Would walk miles for you

Qifrey gives you a glance as he looks at the hopeful gazes of the girls. He contemplates for a moment as he inhales deeply, bringing a hand up to his face to hold his chin.

"If she has no problem with it, I think we would all like to see some magic. I can show some of my own magic in return, it's only fair."

You give him a smile as you hold your staff and walk to the door, throwing a look back to the girls and Qifrey.

"There's no need, I'm in no rush. Now, the spell I want to show you needs to be done outside, if you'll follow me."

The girls quickly follow after you as Qifrey calmly follows behind. You hold the door open for the girls to file out. Coco and Tetia rush out as Richeh quickly follows after them. Agott walks smoothly out, though you notice her own pace quicken.

You finally follow out the door, staff in hand as you calmly walk after the group. You lead the group away from the atelier, close to where you landed and finally stopping once Qifrey calls out to you.

"I think this is far enough," he holds a hand up to shield his good eye from the sun. You finally stop in front of the tree you fixed and stand in front of it.

"Yes, I think this is far enough," you smile as you hold your staff across your body and stand up straight.

"I'll show you my favorite spell."

At your words, your staff lights up and your hair flies around you. Light emanates from your staff before flying around you, the field around you lights up before flowers of all kinds, colors and varieties bloom around you.

"Wow!"

"So pretty!"

Coco and Tetia yell in glee as Richeh's eyes shine and Agott stands with her arms folded, but an unmistakeable twinkle to her eye. Qifrey gains a shine to his eye as he watches your expression, a small smile to your face as flower petals fall around you.

Your hair stops whipping as the now bloomed flowers rustle softly around you with the wind outside.

"My master taught me this spell, many years ago," you reminisce on Flamme, your dear master. Those years you'd spent with her were some wonderful years. It's been far too long since you'd visited her grave, you're due to see her.

"It's beautiful, a field of flowers. So peaceful."

You smile fondly at Qifrey's words as he moves to stand on your right, observing the girls as they get closer looks at the flowers and stopping to smell them.

He glances at you as you watch the girls with a smile on your face.

“I know you don’t trust me,” you start, turning your head to Qifrey as he blinks at your words in surprise. He opens his mouth to object only for you to stop him with a raised hand.

“You’re wise not to. I’m a stranger, you’re protecting the girls. It’s a good instinct.”

You turn back to the girls, Tetia and Coco now weaving flower crowns as Richeh tries to mimic their movements. Qifrey watches you for a moment longer before turning to the girls once more.

"As an adult, I'm sure you understand the danger others pose, especially to children. I am only doing what I think is best for them."

You hum as you watch Tetia place a flower crown on top of Agotts head, the girl scowling, but still accepting it. You laugh a bit before finally responding to Qifrey.

"'As an adult?'"

You laugh a bit at the sentence, you're hardly an adult compared to some other elves. Even if you are older than Frieren, "protection from the Brimhats I'm assuming?"

Qifrey furrows his brows at first, "is something funny about what I said?"

You glance at him before resuming your gaze out at the field of flowers.

"I'm hardly considered an adult compared to other elves, some would even consider me still a child."

Qifrey tilts his head a bit, glancing over your form a subtly as he can.

"If you don't mind me asking how old are you?"

Qifrey is expecting fairly old, maybe a hundred years old since he knows that elves in literature are said to live for hundreds of years. So his shock at your answer is very apparent to the girls who give him curious looks.

"Hm, maybe two thousand years old? I haven't really been keeping track, truth be told."

"What?"

His mouth drops open in shock as his eye widens in what could be perceived as horror. You pay no mind as your face still falls neutral, your gaze falls on a figure in the distance approaching the atelier.

“Oh, who’s that?”

You gesture loosely at the figure as Qifrey just grabs your upper arms with his own hands, shaking you loosely.

"What do you mean two thousand years?"

"Exactly that? Two thousand years really isn't that long."

You suppose it's been so long that you've spoken your age out loud that you've forgotten what a normal reaction is to it. You've been spending too much time with Frieren you suppose.

Qifrey stops shaking you when you once again point out the figure in the distance with a dark, pointed, brimless hat. The man, you can see his form better, wears darker robes and walks stiffly, but picks up his pace when he sees your group.

