This elf is NOT insane!, Chapter 13 – A magic teacher

“But I thought you were inseparable…?”

“I did too! It’s so weird! It’s really… quiet now. I don’t like it.” Kelly grimaced. “I miss them already.”

“Well, don’tcha worry! We’ll find them and help you all reunite again!” I pumped my fist.

“Thanks…” She gave me a wry smile.

“By the way… I hate to ask, but why were you separated and sealed away?” Willow asked. “Did it have something to do with Reina’s enthusiasm for…” Her brows furrowed. “Chaos and destruction?”

Kelly slumped once again. “I… Uhm… Maybe?” She averted her eyes. “My memories are kinda jumbled up… I just remember that there were some holy crusaders after us for some reason.”

“Holy crusaders…” Willow sighed. “Because, of course.”

“You know what? I bet they were just really violent racists! Oh, a demon? Must be evil! Better seal her away! You know how it goes!” I intervened.

The two stared at me.

“What? Who else would holy crusaders target other than a demon?”

“You know… You might actually have a point this time. Reina might have been a bit hyperactive and reckless, but she wouldn’t actually cause mindless destruction, would she?” Willow conceded.

“No, she wouldn’t.” The demon shook her head. “And even if she would, Iris would stop her.”

“Well, who cares anyway? We’ll just ask what happened after we find them.” I shrugged. “Any idea where they might be sealed off?”

“No… Not really.” Kelly’s expression fell.

“That’s alright! We’ll find them! I promise!” I pumped my fist, hoping to infuse her with hope and enthusiasm.

Kelly cracked a wry smile. Mission successful.

“Alright, I guess we have a goal now after we get through the winter.” Willow nodded. “Speaking of which… We’re gonna need to stock up on more food now that there’s three of us.”

“Wait, I can just put the tree back in the green bubble and we’ll have food for days!”

Willow glanced at the still overgrown tree. “I’m not an expert but… Wouldn’t we get mana poisoning or something if these fruits absorbed too much of it?”

I raised an eyebrow. Mana poisoning?

“Oh, you two might, actually… I’m a demon though and I feed mainly on mana, so I won’t mind,” Kelly added.

“Ughhh, fiiiine, we’ll look for other food as well.”

Just when I thought I’d found a way to use my ability to cheat my way to comfort! Mana poisoning… Ugh, what the heck was up with that? Was it like eating too much sugar giving you diabetes? So dumb.

“Actually…” Kelly frowned and put a hand on her chin. “If you could precisely control the mana, you could detox yourselves and avoid mana poisoning altogether.”

Willow sighed. “Well, I’m not the greatest at that.”

“And I have almost zero mana capacity,” I added.

Kelly’s frown deepened. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I know some techniques for this. I could teach you.”

The goblin and I exchanged a glance. Our friend was secretly a magic master?

“You… Could?” Willow asked, hope leaking through her words.

“Yeah. Demons are creatures of mana, so magic comes pretty naturally to me.”

”You know that… that would be great!” Willow smiled. ”I’ve been trying to learn magic, but found it too confusing to understand.” I winced. Definitely not my fault.

“Alright!”

And with that, Kelly replaced me as the resident magic teacher.

We spent the following weeks either pruning the tree, learning magic, or generally just chatting and catching up on what was going on in our lives. Well, mainly me and Willow. For some reason, Kelly had a hard time remembering much from before being sealed. Whether that was because of being split away from her two other personalities, or because being sealed somehow messed with your memories, I had no idea.

But what she lacked in memories, she made up with her impressive magical knowledge. That, she hadn’t forgotten for some reason. And surprise, surprise. Just as she’d said, a demon knew a lot more about magic than a manaless elf. Who would have thought?

In fact, she was so good at the whole magic teaching thing, that Willow picked up on what I was trying to teach her for weeks in a single day. I was definitely not grumpy afterward. Nope. Not at all.

Anyway.

Even I learned a lot about magic despite barely being able to use it. Instead of letting my tiny spark fizzle away in mere moments, I learned how to keep it around and maintain it for longer. It was like controlling a firefly. Not very useful, but definitely cool. I was finally getting a taste of what magic was like.

My crappy magic definitely wasn’t the highlight of our magic lessons though. That medal would have to go to our resident goblin.

“Alright, try to channel it all throughout your body now,” Kelly advised. “Feel it flowing, but don’t let it leak.”

Willow obliged and began concentrating with her eyes closed. On the surface, nothing seemed to have been happening, but some kind of sixth sense of mine was telling me something definitely was happening.

It was at that moment when something unexpected happened. Willow’s forehead lit up with a strange pattern. Triangle shapes with a circle inside arranged into a sun of sorts.

“Huh? What’s that?” I asked.

“What?” Willow opened her eyes just as the pattern vanished again.

I frowned. “Why do you have an invisible ink tattoo on your forehead?”

The goblin returned my frown whilst touching her forehead. “What?” she repeated.

“Uhm…” Kelly put a fist on her forehead, looking like she was straining to remember something. “That’s… a crest? Something to do with the prophecy…? Argh, why can’t I remember?”

“A crest from the prophecy,” Willow said, deadpan.

“I think crests were mentioned in the prophecy. Something about people being born with crests… That would show up when mana was circulated through their bodies. And then they would be fated to… do… something.”

Willow and I exchanged looks.

“So… what? Does this thing make me a certified world-destroyer now?” She pointed at her forehead.

“I don’t knooow!” Kelly whined.

Willow turned to me. “You probably have it too, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? Not like I have enough mana to find out. And who cares anyway? It’s just a weird tattoo.”

She frowned. “You know, you are way too nonchalant about all of this. I’m low-key freaking out here! I don’t wanna destroy the world!”

“Then don’t! Simple! Fuck the police!”

She let out a deep sigh whilst murmuring something about me not getting it.

Pche! I didn’t get it? She didn’t get it!