This is a story that dates back more than a hundred years or so.  A story of a brilliant and talented mage consumed by the fear of demons.  He had stood on the front lines of many battles and witnessed the horrors and atrocities that the demons committed.

His fear was what kept him alive.  Fear smothered her pride, making it possible to abandon the fight when things got bad.  Fear deafened his ears to the cries of his allies as they were devoured.  Fear stole his breath when he needed to hide as demons roamed by.  Fear even killed the courage required to take the dagger on his hip and plunge it into his heart as he lamented his failures.  He didn’t want to die, but he was too afraid to live.

How pathetic I must look to the Goddess.  

After surviving yet another battle, he looked at all the bodies spoiling the ground.  The demons had eaten their fill while he hid and moved on, so the number of corpses didn’t match the number of dead from the battle.

B-But I don’t want to die!  I don’t want to be eaten.  What if they didn’t kill me before eating me?  It must be horrific in their stomachs!

He had seen the huge monstrosities pluck up humans and swallow them whole on occasion.  Some even went out of their way to ensure their prey were still alive.  As the squirming bulges went down the demons’ throats, he couldn’t stop thinking of the hell that waited in the demons’ stomachs.

These thoughts were the root of his fears.  Being battered, dissolved, and churned slowly into nothing but nutrients for the enemy of humanity, and having to live through it all.

There has to be something I can do.  Some spell or magic item that could keep me safe.

It was his capacity and talent for magic that kept him from being punished for running away from the demons each time.  While not a peerless genius whose name would go down in history, he had the qualities of an elite mage.  So, after dedicating years to creating a spell to help him conquer his fears, the mage finally succeeded.  An anti-digestion spell.

I’ve done it!  I really did it!  Now, even if I get eaten by a demon, I won’t have to fear being digested!

After that, the mage’s fears didn’t hold him back anymore.  In fact, he became emboldened by his spell, and through reckless strategies and fearless maneuvers, he became an exceptional asset on the battlefield.

3 years after the death of Himmel the Hero

[In a small lumber village west of the holy city of Strahl in the central lands]

“But demons rarely eat a person whole.”  Interrupting the young man telling her the story, the petite stoic elven mage with flowing white hair stated the obvious monotonously.

“I know, right?”  Agreeing with her, disappointment and disbelief dripped from the muscular man’s voice.  “Apparently, the mage was torn to shreds and eaten because he was too reckless.”

Looking at the battered, old tome he was holding, the age of the book was clear.  While it hadn’t been stored and cared for properly, it wasn’t a forgery he had prepared after hearing about her.  Not only that, but she could sense the mana contained in its pages, something no other villager, nor the man before her, possessed.  It was a genuine grimoire with a unique spell she had never heard of before.

“A spell that protects the target from being digested.  While that wouldn’t help against demons, it could be cast on ingested poisons and drugs.”  Regardless of the mage who crafted the spell, its application piqued her interest, lighting a glimmer in her verdant eyes.  “How much for it?”

Conflicted, the young man furrowed his brow and scratched the back of his neck.  “I’m not interested in earning some coin for this.  Well, that’s not true.  I’m sure something like this could fetch a fair price, but seeing as you’re a mage, Missy, that changes things.  You know what them merchants say, right?  ‘The right price for the right customer’ and all that.”

“I suppose.”  Any properly trained mage would be able to use their magic to accomplish more strenuous work in a fraction of the time as non-mages.  She had traded her services for grimoires in the past, and her travel funds were starting to run low.  “Did you have something in mind then?”

Hesitating, the man nodded as a blush colored his cheeks.  He couldn’t maintain eye contact with her anymore, but he wasn’t looking at her inappropriately either.  His gaze did linger around her chest, but the perversion she had observed in other humans wasn’t present.  Rather, it wasn’t like he was looking at her chest, but that her chest was in the way of what he was looking at.

Looking behind her, there was nothing but the path that led to his home she had come up.

“N-No…  S-Sorry.  I-It’s a bit d-difficult to ask, but a-after finding this book, I’ve j-just been so curious is all…”  Realizing he was staring, the man looked away.  While he had been sweating when she first approached him, that was from him chopping firewood.  After retrieving the grimoire to show her and telling her the tale of its author, it was only his heavy linen shirt and the towel around his neck that were still wet with perspiration.  Now, however, fresh sweat dripped down his brow as he fumbled with his words.  “Aw, screw it!  Miss Mage, I’ll let ya have this if you help me get eaten!”

“Eh?”  While she, like most elves, didn’t know nearly enough about humans despite how much time she had spent with them, she knew his request was bizarre.  “Huh?  ‘E-Eaten’?  Did I hear you wrong?”  Looking down at her body again, she covered her stomach and turned away as he cast glances at her.  “Like, you want me to eat you like a demon would?”

“N-No!  Not like that.”  Flustered but steeling himself, the man tried to clarify his request.  “It’s just… after finding this book, I started to wonder what it would be like to be eaten, swallowed alive.  But, I’m no mage.  I’m just the son of a lumberer out in the backwaters, ya know?  Even as a brat, I knew I’d never get to safely experience getting eaten by someone.  Maybe a beast, monster, or demon would come by and get me, but that’s not the same.  But you?  You’re a mage, so you can cast the spell on me, right?”

“Even if I could… do you really think you’ll fit in a stomach?”  For as odd of a request as it was, there was a pure curiosity that intrigued her.  “Each spell is designed to accomplish a very specific task, like making flowers grow, flight, or levitation.  A talented mage could find an unorthodox use for a spell, but changing the fundamental function of a spell is impossible.  That spell will only make it so you don’t get digested, not make you fit into a stomach, as the creator of it found out.”

“W-Well, do you have some kind of size-changing spell or something?  You could just shrink me.”

It wasn’t a bad idea.  There were some basic spells that manipulated the size of objects, but spells that affect living creatures are much more advanced.  Not that a human like him would know the difference.  Not belittling him for his ignorance, she smirked at his enthusiasm to achieve his unorthodox dream.  “I don’t know any spells that can shrink people, so I’d have to go find one.”

“Wait.  Really?!  You’ll do it?”  Prepared for her to reject and denounce his abnormal fantasy like everyone else had, the lumberer couldn’t believe his ears.  “You’re not going to say I’m crazy and tell me to give up?”

