16

Fern

Shuffling on over to where she saw Frieren, Fern hurried over to stand next to her Teacher, "Mistress Frieren!" She said aloud with pride in her tone and expressive smile.

Frieren greeted her student back as Fern approached her with a simple smile, Fern however looked around as she noticed Teufel was missing, "Ah, wait, that's right, we sort of split up." she told herself.

From the crowd of mages that would give glances to the elf and her student, Teufel excused herself through the crowd, Fern greeted Teufel with a smile.

As Teufel approached the two, her eyes honed in on Fern herself, "You did quite well, under all that pressure." she stated, and an observant tone laced in her voice as she stood apart from the other two.

While the test went underway for the rest of the mages, the periodic calling of names and the sound of beams of magic going off happened while the three conversed with each other. Fern looked towards Teufel and spoke with a calm look, "Thanks! After performing that spell so many times to get it right, It's almost become second nature!"

Frieren smiled as she reached out and patted Fern on the head, earning a more prideful look on the human girl's face, "Now that just leaves Teufel." she said, retracting her hand and looked to her own Daughter with an expectant gaze.

Fern looked over at said girl, who somewhat glared over at Mother, "Mother, don't think you can skip out on this, try and at least earn that rank and document. We need that sort of stuff for our travels!" she shook her head at her Mother's antics.

Seeing she was called out for trying to give the test the slip, Fern too piled on her concerns for the Elf, "Mistress Frieren…don't tell me you were planning on skipping the test…" Fern didn't know why her teacher had a bit of a childish streak in her, it honestly felt like she wasn't speaking with a full on adult.

There were times when Freiren would act all mature, but quite often, her teacher would behave like she was barely an adult at all.

Frieren, while in the presence of the public eye, managed to stay calm and offered a smile, "Sorry…just…kind of slipped the mind, I guess." she answered, earning a puffy mouthed pout from Fern and a soft glare from her Daughter.

Once the moment was over however, Teufel looked back to Fern, "I will say though, you're doing better with the cast time of Zoltraak, over time, I am sure you can fire one off within a second or last on reflex…very good for reaction times and fighting a threat." she nodded to herself.

Zoltraak, Fern never did know the name of the spell she was practicing over the years, until Frieren and Teufel came along. She had meant to ask Frieren what she knew about the spell she was mastering, but it was Teufel that explained the spell to her.

Flashback

With her staff in hand, Fern steadied her mana and aim, before she fired off her spell towards the boulder from afar; a frown graced her lips as her spell attack barely reached the boulder; Sighing to herself, she turned and looked over at Teufel who had saw fit to stick around and help her a bit to point out what she was doing wrong while Frieren was back at Heiters.

The elf had chosen to use today to make more progress with deciphering the book Heiter, while Teufel Volunteered to help. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask one of you…do you know the name of the spell I'm casting?" She hadn't bothered to learn the name until now, and while she wasn't sure if Heiter knew the name of the spell or not, Fern had felt the two mother and daughter should know at the very least.

Teufel looked back at Fern as she sat on a lone fallen log piece, her gaze expressed a simple plain look as she responded with a nod and spoke, "Not sure how you don't know the name of the spell you are casting, but the specific spell you are using is Zoltraak." Teufel answered her with a laidback look on her face.

Teufel then narrowed her eyes at Fern with a quizzical look on her face, "Wait, who even taught you the spell?" She questioned, "Surely they'd have told you the name." she pointed out with raised brow.

With an unsure look on her face, Fern reached up and scratched at her face with a nervous chuckle, "Um, I sorta went through master Heiter's books, and found a note for the spell I'm using right now." she answered with a soft nervous smile.

Teufel furrowed her brow in consternation, "So…you went through Heiter's notes, and understood a basic level of the spell that was on one of the notes, and proceeded to practice it…did it not have the name of it on the paper?" she questioned.

With an expression of feeling like she was about to get in trouble, Fern reached her palm out and waved it, "Honest! I just wanted to find a spell that I could use to defend myself!" she answered with a worried look.

