger at Eisen who was already running at full speed towards him, and fired off a massive fire ball at the Dwarf.

Eisen’s eyes widened as he had to leapt up into the air to avoid the incoming fireball, and retaliate back with a downward swing of his battle axe at the Demon king; the Demon King deftly brought up his palm to block the blow, while covering his hand in mana, he grunted in pain as Eisen’s lightning strike caused the Demon King to falter for second.

Not letting up for his fellow teammate, Himmel was already running up towards the Demon King as well with his sword at his side, and jumped to cleave his sword into the demon’s neck; The Demon King however was quick with his reflexes as he brought his arm up and blocked the blow while hardened his skin obsidian black, sparks flew against his skin as Himmel’s sword raked against the hardened skin.

Frieren narrowed her eyes, the Demon King used one magic to block against Eisen’s weapon, and a different one for Himmel’s, this demon definitely had a repertoire of spells in contrast to the other Demons she had fought before.

Acting quickly, Frieren fired off a beam of magic at the Demon King, a seething red beam that scorched the floor as it zoomed at the Demon King faster then one could blink; Her spell connected against the Demon King’s chest and sent him flying into the wall behind him and out through it, leaving Eisen and Himmel to collect themselves after landing on their feet.

As the Demon King descended down from his throne room from the hole his body created, he patted the burnt skin on his chest to put the flames out; his attention however was soon caught as Frieren and Eisen threw themselves out to chase after the Demon king, Himmel and Heiter would try to make it down as fast as they could while Frieren would use a spell to soften her landing while Eisen’s durable dwarven body could handle the impact of the descent.

The Demon King grunted in annoyance as his body fell to the ground below, a good seven or so stories highl before he’d land into the courtyard of his castle; Frieren was the first to fire off another spell from her staff as she descended out of the air, from her staff aimed at the demon, a ball of lightning shot out that screamed like cackling static as it collided into the Demon’s King’s forearms as he brought them up to protect himself from the attack.

While the Demons King’s arms had sparks dance along his arms and his body was just two stories from hitting the ground below, Eisen was running down along the castle brick wall; the Dwarf grunted as he jumped off from the wall he was running on, and swung his battle axe out at the Demon King.

Unable to right himself in the air, the Demon King was sliced into his side by Eisen, the force of the hit itself batted the Demon King out of the air and over into an arched column, his own body collapsing the structure along with his body going down with it.

Frieren fired off another spell down below her and Eisen, making the ground below them become gelatinous, allowing both of their bodies to bounce off from the once former hard ground and land on their feet on stable ground.

From the entrance to the castle behind them, Himmel had already ran as fast as his feet and body could take him, a resolute look was present on his face just like everyone else as he ran out past Eisen and Frieren, already knowing where the Demon King was.

Not to let his friend fight the Demon King alone, Eisen followed after Himmel in his dead sprint, the both of them running at the recovering form of the Demon King who was pushing stone bricks off from him to allow him to stand out from the rubble.

While the two of them fought with the Demon King again with their battle axe and sword respectively clanging against each time the Demon King blocked with his hardened mana skin spell, Heiter finally exited out from the entrance of the castle; the priest himself quickly catching his breath while leaning against the frame of the entrance from the overtaxation put on his body, he gulped down more air before fixing his glasses a bit to run again alongside Frieren to catch up with their friends.

While he carried his goddess book in one hand, he began to chant with his other hand out and palm facing upward, “Be thy goddess’s sword, let not the life be extinguished, let the warmth of the goddess protect thyself!” He chanted, while an orb began to glow into his hand, “Göttinnenschild!” He intoned, while a bright yellow aura glowed around his body, before the orb fired off at Eisen.

Himmel had just been knocked back by the Demon King by a backhand blow, the swing of the blow had been a swift strike at his stomach while the Demon king himself was in the middle of shooting a conic blast of magic at Eisen; A bright shield was able to deflect the conic blast back at the Demon King while protecting Eisen, a resounding boom echoed as the Demon king was blasted by his own attack and sent flying off from the ground and across the courtyard.

As the Demon King flipped himself through the air to land and drag his hands into the ground to stop himself, Frieren had launched herself at the Demon king by using a spell to make the ground beneath her catapult her out into the air towards the Demon; with her Staff Raised and focused look on her face, she fired off a salvo of air cutting spells that looked like blades of wind.

