"Frieren-sama, it's morning already. Time to get up."
Opening the door, Fern sighed upon seeing Frieren rolled off the bed onto the floor, then puffed out her cheeks and shook Frieren awake.
"Mommy…"
"Who are you calling Mommy! Get up already. If we don't hurry, we'll fall behind Alicia-sama's progress."
Seventy-seven years after Diego disappeared, Alicia was the first to embark on the journey to search for him. One year later, Frieren set out on her own journey, bringing along Fern, who had trained to the point of being able to stand on her own.
—Trading City Balum—
After helping Frieren comb her hair, since the two would be leaving the city tomorrow, they chose to spend the final day gathering supplies on the streets.
Frieren had become like this ＜(´⌯ ⩊ ⌯`)＞, looking dejected and weighed down with heavy thoughts, while Fern walked along humming a tune, clearly in a very good mood.
"Next, let's split up and replenish our individual supplies." Frieren's steps suddenly halted at a fork in the road. Looking tense, she spoke to Fern.
Seeing Frieren's ＜(´⌯ ⩊ ⌯`)＞ expression, Fern was certain something was being hidden from her, but she didn't call it out. Worried about their remaining travel funds, she secretly followed Frieren.
Jewelry shop. Frieren was quite troubled as she selected accessories.
"Think about what Dio would do in this situation."
The image of Diego appearing on the main street surrounded by guards flashed in her mind. Frieren quickly shook her head.
"Then this one it is."
She chose a silver-white butterfly hair ornament. Item +1.
Fern hid behind the corner of the wall, thinking to herself: Buying accessories isn't out of the question. Frieren-sama actually does care quite a bit about her appearance…
Underground tavern. Asking a group of extremely intimidating people about dessert shops.
Then, passing by the tool shop three times without entering. Item +1.
Time was running short. In the remaining time, Fern finished replenishing supplies and returned to the inn. Frieren was already sitting on the bed waiting for her.
"You're too slow." Frieren lightly swung her feet, tilting her head slightly to look at Fern.
"I'm very sorry."
"Never mind. Put your things down. Let's occasionally go eat dessert too." Frieren jumped off the bed, walked to the door, and gestured for Fern to come along to the dessert shop.
"…Frieren-sama, what are you talking about?" Fern showed clear confusion and asked Frieren in bewilderment. "Didn't you already buy dessert and put it on the table yesterday? We don't have extra travel money to eat dessert twice."
"Huh? Me?"
"Wasn't it you, Frieren-sama?" Fern tilted her head, pinching her chin as she recalled. "Because Frieren-sama has been in such a mood these past few days that you'd definitely eat Mercury Pudding when having dessert, so when I saw two servings of Mercury Pudding, I subconsciously assumed you bought them."
"…Where is it? Show me."
"Um… I ate it."
"You didn't leave even one for me?"
"There's still one in the bag, since I wasn't sure if you'd come back having already eaten." Fern took out the other Mercury Pudding from her bag and handed it to Frieren.
Frieren's eyes instantly lit up. She eagerly scooped a spoonful and put it in her mouth. A flash of astonishment crossed her face, instantly turning into stunned silence.
"Frieren-sama?"
"…Fern, who exactly put this here? This taste is identical to the pudding Dio made seventy-seven years ago."
"But Diego-sama has already…"
Has Dio somehow returned to this world?
But why not meet us directly?
Is there some kind of restriction?
Never mind… Dio's choices are always right. No matter what, we still need to reach the Land of Sleeping Souls, create a space-time rift, and go see him…
After a period of silence, Frieren decided not to dwell on the question. Instead, she turned and handed the wrapped hair ornament to Fern.
"Fern, I'm sorry." Frieren lowered her eyes, looking somewhat restless.
"Why is Frieren-sama apologizing?"
"Because I don't understand you at all, so I don't know what kind of things you actually like…"
"Come to think of it, today is my birthday. Clueless Frieren-sama working so hard to understand me makes me so happy I can barely contain myself." Fern smiled and opened the gift box full of anticipation.
"…Frieren-sama, didn't you give me a hair ornament before?" Fern's eyes widened. She quickly rummaged through her luggage, pulled out an identical hair ornament, and continued. "Since this was the first gift you ever gave me, I've always kept it carefully. It even has 'To Fern' engraved on it."
"No, this isn't from me either. Dio came back from the dead… and stole my entire gift-giving intention…"
"Why do the two of you have the exact same thought process for gifts?"
At the same time, Diego was sneezing nonstop, inexplicably feeling his nose itch.
"Achoo achoo achoo, weird. Who's secretly saying I'm handsome behind my back?"
Today's winner: Frieren. Victory.
(She secretly bought a potion that only dissolves clothes with her pocket money at the tool shop.)
...
—Central Countries, Bread Region—
After leaving Trading City Balum, Frieren and Fern continued onward to Mabel's home to remind her to head to the Demon King's castle.
Passing through familiar old grounds where Qual had been killed back then stirred Frieren's memories.
"…The Corrupt Sage Qual's killing magic was ordinary attack magic?!" Fern was shocked by Frieren's words. She blinked rapidly, asking in disbelief. "Frieren-sama, you're really not joking? Wasn't Qual a very powerful great demon?"
"You really haven't read a single page of that magic history book I gave you. Looks like I still need to read it to you before bed." Frieren sighed, gently shaking her head. She stood on tiptoe and reached up to pat Fern's head.
