10

176Chapter 10

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 Frieren, "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 theoreticals, 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, "So your spell was able to break the sound barrier" She paused in her words again as she cupped her chin in thought while tilting her head a bit, "What a very interesting spell indeed" she mused, before glancing at Teufel with a shining smirk, "do you have any other spells in the works?" she asked.

As Teufel began going into detail of what else she came up with, Sense looked over at Frieren 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."