Throwing his hands up, the Demon King projected up a black barrier to block the spell, booms of air rocked into the demonic barrier of his own making; not done with her casting while she was flying through the air, Frieren brought her staff up to the side and ignited out a swathing flame blade out as she swung her staff out towards the Demon King.

The Demon King grunted in displeasure as he had to keep the barrier up to protect himself from the swathe of the flame blade that Frieren swung at him from out of her staff; as the Demon King lowered his shield down to quickly retaliate back at the elf while she was in the middle of landing on the ground from her impromptu self catapulting, from overhead of Frieren, Himmel had recovered quickly enough to sprint after Frieren and the Demon King, and leapt over Frieren with his sword raised.

Having to quickly react to Himmel’s attack, but unable to cast a spell on his arms to harden them up, the Demon King was left with Himmel gouging a deep cut into his forearms while causing him to stumble back; The Demon King growled in anger at the pain and quickly retaliated this time by thrusting his hands out to fire off a conic blast at the hero point blank range.

Before the Demon King could fire his spell off however, Frieren had not let up on her next spell casting, as once Himmel had landed, she aimed her staff end at the Demon king’s face; a blast of blue energy impacted and sent the Demon King reeling and flying off through the air into another part of the Demon’s castle, where a tower was made for the ascent and descent to and from the courtyard and throne room.

The Demon King’s head began to freeze over with ice as he flew towards the other wall, and impacted the stone wall with a loud boom, his body collapsing the entire wall down on him while the ice on his head shattered from the impact.

While the castle tower wall finished breaking down on the Demon King’s body, both Frieren and Himmel were joined back by Heiter and Eisen; Eisen himself speaking up for the team as everyone kept vigilant for the Demon King to emerge from out of the rubble, “Heiter, we need a better plan, than to just batter the blasted Demon up!”

As the Demon King pushed himself from out of the rubble, stone dust falling off his form as he stepped through the hole in the castle tower his body made, Himmel smirked nonetheless as he stood by his allies, “No, I can feel it, he can’t keep this up, I can tell he’s not used to this amount of pressure!” he assured Eisen, before sprinting off at the Demon king, while deftly dodging the incoming beams of magic the Demon King fired at the Hero.

Eisen cursed in his dwarven tongue, “Fine then!” He grumbled and chased after Himmel to keep up the pressure with the human.

Heiter meanwhile spoke with Frieren as he focused on building his mana up, “I got a spell in mind that can boost a magic attack, start Casting your best and fastest spell you can fire, Frieren!” he requested, while his body began to flow white goddess energy.

“Right!” Frieren nodded in agreement as she thought up a spell in mind, and aimed her staff at the Demon King, who was in the midst of blocking each attack from Eisen and Himmel with his hands.

From there, the fight only dragged on as the upper castle parts collapse from the ongoing battle between the hero party and Demon King; spells belonging to the Demon king, Frieren and Heiter would go off, while clangs of Eisen’s battle axe and Himmel’s sword would resound through the air.

By the time the fight was over, Himmel was standing over the corpse of the Demon King with the entire castle having collapsed from the monstrosity that was the battle between the heroes and the Demon king.

Atop the pile of rubble that was once the Demon King’s castle, Himmel pulled his sword out from the chest of the Demon King and stumbled back; Heiter had managed to catch his friend as the rest of the party had been able to catch up with Himmel and the Demon king’s last throes of the battle.

As Himmel fell into the arms of his friend Heiter, he looked at his friend's face with a surprised look before he picked himself up; as the moment settled down for everyone to digest what they just did, Himmel turned around with his sword slack in his grip, but keeping it firm enough to hold it.

Freiren watched as Himmel turned around and slowly smiled victoriously, “heheh…ehhehe!” He began to chuckle, along with Heiter, before both men burst into relieved laughter; Frieren smiled in response while Eisen collapsed onto his rear end, this was a very hard won fight that she doubted she’d ever forget.

“I…I could use a…a good drink right about now…” Eisen groused while he held his battle axe beside him, earning raucous laughter from Himmel and Heiter as both too fell onto their rears after the exhaustion of the battle finally settled in.

