Teufel
With her research submitted to the wider community of Magic, Teufel now finds herself spending a good day inside Heiter's cabin reading the grimoire Serie gave her in recognition of her challenge she gave the half elf; seated where her mother usually spends her time deciphering the book Heiter gave her, Teufel's eyes roamed each page of her rewarded grimoire, taking in every word to studiously understand the spell she requested to learn.
It didn't take long for her to understand the concept of how to cast the spell on herself for the spell to work its magic, for the lack of a better term that is; on the basis of how magic usually works in this world, imagination was the forefront key. No math needed, just her limitless imagination.
Closing the book with a satisfied look on her face after finishing her reading of the grimoire, Teufel released a breath of air and pushed herself away from the desk in front of her, and hopped off from her chair while carrying her grimoire with her. As the half elf's feet touched the floor with a dull wooden thud, she promptly made her way to the exit of the room, briefly casting a glance at Heiter's bookshelf as she did.
Just before Teufel reached the door however, her sideways gaze at the bookcase caught her attention to a specific book that had its spine cover read 'First Holy lessons of the goddess'. Pausing her in steps, Teufel quirked a brow, and remembered one of the reasons she had gone to the city, before being sidetracked with that elf Serie.
Placing aside her grimoire on a nearby table beside the door, Teufel headed out of the room and went looking for Heiter; it would be rude to ask before inquiring of reading the book. She was not looking to be some priestess or anything like that, but her curiosity was still there about how Goddess magic worked.
Heiter
The more seasons passed, the more he felt his bones ache worse, and the ability to stand and walk difficult. With a warm smile however, as he sat in one of his wooden chairs of the main room adjacent to the kitchen Heiter reminisced that his life was quite full and was fortunate enough to remember the years past.
More specifically, the ten years he and his party traveled up north to defeat the demon king, and even beyond that, he knew in his heart that he provided enough lessons to would-be priests and priestesses that wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Why, not long before he met the little girl he had come to accept as his surrogate daughter, Heiter distinctly remembers two young boys that aspired to be adventurers; if memory serves him right, young Sein sent him a letter that he became a priest like him, while his friend went off to become a warrior.
With a hearty chuckle as he viewed the outside from his window while leaning forward on his cane, Heiter was amused that left that much of an impression on Sein.
The soft pitter patter of footsteps alerted the old priest to know that Frieren's daughter was heading his way into the main room, prompting him to sit up a bit to see how the half elf was doing in her study of the grimoire book she came back home with.
Turning his head somewhat to see the girl make her way into the room he was in, Teufel spoke up with a straight look, "Heiter." She gave him a nod of greeting, as she stood to speak with him.
Heiter responded in kind with a nod and smiled warmly at Teufel, "Done already?" he questioned the half elf, earning a nod from her.
As Teufel approached the old priest with a relaxed gait in her walk, she spoke with the old man, "It was surprisingly easy to read through, I half expected the need to go through it all within a week." she explained.
Chuckling softly, Heiter nodded in understanding of what Teufel described, "I would assume so, Grimoires are after all supposed to help a mage understand a spell rather quickly and easily."
Nodding to herself, while cupping her chin in thought, "Oh, I know. I've read one before, I just…" she began to shake her head a bit before looking back at Heiter, "Well, I suppose I was expecting a more thorough read of the book, considering the spell involves the mind itself." she shrugged to herself.
Chuffed a bit at the Half elf's expectation of the grimoire she was given, Heiter simply reached out and patted the young half elf's head, earning a somewhat annoyed look from her before retracting his hand to rest it back on his cane with his other hand. "That's the magic, of well…magic." he explained with much amusement, "I'm sure your mother drilled it enough times into your head that magic is very easy to learn once you learn how to harness your imagination."
"Imagination…right…." Teufel drawled out, before giving Heiter a more straight look, "But let's put aside this idle talk, there is something I wish to ask of you, something I should have asked a long time ago." she stated with a firm look in her eyes.
Widening his eyes somewhat at the seriousness in the girl's voice, Heiter questioned Teufel with genuine interest. "OH?" the old priest began to say with an attentive look in his eyes towards Teufel as he turned in his chair a bit to give her more of his attention. "And what pray tell is it that you wanted to ask me?" he questioned the half elf girl with burgeoning wonder.
Teufel, momentarily sighing to herself, looked straight at Heiter, "If you would, I would like to learn goddess magic, if it is possible." she requested.
