"No, I just said, she'll normally cry for three days and three nights. Tomorrow you definitely won't have time."
"Please don't joke. How could a human cry for that long?"
"She's an elf."
"Elves are also a kind of human," Fern directly denied his point, then looked back at Frieren and sat down beside the two of them, gently whispering,
"Lady Frieren, please don't cry. Lord Ash already knows he was wrong."
"N-no way! Sob… he doesn't know at all!"
"N-no! I already apologized."
"He didn't! This guy… sob! he was like this before, and he's still like this now!"
While wiping her tears, Frieren turned her head away in resistance, her attitude clearly showing she didn't really want Fern to interfere.
But seeing that she was still sitting on Ash, Fern lightly glared at him, then directly reached out and picked Frieren up onto her own lap. She held her gently like a mother holding a child, stroking her head and offering warm words.
That motion and demeanor were exactly the same as what Ash had once done for her. Or rather, she had learned it from him.
But even using the same template, a different person couldn't achieve the same result.
Frieren continued crying without restraint. After Fern talked to her for a long time with no effect, she couldn't help but look at Ash and ask, "Lord Ash, could you properly explain what's going on with Lady Frieren?"
"How would I know?"
"But when fighting or something, even if people mention that kind of thing, she doesn't react at all."
"Because if it's someone she's not familiar with, it doesn't matter."
"Is this some kind of childish tantrum?"
"That's just how it is," Under Fern's puzzled gaze, he shook his head, lay back down on the bed again, pulled the blanket over himself, and said without turning around, "Anyway, I'm going to sleep first. Frieren, take your time. If you really can't handle it, you can sleep too."
"I'm not like you, Lord Ash, being so mean! I won't leave Lady Frieren alone and let her keep crying like this!"
Fern turned back and glared at him, making that declaration, and then spent the rest of the night trying to comfort the crying elf, until dawn.
After a whole night of effort from Fern without any sleep, Frieren, quite naturally, was still crying. It could even be said that there was no result at all.
After it proved useless, Fern finally gave in and completely believed that Ash hadn't exaggerated.
But at dawn, when Ash wanted to leave, Frieren kept following him, and Fern even threatened that since he caused the problem, he had to solve it himself, or she would start crying too.
Left with no options, he could only endure the crying while reading on his own.
At noon, when Kanne and Lawine came over, they saw Ash lying on a rocking chair reading with earplugs in, while Frieren crouched beside him hugging her knees and wailing. They were so shocked by the scene that they thought Ash had done something utterly inhumane.
Fern, already looking depressed, explained the situation. They could only laugh helplessly and shake their heads, then volunteered to comfort Frieren, but in the end, there was no result.
The two girls who had volunteered couldn't stand the noise for long and quickly ran away.
Frieren really did cry like that for three days and three nights, driving both Fern and Ash to the brink of a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, she herself seemed to feel it was enough, then wiped her tears, put her hands on her hips proudly, and puffed out her completely unremarkable chest.
That rather smug expression made Ash want to hit her just by looking at it, but worried she'd start crying again, he could only give up. Fern, on the other hand, patted her chest in relief for quite a while, then thoughtfully handed her a warm towel, helped wipe her face, wash her hair, and took care of this "overaged child" as usual.
The noisy days lasted three days before finally returning to calm. After that, Fern and Frieren, exhausted, fell asleep together on the same bed.
———
The next morning, the sunlight was just right.
But the atmosphere in the courtyard wasn't very good. Though it wasn't because the northern air was colder and tenser than the central lands.
It was simply because on both sides of Ash, who was lying on the rocking chair reading, Fern and Frieren were staring at him in a posture that looked like an interrogation.
Ash tried to ignore them, but they were strangely persistent. Frieren even stepped on the rocking chair, stopping it from moving, forcing him to face them.
"What is it now?"
"Lord Ash! Where exactly did you go these past few days? Explain it properly! Why did you run away on your own birthday?", Not only did Fern puff up her cheeks in anger, even Frieren stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at him angrily.
"That's right! I made so many hamburg steaks, and in the end I had to eat them all myself. How are you going to take responsibility for that?"
"That's a bit complicated to explain…"
"Even if it's complicated, you still have to explain it clearly!", Right now, Fern looked like an angry pufferfish, her puffed cheeks seeming like they'd burst if poke. Though the current atmosphere didn't allow it, otherwise he would've definitely poked them.
"Mm… I'll explain…"
He had already prepared an excuse, so after organizing it a bit, he combined the fabricated story with actual circumstances and told it to the two of them.