“If it looked like you had ulterior motives, I would.  But the look in your eyes reminds me of someone else who pursued a dream that others said was impossible and to give up.”  Picking up the large trunk that she kept all of her travel luggage in, she smiled as fond memories played in her mind.  Though this man’s goal wasn’t as noble as saving the world or anything, he wasn’t pursuing it for anything other than the curiosity that he’d been fostering since childhood.  “There are a few places I can go to look into it, so I’ll come back when I find an appropriate spell.”

As the petite, beautiful elf turned and began to depart, the older-looking man called out to her.  “W-Wait!  What’s your name?  If something were to happen to me before you return, I’ll leave instructions to give this book to you.”

Turning back, she tucked some hair behind her long, pointed ear and smiled.  “Frieren, Frieren of the– no.  I suppose now I’m just Frieren, a wandering mage.”

Since coming to regret not getting to know her friend better before he died, Frieren set out on a journey of her own.  However, she wasn’t just wandering around to find new spells that caught her interest anymore but to also better understand humans.

After meeting the lumberer, she acquired a more concrete goal to lead her aimless path, traveling around the Central Lands.  Due to its difficulty to achieve, size manipulation of living creatures wasn’t a widely studied aspect of magic.

Both the once-feared Human Killing Magic, Zoltraak, and the defensive spell developed to block it had become so commonplace they have lost their names and become mere ‘basic offensive’ and ‘basic defensive’ magic in the less-than-a-century since the defeat of the Demon Lord.  Mages of the modern era instead focus on developing offensive spells that utilize the elements to capitalize on the inherent physical weakness of defensive magic.  A practical decision, given that little is to be gained for a mage to increase their size, and reducing another’s is more akin to a curse than magic.

However, the world was filled with obscure, niche spells and folk magic that few know about or have a use for.  Turning sweet grapes into sour ones, being able to capture any bird-like winged creature within a range of fifty centimeters, creating a dancing rock golem, seeking out and finding such spells was how Frieren enjoyed spending her free time.  It was a hobby, one that could keep a millennium-old elf interested and excited.

Her pursuit of a size-changing spell eventually led her to a small island in the Middle Sea.  An herb used for some exotic medicines can only be grown in a particular region of the island.  However, it is small and delicate, so the druidic mages of the tribe developed a spell to allow them to cultivate and harvest it.  While, normally, they wouldn’t share such a spell with an outsider, as it just so happened, the spell was only successfully developed with the help of an elf long, long ago.

So, after promising to not teach the spell to others, Frieren acquired what she needed to get the anti-digestion spell from the lumberer.

15 years after the death of Himmel the Hero

[In a small lumber village west of the holy city of Strahl in the central lands]

Other than more of the forest being cleared away, the lumber town hadn’t changed much since she had last visited it.  Typically, decades will have passed before she’d return to a settlement, if not centuries, if that settlement still existed at all.  There were a few more buildings and people, but the layout of the town was still familiar enough that she was able to find the young man’s home.

However, the one to answer the door when she knocked wasn’t the muscular man she had come to see, but a stocky, busty woman approaching middle age for a human with frizzy blonde hair holding an infant.

“An elf?  Don’t see them too…  Oh, goodness!  Are you Miss Frieren, of the Hero’s Party?”  Recognizing the white-haired mage, her initial distrusting attitude vanished as she smiled broadly at her.

“Ah, yes.  Um, have I come to the wrong house?”  Not recognizing the older woman, Frieren would at least need to get directions if she was in the wrong place.  “The last time I was here, this house belonged to a lumberer who had a grimoire.”

“Oh!  He’s finally getting rid of that old thing?  That’s right, that’s right.  He did tell me he promised to give to an elven mage!”  Adjusting her hold on the slumbering infant, she sounded both happy and relieved for some reason.  “Well, my husband’s out in the forest right now.  Won’t be home til dinner I reckon, but he’ll likely go to the tavern once we put the little ones to bed.  Did you want to come in and wait for him?  I can send him to see you before he goes drinking.”

Seeing three more children of various ages less than ten in the house behind the woman, Frieren forced a polite smile and took a step back.  “Uh, I still haven’t booked a room for the night, so I’ll wait for him there.”

“Okay, I’ll be sure Vorspeise remembers to bring that book too.”  Nodding, the blonde didn’t press the invitation and let Frieren excuse herself.

With a village so small, there was little to keep Frieren’s attention other than her reason for being there.  No shady magic shops or old friends to visit, so once she got a room at the tavern/inn, she went up to her room to read while she waited.  Not expecting to get any visitors until after dark, she was surprised when there was a knock on her door as the sky began to darken.  Her meal had already arrived, and her only visitor wasn’t due for a few more hours.

“Yes?”  Opening the door, however, she saw a somewhat older version of the dark-haired young man she spoke with over a decade ago.  His hairline was beginning to recede and there was a pronounced bulge to his gut, but he was definitely the same man.  “Oh?  I thought your wife said she’d send you over after you ate.”

“Miss Frieren!  It really is you.”  Barely able to hold in his excitement, Vorspeise’s voice was deeper and louder than before.  “It’s been so long…  I thought you forgot about me or something.”

It only took me twelve years.  Not sure why he was making such a big deal about it, Frieren invited him into her room so they could talk.  “It took some time, but I managed to learn a spell that reduces a willing target by one-fiftieth their size.  Will that suffice in exchange for the grimoire with the anti-digestion spell?”  Sitting back at the table where she was eating, she informed him of the fruits of her search.

“Really?!  That sounds like it would be perfect!”  Holding out the tome in his hands, he had no reason to distrust a former member of the party that defeated the Demon Lord and brought peace to the land.

Smiling smugly, the white-haired elf accepted her prize.  “I’ll have to analyze the spell before I can cast it, but it shouldn’t take too long.  Did you want to wait and become part of your wife’s dinner tonight?  I could cast it tomorrow instead if you’re not ready yet.”

The excitement draining from the man’s face, Vorspeise stared at the floor.  “A-Actually, Miss Frieren, I was h-hoping you could do me another favor…”  Hesitantly, he nervously clasped his hands together.

“I’m not casting this spell on someone else unless they ask.”  Raising an eyebrow, she couldn’t think of a reason for him to be so nervous.  “Do you not want to be eaten anymore?  Or did you want to eat someone as well?”

“N-No!  No, nothing like that.”  Quickly reassuring her that his goal, his dream, hadn’t changed, his voice trembled as he tried to articulate himself.  “It’s m-my wife…  Betrügerin d-doesn’t support my dream.  Nobody does, so that’s no surprise.  I had to promise her I’d give up on it for her to agree to marry me…  Honesty, I thought you’d never come back because you thought I was crazy or disgusting too.  But you’re the only person who’s ever seriously considered this fantasy of mine.”  Kneeling on the floor, he bowed politely to her.  “Thank you.”

