13

Strahl, Holy City Capital

Winter came and went, with Fern managing to complete what she wanted to do with her ability to cast Zoltraak. With Heiter's health and age reaching its end, it wasn't long before each female spent time with the man on his deathbed. Some idle talk was made before eventually the fateful day came, with Heiter having passed away in his bed with a smile.

Frieren insisted her daughter Teufel keep Fern away so she could prepare Heiter's body for burial, but after much insistence from Fern herself, Frieren allowed the girl to help the process of carrying the man's wrapped body off to the city.

Currently, the three of them stood before Heiter's tombstone, with her mother holding in her hand some bottle of alcohol, while Teufel and Fern stood just beside her on both sides. The half elf, as her mother uncorked the bottle of alcohol,momentarily glanced over at Fern, and gauged that the young girl had grown by some good inches, while she was still stuck at her present height.

Keeping herself from releasing an annoyed breath, Teufel had long come to terms that it would be a long while before she ever reached the height of her mother; it just stung a bit to see the young girl she had quickly come to know as a friend in a short time span to grow past her.

The word friend passing through her mind again caused Teufel to think back on her previous life, of the friends and allies she made from her unit; she was the youngest out of all of them, she fought with them on the frontlines, and over the course of years she developed a deep camaraderie with them. They were competent, and pulled their own weight, so it was a bitter pill to swallow watching her men die of old age before her.

Visha of course was the last one, given that she was starkly just a little older than her, and in the end, she was left alone in the world until she was greeted by death.

Now though, she was faced with having to watch a new potential competent friend age, and die…but if there was one thing she discovered from her last life, the memories of her friends suited her just fine; which logically meant that she liked to look back on her life with nostalgia, a simple reason that helped understand the human emotion of pining for days of old.

Course, she did move on, but it did help matters somewhat. She did miss Visha's coffee, but she grew to live with the coffee she made herself.

Shaking her head of old memories and her dwelling on the past, Teufel watched as her mother spilled the bottle of alcohol over Heiter's tombstone, something Teufel had seen play out in movies when someone honored a lost loved one or friend; it was even something she had seen done during her first life, with a small amount of sake whenever she passed by a gravesite on her walk home from work after getting off from the train.

Fern spoke up in a soft voice, "I really can't thank you two enough." the girl said, while watching Teufel's mother gently pour alcohol over Heiter's tombstone. "Without you two, I could not have repaid master Heiter."

As Frieren finished emptying the contents of the alcohol bottle, she placed it down to pick another one up and continued pouring more alcohol over Heiter's gravestone while speaking back to Fern, "Quite honestly, at first, I would have said you should thank Heiter for deceiving me." she began to explain, her focus still on her task.

Teufel's mother then gently smiled, "But events tend to unfold beyond our control, this entire stay was not too bad afterall." she added, pouring the last drops of alcohol onto the tombstone by shaking it up and down.

Unable to withhold a small smirk of her own, Teufel spoke up while earning a glance look from Fern, "The spell Serie granted me through the grimoire she gave was easier than I thought it would be to learn, and it has been quite a boon to a lot of my research." she commented, then looked towards Heiter's tombstone, "And I have something of Heiter to remember him by afterall…so this visit wasn't fruitless after all." Teufel then made a hard glance at her mother, who gently placed down her empty bottle.

Frieren simply smiled softly in response, and held out her hand to softly pat the tombstone once, "Indeed…" she remarked while retracting her hand.

Fern, in turn, spoke with a direct look at Teufel, "Teufel, would it be alright if I read that book Heiter gave you?" she asked, earning a look back at her and amused smile from Teufel.

"Of course, but only after I cast a paper restoration spell on it." Teufel began to say, patting her suitcase beside her that she set aside with her large backpack. The backpack had been too large for someone her size, but after using a featherweight spell, even she could pick it up. "It's quite worn out, so it would not do to have it in a state that it can fall apart so easily." she informed the other girl, earning a nod of understanding from Fern.

Situating the bottles beside Heiter's tombstone, Frieren stepped back and turned around to face the two girls, "Well now that this is done and over with…" Frieren spoke up after the two were done speaking, her attention idly glanced between her daughter and first ever student…not counting her Teufel of course. "Shall we head back into the city?" she asked.

Teufel was the first to pick her things back up, a briefcase in hand and her backpack over her shoulders; for the half elf herself, she was sure she probably looked comical in proportion to the things she was carrying on her back to her size, though the wonders of magic in this world helped matters greatly if one knew the right spells.

Fern nodded with a small smile, "Oh, and don't forget, I want to stop by the mage headquarters! They're holding an exam soon, and it's something I want to try and accomplish by acing it."

While Frieren smiled back in response, she looked to her daughter tilting her head in curiosity, "You mentioned wanting to give the exam a try as well, right?" she questioned her daughter.

Teufel looked back at her mother, and offered a hapless shrug, "I am curious about it, so I do not see the harm in giving the mage exam a try." she remarked, while palming her chin in thought.

