Frieren: Understand Humans, Aura!

Here's the bonus chapter today, enjoy (^◡^ )

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"Aura, from now on, you'll be the president of the Continental Magic Association."

"Huh???"

Applause thundered through the room, and before Aura could grasp what was happening, she was surrounded by humans and pushed to the first seat on Serie's left to receive the inauguration ceremony of the president of the Continental Magic Association.

A silver badge was pinned to Aura's hat by Serie, a symbol of her new position. Aura stood there in a daze without moving. It was only until Serie stood on tiptoe to reach the height of Aura's horn that the shiny silver needle stabbed down and almost pierced into Aura's horn.

Frightened by this, Aura lowered her head obediently, allowing Serie to proceed with the pinning.

"Serie, is today a special day for humans?" Aura whispered, still confused by the sudden turn of events.

"What do you mean?" 

"Humans have a tradition of fooling others on certain days, right? Am I the target of a prank this time?" 

"...Aura, I'm serious."

"Huh?"

Serie glanced at the human mages below who were all focused on this, and deliberately raised her voice:

"The Continental Magic Association doesn't need a president who is merely an honorary figurehead, but one who actually does real work and contributes to human magic."

"Huh??"

"Aura, as the chief examiner, you have conducted impartial examinations for mages of various social standings from different countries for over ten years. You have never tilted your impartial scales by even a little bit. You are not afraid of the powerful and do not discriminate against the poor and weak. There is no better examiner than you."

"Uh, uh?!"

"Congratulations, Aura. Your reputation among human mages is now at its peak. No one has contributed more to the unification of human magic practices than you."

"Uh, uh!!"

"You are the president of the Continental Magic Association, and it is what everyone wants!"

"!!!!"

Aura's expression remained stunned from the beginning, and it was obvious that her walnut-sized brain could not handle the complex decisions related to human thinking.

She mumbled in disbelief for a while, "Me? President?"

Then she turned around and asked the top human mages below in a sad and miserable tone:

"Have I really done many things beneficial to humans?"

"Yes! Lady Aura, you are a good person!" one of the mages exclaimed, their voice filled with genuine admiration.

"Your fairness is widely recognized, and your achievements will be remembered for generations!" another mage added, nodding emphatically.

"Your appointment as the president of the Continental Magic Association is well-deserved!" echoed a chorus of voices, all affirming her new role.

"Well-deserved..."

"..."

The rest of the words became a blur to Aura as her head buzzed with the overwhelming realization. Even when Frieren unleashed a thousand years of magical power in front of her, she had never felt so sad.

"Congratulations, Aura!" 

Zanze picked up Aura with her slender arms again, hugged Aura's waist, and picked up Aura, who was a head taller than her, and spun her around.

She was genuinely happy for Aura.

At this point, even Zanze, who had always been skeptical and wary of Aura, couldn't help but admit the fact that "Aura is a good demon" after seeing Aura's series of "feats".

Noticing Aura's heavy expression, which was far from the joy one might expect when receiving such an honor, Zanze couldn't help but ask,

"Are you unhappy, Aura?"

"…I am so happy."

Aula put on an extremely ugly smiling face, which was even more awkward than crying.

——The expressions of the demons have always been like this. Their imitations of smiles and sad expressions are not much different from those of humans, but once it comes to imitating expressions of extreme joy or sorrow, there will be a tendency to fall apart.

Zanze suspected nothing. She interpreted Aura's expression as an overwhelmed response to the honor.

"Aura is a good demon."

Zanze pressing Aura's head against her chest, gently stroking her purple hair, and whispered.

She felt big tears falling from her chest, and the wet marks spread out.

'Ah, Aura is so cute when she's crying tears of joy ~ just like a sad little bird, her body trembling.'

——

After becoming the president of the Continental Magic Association, Aura's workload lightened significantly. 

The work that originally required her to personally conduct the assessment no longer required her to do it herself.

As the president, most of her responsibilities involved broad planning and setting rules, ensuring the association's staff operated under strict, mutually-restraining guidelines to maintain fairness.

For Aura, who had created obedience spell: Auserlese and was particularly sensitive to contractual rules, this was not a difficult task.

A lighter workload was a good thing for Aura.

It gave her more time to delve into the basics of obedience magic.

During her time working beside Serie, Aura had learned many interesting magical analysis methods, even though the magical systems of demons and elves were different. She believed that by applying these methods in reverse, she could one day change the contract rules of obedience magic, removing Frieren's priority in the contract. This would free her from absurd commands like "understand humans" and "do not harm humans."

Being the president of the Continental Magic Association is an easy job for Aura, but it is not a happy job.

Most of the anxiety at work does not come from the urging of the major shareholder behind the scenes, the old undead elf Serie, nor on various projects, but from examining the development reports submitted by magic associations in various places.

Oh my demon king!

For Aura, a demon, to watch the continuous development of human magic right before her eyes, and under her own hands, what is the difference between this and forcing her to cultivate the demon's great enemy with her own hands?!

It felt like a slow torture, a torment as if being cut a thousand times over.

"I don't understand." 

In her spare time, Aura would look at the mountains, rivers and green forests outside the high-rise windows of the palace and fall into deep thought.

——She has clearly tried so hard to hinder the development of human magic, and indiscriminately suppressed noble and commoner mages, but why does humans seem to be unaffected, and the development of magic is booming?

"Perhaps this is already the best outcome," Aura mused.

At this point, she could only console herself with thoughts like "This is still happening because of my interference," or "Otherwise, who knows how much further human magic would have developed."

Even though she still didn't fully understand faith, Aura imitated the nuns and priests in the human church every night, clasping her hands together, praying to the bright moon in the night sky, and reporting to the demon king who was nowhere to be seen:

"Lord Demon King, Aura has done everything in her power to hinder the development of human magic! Every day, I've been secretly placing ancient knowledge, outdated by 500 years, into the public libraries for human apprentice mages."

"As long as those young humans read those books, their thinking will become rigid, and no matter how much they learn magic, they won't be able to reach the pinnacle of the current era, forever limited to the magical standards of 500 years ago."

"I risked my life lying to Serie. If I hadn't put the blame on librarian Zanze for the outdated theories that were mixed into the library, I'm afraid I would never see you again."

"Ah, Lord Demon King, please wait patiently. The future of the demons' great victory will surely come smoothly with Aura's efforts!"

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