Chapter 6: Demons of the Golden Age(1)

One day, the sun was so bright it nearly blinded me.

While digging through junk in the shipyard, I found an old brass scale, complete with a few coins and a weight. It looked like something a former resident might’ve used.

A strange thought hit me: I wanted to recreate Aura’s anime appearance. Even if my essence was different, I was Aura.

Awkwardly, I grabbed the scale and struck the pose I remembered from the anime.

I chanted the submissive spell calmly.

“…Azeriyuje.”

Nothing happened.

Expected, but it made me laugh. I knew Zoltrak, not Azeriyuje. That was Kval’s spell, not mine.

Imagining Kval’s burly frame holding a tiny scale and shouting “Azeriyuje” made me chuckle.

“I guess I’ll have to develop it after all.”

If Frieren saw Zoltrak as a basic attack spell, I’d need my own unique magic someday. Instead of struggling to invent something new, finishing the roughly structured Azeriyuje felt right.

So I locked myself in my room.

I told Soliter I was working on a new spell. She’d have to handle more chores.

I spent ten years lazing in a corner of my room. Maybe that’s why my Azeriyuje made no progress.

I could form my magic into a sphere, but I couldn’t get it onto the scale. Experiments on monsters and animals failed.

Another ten years passed.

Soliter griped about the housework, so I had to come out.

It felt good to do chores again after so long. While washing dishes, I noticed some were missing. Soliter admitted she’d accidentally broken them. My favorite dishes—gone. I was bummed.

At evening, we went to the sandy beach to watch the sunset. It was the same as on Earth, a view beyond space and time.

I asked Soliter suddenly.

“Soliter, why’s the magic I’m trying to make so hard? Zoltrak came so easily.”

Soliter smiled faintly.

“Aura, there’s one reason it’s not working: your heart doesn’t truly want to subjugate anyone.”

“What do you mean?”

I asked, but I already knew.

My relaxed mindset, born of a peaceful life, was the problem. “If it works, fine; if not, fine.” That wouldn’t cut it.

Soliter crouched on the beach, drawing in the sand with her finger like a pen.

“Humans visualize clear images to manifest magic. Demons are different. Our magic flows naturally, like moving a limb.”

“I get that.”

“But limbs are useless without the will to move them. Aura, why do you want to subjugate something?”

“Ah…”

I froze.

What was Aura’s mindset in the anime when she made Azeriyuje?

I didn’t know. Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter.

I needed my own reason. A fierce will, like when I killed the adventurer by the lake.

That night, I stayed by the sea.

The bright moon rose, and the water darkened, starkly contrasting light and shadow. I stepped into the reflective waves.

One step.

Another.

The sandbar dropped off, and chest-deep water battered my body. My mind wasn’t desperate—just cloudy with stray thoughts.

Another step. The water reached my lips. Waves rocked me, my scent mixing with the current, spreading far.

Then, a sharp, triangular fin broke the surface in the distance.

It zigzagged, tracking the scent of flesh, sensing me.

I’d learned from Soliter to limit my magical power, making me seem weak. The shark charged.

“Come,” I told myself.

*

In that moment, with my life on the line, time seemed to stretch like taffy.

I raised the scale high.

If I were to subjugate anything, it wasn’t for grand ambition. It was simply to protect my life, to keep it untouched.

Even if the world—fate, probability—wanted me dead, I wouldn’t submit. If I refused to bend, the only path was to make the world bend to me.

With that realization, my mind calmed. Will flowed evenly through my veins.

I stared at the shark’s fin and chanted.

“—Azeriyuje.”

The shark’s jaws gaped, ready to tear my flesh and drink my blood.

But just before, the scale tipped. My magic power outweighed the shark’s by far.

Its jaws froze open, emitting a fishy stench from its crimson throat.

I sighed in relief.

“Whew… I’m alive.”

My strength drained. Too tired to swim, I ordered the shark to carry me to shore.

“Whoa?!”

Instant regret.

The shark gently bit me and dragged me to land. Blood stained my clothes, and a weird smell clung to them. Time to wash.

Still.

“This is truly fun. Magic.”

I sent the shark back to the sea.

Magic was thrilling. The rush was so intense I wouldn’t sleep tonight.