Teufel offered a simple shrug in response, shook her head, and gave a straight look to Fern, "We can talk about the invasion of privacy later, among other things, but for now, I'm more interested that the note you read from Heiter's notes, didn't have the name of the spell on it." she explained, a curious look crossed her features while talking.

Teufel tapped her chin before she spoke again to Fern while resting her hand back down to her lap, "Heiter probably had the old notes from his visit to the mage administration building, or perhaps mother sent him those notes, honestly, any number of reasons could explain why a priest held the notes on Zoltraak…"

It went unsaid that the notes should have had the name of the spell, Fern nodded in agreement and turned to aim her staff at the boulder across the valley, "Interesting…what's the history behind the spell though?" She asked Teufel, as she built her mana up steadily, and fired off another one, only to fail again in hitting the boulder.

Teufel watched as Fern continued practicing her spell, and spoke to the girl with a calm gaze, "From what I know, the simple story was that it's a spell that has been reverse engineered from a Demon's own spell." Teufel answered, earning a curious look from Fern as she paused and looked back at Teufel.

"Reverse engineered?" Fern questioned, an honest curious expression crossed her features.

Teufel nodded and explained to Fern, "To put it simply, the spell was analyzed over the years, studied, theorized, practiced, and put into use by humans after it was sufficiently experimented to be understood as a spell for any Mage to use."

"Huh." Fern mused, her curiosity a bit sated as she conversed with Teufel, "And what about the demon that used it?" she asked.

Teufel shrugged haphazardly. "I've asked my mother the same question actually, The Demon's name is Qual, and right now, he should still be frozen in stone." She answered Fern, earning a surprised look from Fern.

"Wait, what?" Fern asked aloud, a surprised look crossing her features.

Present

The story behind the fact that the Demon known as Qual was still alive but frozen in stone had surprised Fern when Teufel explained the story to her, and it was only after explaining about how mages shields had now adapted to Qual's Zoltraak was another layer to the story.

Teufel briefly called it a pseudo arm's race of spells, which made Fern question what she meant by that; Teufel of course had said she'd explain it more, once they actually headed out for Qual's location, as she was sure her mother would be taking them to the demon to finish the job.

The frozen stone spell would only last so long, and Frieren would undoubtedly want to make sure the demon didn't raze the surrounding area to the ground before she made it back there in time.

"Teufel" Serie finally called out her friend's name, causing her to look at Teufel with an expectant look.

Fern smiled for Teufel as she looked back at Fern, "Good luck…not that you'll be needing it of course." she chuckled a bit at the half elf.

Teufel nodded back at Fern before she walked over to demonstrate her own Zoltraak.

While Frieren's daughter walked off from the crowd towards Serie, Fern looked back over at her Teacher with an expectant gaze, "I almost forgot mistress Frieren, when are you planning on heading to that Qual Demon." she asked, earning a surprised look from Frieren herself, and a few choked back gasps of surprise from a few eavesdroppers.

Frieren on the other hand, looked at Fern with an amused smile afterwards, "Ah, did Teufel tell you about him?" She asked her, earning a nod from Fern. Frieren smiled and patted Fern on the shoulder in a comforting gesture, "Don't worry, we won't be heading to him for a few more years. I'm pretty sure that spell on him should last till then." she assured her student.

"I'm sorry. What was that about Qual?" A random mage asked from amongst the crowd, earning a glance back from Frieren, not bothered by the fact that some random stranger was butting into the conversation.

Fern watched as her teacher expressed back a smug look, "Don't worry, He'll be dead soon, we just need to finish the job." Frieren answered back with a plain smile.

Fern's teacher earned a few more hushed whispers in response, making Fern feel like she should have kept her mouth shut, but her curiosity got the better of her about Qual once her mind traced back to the thought about the spell she had been practicing for almost half her life.

Teufel

As much as she felt confident in passing the test that Serie presented for all the examinees, she couldn't help but feel the elf was going to pull some stunt on her; she didn't know why, since she has only known the elf in a short time span.

Heading out where Serie stood with Sense was not far from her master, Serie smiled a bit more once Teufel finally approached her just short of a few feet. "Now-" Serie began to speak to Teufel, an expectant tone was laced into her tone as she spoke with her, "Let it not be said I'm already acquainted with you and your mother beforehand." She announced, earning quite a few curious looks from the crowd of Mages.

