Understand Humans, Aura

Huff—

Breathe in, breathe out—

"Waa!!!!"

Aura suddenly opened her eyes, propping herself up on a piece of empty ground, scanning her surroundings with fear and trepidation.

"Huh?!"

Upon awakening, Aura found that Frieren, who had cast a terrifying anti-demon magic beam at her with a magic circle, had vanished, and the corpses of the humans she had controlled were also gone.

She quickly inspected her body.

The wounds that had pierced through her and the blood that had oozed from her nose and mouth were all gone.

"Was it an illusion?"

She hurriedly stood up, took a step, and then, unsteady, collapsed again.

The real sensation of her depleted magic power couldn't be faked. She had indeed had an intense battle with Frieren.

"Haha, hahaha, hahahaha!!!"

"What a truly evenly matched battle! Frieren! You didn't expect this, did you? I survived!"

"Because next time," Aura said with a sinister and evil smile. Having survived a life-and-death battle, she had completely grasped Frieren's weaknesses. If they fought again, Frieren would definitely lose.

"I would run away without hesitation."

Aura brushed the dust off her body and said this without a trace of shame.

No way, no way, did anyone really think she would foolishly confront Frieren head-on again?!

A thousand-year-old elven mage, and the disciple of the legendary human mage ancestor Flamme, how could she win?

Uh, wait, how do I know that Frieren is Flamme's disciple?

Aura's head throbbed inexplicably, and many deleted memories flooded back. Most were just fragmented pieces, useless, but a few coherent memories made her understand the current situation.

Omniscient Schlacht had tampered with the memories of each of the Seven Sages. While sealing the memory of the battle with the southern hero, he also sealed other seemingly unimportant parts for some purpose.

It was because of the backlash from the Obedience Magic that her soul was impacted, allowing these sealed memories to return. However, the method of unsealing was too rough, and only a small part of the fragmented memories was usable. She still couldn't clearly remember the most important battle against the southern hero.

"Where am I now?"

Aura looked around at the unfamiliar environment, held her head to suppress her headache, and chose a direction to explore.

"My Obedience Scales have disappeared too."

That most important magical tool of hers was completely untraceable. Under normal circumstances, even if it was far away, she could sense a slight connection, but now it was as if the Obedience Scales had disappeared from the world.

"Why did I survive?"

As she fumbled her way through the forest, Aura pondered the question that most intrigued her at the moment. The sudden change in surroundings and the abrupt disappearance of enemies felt a lot like spatial transfer magic.

But Aura knew very well that neither she nor Frieren knew this magic.

Magic involving space and time was beyond the cognitive limits of normal beings. More than 90% of the existing magic came from the scriptures left by the Goddess a thousand years ago... Wait, the Goddess?

"Who did I ask to kill themselves last?"

Aura frowned; her memory was fuzzy. At that time, due to the backlash of the Obedience Magic, she was overly excited. She only remembered feeling extremely exhilarated and couldn't recall what she had said.

Never mind.

Vague memories weren't worth dwelling on. Aura focused on the present, constantly pushing aside the grass in front of her, trying to get out of the woods and find a high place to survey the terrain.

Sha—

Suddenly, her surroundings brightened.

She had exited the forest and found herself in an open space.

Oh, this is a small lake in the woods.

The surrounding dense forest enclosed the circular lake. The trees near the water were taller and thicker, but there was little grass, and the ground had many trampled marks, likely from animals in the forest. Whether small squirrels and rabbits or large tigers and deer, they all needed to drink near the water source.

However, at this moment, the lake in front of Aura was empty, clear as a mirror, with only her reflection.

"Phew, I'm safe. Let's rest for a bit."

Aura hadn't eaten in a long time; now she was thirsty and tired. She squatted by the lake, scooped up some water with her hands, and brought it to her mouth.

But just as her palms touched the lake surface, the water rippled, the disturbance coming from the opposite shore.

Sha—

Aura's body stiffened, she looked up across the lake.

Upon seeing clearly, her pupils trembled, and her eyes widened in fear.

"Fri... Frieren?!"

At the same time, the white-haired elf, who also noticed the disturbance from across the lake, looked up in confusion and met the gaze of the purple-haired demon.

"You know me?"

The white-haired elf's long ears twitched, easily hearing the trembling murmur from the horned humanoid creature opposite.

"My name is Frieren. Are you a demon?"

A curious inquiry reached her ears.

Wait!

Aura seemed to notice something, forcefully steadying herself, suppressing her instinctive rebellious words and her steps that were ready to flee.

She asked the white-haired elf:

"You don't recognize me?"

"Why should I know you?"

"You really are Frieren."

"I am. Are you really a demon?"

"I am..."

Aura gradually realized everything. Age! Yes, the age doesn't match!

Although the Frieren in her memory looked exactly the same, whether in height or chest, but—clearly, unlike the deadpan, lazy old mage in her memory, the Frieren before her had bright, clear, lively, cheerful eyes, and looked like a complete idiot!

This is a young Frieren!

I've actually traveled through time!

"I need to run away from the demon race."

"Eh??"

"Horned humanoid creatures are all bad people, that's what the elders in my clan say."

"Wait, Frieren, I'm a good demon!"

"Really?"

"Uh—"

Young Frieren is really stupid.

She believes whatever I say?

Aura stood up, holding onto a large tree, bent slightly in pain, and slowly walked along the lakeshore toward the opposite side.

Due to the lack of magic power and physical hunger and fatigue, if Frieren immediately ran away, no matter how much Aura wanted to catch up, her running speed couldn't match the fresh, energetic Frieren.

But the time point she arrived at seemed very early. This Frieren's clueless look when facing a demon was clearly her first encounter with one.

