Can be read as platonic or romantic ... ehe—
Reader is down bad. Let me dream, and I'm not lying when I write *CENSORED*
You’ve been a First-Class Mage for years now. Serie demands many things from you and it usually takes a long time since your main speciality is observation, investigation, and cataloguing the ins and outs of many ancient ruins or unexplored temples for the next generation of mages to come. The scriptures in the libraries? Flamme’s ruined grimoires? That’s your work, but you’re not a scribe. Not a known one, at least.
Why? Simple. You like to read books and laze around under morning light like a cat. You could’ve used recorder magic, but where’s the art in that? Your handwriting is one of the most beautiful, many praised, and you took great pride in your handwriting. You’d spend hours upon hours doing so until your back almost replicated a shrimp’s, hunched over your desk because you were too absorbed in your work.
That said, you only have little time for yourself, and when you do, you’ll always take advantage of it to the fullest. This time, you planned on seeing the infamous Golden Land you once visited as a child, curiosity got the best of you as your footsteps disappeared from Serie’s throne.
“Excuse me,” you knock on the cabin door, opening it to see four figures inside. Denken and three other people you don’t know. “Pardon my intrusion. May I come in?”
“Barely anyone uses this. You’re welcomed here.” The old man turns to you as you shut the door close, a face you’re familiar with when he was young now full of wrinkles with his signature monocle permanently glued to his face. “You’re here to see the Golden Land, aren’t you, [Name]?”
“Aren’t you all, too? But I’m here on my own will.” You confessed, before turning to the new faces. “Hello there. I’m [Name].”
The purple haired girl introduced herself as Fern, pupil of Frieren, the white-haired elf you’ve heard stories about while the young man with black hair bloomed into red as Stark, a most capable warrior in your eyes.
“Why are you here, [Name]?” Frieren ask. “Not anyone is willing to come here.”
You shrug, a huffed smile paints your face. “True. Just to satiate my curiosity. And if I could, I want to converse with Macht of the Golden Land.”
Fern nervously gulped at that. “It’s basically useless trying to strike up a conversation with a demon.”
You tilt your head. “But isn’t that what you guys are planning to do?”
“A hunch. Diagoldze is a very tricky curse, and I’m sure none of you are ready to fight him in person.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?”
You eyed Denken. “May I tag along?”
“I see.” The old man closes his eyes. “You come at the perfect time. Very well, let’s go together.”
Frieren looks at the two green leaves. “You two, stay here ….”
Fern and Stark clench their fists. “We’re coming with you.”
“Are you sure? You’re trembling, Stark.”
You mused, Every great warrior you’ve known of were always like that.
But they’re determined. “Frieren, I’ve always been confident in my ability to flee quickly. I’ll pick you all up and run when all hell breaks loose.”
“You’re worrying too much. We’re just going to have a discussion. Nothing will happen, and I’m not planning to start anything either.”
Denken opens the door to lead the group. You look over your shoulder and praise, “Frieren, you have a great party.”
So you tail behind Denken. On the midway there, Frieren said, “But I’m apologizing to you in advance. So, don’t get upset, okay?”
You huff a laugh at that, making the two more confused.
The barrier only traps Macht inside, but never resist humans to go inside. One of the Seven Sages of Destruction. His eerie power is wildly terrifying so the Golden Land is safe from any wandering creatures. You watch in awe as the large town only speaks in sparkles and silence, not a sound other than the group’s steps can be heard. Golden everywhere you see. To cast a spell this wide, coating an entire region is no small feat, immobilizing the living to death.
Then you see him waiting at the gate. He’s very handsome, you have to admit. Pointy ears. Long, red hair slicked back parading two long, curved horns coming out of his temples. Blue eyes like a dead fish’s with heavy eyebags underneath as if he didn’t get enough sleep. What made him sleepless, you wonder. He wears a dark green, high-collared shirt that reaches down to his knees and three golden braces with golden tassels attached to his right arm and one stretches from his left shoulder across his chest. Red gloves and Stone Bracelet of Servitude equipped on his right hand underneath his sleeves. The blue coat on his left shoulder completed his look of both hostage and royalty.
