"What's wrong?"
"Is this a threat?"
"No. This is a warning. Three strikes and you're out. Two more times, you know what happens."
"You win!"
"Then hurry up and move your hand."
Facing his retreat, Frieren immediately grew smug and slapped his hand away outright.
Losing like this made him feel deeply unwilling, but... he really had no way to deal with her.
After all, this girl was probably far older than him, yet she could shamelessly cry for three days and three nights straight. It had left him mentally exhausted.
"Haa! Forget it. I'm too lazy to bother with you. I'm going to study..."
His raised hand was forced back down. Feeling sullen, he turned around and went back, while Frieren wasn't afraid of provoking him at all and didn't keep her distance, striding right after him.
After that, the four of them stayed in the ruins for about a month. Then Ash packed his bags again and temporarily left with Frieren and Flamme.
Of course, he also took along new grimoires. And as for why he didn't stay behind. There was no helping it. Serie preferred being alone and daydreaming. Even clinging to her stubbornly wouldn't necessarily make her willing to teach. Flamme, on the other hand, was very willing to teach, so naturally he chose to follow her instead.
———
When the group returned again to visit Serie, who was like a lonely elderly person guarding her home alone, it was already three years later.
Despite his appearance not changing at all after so many years, which should normally have made people suspicious of Ash, Serie had covered for him.
She had casually made up a reason, saying she had cast an experimental youth-preservation spell on him. Because it was experimental, it only succeeded once, and it just so happened to succeed on him, allowing him to remain in a youthful state.
Even though no one ever saw it used again, she claimed the success rate was simply too low. Since it was Serie who said it, no one questioned it.
However, watching Ash down below flipping through her collection and "updating" the books once again, Serie's mouth twitched, and she couldn't help but question him from her throne.
"Ash, you... are you the type who goes wherever the milk is?"
"I just like knowledge."
"I'm your master, aren't I?"
"What does it matter? If Flamme and Frieren know magic I don't, and they're willing to teach me, and I'm willing to learn, isn't that a win-win?"
"What win-win? You're the only one winning! And more importantly, our seniority is all messed up now, you bastard!", Serie raised her hand without thinking and hurled a book at him.
But he caught it cleanly, casually stuffed it into his bag, and spread his hands helplessly, "If you won't teach me, what choice do I have?"
"I never said I wouldn't teach you. I just taught you recently. Can't you wait a bit?"
"A bit? Fifty years?"
"Thirty years. Before that, I want some time alone."
"Then I might as well go find Flamme."
"Just thirty years, and you can't wait?"
"Just thirty years..."
Serie knew he was a demon and didn't care about thirty years at all. He, on the other hand, didn't know how to correct her strange sense of time. At the very least, he couldn't casually wait thirty years.
Ash also understood that fixing this misunderstanding would take time, so he couldn't be bothered to argue about it anymore.
At this moment, Frieren spoke up seriously from the side.
"Ash, you should learn to take things slowly. Don't always be like Master. Even when there's nothing urgent, you act like you're constantly being rushed. That's why humans don't live very long."
"I already said, these are two different things," He really didn't want to dwell on this topic, but he still couldn't help shooting Frieren a glare.
Flamme smiled bitterly and spoke up.
"Frieren and Master, you're elves, so your way of acting is different from ours. But it's not acting too fast that shortens human lifespans. It's because human lives are limited. They're much closer to death than you are. They simply can't afford to drag things out. They have no choice but to act quickly."
"I understand that. The one who doesn't is probably Frieren, right?"
Having lived from the mythological era to the present, Serie shook her head and looked toward Frieren, who had grown up in a closed-off elven village.
"..."
Frieren didn't speak. Not because she agreed, but simply because she couldn't be bothered to object.
Just like the elven sense of time, no matter what outsiders said, it was hard to change the fact that when elves told humans to wait a moment, it could still mean decades.
Even when elves knew the other party was human, it was difficult to change this cognitive gap. Humans, likewise, couldn't understand why elves dragged things out so much, whether for themselves or for humans. Talking about it wouldn't change anything.
And after this fruitless topic, despite being criticized for messing up seniority, Ash still diligently learned from Flamme and Frieren. Under Serie's speechless gaze, he even followed them and left the ruins again on his own.
Only at the very end did Serie call out from afar.
"Ash, I don't care what else you do, but don't learn from these two idiots. Don't get things backward and waste time hiding your strength and deceiving demons, spending all your time on useless skills like controlling your aura."
"Useless?"
"With the same amount of time, if it were spent training other skills, Flamme wouldn't need to sneak around anymore. Wasting time on this kind of thing is extremely inefficient. Don't disappoint me too."
"I understand. Don't worry."
Ash waved his hand without turning back, taking it as a promise.
In other matters, he might just be humoring Serie. But on this point, he actually agreed with her more than with the master and disciple pair. Under normal circumstances, he only planned to restrain his aura slightly. There was no need to waste time training that kind of control.
Because compared to surprise attacks, he preferred spending time strengthening himself and crushing enemies head-on.
Compared to Ash's pursuit of the unknown, Flamme had no interest in exploring ruins and no enthusiasm for treasure chests either.
In her view, the knowledge she had obtained from Serie meant that no amount of ruin exploration in her lifetime could ever compare. Rather than wasting time exploring ruins, she would rather pursue her dream, having all of humanity learn magic.
To that end, Flamme even decided that if she couldn't achieve her goal, she wouldn't return to see her benefactor master, using that as motivation to push herself forward.
This was also because, compared to the world five hundred years after Ash's birth, humans in the present regarded magic as a demon technique, and public research into it was considered taboo.
Before returning to Serie, she had already persuaded the emperor of the empire that occupied most of the continent's land, and had begun educating imperial court mages.