"Oh no."

Qifrey moves you to stand behind him as you let him move you. You suppose it's natural for him to assume a protector role, though you feel a little silly standing behind him.

"Girls, it's time to go inside."

The girls, save Agott, are quick to complain.

"Wait!"

"We're not done yet!"

Richeh holds up her flower crown with a frown on her face, "not done yet."

Qifrey tuts as he walks forward, herding them toward the atelier.

"Girls, you'll have more time later to see the flowers. Inside, now."

You follow after Qifrey, keeping an eye on the man that gets closer and the closer he gets the more you can see his expression. His face is neutral, but there is a certain hardness to him. Like he hasn't had a proper nights rest in a long time.

You walk forward with the girls and Qifrey, until you feel eyes on you. You turn your head and see that the man has his eyes firmly set on you.

"Qifrey, who is that?"

You point your staff in the direction of the man as Qifrey pushes the girls further toward the atelier. If the man poses a threat, you have no qualms about using Zoltraak. Your grip hardens on your staff slightly as you angle your body toward the mysterious man.

"Someone who is not going to be very happy with me," he sighs as he stands in front of you, pushing your staff back up right.

Tetia turns to where your staff was pointed and yells out happily, "Olruggio!"

Qifrey stops as he hears the name and stiffly turns toward the mentioned man with what he hopes is an inconspicuous smile on his face.

"Olruggio! Has it been three days already? How are you?"

The man in question ignores the question as he stares at you, namely your ears, then your staff. Olruggio furrows his brows at the sight of you. He let it slide that Qifrey brought Coco, even if he still thinks it a terrible idea to essentially harbor a stowaway, but he draws the line now. He has to.

"What is she?"

He's gruff as he holds an arm out, pointing at you while you just blink at the motion. Qifrey gives him a frown as he tries to dispel the tense air.

"Is that how we treat guests?"

He tries to give an easy-going smile while Olruggio just narrows his eyes.

"Not when you have a history of bringing stowaways," he gives a pointed look to Coco, who hides behind your form. He may like the girl, but that still doesn't take away the fact that she shouldn't know about magic and should have had her memories erased.

"My name is (Y/n), pleasure to meet you."

You nod to the bearded man who only gives you a scowl. You merely blink at his expression, he almost reminds you of Serie in a way, namely from when you went with Frieren to deliver Flamme's will to her. You could feel Frieren’s irritation at having your dear masters will burned even if she didn’t show it. Ah, memories.

Olruggio only ignores you and looks to Qifrey for an answer.

"I allowed Coco to stay here, but I draw the line at mysterious creatures."

Qifrey sighs and pushes the girls inside the atelier, shutting the door as they complain. He lets his hand rest on the door before turning to the bearded man.

"She is not a mysterious creature, she's an elf."

Olruggio furrows his brows and frowns at his friends words.

"Elves don't exist."

He keeps a steady gaze on you while you just boredly look back. Your eyes drift up the sky as you ignore the odd look the man gives you.

"Oye, you," Olruggio points at you as your gaze lands back on him with a raised brow.

"Yes?"

"What do you want with the group?"

You lift your staff up with a small smile.

"Just trying to get home is all, I was just lucky to fall here."

"Fall?"

"I fell here. I was in a dungeon with some friends, though now that I think about it," you use your staff and cast an illusion in front of you of the events that happened just before you got sent to the sky.

"That spell was really weird, never seen anything like it."

Olruggio's face falls into shock as he watches the illusion of the demon cast a spell and then you pushing Stark out of the way before being sucked into a portal. His face falls in horror both at the sight of the demon and at the fact that you just cast magic with no quill or ink.

"Qifrey, get away from it. Now.lk8u"

Olruggio moves forward to pull the man away from you while your face remains neutral. Qifrey doesn't move, instead just giving Olruggio a look.

"Never been referred to as an 'it' before, that's a new one, even for me. I am an elf, we exist, though I do have an idea of what has happened to land me here.”

Olruggio glares at you as Qifrey holds an arm out. To stop Olruggio from coming closer or from stopping you from using your magic he’s not sure yet, but the point still stands that Qifrey is trying to keep the peace.

