At This Point

Here's the second chapter I promised. The spot to become Aura slave is still open to everyone who voted this >_<

Please vote this fanfic if you like the story. Each vote gives me more motivation to continue writing this story. There will be a bonus chapters for each 50 stones reached ^_^

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Could it be that Flamme came to the Elf Village just to get in touch with this future elf disciple of hers? How sad would her expression be when she saw the magical characteristics of Frieren that she had tainted?

Aura didn't dare to imagine.

But she could picture her own desperate expression under Flamme's furious pursuit.

"Frieren, let me teach you one last lesson." Aura was sweating profusely and pressed down on Frieren's shoulders with both hands. At this point, the only thing she could do was to try that method to see if it worked.

"What?" Frieren tilted her head, waiting.

"You need to learn to hide your magic."

"How to hide?"

"Suppress it. Suppress your magic fluctuations. Once your magic stabilizes, the escaping magic will gradually diminish."

"Like this?"

Aura had long known Frieren had a natural talent for suppressing magic.

There is probably no demon in the world who understands this more deeply than her.

Though Frieren's suppression was not yet stable, it confined her towering magic pillar to around her body, undetectable without direct sight.

"But why hide my magic?"

"Otherwise, your enemies will easily find you."

"Is this why Aura's magic power didn't leaked at all?"

'No, that was just because of the effect of obedience magic. I lost the highest authority over my own magic, so it was as silent as dead water.'

"Of course, I am a mage with 500 years of experience. I am not comparable to you, a mere elf who has just started learning magic." Aura said proudly with his head held high.

—She wouldn't tell the truth.

"Now, return to the elven village."

"I need to meet a friend alone."

Having said that, Frieren, despite wanting to stay, could only return to the village alone. She left, looking back frequently, seemingly worried about Aura.

Aura smiled and waved goodbye to her.

Disgusting——

After feeling disgusted for a while because she was forced to put on a fake smile in front of Frieren, she turned around and quickly fled away from the elven village.

While running, she also manipulated a piece of red cloth to fly out of her bag. This was originally the fabric of her skirt, but now the situation was urgent and she could not care about these things.

Aura quickly used the cloth to wrap her horns, just like when she first met Flamme, but this time she wore a mask—a white, bone-like mask with black patterns—which was much better at concealing her identity than a veil.

After making all the preparations, Aura fled.

Teach Frieren to hide her magic and delay the time it takes for Flamme to notice something is wrong with her.

Concealing her demonic traits to avoid being directly attacked by Flamme, gaining some chance to maneuver.

——Aura had made all possible preparations; from here on, she hoped the goddess would watch over her and grant her good luck.

Half an hour later, Aura stopped, looking at Flamme who was blocking the way and holding a demon head with bloody horns. She laughed at herself with difficulty:

'I really am not a lucky demon...'

"Aura?" Flamme first eyed the hooded and suspicious figure with hostility for a while, and then she remembered the weirdo she had met before from the familiar outfit, and put aside her hostility and replaced it with surprise.

"Great, you're not dead!"

"I was chasing a demon here. Half an hour ago, I killed it after a fierce battle. Then I sensed the magical aura of another demon and followed it. I didn't expect it to be you!"

"Since you are here, the owner of the demonic power should have been killed by you."

"Ah... that's right." After a moment of hesitation, Aura nodded. Frieren had hidden her presence, and and her magic power was forced to be dead silent because of the obedience of magic, so Flamme naturally couldn't sense any demon's aura.

Unless Aura actively released her magic.

"Last time, just before I fainted, I saw a heavily armored demon. Later, I heard from the human child who took care of me that a second purple-haired female demon appeared."

"Did you kill those two demons?"

Aura lowered her head, gazing at the lifeless demon head with its horns clutched in Flamme's hand, and pondered for a moment. Through those empty eyes, she saw herself, with Flamme grabbing her horns in the future.

She replied:

"That day, those two demons attacked me one after another. I fought desperately to get you to the human village and then lured them away. I escaped all the way without killing a single demon."

At this point, she, Aura, would never dare to say out loud that she was the purple-haired demon!

"It's okay, Aura. I've become stronger. Next time I encounter that armored demon and the purple-haired demon, I'll avenge you!" Flamme vowed, her eyes burning with determination. Seeing Aura silent and seemingly low-spirited, she thought it was due to painful memories of being hunted by demons and tried to change the topic:

"The purple-haired demon's horns were beautiful, weren't they?"

"…Indeed!"

'Wait, is there a turning point?'

Aura's eyes brightened. Being praised for her horns—could it be that Flamme didn't harbor too much hatred for demons and could accept her? Then she could come clean...

"I'll make one of those horns into an art sculpture and give it to you."

"thank you..."

Good news!

Being praised for having beautiful horns, eh—

Bad news...

The compliment came from the demon-killing madman Flamme!

Oh no, my horns~~

Aura bit her lip and thanked her with difficulty.

At this point, she, Aura, would never dare to say that she was a horned demon!!

But, but—Aura still decided to probe a little.

Since arriving in this era, she, Aura, had not done a single bad thing. While this was largely due to the initial directives given by Frieren, but... putting aside the facts, isn't this a reason why Aura wants to turn over a new leaf and become a good demon again!?

Of course not—Aura knew this herself.

But Flamme didn't know that.

"Flamme, I have a friend who calls herself a kind demon." Aura tentatively began.

"Ah~ I have friends like this too!" Flamme cheerfully responded.

"Uh? Really? Where is it now?"

"In my hands."

"…"

Aura stared at the "friend" in Flamme's hand, now reduced to just a head, and remained silent.

"This demon told me that he wanted to understand humans and was willing to show kindness to them. He even saved an entire village from a epidemic."

"Then why did you kill it?"

"After saving a village of humans, it lived with them for a while, and then one night, it suddenly massacred the entire village. Aura, guess how it explained it?"

"How did it explain?"

"A demon's understanding of humans requires long-term experiments, and each experiment inevitably leaves waste that needs to be disposed of. Don't humans also dispose of their waste?—That's what it said to me."

"…"

"Hard to understand, right?"

"Very hard to understand."

"So I don't trust a single punctuation mark of a demon's so-called goodwill... The only way to make the demons good is to break their heads!"

"Exactly!"

"So, where's that demon friend of yours, Aura?"

"Dead, already dead. I accidentally killed it!"

Sweat trickled down her back.

Aura's face was pale, but fortunately, the mask covered it. Flamme couldn't see her expression, and from Aura's deliberately calm voice, she couldn't detect anything amiss.

"A dead demon is a good demon."

"That's right!"

At this point, I, Aura, cannot say that I am a good demon no matter what...