Frieren: Understand Humans, Aura!

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Escaping from Serie was even easier than Aura had imagined.

She just got out of bed quietly on a dark and windy night without disturbing Zanze, pulled out the pre-prepared pack from under the bed, and tiptoed out of the room.

Most human mage in the town were already asleep, so she easily avoided all human eyes and slipped out of the town alone.

She then ran down the mountain path, only stopping when the ancient tree at the mountain's peak was no longer visible and the mountain itself had shrunk to the size of a thumb in her view. Only then did Aura finally breathe a sigh of relief.

She thought she would be discovered by Serie, so she escaped with the resolve of being severely punished or even killed.

Yet, in the end—

"Did that old hag not even leave any supervisory warning spell on me?"

"I'm really looked down upon."

"I don't know if it's because the old woman noticed the obedience spell marks on me and knew I couldn't harm humans subjectively, or if she didn't care as much as she said and just treated me as a dispensable observation subject."

"That's impossible," Aura chuckled.

"I'm a great demon, one of the Seven Sages of Destruction. Serie's mistake in letting me go means posing a significant threat to the future of humans and elves."

"At this moment, Serie should be regretfully sitting on her throne, not even in the mood to read a book, repeating the name Aura over and over again, falling into endless loss and regret." she mused.

Aura shook her head, fantasizing about the scene, feeling pleased.

As for whether she felt any regret or sorrow for the friendships formed over the past month with Zanze, leaving without saying goodbye…

"That's impossible."

Aura turned and walked away without hesitation, choosing a direction at random.

Demons are emotionless creatures. They may be able to feel emotions such as sadness, discomfort, excitement, etc. like humans, but this will not form feelings towards a specific thing or person in their minds.

Love, longing, reluctance… these advanced, complex emotions are incomprehensible to demons.

Based on Aura's understanding of human emotions from her long observation—

Zanze should have developed feelings of dependence on her; otherwise, why would she interfere in Aura's life every day? Could it really be just because she couldn't stand Aura's sloppiness?

Of course not!

This inexplicable altruistic behavior can't be explained by any desire demons have towards humans!

The only possible explanation is human special emotions—Zanze depends on her!

"Without Aura, that poor human girl should be so heartbroken she can't go on!"

Aura squeezed out a few crocodile tears.

It has always been the great Aura-sama who granted Zanze the right to serve her. While it might seem that she depended on Zanze, in reality, Zanze was depending on her!

Aura was confident—

The one who can't live without someone else must be the foolish human.

——

February 19, 24th Year of the Unified Dynasty Era, the weather was cloudy and Aura fainted after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms in the forest.

——

February 20, it was raining, An unknown white-haired elf who was out picking fruits found a purple-haired demon who had fainted on the roadside. She tried to drag her back home but failed. Finally, she could only try her best to drag her under a tree, undress her wet clothes, light a fire beside her, and wait for the purple-haired demon to wake up.

——

"Huh? What's this warm feeling?"

Aura curled up, wrapping herself in the blanket, feeling the growing firelight before she finally, slowly, and painfully opened her eyes.

"Fire, fire, fire!!!"

Seeing the flames so close, Aura's eyes widened in shock. The fire was so near that she could smell the singed hair protein of some of her hair tips.

"Ah, ah, ah!!" She stepped back in a hurry, not even bothering to care about the blanket falling off her body.

"You're awake." a familiar voice said, making Aura look up and see the most hated face in her memory.

"Frieren…" Aura leaned forward, wrapping the blanket around herself to cover her exposed white skin. Only then did she feel a little safer.

Of course, this was not enough to ease her tense nerves at the moment.

Aura glared at Frieren, who had just tried to pull her into the fire, full of hostility.

"I saved you. You seemed to have eaten something poisonous. Your face turned black and you fainted on the side of the road. You were soaked. If I hadn't taken care of you, you would have died."

"Then why are you pushing me into the fire?"

"Your body was cold. I thought you were dead."

"Couldn't you check my heartbeat!"

"...Couldn't hear it."

Aura's gaze followed Frieren's line of sight down to a part of her body that was more plump than Frieren's.

Aura raised her head, squinted her eyes, and grinned with a mocking expression.

Frieren still had no expression on her face, but her tone was much colder.

"I really shouldn't have saved you."

"I never asked you to."

"No demons are good."

"None of the elves grow big."

Aula stood up slowly, holding her chest with one hand, and carefully wrapped the blanket around her to prevent exposure.

It's not that she had a sense of modesty; for demons, wearing clothes was an evolution from mimicking humans, just to get closer to humans and make them lower their guard. The shame of being exposed is something demons wouldn't feel.

However, the security that clothes brought was something Aura needed.

Especially in front of this elf who had once "killed" her, a bit of clothing might not block any attack magic, but it could cut off the mage's scrutinizing gaze and slightly ease Aura's tension.

"Where are my clothes?"

"By the fire, they're dried."

"So where are my clothes?"

"I was very cold, and the new firewood I found was wet."

"What do you mean?"

"I burned them."

"Why don't you just burn me too!"

"I'm doing it, you woke up."

"?!?!!"

'Damn it, you deserve to die, Frieren!!!'

'Forget it... Calm down! Calm down, Aura!! Frieren might be weak now, but she still has the ability to make use obedience spell. If you anger her, she might give some absurd order again!'

'You must endure, Aura!!'

'Damn it, the last time I saw Frieren, she was still such a fool, so easy to deceive, how come after just over a month, she is no different from the future ruthless elf?!'

'With the same awful personality!!'