Well, it is weird, but curiosities exist to be explored.  It wasn’t so much that she accepted the idea itself, but the pure intention behind it.  Still, if he’s not going to get eaten anymore, it’s not like this was a complete waste of time.  I got two new spells out of it!  “It’s nothing.  But then, what is this favor?  Since I haven’t actually done anything for you yet, I’m willing to perform some other task as payment for the grimoire.  Or, if you need money, I can pay in gold instead.”

“I-I still want you to cast those spells on me, it’s just…”  Fidgeting and looking away from her, Vorspeise began to sweat a bit.  “I mean, I know I promised Betrügerin.  A-And I tried!  I really did.  For her, I’d do just about anything.  It’s just–”

“You couldn’t give up on something you’ve dreamed of for so long?”  Holding on to something dear, no matter how nonsensical it seemed to others, wasn’t exclusive to humans.  She had spent centuries doing something that mages and demons alike disdained and found ridiculous, but she couldn’t change her ways.

“Y-Yes!  That's why I still want you to cast those spells on me, it’s just…”  Pausing to summon up the courage he needed to ask, and steel himself for the rejection that was sure to come, the muscular lumberer locked eyes with her.  “Would you please eat me, Miss Frieren?”

Physically recoiling from the request, even if he’d be safe, the thought of eating a human was one that just didn’t sit well with Frieren.  After all, that’s something the demons she despises so much do.  While she respected his dedication to his curiosity, she couldn’t understand the appeal of it.  Looking down at her stomach, she placed a hand on it.  It didn’t seem like a fun place to visit.  But if not me, who could do it for him?  Reminded of the centuries she spent just quietly living in obscurity, had Himmel not recruited her to his party, she wouldn’t have discovered the joy of learning all sorts of new spells.  How much worse would have those years felt if I hadn’t been able to pursue new spells?

Vorspeise was a bit of an oddball, but he wasn’t a bad person.  And compared to her, he was just a kid filled with curiosity.

“Well, I suppose I did keep you waiting for twelve years.”  Sighing, she smiled softly at the fidgeting grown ‘child’.  “I want to test the spell first though.”

“Y-Yeah…  I knew it was–?!  Wait.”  Expecting rejection, the dark-haired man couldn’t believe his ears.  “R-Really?!  You’ll do it?!”

“Give me two… no three days to make sure you won’t get digested and come knock on my window before I leave if you still want to go through with it.”  Shrugging, Frieren’s reluctant agreement was implied but never stated.  “If possible, I’d rather nobody else know about this…”

“O-Of course!  I’ll take this secret to my grave.”

“Okay.  Then, you have up to a week to decide.”

After thorough testing on bits of food, Frieren confirmed that the spell that renders matter immune to digestion worked as intended.  It offered no protection against being torn apart or chewed up, but anything she ate with the spell cast on it made it through her intact.  However, and happy that she tested it before eating Vorspeise, she realized that she’d have to use a memory-altering spell to wipe exiting her body from his mind.

Upon seeing the first piece of food she swallowed pass through her, she was ready to call the whole thing off, but she had already agreed to it.  Then again, this was a remote town and the hardy lumberer likely wouldn’t live for more than another fifty or so years.  Hardly worth worrying over.

Still, with how eager he had been, she expected him to come knocking on her window as soon as he could.  As the fifth day of her deadline passed, she was waiting for her dinner to arrive as the sun was setting, and from the growing noise down in the tavern, it sounded like the night crowd was arriving.  Once word spread around town that she was staying there, the tavern became a bit busier as patrons hoped to ask her to cast some spells for entertainment.  Because everyone enjoyed her unusual spells, and the owner was willing to let her stay for free due to the extra business she brought in, Frieren didn’t mind.  She collected spells for herself, but why bother if she never used them?

Of course, someone as disciplined as her wouldn’t cast dangerous spells like Zoltraak recklessly, but drunks were more interested in her more mundane spells.  Like making them float, creating shaved ice, and most popular, creating the dancing rock golem.

The people of this town are so loud and boisterous.  Sighing as the noise downstairs steadily increased, the white-haired elf smiled as she sat at her table reading.  Though she often preferred to be left alone, she couldn’t help but remember her days traveling with her old party members, and the huge celebration held for them when they returned after defeating the Demon Lord.

Just as her meal arrived and she prepared to quickly eat so she could go down and entertain some well-meaning, rowdy drunks, she heard a pebble tap against her window.  Looking outside, she saw Vorspeise trying to hide in the shadows while making himself visible to her.  However, since the window in her room was in the back of the tavern, not the front, there was no real reason to hide.

Sticking her head out the window, she smirked down at him.  “Right on time.  My dinner just arrived.  Are you sure you want to join it?”  She asked quietly.

“Y-Yes.  If you would do me the honor, Miss Frieren.”  Without hesitating, he replied.

Summoning her staff, Frieren cast the spell that allowed her to make something float in the air on him and carefully brought him up to her room.  To his credit, the balding man didn’t freak out or raise his voice as he was lifted off his feet and slipped into her room unnoticed.

“It’ll probably take you a while to make it all the way through, will it be okay if you’re gone for a day or two?”

“Yes.  I told Betrügerin I’d be gone for a few days and I asked our friend, Ehebrecher, to check on her just in case.”

“I see.”  Leveling her staff at him, Frieren didn’t need to ask anything else.  He was prepared and willing to continue, so the sooner she granted his request, the sooner it would be over.  “Oh!  I’ll be wiping your memory of your ‘exit’ when we’re done.  That’s not negotiable.”

“Huh?  O-Oh!  O-Of course, Miss Frieren.”  Having also not considered what traveling through someone intact would end off with, Vorspeise’s eyes widened as it dawned on him.  “S-Sorry to put you out like this.”

Nodding, the prodigious, powerful mage focused her mana and cast the size-reducing spell on the bulky lumberer.  He rapidly diminished into his clothes as they fell to the floor in a pile within seconds.  Having only cast the spell once before on an islander who was supposed to learn how to cultivate the herb anyway, it felt no different than it did then.

Rooting around in Vorspeise’s clothes, she found him in one of his boots and pushed the discarded garments into a corner until they were needed again.  He was about as tall as the tip of her pinky finger, and though it was difficult, her keen elf ears were able to pick up sounds humans could not.