"I think we should take a moment to relax."

You lift an eyebrow at Qifrey, who you can see is sweating, and glance at this 'Olruggio' who still scowls at you.

"I have no qualms with this, though he is the one who called me an 'it.'"

Olruggio falters lightly as he tsks and looks away.

"My apologies, you said you were an elf? Well elves don't exist. Not 'round here."

You hum as you look past him and back up at the sky at the birds that fly away.

"Is that so...are there any magical creatures?"

Qifrey and Olruggio look at you now, the latter lowering his arm now that the tenseness in the air has lessened slightly.

"We have flying horses, dragons, why?"

"Then who's to say that elves couldn't exist?"

You give a lazy smile as you brush your hair back, maybe you should ask the girls to braid it for you.

"Well, in any case. It is fairly obvious I'm not from here and I already have an idea of what happened to me. Though," you look at your staff, namely the ribbon you have matching with Frieren, "I may not be able to get home from my side. Even if I can, it will take me a while to study the spell that sent me here."

You sigh as you put away your staff in a flash of light, causing Olruggio and Qifrey to jump.

"I'm afraid I'll be here for a while, regardless of if either of us like it."

Olruggio watches your expression before sighing and grumbling to himself as he takes off his hat and ruffles his hair.

He walks forward to enter the atelier and turns back to you with a frown on his face.

"You may stay, but only until you figure out whatever spell sent you here."

He turns to Qifrey with a larger frown and points a finger at him, "we need to have a discussion."

Qifrey just lets out a wobbly smile, glad that fighting could be avoided. He had no intentions of seeing what a two thousand year old elf could possibly do and he would like it to stay that way.

The three of you enter the home as the girls swarm Olruggio, you smile lightly at his overwhelmed face. You walk past where the girls have him cornered and take a seat at the table with a pensive look on your face. So, it seems that you've been sent to some strange time where magic only exists in the form of magical sigils. Interesting.

Qifrey pushes the girls away from Olruggio so that he can set aside his stuff and get situated as you gesture for them to come over. They eagerly follow as you distract them with an illusion spell, showing Frieren teaching Fern Zoltraak when she was just a little girl, letting Olruggio and Qifrey get a moment to compose themselves.

Olruggio for his part, watches the illusion in interest. You hold no magical ink or quill yet you can conjure magic. He shakes his head as he leaves you be so he can take off his robe and get some food in him.

You let the illusion play out as Tetia and Coco 'ooh' and 'ah.'

"Who's that little girl? And that taller lady?"

You look at Tetia briefly as you pull in closer to Fern's face.

"That's Fern, she's Frieren's apprentice. She's been with us since she was a little girl, like how Qifrey looks after you girls."

You move to Frieren showing Fern how to fire Zotraak.

"This is Frieren, she is my greatest and oldest friend. Don't let the illusion fool you, she is quite short," you laugh a bit at Richeh's face. She focuses so intently on the illusion.

At this Coco tilts her head in question.

"Oldest? Oldest," she mutters lightly before looking at you with stars in her eyes.

"Oh! Elves can be super old right? How old is she?"

At Coco's words you think for a bit. You know you're older than Frieren by a little bit.

You hum in thought as the girls sit around you, even Agott listens with her arms folded.

“Let’s see, Frieren is younger than me by about a thousand years, which is really nothing,” you start to mutter after that as the girls give you shocked looks. You grab the quill and ink that the girls were practicing and play with it.

“A thousand years?!”

“Probably more, I haven’t really been keeping track. As far as I know Frieren is at least fifteen hundred years old, so that puts her close to about nineteen or twenty in human years I believe? Could be a little younger.”

You use the quill in your hand and draw swirls in neat circular patterns, meanwhile the girls are having their entire world deconstructed by your words. Fifteen hundred years! That’s unfathomable to them. They can’t even imagine anything as old as that!

Olruggio walks back in at that exact moment to the girls chattering about how old you are when he gives Qifrey a confused look.

"What are they muttering about?"

"Her elf friend is over a thousand years old. (Y/n) herself about two thousand years old."

Olruggio makes a bewildered face, whipping his head to your form as you continue to draw little circles and spirals, unconcerned with how you’ve managed to shock their system. You instead continue to speak.

