"I told you so many times not to open treasure chests, not to open treasure chests. Did you ever listen?"
"Don't answer a question with another question!", She was supposed to be scolding him, but instead her own embarrassing story got exposed, making Frieren puff out her cheeks slightly like a cute little squirrel. It made him want to drag her home and play with those cheeks properly.
Sadly, the situation wasn't suitable for that, and because the topic had accidentally drifted off course into something neither of them liked, after a brief silence the two silently reached an understanding through mutual tacit agreement not to pursue it any further.
After calming herself down, Frieren temporarily stopped talking about the previous subject because... the barrier had already been removed.
Cheers and applause from the nobles came from above. As a warrior, Linie was the first to run over and handed Ash an apple with a bite taken out of it.
"Lord Ash, here. This one's sweeter."
"Thanks, Linie," He naturally reached out and accepted it.
Fern also showed a relieved expression from behind, and looked at him with complete admiration.
"As expected of Lord Ash. You solved everything without anyone getting hurt."
"Ah~ I already heard about it yesterday, but seeing it for real, you really are ridiculously scary. You even forced the Emperor off the throne," Ubel smiled and kept nodding, while Sense watched him without blinking, wearing a faint smile herself. Her eyes also held obvious admiration and longing.
Seeing all this, Frieren looked as though she had seen through these so-called companions, and felt sour inside.
"Do none of you care about how I feel at all? And he's planning to become the Demon King."
"Lady Frieren, I believe Lord Ash definitely isn't a bad person. Even if he becomes the Demon King, he'll definitely be a good Demon King."
"Fern, you..."
The child she had watched grow up trusting a man without reservation, and even lecturing her in return at a time like this, gave Frieren a headache despite already knowing Fern always sided with him. She even glared toward Ash, who was still eating the apple.
That left Ash innocent and depressed, but he could only silently bite into the apple and ignore the complaining look.
———
Amid the nobles' flattering words, whether sincere or fake, Ash directly brought everyone away from the noisy arena for the time being and... stayed inside the palace.
At first, he had never planned to occupy the Emperor's bedroom or anything like that, but the nobles were unusually tactful. Not only did they "invite" the Emperor out, they even thoughtfully replaced all the bedding with brand-new ones.
However, compared to the room's new owner, the girls were all far more curious about the imperial bedroom itself, looking around this mysterious place hidden from ordinary people.
"I never thought I'd one day come to a place like this," Fern stared at the mural on the wall with amazement. After staying silent for a long while, she still couldn't help turning toward Sense and asking, "Lady Sense, are these murals really amazing?"
"They probably are, though I don't study this stuff. But if they're hanging here, they must be genuine, and probably very expensive."
Sense came from a noble background, so she had at least some exposure to this sort of thing and far better taste than Frieren. But even she knew nothing about these murals. After all, her main profession was a mage, not an appraiser, so she could only give a vague answer.
Fern rubbed her chin and sank into thought, "Is that so? I can't understand them at all."
"Why care about that? Stuff like this is just for nobles to show off their power. Though this place being entirely made of anti-magic stone and completely unusable for magic... that's really annoying."
Compared to the murals, Ubel cared more about not being able to use magic in the room and complained with a pout.
As for Linie, compared to everyone else, she was already rolling around on the bed, making it impossible to tell what she was doing.
'Maybe this is just a childlike innocence of her own?'
"Even though she's actually very old, she really is just like her appearance inside too?", Fern, who always felt strong rivalry toward Linie, couldn't help smiling after being affected by her liveliness.
But Sense frowned, "You're wrong... Based on what you told me before about her, I think she's leaving her scent behind to declare ownership over this place."
"Huh? Is that what she's doing?"
"I think so."
"How does Lady Sense know?"
"Instinct," Even without evidence, Sense still felt strangely certain, her eyes fixed directly on Linie.
"Really?", Fern couldn't quite understand the reason for her certainty, but she also felt, she had definitely been beaten to it.
"So unfair."
While the girls discussed these strange topics, Ash wanted Linie to calm down a little, but in the end only reminded them not to fight before patting Sense on the head and telling Fern to relax a little.
Afterward, he brought Frieren to the reception room next door.
Even though this spacious room also had a reception area, Ash knew... they couldn't speak peacefully here.
———
Inside the newly tidied reception room—
After remaining silent for a long time, Frieren finally stared at Ash with a slight frown and a serious look in her eyes as she slowly brought the conversation back on track.
