Chapter 162: I Taught Flamme Magic? For Real?
Serie brought the little Flamme back to their hut in the deep woods. The pale golden barrier was still in place; clearly, nothing had happened in her absence.
Flamme followed her inside, her gaze immediately drawn to the mysterious magic circle. She walked over to it, her curiosity piqued, and looked at the hazy figure at its center. What is it? A sleeping elf? But the hatred in her own heart quickly suppressed this fleeting curiosity. She needed power, the power to kill every last demon, not to ponder some mysterious being.
"That is something you are not to concern yourself with," Serie's cool voice said from behind her. "Do not go near it. Your room is over here." She pointed to a small, simple space on the other side of the hut.
Flamme nodded and, with one last look at the figure in the light, she buried her questions deep within her heart, leaving only her desire for power.
"Um... may I ask your name, Lady Elf?" she asked hesitantly.
"Serie."
"Serie," she repeated, and then, as if she had just remembered something, she asked, "Are you... the elven Saint, Lady Serie, who traveled with the great God-slayer, Lord Rhodes?"
"Why am I second?" she said, her priorities a little skewed. Shouldn't she have mentioned me first?
"I-I'm so sorry," Flamme said, and quickly bowed her head, afraid she had offended her new master. "It's just that... the stories I've heard are mostly about Lord Rhodes."
"It's fine," she said, deciding to let it go.
As she watched her walk away, Flamme clenched her fists. With the legendary elven Saint as her teacher, she would surely be able to kill every last demon in the world. But who was that figure in the magic circle? Could it be... Lord Rhodes? But he was just a human; he couldn't possibly still be alive. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't figure it out, and so she just pushed the thought aside.
From that day on, the rhythm of life in the small hut completely changed.
Serie became her teacher.
She did not rush to teach her powerful offensive spells, but started with the very basics of mana control. The girl's talent was great, and she wanted to nurture it properly. And Flamme, for her part, showed a surprising amount of perseverance, her hatred now a powerful driving force, allowing her to endure the tedious hours of meditation, to repeat the same failed spells over and over, until she finally succeeded.
Two years passed in a flash.
And then one day, the light of the magic circle began to pulse violently.
Serie, who had been in the middle of a lesson, froze and turned to look, a wave of an uncontrollable excitement washing over her. He was back.
Flamme, startled by the sudden flare of light, also stopped and stared at the massive, now-activated, magic circle. She saw the change in her teacher's expression. The figure in the light... it must be someone very important to her. But who?
The light grew brighter and brighter, until it filled the entire hut, and then it suddenly receded, all of it contracting into the center of the circle, where a figure now stood.
To her, he was just a handsome young man with black hair, nothing particularly special.
Rhodes slowly opened his eyes, his mind slowly returning to the present. He stretched his new body, making sure the fusion was complete, and a satisfied smile came to his face. And then, his gaze fell, as it always did, on the figure who was always the first thing he saw. "Serie, it's been a long..." he began, but then he paused.
His gaze drifted down, to the small figure beside her. A human girl, no more than ten years old, was staring at him with wide, clear eyes. And in her small, childish face, a face that was both unfamiliar and strangely familiar, a strong sense of deja vu washed over him. He looked from her, to Serie, a question in his eyes.
Serie gently patted the girl on the shoulder and pushed her forward a little. "Rhodes," she said calmly, "this is Flamme. My new apprentice."
"Flamme!?" His voice was a little higher than he had intended, a fact that had not escaped the notice of the other two. But he had no time to explain. He was in shock.
Flamme? The same Flamme whose title, 'most ancient of human mages', he had stolen? The same Flamme who had created countless new magical theories, whose influence had shaped the entire magical system of a later age? Now, standing right in front of him... as Serie's apprentice? And as a little girl? He felt as if someone had just given the timeline a playful shove while he had been sleeping. It was a long sleep, yes, but still... Serie had just gone and picked up Flamme? That wasn't right, was it?
He looked at the small, stubborn-faced girl before him, his own face a mask of a profound shock.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat and, with a gentle smile, he squatted down to her eye level. "Hello, Flamme. I'm Rhodes."
She looked at him, at the man who had just emerged from the magic circle, and when she heard his name, her own eyes lit up. "Your name is Rhodes?" her voice was filled with a disbelieving excitement. "The same... as the great God-slayer from the histories!?"
The smile on his face froze for a moment. Crap. I'm just a namesake. He had expected her to think that he was him. Damn this preconceived notion that humans can't live forever.
"...just a namesake," he said, trying to sound as natural as possible. He wasn't going to tell her the truth. It would be more fun this way.
"That's so cool!" her eyes were even brighter now. "Did you know, he's my hero! When I was a little girl, my parents used to tell me stories about him. He's the most ancient of human mages, and the person I want to be like the most!" She gestured excitedly with her hands, her eyes shining with an idolizing admiration.
Rhodes: "..."
He glanced at Serie, and saw that she had turned away, her shoulders shaking, clearly trying to suppress a smile. He rubbed his temples. Of all the fans to have... it had to be her.
"Is that so?" he said, and gently patted her on the head. "That's good. From today on, I will also be your teacher. And I hope that one day, you, too, will have a legend of your own."
"I will! I'll do my best! Teacher Rhodes! Teacher Serie!" she said, a new title now in her vocabulary.
"Welcome back," Serie said softly, coming to his side. She was curious as to why he had so readily agreed to teach her, but she didn't ask.
"I'm back," he said, and looked out the window. "It seems the peaceful days are over for a while. But... that's not so bad either."
A new chapter had begun. And this time, there was a new, and destined-to-be-extraordinary, figure in their story.
(End of chapter)
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