“O-Oh wow!  I-It actually worked!  You really shrunk me, Miss Frieren!  E-Everything l-looks so b-b-big!”  While he was mostly excited, fear and anxiety found their way into his voice, causing him to stutter as he took in his surroundings.

“The spell made you one-fiftieth of your normal size, so everything should look fifty times bigger.”  Quickly casting the anti-digestion spell on him, Frieren dismissed her staff and smugly smiled down at him.  There was something novel about having a human in the palm of her hand.  Maybe eating him won’t be so weird.  Opening up to the idea a bit more, she sat back down at the small table in the room and tipped her hand over the bowl of soup that came with her meal.  Seeing the muscular man cling to a chunk of potato that was bigger than him, she couldn’t help but giggle.  “Well, since you wanted to be my food so badly, I’ll treat you as such.  Just wait there until I decide to eat you.”

The sensible part of him was screaming to back out.  To try and get the gigantic, white-haired elf’s attention and beg her to change him back.  While he was a fairly big guy, he was barely more than a hundred and eighty centimeters.  As he clung to the warm potato floating in her soup though, Vorspeise’s intrusive side screamed louder and louder for him to stay.  He’d never get a chance like this again.  And each bite of food that entered Frieren’s slender lips made him all the more jealous.

Eat me!  Eat me, eat me, eat me!  Miss Frieren, please!  Eat me already!  He had waited twenty-some years for the hope of a possibility of his dream coming true, then more than a decade for her to return.  It wouldn’t take her more than a half hour to finish her meal.  He had been so patient for so long.

But now, he couldn’t contain himself.  After his wife forced him to give up on his dream, the only one he could think of to swallow him whole was Frieren.  A petite elf, with the youthful appearance of a young girl.  She hadn’t changed a bit in the twelve years she spent finding the shrinking spell to accommodate his bargain.  She was exactly as he imagined she’d be.  It was like a dream come true.

Throughout her meal, her gigantic spoon scooped up some soup to chase her hearty meal, typically at the edge of the bowl away from him.  At first, he thought she was hesitant to eat him.  He of all people knew how strange it sounded, wanting to be eaten alive, so he interpreted her actions as a hope he’d change his mind the longer he watched her eat.  That was until he saw her smirk as she scooped up some soup near him and he grabbed onto the edge of her spoon.  Without addressing him, she shook him off, sending him plummeting back into the broth, and then waited for him to surface before slowly putting the spoonful of soup in her mouth.  She was teasing him, dragging it out not because she was hesitant, but because she could.  He recognized the glimmer in her enhancing green eyes.

Curiosity.

She was eager to eat him.  He just had to be patient.  And she made sure he was, shaking him off her spoon each time he tried to climb on for the rest of her meal until only the soup broth was left.  With nothing left to eat, she brought the bowl up to her lips and tilted her head back, swallowing the remainder of her meal readily.

Carried with the current, Vorspeise was swept away and into the darkness of the gigantic elf’s mouth.  He barely had time to register the pearly-white teeth he passed under before her lips sealed and he was plunged into darkness.  Finally!  Finally, I’m going to be eaten!  Something large and powerful moved him, guiding him deeper and deeper until he was dragged under and into a tight, undulating tunnel.

A guttural gulp announced that there was no turning back now.

Licking her lips as she put down the bowl, Frieren patted her belly as her meal, and guest, settled into her stomach.  “Mmm.  That last bit was tastier than the rest.  Was it because of him?”  A bold, savory flavor lingered on her tongue, one that was distinctly different from the slightly watered-down broth of her soup.

Because there are many misconceptions about elves thanks to their rarity, her appetite for meaty dishes typically surprised most people the first time they saw her eat.  That’s not to say she doesn’t like good, fresh vegetables or juicy fruits; meat was just her preferred meal, next to desserts, of course.  And yet, no meaty dish she could recall tasted quite like Vorspeise.  Rugged, salty, and a bit earthy/woody, it wasn’t an offensive flavor at all.

“Maybe I could stick around a bit longer and have him for dinner again.”  His wiggling made it easy to track him all the way down her throat, and as the only lying thing in her stomach, she could feel him moving around.  It wasn’t unpleasant, though it was an odd feeling.  “N-No.  I’m only doing this for him.  I don’t want to do this again.”  Shaking the thought of dropping him on her tongue and tossing him around her mouth from her mind, Frieren emptied her cup and gathered her dishes to take down with her.

Swallowing a man whole wasn’t going to be the most entertaining she’d do for the rest of the night.  Though, it was the most interesting.

There was no light.  In the depths of the beautiful elven mage, no light could reach him.  The air was thick with pungent acids and a mixture of the seasonings and spices used to flavor her meal, a meal he was a part of.  Or at least, he joined it for this long, but now he and Frieren’s meal would be parting ways.

Her stomach was tossing and churning the mush and liquid she had consumed, filled with enzymes to dissolve it all into chyme which would become a part of her body.  It was the fate of her meal, but not his.

That spell really is keeping me from being digested.  Though he couldn’t see, his other senses were still operating just fine.  Part of the liquid that was dripping off of him was highly, dangerously acidic, and the terrible-smelling fumes would have wreaked havoc on his lungs by now had he not been protected.  Even getting bludgeoned and beaten by her stomach wall was only capable of temporarily robbing him of mobility.  Miss Frieren was, like three-quarters my size? two-thirds?  And now I’m in her stomach.  Unable to stop himself from chuckling, as he was flung into the wrinkled lining once more, he gently massaged it.  Can she even feel that?  It’d be nice if she could, so I could thank her.  She’s just… going on with her night like I’m not even here.  If she were to leave town now.  He was powerless before the great mage.

It only occurred to him on the way down her crushingly tight throat that she could have cast any spell on him after shrinking him.  There was no incantation, nor would he have known better until it was too late.  Had the stoic elf wanted, he would have been part of her meal.  But even then, she could just take him with her and leave as well.  His life was entirely in her hands, or rather stomach, but she was as trustworthy as her reputation would suggest.

Getting tossed around some more, it was more than just her active stomach, Frieren was moving around quite a bit.  It gave him no time to just lay back and relax.

