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“The first method will be extremely easy for you, but it’ll have to wait until you go back to our continent,” Lindyss said. “Drink tea made out of fairy birthflower leaves.” She held up a finger before Vur could speak. “I’ve seen your garden; there’s plenty of fallen leaves on the ground already. You don’t have to worry about harming any of the flowers.”
“You really had a method to make tea out of fairy birthflowers!?” Erin shouted.
Stella crawled out of Vur’s chest and hovered in the air while staring at Lindyss with a blank expression. She turned around and frowned at Vur while furrowing her brow. “I don’t like it,” she said before shaking her head. She clutched her shoulders and bit her lower lip. “It makes me feel … bad.”
“Well, that’s not a surprise considering what the demons did to your children’s birthflowers,” Lindyss said. “But there’s a difference between gathering fallen leaves and harvesting flowers.”
“The demons did what?” Stella asked, tilting her head to the side.
Lindyss coughed. “Nothing,” she said while averting her gaze. “Anyway, moving on to method number two. You’ve already gained as much as you could from the fountain of youth, but there’s an animal indigenous to this continent which may change that. If you mix its feathers with the fountain’s water and a few other materials, it’ll create a special tonic that you can drink.”
“Huh? How come I never heard about that?” a feminine voice asked. A naked woman with silver hair and green eyes appeared behind Vur, carrying a stack of books which was taller than her. “Which bird is it?”
Lindyss stared at the naked woman who dropped the books onto the table and sat next to Vur. Lindyss blinked twice and rubbed her eyes. The woman was still there when she looked up. Lindyss glared at Vur. “Who the hell is this?”
“It’s Lulu,” Lulu said. “The holy dragon? Hello? We went on a road trip with each other for two weeks, remember?”
“Tafel’s going to throw a fit,” Lindyss said as she leaned back in her seat and pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand. “Alright, you polymorphed into a human; I get that—the library’s too small for a dragon.” She raised her head and glared at Lulu. “But why are you naked?”
“Dragons don’t wear clothes,” Lulu said with a snort. “Why are you worrying about such trivial details? What was that about the indigenous bird? I’m curious. There aren’t many things that can increase mana regeneration permanently—I can’t believe I missed one.”
“The birds are called penguins,” Lindyss said. “I believe they’re found close to your home in the north.”
“The penguins?” Lulu asked, her eyes widening. “They’re actually useful for something!?”
Lindyss nodded. “There was a small passage about them in one of the dwarven books. Maybe the dwarves brought over some of the fountain of youth’s water when they left the central continent. I imagine there wasn’t too much information about it because the fountain of youth is far, far away from here.”
“Pardon me,” Diamant said before Lulu could say anything. “I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I’m attached to Vur’s body and can’t help it. But did you say Vur came into contact with the fountain of youth and absorbed everything he could from it?”
“Up to the point where it won’t affect his mana regeneration or mana pool size, yes,” Lindyss said with a nod. “He’ll still be able to prevent his aging.”
The brown runes on Vur’s arm flashed as Diamant sighed. “I was swindled. When I made that contract with you, I was under the impression you’d die within a hundred years,” he said as a rock with eyes fell out of Vur’s arm. It stared at him with a jagged frown on its surface. “Now you’re telling me you’re going to live forever?”
Vur blinked. “Doesn’t everyone live forever?” he asked and tilted his head. “Unless they’re killed, but even then, they can still be revived.”
“No,” Diamant said. “You can’t revive someone who dies of old age.”
“I didn’t know people could die of old age,” Vur said and looked at Lindyss. “Is that true? It can’t be, right? If nothing kills them, how do they die?”
“You’ve read tons of books,” Lindyss said and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never read about someone dying of old age?”
“But those are stories,” Vur said. “Stories aren’t true.”
“What kind of sheltered bubble have you lived in that you can’t believe people die of old age?” Diamant asked.
Vur looked at Lindyss. “Will you die of old age?”
Lindyss snorted. “Hell no. I’m better than that.”
Vur looked at Lulu. “Will you die of old age?”
Lulu laughed. “Someone somewhere might’ve told you there are no such stupid questions. Well, they lied. Asking a dragon if they’ll die of old age is the definition of stupid question.”
“Right?” Vur asked and nodded. “I knew it.” He glared at Diamant and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to die of old age?”
“I’m going to die of frustration,” Diamant said, his body darkening as his eye twitched. “No, elementals do not die of old age, but humans do. Even imprinted humans do. It’s natural to assume you would as well, which is why I formed a contract with you without a struggle. If I knew you were going to live forever, I would’ve chosen to die and reincarnate a hundred years later as a pebble. But now, I can’t even do that anymore. Even if I come back as a pebble, you’ll still be my contractor.”
“And that’s why, you don’t make any assumptions about people,” Lindyss said with a smile. “It sounds like you’ve learned a valuable, lifelong lesson.”
“Is that what someone who assumes all fairies are evil should say?” Erin asked with a pout.
“That’s not an assumption,” Lindyss said. “It’s an objective fact. All fairies are evil. Their purpose in life is literally to annoy people. Tell me, how would the world change if fairies didn’t exist? It’d be a better place, that’s how.” She nodded. “Thus, I can conclude all fairies are evil.”
Stella wrinkled her nose. “I’m not evil!”
“Yeah, you just tried to destroy the world,” Lindyss said and rolled her eyes. “That’s not evil at all.”
“I did?” Stella asked Vur.
Vur shrugged. “Like I said, stuff happens.”
Stella lowered and scratched her head. “Oh.”
Vur nodded at the fairy before turning his gaze onto Lindyss. “Are there any more methods?”
“Yeah, I saved the easiest for last,” Lindyss said. “Absorb some human souls.”
“You said that was a joke!” Erin shouted.
Lindyss ignored the fairy’s outburst. “I bet you’d be able to solve your mana regeneration issue completely if you absorbed that golden god which ran away somewhere.”
Vur frowned. “But aren’t those the souls of good people? That’d be wrong.”
Lindyss shrugged. “You can always find its counterpart,” she said. “There should be a wriggling mass of impure souls running around since its seal was broken a while ago.”