Feel the onset of exhaustion as for herself, Frieren breath a sigh of relief as she stepped back and sat atop a large block piece of the castle; her staff in her hands, not wanting to let her guard down too much in enemy territory, who knows if there were any other demons that might come out from the rubble and attack them.

Himmel smiled back at his friends, his gaze settled on her, the two shared a smile; something inside Frieren made her feel something as she smiled back at Himmel, something about the moment made her feel she wanted to share more of something with Himmel.

Present, Teufel

The supposed upcoming second part of the exam, that had been decided out of nowhere on a whim by Serie herself, had been delayed for everyone that wanted to take part in the little tournament to become a second grade mage.

Seated in one of the rooms of the Mage Association Building, Teufel sat with Fern where there was a long table and a wall of books for people to study magic from; Fern was looking up a book about how to cast easy fire, while Teufel was seated opposite of her at the desk with a book of her own.

From what she could overhear, Serie wanted to face her mother while the rest of the mages would be facing each other; something about wanting to face the Frieren that fought the Demon King.

She had seen Serie and her Mother walk off back towards the building to discuss the matter more privately, while Sense had apologized to the mages in attendance, and assured they didn’t have to take part in her Master’s inane whims; but she did not say the opportunity to become a second grade mage was off the table.

That brought up Teufel’s point in time now, and everyone else's, Serie had told everyone to prepare themselves if they wanted to participate; from what Teufel had noticed a lot over the years as a mage in this world, often a mage would specialise in a spell while also keeping a repertoire of other spells.

One couldn’t be a one trick pony afterall, and you couldn’t call yourself a mage if all you knew was one spell, but it did help a mage to focus on a spell to specialize it and bring it to its full potential, while still keeping a few other spells under one’s belt.

The ironic twist is that her mother explained what Demons do with their own magic spells, besides what the Demon king was able to do; Demons would rely on one magic spell of their own, and rely on it alone, building themselve up to become proficient with their magic spell. Qual was a prime example.

Gazing her eyes to the window of the room, while Fern held her book in her hands, idle flipping a page once she was done with the page she was done reading, Teufel continued to dwell on the upcoming ‘mage tournament’; it wasn’t a bad concept, it would help the mage association filter out what mages were capable of actual combat, and it would allow the participating mages to see where they stood in the world of magic.

So long as it was stressed that killing your opponent was a disqualification, Teufel was fine with this impromptu mage tournament; It would rob the world of the aspiring mages that wanted to do more in life after they leave this place, no doubt they had ambitions that lead them to this point in time. 

A waste of human life if a mage test cost the lives of the participants, they were not enemies here, merely opponents if anything else.

Of course, that was wishful thinking on her part; Teufel had managed to inquire what the tests for the rank for First Grade Mage are like, rumors of various different tests are done and would often take the lives of the mages that took part in them.

A rather cut and dry way of cutting the chaff, but considering what she did in her last life just so she could try and fail her battalion of men and Visha, only for them all to succeed…she would be better off calling herself a black kettle…but in her defense, half of those shells were not live, and all other the men and Visha knew the basic mage shield to protect themselves.

“Hey Teufel.” Fern’s voice broke Teufel from her thoughts, earning her attention as Teufel looked up from her book about recipes on cooking frogs, “If we end up facing each other, what’s going to happen? I mean, I don’t think-”

Teufel cut Fern off, “Fern.” she said, giving the girl a firm look, “Be honest, do you really believe you should take part in the test at all? You’ve already earned the rank of third.” she pointed out with a gentle tone.

“Well…you're not wrong about that…” Fern mused as she looked a bit in thought to herself, cupping her chin in the process, “I mean…I can always take the next second grade or first grade mage test some other time…” she added with a sideways gaze.

“But it’s not like a life or death fight, right!?” Fern spoke up again, her gaze fixated back at Teufel, “And the chance of us facing each other are slim if I do choose to participate!” she said.

“Hmmm. Yes…” Teufel nodded in agreement, “But that still questions if you can fight against a mage one on one.” 

“Well…” Fern paused to say, pursing her lips a bit as she thought about it, “I mean, it’s not like I need the next grade rank right now! But I would like to know where I stand compared to the mage I might fight against If I choose to participate!” 