Trying to enjoy myself in a stomach.  Maybe there is something wrong with me.  Miss Frieren’s stomach doesn’t know I’m not food.  This shouldn’t be a hospitable place.  His surroundings continued to churn and churn, attempting to turn the last solid piece of a meal into a soggy paste, like everything else.  And in the absolute darkness of it all, it was a bit unnerving the longer it went on.  Sorry, but I’ve got a wife and family waiting for me.  You can’t digest me…  At least, I hope you can’t.

Attempting to get his bearing, Vorspeise felt around, hoping to accelerate his trip through the gracious elf.  However, her stomach wasn’t about to let him go so easily.

Expanding her collection of spells wasn’t about getting praise or admiration from others, and magic certainly wasn’t something to be used without consideration.  However, when people enjoy the spells she casts, sincerely marveling at what to her is novel, she doesn’t mind being a bit lax in her use of magic.  There was something fulfilling about seeing a child’s face light up, and there wasn’t a human alive that she couldn’t, in some way, see as a child.

Especially a bunch of drunk lumberjacks, blacksmiths, woodworkers, and artisans.

Thankfully, most were entertained enough with the dancing golem spell that her former party complimented her on, meaning Frieren was free to sit in a corner and snack on desserts.  Occasionally the odd drunk would come asking to ‘fly’, to which she would cast the spell that lets her make things float on them, but those were few and far between.

Hmm?  Was that him again?  Looking down at her belly as something pressed pleasingly into her from the inside, she nonchalantly ate some of the cream topping of the pie she ordered.  If she concentrated, she could sense his position from the mana of the spell infused in his body.  Getting a massage from the inside feels better than I would have thought.  I just hope he doesn’t mind more food joining him.  Initially hesitant to eat more with the shrunken man in her stomach, it was much too boring to sit around while everyone around her was in such high spirits.  Well, he wanted to be treated like food.  It doesn’t matter if supper doesn’t want me to eat dessert.

Grinning as she savored the tart sweetness of the pie, she soon stopped thinking of Vorspeise altogether.

Trying to venture deeper was futile.

At least, at his own pace it was.  Without his sight, all Vorspeise could do was stumble around in the pitch darkness of Frieren’s stomach, losing any progress or idea of where he was when it constricted or contracted to break down the food around him.  Getting buried under even more food as the night went on didn’t help matters either, so all he could do was hold on to a spot of her stomach lining and wait for things to calm down.

There should be a flow or current I can follow eventually, right?  Like a cofferdam, once her stomach starts to drain, I’ll be able to get out of here.  Ignorant of the nuances of how a stomach, and digestion in general, works, the older man just knew that things that entered the stomach eventually had to leave.  At least the smell of Köchin’s field berry pie is making it a bit more bearable in here.

Because of the constant influx of new food and snacks, he hadn’t realized that there was a subtle current that could have led him further along, closer to his inevitable exit.  Instead, the sugary scents of the berries temporarily masked the pungent odor of the digestive fluids sloshing around him.

The gigantic elven mage didn’t move much, but she was prone to patting her belly, which translated into jolts of motion that threatened to knock him from his secure position, but he was able to endure.  There was no attempt to communicate with him either.  She had said she was going to treat him like food after all.

Once she stopped eating, though, he was finally able to crawl along the bottom of her stomach and follow the trickling flow of the thick, foamy slurry as it drained through her pylorus and into her duodenum.  Because he was still solid, however, it was difficult to squeeze through the tight orifice that separated her stomach from her small intestines.

By this point, Frieren had moved around a bit, and her body was lying in a horizontal position, but if she had gone to bed, she wasn’t lying on her back.  At times, Vorspeise was carried and had to swim down along with the flow, and at others, he was swimming against gravity to progress his journey.  His magical protection was somehow keeping him from drowning, but some of the disgusting chyme seeped into his mouth if he wasn’t careful.

After an eternity of making his way/being pushed through the white-haired elf’s insides, the amount of liquid he was floating in thinned out, becoming a coagulated sludge that reeked like rotten eggs.  How can such good food make something so nasty!?  With the ring muscles around him encouraging everything forward, he was able to accelerate his progress by dragging himself along the way.  The wonders of not fighting against the digestive system of someone dozes of times bigger them him.  Then again, I guess all food eventually becomes sh–!

Freezing as the most obvious fact about what being eaten by someone should mean, somehow the older man neglected to think about how messy exiting the beautiful elf girl would be.  Anything left over from a meal, including something like him that couldn’t be digested and absorbed by her body, would be expunged as waste.

Maybe I should have thought about more than just being in the stomach…  It was too late to turn back now.  And I thought she didn’t want me to remember seeing her naked when she said she’d be erasing my exit…  His freedom could only be regained at the end of the long, winding, sludge-filled tunnel.

Frieren tossed, turned, and rolled over in her sleep, making the sickening journey all the more nauseating, but the worst of it came just after he slipped through the ileal orifice into her cecum.  Officially in her large intestines, the mild stink from before increased in potency and pungentness dramatically as most of the excess moisture was sucked out of the fecal sludge.  It became that much harder to crawl his way to the exit, but then his surroundings flipped upside-down, followed by a strong impact!

Wh-What the!?  What was that?  Suspended in thick, semi-solid, still-forming stool, he didn’t gain or lose any progress, but it came out of nowhere as Frieren rolled over in her sleep again.  D-Did she fall out of bed?  Waiting for everything to flip back around so he could continue, the shrunken man wouldn’t have believed someone as famous and powerful as Frieren would have such terrible sleeping habits.  But the petite elf continued sleeping without interruption.  She didn’t even wake up!  Well, I can’t wait around for her to wake up.  If I take too long I’ll inconvenience her and worry Betrügerin.

Since it didn’t seem like Frieren would be getting up to reorient herself, Vorspeise continued to drag himself through her colon.  Eventually, he rounded a sharp bend into a short, narrow passage that was free of the elf’s food waste and terminated at a tightly sealed orifice.

I-Is this…?  Did I do it?  I made it all the way through Miss Frieren in a single night!  Reaching his destination with a bitter-sweet sense of accomplishment, the more enjoyable parts of the experience were definitely front-loaded.  I know I can’t ask her to do it again, b-but if I could…  I’d l-like… for her to g-get me… out before I pass… through her s-stomach.  Thinking back on his all-too-short, yet excruciatingly long trip, he tried to push himself through the gigantic anus trapping him in with all the fetid, putrid gas he had long since gone numb to, but couldn’t get it to budge.  Huh?  C-Come on.  I was able to get… through everything e-else!

