Chapter 384: Aura: I Will Do Anything!
In an abandoned hut in the night.
Frieren leaned against the wooden wall, looking through a broken gap at the outside. Only after confirming that no one was in sight did she lower her staff.
It had been a long time since she had been this mentally tense, not because she had encountered dangerous entities during her adventures, but because she needed to evade the pursuit of others.
She looked down at the paper in her hand, which bore a rough sketch of her with the bold word "WANTED" scrawled across the top.
A wanted poster. For her.
These words circled in her mind, still carrying a sense of unreality.
She was wanted. To be precise, she was wanted by an entire nation.
The Magic Association's intelligence was still a bit behind; the current Frieren was already wanted, not for crimes like being a dangerous Magician, but for allegedly harboring demons. This charge could be said to be the first of its kind on the entire continent.
The official wanted notice issued by the Kingdom of Lothat in the south had reportedly been transmitted to the territories of three neighboring kingdoms. The bounty was not high, but it was enough to tempt those cash-strapped Adventurers or mercenaries.
Although Frieren was not afraid of these people at all, she wanted to avoid making a big scene, so she had been hiding here and there with Aura.
It had been three days now. She and Aura had traveled through the forest, and several times they had nearly come face-to-face with mercenaries.
With Frieren's strength, dealing with them head-on would not have been difficult. However, doing so would only make things worse, drawing even more attention to themselves.
She just wanted this troublesome matter to quiet down. Even if only for a temporary peace.
The bonfire flickered weakly on the other side of the room; it was a fire that Aura had barely managed to maintain with a few picked-up dead branches.
She lay curled up by the fire, knees against her chest, eyes tightly shut, not knowing what she was thinking.
Frieren did not look at her. She just stared out the window, thinking... if only she had just handed her over back then. This was not the first time this thought had occurred to her.
Back then, there were so many people in the mine, filled with righteous indignation, and even those Adventurer parties had stood on the opposite side.
She could have said nothing, pushed Aura to the center of the crowd, turned around, collected the reward for the commission, and left. With her strength, no one would have dared to stop her, and given her usual style of conduct, that would have been the best choice.
Yet, she hadn't.
Frieren lowered her eyes, re-examining herself at that moment in her memory.
Was it because of Aura's subconscious act of protecting her at the time? Or because, when some Adventurer in the crowd pointed at her and said, "You are also an accomplice of the demons," that resolute hostility had annoyed her?
She didn't know.
She just felt it was very troublesome.
"Lady Frieren?" Aura spoke cautiously, clearly understanding that their current situation was the result of her rash actions at the time.
Frieren did not turn her head.
Aura, however, had keenly read something from this silence; after all, her sixth sense was beating wildly, and it was clear this Frieren before her was thinking of something bad.
For the sake of her own life, she felt she had to speak up right now.
"Lady Frieren," Aura called again, "what are you thinking about?"
"....Thinking," Frieren finally spoke, her tone as flat as ever, "it would have been better to just hand you over at that time."
I knew it!
After spending this time together, she had come to understand the elf before her quite well; the fact that she could say this meant she had clearly thought about it seriously, and she might even be considering right now whether to just hand her over to those Adventurers.
"Lady Frieren." Aura moved a bit closer to the bonfire. "At that time ...at that time I had no choice!"
Her speech sped up unconsciously, fearing that if she didn't speak in time, it would lead Frieren to make a firm decision.
"In the effects of Obedience Magic, once the master dies, the one who submitted also dies along with them. And that monster lurking in the rock wall had such a tricky sneak attack trajectory. If I hadn't released my magic power with all my might to intercept it, its attack might have directly hit you—"
Frieren turned her head and looked at her seriously. "My Defensive Magic has a passive triggering effect. That monster's sneak attack could never have pierced it." She paused. "You didn't need to act."
All of this was a problem caused by Aura acting on her own initiative and not believing in her Defensive Magic.
However, it was also possible that Aura really didn't know about this; after all, she had never fought against a Magician, so naturally, she didn't know to what extent current Defensive Magic had advanced.
"I... I didn't know... " Aura's voice lowered, carrying a defense that even she felt was guilty. "I didn't know you had Defensive Magic on you. Besides, if it weren't for the effects of Obedience Magic, I wouldn't have acted!"
She lowered her eyes when she said this, not daring to look at Frieren. But Frieren was looking at her.
"Then I understand. Since it's because of the contract, then now, if I lift this contract and hand you over to those pursuers, you shouldn't have any objections."
Aura suddenly raised her head. "Fu—Lady Frieren!!"
Frieren stood up, and a Magic Array unfolded in her hand. Aura could recognize it at a glance; it was the precursor to the spell used to lift a contract. Unexpectedly, Frieren had actually researched how to lift the contract of Obedience Magic; it was truly incredible.
However, Aura felt not a shred of joy in her heart at this moment.
"The people outside want you," Frieren continued. "If I give you to them, they won't come to bother me again."
Aura's mind went blank, but her body's reaction was far faster than her thoughts.
Almost instinctively, she jumped up from the ground, lunged over, and hugged Frieren's thigh tightly with both hands.
"Lady Frieren !!! Please don't lift the magic!" That voice was almost a wail.
Are you kidding me!?
If Frieren stopped protecting her now, she would be killed by those Adventurers and mercenaries outside in minutes; Aura still had that much self-awareness.
Frieren looked down at her.
This useless demon's beautiful eyes were filled with tears; although it was hard to tell if they were fake or real, just judging by the strength with which she hugged her thigh and that humble posture, it should be genuine.
"Please don't hand me over. I will do anything—" Aura's voice was trembling. "I don't want to die. I want to live, Lady Frieren. Every life, even I, a demon, deserves that chance. I beg you, Lady Frieren!!"
Frieren remained silent, looking at Aura's face.
That face was covered in tears and snot, the expression twisted, and the dignity belonging to a demon had vanished without a trace, leaving only that extremely wretched desire to survive.
"I am your servant, the contract still exists, so I will always be your servant. Whoever you want me to kill, I will kill. I will absolutely not betray you!"
In order to survive, Aura really could do anything.
Frieren looked at her for a long time, the light of the Magic Array in her hand flickering.
" ....How troublesome," Frieren said.
The voice was very soft, and the Magic Array disappeared along with it.
"Heh?" Aura froze.
"You've caused me so much trouble," Frieren said, retracting her hand and looking down at her. "Now, crying like this, don't you think it's embarrassing?"
Aura looked up, tears still hanging on her eyelashes, not yet reacting to what Frieren was saying.
"You are a disgrace to all the demons." Frieren finished speaking indifferently, turned around, sat back in her original position by the window, and cast her gaze outside again.
Hearing Frieren say this, Aura didn't dare speak, just silently returned to the fire, poked the dying fire back to life, and added a few branches picked up from the corner.
"...So what if it's embarrassing," she muttered softly, her voice so low it was almost inaudible. "Being alive is better than being dead."
Frieren did not answer.
Perhaps she didn't want to answer, or perhaps she felt there was no need to answer.
Tomorrow, perhaps they would have to continue fleeing.
But tonight ...this trouble, she still hadn't handed it over.
Perhaps she never would.
[End of Chapter]