Narrowing her eyes at Fern’s reasoning, it would help the girl by throwing her into a fight with a mage, rather than some monster that would kill her without a second thought; it would allow Fern some sense of combat, while the mage opponent had no reason to kill the girl to pass the test.

Tapping her fingers against the table, Teufel stopped tapping and spoke to Fern, “Well the choice is ultimately up to you, it would be a safer environment for you to experience combat, that is, if Serie makes sure no lethal damage is allowed in the test.” she nodded to herself at her answer for Fern.

Frieren

Frieren sat apart from Serie as the elf herself sat on a simple chair, at present, Serie, Sense and Frieren occupied a vacant room, a long table with several chairs for people to sit at; Serie smiled an impish smirk while Sense glared softly at her back, Serie sat cross legged on her chair while Frieren sat on her chair with her legs hanging off the edge.

Serie began to speak with Frieren with an ever present smirk, “Now that we are relatively alone, Frieren, you know you don’t have to face me, but my curiosity of how you fought the Demon King, has had me burgeoning to see the Frieren that fought the Demon that day.” 

Staring back at the other Elf, Frieren spoke with a careless tone, “Serie, you know very well I wasn’t alone in that fight, if it wasn’t for Himmel, Eisen and Heiter, I alone would have never beaten the Demon King…but I can’t deny it was a very mana intensive fight.” 

Visions reeled through Frieren minds of every spell she had to use in the fight against the Demon King.

Serie offered a simple smile in response, “Oh, I know that, but I can only imagine the amount of spells you used you’ve learned over the centuries…I am quite curious what grimoires you learned from, what Flamme taught you, other than suppressing your mana to deceive the demons.” She said back.

With a frown on her face, Frieren shrugged back at Serie, “Quite honestly, I think I learned more in the ten years I fought with Himmel, Eisen and Heiter on our way to kill the Demon King, than my entire life…we came across so many dungeons with treasure in them…” She answered back with a growing smile.

Rather than stay in one spot and watch humanity grow, the mere ten years she experienced a measly eighty plus years ago, almost feels like a lifetime ago, the more she dwelled on the brief time she traveled with the hero party. It made her feel wanting to experience it all over again, the thrill of the exploration and dungeon delving, fighting dungeon monsters, finding treasure at the end of it.

It was one of the best ten years she had ever lived, and Frieren would never forget those ten years for as long as she lived.

Serie continued to express a small smirk as she conversed with Frieren, “Let back on topic though, Frieren, I’m willing to part with two Grimiores, if you face me this one time.” She stated with two fingers raised and expressive smug smile. 

“...” With widened eyes, Frieren’s attention was caught, “hmm…make it three…” she demanded instantly, giving into Serie’s request be damned, the elf was offering grimoires in this test for her. She would bargain with the other elf if Serie was actually wanting to fight her that badly, to face Frieren the slayer.

Sense, Speaking up on the matter, glanced between the two with a disapproving frown, “Might I remind you, Mistress Serie, that this place nor the testing grounds is not the best place for mages such as you to throw around destructive spells of such caliber, most of which I could only imagine casting.” She warned, before speaking again of an afterthought, “…relatively speaking of course.”

Frieren was pretty sure that Sense meant that she could imagine the spells, but casting them was a different matter altogether.

With a bit of an impish smirk, Serie gave her apprentice a sideways glance, “Oh relax, Sense, I’m pretty sure we can move this entire test to somewhere else.” she assured her apprentice, earning a slow nod from Sense in appreciation. 

Serie then looked back at Frieren with a bit of a frown, “And your deal…I can consider your request…I have plenty of grimores afterall.” she said with a grin afterwards, but quickly squashed her grin down as she stared at Frieren, “Of course, that’s only if you last more than five minutes against me.” She challenged Frieren with a narrowed look.

Frieren was pretty sure, while Serie was ahead in age, the two of them in a mage fight would be more of a fight of attrition, if she was being generous to herself. The allure of her requested three grimoires had her.

While she could have asked for more than that, she didn’t want to be too greedy…or did she? “Would you have agreed to my request, If I had asked for more than three Grimoires?” Frieren asked the question in her mind with an earnest look on her face. 

Offering Frieren a simple smile, Serie spoke in an amused tone, “Nope. I’d have brought it down to less.” she answered plainly, “I already offer one book for any mage that passes their first grade mage test, giving you any more than that is an acceptable amount, considering you are facing against me.” she stated with a smirk.

