Back then, Ash had only wanted to drop by and see an old friend, so he made a short visit and, on the way, brought the monster army supporting the pass to the nearby area.
The attack on the village wasn't his order at all. It was purely a group of monsters that had gone out of control after breaking free from Aura's control, and even dealing with their frontal lobe had no effect.
And the moment they stepped into the village's territory, this still vigorous old dwarf warrior cut them down.
"At that time, I thought we would end up fighting—No," Halfway through, Old Man Voll shook his head, "Rather, I probably would have been killed by you."
"That's a bit harsh. I wouldn't kill my own friend over a single monster."
"But you're doing something very dangerous."
"Probably."
"Can you guarantee you won't harm this village?"
"There's nothing in this world that can be guaranteed."
Just like the old man in front of him, whose emotions barely fluctuated, Ash replied calmly.
"If this village stands in the way of my goal, then I can only remove it."
"But if you destroy this village, I will find a way… to deliver death to you."
"Can you do it?"
"No matter how hard I try, these old bones of mine are no match for a young man like you."
Old Man Voll didn't boast, but he didn't back down either. He continued in an even tone.
"But now, I'm only fulfilling a promise I made long ago. I don't have many years left anyway. At the very least, I should keep my word."
"Keeping a promise, huh..."
Ash nodded faintly, his tone almost hollow.
"I remember your wife was human. She's been dead for over three hundred years. You've guarded this village for nearly four hundred years, haven't you? You never thought of giving up?"
"What about you? Why do something so dangerous?"
"There are many reasons."
"Why not just say one?"
Tonight, Old Man Voll was unexpectedly pressing him.
"When I was young, life was a bit hard. So I thought, instead of just scraping by, I might as well bare my fangs at this world with blood. Something like that."
"Did it work?"
"Partially."
At this point, he only casually gave one of his reasons and stopped talking, closing his eyes to continue refining his magic.
After a long silence, Ash suddenly asked, "Come to think of it, after all these years, do you still remember what your wife looked like?"
"To be honest, I can't recall it anymore. Her face, her voice, her eyes. I can't remember any of it. But even so, I still remember that I'm protecting this village for something important. So even if I have to cross blades with an old friend, I won't regret it."
"Is that so?"
After such a long silence, that answer made Ash feel like the old man was joking. At least, forgetting his wife should have been a joke.
If he had truly forgotten everything, then why keep this promise?
He couldn't help thinking that. But Old Man Voll suddenly asked, "Ash, this time you're with Frieren again. What are you going to do? You're not dragging her into something strange, are you? Or are you finally going to defeat the Demon King?"
"Defeat the Demon King?"
"What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing."
Ash hesitated for a moment, but quickly gave up on telling him that the Demon King had already been defeated.
No matter how cut off this village was, after so many years, it was impossible he didn't know that the Demon King had already been defeated, 'So, did he forget?'
The matter of the Demon King. And his wife.
"Ash."
"What now?"
"Even though you don't really seem like a good person, being able to see you all again at the end of my life is truly a good thing."
"You said the same thing to Frieren eighty years ago."
"Then when you leave, I'll say it to her again."
"..."
'Wait, what? Why?', Ash looked at the old man who had closed his eyes again. He really couldn't understand him.
After thinking it over, he chose not to say anything more. He stopped training for the moment and sighed softly, looking up at the sky.
Gazing at the night sky that hadn't changed in a thousand years, he couldn't be sure, 'If three hundred years passed, will I still remember Fern?'
To be honest, he didn't have much confidence.
But now, he no longer regretted the decision to take Fern in back then.
Even after so many years, he had already forgotten what that first friend had looked like.
And now, that thought wasn't even because Fern was that friend's descendant.
———
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
Frieren and Old Man Voll seemed to talk happily during those days. When they left, Voll even seemed to have dreamed of his wife again after reminiscing about the past.
Though whether that dream would allow him to remember everything about her, no one knew.
Even so, Frieren was in unusually good spirits when they left.
But once they were some distance away from the village, she suddenly looked at Ash and said gloomily, "Ash… Old Man Voll probably doesn't have much time left."
"Is that so?"
"He's even forgotten everything about his wife."
"The average lifespan of a dwarf is only three hundred years. He's already lived a very long life. There's no need to be sad."
"Won't you be sad?"
"Birth, aging, illness, and death are constants since ancient times. There's no meaning in being sad about something you'll have to face sooner or later. What about you, do you still remember what Flamme looked like?"
"Honestly, it's a bit blurry," Frieren absentmindedly rubbed the pages of the book she was reading as she walked, her expression dim.
"Maybe one day, I'll forget what you and Fern look like too."
"Then when that time comes, just make new friends."
Ash smiled and shook his head, casually patting her head.
"Sometimes forgetting the past is what lets you live better."
