It was another refreshing morning as Fíliya slowly opened her eyes, waking from her slumber.
Her eyes were still hazy with sleep, and it felt as if countless tentacles had sprouted from her bed, trying to keep her from getting up. Fortunately, Miss Fíliya's will was quite firm, and she won her duel against the sandman in just five seconds.
She sat up, looked around her room, and then gently sniffed the air.
Mm, lovely, Miss Fíliya nodded in satisfaction. Ever since Aura had been added to the household, her "Deodorizing Magic" went from being used every other day to only once every three or four days.
From this perspective, Miss Aura was indeed making some contributions.
During this time, Fíliya and Solitär had been training Miss Aura. The goal, of course, was to improve Aura's direct combat capabilities, and the results were immediate. Aura was, after all, a Greater Demon with a massive amount of mana, and her speed at learning new magic could be said to far exceed human imagination.
Moreover, her seemingly innate proficiency often elicited praise from Miss Fíliya.
A human, even a very talented one, would need to train for a year or two to pierce a boulder hundreds of meters away with Ordinary Attack Magic.
But Aura could achieve this the very moment she learned Ordinary Attack Magic. Her 500 years of accumulated mana were the real deal.
This was the advantage of the Demon Race. Although Miss Fíliya often boasted about her own race in front of Solitär and Aura, she had to admit that the individual combat power of demons far surpassed that of humans.
To make an analogy, the power known as mana is as natural as breathing for the Demon Race. For humans, no matter how much they study mana and magic, it's akin to learning a foreign language. And in the process of translating that foreign language into a native tongue, no matter how proficient you become, there will always be a sense of disharmony.
This is the fundamental difference between humans and the Demon Race.
Aura learned many new spells from Fíliya and Solitär, but there was one type of magic Fíliya would rather die than let Miss Aura learn.
That was "Magic to Clean a House." In Miss Fíliya's words, this was to ensure Miss Aura preserved her traditional craftsmanship; only by cleaning a room with an artisan's spirit could the unique value of a maid be demonstrated.
Miss Fíliya truly believed this. She absolutely did not have the slightest selfish desire to see Aura struggle (laughs).
After indulging in these idle thoughts, Fíliya tiptoed to the door and left her room.
Yes, her room. Although she had indeed slept in the same bed as Solitär at first, she had proposed sleeping in separate beds after just a few days.
After all, she was used to having her own bed. Fortunately, this converted abandoned shipyard was very large, and with a little tidying up, she secured a room for herself.
Of course, the same was now true for Miss Aura, who currently resided next door to Miss Fíliya.
Standing before the door, Fíliya looked at the doorknob and smiled breezily.
"Magic to Silently Open a Door"
Miss Fíliya, being a master of all sorts of life-utility magic, could always come up with strange tricks when she wanted to play a prank.
And just like that, she silently infiltrated the room.
Looking at Aura's peaceful sleeping face, Miss Fíliya silently shook her head.
Although the mana fluctuations produced by life-utility magic are much smaller than those of combat spells...
...But Aura, you're a Greater Demon who's lived for over five hundred years. You should be able to detect such a subtle fluctuation, even in your sleep.
What an unvigilant creature.
Fíliya thought to herself.
By now, even she didn't know what kind of demon Aura truly was. All sorts of contradictions were embodied in the creature before her.
Arrogant in personality, yet incredibly quick to back down.
Terrified of death, yet completely lacking in vigilance.
Aura, you truly are an adorable creature.
So Fíliya took a few more steps forward. The "prank" she had in mind wasn't some girlish game like walking up to Aura and poking her on the cheek.
What she liked was clearly something more... stimulating.
A ball of pure white light slowly began to form in the palm of her hand.
Casting without a medium was no difficult task for Fíliya. Although most mages in this world were accustomed to using staves, Fíliya had been an anomaly from a young age.
She had, of course, used staves and admitted that those made from high-quality materials did provide a bonus to casting. However, she always felt that staves were exceptionally awkward to handle.
Instead, she envied priests who could use a "Sacred Text" as their casting medium. After all, Miss Fíliya found the sight of pages fluttering while casting to be incredibly cool.
"Hmm, is there a way to make a staff in the shape of a 'book'?"
In that instant, Miss Fíliya set a new research topic for herself.
Of course, that thought had to be set aside for now. Her focus at this moment was on what was about to happen.
"Just in case, I'll aim for the legs first."
Fíliya muttered to herself, and then, in that instant, a dazzling white light shot towards the still-slumbering Miss Aura.
...
"Aah! My legs, my legs!"
Miss Aura's shriek echoed throughout the room.
She shot up like a tormented spirit startled from its deathbed, her face a picture of misery.
The blanket had been thrown to the floor. Miss Aura was now clutching her perfectly intact legs with both hands.
Huh? Wait.
At that moment, Miss Aura finally noticed.
Her... her legs were fine? The pain she had just felt was merely phantom pain.
She calmed down a little, but the rise and fall of her chest from the excessive shock was not so easy to quell.
"Fíliya... what are you doing? Are you trying to torture me first thing in the morning...? And what was that? I felt you attack... Why... why are my legs fine?"
Under such stimulation, it took Miss Aura several seconds to regain her ability to form coherent sentences.
"Mmm, just testing the results of your recent training. Not bad, Aura. You unconsciously activated Defensive Magic even while asleep? The training has been very effective. I can rest easy now."
Fíliya's praise was well-received by Aura and helped her fully grasp the situation.
Had she... just now, purely on reflex, or as Fíliya said, had she become able to automatically defend against Ordinary Attack Magic even in her sleep?
Unlike the stunned Aura, if she had to say, Miss Fíliya felt there was still room for improvement in Aura's previous actions.
For instance, the defensive shield Aura had deployed could have been much smaller to conserve mana. Of course, she wouldn't tell Aura this, because she knew very well. For a Greater Demon like Aura, whose mana was practically inexhaustible, there was no need to be as stingy with every last drop of mana as she was.
_____
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