The Imperfect Berlin

Berlin took one last look at Alicia and smiled warmly. He then casted some magic on her to clean the blood and mud off her and Loeri before disappearing. A few hours had passed before Alicia finally woke up. She felt a bit dazed but other than that she was not as tired anymore. The biggest thing was that her body ached all over. "Ah… Seems I overexerted myself. But what happened to all the enemies?"

Alicia quickly got up and looked around attentively. But she saw no sign of any living humans or demonic beasts. All she saw was Loeri running over to her. "Alicia, look by your feet."

Alicia looked down and saw a golden scroll. She bent down and picked it up. When she did a stream of light shot out of it and a small image of Berlin formed in front of her. "Alicia! It seems you have found the scroll, good! Very good! With this, you may now return. We will go over what the next step will be once you get back. Inside the scroll is a teleportation magic inscription. All you have to do to use it is spread the scroll on the ground and step into the magic circle and you will return to the cottage. I will see you soon."

Alicia was very happy she did not have to walk all the way back. It had been many months since she left. But there was still one question left that needed to be answered. "Loeri do you know how the rest of the enemies died? I remember before I passed out that they all of a sudden collapsed onto the ground."

"Mother, an old man killed them! He caught Mother just before she was going to fall over and told Aunty Loeri to give you the scroll. He also told Aunty Loeri not to tell Mother that he did these things!" Frey who had been quiet all this time popped out of Alicia's hair and said.

Loeri looked at the little fairy with her mouth wide open. The damn fairy spilled it all! Alicia couldn't help but laugh as she saw Loeri's reactions. "So Master Berlin killed the rest and told you not to say anything?"

"Yes, the old man said he went a little overboard and so he killed the rest of those men. He asked me not to say anything but Frey had to go and tell you." Loeri explained.

"Why do you blame Frey!? Frey was not told to not say, anything to Mother! The old man only wanted Aunty to keep it from Mother but never asked Frey!" Loeri heard Frey's words and was stunned for a moment as she thought 'That's right the damn old man only asked me to keep it from Alicia and not Frey! He must have forgotten about Frey!'

Alicia let out a laugh as he heard this. It seemed Master was not fully paying attention to details. So even he can make mistakes! Alicia laughed even harder knowing that the always meticulous Master of hers actually made a mistake. "Well, at least now I know Master Berlin is not perfect. Alright, let's get going we will go home now."

After picking up Loeri and putting her in her rightful spot on top of her head and checking to make sure Frey was ready, Alicia rolled the scroll out on to the ground. There was nothing special it seemed about the scroll itself. Even the magic circle that was drawn on it did not seem to be done in a special way. It only looked like it was drawn with normal ink. Seeing that she could not figure out how it was made Alicia decided she would ask Berlin about it later.

Alicia stepped into the magic circle and waited a few seconds before a sudden bright flash of light filled her eyes causing her to close them tightly. When the light dimmed, Alicia opened them once again to find herself standing in front of the entrance of the cottage.

Alicia smiled and shouted out: "Master Berlin I am home!"

Berlin, who already knew that Alicia was home, strolled out of his study with a smile on his face. "It's good to see that you are back! I am..."

"Mother, it's the old man who told Aunty Loeri to not tell you that he was around!" Frey came flying out of her hiding spot and pointed at Berlin.

"Yes, it is! But Frey it's rude to point at someone. So do not do that!" Alicia poked Frey on the butt.

Frey bowed her head and said in a small voice: "Sorry Mother, Frey will not do it again..." Before flying back and sitting on Alicia's shoulder sulking from getting yelled at...

"Mhm! Good girl!" After getting praised Frey formed a smile on her face and giggled.

Berline who was the person Frey was talking about cheeks turned red. He truly had forgotten about the little fairy at the time when he was talking with Loeri. "Ahem… Well, Alicia, allow me to apologize first since I went overboard with the training. I forgot to factor in many things before I brought out so many prisoners."

"Speaking of that, where did you get so many prisoners in the first place?" Alicia wondered where Berlin was able to round up so many criminals in such a short time.

"You will find out in the future, for now, I can not tell you. But you will know in the future, that I promise you! Why don't you go ahead and get cleaned up and get a fresh set of clothes on. I will get some hot food made." Berlin said before turning to go to the kitchen.

"Oh! Master Berlin, do we have any cloth?" Alicia just remembered that Frey did not have any proper clothes.

"Cloth what for?" Berlin asked.

"Frey doesn't have any proper clothes and I did not have the right things to make her anything good while out training. So I was going to make some actual clothes for her to wear." Alicia explained.

"Hmm… Frey come here please." Berlin smiled and beckoned Frey over to him.

Frey looked up at Alicia with a questioning look to ask if she should go over or not. Alicia smiled and nodded her head. Seeing Alicia nod, Frey flew over to Berlin. "Hmm, I see… Alicia let me handle this. I will get someone to make Frey some clothes to last her a while. It will also include underclothes and shoes."

Hearing this made Alicia smile. Her Master was a very kind person. "Thank you, Master Berlin, but if it's too much I can just make the clothes myself."

"Alicia you are my disciple. Frey, calls you mother, so she is considered your child. This makes her part of our family and as your master, I will assist in any way I can. Getting someone to make clothes for Frey is very simple. They will be ready for her when you three get done cleaning up. Now off you go!" For Berlin, it was very easy to make these kinds of clothes. He only needed magic to create them. He only had Frey come over to him so that he could secretly cast some protection magic on the little fairy. She was not only Alicia's adopted daughter but also a race that had not been seen anywhere except in ancient texts. So the magic that he casted on her did a few things. Put a protective barrier on her to make sure she would not get hurt from attacks. It also had the ability to track her down in case she got lost or kidnapped.

When Berlin said the word family this brought warmth to Alicia's heart since that was one thing she missed most. Was the warmth a family can bring. "Un! Thank you, Master Berlin!" Alicia ran over and gave Berlin a big hug. She was truly glad she met Berlin in this second life of hers.