Exerting more effort, he tried to slip his fingers into the deep wrinkles and squeeze through like that, but unlike the other sphincters and orifices that he passed through, this one was stubborn.  He wouldn’t be getting out until Frieren decided to let him go.

Tired, sore, and left with no alternative, he curled up in the comparatively clean rectum of the beautiful elf girl.  Well, it was quite the experience.  Everything I ever hoped it would be… and a lot that I wish it wasn’t.  Thank you… Miss Frieren.

It had been well past noon by the time Frieren woke up, and even then, she did so begrudgingly.  It wasn’t as if she had partied hard or drank too much the night before, she barely socialized and didn’t drink much… especially compared to the corrupt priest she used to travel with.

It wasn’t a hangover, illness, or anything like that that made the millennium-old elf not want to wake up. She just wasn’t a morning person unless absolutely necessary.

Letting out a big yawn as she sat up, not waking up in her bed wasn’t too surprising as she crawled over to her trunk to get ready to start her day.  Another few hours wouldn’t have hurt…  She thought as she brushed her messy hair, sitting on the floor as something pushed against her anus from the inside.  Maybe I shouldn’t have had that extra slice of pie.

Unable to ignore the call of nature no matter how tired she was, Frieren’s memories of before going to bed were mostly focused on the foods she had eaten.  Making herself presentable enough to go to the latrine, it wasn’t until she sat down to relieve herself that she remembered the balding lumberer that she added to her soup.

He should still be somewhere around here, but I don’t feel him.  Rubbing her belly, she wondered how pleasant his experience must be by now, assuming the spell was as effective on him as the bits of food she tested it on.  If it wasn’t, he really would have become my food…  Did I actually digest him?  As she evacuated her bowels, not being able to sense him inside of her was a bit concerning.  Even if I said I was going to treat him like food, I didn’t want to– huh?  Worried that she might have killed a man by granting his unorthodox request, the idea sat heavily on her conscience until her keen elven hearing picked up a high-pitched cry get cut off as more of her waste fell to the mess below.  “Ah, so you did survive.  That’s good.”  Breathing a sigh of relief, she blushed as the flow of fecal matter couldn’t be stopped anymore.  “S-Sorry.  I’ll get you out once I’m done.”

It wasn’t how he thought he’d be waking up.  With how long he stayed awake after his gigantic devourer had gone to sleep, even if he couldn’t properly gauge what time it was, Vorspeise was sure he’d be woken up when Frieren did.

And yet, it was his body, which had been conditioned after years of waking with the sun to get as much work done as he could, that naturally woke him up, still in the pitch darkness of Frieren’s bowels!  Even without the light of the sun shining on his face, he could tell it was roughly mid-morning, probably getting close to noon, and yet Frieren hadn’t budged since he went to sleep!

Are you kidding me?!  She’s still asleep?  Squirming to loosen up his body, he pressed against her anus again, trying to pry it open.  It was a futile effort, and he knew it.  Miss Frieren, wake up!  Please, let me out of here.  I want to go home now!

Hoping his pushing against and clawing at her quivering anal ring would rouse her from her sleep, the burly man had no other options but to continue or patiently wait.  But with freedom so close, just impossible without her assistance, he couldn’t just allow himself to marinate in the heady scent and heat of her rectum.

After what felt like hours of trying to wake her up, Frieren finally got up and started moving.  Do elves just sleep longer than humans?  If so, I’m sorry Miss Frieren, but I really want to go home.  Now, she should be able to…  Expecting to be released quickly, when the lethargic mage sat down and showed no sign of trying to get him out, Vorspeise began to worry.  Sh-She remembers I’m still here, right?  Miss Frieren?  Miss Frieren, please!  Let me out now!  Clawing at and pushing against her tight sphincter, he continued to try to get her attention.  Did she not wake up because of me?

Like before, his efforts amounted to little, as Frieren woke up at her own pace, before going to a latrine, sitting down, and pushing him out of the hole he had tried so hard to squeeze through with ease.  Even the dim light that illuminated him was blinding after the pitch darkness he had been locked away in for so long, so the older man couldn’t see where he landed after a considerable fall.  The landing was soft, thankfully, but as he oriented himself and looked around, the filth surrounding him nearly made him vomit.  The stench of shit wasn’t as concentrated as what he had experienced, but there was another, potent, stench that lingered in the festering atmosphere that was the main contributor to turning his stomach.

Did she really just… shit me out…  Humiliated, he thought things couldn’t get worse for him, expecting to see the stoic elf mockingly smirking down at him when he looked up.  “Miss Frieren, why–!?”  But what he saw was even worse.  A pert, smooth, pale peach blocked the opening of the latrine she sat on, with a slender, hairless undercarriage on full display.  “M-Miss Frieren?  W-Wait, I’m down here!  Miss Frieren?!”  Yelling as loud as he could, Vorspeise tried to get her attention.

“Ah, so you did survive.  That’s good.”  Thankfully, it seemed her inhuman ears could hear him.

The moment of relief was short-lived, however, as the hole that he fell out of, directly overhead, quivered and bulged out as it was pried open, and a thick log of brown waste emerged, getting sheered off all too quickly for him to move out of the way.  “MISS FRIER–!!”

SIlenced as the young-looking elf defecated on him, Vorspeise was buried utterly.

“S-Sorry.  I’ll get you out once I’m done.”

The food offered at the tavern she stayed at was really good, which was probably the problem.  While she had experimented with the anti-digestion spell for the first few days, Frieren truly began to indulge in the local dishes and pastries as she waited out the week-long deadline she gave Vorspeise, spending most of her time in her room reading.  That was the reason she had such a large bowel movement waiting to release, and why she couldn’t stop it after learning he had gotten ahead of it.

I thought I’d have a day or two before he came out, like the other pieces of meat I swallowed.  He must have crawled his way through it all.  Using magic to retrieve and clean the shrunken man, he hadn’t said a word as she went back to her room.  After being buried in her stool, she had expected him to complain, or possibly he’d disregard that and just thank her for fulfilling his dream, but he said nothing.  Well, it’s probably a complicated feeling, and I’ll wipe that from his mind soon anyway.  “Sorry about… that.  I didn’t think you’d be out so soon.  Let me check to see if the anti-digestion spell is still active.”  Offering him a quick apology and moving things along so they could go their separate ways sooner, she concentrated on his tiny body to feel for any lingering mana.