So, as long as she deceived Frieren and made her lower her guard, once she was within ten meters of Frieren, Aura could use her demonic strength to overpower and break Frieren's neck.

"My name is Aura. I'm a good demon and can fulfill your wishes."

"Anything?"

"Anything—"

As long as you die, I can fulfill any wish, hahaha!

Closer!

Aura was overjoyed.

You didn't expect this, Frieren. No matter if you're a thousand-year-old mage, a thousand years ago, you were still a weakling at my mercy.

I'm a five-hundred-year-old mage; how can I lose to a clueless kid? I have the perfect start; how can I lose!

"Aura, play with me."

"…No, oh no!! No, no, no!!!! Why hasn't the Obedience Magic expired? And even though I have more magic power, why is the higher authority this elven brat?!"

Aura watched as her body, uncontrollably, squatted down to help Frieren dig a mud pit by the lake, tears streaming down her face, filled with unwillingness and humiliation.

"Brat? Are you talking about me?"

"…"

"Sure enough, bad demons should eat mud."

"…"

"Apologize quickly!"

"I'm sorry! I was wrong!!!!"

Humiliation, unparalleled humiliation. Being killed by this twisted elf a thousand years later was already bad enough, but Aura acknowledged her skills. Why, a thousand years ago, did she still have to obey this elven brat's orders?!

Goddess, why are you so unfair? You're just targeting me, Aura!!

Wait, it's not completely unfair.

Aura, using her excellent brain, quickly figured everything out. Although she couldn't kill Frieren due to the Obedience Magic, her greatest advantage was there!

Age, experience!

A five-hundred-year-old great demon can't deceive a mud-playing elven kid?!

Of course, mere deception wouldn't convince Frieren to kill herself.

But she didn't need Frieren to kill herself. The one who kills her is Frieren of the future. Now, if she made a small change in young Frieren, this tiny change would magnify over history. Eventually, by the time Frieren should kill her, she wouldn't have the reason to.

Think! Aura, use your unbeatable wisdom and think about how to change Frieren!

Ah, right!

Frieren was brought into the demon king subjugation team by that human hero. If she made Frieren dislike humans, she wouldn't join the hero, wouldn't come to the northern kingdoms, and wouldn't face her!

Genius, Aura! You're a genius!

Think of bad things to say about humans!

"Frieren, do you know humans?"

"Humans? "

The young, naive, and ignorant white-haired elf looked curiously.

"As a good demon and experienced adult, there are warnings I must give you in advance."

Aura raised a finger to draw Frieren's attention, took a deep breath, and spoke seriously:

"Never, ever fall in love with humans."

"Why?"

"Humans are fickle. They like someone for a mere hundred or eighty years. Think about it, which elf changes partners in just a hundred or eighty years?"

"Ah, so short, really fickle."

"And also, humans are great imitators. They learn the magic we spend hundreds of years studying in just a decade or two, very shameless, right?"

"Very shameless."

"Humans are also forgetful. After fifty years, they forget everything. When chatting, they only bring up events from a year or two ago."

"A year or two ago? That's too recent, like it just happened. Sounds like a noisy species."

"Humans are annoying, right?"

"Humans are really annoying."

Phew—

Aura let out a long sigh of relief. Convincing Frieren was easier than she had expected, likely because young beings tend to listen to their elders, and possibly because Frieren had never met humans, so she accepted everything Aura said without question.

In any case, she had successfully made Frieren dislike humans.

Next, she just needed to add a bit more slander to complete the job.

"Humans also have this thing called a funeral. When someone dies, many friends come to attend. It's completely incomprehensible, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, why would anyone just die for no reason? Thinking about such things is too strange."

"Uh... isn't it strange that friends come to the funeral? The person is dead, and there's no more value to be used..." Aura stopped mid-sentence. That's how demons thought, but humans might be different. This was where demons and humans couldn't reach a consensus.

"Wait, a funeral?" Frieren seemed to be pondering something and suddenly asked Aura:

"By the way, how long can humans live?"

"Around a hundred years, I haven't seen a human older than that."

"...Oh, Aura, you actually quite like humans, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"You've mentioned so many of their good qualities."

"Huh?"

"They love with all their hearts, they have strong learning abilities, they cherish their time, and they live their lives to the fullest within their limited time."

"Huh?!"

"Humans are really fascinating creatures."

"Huh!!!"

This was bad, she'd messed up again.

Aura had a bad feeling. Ever since she placed the weight on the scale of obedience, twisting her own soul in the process, nothing had gone right for her. She wasn't sure if it was bad luck or a problem with her thinking.

"Aura, tell me, do you hate humans?"

With the sentence structure in place, the obedience magic activated, and Aura couldn't control herself as she voiced her true thoughts.

"I loathe them from the bottom of my heart, want to tear them apart, devour them, see them suffer and despair."

"Stop, stop, stop!!!"

The small white elf looked up in horror, then puffed out its cheeks and scolded angrily:

"Don't harm humans, Aura!"

Hiss—

The sound of the obedience magic activating a second time.

It was over.

Aura was filled with despair. She should have expected this. While the young Frieren wasn't yet hostile towards demons like she would be in the future and wouldn't directly command her to die, a child's mind might unconsciously issue all kinds of absurd orders.

Demons' hatred for humans was innate. To restrain that instinct was more painful than death.

What could be more cruel to a demon?

You might be asking what defines a human? The term used by Frieren in relation to 'humans' includes all those categorized as humanoid species by Frieren herself; of course, demons are not included in the humanoid species.

"Aura, try to understand humans!"

There it was, an even crueler punishment.

"Even I, an elf, can understand from your stories how brilliant humans are in their short lives. You're a good demon; you can understand them too."

Crack—

The obedience magic activated for the third time.