"Come with me."
Serie raised a hand toward Shichen, and space rippled around him.
Shichen didn't resist. He vanished on the spot.
Serie shot Frieren a sidelong glance, gave a cold snort, and disappeared as well.
"B-Big bro?!" Stark froze for a second before yelling in panic.
"Frieren-sama, Shichen-sama got taken away! What do we do?" Fern grabbed Frieren and started shaking her, flustered out of her mind.
"Relax. He's fine." Frieren swayed from side to side in her grip, but her face stayed perfectly calm.
"How can he be fine? That… that elf clearly came here with bad intentions. Her target was obviously Shichen-sama!" Fern kept shaking her.
"He's really fine. That person is my master's master."
"Even if she's your master's master—wait, what?" Fern stopped mid-shake and stared at her blankly.
"Her name is Serie. She's an elf like me, but she's a Great Mage who's existed since the age of myth. She's one of the oldest beings in the world," Frieren explained.
"She's someone that incredible?" Fern was stunned.
"Incredible? She's just a brat." Frieren curled her lip in disdain.
She had personally seen Serie get treated like a brat by Shichen before. It was way too embarrassing.
"Uh… does Frieren-sama have some kind of issue with Serie-sama?" Fern noticed the change in Frieren's expression.
At least she wasn't worried about Shichen's safety anymore.
She knew Shichen and Frieren were senior and junior students, so if Serie was Frieren's master's master, then she was Shichen's too.
If a grandmaster came looking for him, it couldn't be anything bad.
"No." Frieren shook her head.
"I see… then why did Serie-sama take Shichen-sama away?"
"They haven't seen each other in a long time. She probably missed him. Or maybe she just couldn't handle being lonely anymore."
"Couldn't handle being lonely?" Fern still didn't get it.
"By the way, Shichen still hasn't explained it to you, has he?" Frieren said, suddenly sounding a little mischievous.
"Explained what?"
"His relationship with Serie."
"Aren't they just grandmaster and student?"
"That's only in name. Shichen never really treated her like his grandmaster."
"I see."
Frieren looked at her, saw that she still hadn't connected the dots, and gave in.
"Fern, think about it. If a man and a woman don't just have that kind of relationship, what kind of relationship do they have?"
"What kind of rela—wait, no way?" Fern's eyes widened. She finally understood what Frieren meant.
"Much better." Frieren nodded in satisfaction.
"Frieren-sama… seriously?" Fern couldn't believe it.
"What's so hard to believe? Shichen likes petite girls. Isn't Serie exactly his type?" Frieren said as if it were obvious.
"Petite girls?!" This was the first Fern had heard of it.
"Weren't you exactly his type when you first met him? Did you think he would've agreed to Heiter's request so easily otherwise?"
"So there was something like that…" Fern suddenly remembered all the ways Shichen had helped her at the start.
So it wasn't just kindness? It was because she was a little girl?
But now that she understood it, Fern didn't really mind. She already belonged to him completely anyway.
If anything, she felt secretly pleased.
So Shichen-sama had been interested in her from the very beginning.
And before she ever confessed how she felt, he'd managed not to show it at all.
He was way too good at hiding things.
Why was that kind of cute?
This is bad… I'm getting ideas again. Wait.
Fern squeezed her legs together, snapped back to reality, and looked at Frieren.
"So if Serie-sama took Shichen-sama away, then they're going to…?"
"They haven't seen each other in ages. What do you think?"
"Mmph…" Fern puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"It's fine. You don't have to worry. Serie has terrible stamina," Frieren said helpfully.
"Terrible stamina… how do you know that, Frieren-sama?"
"I've seen it with my own eyes."
"…What? Frieren-sama, do you have that kind of hobby?" Fern asked, shocked.
Then that time in front of her… wasn't it exactly her thing?
So why had she still been at odds with her afterward?
"I do not have that kind of hobby." Frieren rolled her eyes.
"Good…"
"Let's find an inn first. We'll leave Shichen alone. He'll find us later anyway."
"…Alright."
"Stark, let's go."
"Then what about the carriage?" Stark lowered his hands from over his ears and asked without turning around.
He'd relaxed the moment Frieren said Serie was Shichen's and her grandmaster. After that, he didn't dare listen anymore.
Women were dangerous, and so were their conversations. Best not to hear too much.
"Just drive it. Stop it outside the inn. Shichen will collect it when he gets back," Frieren said casually.
"Got it!"
Stark drove the carriage into the city, and the gate guards didn't stop them.
They'd all clearly seen Serie appear just now. This was the greatest city of magic; everyone knew who Serie was.
And they recognized Frieren too.
Who would dare stop them?
Once the carriage entered the city, it started wandering around at a slow pace.
Übel hadn't said a word the whole time. She was still in shock.
She'd actually seen the legendary Great Mage Serie.
Flamme was famous to everyone—beautiful, kind, helpful, the sort of person the whole world admired.
As Flamme's teacher, Serie was naturally just as well known.
Very few people had actually seen her, but everyone knew what she looked like: an elf, blonde, petite, a Great Mage who'd existed since the age of myth.
People used to call Frieren "Little Serie," after all.
Back before Frieren became famous during the Demon King campaign, that nickname followed her everywhere. It was one of the reasons Frieren couldn't stand Serie.
Übel had never imagined she'd meet the legendary Great Mage so casually, even if it had only been a brief glimpse.
That alone was enough to brag about for life.
Frieren was a Great Mage too, but she'd still shown up in public within the last few decades. Compared to Serie, she didn't have the same mythic aura.
And even more shocking than that was the fact that the Mysterious One and Serie were lovers.
She'd only joined them on a whim because she found him interesting.
The amount of new information was ridiculous.
Good thing she hadn't given up on following them.
This man really was interesting. Staying with him would definitely be fun—and she might even grow stronger.
After all, Fern, who looked about her age, had absolutely no openings.
That kind of strength definitely wasn't something she'd developed on her own.
The only issue was that he was way too flirtatious.
Still, it was hard not to understand it. Girls like Serie and Frieren were extraordinary. Who wouldn't want them?
And he himself was that strong.
She didn't mind a man being unfaithful, as long as he had the strength to back it up.
He was getting more interesting by the minute.
In the center of the city stood a great hall, and inside it, a garden in the inner court, full of fragrance and birdsong.
Shichen walked along the path, taking in the surroundings. Beside him walked Serie, and the two of them were holding hands.
"Didn't you say magic that makes flowers grow was boring?"
"It is boring," Serie said with a cold little smile.
"Still pretending, huh?" Shichen shook his head with a laugh.
"Hmph. Then let me ask you—how long has it been since you came to see me?"
"Let me think… around twenty years?"
"Twenty years? It's been centuries!"