“N-No, I should have expected something like that.  You did nothing wrong, Miss Frieren.”  Seeing that she was at least apologetic, Vorspeise sighed and let the matter drop.  He wouldn’t have even been in that position if he hadn’t asked her to swallow him and he had agreed to get the memory of exiting her wiped from his mind.  A bit of a shame, but keeping the memory of her backside and womanhood would be akin to cheating on his wife.  While their marriage wasn’t free of infidelity, he wanted to be as faithful to her as he could.  “If anything, you did what was n-natural…”

Giving him a subtle grin at the attempt at humor, Frieren opened her eyes.  “I’m not sensing any mana from you anymore, so it would appear that the spell is a one-time use that lasts until you… come out the other side.  If you want me to swallow you again, I’ll have to cast it again or I might just digest you this time.”

“Wh-Why would you think I want to do that again?  I c-couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Are you sure?  It might be decades before I come back to this village, so this could be the last time you’ll get to experience being eaten safely.”  Patting her stomach, since she wasn’t leaving until tomorrow she had assumed he’d try to convince her to swallow him again.  “It’s not much of an inconvenience for me.”

“N-No.  No, I should be happy I got to experience it at all.  I thank you for the offer, Miss Frieren, but I think I just want to go home to my family now.”

I was hoping I could convince him to stay in my stomach and rub it a bit more this time.  Oh well.  Nodding, the white-haired mage set him down on the floor and summoned her staff.  A golden glow enveloped her staff as she prepared to dispel the size-reducing spell she cast on him, but then it dispersed before she finished.  “Oops…”

“‘Oops’?  What do you mean ‘oops’?  Was that a good ‘oops’ or a bad ‘oops’?”  Hoping this was another joke, or she just happened to mess up the spell and could try again, he chuckled nervously.

Her stoicism fading, the elven mage’s expression shifted to one he had seen on his children’s faces before.  It was the look of something who realized they made a mistake and was reluctant to confess.  “W-Well…  Remember what I told you about how spells are created to do one thing?”

“I think?  That was a while ago, Miss Frieren, but I’m pretty sure you said something like even if it looks like someone used a spell to do something different, it was a matter of how they used the spell, right?”  Trying to remember the conversation they had over a decade ago, what Vorspeise said was more of an inefficient parroting of what she just said rather than quoting her words from long ago.

“More or less.  Then I’ll spare you the details, but broadly speaking, the effects of a spell are either persistent or permanent.  Persistent spells require a constant source of mana to maintain their effect, like barriers and seals.  Permanent spells, however, create an effect that can persist without mana, like creating shaved ice, spells that can clean objects and people, o-or…”  Trailing off and averting her gaze from him, her voice became much more meek and quiet.  “Ap-p-parently a certain s-size-reducing spell, wh-which I’m only just realizing I can’t use dispelling magic on.”

While their exchanges had been short prior to this, Vorspeise had always thought Frieren to be a wise and powerful elven mage, unmatched in her field and more mature than her appearance let on.  She was a stoic and competent cool beauty, never showing more than glimpses of her emotions when necessary.

But before him right now was a goofy, girl who had, according to her, accidentally shrunk him without a way to change him back!  “Are you kidding me?!”

“S-Sorry, sorry!  But, the tribe I learned it from only had a size-reducing spell, so I assumed it was a continuous spell, and I haven’t cast it on anyone else because they need to be willing, so I couldn’t test it.”  Finally acting the age her appearance conveys, while she was rattled by this, Frieren wasn’t panicking just yet.  “But, I can fix this.  Since I have the original spell, I can quickly formulate an anti-size-reducing spell.  All I’ll need is three… no, two years, maybe a bit over one.”

“You think that’s quick?!”

“To research and reverse the effects of a spell, I don’t think there are many modern mages that could accomplish it.”

Regaining the confidence and demeanor of a mage that’s been alive far longer than any human, Vorspeise could tell she was serious.  He had no idea of how difficult crafting spells could be, but he could understand ignorant people underestimating how long it takes for a big job to be completed.  It wasn’t like he could chop down and process all the wood to build a house in a single day, no matter how much a client paid him.

Falling to his knees and sighing, if a mage as powerful as the mage of the former Hero’s party said there was no other way, he had seen how long it took for her to find the size-reducing spell he requested her go find.  “R-Right.  Sorry, Miss Frieren, I have only myself to blame…  Could you just bring me home?  I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to Betrügerin.”

“Of course.”  She said, picking him up and hovering her staff over his head.  “After I erase a bit of your memories.”

“You told me you’d give that all up, Vorspeise!  Goddess knows I only agreed to marry and stay married to you because you did!”  Much less impressed with the tiny man’s antics, the heavier-set, busty blonde exploded at her husband after hearing what he had to say for himself.  Or rather, what Frieren interpreted for her since she couldn’t hear him, even when he was held up to her ear.  At first, she thought Frieren was making up excuses to shift the blame on him, but once she confirmed that she could hear him, her anger was focused squarely on him.  “I knew I should have married Ehebrecher instead.  At least chasing skirts is better than being shit out of one!”

“If it makes you feel any better, I erased that part from his mind.”  Mostly leaving her opinions out of the marital spat, Frieren wanted the interaction to be over so she could leave as soon as possible.

“And how does not remembering you pushing him out your arse not make him a piece of shit?”  Snapping at the respected elf, the heftier woman narrowed her eyes.  “Honestly, I’d of rathered you tell me he cheated on me with you.  Pretty thing like you, I’d question what you saw in that fool, but I’m not exactly in a position to judge after sleeping with Ehebrecher.”  Sighing, she quickly grabbed the apologetic tiny man from the elven mage.  “Don’t worry about making a spell to turn him back, dear.  I’m gonna do him a final favor as his wife and let him tour my insides and become the piece of shit he always dreamed of being.”  Waving Frieren off, Betrügerin tossed her soon-to-be ex-husband in the air, opening her mouth to catch him as he fell.

Before he disappeared into her waiting maw though, with reflexes honed through centuries of training and a decade of combat, Frieren cast the anti-digestion spell on Vorspeise before he was swallowed.  “I won’t let you digest him.  Calm down and let’s talk about this.”

Huffing, the blonde crossed her arms under her hefty chest, unintimidated by the green-eyed elf.  “Mind your own business, Miss Frieren.  I’ll eat him as many times as it takes before all that comes out is another log of shit.  He’s been going on this whole time about being eaten, he should know that means he’s always wanted to be shit, so just let him.”