Ash and Frieren, however, did not participate. They merely stayed in the imperial capital as guests, sightseeing. Ash would occasionally sit in on lectures to solidify his basic knowledge.
And days like this passed by in the blink of an eye, several years gone.
Life was calm and ordinary. Even in the imperial capital, there were unexpectedly no legendary palace intrigue scenes. Perhaps Flamme had already dealt with all of that.
After all, her status was predictably high. Even when Ash got lost and chose to climb over a wall, accidentally entering the emperor's harem, he wasn't held responsible. From then on, he was simply forbidden from climbing palace walls and required to memorize the palace map.
Aside from that minor incident, Ash and Frieren often sparred with each other. Ash would also frequently go outside the city to look for suitable opponents for real combat.
And on one perfectly ordinary morning, Ash once again skillfully pried open Frieren's door.
"It's morning already. We agreed on this. Let's go hunt monsters together! Frieren, stop sleeping."
Ash mercilessly yanked away Frieren's blanket, planning to forcibly drag her out of bed to fulfill their agreement and head out of the city to hunt monsters.
Frieren, however, skillfully rolled over, turned her back to him, and without even opening her eyes, pulled out a fresh blanket from beside the bed and covered herself again.
Not showing the slightest intention of getting up, she raised one hand weakly and waved it.
"What I said... was definitely the afternoon.... please.... let me sleep.... five more days.... five days.... just five days....."
"Just as I expected," Her completely unsurprising state made Ash sit down on the edge of the bed. He pulled the blanket away again and tried to persuade her with a troubled look, "The imperial capital is huge, and the monster areas are far away. If we leave at noon, we won't get back until midnight. It's better to head out in the morning, right?"
"No.... you might as well.... kill me....."
"You're really lazy," Watching her keep her eyes shut while accurately pulling another blanket from the wardrobe to cover herself, Ash felt like he might have accidentally trained her in some strange ability.
But seeing how unwilling Frieren was, he hesitated for a moment and finally gave up on the idea of slinging her over his shoulder and leaving. He shook his head helplessly and turned to leave.
"Fine, fine. I'll go by myself. Remember to tell Flamme when you wake up. I'm heading out."
"Mm.... got it..... thanks.... be careful..... see you tonight....."
Even at the end, Frieren didn't open her eyes. She just muttered weakly, speaking vague, dreamlike words, then pulled the blanket tighter around herself and happily fell back asleep.
Ash closed her door on the way out and prepared to leave alone with a bit of regret. But, less than two minutes after leaving Frieren's room, he suddenly felt something extremely abrupt and abnormal in the corridor.
It was as if the entire world was rejecting him. Even the surrounding space began to distort inexplicably.
"This is... trying to throw me out of this spacetime? I thought time travel had no time limit. But is this the world's origin... or the goddess's anti–time travel restriction?"
Ash had once discussed the concept of time travel with Serie, so he roughly understood that traveling through time wasn't impossible in this world.
But it was a privilege exclusive to the goddess, monopolized by her.
After the chaotic wars of the mythological era, the goddess seemed to have left this planet and vanished without a trace.
Only the "Goddess's Stone Tablets" left behind from the mythological era still contained power she had sealed within them, capable of triggering time travel.
To be honest, he didn't really understand the specifics either. But this sense of rejection felt more like being sent back than being destroyed.
In this state, he realized he couldn't stay here for much longer. He drew the long blade at his waist, intending to leave some information carved into the ground.
But just as the blade touched the floor, spacetime suddenly warped. In the next instant, he vanished abruptly from the corridor.
He didn't even manage to leave a single scratch behind.
———
At noon, Frieren finally got out of bed. As she prepared to eat lunch, she noticed—
"Did Ash run off somewhere to train magic again?", She glanced at the empty spot beside her, but didn't pay it much mind.
Ash often went out to train magic, and even went outside the capital to fight monsters for practical experience. Flamme knew this very well and wasn't too worried either, though she muttered somewhat blankly.
"But normally he would say something. Why didn't he tell anyone today?"
"Maybe he just told someone casually, and that person forgot."
"That's true."
Flamme nodded vaguely. For some reason, she felt uneasy.
At that moment, Frieren suddenly went "Ah!" She remembered that in her half-awake state that morning, she seemed to have heard his voice, and that he had taken her blanket.
But she hadn't really been awake at the time and had completely forgotten about it.
While Flamme was still thinking, Frieren idly waved her fork and said, "I remember now. He did ask me this morning to go hunt monsters with him."
"Went hunting monsters again?"
"He may be young, but his strength isn't weak. Master doesn't need to worry. He'll come back on his own tonight."
"Mm, that makes sense."
Hearing this, Flamme felt slightly relieved. But for some reason... that strange sense of unease still lingered in her heart and wouldn't fade.
.
.
.
At first, after getting confirmation from Frieren, Flamme felt something was off but didn't worry too much.
But for some reason, Ash still didn't return the next day.
Of course, occasionally running into something could cause that. When he did come back, he might be injured, but he always returned safely in the end.
After all, under normal circumstances, there was no need to worry about Ash's strength.
But then the third day passed. The fourth day. Even after a month. Two months.
Thinking he might have left without saying goodbye, they went back to check with Serie, only to find that he hadn't returned there either.
At Flamme's request, the emperor even sent people to search for him, but there were still no results.
The empire even investigated everyone named Ash within its borders, but found no one matching his description. None of the empire's checkpoints had any records of him either.
It was as if Ash had suddenly evaporated from the world, disappearing completely without leaving even the slightest trace.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye, fifty years passed.
Flamme fulfilled her dream... and passed away peacefully.
And in accordance with her will, Frieren took her last letter and, after a long absence, returned to the underground ruins that had never changed.
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