"Now this is the life."
Sipping on red wine that Baron Aaron had treasured for years, with a freshly grilled premium steak on the table, Nanoda looked out at the entire Gaderia territory through the crack in the wall. She felt incredibly at ease.
Although the Lord's Manor had been sliced in two, with a massive fissure running down the middle, it was still habitable. Nanoda carried Yuna, who had cried herself into a faint, and entered the manor directly.
The door panels had snapped in half and lay powerless on the ground; Nanoda walked in without any effort.
The reception hall on the first floor happened to have a sofa and a dining table split down the middle. Nanoda gently settled Yuna onto the sofa and proceeded to ransack the manor on her own accord.
Passing a cabinet displaying fine wines, she shattered the glass and took out a bottle of red wine directly. Surprisingly, there was also a high-quality steak in the kitchen, perfectly preserved by preservation magic. Nanoda started a fire herself, pan-fried the steak, and sprinkled a few grains of black pepper as a garnish.
She then swiped a wine glass from the kitchen. Carrying the steak, the red wine, and the glass, Nanoda returned to the reception hall to enjoy her meal slowly.
Before long, the outside began to bustle with activity. The residents returned to this devastated city, bringing with them a mix of joy and sorrow.
Nanoda raised her wine glass high and offered a toast to the outside world.
"My house..."
A wail came from the entrance. Baron Aaron, having rushed over, stood dumbfounded as he saw his house turned into two distinct sections.
"Calm down. It's a battle; some destruction is inevitable. You should be lucky it wasn't burned to a crisp by dragon breath."
Nanoda took a gentle sip of the red wine. The texture was silky and rich, with an enduring aftertaste. Quite excellent.
"Th... that wine!"
That was left behind by Aaron's grandfather. His father hadn't been able to bear drinking it even on his deathbed, keeping it displayed in the cabinet as a treasure. And now, it was being casually wasted by this Demon of unknown origin.
"So, is it all over?" Aaron asked Nanoda again for confirmation.
"It is over. However, don't forget our deal."
One year later.
"Teacher! Please teach me magic!"
A green-haired girl of about ten, sporting twin braids, trotted closely behind Nanoda, who was on her way to eat.
"Oh my, how many times have I said it? I am not your teacher. You are human, and I am a Demon. How can I teach a human Demon magic?"
Nanoda was very annoyed. Ever since Yuna recovered physically, she had been pestering her for months to learn magic. Nanoda had maintained an attitude of indifferent refusal.
Actually, it wasn't that she didn't want to teach; it was purely that she didn't know how to teach at all.
Most of what she heard from Aura was magic used by the Demon Race. She had wanted to dump Yuna onto Aura, but the girl insisted on pestering only her.
After reclaiming the Gaderia territory, the Lord's Manor became home for Nanoda and Aura. Since Yuna's father had held a special status as a magic user, Baron Aaron made a special exception to let them live in the Lord's Manor. Now that Yuna's father had passed away, she was personally looked after by Baron Aaron. As a result, Yuna and Nanoda saw each other constantly.
Seeing that Nanoda was ignoring her, Yuna followed behind obediently without saying a word.
This made Nanoda feel helpless; she found it hard to understand why this girl was so obsessed with her.
"Oh, Nanoda, you're here."
As soon as she opened the door, Aura greeted Nanoda heartlessly and then went back to gorging herself.
Baron Aaron's two younger brothers were also eating carefully at the large dining table, seeming quite afraid of Aura.
"Where is that kid Aaron?"
Nanoda was a bit confused seeing Aaron absent at this hour. She had intended to talk to Aaron about hiring a magic tutor for Yuna so she would stop pestering her every day.
"Big Brother went early in the morning to check on the finishing touches of the repair work in the territory. He probably won't be back until evening," Abel explained.
"Hmm... so everything has been repaired."
"The dragon disaster was already a year ago, Lady Nanoda," Yuna spoke up from the side to remind her.
"A year, huh..."
Nanoda felt somewhat sentimental. Now that she was a long-lived species, she realized that time seemed to pass very quickly. For her human self, a year would have been very long, but living leisurely for this past year, it had flown by. Nanoda decided to find something meaningful to pass the time.
Looking at Yuna, who was eating somewhat dejectedly beside her, Nanoda felt a pang of softness in her heart.
"Yuna, I ask you, do you really want to learn magic from me? It might be very dangerous."
Nanoda wasn't joking. The only thing she could think of teaching was her own Severance Magic. This was a technique she devised using her human soul; she felt that with a human body, it wasn't impossible to use in combat if modified.
The problem was that this magic was too crude and violent. It required very strong control over mana. It was like compressing a spring; if one couldn't control the mana, it might produce a negative rebound and cause injury.
"I will study hard! I want to become as strong as Big Sister!"
Yuna blinked her large eyes, looking extremely serious.
Oh my, 'Big Sister'. Look at that, this child really knows how to talk.
"Alright then. Tomorrow morning, come with me to the mountain behind the Gaderia territory. I will teach you magic as I understand it. Hmm, incidentally, I can also teach you some combat techniques against the Demon Race. There is no better experience than actual combat with a real Demon."
Nanoda paused, noticing Aura, who was blissfully gnawing on a steak nearby.
"Aura, you come too."
"Eh?!"
Aura froze, then put on a pitiful expression.
"Can I just sleep?"
"What do you think?"
Nanoda smiled with ominous benevolence.
"Waaah! I don't want to leave my bed! I don't want to climb mountains! I don't want to train!"
Aura hugged Nanoda's thigh tightly while Nanoda, expressionless, grabbed her by the collar and dragged her with difficulty across the ground.
"Hey, Aura, did you get fat? You're so heavy."
"I am a Great Demon! I am one of the Seven Sages of Destruction! I've lived for over five hundred years! I just want to enjoy a life served by humans!"
Aura would rather die than yield!
Snap. Nanoda let go.
Before Aura could rejoice, Nanoda's hands grabbed onto the two horns on Aura's head. Sitting on Aura's back, she applied force backward.
Aura let out a scream that would make angels weep.
"It's gonna break! It's gonna break! It's gonna break!"
Not long after, Aura's voice pleading for mercy could be heard.
"Let go! Let go! I'll go, okay?!"
Nanoda released her hands with satisfaction. Why didn't she use the Magic of Obedience? Actually, she just wanted to teach Aura a lesson with her own hands. Life had been too comfortable recently, and Aura seemed to be getting a bit carried away.
On the back mountain, Yuna had been waiting for a long time, holding that staff embedded with a green gem.
This staff was the final keepsake her father had left her. Since birth, she had only her father by her side. The children in town all had mothers, but who was her mother? She had never seen her.
She only remembered that her usually gentle father, during a drinking session with Baron Aaron, had let slip that her mother seemed to be a princess of some country.
Of course, that was just something her father said when he was drunk and lost his composure. Yuna hadn't taken it to heart. At that time, having a gentle father who would give everything for her was enough.
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