Chapter 21

With Eisenwald defeated and the information we wanted obtained, Levy and I contacted the Rune Knights. It took them some time to arrive- forcing Levy to keep using the 'Sleep' word on the Salamanders- but we gladly handed over Eisenwald to the Rune Knights and the Salamanders for relocation back to a desert area where they wouldn't cause problems.

The Mayor was thrilled to learn the issue had been resolved and that the Salamanders wouldn't cause issues again. We didn't inform him of Eisenwald being so close to the town as there was no need to bother him with the information, knowing about it wouldn't change anything besides perhaps the reward amount. Neither Levy and I were fussed about such a thing as some of the least destructive guild members, so we gladly took what we were owed for the quest and then left.

I held Levy tightly in my arms as we flew back, the both of us remaining quiet. I was pretty sure she was still absorbing all the information I'd 'deduced' from that Eisenwald member, while I just didn't know how to start a conversation after all we'd been through.

"How did you do that?" Levy finally asked. "That thing where you just… Started talking, and began to deduce everything so easily? The guy barely gave anything away besides the fact that his guild was Eisenwald!"

"Two things primarily," I told her, feeling relieved she'd started the conversation. "First, he wasn't trained for things like interrogations. I imagine he only got let in on the information because he was leading the operation, he wasn't one of their heavy hitters, they probably never thought that the mayor would call in Mages for the Salamanders sightings."

"Why's that?" Levy asked.

"Because they were never going to be used, they were only meant to be a deterrent to stop the villagers from wandering into the woods and potentially finding out what they were up to," I explained. "It's why they didn't burn down any of the trees; they didn't want to risk giving the villagers a reason to hire mages. Unfortunately, the Mayor was very proud of Yonju Town and wanted to protect both it and its supplies. So, he hired mages."

"Which meant that their plans to remain hidden were ruined, especially because we could respond to their request so quickly as opposed to taking the train which would take much longer and might even result in us needing to spend a night in town," Levy realised.

I smiled at her words and nodded. "Exactly. So, the guy was caught on the back foot not only from having actual mages show up, but then everyone was systematically dismantled and subdued by you… Speaking of that, you did amazingly well. Last I saw, you were pushing low C-Class, but now you're pushing high C-Class to low B-Class. You must really have been working hard the last six months."

"Of course," she smiled. "I couldn't let a guild newbie get so far ahead of me, right? Of course, you still managed to do so, but I fully plan to catch up!"

I chuckled and gave a nod at her words. "I look forward to it. Anyway, that guy wasn't one of Eisenwald's heavy hitters, he was probably somewhere between a low class mage and one of their executives. Which meant he wasn't trained on how to avoid showing obvious signs like tensing of the body when I mention things he doesn't want, relaxing when I seemingly am wrong about what the plan is, and so on."

"Oh, I see!" She nodded. "And with your stronger perception from your Eye Magic, you could notice those obvious signs and capitalise on them… Interesting, I'll need to add that to my own Eye Magic… What was the second thing?"

"My Eye Magic also allows me to see Ethernano," I explained to Levy. "When people lie, the Ethernano in their magical container 'twitches' for lack of a better term. People's bodies have involuntary reactions when they lie, you see. Hearts pick up in rate slightly, pulse quickening, that sort of thing. When people lie, their magic 'twitches' involuntarily. It's something that can be trained out of people, but that is much easier said than done."

Levy nodded at my words slowly, showing she understood. "… Are you okay?"

I cast my gaze down at her. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm pretty sure interrogating someone- even painlessly like you did- can be pretty emotionally stressful on you," she noted. "So, I just want to be sure."

I gave her a smile. "Thank you," I said sincerely. "I'm… Okay. Sadly, this is just part of my biology, so my brain isn't wired to be as bothered by things like this."

She looked considerate. "Is that just how it is for Flugels? Can you tell me a little about Flugels?"

I hummed. "Well… Flugels were created by a War God by the name of Artosh, for the purpose of fighting. Because of that, my people are immortal."

Her eyes widened. "Immortal? Surely not…"

"Near-completely," I nodded. "I will never age, never succumb to disease, poison or the like. My body is still weak so perhaps I could be killed in combat, but there's every chance that death won't quite stick. But once I come into my bloodline, my body will obtain a near invulnerability that could survive the likes of… Say 50 of Nozomi's Fire Dragon Roar with minimal damage."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her skull in shock. "That's…" Insane, was no doubt the word she wanted to say.

"However, because Flugels were made for combat, most of them are lacking a lot of emotional components. They still have them, but their minds are just unable to register them. Things like shame, embarrassment, Flugels just can't feel them, or maybe not recognise that they're feeling them, so they are just completely ignored. I used to be human so still have my emotions, but my brain has been… Re-wired, in a sense, to slowly be more in line with Flugel…" I sighed. "So, things like interrogation don't bother me."

"That's… Both good and sad to hear," she hugged me tighter. "… You'll really be immortal?" She asked sadly. "You're going to have to watch us all grow old and die?"

"Perhaps not," I told her. "There are ways to grant immortality to others, but I'm not too concerned about it right now… Ah, of course, I trust you won't share that tidbit with anyone, or they'll start labelling me a Dark Mage."

"Just as long as you don't start human experimentation."

"Trust me, I have zero interest in that."

"Then my lips are sealed."

I smiled, and we enjoyed the rest of the flight back to Magnolia in warm silence.

I touched down in front of the Guild, setting Levy down on her feet. We got some small glances but overall were ignored, which I was thankful for. Thanks to me flying to and from the guild for my jobs, people had grown accustomed to me and thus didn't pay attention when I left and came back.

