She should have known better…

It had been a quiet two days, nice and tranquil with little action. She had tended to her garden, harvested some berries that she might be able to turn into a jam (She had seen some with a merchant once, it was an interesting concept), and she'd gathered some firewood for the coming winter. The leaves were already starting to change colors, yellow was beginning to show here and there. The villages had also gathered their harvests for the year, and if she had her timing right next season would be fallow. All in all it had been a nice and quiet few days. Unfortunately though…

She sighed from her perch; when she heard the commotion she had gotten curious. Monsters weren't usually active unless they had prey, or if there was a pesky wanderer moving too close to their territory. It was only six goblins, less than dirt; especially on the surface. Their prey though had little chance of survival; the white head of hair and the blood red eyes were already annoyingly familiar. To think that he had come this deep into the forest to seek her out, it was almost amusing enough not to irritate her. A curious human child would lead to curious adult humans, especially if he continued to sneak out into the forest. She had to deal with this before it became a problem, or she'd have to leave the forest.

As much as she would be fine letting him die, the same reasons from the recent night still applied here. An angry village of humans would be scary, and what if they put out a quest for adventurers because they suspected her? Even scarier…

Suppressing a shudder at the thought, she dropped from the tree and stopped suppressing her mana just as Bell fell back. The goblins, noticing her, stopped and trembled. With a grin she opened her mouth.

Was this it? All he wanted was to see Miss Sol again! The monsters weren't supposed to be anywhere near this area! The little green monsters chuckled cruelly as they advanced, and his luck somehow got even worse when he tripped over a gnarled root. One of the goblins stalked forwards with an outstretched hand before all of them shuddered. They were looking past him? What—

"Reelseiden."

A wave of something whooshed over his head, cutting every goblin clean in half along with any bushes and trees within about ten metres from him. The trees let out low groans as they toppled over, crashing into the forest as birds scattered from their branches. Every goblin turned to ash, small shining crystals falling to the ground in their wake. He hadn't even seen anything, what had…

"You know, meeting once under unfortunate circumstances is one thing. Meeting twice like this is concerning~" All at once his fear evaporated and a smile lit up his face. When he turned around there she was, arms folded behind her back and smiling at him with the serene smile she constantly wore.

"Miss Sol!" Bell yelled as he ran towards her. When he got within ten feet though all of his momentum vanished and he fell to his knees. He couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried his body wouldn't listen to him. It was then that he noticed the two golden rings around his body. Magic?

"I remember giving you some advice~" she chided, approaching his kneeling form. "That I'm a terrifying demon, and that if you came looking for me I'd have to eat you…" she bent over, her smile never leaving her face.

Bell didn't feel afraid though. "You said you'd only do that if I came looking during the night!" He reminded her. Miss Sol blinked owlishly before straightening back up. She made a show of looking at the sky, it was most clear with barely a cloud in the sky.

She gave a dramatic sigh. "It seems that you're right, and once again I go without rabbit for dinner." The rings around his body vanished and he was able to move his body again. "But…" she started saying, looking back at him with a quizzical stare, "that would mean that your grandfather knows of your wandering, yes?" At Bell's nod her gaze felt a touch more serious.

"Then does that mean that you told him about me?" Hidden from his view a glyph formed behind her back. Reelseiden would be too messy, but Zoltraak… If he had told the village about her then killing him wouldn't matter, her cover would be blown regardless if someone so much as saw her without her cap.

"Nu-uh!" Bell denied. "I told him that I was looking for special plants. The lady who makes medicine said she needed some." The glyph in her hand disappeared.

"I see. Then you should probably go about gathering some herbs, you wouldn't want to get in trouble for lying would you?" She teased. Bell gulped as the realization hit him. "Unless… you don't know which plants you need to gather," she guessed. At the lack of a response and the reddening of the bunny's face it would seem that Solitär had hit the mark.

"Very well, it seems that just this once I'll have to help you. Come."

The demoness momentarily took the bunny to her house, to grab an ointment for his scrapes, and to begin with some herbs she had grown in her garden. It was also a test, as he hadn't even noticed the barrier as they approached. Just like he hadn't noticed Reelseiden. A boon for her, and it helped her to understand humans and how they handled magic a bit more. Children, as far as she was aware, could not detect mana.

The ancient demon spent more time than she was willing to admit teaching the rabbit about medicinal herbs. Unprompted, she would recite her own lessons learned from observing humans; the uses and appearances of each one they came across, and anything else she deemed relevant. From the look in his eyes though it seemed that much of her wisdom failed to hit its mark, the boy was far more preoccupied with another thought.

