If it were an ordinary person, they probably would have asked again. But Frieren really didn't. She quickly caught up to his pace and started heading deeper into the ruins.
That attitude made it seem like she was even more eager than he was.
.
.
.
Working together, the two of them easily swept through the underground ruins.
Of course, there wasn't really any danger to begin with. Anything powerful or capable of roaming around had already been wiped out by Serie long ago.
So before long, an ancient-looking treasure chest appeared in front of them. But—
"Why are you squatting over there? I already checked with magic. That's just a mimic," Watching Frieren crouched in front of the chest, unwilling to leave for a long time, Ash almost wanted to grab the back of her collar and drag her away. [T/N: Ahem!]
But Frieren turned back and said seriously, in a very proper tone, "Didn't you say yourself that kind of magic has a one percent chance of misjudgment?"
"It's basically never wrong."
"But it's precisely because there are great mages who can see through that one percent that history-changing discoveries are made."
"You're saying you're that great mage?"
"I can feel it," She didn't answer directly, instead reaching out to gently stroke the battered chest, speaking with complete confidence, "There's a valuable grimoire inside."
"And what's that based on?"
"My experience as a mage."
"But you only just left the village, didn't you? We've been together the whole way here. You've never even been to ruins before. What experience do you have?"
"That's why I said my experience as a mage. Trust me, Ash. There's a grimoire in here!"
Saying that, she suddenly flipped the chest open.
The next moment, a huge mouth replaced the grimoire she imagined, and in the blink of an eye it swallowed her whole, leaving only half of her body sticking out.
Ash, who had been standing a bit farther away from the start, wore a completely numb expression.
"I told you there wasn't anything. And you still put on that act in front of me, sounding so confident you almost made me believe your nonsense."
At this point, he even felt like turning around and leaving, pretending he didn't know this embarrassing person at all. However, Frieren, who lay there like a corpse, suddenly began violently wriggling the exposed half of her body, letting out frantic cries.
"Wah! It's so dark! So scary~ Let me out! Ash! Ash! You're still there, right? Hurry up and let me out! It's so dark! So scary~"
"Are you a child? You're already that old and you're still afraid of the dark?"
Looking at the unexpectedly plump, constantly squirming rear in front of him, despite her relatively small frame, he couldn't help but smack it with his palm.
"Ow? That hurts! Who? Who hit me? So scary! I can't see anything at all! Ash, right? It was you, wasn't it?"
"There was a monster just now. When I killed it, its tail hit you."
"Really? But it feels like—"
"If you don't believe me, that's fine. I'll just leave then."
"I believe you! I believe you! Hurry up and get me out! It's really scary in here!"
Trapped in the chest, Frieren was forced to cry and give in to him.
Although she was extremely unwilling, if she didn't want to attack the mimic with magic, Frieren had no choice but to compromise with him for the moment.
The reason she didn't want to use magic was that using it in such a cramped space would probably backfire on her. Unless absolutely necessary, she didn't want to resort to that.
Frieren's fear of the dark, along with the way she kept twisting her hips, was amusing just to look at. It made Ash want to smack her a couple more times.
But hitting her too much would make things troublesome later, and since he hated trouble, he temporarily suppressed that urge.
He reached out with both hands, grabbed her legs from behind, and tried to yank her out like pulling a radish, forcibly trying to retrieve Frieren from the mimic's mouth.
But he had barely pulled once when Frieren screamed in pain.
"W-wait! That hurts! It really hurts! It'll break! I'll break in half!"
"That's your own problem. If you were going to gamble, you should've at least cut it with a knife first to check."
"Lots of precious ancient grimoires can be damaged by even the slightest vibration. If you cut it with a knife and ruin it, what then?"
"You can still argue back right now? Do you really know what situation you're in?"
"Just hurry up and get me out! It's really scary in here!"
At this moment, Frieren, who normally gave off a very expressionless vibe, was unusually easy to bully, really just like a child.
It almost made him feel that letting her out right away would be a waste. But dragging things out wasn't good either. Her attitude was decent, and there was no need to keep teasing her.
So he switched into his warrior form, walked to the front, grabbed the mimic's mouth with both hands, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then yanked hard.
With a ripping sound, like tearing cloth, the mimic's huge mouth was forcibly torn open.
Frieren, who still had her feet planted on the mimic and was desperately pulling herself out, was flung free along with it.
After briefly floating in the air, she landed hard on the ground on her backside, the pain leaving her unable to speak for a moment.
And the disgusting sight of her head covered in monster saliva made Ash quietly keep his distance.
"So gross... so painful... so uncomfortable...", Frieren sat on the ground alone, drooping her head with a tearful expression while complaining and fixing her messed-up hair.
During this, she looked at Ash with watery eyes, making him feel a bit uncomfortable.