Blinking a bit at that information, Frieren voiced her thoughts, “Then wouldn’t this make it more of a first grade mage test for me, if you offer grimoires as the reward?” she questioned with a curious look on her face.

Forming a more amused look on her face now, Serie spoke back to Frieren, “You’re not wrong  Frieren, in fact, this would make it easier in the long run for you! Afterall, with the rank of a first grade mage, it would allow you to travel anywhere!” she answered her.

‘This is probably true’, were Frieren’s thoughts. There were times with customs and checkpoints throughout the countryside demanding certain certifications, and Frieren could only assume this Mage Association would last longer than the last time she earned her necklace to show she was a mage. “How often do I need to come back to reinstate my certification?” Frieren asked.

As much as she loved her daughter, she was very pushy about getting papers and other stuff to show who she was, something about the developing world of humans will probably be more bureaucratic as times went on.

She really hoped it didn’t get that bad where she had to have papers for everyplace she went. 

Serie spoke up with a plain tone, “Reinstatement? That?” She began to question with a brow lifted, and answered, “We have a few branches built around the countryside, so I suppose you don’t need to travel from across the countryside every ten years to update your certification at one place.” Serie answered.

“Fine then…when should we start?” Frieren asked Serie, earning an excited smirk from the other elf and a cautious gaze from Sense of the mounting battle that will play out between the elf mages.

Chapter Text

Testing Grounds

Teufel

There were at least half of the mages than there were then, and in Teufel’s mind, the mages that left and or opted out of the next stage of the test were probably less inclined to acquire the higher grade; of course as she looked around at the visible faces if each mage around her, they held expressions of ambition and some part eagerness.

This was fine in Teufel’s mind, as it allowed the process to move faster and get the day over than putting everyone in some tournament or something that would probably take a good few hours for everyone to take turns on the available testing grounds.

The smaller crowd of mages talked amongst themselves while Teufel was looking around, before Fern beside her spoke up, “Where do you think your mother is?” she questioned with a curious gaze on her face as the young girl looked around.

Teufel turned to look at Fern, and spoke with a frank tone, “Not sure, my best guess is Serie might be pitting herself against my mother. This little second phase of the test is pitting mages that aced their third grade test, and mother is practically beyond the scope of any ordinary mage.” she answered. Serie was the next best test for her mother if she wanted to earn her second grade rank, Teufel doubted any of these present mages had it in them to get a win over her mother.

Fern’s eyes widened a bit as she looked back at Teufel, “You really think that?” she asked, her eyes glanced around to find any trace of the two elves in question, “I mean, even I don’t think I could face mistress Frieren, much less these mages…well…it’s not like I’ve seen them fight yet personally, but the point still stands!” 

Teufel nodded in agreement with Fern, “But it’s just a guess really.” she shrugged, “Serie is probably just talking about putting some handicap on mother to make it fair for the other mage she might face…actually, on second thought…” She made a sour face at the words that came out of her mouth, “That would anathema to the test itself!...maybe Serie really is making mother face against her so that she doesn’t wipe out the poor mage she might have faced off against.” 

With a look of understanding on her face, Fern looked around, observing her surroundings, “There’s no way they’d use this place to do the test against each other, right? I mean, Serie is known as the living grimoire, then you have mistress Frieren that fought, survived and won against the demon king along with the other heroes!”

Teufel nodded and asked her fellow mage, “Did Heiter ever tell you much about the fight he and my mother had with the Demon King?” she asked, while earning more curious glances from the mage bystanders, “Surely he told you some bedtime stories or something, right?” she questioned Fern.

Turning her head back to look at her friend, Fern smiled and nodded, “Once actually! He said the fight took almost the whole day to defeat the demon king! He had to use every goddess magic spell he knew! Not to mention he witnessed both his friends Eisen and Himmel fight nonstop!” she answered, before looking at Teufel with another curious gaze, “What about you? Did mistress Frieren ever tell you about her fight with the demon king?” she asked.

Teufel nodded with a focused look, “At least once, she said she was fortunate to have the friends beside her the whole time, though the details of the fight itself were from her perspective. I asked her what sort of spells she used at the time, and the simple answer I got from my mother was ‘everything that was useful in the situation’.” she shrugged.