Fern stepped over to Teufel with an exuberant smile, "This will be great! That means I won't be alone in the test!" She exclaimed.

"Very well then." Frieren said while brushing her hands of the leftover alcohol residue from touching Heiter's gravestone, "To the exam it is." she nodded once

Continental Magic Association

Within the building itself, the main entrance room was abuzz with activity as many aspirant mages filled the area, some few were old but many were young and in their twenties to late thirties; some people either stood alone or wandered about, most of the rest were huddled up to introduce themselves and build rapport with each other.

Afterall, most of the past third grade mage exams had never situated mages up against each other, those sort of tests were oftentime left up to the higher grade exams depending on the proctors that hosted them.

Amongst the groups of mages that formed cliques or inner circles, one such group of mages managed to talk amongst each other.

Ton, a lithe female in her mid twenties, dressed in a brown shawl that draped over her shoulders and concealed the upper half of her white dress shirt, fixed her purple witch hat over her sun kissed colored hair that she felt was askew before patting down her burgundy knee length skirt. She had just entered through the entrance and was expecting a bit of a turn out, but lo and behold, the entire main entrance room was filled to the brim with a massive crowd of mages that no doubt came to earn their rank.

"Ton! Over here!" A familiar voice to Ton hollered over to her, causing the young mage to look to her left.

Spotting a familiar face that matched the voice, Ton's face brightened and spotted her home's residential half elven mages, "Regen! Gattung!" Ton hollered back, before the young mage hurried over to speak with her childhood teacher and friend respectively.

Gattung, shining an excited smile, raised his arm and waved at Ton as the human mage reached them, "Ton! I was hoping you'd be here!" the young half elf boy commented.

As Ton reached the two half elves, her attention turned to Gattung; The half elf boy, having yet grown since she departed her town, much less her entire life, was still dressed in his rock blue outfit that had white accents to it, with matching blue boots; the boy's silver unruly hair was still like it was since she last saw him, making him stick out a bit like his older sister with the shade of hair color…that, and the long ears that were visible to anyone else.

Ton smiled in response to Gattung's comment, and laughed into her palm, "I might have missed this test actually, if I didn't make my last boat ride on time." she commented back to the boy, before looking over at Regen, her master in all things magic related, "Teacher! You wouldn't believe the adventures I've had!" she gushed in exuberance.

Regen, who had a matching color of hair to her brother, but with hers being a bit short, wore a copperfield orange coat over her white dress shirt, with her black pants and white shoes. The half elven teacher of Ton smiled in response to her student's behavior, "I'm glad to hear!" she responded with a closed eyed smile, before opening her eyes to take in the sight of her student that now stood at an almost even height with her. "So, how were your travels?" Regen asked her former student.

"Hmph." Ton huffed proudly while palming her chest, "I'll have you know, I saved a village from an orc tribe!" She boasted, while looking smug and lifting her nose into the air, "My clay golem army made quick work with them!"

Wearing a wry smirk, Regen was sure there was more to the story than what her former student let on, "Right…and no one else helped fend that village from an entire orc tribe?" She challenged Ton.

Feeling caught out in something she omitted, Ton chuckled nervously, sticking her tongue out to the side while rubbing the top of her head nervously, "With…the help of a band of warriors…" she looked to the side in shame; she did not like to lie to her teacher.

With her arms crossed, Regen smirked amusedly at her student, "Hmhm, thought so…" she remarked, before reaching out to pat her student on the head, "But it's good you were out there helping others, I knew I taught a respectable student after all." she remarked.

Gattun smirked teasingly at Ton, and mockingly waggled his finger at his childhood friend, "Ton, Ton, Ton, you know better than to omit the whole truth from my sister, she'll find out the truth eventually." he teased, only to earn a soft head bop from his sister. "Hehe, sorry." he grimaced, leaving all three mages to chuckle warmly.

Serie and Sense

From the second floor of the building, the two walked through the hallways at a relaxed pace, with Sense holding within her hands several slips of paper, "The exam has had quite the increase in numbers." she commented, leafing through her stack of papers while walking beside her master.

Serie simply hummed in response, before speaking her mind on the matter, "I would not put it past anything for rumors to have spread of my guest appearance here." she said with a tone of indifference, before smirking to herself, "word does spread slowly, but I have been here long enough I suppose."

With her grip on the paper still firm, Sense relaxed her grip while looking at and conversing with her master, "So you're saying the uptick in applicants is your long period of stay in this city?" she questioned, before looking up in thought, and nodding to herself, "Yes, that does make a good deal of sense." she dully remarked, before looking back at her master, "You are a mythical figure afterall."

Serie smugly smiled as the two continued to walk towards the direction of the main room entrance, "Humans can be so simple sometimes, I almost find it silly." Serie said as she and her student reached the rails and stairways that led down to the first floor of the main entrance. "Indeed, quite the turnout." she commented with a smirk.