Bell gently put another plant; Chickweed Miss Sol had called it, into the basket. They had made a brief stop where the woman had left him for a few minutes, and when she returned she had procured a small wicker basket. He felt bad though, she was telling everything she could about every little plant they came across but he couldn't focus. After getting over his initial excitement he remembered one crucial fact; she had used magic!

"Miss Sol… Are you an adventurer?" He asked "Like from the stories my grandfather reads to me?" Myla paused, kneeling near a tree. She looked at him for a moment before turning away again.

"Why do you ask?" she asked slowly, putting another bundle of flowers into the basket.

This wasn't how she usually acted, something seemed… different. "You used magic back there, didn't you? When you saved me?"

Another pause, before… "I did." Bell watched as she worked silently. "I'm not an adventurer though, not in the slightest… I think this should be enough to appease your grandfather, what do you say we start heading back to your village?"

There wasn't a question there, and Bell found himself murmuring in agreement simply so he wouldn't be refusing her. There was a silence between them, but despite the tenseness he couldn't contain his curiosity. "If you're not an adventurer then how can you use magic?"

If she had been any other demon then this would have been a hard question to answer… Although if she had been any other demon this child would've died the night they met. "The rules of magic are far less stringent than most people believe them to be." She watched as his face scrunched up, "Less strict." She clarified. "The gods shackled the power of magic long ago, and the only way for most to access it is to join a Familia and become blessed. What's amusing is that this was unintentional." Stopping, Solitär crouched before gesturing for Bell to do the same.

"Magic is a world of imagination, its only shackles should be the shackles you yourself impose upon it. If you cannot imagine something, then it cannot happen." Making a decision she picked up a wilted flower. "You would look at this and see nothing but a dead plant. You'd be correct mind you, but there is no possibility in your mind in which this flower will grow healthy again." Before his very eyes the palm of her hand glowed, and the withered flower straightened before its petals began to bloom. "Visual imagination…" Smiling, the demon put the flower in his hair, making Bell's face go beet red.

Bell thought about what she said. "So… people can't use magic anymore… because they think the only way they can is by becoming adventurers?"

It had vexed her when she arrived. The mana felt the same, it felt the same when she saw mages and adventurers, but it wasn't used the same way. The long silly chants, the convoluted way magic was learned or the way spells were acquired, and the very strange and intriguing event of granting a blessing. In a way it was a perversion of everything she knew, and upon learning what had happened she had been shocked. Records from a time before the gods simply didn't exist, and if she wanted to find out why she'd have to go to a large populated area… For the foreseeable future she was comfortable with the information she had on hand.

If she were Serie or even Frieren—she suppressed a full body shudder at the thought of the elf—then she might have tried to get humanity back on track to the true way to use magic. She was perfectly content with humanity limiting themselves like this, but in a way it was… sad. She admired and feared humanity for their ability to adapt and learn. It only took them less than 80 years to incorporate Zoltraak, a spell that had taken centuries to master, into their own repertoire. To see magic so stunted was… sad, in an odd sort of way.

There was also the possibility that Solitär was completely off the mark, but the chances of that were slim.

"In a way, yes. If things had been done differently, well… "she shrugged as she stood up. "Mages would be far more common than they are now."

"How do you know all of this?" Bell asked in awe.

The demoness gave a hum of amusement before tapping the side of her nose. "That's a secret~"

"Then… Do you think you could teach me magic?!" Bell exclaimed. If what she said was true, he could learn magic before he joined a Familia! Then—

"No…"

Solitär's mouth stayed open for a moment before a sigh left her lips. No was what she wanted to say, and it's probably what she should have said, but she needed to be more tactful. If she played her cards wrong then Bell would be crushed, and that meant he'd inadvertently tell someone why he was crushed.

"Do you think you could learn magic? Do you know anything about magic at all?" She asked instead.

"Maybe?" Bell said with clear hesitation in his voice. Good.

"You're too young right now. Your mana pool is far too low. When you're older perhaps…" Every word out of her mouth was a lie, but it was as natural as breathing. Maybe even more so. Frieren's apprentice had begun learning magic earlier than Bell would have, and she also had no intention of teaching him at all. But she could string him along, give him a vain hope, and then disappear. It wasn't overly cruel either, human children tended to forget most of their early childhood, meaning in some years time she would be nothing but a blurry face, someone he may have known.

Disappointed as he was, Bell held up a pinkie finger. "Promise?"

