Strahl, Holy City Capital
Done for the day, Teufel and Fern were on their way out of the city to make it home before dark. Fern was the first to speak up as the two girls walked through the dwindling crowd of people that walked the streets of the city, "Hey." she spoke with a curious tone while walking beside Teufel.
Teufel, with a tilt of her head a bit to show that she was listening, glanced to her right where Fern was walking beside her, "Hmm? Yes?" she questioned the young girl walking beside her.
"What do you like about magic?" Fern questioned the half elf girl, who she has come to know for a good year or so.
"Hm." Teufel hummed thoughtfully as she stewed over the question. Her mother Frieren had asked her that question before, and all she supplied with was, 'It's hard to say, but if I had to say, I enjoy the fact that it's still a field of study that can be expanded on.' were her words given to her mother, which earned a smile in return from her mother Frieren, but that was over forty years ago.
Many years later, she still enjoyed magic, and the amount of spells Teufel's mother had shown her were numerous; however, her mother had expressed that her expansive knowledge of spells paled in comparison to an elf named Serie.
Thinking about it now, her opinion was still the same, but somewhat different as well after many years of attempting to see how well she could apply her second life knowledge of spell formula casting to this world's mana spell casting.
There was a very well built foundation of magic spells to work off from, all of which stemmed from the many centuries of the legalization of studying magic; mother Frieren had explained that her Teacher Flamme was the very reason why mages could exist today, as the threat of demons and their magic was too great to not study and counter attack with.
And that not even going into detail of how recent the inception of the mage shield and Zoltraak came into being, but that was a topic for another time.
"What I like about magic…." Teufel spoke finally after a few minutes of stewing over her thoughts, while Fern listened to the Elf Half, "I think what I like about magic is that it is a very open field for new things to develop." she started to explain, with a thoughtful look on her face.
With a glance at Fern, Teufel continued to speak as the two girls walked together, "But ideally I enjoy the fact that it allows us to venture forth with greater possibilities the more we study into it." she nodded to herself at the end.
Fern glancing up in thought of her own reason for liking magic, smiled a bit to herself, before giving Teufel a sideways look, "That sounds more than what I like about spells, or what got me to like magic in the first place." she remarked with a shy look.
With a curious look on her face as the two girls rounded a corner on the street, Teufel spoke back to Fern, "Really? What was your first spell that got you to enjoy magic?" she asked earnestly. "Mine was when I saw my mother float in the air and fly." she offered her own answer to her question.
If there was anything to be had with the girl, Fern, was some common ground, and magic was definitely one of them for the young half elf. Teufel was already sure that Fern would most likely join their journey, so becoming friends and stalwart allies was pertinent for Teufel, as the human girl had quite the potential with magic. The young girl already has an aptitude in concealing her mana, to the extent that she could move while doing so while her mother Frieren has to stay still for her to be able to properly conceal her mana.
Fern, with brightness in her eyes at the mention of mage flight, smiled in return of Teufel's answer, "hm…I remember seeing a butterfly spell that got me interested in magic." Fern said to Teufel, and looked ahead as she thought back to the day she saw the magic trick she once saw, "I wanted to learn it as one of my first spells…it was so beautiful when I first saw it…and I wanted to cast it myself."
Teufel nodded in understanding, and glanced back at Fern, "Have you ever learned it?" the half elf asked the girl.
"Yes!" Fern gently nodded with a shine in her eye as she conversed with Teufel, "Master Heiter even gave me the book for it!" she explained.
As the two girls headed towards the gate exit of the capital to head back home, a duo of pedestrians walked past the two girls, their path taking them further into the city after arriving to the city late into the day; both were female and measured out around Frieren's height, one of them had elven ears under her golden hair, her golden eyes expressing a bored look until her eyesight batches the sight of the young elf looking girl walking beside another girl towards the gate exit.
The other female that was walking beside the elf, had long flowing light- brown hair that almost reached her backside; the human looking female noticed her master was grinning an amused expression as the elf herself trailed her eyes back forward while continuing to walk.
Sense expressed a plain look, but inside she was curious, so she spoke up, "Master Serie, did something catch your eye?" she asked in a soft but curious tone.
As Serie continued to walk beside her apprentice, she spoke up with an upbeat tone, "Yes, something did…" she answered while the two females strode towards the Continental Magic Association of the Holy City, and like the city of Äußerst, the Holy City's mage association itself holds mage exams.
Sense, growing a bit more curious now as to what her master caught that earned her attention for a bit, spoke again, "What was it?" she asked.
While Serie walked, she spoke in a genuine tone of amusement, "nothing really…just…it has been a long time since I saw a young elf, or half elf that is…" Sense's master mused with a wistful look in her eyes.
With a somewhat wider look of an expression, Sense spoke with her master more, "Wait, one of those girls we passed by, was a young elf or half elf?" she inquired, for as far as she knew, it was very rare for elves to birth any new elf into the world. She didn't pay enough attention to the girls, to notice either of them having pointed ears.