“I’ve been expecting you. Please come in.”
Servant, you thought. The concept of a demon being in servitude under a human is bizarre.
As you walk inside the palace, the demon asks, “May I ask, who they are?”
In which Denken answered, “My friends. Treat them well.”
“As you command.” He turns around to greet you and new faces. “Delighted to make your acquaintance. I am Macht, the magic instructor of the Glück Family.”
You nod just for formality and that didn’t escape his eyes. While Frieren? “This is not the first time we’ve met. I fought you once, 600 years ago.”
Frieren smile. “I see. So, you don’t remember me after all. Do you want me to help you remember?”
Macht’s empty stare seems to frighten Fern and Stark as they simultaneously ready their respective weapons and fighting stances.
“Don’t.” Denken intercede. “We came here to talk.”
“My sincerest apologies.” Macht side-eyed you. “Only one of your friends follows your example.”
Truthfully, you’re just there to watch. You’re not an expert combatant so ….
You follow to the guest room and softly grunt when you sit on the hard gold sofa as Macht prepares and serves a tea set, real one at that.
“Please. Before it gets cold.” You and him both take the teacups as you take a sip and internally cheer on the expensive taste. Everyone’s so tense and wary here. Might as well enjoy the beverage. “I don’t turn teacups and saucers into gold. Lord Glück was fond of them.”
You swing your legs as both Fern and Stark confront Frieren for her action. They’re not silent at all and you keep your mouth shut as they argue back and forth. Frieren confirmed that she can’t beat Macht but also knows that he’s not perfect either.
That’s just the basic principle, you thought. The chance is almost nonexistent, but never zero.
“You talk like it doesn’t concern you at all.” You interject their identity conversation. You’re more intrigued in Macht’s personality and thoughts here. “Don’t you think about avenging your king?”
“Well …” he sips his tea and gives you a small smile. “I genuinely don’t care.”
You return it with your own. “How so?”
“I never really felt any allegiance to him anyway. I truly despise conflict to begin with. My only wish is to spend my time peacefully in this land. And still, humans always force me to fight them.” Macht’s gaze hardens at the guests beside you. “Just as you three nearly did just now. Though part of Demon King’s army, I’ve always been more of a pacifist and sought ways for us to coexist. Even before they put the Stone Bracelet of Servitude on me.”
“You intrigue me most,” you confess.
He gestures a nod. “My utmost gratitude.”
But Frieren isn’t convinced. You can’t blame her for that. “I find that hard to believe. I’ve heard that from your kind again and again. So many times that I’ve stopped keeping count. You demons lie as naturally as we breathe.”
“As you breathe, huh? That’s a good one. However, I am not lying.” Macht shifts his eyes to the old man. “Master Denken. I know that you’ve read my memories through that girl. I believe you know that I’m telling the truth.”
He is. You’ve seen his memories too.
“He’s right. Macht wishes for coexistence with humans. He’s not lying.”
“That makes it even more hopeless. You’re too dangerous. You wish to coexist with humans, and yet you choose not to restore the Golden Land. And you slaughter intruders mercilessly.” Frieren’s resolve is unshaken. “And most importantly, you reek of death. You’ve killed countless people already. Why would you continue to kill humans if you wish to coexist with them.”
“Allow me to ask you a question instead. Why would you ask me such a thing?”
You hear Frieren sigh in hopeless defeat. “All right. You’ve made it clear to me. I am now certain that we can never understand each other.”
Denken gets up from his seat. “Shall we call it a day?”
Before he could continue, your empty tea cup clings loudly in the room, interrupting him first. “Denken, can you give me some more time?”
Stark looks at you like you’ve grown another head. “Why would you ask that?!”
“10 minutes. That’s all I wish to ask you.” Macht is going to die soon, and it’s going to be such a waste of opportunity. If he didn’t give you his permission, you may as well become another addition to Macht’s gold collection. “When can you ever talk with a demon uninterrupted like this? I just want to pick and prod for … something.”