Confused at the gesture, but guessing nonetheless, Solitär wrapped her own pinkie around his. "I promise, Bell, that one day I will take you on as my student." The way Bell's face lit up would have made anyone else feel terrible. She was a demon though, years down the line if he happened to remember? She'd simply kill him.

"Why do you want to learn magic?" It was a simple curiosity, but it soon gave way to confusion. Bell told her about his dreams of becoming a hero, and he also told her about his grandfather's advice that he could use that fame to make a lot of lady friends. Bell was, for the moment, too innocent to fully understand the implications. To Solitär it made some sense; why not desire to propagate your line? Strong genes being passed down with equally strong mates was simple evolution, it would only benefit his race. The only oddity was that he was being taught this at the age he was, so was this simply how humanity was here? Or was Bell's situation an outlier?

"I love the stories grandfather tells me! Her Miss Sol, do you have a favorite hero story?"

It was such an innocent question…

"Not particularly," she sighed. Memories raced across her mind. Blue hair, a calm smile, speed the likes than even demons were jealous of. Terrifying… "Heroes… just aren't my thing I guess…"

The very thought of that human…

She had left Bell in the same spot as before, disappearing the second he began running to his village. She had to stop this before it got out of hand, sooner or later he'd insist on introducing her to someone, and adults were far scarier than children were. If the little bunny decided that a third meeting was warranted then she'd pack up and leave. Finding a new home would be annoying though… The reason she chose this forest was the isolation. She was fully aware that she'd have to move at some point, and ironically the reason was because of her barrier. It was a copy. An excellent copy, but a copy nonetheless. At some point a nosy mage would investigate the mana signature, she'd kill the mage, and she'd have to move before the death was investigated.

Bell was a wake up call. And a lesson… She was getting sloppy, what other reason could she have to save a human child she didn't know or have any commitment to? She even brought him to her house. Though the chances of him remembering the way were slim it was an unbelievable risk that she had taken. Why?

"Getting away from him will be good for me," she huffed in amusement. "He's making me an embarrassment… It would almost be worth it to kill him just for that… No… there's no point to that…" Yes, time away and on the move would be good for her.

She landed in front of her house and began her usual routine. Garden, tidying up, preparing a small meal, and brewing a small pot of tea. She really should have noticed it beforehand, and she would take it as further proof that she needed to sharpen up. All of it happened within the span of a few seconds, but to her that was beyond slow. Fights could be won or lost in those precious seconds regardless if one party was aware or not.

1…

She brought the cup of tea about halfway to her lips, pausing abruptly as every natural sense she had went haywire.

2…

The night was completely silent. No birds, no rustles from small rabbits or nocturnal animals, not even the chirp of a noisy cricket.

3…

She felt the barrier around her house shudder. There was a breach.

4…

Acting purely on instinct, blue hexagonal plates created a dome around the demon.

5…

BOOM!

The world around her was consumed in flame as a significant portion of her cottage was reduced to splinters. The dome around her vanished and Solitär let out a disheartened sigh. "It would seem… that my decision has been made for me…" For the first time in a significant period of time the smile fully left her face.

This blew up far more than I was expecting. Over 50 follows at the time of posting! This was basically just a plot bunny that got out of my head but the reception has been entirely positive so far, so without further ado I can say that I will in fact be making this an entire story as long as I am able to. There will be some differences here and there to make sure both worlds are melded together but regardless I'm glad that you guys enjoy it!

Take the magic system with a grain of salt, as I'm not entirely sure about its full implementation. It makes sense to me the way I wrote it, but nothing about this story is fully set in stone right now. I'm a bit more comfortable with balancing, but the last thing I want to do is make a character that's drastically overpowered. Solitär is almost unparalleled as a mage, but making her a hard-counter to everyone doesn't sit well with me. Whenever I get around to posting the next chapter I'll have a tentative character sheet and you guys can let me know what you think! : )

Reviews:

Daurtanes: I'm glad you enjoyed it! And if you've read Absolute Radiance I hope you enjoyed that as well!

Areaders: I'm going to try and stay as faithful as possible to her character, I'm glad you're enjoying so far!

Guest: I'm glad you like the concept! It would certainly be an interesting parallel to Frieren and Fern, and in a way I was already planning on doing something somewhat similar. That's pretty far down the line though : )

Guest 2: I saw a few others but I haven't really checked them out. I'm glad you enjoyed!

Loop2: I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks for the startlingly positive reception, this post was essentially a "fuck it why not" but now it's gonna be an entire thing! I can't guarantee frequent updates, and Absolute Radiance is still my primary focus, but I'll write a bit of this here and there. Chapters might get longer as time goes on.

Thanks and I'll see you guys down the line!