Amid the stunned silence of everyone present, Flamme slowly walked toward Frieren and drew the white-haired, twin-tailed Elf into her arms.
"Frieren, you really haven't grown even a little, have you."
Flamme murmured softly — and at the sound of her teacher's voice, Frieren came back to herself as if waking from a dream.
"I... well, I'm an Elf. My body stopped the moment I came of age."
"Mm, true enough. Your outward appearance may never change — but your inner self certainly has. I can tell just from looking at your eyes... these past years must have brought you a great deal of growth."
Flamme reached out and gently patted Frieren on the head, then shifted her gaze toward Serie, who stood to the side.
Then, Flamme slowly stepped forward half a pace and lowered herself onto one knee before Serie.
"Sensei... it has been a long time."
"Flamme — so you too were dragged back by that girl Fíliya."
Serie's heart was, of course, shaken beyond measure — but the more overwhelming the moment, the stronger that peculiar, stubborn impulse rose within her.
Mm... I absolutely cannot let the others see any weakness in me. One person who can see through me is already more than enough.
"Yes. Like that Hero, I too am someone Fíliya has resurrected."
"Is that so... Then why did she not place you under her control as well?"
"On that point — I believe it is because Fíliya, strange as her personality may be, still holds to a certain respect for her teachers. Once she understood that I would not become her ally, she let me go without hesitation, and did nothing to me."
"...And what do you make of... everything Fíliya has done."
"Mm, I truly did not expect Fíliya to go this far — but as a teacher, one sometimes has no choice but to deal with the mess a student leaves behind. So after taking a little time to familiarize myself with this new world, I immediately chose to come to the human side."
Serie seemed to find something deeply familiar in Flamme's words, and gave a quiet nod, asking nothing further.
Tch... She refused me back then — and ended up taking Flamme as her master instead.
Serie thought to herself, feeling somewhat displeased.
But clearly, she was not the only one in the room with questions burning in her mind.
"I cannot understand — what exactly is Fíliya trying to accomplish? Why would she allow... allow you to come here? I expect a straight answer. This is not something that can be brushed aside."
Genau stepped forward immediately, directing his question squarely at Flamme.
"She did not say so outright — but I believe it is because... she feels that the balance of power in this conflict is far too lopsided. So she has chosen this as a means of evening the scales."
Flamme met Genau's gaze steadily. Though she was being challenged point-blank, she found herself rather impressed by the sharpness of this young man before her.
"What is that supposed to mean? Is she saying she already considers herself invincible — that she looks down on us?!"
Genau's brow furrowed.
"Precisely. And as for that girl's arrogance — I imagine those of you who watched her grow up understand it far better than I do."
"Tch..." Genau let out a sharp click of his tongue, clearly irritated — but on reflection, this was exactly the sort of thing that girl was capable of doing.
"Well then — does anyone else have questions? I'm quite looking forward to exchanging ideas with the young mages of this era."
Seeing Genau fall silent, Flamme turned her attention to the others.
Among them, the expression on Miss Sense's face was by far the most animated — but after a long moment of visible hesitation, she ultimately did not step forward.
"For security reasons, I believe you should submit to an inspection — just as the Hero did."
When no one spoke, Genau stepped forward once again.
"Genau?"
Falsch and Sense, standing nearby, both frowned at once — privately thinking that this man had a remarkable talent for saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time.
"My apologies — but if you truly are Flamme, the Great Mage of a thousand years past, you should have no reason to refuse a routine inspection. We must confirm that everything is safe. No one can be entirely certain whether you are genuinely in control of yourself, or only believe you are — while some hidden risk lies dormant beneath the surface."
Genau pressed on, apparently not believing for a moment that he had misspoken.
"Genau, you are overstepping. If the Lady Flamme before us were compromised, Lady Serie would naturally be the one to identify it. Or are you suggesting that your own judgment supersedes Lady Serie's?"
Even Lernen — who rarely involved himself in disputes — spoke up at this, reprimanding Genau.
"...That is not what I meant... I simply wanted to ensure against any possibility."
Hearing the venerable elder Lernen reject his judgment, Genau finally reined himself in.
Watching him, nearly every other First-Class Mage who knew his personality let out a quiet, synchronized sigh.
This man — if he were simply mute, he might actually have more friends.
"It's fine. I am perfectly willing to cooperate with any form of inspection. This young man is quite good — he didn't shrink back just because of my reputation. In a situation like this, that questioning spirit is exactly what is needed."
The subject of the challenge herself — Flamme — stepped in and offered Genau a word of defense.
"Speaking of which... Fíliya did entrust me with something."
Flamme shifted direction abruptly, and those words immediately seized the attention of everyone present.
After all, any intelligence connected to Fíliya had to be treated as the highest priority.
"This, right here."
In Flamme's hand, a tome appeared — its surface radiating a deep, pitch-black luminescence.
"A grimoire?"
Out of habit, everyone took the book-shaped object to be a grimoire.
"Yes and no. This object does share properties with a grimoire — but it is something far more dangerous. Even I have no way of opening it. As for what is written inside, Fíliya did not tell me. She only said to bring it to Lady Serie, and that Lady Serie would understand."
Flamme said this with a look of mild helplessness — because she genuinely had no idea what lay within its pages.
"Lady Serie, I would advise that something of unknown origin and unknown effect be sealed away for the time being... In case Fíliya embedded some kind of trap within it..."
Genau stepped forward once more with his recommendation.
"There's no need... I know exactly what this is."
Serie gave Genau a quiet wave of the hand, then narrowed her eyes and fixed an unwavering stare upon the tome.
Because from where she stood, the tome glowing with that dark, spectral light was saturated — unmistakably — with the aura of destruction.
What was recorded within it, then, was not so difficult to guess.
Serie had watched in full, firsthand, the moment Fíliya awakened that magic. And so — not for herself alone, but for her mages as well — she had once tried to guide them in replicating the process of Fíliya's awakening.
But aside from Fíliya, not a single one of them had succeeded.
Because... the principle was something anyone could understand — but to extract from humble, everyday spells like Cleaning Magic or Dust-Removal Magic the abstract, conceptual essence of erasure and destruction — that was simply asking too much of any ordinary person.
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