"Hm." Sense nodded and hummed in agreement as she looked down with her master, before Serie pointed with a very amused and surprised look, "Well well, I got to see not one, but three half elves in one decade!" she remarked, her gaze settled one two half elf mages in particularly talking with a human mage.

Looking where her master was pointing, Sense saw that, indeed, there were two elven looking mages, their pointed ears a dead give away of their lineage. "That…is quite remarkable…" she replied back. Sense was not sure what set of events caused such a turn out, other than her master's prolonged stay at this branch building.

Serie simply leaned against the railing, which caused some mages to notice her, and even point up at her, to which she smugly smirked down at them, earning a lot of nervous looks and panic. Some few saw her and left, leaving her to think that the ones that left were too nervous and thought she was a proctor of the third grade mage exam….

Good, she did not tolerate cowards that did not see themselves great enough to pass a mere third grade mage exam, much less from her…

Wait…That…was not a bad idea. She was bored anyhow.

"Sense." Serie spoke aloud, earning her apprentice's attention, "Who is hosting this year's third grade mage exam?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, let me see here…" Sense hummed to herself as she pulled a few more papers from her shawl, looking through them overtop of the ones she already held, "That would be Felson this year." she answered.

"Hm…tell him I'm taking over." Serie immediately spoke, earning a surprised look from Sense, "I want to see what sort of batch this exam will bear, I want to see what future these mages might present."

With a plain, almost deadpan look that only her master could see, given the fact she's known her for most of her life, Sense spoke evenly, "Master…you just want to see the half elves and the girl that Miss Frieren has been teaching." she accused, earning a smug smirk back.

With a glance at her student, Serie spoke with an amused tone, "don't make it sound like I'm only here for that, Sense, I want to see what these other mages can do as well." she defended herself.

Still giving her master a dull but flat look, "Do you even know what sort of test to want these mages to do to earn their rank?" Sense challenged back.

With a Jovial tone, Serie spoke back to her apprentice, "Of course, but that's for me to decide and know, so don't worry your little head." she waved off her youngest student.

Sense blinked dully at her master, before making her way off, "Very well then, I'll speak with Felson on this matter." she said to her master, her voice trailing off as she departed.

While her apprentice descended the stairs, Serie continued to lean against the rails and rested her chin against her palm, and watched as three more mages entered the building, one elf, one half elf, and one very young girl. "Well Frieren…let's see how well you did in teaching that young student of yours…"

She had a test in mind, one that involved seeing each mage's spell that they specialized in the most; she wanted to see if there were any new magic spells created by mages applying for third rank, which she highly doubted; the real test would be if there was any spin or unique way the mages applied the spells they specialized in. The simple fire spell of yore had become so many subsets of spells of mastery over the spell itself, from making lightning spells to vaporizing water. The path of making a spell more unique down the road of time was so vast, it was hard to tell what the next century bore.

Serie couldn't help but express a wide brimming smirk, "Yes, the world of magic is vast and immense!"

Teufel, Frieren and Fern

"Wow…" Frieren remarked, some surprise evident on her face as she looked around at all the mages gathered in one place, "I didn't think there'd be this many." she commented, with her daughter and human student standing beside her on her left and right.

Fern, who stood to Frieren's right, looked around with childlike awe, "so many mages…" she said, before looking up and spotting an elf that was looking down in their direction, "Mistress Frieren, is that the Serie elf you talked about?" she asked while looking up at her teacher.

"Hm…it is." Freiren responded lamely while giving Serie a momentary glance, earning a smirk from the elf herself, before both ended their trading of glances to look elsewhere, "Quite the turn out…" she commented.

"Mother." Teufel spoke up beside her, her daughter on her left tugging on her sleeve and nodding to their far left, "I'm not sure, but those definitely look like elves to me." she said to her mother.

"Hmm?" Frieren looked over where her daughter was looking, and spotted two silver-haired looking elves, who in particular were in the middle of talking with a human female mage. "Huh…" she mumbled in thought.

As the duo of elven looking female and male finished speaking with their human female friend or acquaintance, the tall female elf glanced around before her eyes landed on them in surprise, before speaking something to the others; both boy and girl mage turned to look at the three other mages.

"...Should we go talk with them?" Teufel proposed.

Freiren nodded, "Other than Serie, it has been awhile since I've seen another elf, much less ones I haven't seen before." she responded before she led the way towards the trio.

Regen

Seeing that the no doubt elven mother of the young elf and teacher of the human girl was coming over to speak with them, Regen wasn't sure what to say. It's been so long since she spoke with her elven father, and it's been longer still since she's seen her human mother before she passed away. The half elven teacher was very curious who this adult elf was.

"Regen!" Gattung gushed in excitement, "They're coming over to us! What should we talk about?" he asked his older sister.

Putting on a charming smile, Regen walked towards the other trio of mages as well with her younger brother and student trailing after, "I don't know, but let's be courteous and introduce ourselves." she answered, earning an excited nod from Gattung.