“Oh.” Fern mused with a certain look of surprise on her face, earning a shrug back from Teufel. Before Teufel and Fern could speak more on the situation any more, most of the mages quieted down as Sense emerged from out of the administration building along with a few other administrative mages that worked there, earning both Fern’s and Teufel’s attention as they quieted up.

Nowhere was seen neither her mother or Serie, so Teufel’s assumptions were beginning to run clear and true. Sense herself held herself a calm look as she walked towards the crowd of mages, her eyes trailing over them before moving on. As Sense closed the distance, she spoke aloud with a calm tone and look on her face, The other mages that walked with her stopped behind her.

“From here on, I will be proctoring the following test. And before you ask, no, My master Serie will not be present.” Sense intoned, her facial expression never deviating from the placid look she had on her face.

Teufel was already hearing murmurs break out amongst the mages, while Fern leaned over to her to whisper, “I guess you were right.” she said, while earning a nod from Teufel,

Sense continued to talk as her eyes drifted from one end of the crowd to the other, “Due to…the nature and experience Frieren has, as you all no doubt know, was facing the Demon King along with the other heroes and won ,Serie has seen fit to face the mage herself. She knew having Frieren face any of the aspiring third grade mages for their second grade would have been an unfair match.” she further explained.

Teufel watched as some mages nodded, while some visibly showed signs of relief. She doubted any one of them actually wanted to face her mother at all for the prize of second grade, but she wasn’t sure if any would try and ask for a friendly mage spar, that was a different matter altogether.

Sense then motioned to the side with her arm, “To make this process easy-” one of the mages that came outside with her shuffled forward with a large jar and stood beside where Sense was motioning her arm towards, “Everyone will be pulling out a piece of paper that is in that jar, and will be facing against their respective opponent with the match numbers.” she ordered, “When I call out your number, the both of you will step forward and be sent to your respective testing ground.” she explained.

After Sense spoke those words, one of the other mages that walked out with her stepped over off to the side, and placed her hands on the ground; the female administrative mage formed a concentrated look on her face, as a large blue circle blipped into view around her hands.

Teufel watched as from out of the testing ground in the far off distance, Two large earthen flat rings emerged, Sense continued to speak as the rings finished emerging, “The goal is this, knock your opponent out of the ring, I will accept no maiming, nor lethal attacks. Any made are clauses for disqualification.” She announced with a bit of a glare on her peaceful face.

More hushed murmurs emerged from the crowd, while Sense’s focus once more roamed across the crowd. “Please form a line now.” she ordered calmly, prompting everyone to get moving, “And please-” 

BOOM

Teufel jerked her body a bit, was well as Fern as seen from the corner of her eyes; Teufel also witnessed many of the other mages jerked in surprised as well, and not just them, she saw Sense react a bit violently to, a minute one as she visibility widened her eyes over to the far off mountain in the distance. “Ah…they’ve already started…” she spoke in a concerned tone.

Everyone’s attention even Teufel and Fern tried to look beyond the distance, the distant sound of explosive spells went off from behind the mountain in the distance. Teufel could only ponder and imagine what sort of mage battle her mother was having with Serie.

Frieren

A bit ago

Landing from out of the air with her staff in her hands and ready for the match she was going to have with Serie, Frieren watched as Serie herself gently landed with her bare feet to the ground; Frieren looked around next and noted they were indeed far from the city, Serie had told her where they would be doing this five minute test.

“I am looking forward to see how far you’ve grown.” Serie spoke, earning Frieren’s attention as she pulled her attention before over the elf herself, a pleased smirk present on her face as she spoke. “I didn’t think you were ready at the time a thousand years ago, but I think now’s a good time to see what sort of mage you’ve developed into, to see the fruit of Flamme’s tutorship.” she said while reaching into her sleeve, her eyes were focused on where she was reaching, before pulling out a clock with small bells on top of it.

Frieren watched as Serie began winding the clock up, “Really?” she asked, her curiosity leaking into her voice as she spoke with Serie, “I thought you said you wanted to face the Frieren that slayed the Demon King, not the apprentice of Flamme.” she asked, confused as to what sort of mage Serie was expecting out of her.