"So…" Serie spoke in a succinct tone, her eyes drifted to the far off targets that were several years away every had been shooting their spells at, "I believe this sort of test will be too easy for you…" she smirked at Teufel at the end, while causing more hushed whispers from the bystanders.

Teufel's gut instinct was right, Serie was the sort to spring something like this on her; her prior experience had already made her aware that Serie's behavior was a bit spontaneous, and here was more proof.

Teufel glared a bit back at the elf, "You must be joking!" she decried.

Serie simply smirked back as she looked down at Teufel with an easygoing gaze, "I am not." She retorted back, "Tell me this though, do you doubt yourself of the extra challenge?" she questioned, her gaze now felt like it was penetrating her very being by the elf, "Afterall, can a mage really regard themselves deserving of the grade they are applying for, if they can not rise to any challenge the rank may give them?" she challenged Teufel with a steadfast gaze.

Teufel's glare remained, but lessened to a degree; Serie was a bit right to a certain degree, anything could happen out in the world, and she probably wanted to make her as an example out of the test, just like she did with Fern.

She could make many comparisons to her own past lives, and right now, Serie was expressly making her go above and beyond to attain the rank through the test she was making every mage do; she couldn't coast through the test, and Serie was making sure she earned it and did not breeze through it in any sense of the word.

Quashing her ire towards the elf, Teufel sighed to herself and summoned her staff into her hands, "Fine…what is it then?" she asked with a glowering gaze at Serie.

A pleasant smile graced the lips of Serie as she gestured to the far off slab targets, "In under five seconds, I want you to hit all ten slab targets with one Zoltraak spell." She ordered, a vague enough test for most, if they didn't know how to split off a spell into numerous beams of energy.

Teufel withheld an annoyed grunt from escaping her throat, and settled with a light glare as she held her staff beside her and aimed, "Ten seconds starting now." Serie chimed in, causing Teufel to be quick about her spell casting.

Cursing her luck, Teufel quickly projected a large blue circle with runes interlaced into the outer and inner parts of it, with chamber like holes that were placed on the outer edge; the circle spun around as the spell energy built up, before Teufel unleashed her version of the spell to fire off rounds of Zoltraak into the requested Targets at a fast rate per second.

Each spell curved and homed in on their respective slab target, before all landed in a cacophony of booms. Silence permeated the test area, before Teufel turned around to give Serie a smirk, "There, you satisfied?" She questioned, while Serie herself couldn't help but express a brimming smug smile while her eyes drifted from where Teufel's targets and back to her.

With a very delighted look in her eyes, Serie clapped her hands once, "Very well done…quite the…spin on the spell itself." She somewhat joked at Teufel's expense, while some of the mages in the crowd coughed at the joke.

From behind Serie, Sense dully looked at Serie and spoke with a dry tone, "Master, that was awful." She commented, causing Serie to glance back at her while Teufel willed her Staff away now that she accomplished her test.

Serie thinly smiled back at her apprentice, "Oh relax, Sense, I'm just having a bit of fun here." she chided back, before she directed her attention back to Teufel, "Very nicely done, you pass." She congratulated Teufel, allowing Teufel to head back to her mother.

Frieren

"What sort of…variation was that Teufel did with the spell, master?" Fern asked her from beside her as the girl tugged on her sleeve, while her daughter was on her way towards them.

"Hmm." Frieren began to mused to herself, before speaking on her daughter's behalf to Fern's questions, "My daughter likes to experiment with the spells I teach her, that's one of the things she developed on her own." she smiled proudly for her daughter as Teufel finally approached the two of them.

She had seen Teufel do other things with what she's taught her, and if anything, her daughter should practice more with that variation of the spell; sure, one could multiple Zoltraaks in succession, and Frieren felt that her daughter could probably conjure up more of those spell circles that spun and fired off rapidly.

She'd ask Teufel more about it later, but for now, her daughter finally reached her and Fern, allowing her to reach over and pat her own daughter on the head, "Well done!" She congratulated her daughter with a calm smile.