"I know you must be wondering why Serie and those Great Demons you know never said anything or mentioned what I brought up earlier, right?"
"Why?"
"Serie has always stayed inside ruins, and those Great Demons mostly move around in the north. Occasionally they wander into the central lands, but basically they all like being alone. What do you think is different between them and me?"
"You're lazier?", He answered immediately with what he believed was the biggest difference.
"No!", Frieren stiffened her face and firmly denied it.
"...."
Ash said nothing and just stared at her expressionlessly until even she started feeling uncomfortable.
In the end, Frieren copied him and silently made a gesture like carrying an invisible box before seriously saying:
"Put that aside for now. You know this too, right? During the thousand years after you disappeared, I kept exploring ancient ruins everywhere. Do you really think I did that for magic that's basically useless?"
"What else could it be? How long do you think I've known you?", He looked helpless. Seeing her say something like that so seriously even made him want to roll his eyes, "Can you not say such obvious lies at a time like this?"
"....", Frieren, who had only wanted to make her actions sound grander, immediately puffed out her cheeks unhappily. Ignoring his doubts, she emphasized on her own, "Actually, I was investigating the secrets of ancient times."
"Heh... You have a hobby like that too? I thought all you did was collect useless magic nonstop," Ash's lips curved slightly with teasing.
"Can you stop saying things that make both of us unhappy at a time like this?"
"I'd rather you stop saying things nobody would believe at a time like this."
"You infected me with it!", Frieren glared at him fiercely and shoved all the blame onto him in annoyance.
Normally, he would definitely argue back a few more times, but now Ash finally stopped exposing her.
"Alright, fine, it's my fault. Can you just say what you're trying to say directly instead of building things up so much?"
"...", Frieren pressed her lips together unhappily before finally getting a little closer to the main topic.
"Have you noticed that the structure of this world actually isn't very natural?"
"You mean how two races that live on the same continent and are hostile to each other, with completely incompatible cultures, no way to communicate, and no peace agreements at all, somehow continue coexisting for an impossibly long time? And even though there were countless chances to wipe each other out, every time a crisis appears, humanity always produces a Hero to save the world, or more specifically, save humanity... is that what you mean?"
"You actually noticed?"
It had taken her an incredibly long time to notice it herself. This world-shaking revelation being discovered by this "youngster" left Frieren shocked.
"When did you notice?"
"When I was around ten or so?"
"Actually, I figured it out before I turned ten!"
She originally wanted to show off her own discovery, only to realize she was the slow one instead. Frieren, who absolutely didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him, stayed silent for a long time before expressionlessly puffing out her chest and acting superior.
Seeing her like that, Ash couldn't help laughing.
"So amazing, so amazing. As expected of Frieren."
Because Fern always insisted people should praise others after waking up early, he even went against his conscience and reached out to pat her head without exposing her again.
"Mmhm~", Even though she knew he was just flattering her, Frieren, who always accepted care and praise every morning without guilt, proudly raised her chin before continuing, "Actually, more than seven hundred years ago, while exploring ancient ruins, I once saw a stone tablet written in ancient elvish."
"Even you're calling it ancient?"
"What are you trying to say? I'm warning you, if you start talking nonsense, I'll cry right here."
"Sorry."
"And stop touching my hair all the time."
After threatening him expressionlessly and slapping away the hand still resting on her head, Frieren continued the unfinished topic.
Originally, she really had only wanted to search for undiscovered ruins, since places like that usually contained buried magic books.
And those kinds of ruins could practically be found everywhere on the continent.
After searching for a very long time, thanks to a lucky coincidence, she eventually discovered a ruin, or rather, beneath a hidden island in the southern continent, with a stone tablet written in ancient elvish that described secrets about this world.
———
The date recorded on the ancient tablet could no longer be verified because every country used different calendars and dating systems. So even though the date was clearly written there, Frieren couldn't determine which country's calendar it belonged to.
But it clearly recorded that among the Demon Kings from some unknown time long ago, there had once been one who truly wanted coexistence.
And unlike the previous previous Demon King, who planned to understand humanity through slaughter, this rather unique Demon King had planned to completely conquer humanity instead of understanding it.
Compared to total extermination, conquest was actually much easier. If the previous previous Demon King or the previous Demon King had changed their thinking a little, they probably would have ruled humanity long ago.
