7

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.