A year has passed since Flamme arrived, and since her arrival, the changes in the usually solemn temple have now bursting with life.
The comparison was truly staggering, but both adults allowed themselves to be swayed by it for reasons unknown to even them.
Since Serie was teaching Flamme her magic, it was natural that Fafnir taught her his magic, at least once that was compatible for humans.
Most magic he has was exclusive to dragons, even if he wanted to teach her she wouldn't be able to learn them anyway.
"Good, that's it. Remember this formula and repeat it so that it will be ingrained into your mind." Fafnir was satisfied with his student's excellent learning ability especially when it comes to magic.
Despite the origin of the magic formula he taught her being from another world, it didn't really stop her from casting it.
Which was not surprising at all, considering he tried it with Serie back then.
The fundamental difference between the human magic of this world and his own was imagination and calculation.
Here as long as you could imagine it, you're capable of casting that magic.
Meanwhile, in his own world, you need formulas, basically calculations, which is why they can replicate this method.
While he was feeling good about successfully teaching his first-ever student, a deep female voice echoed through the temple.
"Are you done?" It sounded nonchalant at first, but if you focus more you'd hear jealousy in her voice.
He shifted his attention back to the ancient elf with a not-so obvious smirk on his face. "Of course, it's only expected as I am teaching her."
Serie frowned a bit, she didn't like that. "Oh? Are you implying that I'm worse than you in teaching?"
"I certainly did not say that, however, since you admitted it yourself..." Fafnir put both of his hands behind his back as he walked closer to her.
The elf's face twitched which is an incredible achievement in itself. "Flamme, come here it's time for me to teach you a spell that is way better, way more efficient, and way more powerful than this third-rate will ever teach you."
The little human child blinked, not understanding the internal war between the adults, and could only say. "O-okay..?"
Ever since Flamme asked him to teach her some of his magic, there's been some childish war between the two of us.
At first, it wasn't a big deal, but then Flamme unknowingly hurt the elf's pride by saying that Fafnir was a better teacher than her.
Which made her really petty, making faces that he didn't know were possible for her.
Started commenting that his magic is just third-rate compared to her first-rate ones. He really tried to ignore it, but her increasingly smug face was getting on his nerves.
It was ridiculous, childish even. This was an unimaginable scenario if it were just the two of them, now that there's a third party that they both care about.
Their usual composure cracked, as both of them didn't want to be lesser in the eyes of the human child they both cared about.
Fafnir's mouth twitched at her obvious jab at his magic, it wasn't as if he was proud of his magic. Like Serie, he treats magic as a mere tool, but for her to say that the magic he personally taught is third-rate is an obvious insult.
"Haha, third-rate huh…?"
Flamme looked both of her teachers back and forth with confusion, she felt like something was going on between both of her caretakers.
But she was way too young to understand, the silent war for her.
—
A few months later,
An unexpected tragedy occurred, which made both adults panic.
Flamme caught a high fever with no signs of stopping, making both of her caretakers panicked.
Serie who was usually so composed broke out of it and showed genuine concern for the child's well-being.
Fafnir, who acted indifferent, couldn't stop his legs from moving across the room, making the elf genuinely annoyed. "Will you stop moving?"
"Moving..?" He looked surprised, as he himself didn't realize that he was moving around.
Serie couldn't help but let out a sigh at her companion, then shifted her attention back to the human child she casually made her apprentice.
The elf never thought she'd start caring for another person, especially a human child at that.
For so long she was unfeeling, aside from her burning desire and curiosity for magic, nothing could make her feel something again, but after this girl came to her life she started feeling emotions that she never thought she'd feel again after millennia of being alive just for the sake of the endless pursuit of magical knowledge.
"If this remedy doesn't work soon, I'll be forced to use that.." She muttered.
Fafnir, who heard everything clearly, couldn't help but ask. "Use what exactly?"
"Nothing, forget what you heard." Serie let out a sigh at his words.
It was clear that she didn't want to talk and he didn't press her for an answer and finally just sat right next to her.
Serie didn't react and just let him stay right by her side.
If this was her a year ago, she would definitely ask why he was sitting right next to her and then say to move to another spot.
But right now, this was just right. This created an image of two parents being concerned for their child's health.
–
The very next morning, Flamme was cured of her fever making both of them feel relieved, especially Serie who was feeling glad that she didn't resort to a rather extreme method.
Fafnir didn't know what she was about to do if the remedy didn't work, as he had never seen her look so conflicted like that.
Whatever she was about to do, was probably dangerous.
In the end, Flamme's illness was just a fever and nothing serious and after a few days, she was back to her usual energetic self.
—
A few weeks after that, a wandering merchant arrived at the temple which was quite unusual.
After all, the temple was inside a deep forest and no one would venture unless it was unintentional or by accident like little Flamme.
The merchant was quite young and was a human. He was quite surprised to see us living in this ancient temple that was lost in time.
From his reaction alone, he guessed that this guy must have come here by accident.
Looking at the sky, it was almost night. It wouldn't be surprising if he got lost somehow.
"H-hello, I wasn't expecting people to be living here.." The young merchant said.
Then he kept looking back at Serie, specifically her ears; his expression was between disbelief and surprise.
Serie didn't find this reaction surprising, most humans have the same reaction toward seeing elves in general.
Elves like these were rare, unlike in the mythical era. Nowadays it's rare for an elf to find one living in a human kingdom as most are living in their own respective villages with only dozens of them in the population.
But compared to the future, this number of elves is simply unimaginable because from a thousand years from now on, there are barely 5 of them that are still alive, as the demon king nearly drove them to extinction.
Flamme didn't care whether this man was suspicious or not, as she was just extremely happy to see another person aside from them.
It's been almost 2 years since she saw a person that isn't named Serie and Fafnir, so her joy was given and couldn't be contained.
This also made him realize that he should bring her to some villages or cities next time, even if she didn't explicitly mention that she wanted to see the outside world.
It didn't change the fact that she's a child, her curiosity about the world is given, and shouldn't be confined to a limited space such as this temple.
It's better if she meets people early on, rather than waiting for her to leave on her own, living in ignorance of human nature.
Thanks to Flamme's sunny and warm personality, the young merchant who was initially wary of them became relaxed and then started talking about himself.
According to him, he got lost which made his previous assumption correct. It was getting dark and he couldn't find the trail road in this total darkness as there was no moon to guide him tonight.
So he decided to take shelter for the night lest he encounter a wild beast or worse a demon.
And by some luck, he found this temple making his way toward here thinking of using this place as a shelter for the night.
But he didn't expect that people were living here, not to mention there's an elf.
Fafnir understood his story more or less, just a lost person who stumbled his way toward this way.
Then the merchant asked if he could temporarily take shelter in the temple in exchange for the goods he had in his massive backpack.
Fafnir wasn't really interested, nor was Serie, but it was different for Flamme; her curiosity was boundless.
Then with puppy eyes, the two adults were almost immediately defeated and had no choice but to comply with the 'threat' even if they themselves didn't really want this guy to use the temple as a temporary shelter for the night.
As a dragon, he was naturally territorial, even if he didn't realize this but he already thought of this place as his home.
While Serie doesn't just let anyone sleep in her place, but since this is a special situation she could only comply.