Chapter 176: The Unhappy Elf Miss
"I'll go wake her up and tell her to get ready."
Serie turned and walked towards the door, her efficiency as swift as ever.
"Wait, Serie," Kurtz called out to her. "Let her sleep a bit longer. I need to go greet Baling first."
Serie stopped, turned around, and looked back at Kurtz.
Feeling a little uncomfortable under her gaze, Kurtz asked, "What's wrong?"
"I was thinking," Serie shifted her gaze, lowered her head, her hair falling to cover part of her expression, "Are you being too... pampering toward her? Or is 'doting' a better word?"
"Don't talk nonsense! And your choice of words is wrong." Kurtz's face instantly darkened, feeling a vein throbbing on his forehead.
What kind of word was "doting"? That word was too ambiguous and too easily misunderstood.
Even 'spoiling' would be better than that.
"See!" Serie seemed oblivious to Kurtz's change in expression, or perhaps she noticed but didn't care.
She actually raised her fair fingers and began counting them one by one, her tone very serious: "Let's not mention the dot... preferential treatment during the teaching process for now."
"The seriousness with which you teach her magic is way more than it was for me back then, and your tolerance for her mistakes is also much higher.
"Moreover, you also specifically prepared magic recovery potions for her, and even the magic staff she uses now, you had a dwarf master forge it, didn't you?"
She paused, then raised her eyes, locking onto Kurtz again, her somewhat flustered face clearly reflected in her eyes.
"Including what just happened, you even specifically let her sleep a bit longer? Isn't this preferential treatment?" Her voice began to rise, carrying a hint of almost insistent questioning.
"I'm very curious! Kurtz, why is this?"
Kurtz was momentarily unable to refute the elf Miss's statements of fact.
He indeed treated Flamme with more favoritism, something he hadn't even realized himself.
But when Serie pointed it out so directly, Kurtz suddenly discovered that this was indeed the case.
Why?
The honest answer might be guilt arising from having taken her place in history? Or perhaps a desire to witness the birth of a legend?
Kurtz wasn't sure either.
Although he was already a legend himself, he had no choice back then.
Since he and the elf Miss embarked on their journey, fate had already invisibly arranged everything.
And when he drew Aura, Sword of Divine Authority, he had already been forced onto the path of god-slaying.
This was something no one could change.
His life was like a duckweed pushed by the tide; he had no choice but to keep moving forward.
Sometimes the stage lights were too dazzling, making him occasionally wish he were an audience member below the stage.
And the appearance of Flamme gave him such a choice.
However, he absolutely could not tell Serie about Flamme.
This involved his identity as a transmigrator, and it couldn't be explained clearly by simply using magic that allowed him to see the future.
"Serie, don't overthink it. I just think Flamme is still young, and this time she spent so much of her energy, so resting a bit longer will help her better recover."
"Besides, my teaching method for her is different from yours. What's so strange about that?"
"Your talent is much stronger than hers; learning any magic is no difficulty for you at all, so naturally, it doesn't require as much effort.""
Serie's talent and starting point were indeed incomparable to Flamme's.
However, Seroe was not someone who could be appeased with a few words.
She didn't speak, just stared at Kurtz, her eyes clearly showing disbelief.
She pursed her lips slightly, her small face devoid of expression, but the atmospheric pressure around her clearly dropped.
An emotion called 'I'm unhappy' spread, more oppressive than any verbal questioning.
Kurtz's scalp tingled under her gaze.
His Little Elf was jealous.
To calm her down, he had to give a reason that she could grudgingly accept, a good enough explanation to get past this temporarily.
In a moment of desperation, a thought flashed through Kurtz's mind, and he blurted out: "Alright, alright! I admit it! Maybe I subconsciously treated her like a daughter! Yes! That's the feeling!"
"Daughter?"
Serie tilted her head, a clear look of confusion on her face, as if she had heard an extremely unfamiliar word.
Elves have long lifespans and long reproductive cycles, and the elven way of raising children is completely different from humans.
While parent-child emotional bonds exist between individuals, they are far less intense and concretized than in human society.
She understood the concept of descendants, but the expression "raising her like a daughter," which was full of human emotional color, was very difficult for her to comprehend.
"Yes, daughter!"
Seeing that Serie seemed to be intrigued by his explanation, Kurtz quickly seized the opportunity.
"Watching her progress little by little, getting stronger little by little, growing from a little girl into an excellent magic user, that feeling is like watching your own child grow."
"But there is no blood relationship between you," the elf Miss coldly retorted.
"That's not important. For humans, emotion is far more complex than that. Seeing such a promising junior naturally makes one want to take even more care of them and protect them more. It's a sense of responsibility." Kurtz racked his brains, trying to make this reason more plausible.
Serie listened quietly, seemingly trying to digest Kurtz's words.
She looked at Kurtz's somewhat eager expression, then recalled Flamme's appearance. She was indeed very promising and needed guidance.
She tried to substitute Kurtz's description for the elven way of nurturing excellent juniors, but she always felt it was still not quite the same.
Elven elders would also teach diligently, but never as meticulously as Kurtz.
However, she could understand the words "sense of responsibility."
After all, wasn't it because she herself felt that Flamme was a promising anomaly that she was willing to spend far more time and energy teaching her than ever before?
Although the methods were different, in some ways, it seemed there was a slight similarity?
So, Flamme was also her daughter?
Hmm, still incomprehensible.
"So, your preferential treatment of her is because you treat her as a daughter who needs care?" Serie summarized.
"Yes! That's exactly it."
At Kurtz's affirmation, Serie remained silent, seemingly weighing the credibility of his explanation.
Finally, she softly hummed, signaling her grudging acceptance of the explanation.
The unhappy atmosphere lingering around her also dissipated instantly.
"I understand."
Her tone returned to its usual coolness, but Kurtz keenly noticed that the confusion in the depths of her eyes had not receded.
Was she still thinking about something?
Her gaze lingered on Kurtz's face for a moment, then she turned away, no longer speaking about Flamme, only saying faintly: "Then I'll go look outside."
With that, she left the room directly.
[End of Chapter]
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