As he spoke, he also thought to himself that he would probably leave for the royal capital tomorrow… but how should he prevent Aura from acting recklessly, and what kind of explanation would be better to prepare?
A perfect explanation was honestly a bit too much to ask.
After all, neither Frieren nor Fern were stupid. Though perhaps because Frieren had raised her, both of them could be a bit slow at times.
To avoid saying too much and making mistakes, or exposing flaws somewhere, he only gave a simple description.
Because of the Empire's sudden attack, a friend of his in the kingdom had requested his help. With no way to refuse, he hastily went to the battlefield, helped with the defense and necessary planning, and even guarded a fortress seized from the Empire for a while.
In short, he kept everything as vague as possible, framing it mainly as a favor he couldn't refuse, forcing him to step in for a while.
But even this somewhat vague explanation unexpectedly made Fern gradually shift from her angry pufferfish state into one of concern. She even looked him up and down worriedly.
"You didn't also go onto the battlefield, did you? Are you injured anywhere? Should we go to the temple to check?"
"What do you take me for? How could I get injured that easily?"
"Really? You didn't go anywhere dangerous?"
"I didn't encounter any danger at all. But thank you, Fern. I knew you'd be worried about me," He didn't answer directly, instead smiling as he stood up and gently stroked her smooth purple hair, trying to ease her worry.
Because he knew Fern truly worried about him going to the battlefield.
The girl who usually kept a serious expression still frowned, clearly wanting to ask more.
But Frieren, standing to the side, seemed to understand that Ash didn't want to talk about the details. She silently sighed, then suddenly interrupted,
"By the way, why are you helping the kingdom to this extent? You've never really talked about that before, have you?"
"That… well, it's a bit complicated."
"Then do you know that the kingdom is cooperating with great demons?"
"You could say I know," He turned his face away vaguely.
That subtle movement was immediately caught by Frieren, who narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why…"
"Don't you know how dangerous great demons are?", Frieren's tone suddenly became extremely serious.
"Demons themselves are already very dangerous. Great demons are the best among them. It's not an exaggeration to say that in human history there haven't been many great mages, but every great demon can rival one. Even for me, dealing with them usually means risking my life. Some of them… even risking my life wouldn't be enough."
"Are they really that dangerous?", Driven by curiosity, Fern couldn't help but ask.
"I told you before. If you encounter them, you must run immediately. Even though Fern is a genius, if you want to stand against them, it would take at least half a century," When it came to matters of life and death, Frieren was extremely serious. Seeing Fern still didn't fully understand, she added, "A powerful great demon… even if it's not just me, but the Hero's party back then fighting together, we would still have to risk our lives. Like the immortal Bose. If he hadn't underestimated us, he wouldn't have died by our hands."
"That exaggerated?"
"It's not an exaggeration. Many demons' magic completely surpasses human imagination. My master once said that some demons' magic is as unbelievable as what's described in fairy tales. Even after a thousand years, it's still like that. If we're just talking about raw combat strength, the most extreme right now would be someone like Macht of the Golden Land. He's basically an unbeatable calamity."
Thinking of that completely unstoppable monster, Frieren couldn't help but let out a long breath.
"Even now, I still can't imagine a scenario where he could be defeated."
"That guy really is troublesome," Ash unconsciously sat back in the rocking chair, nodding as he swayed.
But before he could agree further, Frieren's face darkened and she stomped on the chair again, stopping it abruptly.
"Don't try to brush this off. You understand what I'm trying to say, right?"
"Great demons are dangerous, I know that," He spread his hands helplessly.
That clearly missed the point and didn't satisfy Frieren.
"What I mean includes that, but more importantly, the kingdom is cooperating with great demons, and you didn't stop it. Aren't you afraid that the tragedy of the fortress city Weise, being completely covered in gold, will happen again?"
"Humans need to make progress to improve. If they just stay stuck and refuse to move forward, how can they develop? Didn't the Empire cooperate with great demons before too?"
"But the Empire already suffered a heavy backlash, you know that, right?", The tragedy of the fortress city Weise made Frieren grit her teeth unconsciously, raising her voice.
"And back then in Weise, Macht only killed remnants of the Demon King's army and demon generals. That was using demons' nature of not caring about their own kind to fight demons. But now the kingdom is directly letting demons deal with humans…"
"So what's the problem? For a nation, as long as it's an enemy, what difference does it make whether it's humans or demons?"