"What? Do you have complaints about your saviour?"
"Just now, you hit me, didn't you?"
"That never happened."
Faced with this suddenly different, resentment-filled girl, he simply averted his gaze and pretended not to see, having no intention of admitting anything.
Seeing that, Frieren narrowed her eyes, "No! It was you!"
"Don't make things up. I saved you, okay?"
"And... what did you call me just now?"
Recalling his sarcastic remark when she had just been swallowed and he was watching from the side, Frieren instantly straightened her posture and stared at him without blinking.
"Did I say anything?"
"Already that old."
"So what?"
"You actually called me old again," Frieren suddenly turned her head to glare at him, "Three strikes and you're out. There won't be a next time, no! This time is already the third!"
"Huh? What? Third what?"
"You called me a granny twice before!"
"Did I?"
"You did!", Frieren nodded firmly.
That left him utterly speechless.
"Why are you keeping count of something so trivial? Are you that petty?"
"Just wait a bit. I'll show you how formidable I am..."
"What are you planning to do?"
Seeing the girl clearly brewing something, Ash instinctively raised his guard and even prepared to bolt at the slightest change.
The next moment—
"Wah! Wahhhhh!"
"Huh? Wh-what?"
Noticing that she had finished "charging," Ash had already taken two steps back. But the loud wailing behind him made him freeze in place, stunned, as he turned around in confusion.
The girl who had just sworn to teach him a lesson was now hugging her knees, curled up in a corner, crying her eyes out.
It completely broke his brain. He unconsciously stopped his attempt to flee, stood there dumbfounded for a long while, then finally looked to the side at Flamme, who had appeared at some point and was wearing the same shocked expression.
"What is she..."
"No idea. You're closer to her, aren't you? What's going on?"
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? You're the master. You deal with her."
"You made her cry. I'm not getting involved."
Flamme clearly didn't want to be dragged into this. After saying that, she just walked off on her own.
That left him standing there, unable to leave yet unable to stay. After holding his forehead and thinking for a long time, he finally flicked Frieren's long ear.
"Frieren, my bad! I won't say you're old anymore, okay?"
Even though he had already been forced to give in, Frieren swatted his hand away and cried even louder.
That forced him to give up. He decided to leave the area for now, but to his surprise, she followed right behind him.
She even cried as she walked, leaving him no choice but to ignore this strange person by burying himself in his book.
And that process lasted for three days and three nights straight.
She cried until her tears dried up, yet showed no sign of stopping.
"Can't you think of something? This is all your fault, isn't it?"
After three nonstop days of crying, Flamme covered her ears in pain and urged him on.
Even Serie, who usually stayed deep inside and never came out, was driven to irritation by the constant crying echoing through the ruins. She finally came out, shot him a sideways glance, and issued an ultimatum.
"If you don't fix this soon, I'll throw both her and you out."
"I'm not the one crying. Why me too—"
"Isn't all of this your fault?"
"But I—Ugh! Forget it."
Still wanting to argue, he ultimately just hoisted Frieren onto his shoulder and quickly left, hoping to avoid completely ruining his place here because of her.
There was no helping it. In these ruins, besides himself, there were only three other people.
One was crying because of him, and the other two were blaming him. If he didn't deal with this inexplicably sobbing girl, he probably wouldn't be able to come back.
But just after leaving the ruins and seeing the sky outside, the girl on his shoulder stopped crying the moment he set her down on the grass. She crossed her arms, lifted her chin, and showed a smug grin completely different from her usual blank expression.
"Hmph~ so? Now you know how formidable I am, right?"
"..."
'What is wrong with this girl?'
'Can I hit her?'
'I can, right?'
'I definitely can, right?'
Watching her instantly stop crying and flip from grief to delight so fast, Ash was utterly dumbfounded. The corner of his eye twitched, and his fist unconsciously clenched.
Ash could no longer suppress the urge to hit someone, but Frieren keenly noticed his clenched fist.
Yet she wasn't afraid at all. She put away her smile and warned him seriously.
"What is it? You want to hit me, Ash?"
"What? You still think I wouldn't—"
"If you hit me now, I'll cry for another three days."
With no sense of oppressive threat at all, Frieren simply leaned her head forward a little, stiff-faced and expressionless as she delivered this strange warning.
But just imagining being tormented by that crying for three more days was enough to make Ash's raised hand freeze in midair for a long moment before he slowly lowered it.
He pressed his hand onto Frieren's head and roughly ruffled her hair, forcing out a slightly twisted smile.
"I'm just saying... you know, you could act a bit more like an old person, you know? What kind of threat is that? Or are you actually a child mentally?"
"That's another one," Frieren stared at him expressionlessly.
"Hey, why are you counting again?"
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