That girl had very long pale golden hair, and reddish-brown eyes that lacked emotion. Even though her figure was small and delicate, she gave off a presence that couldn't be ignored.
Her overly long hair added a bit of softness and cuteness to her, like a kitten that had just woken up from a nap, carrying a trace of laziness and charm that made people want to get close and tease her a little.
And just like that, the girl in a blue and white dress, Sense, looked exactly the same as when she first met Ash. More than ten years had passed, yet not a single trace of time had been left on her.
'When we first met, she was already a first-class mage. By now, she should count as a very senior first-class mage, right?'
But her unchanged appearance and figure even made Ash wonder whether there really was magic in this world that could keep someone from aging or changing.
When she noticed him, this usually absent-minded, quiet girl widened her eyes in surprise, and rarely showed a faint smile in front of others, "Ash-sama, long time no see, seeing you makes me very happy."
"Same here, Sense. How have you been lately?", Seeing this cute girl, Ash couldn't help but smile warmly as well, reaching out to ruffle her slightly messy hair.
"Thanks to you, things have been going fairly well."
Sense narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly not too used to it, but unexpectedly she didn't dodge. There was only a hint of trouble on her face.
The mages passing by nearby all stopped and stared in shock.
After all, they had never seen this first-class mage, who rarely showed expressions, barely spoke, and always seemed high above everyone else, get her head patted by someone. And, it was a man they had never even seen before?
During this period, just like in the past, Ash would often sneak back to the royal capital, the Demon King's Castle, and even this branch office without telling Frieren and the others. So from time to time, he would run into Sense.
Since they had known each other for a long time, Ash completely treated her as a slightly quiet but very cute junior.
After all, since all first-class mages were Serie's disciples, Sense really was his junior sister. And one with quite a big difference in seniority.
Sense herself acknowledged that relationship. Not only was he her senior brother, he had once saved her when Serie was messing around, and he had taken pretty good care of her.
So she didn't resist the way he treated her like a younger generation. If she had the chance, she would always humbly ask him about magic.
Now, she simply let him pat her head. From somewhere, she pulled out a book, then looked up at him from below and stared at him:
"The formula you mentioned last time, I still couldn't understand it. If you have time, could you teach me? Or, are you going to leave again soon like last time?"
"No, no, this time I definitely have time. I plan to stay here longer."
"Is that so? Then, that's good," Sense nodded slightly, her calm expression giving away no clear emotion.
Their conversation ended just like that. If it were someone else, it might feel a bit awkward, but Ash was already used to her attitude.
At least now he understood that Sense was simply bad with words. She just didn't know what to say next.
Normally, once the conversation reached this point and Sense fell silent, Ash would set up a time for their next meeting to avoid making her feel awkward, and then end it there. But… he still intended to use internal connections and cheat his way into becoming a first-class mage. After thinking it over, he hesitated before speaking, "Sense."
"What is it?"
"Well… it's just… cough!"
It was rare for him to hesitate like that, leaving Sense confused, "Are you feeling unwell? I'll go call a priest."
"No! No!"
Seeing that Sense's feet had already left the ground and she was about to fly off, Ash quickly reached out and pressed down on her head, pushing her back down.
Most of the people around him were strange and thought differently from normal people, which made him a bit depressed. But right now he didn't plan to care about that. He half-crouched so his eyes were level with hers and asked quietly, "I need the status of a first-class mage right now. Can you just give me an ID certificate?"
"A first-class mage ID certificate?"
"Yeah."
"Why?", The strange request made Sense blink her lazy-looking eyes and tilt her head slightly, "Do you still need something like that?"
"There are all kinds of reasons. Are you in charge this year?"
"Yes. But you know too, in the end it's Lady Serie who makes the final decision. I can only…"
Even though Sense wanted to agree, she wasn't good at dealing with Serie. Their personalities were… not very compatible.
And Ash making this kind of request made her even more confused.
In Sense's view, getting official approval for Ash should be extremely easy. But in reality, Ash had his own difficulties.
Although he would handle some matters whenever he showed up at this branch, he had never truly taken over the position of branch chief.