Denken stroked his long beard in contemplation before softly sighing. “10 minutes and no more. We’ll see you at the front gate.”
Not seconds after, you’re left completely alone with Macht, isolated from the rest of your party. This is it. Your chance. Nerve-wracking? Obviously, no. Because you’re sure you won’t die.
“You’re a very strange human.” Macht starts the flow of conversation.
Your butt hurts, so you decided to lay down on the sofa, legs thrown across the armchair. “Speak for yourself. Aren’t you attracted to it? Stone of Servitude and all?”
“Time flies by, Macht of Golden Land. By the time we’re too engaged, the clock will chime. Well, not that the essence of time ever mattered to long-living races.”
“My name’s [Name]. Just an ordinary cataloguer.” And psychology enthusiast, you add in your head. “You don’t need to know this, but I’m quite the chatter. I love making analysis on things I find interesting. Be honored you are one of them. It’s not often I do this, and many consider it the highest praise.”
He huff, seemingly amused. “I see. So? What is it that you’re intrigued about?”
“Tell me your concept of pacifist.”
“Just as you’ve heard. I hate discourse. Unnecessary bloodshed and violence. Why harm when you can preserve instead?”
All you hear is that Macht’s magic is so powerful he considers all of his … fights mundane. Rendered unnecessary because he couldn’t comprehend loss. “Are you a pacifist because you dislike killing, or do you dislike killing because you’re a pacifist?”
“I’ve sought ways for our race to coexist.”
“And you’ve failed, haven’t you?”
“Failing? I’m still living, so neither you nor I can dictate it as failure if I can do it again. Besides, we’re peacefully conversing now, aren’t we?”
“That, I can’t deny. But you seem fine turning Weise to gold. Don’t you consider that as something savage?”
“Intended incapacitation is equal to killing.”
“But their bodies still exist. Unblemished. Whole. I don’t see the connection here.”
“If coexistence, why turn the people into gold? You can only call something to coexist if it can live alongside another.”
“They are alive. Just unmoving and unaging.”
“And you’re wrong on that. Living beings have main characteristics: move, breathe, need nutrients, grow and develop, reproduct, possess irritability, excretion, and adapt. What you’re doing is depriving them from all of it, basically robbing it away. See how it connects?”
He hummed. “I think I see the connection. But I don’t know why you’re so insistent on that.”
“Forget it. I have my answers already. ”
Demon’s evolution made them unable to have empathy and care, a soul empty of moral compass, making it spiritually, biologically, and logically impossible for them to understand emotions as their words have no meaning at all. But Macht is a very interesting case. Maybe his brain regressed enough to have the curiosity and desire to learn it, even going far to willingly put on the Stone of Servitude. But even so, he can’t grasp and comprehend it like chasing something unattainable. He served Lord Glück but always lived within himself. Objectively evil, but can he know what evil really means?
But he’s not completely evil either. Diagoldze turns whatever he wants into gold, but not physically harming or hurting them. Lord Glück awakened his attachment to humans, but his biological limitation refused to let him proceed further than what’s decided. And by the look of it, he isn’t capable of turning them back to life not because he doesn’t want to, but because he couldn’t imagine the concept of retracting what he altered unless it’s himself or his belongings. His brain simply can’t imagine it, and that’s somewhat tragic to think about. He has affections, but can’t deliver it properly.
He’s a walking contradiction.
“Your clock chimes as you said.”
You blink and turn off the alarm. “10 minutes already passed, huh? Such a shame I can’t stay here longer. Though, I don’t wish to die young either.”
Macht gets up from his seat. “Shall I accompany you there?”
He’s a very complex character, and you love him for it.
“No need. I can walk on my own just fine.”
“Let me do this then.” He walks to the door and opens it for you.
Trying to defy biology and his nature.
“Such a gentleman for a demon. Pity you’re not a human, I’d have married you already. You’re the worst demon I’ve ever met. I wish we could talk with each other more on another occurrence.” You genuinely smile and say, “I love you. I mean it.”
“I’ve heard those words before.” Macht tilts his head and copies you. “I love you too.”
And with that, the door closes with a quiet click.
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