Chapter 15: Serie (1)
Boom.
A creature resembling a cross between a boar and a lion was impaled by a gleaming golden lance.
"Stupid monster-infested forest," grumbled a young man with long golden hair and eyes of the same color, emerging from the woods complaining about the insecurity of the surroundings.
"Regardless of these beasts unable to know their place... I've finally arrived."
Yes, this man was none other than Sanguinius, disguised as a human.
Unlike last time, he had used more transformation magic to sport a humbler appearance.
"It's magnificent... I understand why Serie decided to settle here for good."
Before him stretched a city built in the middle of a lake, connected to the shore by a richly decorated bridge.
The view reminded Sanguinius of memories from another fantasy manga, Mushoku Tensei.
"Well... I need to quickly get down from this hill and reach the city before nightfall."
He had decided to avoid flying through the air, to prevent misunderstandings with travelers or wandering vagabonds.
After all, rumors spread quickly.
Despite this restriction, he was moving forward at a decent speed.
Crack.
Perched on a tree branch, he spotted a group of individuals gathered around a campsite.
Normally, this wouldn't have caught his attention, but...
"Bandits? Isn't that a bit cliché?"
Sanguinius involuntarily frowned as he observed children chained in a cage.
He first thought about ignoring it and continuing on his way.
However, he dismissed that idea before landing in the midst of the human traffickers.
'I must be suffering from isekai protagonist syndrome, or maybe I'm still naive despite my "fallen" situation.'
Sanguinius was no longer under his father's "grace" in this life.
Some might believe that the Biblical God of DxD and the one from Earth are different, but that's not true.
For an atheist, they would probably be identical.
However, it was different for Sanguinius.
He saw in his current father the shadow of the God he worshipped in his past life, and for him, God was real.
His reincarnation had only strengthened this certainty... but it had also frustrated him, or perhaps saddened him?
To understand Sanguinius's state of mind, take the example of a Space Marine or a member of the Inquisition in Warhammer 40K.
Imagine an individual as loyal as a Space Marine, reincarnated in a parallel reality of Warhammer 40K... but in the form of a Warp demon.
Do you understand his situation?
If it were a pious member of the Inquisition, they would probably have committed suicide on the spot.
Fortunately for Sanguinius, he wasn't such a "pure" Christian.
Despite his "loyalty" to his God, he had eventually resigned himself to the impossibility of his salvation and any chance of rejoining the human camp.
It is with this logic that Sanguinius had strived to turn the page on his Christian life and fully accept his new status:
A fallen angel.
"What?!"
"Who's this guy?"
"He's totally my type, hehe."
Among the voices that resonated around him, only one really caught his attention — and pushed him not only to stop the madness of this place, but to purge everything in it!!
"I see you're into men..."
He stared at the bald, muscular man who seemed to be the leader of the gang.
"Hehe yes, and you'll soon appreciate it too..."
He didn't have time to finish his sentence: a lance of earth shot up from the ground and properly impaled him through the ass.
A magic circle glowed in the palm of Sanguinius's hands; he had used simple elemental magic.
'Using my Holy Powes on them would be giving them too much honor.'
"He's a mage!!!"
Before they could react properly, Sanguinius had impaled them all without hesitation by manipulating the ground.
'Even if I no longer have his grace... I can still behave a bit like a human... right?'
With this thought, he headed toward the cage where the children were locked up.
"Sorry, but this is for your own good."
His eyes then began to glow with a golden light.
Hypnosis magic.
It was simple magic, accessible to any beginner.
'To think that I dreamed of having this magic in my past life, but now...'
He no longer really saw its usefulness, especially not for obtaining women as in certain H manga.
It must be said that with his current appearance, he had clearly won the reincarnation lottery.
....
"Sir... will I be able to see you again someday?"
Finally, Sanguinius had reached his destination.
The magical city of Äußerst.
"...I don't know, but time will tell."
He stroked the little boy's head before handing him a small pouch containing the money recovered from the brigands.
The children were reluctant at first, but they eventually headed toward the orphanage.
When the little boy turned around, he saw no trace of Sanguinius where he had been standing.
"One day, I'll become a powerful mage too."
The child clutched the pouch to his chest, then resumed his journey to the orphanage indicated by Sanguinius.
Unbeknownst to Sanguinius, the child had managed to resist his hypnosis thanks to a spirit much stronger than normal.
That's why he had become so attached to him.
"...I would never have thought I'd meet a future apprentice of Serie here."
Lernen.
He is the first first-class mage, after the foundation of "The Continental Magic Association" by Serie.
'He wasn't supposed to appear here.'
Sanguinius remembered that he came from a rich noble family from the Empire and that he had ended up becoming an imperial mage there, for a time.
The presence of a rich kid so far from his country of origin was strange, but Sanguinius eventually dismissed this anomaly as a simple side effect of his presence in this universe.
To put it simply: the butterfly effect.
He contented himself with talking about Lernen's case to the guards with a bit of hypnosis, before wandering through the city in search of an inn where he could spend the night.
...
After a good night's sleep, Sanguinius wandered for a long time in the city searching for Serie.
Unlike the canon events, The Continental Magic Association doesn't exist yet.
Serie had founded it after the death of the demon lord.
Sanguinius would have had to wait half a century to meet the elf normally.
Unfortunately for Serie, waiting that long wasn't acceptable for an ex-human.
Thus, Sanguinius had come to this city because he suspected Serie had been living there since the time of Archmage Flamme.
After all, she's addicted to magic and it's a magical city.
The logic is there.
"This amount of mana is certainly superior to that of Frieren."
He had spent a good part of the day questioning women in various establishments related to magic.
Finally, his ordeal ended up paying off.
'I would never have thought that handsome men suffered from social isolation among their peers.'
"You took your time..."