Serie looked up at Frieren as she continued twisting the gears on the back of the clock, “I want to see all that you learned, Frieren, ever since we parted ways on…a bit of a sour note, I could not help but ponder what sort of development you would have through the ages. After all, an elf can be either lazy, or devote themselves to anything with all the time they have…” she answered with a growing smirk.

With a bit of an annoyed look, Frieren expressed back at Serie with a pointed look, “So what, you were lazy for the last few hundred years, and then you decided to go through with doing my master’s wish?” she pointed out. Frieren was pretty sure she brought this up before with Serie, but it didn’t hurt to nail the comment in against her.

Serie on the other hand expressed a simple smile as she placed the clock down and let it set while keeping her eyes on Frieren, the clock itself had yet start ticking, allowing the conversation between them to continue for a bit further; As Serie stood back up, she spoke with a careless tone, “I was busy collecting grimoires and spells, Frieren, what did you do with your thousand years?” she shot back, while a simple wooden staff of a stick appeared in Serie’s hand. One end was pointed while the other was balled up into knotted wood. It looked more like something used by an elderly person to help them stand up.

“Though, speaking from what I know and seen so far…” Serie continued to talk with an amused look, “You became a mother to a half elf, and it was a pleasant surprise to see other half elves as well among those mages earlier.” she commented, her amused smile thinned a bit, “Perhaps this age of mankind will be accompanied with the unity of man and elfkind alike. Who knows…” she remarked candidly.

Serie’s amused smile formed back to a simple one, as she saw where Frieren's were focused, before Frieren herself looked back at the other elf’s face, “Don’t mind the staff of mine, just something I have that once belonged to my elder elf.” she answered Frieren’s questioning gaze.

“Hmm.” Frieren acknowledged Serie’s answer, as silence settled before them. She started to feel the tense air between them, unsure when the clock would start ticking, be it magical or not, but she had her mana ready and her stance with her staff was just as well, while Serie remained relax in her posture as the both of them stood a few yards away from each other.

Serie was the first to move, as she lifted her free hand up and quickly snapped her fingers, allowing a blue circle to appear around said fingers; the clock itself glowed blue before it began ticking its five minute timer down.

5:00

And all around Serie, about a dozen magic circles came into existence, and from out of the circles, red hot fire beams fired directly at Frieren; Putting up barriers to block the spells, Frieren quickly moved into action by flying up to fire off a bolt of lightning from out of her staff down at Serie.

4:55

Serie on the other hand blipped from existence, making Frieren widen a tad, bit, only for her to place another barrier up as Serie appeared beside her with her staff aimed at her while firing off a shockwave from the tip of her staff. Frieren felt the point blank spell cast bang and shatter her shatter her shield apart.

4:50

Reacting quickly to recover herself and last the whole five minutes, Frieren retaliated with a multitude of return fire of several dozen zoltraaks at Serie at point blank range as well.

Serie on the other hand kept her smirk up as she flew backwards out through the sky, while casting out several spells to meet the Zoltraak spells Frieren fired at her; every Zoltraak Frieren had fired at her, and curved towards her was met halfway by Serie’s own spells, nullifying them from ever reaching her.

4:45

“Please don’t bore me with that spell, Frieren.” Serie hollered across the distance, before disappearing again, prompting Frieren to quickly hold her staff in a defense stand while she was still flying in the air, before placing a stacked barrier behind her as Serie blipped into existence behind her while firing off a concussive flame burst into the shields.

4:40

While her shields held steady, Frieren gripped her staff and swung it around herself and conjured up a whip of fire that snapped out at Serie once she allowed her barriers to fall; Serie however continued to smirk as she spun her staff up while conjuring up a wall of water from out of her staff that flew forward into the incoming whip of fire.

4:35

The wall of water descended down towards Frieren with how both mages were positioned in the air. Concentrating her mana together at the focal point of her staff, Frieren aimed it at the incoming water wall and fired out a tornado that sucked in the water and expelled it out of a portal behind her.

4:30

Just as Freiren was in the middle of casting her spell however, Serie blipped into existence again but this time in front of her between the tornado and her, while she aimed her simple wooden staff at her, “You're open.” she simply said with a small smile, before firing off a concussive blast into Frieren’s midsection.