Of course, given the fact that the Rune Knights had also gotten involved, we'd taken much longer to return to the Guild than I normally would have. A glance at the sky told me that the sun would probably start setting in an hour or two.

"Alright!" Levy smiled. "That's the first time I cleared a C-Class job pretty much by myself, without anyone trying to stupidly 'protect me' when I didn't need it! It feels great!"

I smiled and patted her back. "You did great," I tell her. "I think a few more missions like that, and you'll have more than earned your promotion to B-Class. Hell, I can see S-Class in your future easily."

Levy looked at me happily. "You think so?"

I gave a nod. "I do. Between your Letter Magic, your new Eye Magic you've been developing that lets you rapid cast magic, plus the other types of Letter magic you could pick up like Freed's Dark Ectriture, you're going to be a certified monster soon enough."

"Thank you!" Her eyes lit up and she kissed my cheek, causing the blood to rush to my face. "Cute~" She pushed open the doors. "We're back!"

"Welcome back!" The Guild called back, regardless of what they were doing.

"Welcome back," Mavis chuckled as we made our way to the counter. "Let me guess… Pasta?"

"Pasta," I nodded as I took a seat.

She chuckled. "And for you, Levy?"

"Pasta," she echoed my words.

Mavis just laughed and began to cook. "So, how did the mission go?"

"It went great!" Levy's eyes lit up. "I really enjoyed it! Ash let me take charge for the fighting part of the mission, and it felt great to finally feel like I was doing the work of a mage without anyone being overbearing or 'protecting me' and thus not letting me actually challenge myself! I mean, the mission did kind of go a little off the rails since we found out that Dark Mages were the ones causing the Salamander problem-!"

"Dark Mages!?" Mavis looked to us. "Are you both okay? Was it a specific guild?"

"Eisenwald," I confirmed for Mavis. "No big names like the Shinigami or the Black Shadow, but still Eisenwald none the less."

"And I dealt with them all," Levy said, puffing out her chest proudly.

"I'm just glad you're both okay," Mavis sighed in relief, returning to her cooking.

"Oh, by the way, did you know that your magic twitches when you lie?" Levy inquired to Mavis.

Mavis paused and looked over, a surprised look in her eyes. Though, unlike Levy, I could tell that the surprise wasn't from the information that Levy gave… But the fact that Levy knew that information.

'As expected of Mavis, she already knew.'

"Really?" She asked. "How does that work?"

Levy paused and looked at me to explain.

"Magic is like an organ," I told Mavis. "It functions similarly to a heart in that it pumps magic through your body, while the heart pumps blood. It acts very similarly as a result. When you lie, your heart rate twitches and spikes, revealing that you told a lie. Magic works in a similar way, twitching and spiking when you tell a lie."

"Huh…" Mavis tapped her chin. "I never thought of the Ethernano within our bodies that way… But it makes a lot of sense."

I gave a nod. With all the studying I did in my spare time, I had a pretty strong understanding of magic- in this world- and had devised my own theories about how it worked.

Though, I was pretty sure I was exempt from many of the rules since I possessed a universal energy that adapted and changed depending on the power that I was using… Thanks for that, BB.

[You're welcome~]

'Speaking of, you've been very quiet lately. Are you okay?'

[Do you really think I have nothing better to do than to just hover around you all day, Senpai?] BB asked me.

'Considering you did that for the last six months, yes.'

BB let out a cute huff. [I just wanted to keep an eye on you, it was fun watching you train and stuff. But BB-chan is a busy outer god you know; she has a lot of other things to do besides just watching you!]

'Name one thing.'

She opened her mouth and then closed it slowly, seemingly not having an answer before she looked away. [Fuck you.]

I smirked at my little victory and tuned back into the conversation between Levy and Mavis.

"So, Eisenwald is planning to use Lullaby to attack the Guild Master conference?" Mavis muttered. "I'll have to inform the master before he leaves in a day or two, just to prepare. Though, I wouldn't concern yourselves with this matter any further."

"Really?" Levy blinked in confusion. "Why not? Isn't this a big deal?"

"It is," Mavis nodded. "But not as much as you might think. Lullaby is not only a Flute, but also a Demon from the Book of Zeref. And while it's proclaimed to be a flute that kills anyone who hears its song, it's not as absolute as the books say. It can be resisted by people with enough magic power, otherwise the Magic Council would have long since destroyed it. Honestly, it's the weakest demon among those recorded in the Book of Zeref."

I blinked at her words… I felt like that might be a slight change to the world as I knew it, but it would make sense with some of the changes I'd seen in this world. The Magic Council wouldn't have let Lullaby go for so long if it was truly as dangerous as being able to kill anyone who heard its song, they probably just weren't worried since they had strong magic power.

Plus, in the original, the others were able to damage Lullaby and cause it to no longer be able to play its song thanks to the damages they caused to its body… For a demon of the book of Zeref like the ones that were shown later like Mard Gear or Seilah, it was pathetically weak…

Yeah, there was nothing to worry about.

"Oh, good to know!" Levy hummed, having total faith in the Guild Masters. She turned her gaze to me, "Say, do you mind if we train tomorrow? I wanna get a bit more practice in with my Rune Eyes and start seeing if I can do compound words."

"That sounds good," I agreed with a smile. "I want to add a few more abilities to my God's Eye anyway."

"It's a date," she smiled happily.

"It's a date," I agreed.

"Brag about it why don't you," I heard Mavis mutter too low for a normal person to hear.

I couldn't stop myself from snickering.