Chapter 110 – The Bait
After being caught in Robin's nets four times in a row, Frieren finally chose to compromise.
"Let's make one thing clear, Robin," she said stiffly. "When we find the pig, I am not giving it to you."
Robin nodded in agreement.
"Fair enough. And at the very least, you won't mislead me with pig noises anymore. That's what makes it fair."
"Fair…?"
Frieren never thought she'd one day be discussing fairness with someone who didn't even understand mana.
The very existence of a mage was already unfair to non-mages.
Was Robin just pretending to be confident?
In the end, the two moved forward together.
Frieren put the pig snout back on and resumed her rhythmic "snort snort" calls.
But Robin made the first discovery.
"Frieren. Look."
He suddenly crouched down, sharp eyes fixed on the ground. There—faint but clear—were fresh hoofprints in the mud.
Frieren blinked.
"Hah. Tracking footprints? That's such an outdated method."
Robin stood up and scratched his head.
"Frieren, don't underestimate outdated methods."
"My Green family spent generations traveling the world—tracking enemies, searching for benefactors."
"Sometimes the old-fashioned way works better than magic. Like this footprint right here."
Frieren listened with mild disinterest and casually met his gaze.
His eyes were practically sparkling.
Was he expecting praise?
"Tch."
"It's just luck."
"Didn't your family still spend a full thousand years before finally finding Elias?"
"…Well. That's true."
Robin laughed awkwardly.
"Anyway, there's a mountain ridge ahead. The terrain cuts off completely."
"The wild boar has nowhere left to run."
He pointed forward.
Dense forest gradually thinned out toward jagged stone cliffs rising like a natural wall.
Frieren narrowed her eyes.
"So you're planning to corner it?"
Robin grinned.
"Exactly."
He reached into his storage pouch again and pulled out—another net.
Frieren stared at it.
"…How many of those do you actually carry?"
Robin looked thoughtful.
"Let's see. I brought extra, just in case I ran into trouble."
Frieren's eyelid twitched.
"By 'trouble'… you mean me, don't you?"
Robin coughed lightly.
"I was preparing for all possibilities."
Frieren folded her arms.
"Fine. What's the plan?"
Robin pointed toward the ridge.
"I'll circle around and block the exit. You drive it toward me."
Frieren froze.
"Drive it?"
Robin nodded seriously.
"With magic."
Frieren stared at him for a long moment.
"You… do realize I'm not a shepherd, right?"
"You're a mage," Robin replied matter-of-factly. "Isn't controlling the battlefield your specialty?"
For a second, Frieren almost snapped back.
But then she paused.
Controlling the battlefield.
That was true.
A mage didn't just throw spells around—they shaped the situation.
"Tch. Fine."
She lifted her chin.
"Watch carefully, barbarian."
Robin smirked.
"Don't worry. I won't mistake you for the pig this time."
"…You'd better not."
The two split up.
Robin vanished between the trees, silent and steady despite having no mana at all.
Frieren adjusted the pig snout on her face and whispered under her breath:
"Time to show him… what real magic looks like."
---
The two ventured deeper into the forest. Dense branches overhead blocked out most of the sunlight, and the world around them gradually dimmed.
Their footsteps grew lighter, both instinctively wary of something unseen.
Suddenly, Robin stopped—and grabbed Frieren's sleeve before she could continue forward.
"Wait, Frieren."
He deliberately lowered his voice.
"Don't you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
Frieren lifted her nose and sniffed the air carefully.
"…You're right."
She glanced at him sideways.
"Your nose is pretty sharp."
"Did the pig get injured and start bleeding?"
Robin's expression darkened.
"It's not a pig."
"It's a corpse."
Frieren's pupils trembled slightly.
Someone had died here.
What startled her even more was that Robin could distinguish the scent of blood between species—could even tell the difference between fresh blood and death.
Could someone truly do that without magic?
"…We proceed carefully."
They advanced only a dozen more steps before sunlight filtered into a clearing ahead.
A body hung from a tree.
Robin inhaled slowly.
"As expected."
"Looks like a young hunter. Ordinary man. Shame to die in a place like this."
"Frieren, we should bury him. Let him rest."
Robin moved to step forward—but Frieren caught his sleeve this time.
Now it was her turn to lower her voice.
"Wait."
Her sharp gaze fixed on the corpse, then shifted upward above it.
"Robin, someone like you—with no mana—you can only feel magical turbulence when mana erupts violently, right?"
"That's true."
Robin recalled the first night he met Elias.
"When Lord Elias released his mana, it nearly blew me off my feet."
Frieren gave a small hum.
"Then you probably can't sense the mana deliberately being emitted from that corpse."
"…Deliberately?"
"It's bait," Frieren said calmly. "Whatever killed that hunter is using his body to lure in mages like me—those sensitive to mana."
"Of course," she added smugly, "someone like you wouldn't understand this kind of trick."
She was just about to reveal the answer with dramatic flair—
"It's a Carrion Lurebird, isn't it?"
Frieren: (…!)
"You—how do you know that?"
Robin glanced at the corpse casually and even yawned.
"I told you, Frieren. The Green family has wandered the world for a thousand years."
"Except for the Demon King's castle at the northern edge—and the so-called Heaven no one's proven—we've been almost everywhere."
"A Carrion Lurebird? I've seen them before."
"…Oh."
Frieren answered faintly, biting down on her frustration.
He even knew that?
Had she really underestimated him?
"Regardless," Frieren stepped forward, back to Robin, staff in hand. "Magical matters should be handled by a mage."
"As for you, Robin…"
She turned back with a confident smile.
"Watch and learn."
Frieren approached the hanging corpse, summoned her staff, and lightly touched it.
—Whoosh!
A massive shadow dropped from the sky.
Frieren spun upward—
—BOOM!
In a burst of brilliant light, the Carrion Lurebird barely had time to struggle before disintegrating into black smoke.
She smiled faintly.
"Because Carrion Lurebirds are skilled at concealing their mana to lure prey, we can use that against them and lure them instead."
"That's the beauty of magi—"
—WHOOSH!!!
A second rush of air.
Frieren looked up—
Too late.
—Slash!
A flash of white steel cut through the air.
The second Carrion Lurebird split cleanly in two.
Robin stood behind her, shaking dark blood from his blade.
"Frieren," he said evenly, "did you forget?"
"Bird-type monsters rarely act alone. If there's one, there's almost always another."
Frieren: (…)
That feeling again.
Powerlessness.
What was wrong with today?
She had wanted to outshine Robin—yet somehow, even in magical knowledge, he had surpassed her.
While she stood silent, Robin had already buried the hunter properly.
"Frieren. Let's move."
"…Right."
Her mood complicated, she followed him quietly until they reached the base of a sheer cliff.
The only path forward was a cave entrance.
The hoofprints Robin found confirmed it—the pig had gone inside.
"Frieren. Ready?"
No answer.
"Frieren?"
"…Oh!"
She snapped back to attention.
"Wh—what?"
Robin studied her cautiously.
"You've been quiet for a while. What's wrong?"
"Oh, that? I was thinking."
She blinked innocently.
"I was thinking about how we'll carry the pig back once we catch it."
"That's easy!"
Robin thumped his chest confidently.
"I'll just throw a big net over it and drag it back."
He winked at her.
"Of course… finding the pig today will be partly your credit too."