Chapter 30: News
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At first, after hearing Frieren's account, Flamme felt a little uneasy, but she wasn't too worried about what might happen.
However, for some reason, Ash didn't return the next day.
This wasn't completely unusual—sometimes things came up. Though he might get injured, he always came back unharmed in the end.
After all, with Ash's strength, there really wasn't much to worry about. But as the third day passed, then the fourth, and even a month, two months...
They began to think he had suddenly left without saying goodbye. But when they went back to Serie, they realized he hadn't returned there at all.
At Flamme request, the emperor sent out search parties, but nothing was found.
The empire even investigated everyone named Ash in the country, but no one matched the description. There was no news of him at any of the empire's checkpoints either.
It was as if Ash had evaporated from the face of the earth, vanishing without a trace, leaving no sign of his existence.
And just like that, fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.
Flamme fulfilled her dream... and then died of old age.
According to her will, Frieren returned to the unchanged underground ruins, carrying her final note.
The world around her continued to change, but this palace filled with books, and the elf girl on the throne, seemed frozen in time—a corner forgotten by the world, quietly watching history unfold, yet remaining completely unchanged from the first time she had seen it.
Even Serie, sitting on her throne, looked no different than before.
"... Frieren, I thought it was Ash," Serie remarked, still half-reclined on her throne, looking down at the familiar figure below with a hint of sarcasm.
"If I'm not mistaken, you hate me. Why have you come here alone? Honestly, I thought we'd never see each other again."
"Ash is probably dead... Even if he survived, he likely died of old age, like the teacher."
"...Dead? I see." Frieren's news of both deaths caused Serie to pause for a moment, but then she smiled.
"It's been half a century since you last came here. No news of him at all? So, he's dead, is he?"
"...Aren't you sad?" Frieren asked, her expression blank as she stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"I only took them on as disciples on a whim," Serie replied, waving her hand dismissively, making Frieren's note float into the air. Without even looking at it, she asked, "But for you, weren't they the closest people to you? Aren't you sad that both of them are gone?"
"Am I sad? I... don't know," Frieren sighed, feeling hollow as she lowered her head in sorrow and murmured softly, "When I think about it... there's still so much I don't understand about both the teacher and Ash... But if I had agreed to go with him that day, maybe... maybe he wouldn't have disappeared so suddenly."
"What, are you crying?"
"I don't know... I just feel empty inside," Frieren whispered. "I've been thinking about it for the past fifty years... over and over..."
She hadn't shed tears when she buried Flamme... She just couldn't understand why the people around her were crying. But now, Serie's words made her heart surge with inexplicable emotions, and her eyes became warm.
But just as tears flowed down her cheeks for the first time in her life, Serie, sitting on the throne with one hand on her chin and looking at the suicide note, suddenly said:
"Although normally Ash should be dead, my intuition tells me that he is still alive."
"Still... alive?"
"You know what? My instinct."
"...Then do you know where he is?"
"I don't know, it's just intuition, not divination."
"Don't you know all kinds of magic? Why can't you tell fortunes?"
"I told you last time that that kind of convenient magic is monopolized by that goddess. Even if you know it, it won't be effective." Serie seemed quite unhappy as she brought this up.
But Frieren was completely confused: "...Can something like that also be monopolized?"
"Just think of it as a huge barrier that covers the entire planet. It'll be easier to understand that way."
"Just as...? What exactly is it?"
"How would I know exactly? If I knew, I would be a god."
For some reason, she was called the magician closest to God.
However... as for the true realm of God, she had been standing still for thousands of years.
Precisely because her strength had stagnated, she spent a lot of time learning various magic and skills.
This also included the technique of hiding one's breath, which she herself thought was very impractical, and some strange legendary magic that was very convenient but couldn't be used in combat—it could only clean clothes or produce a floral scent...
...
Is what Serie said true? Even though there was no evidence, that intuitive answer alone was enough for Frieren.
Because Serie's intuition was almost indistinguishable from magic and was very worthy of recognition, just knowing that Ash was not dead greatly reduced the regret and remorse in her heart.
The heavy stone that had been weighing on her heart finally fell, allowing her to leave the ruins and finally sleep in peace after half a century.
However, she didn't know whether Ash had died of old age or what.
After that, no matter how much time passed—whether it was a hundred years, two hundred years, or even three hundred years—she never met that figure again.
Perhaps, after his master's death, he had quietly returned to that distant, unknown hometown and peacefully completed his life's journey amid the laughter of his descendants.
...Sure, that's right.
With a glimmer of hope in her heart, as well as a faint sadness and nostalgia that couldn't be concealed— Frieren couldn't help but pray like this.