Teufel's cheeks lit up a bit, letting her know she was feeling embarrassed; it only made her daughter more cute as she affectionately rubbed her daughter's head, before retracting her hand while Teufel lightly glared at her.

"Mistress Frieren." Fern spoke up, while Teufel reached up to fix her hair up as an ahoge ended up sticking out at the fringes of her hair; Frieren gave her student her attention as Fern looked up at her with a curious look, "do you think Serie will do the same with you?" she questioned, while earning a curious look from her daughter as well at the mention of her doing the test as well.

Frieren quickly formed a frown, seeing she had no way out of the test, that is, if Serie would call her out at all, "I honestly hope she doesn't." she moped with an annoyed tone, "She should already know I can cast the spell, as well as cast it however I want it to." she explained.

As Teufel finished patting down her hair, she relaxed her arms to her sides and looked up at her mother, "Well, she already made the test different for me, what's to say she won't do it differently for you too." she offered to say.

Pursing her lips a bit, Frieren glanced up in thought, before looking back down towards Serie who was in the midst of testing one of the two half elf siblings, Regen was her name if she remembered correctly. "I hate that you're right. I know Serie enough from my own master and my own interactions, that she would think of anything to amuse herself, especially with tests such as this one."

Frieren watched as Regen passed the test, before Serie sent her back to the crowd before calling in the next mage, "...and the more I think about, I am starting to get curious if Serie will call me up, and when she does, what will she request me to do…already know more than enough spells to suffice for a given situation." Frieren explained with a curious gaze in eyes.

She…didn't hate the elf per-se…tolerate her to be sure…dislike might be the most apt thing she'd describe her position towards her fellow Elf. "Last up, Frieren." Serie's voice hollered out for her, earning the majority of every mage's attention, leaving the elf herself to let out a sigh and walk off, leaving her daughter and student behind with the crowd.

Serie expressed towards her a smug look as Frieren walked over to her with a blank look, unsure how this was going to play out. As Frieren finally approached the other elf, both of them said not a word for a few seconds, before Serie spoke with an amused tone. "You know, Frieren, in another time, I feel like I would want to fail you…you don't look like you even want to be here." she pointed out with a brimming smirk.

With a bland look of her own, Frieren stared back at Serie with a flat stare, "Not really, I don't…but my Daughter and Student insist I acquire documents for being a mage…contrary to how I feel with this entire thing." she boredly said.

Serie chuckled back with mirth at Frieren, "But here you are, the set of circumstances of having a Daughter and Student now have you here, in front of me, for a third grade mage exam…and I know very well you can fire a Zoltraak spell better than any mage here can." she explained with a smirk afterwards.

Letting herself sigh an annoyed breath out, Frieren leveled a plain look at the other elf, "So…how do you think we should do this test then?" she inquired, her curiosity piqued a bit through the conversation she was having with Serie.

Serie began to form a bigger smug smirk, before speaking her mind, "Simple, Frieren, I'll have you pass, but…I will begin the next phase of the exam." she announced, earning a surprised look from Freiren, and a curious but somewhat unsure look from Sense.

"Master…." Sense spoke tentatively, she looked like she knew where her master was going with this.

Not bothering to listen to her apprentice, Serie announced her next plan for the test, while Raising her voice to be heard by all and giving a glance to the wider crowd of mages, "The Next phase of this test for those that pass."

Freiren watched as Sense was beginning to give her master a light glare, "Master…please don't." she worded out more forcefully.

Serie still ignored the wishes of her apprentice, "A small tournament phase, and those that pass, can earn their second grade mage certification." she smugly announced, while Sense looked like she wanted to protest, and did.

"Master, no, that was not the plan today!" Sense called out her Master's shenanigans with a slightly soft annoyed look.

Serie looked back at her apprentice while excited murmurs erupted from the crowd, "My association, my decisions." she retorted back with a smirk.

Frieren, for an unfathomable reason, felt like she should watch out for her own future with her own student. "Wait. but who would be facing me if you are going through this?" she questioned.

With a slow gaze directed at her, Serie expressed an ever excited smirk, "Oh that's simple, Frieren, I'll be having you face me…I want to see the Frieren that defeated the Demon King."