"Easy for you to say!"
His offhand answer made Frieren unexpectedly angry. She slapped his hand away and walked ahead quickly.
That surprised him. He instinctively looked at Fern.
"What's wrong with her? That was a pretty normal thing to say, wasn't it?"
"That was your fault, Lord Ash. Please apologize properly later."
"Huh? My fault?"
Ash pointed at his own face in surprise, then instinctively looked at Sein.
"You're a priest. You comfort people all the time. You should understand that was the most appropriate thing to say…"
"Sometimes I really don't know what's going on with you. You're usually smart, aren't you? So why would you say something like that at a time like this?"
"I understand it might upset someone. But instead of avoiding it, shouldn't you give a solution to the problem?"
"Is there really a good solution for something like that?"
Sein didn't argue with that overly rational answer. He just scratched his head and gave a wry smile.
The topic ended there because it couldn't continue.
On the road north afterward, Frieren remained sulking. Sein, meanwhile, kept asking around in villages about his best friend who had set off ten years earlier, the "Gorilla Warrior."
His real name was unknown. That was just what he called himself. Because of that overly distinctive nickname, some villagers actually knew where he had gone.
But while traveling north along the main road, they unexpectedly came across scattered dismembered corpses and a few fallen weapons.
"This… bandits?", Frieren observed the bodies and quickly gave her judgment, "Looks like a mage's work. And a very skilled one."
"Didn't they say this country was safe? Why are there still bandits?"
Sein frowned while gathering the bodies, muttering to himself. It oddly felt like being back in his homeland.
"What are you saying? No matter the era or how good public order is, you can't completely eliminate criminals. And this is a trade route. Of course there will be robberies," Ash couldn't help arguing when he heard that.
And the moment he noticed the corpses, he instinctively covered Fern's eyes.
Ash's overly quick movement meant Fern didn't see anything at first. But from their conversation, she could more or less guess what they had found.
She wasn't happy at all about that kind of protection. She even pouted.
"Lord Ash, I understand being biased toward your own country. But I'm not a child anymore. Can you stop covering my eyes like that? I've seen killing scenes before too."
"But it's not good for a child's education."
"I already said I'm not a child!"
Saying that angrily, Fern pulled his hand down herself.
When the scene of scattered body parts came into view, her face turned a little pale.
But it was only discomfort. There wasn't any further reaction.
That made Ash quietly breathe a sigh of relief, "The child really has grown up."
Still, he couldn't help thinking, 'Even before our journey, Fern has experienced war as a child. She must have seen all kinds of corpses already.'
"It feels a bit sad," He muttered that unconsciously.
Fern blinked, "W-What? I wasn't a child to begin with."
For some reason, when she argued back, she looked a little like a child who had done something wrong.
Sein, meanwhile, couldn't tell what Ash was sad about, 'That the child has grown up? Or mourning these dead bandits?'
The moment he considered the possibility that Ash might feel sympathy for bandits, Sein quickly shook his head.
"No, no matter how you think about it, that's impossible!"
"I feel like you just thought something very rude about me."
"Was it really rude?"
"I don't know what you were thinking, but… forget it."
Ash wasn't that sensitive about things people didn't say out loud. To avoid trouble, he didn't bother pursuing it.
But when he noticed Sein squatting down to gather the bodies, he couldn't help shaking his head.
"What are you doing? Your hands will get dirty."
"I've always felt this. Isn't your focus on things a little off?"
"But they're bandits."
"They're still the dead."
Without turning his head, Sein replied, "When someone dies, everything disappears. At least as a priest, I should offer them one last mercy."
"But they probably did a lot of bad things."
"Probably, right?"
"The chances are high they killed and committed arson. And judging from how scattered their weapons are, they were probably killed while committing a crime. From that perspective, they got what they deserved."
After observing the scene carefully, Ash gave his answer.
"Maybe. But I'm a priest. You can't expect a priest to ignore the dead."
"Even if you're a drinking, meat-eating, gambling priest?"
"Even so, I'm still a priest."
Even though he was a priest who liked older women and gambling, Sein was still a man of principles.
Even after being told that, he stubbornly insisted on burying the remains.
Ash was a little surprised at how serious he was about his job. In the end, he shook his head and used magic to help move the remains into a small grove by the road. He casually blasted a pit and helped bury them.
Even after they were buried, Sein carefully piled a small mound of stones on top as a grave marker.
Frieren, who had been quiet until now, suddenly appeared beside Ash and said softly, "I thought you'd stand by and watch the whole time."
"I was more surprised that Sein actually fulfilled his duties as a priest."
"No. I wasn't surprised about Sein. I was surprised about you. I thought you'd just stay out of it."
"Is that so? Hm, Your impression of me is really harsh. Remember to apologize to me later."
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