“It really is nothing. Serie is much older than I am, and I’m pretty sure Kraft is even older than her so it’s hard to tell really.”

You make a small sigil and inspect your line work as Olruggio has a hand in his beard, eyes glazed at your words.

He feels as if he were a mere child in your presence.

“We don’t age like you do, nor do we really die. We could live forever if we aren’t killed or get seriously ill.”

You gain a small frown on your face as Agott watches your face closely, the small furrow in your brow and the slightest downturn of your lips. If she weren’t looking closely she doesn’t think she would have noticed the change in your demeanor.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen another elf besides Frieren, I fear we are nearly to extinction.”

“Who are Kraft and Serie?”

You stop your drawing as you glance up at Olruggio. You hum as you place down the quill and open your palm. A faint light emanates from your palm until a shimmering image appears, a small Serie appears in your palm. Her neutral expression clear as she sits on her throne.

“Serie is a great mage, she was my masters master over one thousand years ago. She had already been alive for probably close to nine thousand years if my estimate on her age is correct.”

The illusion in your palm shifts to different expressions you’ve witnessed of Serie, your personal favorite, the one where she judges you for your spell choice, shows next causing you to laugh lightly.

The girls watch enraptured as Olruggio has wide eyes. Magic without a quill or ink, just conjured from the palm of your hand, it’s unthinkable. You let the illusion move around, mimicking her movements as the girls follow her form around the room. You watch as the girls follow her in circles with a small smile on your face. It never failed to bring you joy to see people amazed by magic, especially children. Their wide eyes and awe always made it worth it to use even the smallest amount of your mana.

You stop the illusion of Serie, next showing Kraft in his monk robes.

"Kraft is another ancient elf, though I know very little of him to be honest. What I do know is he was a great warrior before he relinquished his title and became a monk."

The illusion of Kraft walks around the room before taking a sitting position as the girls watch him with rapt attention.

"He looks so young, is he really old?"

You let out a slight laugh at Coco's words, before stopping the illusion completely in a shimmer of your magic.

"We reach maturity around a hundred years, so our looks don't really change. I don't think I've ever seen an elf look old, unless they were over twenty thousand years old and even then they would barely gain wrinkles."

Coco listens with wide eyes as Tetia 'oohs.' Agott looks at most perplexed while Richeh keeps her flat gaze. The more you look at the blue haired girl the more you think she looks like a mix of Frieren and Himmel. The thought is almost comforting, in a very strange way. Ah, you shouldn't get too weird about it.

"Anyway-"

Olruggio stands with his arms crossed. If elves can live for thousands of years, that means they can gain power for that long. You may seem to be nice and give off the air of someone who wouldn't hurt a fly, but he knows better than to trust someone at face value.

“You’ve lived for over two thousand years, yeah? Does that mean you’re very powerful?”

Your eyes flit to Olruggio who levels you with a harsh stare. Ah, so that’s why he asked.

“Powerful enough to face the demon king, yes. Though I harbor no ill will towards humans. Demons have all the ire I carry.”

His brows furrow together as he glances at Qifrey who shakes his head at him.

"Demons?"

You draw the sigil for Zoltraak and imbue it with a small amount of mana, causing a spike to erupt from the sigil and go straight up into the air. You set a defensive spell to stop it from blowing through the roof as the children and two other adults watch in shock and alarm.

"What was that?!"

"Woah!"

"Huh. So it can work."

You rip the page and push it away to practice other sigils, only for Olruggio to take the paper away from you.

"No more sigils."

You huff, "I'm not a child you chastise," despite saying this you do pout as he chides you on the danger of drawing sigils with no care. He looks at the ink you used and realizes that it isn't magical ink, it's just the regular ink the girls were using to practice their lines.

"How did you...? This isn't magical ink?"

Before you can respond, Qifrey goes first.

"Did you put- what was it- mana into the sigil?"

You turn to him with a small smile, "precisely. In my own world, we have our own sigils that we study, mostly in an academic setting. My thought was that if I drew it, I could probably imbue mana to make it work. It seems I was correct."

The girls look at the sigil in wonder. Coco goes to grab it, only for Olruggio to grab the sigil and keep it far from her.