Frieren eyes widened as she hastily tried to put up a barrier in time while cutting off her spell, of which she was only able to out up enough of a weak barrier to protect her front; Freiren was sent hurling down to the ground while the remaining water wall fell over Serie, drenching the elf in her own spell.

4:25

She was able to right herself through the air and land on her feet on the earth, and quickly looked up as Serie once again blipped out of sight and had her staff aimed at her face, the tip glowed seething red at her shoulder; however, Frieren too had her staff aimed right where Serie would be, her own staff glowed seething yellow.

Serie had a bit of a surprised but amused smile on her face as both Elves fired their spells into each other’s shoulders.

Boom

4:20

Dust settled as both elves were floating back down after their respective spell blasts sent the other flying some ways away before stopping themselves in the air, and landed on the ground. Frieren expressed a focused look on her face as she faced down Serie, while Serie herself minutely glanced at the wound on her shoulder. 

Both of them shared the same wound.

Serie frowned a bit, before forming a smirk one more as her eyes drifted back up over at Frieren, “Been a while since I felt this sort of pain, guess I’ll be taking this more seriously now.” she spoke candidly.

4:15

“Hmm. figured you were going easy on me.” Frieren commented back while she held her staff up and aimed at Serie, before she blipped out from existence, and back into existence in front of Serie, “Thanks for giving me the time to analyze that spell of yours.” she added, while earning a surprised and bewildered look from Serie while a harsh purple glow emitted from Frieren’s staff. I win.

4:10

Boom

The entire spot where Serie stood was now covered by kicked up dirt and trees, while the mountain from afar showed a now existing hole in it. “I…think I overdid it…” Frieren chastised herself as she watched the dirt settle, and see the form of Serie stand, save for one thing.

What looked like Serie, was instead a rock clone figure in the guise of the elf that crumpled to pieces. “Oh, no, never mind…” she told herself.

4:05

“Nicely done, Frieren.” Serie spoke from afar behind her, making Frieren quickly turn on her feet and keep her staff up and ready, as she faced off against Serie once more. Serie herself still held a smirk still on her face, and no wound was present, meaning she had replaced herself with the rock clone prior to their staffs aimed at each other’s shoulder.

Most likely after she casted the wall over water and allowed the obscuring water to replace herself.

4:00

Serie continued to keep her amused expression up as she faced off against Frieren, “but like I said, time to take this seriously.” her grin then turned dangerous with a glint in her eye.

Sense

She watched as all the mages lined up, and walked forward to take their turns to take out their number for who would be facing off against each other. While the mages continued to do as they were told for the second grade mage test, Serie internally was glad her master agreed with her that her and Frieren’s fight would need to be done far from civilization.

No need to cause undue damage to the city.

BOOM

Sense’s eyes quickly snapped towards the direction of where her master and Frieren were now fighting, the first booming blast had caused a small tremor that reached them; now, another booming blast caused a large hole in the mountain to exist, making Sense’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. This was going to be troublesome.

Relaxing her facial features back to a more relaxed face, Sense looked forward once more; a few mages made cursory glances at the new hole in the mountain; this test was definitely going to run through the rumor mill of mages, she’s just glad Felson was more than willing to hand the proctoring off to her and her master.

It didn’t feel right just taking the job off his hands, but from what she saw of the man, he was more than amenable to hand the proctoring of the mage exam off to them.

He probably was not expecting such an influx of mages to attend, which was fair. They don’t usually have this many mages at any given time for any exam, but for the future, she should tell Felson he should prepare for any inevitability of any tests he hosts. It was better for the second grade mage to be prepared for anything.

Bringing herself back to the present from her thoughts, Sense saw that Teufel and that student Fern of Frieren had already pulled out their papers. She was glad she enforced the rules on the mages, that Fern girl was too young to even be here, yet she was able to ace her masters test of firing off a Zoltraak at her age.

It was still a bit mind boggling that the girl was that much of a prodigy to cast Zoltraak at her age, she could only assume Frieren was a very good teacher…then again, her master had said Frieren’s own teacher was Flamme herself, and Flamme’s own was Serie…Not to mention the daughter of Frieren was taught by her mother as well…

This really was going to be the talk amongst the mage rumor mill…

Author’s note; Sorry for the wait, got other fics and snippets I’ve been preoccupied with.

Not beta read yet.