After all, endless slaughter only left the other side with no choice but resistance, causing both sides to fight until one died, making things harder and harder.
From the perspective of human nature, if the conquered side was given hope and a chance to survive, they would be more inclined to surrender instead of continuing to resist. This psychological effect had appeared many times throughout history.
Because of that, the Demon King easily obtained the first vassal nation through threats and temptation using the demons' strength, which surpassed every human nation.
Since there was only one continent, all they had to do was continue advancing across it. As the number of vassal nations increased, the process became smoother and smoother until, the Hero's Sword blessed by the Goddess was drawn.
"An ordinary village girl drew that sword, and not long afterward fought several Great Demons alone before killing both them and the Demon King. The newly formed empire of humans and demons collapsed almost immediately after losing its leader. But afterward, the Hero lost all memories from that time and returned to being an ordinary village girl."
Frieren openly explained the history discovered in the ruins and finally stared directly at him.
"The author also pointed out at the end that afterward, for some unknown reason, the Goddess Church completely erased that part of history and even forbade statues of the village girl from remaining."
"Something like that actually happened? No wonder every history book I read said the sword had never been drawn."
"I don't know whether the contents of that tablet are real, but only this can explain the current state of the world."
The continent's strange condition really was unnatural. Even someone as dull as Frieren gradually woke up to the problem after discovering the stone tablet.
If two races were completely separated in culture and communication, with no outside force or internal motivation maintaining peace, then after endless escalating conflicts over so many years, one or both sides should have been wiped out long ago.
But every time humanity reached a critical point, Heroes would always appear to turn the situation around. This strange phenomenon allowed long-term coexistence, but clearly wasn't natural.
After all, from the age of myths until now, nobody knew how many years had passed. So why did those Heroes always successfully save humanity every single time?
Once might be coincidence, twice might be an accident, but what about three times, four times, five times? Combined with the Goddess monopolizing magic, it was difficult not to suspect the Goddess had some strange purpose for this world.
At first, Frieren didn't really believe the tablet, since it sounded too baseless.
But as time passed, she felt it might be real. Otherwise, it was hard to explain the current state of the world. Even if it was just "better safe than sorry," it still had to be considered.
That made her stare at Ash with a heavy tone, "You're smart enough that you should understand what this means, right?"
"I know what you're trying to say, but you probably don't know what the demons' real enemy is."
"Humans?", Frieren frowned slightly and asked in confusion.
"How could it be? It's the Goddess," Ash shook his head and directly revealed the truth only Great Demons knew.
"Are you demons insane?", Her eyes widened in disbelief, though she still tried hard to calm herself down, "Even if the Goddess is the demons' enemy, that doesn't mean you personally have to fight her, right? Don't tell me you think you actually have a chance of defeating the Goddess?"
"You have to try at least once, don't you?"
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?", Ash didn't understand why she was so shocked.
Frieren narrowed her eyes and scolded him.
"Stop lying already. Do you think I don't know you? I don't remember you being the type with dreams and ambitions who worries about the future to that degree."
"Am I really that bad in your mind?"
"Not bad exactly, but wanting to rule the world and stuff, I don't think you care that much about power. You might do it for fun, but saving the world and even making a concrete plan for it? That definitely isn't your style."
At least in Frieren's mind, he wasn't someone who cared that much about the world, much less someone who would worry so far ahead that he'd try to achieve an unprecedented unification and peace through ruling the world.
Ash naturally understood her doubts and nodded.
"True. Besides my own personal desires, part of it is also because I'm carrying out someone else's final request."
"Who?"
"The Omniscient One and the Hero of the South."
"Weren't they dead long ago?"
"Of course it happened before they died."
"...", Frieren fell silent again for who knew how many times today, seemingly digesting this shocking information, "Why would they ask you to do something like this? And this sounds completely impossible."
"At least judging from the current situation, it's not impossible. And they believed I might be the one capable of breaking the current state of things."
"But this is too dangerous. The Goddess's power is beyond imagination. Are you really confident?"
"To be honest, when it comes to the Goddess, there's too little information. I'm not."
"Then how dare you take control of the Empire now?", Frieren frowned, her eyes filled with confusion, "We have plenty of time. Why rush to control the Empire now? Waiting another thousand years wouldn't matter, right?"
"At least from the current situation, I haven't completely taken control yet. At most it's only the capital and part of the territory. And... even if I hadn't acted earlier, the result still wouldn't have changed."
"What do you mean?"
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