After the return home, everyone separated for the sake of Estella's sanity, she probably wouldn't be able to talk to Aesterix at the moment without some kind of way to approach him in mind first, or it'd end up as the first time.
Upon reaching her room, she took a seat and began to look over her books, trying to pick something to read. "How can you just start reading?" Fenrir asked after all that happened.
He was still slightly on guard after what had happened earlier, but she really didn't seem all too fazed from hearing assassins were after her life.
Rolling her eyes, she pulled out the book she was looking for. She had wanted to know what it was since she first received it, but never had the chance.
"I don't think I'll die if you're going to be my guard." She calmly said as Fenrir walked behind her, curious as to what the book was about as well.
The book was a bit old and very worn, some of the pages looked rusty, with a thick black cover. It was quite heavy now that she picked it up, flipping to a random page was a language she couldn't understand, but with illustrations of some creature. It was definitely a grimoire, she thought.
"I haven't seen someone write in this language since the second Hiriaine war." Fenrir commented, touching the drawing of a creature on the left page.
Raising a brow, she couldn't help but ask "What does that mean?" as she admired the drawing. It was a creature, or perhaps a woman, with multiple wings and shining platinum blonde hair.
Translating the page for her, he picked up the book. "The great mother of the demon realm, the female who birthed the first [and plentiful others] after sinning and falling in love with a human male."
This only seemed to confuse her even more. What exactly did the book mean by the mother? Damn she wished the game went into the lure of the other species.
"I'm surprised there's a book about the creation of demons." He muttered as he handed the book back to her and began to explain.
"A long time ago, while the realm was still being explored, there was a beautiful angel with platinum blonde hair, and bright green eyes. She was nice and tall, and was always the best angel, even so, she too had her curiosity of the realm that humans lived in."
"Realm that humans lived in?" Estella asked, interrupting his story with her question. Is the human realm similar to the concept of earth from her world? She wondered.
Nodding, he began to explain for her. "The tainted realm along with the ethereal realm is what it's referring to. Us beings stronger than humans live there, and don't bother the human realm. The human realm is where you are right now."
It seemed like the tainted realm was a place for evil or for demons, while the ethereal realm was a place for the good or for angels, she noted.
"After visiting the human realm, she fell in love with a man. She gave up her body to him a human being, and they conceived a child. Due to this, she was revoked as her angel status and her body changed."
"She grew to a monstrous size, her face became distorted, and her eyes turned to a bloody red. She wanted to run and hide from the man whom she loved, but he saw her and from this, came a story of pure love I suppose."
He still wanted to be with her and their child, and with the remaining bit of her depleting angelic magic she created a new realm, something only angels who had been very worthy of could do, when she birthed the child."
"The child seemed to be different than completely the same as one parent. The child had wings, blonde hair, and her father's eyes. The same thing with their other children, up until the youngest who was born as a normal human that had blonde hair."
"All demons are said to have any shade from shining to the darkest blonde and a variety of bright eye colours. The only ones with red eyes are the tainted or fallen angels, as the humans would call it."
Fenrir finished at last, letting out a breath. It'd been awhile since he told such a story, or even had to remember it. "How come the youngest was born as a human?" Estella questioned, curious about this.
"When a demon breeds with a human, they give their own magic to the child and human at the same time. The more they breed, the more magic they lose compared to breeding with a demon instead." He explained with a slight blush on his face.
Stroking her chin, she understood it in a way. Unfortunately, that probably meant that the demon children had children with each other to give magic to one another and their child, however. "How strong are you?" She teased, making him take a small step back.
"I'm not into kids," He hissed out and took another step back, before coughing. "Anyways, I know what you're thinking. A demon can also gain magic power by devouring humans or by eating the blood of animals and making themselves full." He ignored her eye roll.
"Then wouldn't everyone be as strong as you?" She asked, offending him as he scoffed at such a ridiculous question.
Pointing to himself, he began to brag. "I am one of the single best out there, after all, food in the tainted realm is scarce and hard to come by, you'd be better off eating your offspring to have a snack." He said.
That mental image disturbed her, but she supposed he made his point. It'd be easier to kill another demon than to find a piece of meat in the realm.
"Wait…." Estella trailed off before flipping through the pages of the grimoire before her eyes widened.
Did the old woman at the bookstore realise Fenrir was a demon? How could she do that? Did she also know this secret ancient language? Would she be willing to be the crazy old witch of her estate?
"We need to go there again immediately." Estella said as she hastily got up and closed the book, making her way to the door before Fenrir pulled her hand from behind.
"I know you don't like to explain, but could you please explain?" He asked, unsure what was going on through her head anymore.
Shaking her head, she pulled her hand away and tucked her loose hair behind her ears. "We're going to find the old woman to invite her to be the witch of my estate." She claimed, making him tilt his head in confusion.
Did she finally lose it was the first thought that came to his head, but he allowed her to continue. "How did she know to give us this book if she doesn't have any weird secret to find?" Estella asked as he let out a small ooh.
"I think she understood from the illustrations, as all demons have the same traits. Tall, blonde, bright eyes." Fenrir yawned unconcerned about how she knew. He didn't sense even the tiniest bit of magic power from her, so it didn't seem like she was a threat.
Still not completely sold, Estella made her way back to the table and handed Fenrir the heavy grimoire before heading out the door, telling the maids she'd be going out again for the second time that day.
"I'll be back in awhile." She said as she hurried off, determined to find answers. Just because demons had similar traits doesn't mean she could read the ancient language, right?
Following after her, he couldn't help but wonder if she was right, now that he thought about it. Even if the woman had seen the illustrations before, why would she just hand a book about the other realms to some stranger?
A few ideas raced through her head as they made their way out of the castle. Was she a witch? Perhaps a secret demon? Or maybe she herself was someone who had ties to one? Perhaps she's a descendent of a long line of record keepers?
All these ideas excited her as she'd really came to love the idea of the other species in the world, and how they functioned, it's too bad it'd took this long to learn. It'd be amazing to have the world's most diverse harem!