Heiter's eyes slowly widened with a surprised face, before chuckling once more to himself, "you really are like your mother." he remarked, earning a curious look from Teufel, prompting him to further explain, "Why, just the year prior, your mother requested if I had any goddess magic grimoires or any way of teaching her a holy spell, and I obliged her." he smiled remarkably happy.
Teufel tilted her head a bit in questioning, as she folded her hands behind her back as she conversed with Heiter, "Oh…so which was it? Did you teach her something, or give her a book?" the half elf asked.
Sitting back to rest against the backrest of his chair, Heiter looked forward away from Teufel as he reminisced the day he showed Frieren how to cast a single goddess spell. "I taught her a spell of course, but that was just that, a spell, nothing really intricate that would not need a holy book to help her cast it." he explained, before looking back at Teufel.
"I see…" Teufel remarked while thumbing her lip in thought after reaching up to do so, while her other arm remained behind her back in a casual manner, before relaxing both of her arms by her sides as she conversed more with Heiter, "Do all Magic of the goddess require a book?" she followed up with.
Heiter gave Teufel an amused look, "Why, do you plan on becoming a priestess all of a sudden?" he questioned the half elf girl, earning a minor knee-jerk reaction from her.
"No!" Teufel answered, before correcting herself with a more relaxed demeanor, "I mean-" she tried to correct herself, only for Heiter to chuckle at the half elf's fumbling.
"Relax." he waved off Teufel's worries with a gentle wave of his arm, before placing back onto his cane, "I never once took you for the type to be such a thing, you always did come off more of a scholarly type than a religious type in all these years I've known you." he remarked with a twinkly of amusement in his eyes.
"Oh…" Teufel spoke back with a somewhat surprised look, "Am I…that much of an open book?" she asked with a furrowed brow of questioning, she looked a bit worried at being called out of her personality.
Heiter simply shrugged at her question while remaining amused at the young half elf…old by human standards…it was really amusing for the old priest to sometimes remind himself that the girl in front of him was not young in mind, as her appearance belied her mature mind. "Not really…" Heiter answered the girl, earning a sharp look from Teufel, to which he only smirked at all the more, "But I'm old enough to understand people, I've been around long enough to pick up small things about people, regardless of the short time I've been around them…you should try it sometime in the future." he spoke the last part with a wry smirk at the half elf.
Teufel simply gave Heiter a flat look, to which the old priest simply laughed at, before calming down to steadily stand up from his chair, "Now, what sort of spells are you wishing to learn that involve the holy scriptures of goddess magic?" Heiter asked Teugel as he leaned into his cane whilst standing up.
The half elf herself meanwhile looked up at Heiter's face with an unwavering look in her eyes, "If you're giving me options, I would prefer you to teach me what you know that involves no prayer." she suggested, while something flashed in her eyes that Heiter placed as anger at something.
Perhaps the young girl was having trouble understanding the texts of any goddess magic books she had looked up, but that was fine, Heiter knew ways to help others in understanding how to cast goddess magic; the magic itself was a bit more difficult to understand than regular magic, but allowed a few benefits for the priests or priestesses that undergo the journey of becoming said roles.
Heiter chuckled at Teufel's request, and shuffled over to a nearby bookcase, smaller than the one in his study, and pulled out from it a simple white book that was old and tattered. "Now if all priests and priestesses had to pray during their battle's, I sincerely doubt any progress would have been made against the Demon King's forces…" he mused while wistfully looking down at his first Goddess book he ever collected for his journey to become a priest.
Turning his head to look at Teufel, "Prayer is more reserved for the dead, and for the guidance of the goddess herself." he mused while shuffling towards the front door, with Teufel trailing behind him.
Teufel herself rushed over to politely open the door for Heiter, which he nodded at the little half elf in thanks, before he marched himself outside, enjoying the slight breeze of the coming fall that he felt coming on. "I thank you though, Teufel." he remarked with a somber smile as he slowly made his way out to the center of his front yard of his cabin, to which Teufel spoke back at him.
With her head craned up at him, Teufel asked, "Elaborate, I don't recall ever doing something for you just now…other than opening the door…" She added the last part as an afterthought.
Using his cane to help him steadily take a knee to the soft grass below him, Heiter held his book out to Teufel for her to take, which she did with a gentle care for the book's state of age, "Oh other than that, you did." Heiter answered with a small smile, amusement twinkled in his eye directed at Teufel, "I didn't think I'd leave this world without leaving you something, I'm sure Himmel will appreciate it when I see him in the afterlife." he explained.
Teufel's facial expression remained surprised, before slowly relaxing to understanding, and gave Heiter a slow but steady smile, "...He was a good man…"
"Do you have any regrets involving him?" Heiter questioned her, the question itself caused Teufel to become still for a second, before relaxing back to normal and sighed to herself.