"Hmm." Serie hummed a bit as her eyes glanced to the side with a small smile gracing her lips, behind her and Sense, the two girls were already far outside the gates, most likely heading back home to somewhere in the countryside before the day ended. "I believe…it's a half elf…the more I feel out for her mana…" she mused with a very amused smirk next, before looking back forward as the two of them headed towards the headquarters of mages of the city.
"I see." Sense noted with a slight nod, the two of them continued their trek towards their destination, before Serie spoke aloud with a tone of interest.
"I think I'll stick around for the third class mage exams in this city for the following few years." Serie remarked with an intrigued look in her eye, earning a surprised look on her placid face.
"Really?" Sense questioned her master.
While the two of them reached the street leading straight up to the building that housed the mage exams and all manner of other things pertaining to mages, Serie spoke back to her youngest apprentice, "That other girl, she was unconsciously concealing some of her mana. Whoever is teaching those two, I am very curious to see what person that is in charge of those two." she explained, and nodded forward towards the building they were heading towards.
Sense began to express some amount of confusion at her master's decision to stick around, "So, just seeing a young elf, has warranted your attention enough to stick around?" she questioned.
"What?" Serie questioned back as the two of them stopped atop the stairs between the columns that held up the overhanging roof of the brick and mortar building, the Elf herself couldn't help but express in an impish smile towards her apprentice, "Feeling a little jealous I have my sights on new prospects already?" she poke fun at her young apprentice.
Sense blinked once, before giving her master a flat look on her placid face, "No…not really. Just making an observation." she returned back with an answer in a flat tone.
Serie, frowned a bit, before smiling back once more and began to head into the building with her apprentice in tow, "You really are hard to play around with." she noted, earning a frown from Sense as she followed her master inside the building.
Winter, Heiter's Cabin
With her staff in her hand, the more she looked at the additions she made to it, the more it seemed impractical, well, at least for the spade part, the blade part however could still serve its purpose; Mage blade was still at the forefront of her mind as she looked at the bayonet part of her staff, while she held it up to her line of sight.
Frowning a bit, Teufel looked down at the spade part on her staff; the addition was added not but a few years ago, and she wanted to see if any spells could benefit from the spade. It was a creature comfort for her, something that could be utilized in any given situation, but with how this world's magic system worked, and how early it was for humans to still come up with spells, Teufel was now thinking back on her choice of attaching the spade.
With a furrowed brow, Teufel concentrated her mana at the end of her staff and attempted to see if the metal spade could withstand being reinforced by her mage blade; As the half elf girl stood outside in an open field several yards away from Heiter's cabin, she casted a spell that caused a magic ring to encircle her trench spade.
Channeling a bit more mana into the spell to see how far she could reinforce the metal, Teufel was about to pump more magic into the spade to project shark edges on its sides, before hairline cracks began to form on the metal itself.
Ceasing her experiment with the spade and her mage blade attempt with the shovel part, Teufel scrunched her nose up in annoyance as she lifted her staff end up to inspect the spade. "I am very lucky mother and I never gotten into a combat situation yet." she mused to herself with her eyes narrowed at the hairline cracks in the metal spade.
Traveling across the countryside had made her a bit…slow, to say the least. She was planning on testing the spade and bayonet the first chance she got with spells, but then other things came up that earned her attention, such as the grimoire books that her mother shared, to the various cities they visited.
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out." Teufel's mother spoke behind her, making her jump a bit as she didn't even bother keeping her mana detection up. Figuring it was safe, Teufel had felt like going lax would let her enjoy her time out in the countryside.
Turning around in the light snow packed ground, Teufel noted that her mother was now dressed in her winter clothes and coat; Teufel of course wore her own as well, which matched the color scheme of her mother's coat, but was as far as it went.
Grumbling a bit to herself, while giving her mother a glowering look, Teufel spoke back to her mother Frieren with a frank tone, "And you didn't want to tell me because?" she questioned her mother.
Frieren simply smiled back in amusement toward her daughter and spoke plainly, "I wanted you to figure it out yourself, why else do you think I let you walk around with those things attached to your staff?" she asked with a tilt of her head in questioning.
Looking back up at her mother with a flat look, Teufel spoke with a mild incensed tone, "I spent money on this mother!" she pointed out, only to earn a smile in return and a headpat that left Teufel grumbling at being treated like a kid…human kid, that is, she still had the body of a young elf body, but the mind of an adult.
"Well, next time, think ahead and ask first!" Frieren told her Daughter while removing her hand from her daughter's head, and palmed her hip, "There's no shame in still asking for help, even though you have a mature mind, you're still my daughter after all." Teufel's mother explained with a smile.
