8

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.