“He didn’t have a death wish, he was merely curious.  I’ll be back tomorrow, and I expect you to hand him over when I do.”  Turning to leave, Frieren glared at the blonde.  Hopefully she’ll have calmed down by then.  “I’ll take him with me, and when I finish the reversal spell, I’ll send him back.”

“Who would want him back?!  He’ll be better off if I just–!?  J-Just…”

“Just kill him?”  Finishing her sentence for her with a tone as cold as ice, the white-haired elf had only been trying to reason with her until now.  Letting a bit of her hostility show, she brought the woman to her knees.  “Because I won’t let that happen.”

Trembling as she thought about what she was truly trying to do to her husband, Betrügerin felt her stomach sink as something was pounding frantically on its walls.  If what they had told her was true, the spell cast on him would keep him safe, she wasn’t currently hurting him, but in her anger and frustration, she really tried to kill him.  “Wha-What have I–!!”  Sickened by the feeling of the tiny man freaking out in her stomach, she ended up vomiting him out onto the floor.  Coughing and spitting up the leftover bile, with tears in her eyes she looked at the terrified man as he got up and ran from her before being picked up by an invisible force and cleaned off.  Looking up at Frieren as Vorspeise was carried over to her hand, the blonde wiped her mouth and stood up.  “J-Just take him and go.  I never want to see him again, keep him for all I care!”

There was nothing left to be said, as even the tiny man was huddled, hugging the elven mage’s thumb and quietly thanking her over and over for saving him.  As a token of goodwill, Frieren cast a spell to clean up the mess before leaving to go back to the tavern.

Brought back to the room Frieren was staying in, Vorspeise didn’t move after she set him on the table and ordered some food while packing her things.  Less than a day ago, he could barely contain his excitement, knowing that his long-held desire would finally be fulfilled.  Now, he was stuck at one-fiftieth his size, lost his family, and his beloved wife tried to kill him!

I’m such an idiot!  I messed everything up.  Betrügerin would have killed me if Miss Frieren hadn’t…  Even though it all happened so fast, it was etched into his mind.  The feeling of helplessness as he was grabbed by his wife, how painful it was as she squeezed him tight.  The experience made him appreciate how gently the white-haired elf handled him.

Then there was the terror as he was thrown into the air.  All he could do was scream and beg for the blonde giantess to not eat him, to forgive him, and give him another chance.  Pleas that she couldn’t hear, and even if she could have, would have been promptly ignored in her blind rage.  After so many years of saying she’d never want to eat him or be with a man she ate, she only stayed true to one of those statements.  There was a wicked smile on her face as he plummeted into her mouth, if only for a second.  She was happy to be rid of him, happy to turn his deviant dream into a horrifying nightmare.

He was barely in her mouth long enough to smell the eggs and bacon she had for breakfast.  Despite her stocky body, Betrügerin usually skipped lunch and had a big supper instead.  So, after almost getting crushed by her throat, he landed in an empty stomach that wasn’t ready to digest anything yet.  That didn’t stop it from gearing up to try in the fleeting moments he pounded on her stomach, hoping for a miracle.  In his panic, he didn’t even realize that Frieren had cast the anti-digestion spell on him.  He truly felt like his life would end as a snack for his enraged wife, and his grave the outhouse behind their home.

N-Never again…  I don’t want to ever be eaten again.  Unable to find pleasure or wonder in it anymore, not after experiencing how disgusting it was with Frieren and how terrifying it could be from Betrügerin, the very idea filled him with dread.  What was I thinking?  What did I ever…?  As he despaired and thought on the mistakes that led him to where he currently was, he was gently plucked off the table top and brought up to Frieren’s face.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting your wife to react like that, but now you can enjoy yourself as much as you want without worrying, right?”  Smiling, she offered him kind words in an attempt to console him.

“Huh?  What do you mean, Miss Frieren?”  Maybe it was because she was an elf, but while her sentiment was appreciated, what she said, and the look on her face, didn’t make sense.  “Enjoy myself?  H-How?”

Patting her stomach with a confident smirk, she winked at him.  “Now I can eat you as much as you want until I finish making that reversal spell.  I’m sure once wasn’t enough if you’ve been thinking about it for so long, and having you massage my stomach when you were in there felt really good, so I don’t mind eating you again.”

“U-Uh…  Wh-While I th-thank you for the offer, Miss Frieren, I-I don’t really…”

“In fact, with how small and vulnerable you are, being in my stomach would be the safest place for you, so you might want to try and stay in there as long as you can.  You’ll get to be part of whatever meal I have after you come out until I finish that spell.  So, go on.  Climb in.”  Not listening to his protests, the gigantic elf brought her palm next to her mouth and opened it, waiting for him to crawl in himself.

Backing away from the dark, humid, cavernous oral cavity, Vorspeise almost had a panic attack just remembering his wife eating him.  “N-No!  Please, Miss Frieren, I–”

“I don’t have time to constantly be looking out for you, so either climb into my mouth and get the anti-digestion spell, or I’ll toss you in without it.”

There was no negotiating or trying to convince her otherwise, or rather, he didn’t want to risk it.  “Y-Yes, ma’am!”  Scampering over the huge lips and teeth, and onto her slimy tongue, Vorspeise complied and committed himself to being the powerful mage’s snack for the foreseeable future.

Giggling as she scared the shrunken man into compliance, Frieren cast the protective spell on him and grabbed the cup of juice from the table.  Finishing it off, she washed her personal treat down her throat too and licked her lips.

Not that I wouldn’t cast it regardless.  I’m sure what happened with his wife was scary, but I won’t let it become a traumatic event for him.  With him immobile in her stomach, she used the memory-erasing spell to remove the memories from when Betrügerin grabbed him to when she got him back.  At this point, removing the sight of her rear from his mind would be a moot point going forward since he’d be seeing it plenty in the coming years.  I might not even need to make a reversal spell anymore.  He might just want to become my stomach massager once he gets used to it.

With no pressing need to return Vorspeise to normal, Frieren patted her belly, encouraging him to get to work pampering it.  He might just end up spending the rest of his life like that.  Only if that’s what he wanted, of course.

Picking up her trunk, she left the tavern and village behind.  If anything, leaving sooner would be for the better for Vorspeise and Betrügerin.  They didn’t need reminders of each other weighing them down.

She didn’t have a destination in mind, but she didn’t need to stay longer either.  She’d continue to wander and collect spells.  So, in that sense, she was a bit envious of the tiny man living out his dream.

“At least you’ll always have an ‘end’ to reach, my little snack.”