What Are You Doing Here?

The reason Damian was here was because he needed to know if everything he knew about his background was true. The existence of the dark book around him was something he had to uncover and determine whether or not he needed to worry about it in the distant future. But beyond this, his visit was also because he wanted to meet this famous mage.

"Can you tell who I am?" Damian was surprised that this woman could recognize him. He knew she had recognized him, so the question he asked was somewhat to confirm his assumptions.

"I can make a guess. Storm or thunder, mage?" Flamme smiled subtly at Damian. Frieren didn't know what was happening, so she just stood aside, evaluating this stranger at all times.

Damian looked around; there was nothing but nature. Knowing that these could be Flamme's last moments, he asked her, "Are you retired?"

"Isn't it fair?"

"I don't understand. Besides giving humans the opportunity to take refuge within those cities, what have you been doing? Nowadays, humans are nothing more than cattle waiting to be killed by demons." Damian recalled the magical barriers that had appeared in the world's major cities.

Flamme approached Damian, slightly surprised by the subtle, compressed mana surrounding him. "I never thought immortality was real. Accepting a gift like that must have cost you more than pain and suffering."

"You have no idea." Damian didn't know much about this mage, and she didn't seem strong, although he assumed she was hiding her mana like the elf by her side. Still, she didn't pose a problem for him.

"Are you hungry?" Flamme turned to Frieren to enter the cabin.

"Master..."

"Where one person eats, two can eat. Isn't that something I've been teaching you all this time?" Flamme turned to her quiet student.

Damian looked at Frieren with a slight smile. Obviously, this elf was very distrustful of strangers, something he defended without any problem since he thought the same way.

"Don't worry, I'll be gone before you know it." Damian entered the cabin after saying these words.

Frieren watched Damian's back and sighed softly. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but a small spark of curiosity arose within her, and she wanted to know much more about this stranger's purpose.

"Do you like vegetables?" Flamme asked as if expecting an answer.

"I have no problem; food is often scarce in the north due to demons, so I've eaten even worse things than just vegetables." Damian became interested in this elf. She sat down at a wooden table and began reading a book without saying a word.

Damian didn't want to ask her anything either, but her ears were something he felt very curious about.

What would touch sensitivity be like?

"It's twisted..." Damian set aside his magic staff and sword and sat on a chair in a corner of this small place.

In simple terms, this place was small. Damian was surprised that the greatest mage in the world currently lived here, at least among humans. He didn't know what his differences were with her, but he did know that, in a fight to the death, no one could beat her.

Arrogance was an important factor, but the reason was the fountain of youth he had taken. Not only would it allow him to live many more years than any average human, but his regeneration was also greater than that of any living being.

"So, why have you come to find me?" Flamme poured a glass of water for Damian while bringing the plates for food closer.

Damian didn't touch anything and said directly, "I want answers."

"What answers exactly?"

"First, I want to know how you really got involved in my life. I don't understand many things, and I hope you can enlighten my doubts." Damian wanted to know if his own existence was involved in unwanted situations because he didn't like surprises.

This need for knowledge had been bothering him for a long time, so now he just wanted to put an end to his past and focus on the future.

Flamme knew who Damian was; she immediately remembered the moment she saw that little boy with a certain mental condition that would likely never allow him to be normal. Truth be told, she never thought this boy could recover.

When she found out that Damian had a great talent for magic, she wanted to know if there was a possibility of reversing his situation. But for her, this was impossible for many reasons, so she decided to leave it behind. When she left the village immediately after, it started being attacked by demons, so she returned to help people escape while Damian's parents fought against all the demons.

At first, she didn't know, but only later did she realize that a mysterious mage, whom people called the Thunder Mage, had fought several of the demon king's generals. That's when she understood that the demons were looking for Damian back then, not attacking that village.

What now intrigued Flamme was how Damian recovered and managed to get his parents' magic, and most importantly, whether that map had lit up.

"The map..."

Damian furrowed his brows and asked, "What map are you talking about?"

"The map is on your back. When you were a child and I saved you from being killed by demons, you had a map on your back. That map showed many things exactly as written about a legendary mage who would save this world from immense destruction. Your parents didn't know about the existence of that magic map, and from your expression, neither did you. I heard that when you were just a baby, you died for about two long minutes, then came back to life, but that left marks on you during your growth, which, from what I see now, have disappeared."

"So my parents never died without being helped by you?" Damian was very confused.

Flamme looked at Damian and said, "It wasn't my duty to fight that battle. They were mages who died defending a city from demons. Can't you see it? If I had fought those demons, you would never have become what you are now. I'm not asking you to understand, but to realize that every situation creates different future lines."

"Believing that you can't do anything for change shows how little you care about the world." Damian disagreed with Flamme's way of thinking because that optimistic thought about actions and consequences wasn't something that represented him.

Besides, he had never seen his back; it's not like there were mirrors in this world, and Damian had no intention of looking at his body when death came to him with a worrying attraction.

If that map had any relation to the inheritance he had received at some point in his life, then at least his visit to this place had a good meaning.

"I'll take some fresh air..." Damian walked away from the cabin without even tasting the food that had been served to him.

Frieren couldn't look into Damian's eyes because they were covered with black bandages, but she felt a strange energy from him that she had never felt before.

"You show curiosity." Flamme smiled, seeing a little bit of interest from someone other than her apprentice for the first time.

"I feel it's different, maybe because of that energy that has allowed him to live for so long and still be young, unlike other humans. By the way, shouldn't we look for that fountain for you?" Frieren asked, intending to let her teacher know that she's getting older every day.

"Frieren, the adjective 'immortal' is used to describe one whose life is eternal because they cannot die. Death, therefore, never comes to those who are immortal. It's important to note that all living beings are born, develop, and die; there is no one who is truly immortal, not even elves."

Having said this, Flamme paused and said, "Humans are characterized by longing for everything that nature did not give them—wings, magic, the ability to travel through time, and, why not, immortality itself? While all these things may seem impossible, many people today manage to live longer in one way or another."