Chapter 24: The Belated Arrival of Flamme: The Duties of a Disciple
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Flamme noticed the signs of battle in the distance and the beam of light cutting through the air. She rushed over but arrived a moment too late.
When she got to the scene, the battle had ended. To her surprise, many villagers were still alive. The demon general's armor and weapons lay abandoned on the ground, which indicated that the villagers had not only survived but also managed to defeat their enemies. In disbelief, she thought to herself, They actually won...
"What? Ash…?" she muttered as she spotted him.
"Oh, isn't this my dear senior sister? How have you been these days?" Ash replied casually.
"No, this is only our second meeting, right? What's with that blank expression and strange greeting, dear…?" Flamme looked at Ash with bewilderment, wondering, Is he mocking me?
"That's a misunderstanding. I just want to improve our relationship and break the ice."
"…Setting that aside for now, were you the one who dealt with this guy?" Flamme glanced at the remains of Bazalt's armor, but Ash pointed at Frieren and said, "Not entirely, since this one over here helped out."
"…This one…?" The strange introduction made Frieren, who was dragging a corpse, turn and shoot Ash an irritated look.
Flamme, still confused, asked, "What are you even doing here?"
"Obviously, I came here to study. But… I don't know how I got caught up in this mess." Ash sighed dramatically and shook his head.
Before Flamme could respond, Ash changed the subject, asking, "By the way, you should have returned by now, right? How is Serie doing? I mean, how's she feeling lately?"
"She's feeling inexplicably good, probably because you're not around."
"That's such a shame. I'm doing my best to fulfill my role as her disciple."
"I heard the master has been looking after you instead. Is that what you call being a responsible disciple?"
"You don't understand. With your short lifespan and my weaknesses, who knows when I'll die? I've got to make sure she can take care of herself when I'm not around, right?"
"…What you're saying makes sense, but aren't you just too lazy to do it yourself?"
"Yes, that's exactly it."
"…"
Ash nodded in agreement so earnestly that Frieren, who was standing nearby, didn't know what to say. Flamme, on the other hand, held her forehead in exasperation. She could already feel a headache coming on and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her master, who had raised such an oddball disciple.
Still, she decided to let it go for the moment. He's as strange as our master, she thought, just in his own way.
Flamme turned her attention to the group, particularly to Frieren, the strongest one among them. As she watched Frieren continue to drag the bodies, Flamme began speaking to her.
...
The two appeared to be discussing something, but Ash wasn't quite sure what. Not that he cared. He simply dug a pit to bury the fallen elves, and then sat beside it, sipping the wine Millie had given him.
"So, what are you going to do next, Millie?" He took a sip and glanced at the elf beside him.
"Are you going to just live a life of doing nothing?"
"…Is that even an option?" Millie replied.
"Sure! I don't want to end up like you."
"You should be more careful. The demons are slaughtering elves. Why don't you try learning some magic?"
"Well… I'll be more cautious next time." Millie, who was always lively yet somehow quirky for an elf, stood up with a smile and began walking toward Frieren. She waved goodbye to Ash without turning around and called out, "I'm off. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to meet again sometime~"
"Ahh… bye."
Even though they said their goodbyes, they both knew that, without any sort of agreement, meeting again in such a vast world was unlikely, almost a luxury.
Millie, without mentioning it further, smiled as she went to say her goodbyes to Frieren.
After burying their fallen comrades, the other villagers also prepared to leave. But before that, Ash and Frieren departed first, accompanied by Flamme, who, for reasons unknown, had decided to take Frieren as her apprentice.
"Speaking of which, Frieren..." Ash, now carrying Frieren on his back, suddenly looked back as if he had just remembered something.
Hearing his unexpectedly excited tone, Frieren, who was lying on his back, became immediately suspicious. "What is it?"
"You've become Flamme's disciple, right? Doesn't that make you my nephew? In that case, shouldn't you call me uncle-master?"
"...Are you forgetting that I also taught you magic?" she countered, unimpressed.
"Well then, how about this: I'll call you my nephew, and you can just call me by my name. We can each mind our own business. Deal?"
"No matter how you put it, I'm the one who'd be losing out. So, no," Frieren replied, turning her head away, clearly uninterested in continuing this ridiculous conversation.
Flamme, walking beside them, placed a hand on her forehead, refusing to get involved in this strange exchange.
Just as Ash was about to keep pressing the matter, three cloaked demons suddenly appeared at the side of the road.
Initially, they had concealed themselves, but upon seeing that the trio were magicians, they emerged, much like Bazalt had done earlier, demanding they hand over the elf.
"Demons are predictable like this," Flamme began, speaking to no one in particular. "Though they're deceitful and cunning, they also pride themselves on their magic. They'll never attack a magician by surprise. They always want a 'fair' fight..."
While she spoke in an oddly casual and vulgar tone, Flamme let Frieren down from Ash's back, signaling that he was about to surrender. However, she continued talking slowly:
"You see, when it comes to magic, demons are arrogant. They have full confidence in the spells they've studied for years. In other words, they're just pompous idiots."
Without warning, Flamme raised her hand, and a golden light flashed. In the blink of an eye, the hillside nearby transformed into a massive crater over 20 meters wide from the explosion.
After this display, Flamme turned back to Ash and Frieren, her expression calm and indifferent. "They were skilled magicians, but even the most skilled can die from a simple mistake. Magicians live an extreme life—our bodies are much weaker than those of warriors. If we're careless, even a child could kill us."
"Is that why you've been concealing your magic power?" Ash asked, noting the intense aura now emanating from her. "But how long have you been hiding it? Surely not all the time?"
"Exactly. By making the enemy misjudge my power, I deceive them and take their life, disgracing the so-called 'noble' art of magic. That's my most despicable tactic."
"...You're a bit strange," Ash remarked, raising an eyebrow. "You were just calling magic 'bullshit,' but now you're calling it noble?"
At the end of her speech, Flamme lowered her eyes, a sorrowful expression on her face. It became clear to Ash that she was speaking more to herself than anyone else, certainly not to the now-obliterated demons.
"...I love magic, but I also hate it."
"Haha..."
"Anyway, let's head back," Flamme said, changing the subject. "We need to inform the master that we've accepted a new disciple."
Ignoring Ash's perplexed expression, Flamme started walking ahead, not waiting for a response.
Ash, feeling somewhat helpless, continued to carry Frieren on his back as he followed behind.
The one thing they were grateful for, after being attacked repeatedly, was that they were heading in a different direction from Millie. Since the demons had come from elsewhere, they didn't need to worry about the safety of the villagers or Millie for the time being.
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T/N: Bring forth unto me the power stones, be they cursed or blessed. For with Them Shall I rise in rankings.