As Geehrt continued his journey toward the city of Auberst, he walked leisurely among the dense trees of the northern forest.
During his travels, he discovered a fascinating new application for his abilities. He could collect the innate magic that monsters used in the wild.
He had already encountered a creature that Frieren and her party had once faced in his past life's memories. It was the monster that made an entire village fall deeply asleep.
Thanks to his natural resistance to curses, he was able to study the underlying mana structure long enough to translate the curse of the Chaos Flower into a usable spell.
'I really want to meet Macht and copy his golden magic, but alas, I am in a severe hurry right now,' Geehrt thought to himself.
He was getting giddy just thinking about the day he would take the First Class Mage Exam and use Macht's legendary magic against Serie.
While Geehrt was excited about his future match against the strongest mage in history, he suddenly stopped walking.
He looked toward a large tree nearby and saw three children who looked incredibly dirty and malnourished.
Geehrt approached them slowly. The three children seemed to hear his footsteps, and they all looked up at him.
Their faces looked as though they had just survived a war torn area that had been ravaged by monsters. They were huddled over the body of a deceased man.
When the three saw him, they all moved in perfect unison, acting as if they were trying to protect the dead body of the man from him.
"Please sir, help us. There is a demon that attacked our village, please help our father," one of the children pleaded. The other two just looked up at Geehrt with wide eyes, trying to beg for his pity.
"Oh, that is super interesting," Geehrt said aloud.
He approached the three children with a calm and completely relaxed nature.
The three looked a little relieved at his gentle tone and glanced at each other. However, in the very next instant, Geehrt blinked directly behind one of the children.
He unsheathed his sword and beheaded the child in a single, fluid motion. The sudden execution deeply shocked the other two.
Before they could react, Geehrt fired two distinct Zoltraak spells from his fingertips, piercing the remaining children straight through their chests.
As the three children died, their bodies began to dissolve into the air, reverting back into pure mana particles.
The three children were actually demons in disguise.
The monsters might not have noticed it, but long before Geehrt had arrived near those trees, he had already seen through their facade.
While he had been daydreaming about his future fight against Serie, his Six Eyes had witnessed them consume the real traveler.
As the demons faded into nothingness, the corpse underneath his feet also started to dissolve.
It shifted and turned back into a simple mound of dirt. Once the demons died, their spell lost its power supply.
They had eaten the real corpse hours ago, but they used their magic to transfigure a pile of dirt into an illusion of a freshly killed man to bait sympathetic humans.
"What a pity. If they managed to bring enough mastery to this magic, perhaps they could have become indistinguishable from a human. A pure transfiguration spell is an incredibly rare thing in this world, and it can even be permanent," Geehrt observed aloud.
He immediately copied the magic he had just witnessed. To test it, he used the transfiguration spell on himself, briefly shifting his form into a female version of himself before reverting back.
Geehrt truly believed that if he managed to study and practice this specific magic further, perhaps even merging it with a spell that involved manipulating the soul, he could completely recreate the Idle Transfiguration technique used by Mahito from Jujutsu Kaisen.
"Maybe I can transform myself into an Elf permanently when that time comes," Geehrt added, paying his final respects to the spot where the real person had died.
'I do not really care for much anymore. I do not know if it is because of my rigorous training under two of the most brutal soldiers in this world, or because of the endless massacres of demons that I have committed, or simply because I have died once already. But I hope you find your peace, just as I have found mine,' Geehrt thought.
His personality had drifted so far away from the young man who had once sacrificed himself to save a stranger from a gun. Back then, he believed that was exactly what Himmel the Hero would have done.
Now, he did not really care about playing the savior anymore. He would not try to become a flawless hero like Himmel. Perhaps adopting a pragmatic personality like Wirbel would be a greater fit for his current life.
---------
Exactly one week after that encounter with the three demons, Geehrt found himself standing in front of a massive, half finished bridge.
Standing near the edge was a sturdy dwarf who was looking right at him. His eyes were squinting as if trying to assess Geehrt's abilities and physical prowess.
"You there, what is your name?" the dwarf asked. Despite Geehrt not emitting any outward sense of mana, the dwarf seemed to feel a heavy presence radiating from the boy.
"Do you not know that it is terribly rude to ask for someone else's name before introducing yourself first?" Geehrt answered, refusing to give his name right away.
"Oh, please forgive my terrible manners, young man. My name is..." the dwarf began to say, preparing to properly introduce himself.
But before he could finish his sentence, Geehrt immediately cut him off and introduced himself instead.
"My name is Geehrt. I am thirteen years old, and I am the grandson of Frase, the captain of the Empire's Magic Special Forces. I am traveling completely alone to go to the City of Auberst to become a registered Second Class Mage. Furthermore, my type of woman is an older, taller woman with a big butt," Geehrt declared rapidly.
He gave out entirely useless information about himself on purpose. He wanted to try out the classic gag used by Aoi Todo and Crocus from his past life memories, thinking it would be incredibly fun to see the reaction.
As Geehrt finished his bizarre introduction, the dwarf in front of him simply stared.
Geehrt already knew this dwarf was Gehen, the master mason who was constructing the bridge. The dramatic or comedic reaction Geehrt expected never came.
Instead, there was just a deafening, awkward silence stretching between the two of them.
"My name is Gehen. I am over two hundred years old. I am a mason who created a bridge to connect the town of my deceased wife to a closer settlement. This is to ensure that if someone needed help, the assistance would arrive much faster than having to take a long detour. Additionally, my type of woman is also a taller, older woman," Gehen stated plainly, copying the exact same deadpan delivery that Geehrt had just used.
The sheer lack of comedic timing was a massive disappointment to Geehrt.
'Well, I suppose since this world is Frieren, I cannot expect someone to react like they do in One Piece or other anime,' Geehrt thought with a mental sigh as he looked at Gehen.
"It is very nice to meet you, Gehen," Geehrt said, clearing his thoughts. He greeted Gehen like a completely normal person would, entirely disregarding his own previous ridiculous action.
"Are you a strong fighter, young Geehrt?" Gehen asked suddenly, which made Geehrt feel a little bit prideful.
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the Honored One. Or so I would like to proclaim, but yes, I can confidently say I am pretty strong," Geehrt said, looking quite smugly at Gehen.
The dwarf examined Geehrt closely.
"Good, because I have a mission for you," Gehen said.
He stepped forward and patted the shoulder of Geehrt, who was already significantly taller than Gehen.
When Gehen made contact, he felt that the muscles underneath Geehrt's clothes were as dense and hard as tempered steel. This completely betrayed his young, unassuming complexion.
Gehen immediately knew that Geehrt had been thoroughly trained in the ways of a true warrior.
------------
Author's Note: Hello everyone, I am finally back! I am so sorry for the long wait, and thank you immensely to those who patiently waited for my return. Plus, I did not expect that my wonderful members on Ko Fi would still be subscribed to me after all this time. Anyway, please forgive me if this chapter feels like it is of a slightly lower quality. I am still trying my best to find my proper writing rhythm once again.