"What sigil is this? It looks too complex to be a simple one."

You blink as you look at Olruggio.

"Zoltraak. Once the strongest spell demonkind had, after fifty years humans studied it enough that now it's the simplest and most basic offensive magic there is."

You smile as you turn back to the table and feel Tetia grab your hair. You nod your head to her unasked question as her face lights up and she starts to braid it.

"To answer your question, demons are creatures who have learned human speech. They hunt and eat humans both for sustenance and for pure enjoyment. They're disgusting creatures and both Frieren and I operate on a kill first basis."

Olruggio and Qifrey look at you with furrowed brows. Both feeling uneasy with you being around the children. You smile at the girls as they show you more of the sigils they've practiced.

You turn to the two adults with a flat look.

"I know how that must sound, but if you knew what demons were capable of and what they have done to humanity and my kind you would feel the same. I suppose you could compare them to the brimhats, though I'm not sure what they're like."

Tetia finished the braid as she pulls it over your shoulder. You touch the braid gently and thank her as she beams at you.

The two men sweat at your words, they suppose they can understand the hostility. Though if a brimhat were spotted the thing to do is to let the Knight's Moralis know. Wait, the Knight's Moralis.

Olruggio's eyes widen as he runs from the room.

Qifrey merely blinks at his disappearance and decides to let it be, focusing back on you.

"You said this Frieren and you were close?"

You smile as you think of the elf. An image of her stuck in a mimic clear in your mind.

“Frieren is my oldest friend. She’s basically my sister. It’ll be a sad day when Fern and Stark pass.”

Qifrey's face falls, as do the girls.

“How morbid? How could you say such a thing?”

You play with the end of your braid as you think.

“Unlike Frieren, I am very in touch with my feelings, though it may not seem like it. I am all too aware of how short your human lives are. It’s why I declined joining the party of heroes at first, I wasn’t too keen on getting close to anybody after our master.”

You throw the braid back as you stretch your arms above your head and relax your shoulders.

“Himmel was the one to convince me otherwise. He promised me the journey of a lifetime.”

“Did he grant you that?”

You smile as you think of Himmel and the party of heroes, the ten years that the trip lasted and the adventures you had with them.

“No. Not for the many lifetimes I’ve lived that is.”

Qifrey's face falls at your words.

“But he did remind me of the value of spending time with others. For that I owe him a large debt.”

You smile to yourself as you look at the girls who speak amongst themselves and look back at Qifrey.

"I have no regrets in joining the party of heroes. If I could go back and do it again I would."

Qifrey smiles at your words as he looks at you in a new light. You may not be harmless, but you certainly aren't a danger to them.

Olruggio walks back in to the room noticeably sweatier and haggled.

"Olruggio?"

"We may have a problem coming."

You lift an eyebrow at his words as he whispers to Qifrey who's eye widens, flitting to your form then back to his friend.

"Is something the matter?"

Olruggio turns to you stiffly as Qifrey brings a hand up.

"Nothing at all, just an oversight," his eye flits to the window, noting the sun going down, "girls it's time for bed."

The girls complain, even Agott has a frown on her face, as they rise from their seats with pouts.

"Now girls, a good night's rest is most important for growing witches."

Qifrey pushes the girls to their room as they complain the whole way, leaving Olruggio and you alone together.

The man looks mildly uncomfortable as he leans against the counter and looks away from you. The silence in the room is deafening as you both have nothing to say to one another, not until Qifrey enters the room.

"Ah, the girls were as feisty as ever," he wipes his brow with a hand as he looks to you now.

"You may have my bed, as you are our guest."

You lift your eyebrows as you open your mouth to decline only for him to lift a hand with a smile.

"You are our guest, I'd feel awful if we didn't show you any hospitality."

You smile at the white-haired man as you rise from your seat.

"Right, well, thank you, Qifrey. It is greatly appreciated."

He smiles and beckons you to follow him as you leave the living space to go to his room. The room itself is neat and large. It's cozy. Qifrey leaves you to your own devices as you settle in for the night. You settle in his bed as you look up at the ceiling.

'I wonder how the others are doing,' you turn to your side as your eyes fall shut.