Quirking her lip a bit as she stewed over her thoughts, Teufel nodded before answering Heiter, "Quite honestly, I think mother and I should have stayed with father at his home for longer periods, she still misses him and sometimes wishes she and I stayed as long as he could live." she answered with an uncertain look, "And I am sure father had some lingering thoughts of wishing we spent more time with him."
Heiter responded to Teufel's answer with a knowing smile, but refused to elaborate more, "Now…" he began to start his lesson with Teufel, "How much do you know about goddess magic on the surface level?" he began with.
As Teufel began explaining what she knew so far, specifically from her many travels with her mother and the places she's been to, Heiter would occasionally nod while occasionally correct the young half elf of what were misconceptions and further explained how intricate the system of goddess magic was.
While the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Heiter continued to explain to Teufel how goddess magic work, and what was needed; some spells needed the goddess's holy book to be held to help amplify the holy spells, and while a mage could indeed cast minor goddess magic, the more difficult ones needed to have the priests or priestess to keep their given holy book beside them to cast their spells like an experience mage would need their staff to cast their magic.
Not long after, while Heiter was still kneeling beside Teufel to teach the basics of how to cast goddess spells, from practical ones to passives ones, Frieren and Fern return from the young mage's practice session of her Zoltraak attempts. While Frieren looked on at the two with a smile, Fern frowned a bit.
Fern
Seeing Heiter outside teaching her half elf friend his knowledge of how to cast goddess magic, gave Fern an uncomfortable feeling inside her chest. While Freiren headed inside to resume her work on the grimoire Heiter gave her to decrypt, Fern figured out she was feeling jealous at the attention Heiter was giving Teufel.
Her parents once taught her that jealousy was a nasty feeling to have, it was in fact the last thing she was taught about before she lost her mom and dad.
Taking a different view at what she was seeing, Fern squashed down the jealousy she was feeling. She was already repaying master Heiter for the generosity of taking her in after saving her from her attempt on her own life, and she had been resolved to master Zoltraak quickly so that the old priest would pass on knowing she could defend herself.
Looking at it from a different perspective, the best she could with her young mind; Teufel was way older than her, and knew Heiter before she ever did. If anything, Heiter was expressing a more jovial attitude as he taught Teufel how goddess magic; the man seemed more invigorated to live for a bit longer, or perhaps that was just her and her wishful thinking.
Shaking her head at herself in dismay, Fern resolved to finish her master over Zoltraak ever faster; Teufel was a good friend, and she would be a bad person if she started to have any animosity towards the half elf. Afterall, Teufel went out of her way to buy her a pair of new shoes…that were a size too large.
"You're a young girl, right? I bought these larger shoes for when you grow older…you know the saying, you'll grow into them."
An amused but grateful smile that Fern couldn't help but express, the young girl turned to enter the cabin and began making lunch; she wanted to try making that 'sandwich' recipe from the book her friend Teufel bought her not too long ago. All she needed was some bread, some meat, and lettuce, a simple recipe really.
Teufel
It was night time, a clear sky with a full moon reflecting the sun's light from its surface to the world below it, allowing the half elf to spend her time outside without any additional light source; with Heiter's old book in her gentle grasp of her hands, Teufel looked down at it after having read the simple lessons it supposedly help young folks striving to become priests or priestesses. The spells were simple in nature, but it required the one thing that Teufel never liked in her previous lives.
Faith in the Deity that the doctrine followed.
Was she annoyed? No. Was she angry? No. Quite honestly, she never needed or wanted to be able to cast goddess magic, she really just wanted to learn how different the magic was to the magic her mother and most mages cast.
The kicker was, the doctrine was sketchy at best, from what Heiter explained to her. Have faith in the goddess, and she would be rewarded the ability to cast goddess magic; as simple as that, as if the goddess herself was a jokester and only asked her followers to have faith in her, and she would reward them.
'Same drivel as before.' Teufel mentally groaned. She had all manner of other spells her mother taught her, beside the spells she 'translated' to work appropriately from her last life into this one. Knowing Goddess magic, much more being able to cast any was not needed. There were enough priests around for her and her mother…and potentially Fern, to request aid in their future adventures should the need arise.
There was really no need for her to learn a whole new category of spells…
'Honestly, I don't know why I even bothered to ask!' Teufel snarled mentally as she raised the book above her head to throw it down into the ground, before halting herself from enacting a rash action; lower the book back down to hold it in front of her, it was a keepsake of Heiter, that he himself gifted to her, something to keep with her when he was gone.