Relenting from her glare, Teufel sighed to herself. Perhaps she was getting too gung ho at the time when she wanted the attachments, thinking she was experiencing those silly cliche isekai stories…well…she was, but this felt more like a slice of life sort of experience. Her mother and the party she was part of already defeated the demon king, the land was saved, all that remained was the aftermath of the adventure her Father and Mother took on with Heiter and Eisen.
"Mother." Teufel began to say with a curious tone, earning the attention of Frieren as she looked back down at her Daughter's face, "There is one question I'd like to ask, that's been on my mind for a bit."
"Hmm?" Yes?" Frieren asked, "What would it be?" she questioned her daughter,
"Well…" Teufel said as she held up her staff to show the bayonet part, "If certain metals do not interact well with mana…." and it was really something she should have looked into, than going straight in with, in hindsight that is, "Is there any metal that does interact well with mana?" she asked with a studious look in her eyes that glanced at her staff in hand.
With a nod from her Mother, Frieren spoke, "There is, the gold and silver that Stahl coins are made from, can be imbued with magic, and those are just the two types of metals that I know right now off the top of my head." she explained.
Cupping her chin, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she stewed over the explanation given to her, "So essentially, I should replace my blade with silver, correct?" she asked, earning a shrug from Frieren.
"That's if you wish," Frieren answered, earning another grumble from Teufel. "Though truthfully…" her mother spoke up again, earning a look from the daughter, "I think you should just remove that metal altogether and practice first with whatever you are doing without it, then make the adjustment to whatever metal blade you plan on using." She nodded to herself at her own explanation.
"...this is going to cost me…" Teufel noted to herself with an annoyed look on her face, earning amused look from Frieren, as her mother reached out again to pat her daughter on the head.
"Hey, we could always go dungeon exploring, who knows, we might even find the type of silver you need." Frieren encouraged her Daughter with a soft smile.
With a flat look that Teufel could not help but express, she looked at her mother's face, "Just don't expect me to pull you out of a mimic chest again." she remarked, earning a sheepish look from Frieren, before her mother turned away and poked her fingers into each other while pouting a bit.
"Hey…you can't blame me for trying!" Frieren tried to reason with her daughter by always inexplicably ending up trapped in the mouth of a mimic chest, "The chance of finding a grimoire inside those chests were too great!" she followed up with saying.
Unable to help herself, while apparating her staff away to be hands free of it, she threw her hands up in exasperation, "Yeah…of a ninety nine chance of it being a mimic from the detection spell you cast on every chest you think has a grimoire in it!"
"...the one percent chance is still worth it…" Frieren pouted out while looking away from her daughter.
Seventy plus years! It was hard to count the years go by, when she didn't age that much, or barely at all, but in her years of being around her mother, her elven mother can never resist the lure of opening a chest.
In the passing months, Frieren would spend her time helping Fern practice and better cast the Zoltraak spell she had been practicing in earnest. For Teufel, the young half elf spent the rest of her winter time in measuring out how far the metal blade on her staff could withstand mana infused into it.
Oftentimes during the winter, Teufel would attempt to cast cleaving spells to chop wood. The precision needed for a precise cut left the half elf needing to calculate her mana output, as putting too much mana into her attempt of this particular spell caused the logs she would cut to turn into a blast of splinters. The best catalyst so far was her staff, and that was after she twisted the blade and spade off to remove the weighted ends.
With a swing of her staff after imbuing it with a mana spell, Teufel swung down at a log standing upright atop a tree stump; from out of the end of her staff, a wind-like blade was conjured out from the tip of her staff and down through the log that Teufel swung down at.
After a few seconds passed of Teufel holding her staff at the end of her swing, she watched the log split apart, making the young Half elf express a smile. Behind her, Fern began to clap in earnest.
Having not been able to sense the little girl walk up and watch her from behind, Teufel jumped in shock and whirled around in surprise, causing the young girl to smile in amusement at Teufel, who in turn grumbled at the other girl's uncanny ability to suppress her presence around others.
In the Springtime and summer, Teufel spent her time near a waterfall; with her staff raised, she wanted to test something out and casted levitate on the water itself. She hadn't tried lifting metric tons worth of water, in comparison to the luggage she would carry on her back, and so far, she wanted to test the limits of what levitate could do.
Swinging her staff aside as she readied her spell up, a blue circle glowed beneath her feet, before Teufel thrusted her staff out and casted her spell upon the water that fell over the cliff; within the center of the waterfall, like curtain being pulled up by its center, the water itself began to lift and flow back up.
Teufel herself was feeling the strain already as she felt the flowing water push back against her spell that caused it to lift up into the air as more fell. With a frustrated look on her face, Teufel soon let up from the spell and allowed the water to flow back down on its own.
Not taking into account how much water she caused to be backed up, Teufel was treated to being heavily splashed by the gushing water that fell down all at once; expressing a dour look on her face, Teufel blew a wet strand of her hair in her face, before resorting to using her hand to pull it away and behind her ear.