Because he didn't want to be tied down here. Even when dealing with matters, he did it unwillingly. He had no interest in getting involved with the Magic Association. There were no benefits, and most of the time it just meant spending his own money to get into trouble.
And since first-class mages were Serie's disciples and also tied to her personal ultimate reward, Serie, who knew him well, understood that if he were allowed to make the final decision, he would definitely help a bunch of people get the magic they wanted.
So he was restricted. Even if he participated in the exam, it was only occasionally as a guest examiner. The final evaluation was still made by Serie.
After thinking hard for a while, Ash finally said firmly, "If it really doesn't work, just give me a document directly."
"That's a bit…"
"With so many years of friendship, you won't even agree to this small request?"
"It's not like that, it's just that this time Lady Serie also came over from the Holy Capital…", Since it involved Serie, Sense truly didn't want to get dragged into it. Her expressionless little face was filled with resistance.
"Serie? That lazy granny only cares about first-class mages. What a pain!", The news wasn't unexpected, but Ash knew that getting the special anti-counterfeit seal from Serie under the current circumstances was basically impossible.
Under normal conditions, Serie wouldn't care and would just give it to him. But, if Ash really wanted it, then Serie definitely wouldn't give it.
If it were a normal person, he could just trick them. But pretending not to care in front of Serie was hard. Her intuition was almost like foresight, strong like cheating.
So he could only set his sights back on the girl in front of him, who was already thinking about escaping.
"Sense, think of something."
"Even if you say that… I…"
"It's definitely easier for you than for me! And back then I cared about you so much. Now that you've grown up a little, are you abandoning this old man?"
Sense looked full of distress, while Ash kept shaking her shoulders, making the girl dizzy.
Even though her head was spinning, she still let him shake her and firmly refused to give in, "That's not it, Ash-sama… Other things are fine. But this one… It's either outside my ability, or simply impossible…"
"Have you forgotten what you said to me when I examined you back then?", He brought up the past with a passionate expression, even pounding his chest dramatically, "Has a comfortable life made you fall so far that you've forgotten your past bold words and thrown everything aside?"
His heated speech seemed to light up the atmosphere. But Sense felt like she had swallowed a fly. Unwillingly, she muttered, "Of course I remember. Back then, when you deliberately tried to knock me down, I said, "Turning the impossible into possible is what makes a first-class mage… So I would absolutely make the impossible possible.""
"Right, you still remember, don't you? Then!"
"But now I understand. Even first-class mages have limits," On this matter alone, Sense was extremely certain.
"Why? Giving up without even trying?"
"Because… trying to get something from Lady Serie without her permission is simply not something a human can do… Even if I'm a first-class mage, I'm still human…"
"Don't talk like that, Sense! Show me the courage of a human again! Believe in yourself, the one I believe in!"
Ash tried to reason with her, hoping to pull this self-doubting girl back up.
But even after pouring out a whole pot of motivational talk, Sense's resistance didn't fade. And before he could fire her up again… a strange female voice came from behind.
"Ash-sama! What are you doing?"
Fern, who had been slowly climbing the steps behind with Frieren, had just reached the platform when she saw Ash shaking a cute girl as if he was forcing her to do something.
She immediately quickened her pace and rushed over while shouting.
Before Ash could even turn around, Fern had already reached his side. She grabbed the hand he was using to shake Sense and glared at him angrily, "I was wondering why you suddenly ran so fast? I didn't expect… you were bullying a child here!"
"It's not… It's a bit different from bullying a child," Ash waved his hand to explain. Meanwhile, Sense let out a sigh of relief and tilted her head in confusion, muttering softly, "A child? Are you talking about me?"
"Then what were you doing?", Fern stared at him as if interrogating him on the spot.
"I was asking Sense for help," As soon as he told the truth, Sense didn't forget to state her position, "No matter what you say, that's something I can't do. Please don't make things difficult for me."