Idly looking to the side with a grimace, she did after all keep her father's sword, something she was surprised wasn't kept at her father's memorial; it still sat within her one of her briefcases, looking at the book in her hands more, it looked like it will have company now. Heiter was kind enough to go out of his way to teach her how goddess magic worked after all.
Releasing a sigh to herself, Teufel looked momentarily at the moon, before turning heel to head on inside for bed. 'Faith and prayer can kindly take a backseat for all I care in this life of mine! It has done me more harm than good damn it!' Teufel scoffed.
"On that, we can agree." A melodus female voice spoke, as time froze for everything but Teufel, causing the half elf to curse herself that she probably jinxed herself.
"I do not know about jinxing, but I have been watching you, as I do all my children." The voice spoke again from behind Teufel, causing the half elf to whip around to glare at whatever deity was speaking, probably Being X in some other form.
From out of the woods, and into the moonlight, a blurry vision of a female with angel wings gently walked towards her; the being's figure was dressed in quite the opulent looking gown, while her barely visible feature showed a graceful face with eyes that were calmly shut as the being walked towards her with a ornate staff in hand.
Teufel rubbed her eyes with her arm, believing she was getting an onset of tiredness, but lo and behold, the image of the walking being was still blurred from her vision, just barely visible enough for her to make some defining features. "Whatever you are selling, leave me alone! I don't want anything from you, I don't want anything to do with faith!" Teufel snarled at the approaching being, she was pretty sure the being was the supposed goddess of this world.
She had already been burnt enough times, so to speak, in dealing with a being calling himself god, she was not about to deal with a being calling herself the goddess of this world.
The goddess figure chuckled at Teufel's accusation, all the while approaching Teufel at a relaxed gait, "Silly child, he'll never bother you again, so long as I am in charge of this world. He knows better than to cross other gods and their worlds." She explained, while earning a narrowed look from Teufel.
Willing her staff to her hands, Teufel scowled at the deity while charging up a spell, "don't come any nearer! I refuse to deal with any more gods! I had enough in my last lives! I want to be left alone by you assholes!" She screamed.
The goddess continued to step towards Teufel with an amused soft smile, and waved her hand through the air while the half elf was in the midst of charging a spell up, which abruptly ended from the mere wave of the goddesses hand. "Silly human turned half child of mine, do you really believe you could turn my own spells against me? I was the one that created them for my children." she remarked, a very amused smile was expressed on her face as Teufel felt herself frozen now while the goddess herself was now in front of her.
The blurry image of the goddess herself was now defining, her features more visible with the distance between them now closed; the goddess knelt down to place a hand on Teufel's shoulder, and smiled motherly down at the half elf, "You expressed curiosity into my more personal magic, I have ordained to many priests over the centuries of my world, would you like to partake in communion with me to weave my magic?" The goddess asked Teufel, with a soft chittering laugh, "I'd say no strings attached, but considering who you were, and still are, I can already guess you will say no." She smiled demurely, before allowing Teufel to move once more.
Taking a couple steps back from the goddess, Teufel seethed and scowled at the goddess, "Exactly, and I would very much like it if you and any other deity being of this world that might exist, would piss off!" she yelled in anger.
The Goddess simply chortled in laughter while covering her mouth, "That old man really did a number on your psyche, It really is a shame you are like that…" She expressed with some sadness, before straightening herself up to stand and converse with the half elf, "Perhaps if this were your second life, or first life, things might have been different between us, but I will respect your decision." The goddess mused.
Teufel simply made an annoyed sound, before glancing to her side momentarily, "Well it doesn't help that you froze me for a second." she gruffly remarked, earning an amused smirk from the goddess.
"What can I say? You were acting violently, and I know you don't like haven't your mind altered in any way to calm you down, so I simply froze you in place for a moment." The deity explained to Teufel with a kind tone.
Teufel simply gave the goddess a wary look, "Just…just leave me alone, if I want your actual help, it won't be through praying!" she seethed.
The goddess tilted her head a bit, before smiling softly, "Well, just know, I'm always watching, but when you do need help, be sure to ask during the full moon or in a church…" she told Teufel in a motherly manner, before the image of her gradually vanished into thin air, leaving the half elf alone in the night.
Time felt like it was moving once more, as Teufel watched the tree leaves be brushed by the night breeze; the half elf narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and looked down at the book she still had in her hands, before resolving to stow it immediately into her briefcase.
Of course she wasn't done with interacting with beings calling themselves a god…well, at least this time it did not involve some train killing her or a computation orb slowly brainwashing her to worship being X.