"That's true, but you also know now that there's a mastermind behind the demons trying to rise again. They might already have gathered enough strength, and even humans might be under control… wait? Could what Serie mentioned be the kingdom?", Halfway through speaking, she frowned and lowered her head, troubled.
"No, the one actually starting the war is the Empire. And the Empire also cooperated with demons before. Whether they still are now, no one knows."
As Frieren continued, she gradually became confused herself.
The complex situation wasn't something a laid-back mage like her could grasp. Not to mention, she had no real source of information. Everything came from hearsay or deductions based on what she had seen along the way.
So the argument between the two sides ended without any real conclusion.
———
Without reaching a result, Frieren returned to her room to think deeply, trying to organize the scattered information and figure out whether the Empire or the Kingdom was the problem.
Of course, if you had to say which was suspicious. Actually, both were.
But compared to Frieren, who was worrying about the bigger picture, Fern stayed behind, continuing to stare at him.
"What now, why are you staring at me like that? If you've got something to say, just say it properly?", Ash quietly moved his chair back a bit, afraid that Fern might also step on it. He didn't want to experience that sudden stop again.
Seeing him like that, Fern lowered her eyes helplessly, a faint bitter smile on her lips, and handed over a box she had been hiding behind her.
"No need to guard against me like that, this is your birthday present, Lord Ash."
"What is it?", He instinctively shook the small, specially wrapped box.
"You'll know if you open it."
"Mm… a pocket watch?", Under her urging, he opened the box without delay. Inside was a finely crafted silver pocket watch. Compared to ordinary ones, it had an extra hand, seemingly for timing.
'If that's the case, next time when killing someone, I can say I'll give them one full round of time?', Ash examined it and tried it out, noticing that the lowest hand moved twice as fast as the second hand. One full rotation was about 30 seconds.
"Yes," Fern, unaware of what he was thinking, said seriously, "You've always lacked a sense of time. With this, it should help you develop a stronger sense of it. When you want to delay, you can just turn it once, and when the round ends, you must start acting."
"But… I don't think I really have a procrastination problem?", Ash muttered in a voice only he could hear, but didn't dwell on it. He stood up, casually patted her head, and smiled.
"Thanks, Fern. I like it a lot."
"Really? That's good," Just hearing that made Fern's lips curve up unconsciously. The bit of dissatisfaction she had earlier disappeared, and she quietly stepped a bit closer, smiling.
"Lord Ash, do you know what kind of magic I got from Lady Serie?"
"I'm guessing it's a long-lost legendary spell, something from the mythic era, a spell that completely cleans stains from clothes, and after cleaning, the clothes even give off a floral fragrance."
"Eh? How do you know, Lord Ash? Did Lady Frieren tell you?"
Fern had wanted to show off a bit, but hearing him say it so accurately, she suddenly became a little unhappy.
Like a child wanting to show their parents their report card, only to have someone reveal it beforehand, her cheeks puffed up.
That made him both amused and helpless. He reached out and lightly flicked her puffed cheek, then before she could get angry, shook his head.
"What are you thinking? How could Frieren do something that would give you a chance to lecture her? I heard about it from Serie a long time ago… and now that I can smell that familiar scent on you, how could I not guess?"
"Lord Ash, you're secretly smelling me?"
Fern's expression suddenly turned strange, and she quietly stepped back.
"What kind of nonsense are you thinking about? I just smelled it when you came close. But…", He looked at the girl in front of him, who had grown quite a bit compared to before, and unconsciously shook his head.
"To use such a rare opportunity on something like this, though it does fit your and Frieren's personalities. Frieren must be very happy."
"Yes. Washing clothes will be much easier from now on. Lady Frieren also happily praised me. Lady Serie, on the other hand, seemed very unwilling. Lord Ash, do you... not like it? This kind of magic that lacks practical combat ability."
Choosing a second-best option made Fern a bit uneasy. She clasped her hands in front of her chest, nervously watching his expression.
"Thinking about it carefully, isn't this great?", Not wanting to influence her too much, Ash quickly let go of his earlier sense of regret. He gently brushed her cheek with his fingers, looked into her eyes, and smiled.
"Fern… you just need to walk the path you think is right."
"What about you, Lord Ash?"
"My opinion doesn't matter. What matters is what you think. After all, this is your magic, your life."
Ash knew that although Fern cared about his opinion, what she was asking now wasn't exactly that. Still, he repeated the same answer, then withdrew his hand and walked toward the courtyard gate.
"Now that I think about it, it's about time for us to leave. So I'll go say goodbye to Serie first. Don't forget to tell your little friends too."
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