"Finally, it's done. That elf is way too lazy to clean her things." Fafnir wiped out the nonexistent sweat on his forehead after cleaning the 'library'.
But in reality, it's an insult to compare this to a library. It's more of a pile of books scattered around and lots of scrolls.
However, comparing it to the first time he arrived here. This 'mess' is heaven in comparison.
It's been several years since he made a contract with Serie. For the first few years, they were basically just strangers who used each other for mutual benefits.
While she studies the mysteries of his species, he on the other hand was learning magic from her.
It remained that way, as neither party was keen on getting closer to begin with; that's why their relationship remained strictly professional.
While she does her thing, at the same time he would also do his. Their only interaction is basically just him attending her class, while she asks some questions regarding his species.
Serie was smart, she basically figured out his origin a long time ago without outright telling her about it.
Knowing that he's an otherworldly being didn't stop her, it made her more interested in him.
While she knew that foreigners from other worlds existed as it was clearly written in a very ancient history way before her time.
This was her first time experiencing meeting an alien, which is why her interest in him was no less intense than her love for magic.
Thanks to him, she learned a lot and benefited. Overall, she was satisfied with her decision to have a contract with him.
Their relationship would have never progressed and remained this way, as neither was particularly good at speaking.
Not to mention expressing their feelings was asking for something impossible.
Serie, no matter how young she may look she's at least a few thousand years old or so.
Even your ancestors had to call her an ancestor.
Due to the erosion of time, her emotions were getting duller by the year to come, the only reason why she's still somewhat functional is because of her deep obsession with magic.
Thanks to its infinite possibilities, even if she used her entire lifetime she would never be able to unravel all of its mysteries.
But she was fine with that, after all magic was the sole reason why she's still alive.
Her species is the closest to being immortal, throughout its history there were rarely any elves that died by waiting for their old age, most of her kind died because they were killed or simply couldn't stand living anymore.
For those who lived long enough committing suicide was normal, as most don't live past 3000 years old, as their mind couldn't stand the sheer boredom of living their lives for too long.
Elves like her were rare, as something was keeping her anchored in life.
While Fafnir on the other hand didn't live as long as her, in comparison he's like an infant to her in terms of age.
But thanks to nearly a century of experience as a dragon of the chaos faction, his life was harsh as every year or so, he'd encounter frequent life and death situations.
If it weren't for his near-immortal constitution, he would have died long ago. That's why his thoughts were becoming more pragmatic and he doesn't easily trust anyone.
If this were before he became a dragon, he would have no doubt initiated getting closer to a familiar character such as Serie.
But after experiencing an entire lifetime for a human, he was no longer that naive and optimistic.
Getting his trust without working for it was nearly impossible, that's why his relationship with Serie remained the same with no progress at all.
Both parties were at fault.
This relationship would have stayed the same with no way of progressing, until his departure.
But an unexpected event happened, or perhaps destined as Fafnir knew this particular person would arrive as it is written in the story.
He almost forgot about it actually, but thanks to this special individual his relationship with Serie made a breakthrough after years of no progress.
"Fafnir-sama! We're back!" A young yet familiar voice echoed through the normally silent temple.
Without realizing it, a slight curve in his lip appeared. He turned around and greeted the girl. "Hm, welcome back Flamme."
The orange-haired child smiles at his reply, she was no older than 5 years old. To think a cute child like this became the most renowned mage in history.
Beside her was the living grimoire, Serie who was mostly stoic but held the young girl's hand tightly.
"You too Serie," Fafnir added.
Serie only nodded and then walked toward the kitchen with a basket filled with vegetables and fruits.
"We got lucky! It seems that we're going to have a feast tonight!" Flamme eagerly expressed her happiness to the two adults.
Neither of them verbally said anything, but the atmosphere was completely different from what it used to be.
—
A few months ago,
Today was nothing new, their daily routine was for her to study him, to be precise his magic as it's completely different from this world's magic.
However, neither of the two expected their lives to be changed forever starting from this seemingly normal day.
As the two of them were exchanging ideas, thanks to their sensitive sense of mana they felt it.
An oppressive amount of mana was slowly descending toward their location. It wasn't particularly large compared to their reserves but it was still worth paying attention to.
It wasn't every day one would encounter a being with this size of mana, excluding themselves of course.
"A demon." Fafnir was confident of this, the first thing he did aside from getting a contract with Serie was finding a demon so that he could study it.
Like his previous world, demons existed but unlike here, the demons back there were essentially no different from humans with extra horns and wings with a greater affinity toward dark magic in general.
It was not an evil race, some were good and bad, basically a mixed bag like humans.
But for some stupid reason, humans think they're evil and must be annihilated from the world.
Fafnir was sure that it had to do with politics, but he really couldn't care less about their little games.
What mattered to him was, whether they provoked him or not.
The funny thing is that the so-called demons were more polite than humans, mostly because they don't send people to slay him on a monthly basis.
But after coming here and meeting a local demon, the difference was staggering.
Unlike demons from his world who could feel emotions like any normal intelligent being, the demons here genuinely don't have any speck of emotions or desire.
They're basically just hollowed existence given form, their sole reason for existing was to eat humans.
It's engraved in their very soul, to put it simply. From the moment of its existence, there was no possibility of it coexisting with humans.
They exist to be humanity's enemy.
After encountering dozens of demons, he basically figured out the difference between a human's mana and a demon's.
Fafnir didn't particularly care about this being, as long as it doesn't provoke him he will leave it be.
He isn't a native of this world and his feelings toward demons were basically no different from those of a wild animal.
However, it was completely different from Serie, who is a native. While her feelings toward demons aren't as intense as those of people who have lost their loved ones to demons.
Serie didn't like their existence, she couldn't understand why such beings were born in this world, even though she admits that demons are geniuses in manipulating mana.
Not to mention they're also long-lived as elves, truly an unfair existence.
As she was about to make a move, suddenly she noticed something unusual.
Fafnir did too, after realizing that it wasn't just one person who was coming, it was two.
While the demon was openly showing off its mana without restraint, the other one was more restrained and controlled.
If it weren't for the fact that both were masters of sensing mana, they wouldn't have even realized this person's existence.
From the mana they sense, it was clear that this individual is a human.
The fact that this person could temporarily hide their presence from beings like them caught their attention.
Moreover in this era, magic was scarce. Only long-lived beings like them could freely use magic.
Magic isn't widely popularized in this era, only a few selective humans are capable of casting magic.
Without hesitation, they went out of their way to 'help' this person, as they felt that if they waited a little bit more the demon would surely catch this person of interest.
It didn't take long for them to arrive with their respective spells, teleportation was just a mere child's play compared to dimensional travel magic that he created.
Then he saw the person of interest, and he paused as he never expected them to be a child.
Not to mention, a character he was familiar with.
This was the first meeting between him and Flamme.
A pitiful child who was filled with wounds and bruises from running away, her face was filled with tears, but also a burning desire to live.
Even after almost a century, he never did like seeing children suffer. That's why, his previously nonchalant mood became sour, and then he stared at the demon who was approaching.
Fafnir with a face filled with disdain for this existence, raised his right hand. "Komprimierte Schwerkraft."
He used one of the spells he created while studying magic in this world, it was simple gravity magic that compressed a certain radius to the extreme, to the point it bent light.
The demon couldn't react to his magic spell and was directly crushed like a pretzel, not even the bone was spared.