"Don't say that. Giving up before trying isn't your style. I just hope you can—"
Before Ash could finish improving his argument, Frieren, who had followed behind, interrupted and added fuel to the fire, "Forcing someone to do something they can't do, isn't that bullying? By the way… you actually have acquaintances in the magic city too."
"Forget about bullying. You have acquaintances too."
"Me? This child? No, I don't recognize her at all."
Frieren stared at Sense for quite a while. She could feel that the child was strong, but she had no memory of her at all.
Seeing that, Ash understood. She clearly hadn't heard that Serie was here.
But explaining it would probably be troublesome, so he gave up on clearing things up and planned to wait for her to find out herself.
Since Sense refused no matter how much he persuaded her, he finally gave up on taking a shortcut and sighed as he walked toward the counter.
But before he could take two steps, Fern pressed a hand on his shoulder and said expressionlessly, "Wait a moment, Ash-sama. You haven't apologized to this child yet."
"Yes, yes… Sorry, Sense. I'll treat you to a meal when we have time."
He turned back helplessly. Sense shook her head slightly, "No need to mind it… Actually, I'm sorry I couldn't help…"
"What a good child. Unlike someone," Frieren said meaningfully.
But Ash pretended not to hear and walked to the counter.
As expected, the young clerk there, whom he didn't know at all, handled things strictly by the book and regretfully informed them that they weren't qualified.
…There's really no way? Can't you make an exception? Like letting these two show their abilities?", Lacking confidence in herself, Fern excitedly pointed at the two of them, trying to reason her way through, "Their abilities are absolutely amazing! Definitely not worse than first-class mages!"
But the clerk looked just as helpless as Sense earlier.
"There's really no way. And this isn't something I can—"
"Let them participate," Sense, who hadn't left, walked over before the clerk could finish.
"L-Lady Sense?"
"Is what I say not enough?"
"H-How could that be? Since you say so, of course we can make a special exception!"
The clerk, clearly too nervous from speaking to Sense for the first time, quickly agreed and began registering their information.
There was no one else around anyway, so using connections a little wasn't a big deal. But…
"This world really is dark. Even the Magic Association relies on connections. One day I'll tear apart this hypocritical dark side!"
Noticing the surprise on Fern's face and seeing that everyone around except the clerk were people he knew, Ash put on the face of a righteous gentleman, as if he despised the act of opening a back door in the Magic Association.
Such overly upright words left Sense completely confused. If there really was a dark side, Ash himself would be the biggest one. Was he planning to tear himself apart?
Even Frieren looked at him blankly.
"Aren't you the one using your own connections? Slapping yourself in the face all of a sudden?"
"No, I don't actually want to do this either. It's just, I want to set a good example for Fern. Otherwise what if she starts thinking about crooked paths all the time?", Even though he felt it wasn't quite appropriate to say this now, he still spoke seriously to avoid leading the child astray.
"This is a special case, so we'll temporarily use a back door. But I will definitely find a way to expose this dark side."
"Ash-sama, you're saying things like that right in the headquarters of the Magic Association. Aren't you afraid of offending people?"
"It's fine?"
"In normal stories, what you just did is exactly the kind of behavior that gets someone silenced by the dark side right away! Please don't make such dangerous discoveries again!"
Fern spoke worriedly while glancing back, wanting to quickly express thanks and apologies.
But when she turned around, she realized that after bowing slightly to Ash, Sense had already disappeared.
"That child, she didn't go call someone to assassinate Ash-sama, did she?", Fern couldn't help but worry that things would turn out like the stories she had read recently.
But Frieren gently shook her head.
"No. Rather than being angry, she looked… honestly, I can't quite read it either. But there was no hostility."
"She wasn't angry?"
"No."
Frieren was very certain. Fern finally let out a sigh of relief and then lectured Ash, "Ash-sama! You absolutely can't say things like that next time, understand?"
"Seeing a child grow up to understand these things so well honestly makes me a bit sad."
"I'm not a child! And Ash-sama… next time you see her, you must properly thank her and properly apologize!"
"Mm!"
"And no bullying either. Absolutely not! Be polite! In the end… that child must be the daughter or granddaughter of some big figure in the Magic Association, right?"
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