"Qual was very strong. That guy developed the first piercing magic in history, one that could easily ignore defensive magic and equipment with magic resistance.
Forty percent of adventurers and seventy percent of mages in this region died to Qual's killing magic. Even in the Demon King's army, he was one of the few top-tier powerhouses.
You should remember the other elf in the Hero Party, right? That swordswoman, Princess Elga.
Back then, Qual pierced right through the ancient magical tool she was wearing with ease. That arm took months to recover properly. It even pissed Dio off.
Precisely because he was so strong, after his death, mages across the continent poured all their effort into researching and analyzing killing magic. In just a few years, it was incorporated into the human magic system—becoming what we now call ordinary attack magic."
Fern showed a thoughtful expression, opened the magic history book, and flipped through it, murmuring: "The book says Hero Alicia-sama killed him, but the village chief said it was Diego-sama. With Qual being so strong, how was he subjugated?"
"The book is the empire's version. The real history is that Dio did it." Frieren gestured up and down with her hand, a faint smile unconsciously appearing on her face. "Because Dio was also incredibly strong—absurdly so. He just went shuaa shuaa, then pa pa, and finally a quick zzzzt, and Qual was dead."
The two suddenly stopped. The two small houses before them were the destination of this trip: Freeze God Sword Mabel of the Hero Party.
"Mabel, I came to play with you." Frieren knocked on the door. No response came from inside. "Strange. The address Alicia gave is definitely here…"
Rustle rustle rustle…
A strange noise came from the pile of wooden boards beside the house. A pair of azure eyes stood out sharply beneath the boards, glaring fiercely like a terrifying beast patrolling its territory and letting out a frightening howl.
"Mm—… Mmm—…"
"Frieren-sama, it seems there's something under that pile of boards." Fern grabbed Frieren and pointed at the spot where the noise had just come from.
Frieren crouched down. Mabel, wearing a beast robe, was lying prone on the ground, apparently hiding behind the boards.
Realizing she had been discovered, Mabel adhered to the principle of "if I can't see you, you can't see me," turned around, pointed her butt toward Frieren's eyes, and burrowed even deeper inside.
"…Mabel?" Thinking Mabel might be throwing another tantrum, Frieren immediately decided to try Diego's method. She too lay prone on the ground, bit her lower lip, and made sucking noises. "Chuu chuu chuu… come out~"
!!! Frieren-sama, what are you doing?! I absolutely don't want to see the Mabel-sama who defeated the Demon King living like an angry kitten hiding away after the war…
Fern retreated several steps with black lines over her face, unable to bear watching the scene. Her slight trembling betrayed her unsettled emotions.
After some effort, Mabel finally agreed to come out from the pile of discarded wood. The moment she emerged, she clung tightly to Frieren and refused to let go, her body shaking nonstop as she cried and complained with snot and tears.
"Waaahhhh… Frieren, my disciple… doesn't want me anymore…"
Fern blinked, looking completely bewildered.
This isn't that big of a deal…
"That's quite a serious problem. I can't even imagine the scene of Fern not wanting me anymore…" Hearing this, Frieren looked as if the world had ended and anxiously asked, "What exactly happened?"
Fern slowly widened her eyes… What is this situation? Mabel-sama and Frieren-sama, have you two thrown away all your dignity?!
Mabel embarrassedly poked her fingers together, turned her head away, and spoke in a mosquito-like voice: "I hit Stark… For some reason I couldn't control my body. When I came to, he was already knocked flat by my punch…"
"Just now when you two arrived, I hid in the scrap wood pile too. I'm so scared I'll lose control again. It feels like memories that don't belong to me are taking over my body."
"I'm really, really sorry…"
Fern helped Mabel up. Frieren furrowed her brows in deep thought. Soon a light bulb appeared beside her head. She clapped her hands with an "Oh!" as a guess formed in her mind.
"I think I know what's going on. Mabel, after Stark left, this kind of thing never happened again, right?"
"Seems… like it!"
"Then don't worry. It was Dio who did it. He really can't stop worrying about you."
It was probably like seventy-seven years ago—he transmitted certain memories through some method that affected Mabel.
If the guess was correct, then Stark was probably absurdly strong.
"Is that so? As expected of Frieren. So smart, and so pretty… Amazing, amazing, genius elf-sama." Mabel's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she smiled fawningly.
"Hmph hmph, you can praise me more, you know!" Frieren put her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest proudly, then glanced at the differing chests of the two others and silently lowered her head, muttering gloomily, "Never mind. We eat pretty much the same things… It's really unbelievable…"
"Don't suddenly start speaking in riddles, Frieren-sama."
(After three days of Mabel's desperate begging to travel together ended in failure, she finally agreed to split into four groups heading to the Demon King's castle.)
...
Mini Theater:
If you ask why Serie doesn't like Frieren, it might trace back to the banquet at the Zenin house—that was Serie and Diego's first meeting.
"…So you're the great mage Serie, the true master of this banquet."
In a corner of the banquet, the young Diego held his mother's hand, appearing timidly to follow behind her.
But from the corner of his eye, he was watching Serie, who kept observing him.
That gaze—like looking at an interesting experimental subject—made Diego feel uncomfortable all over.
Malice, ambition, hatred, courage, belligerence…
He's strong. I like him.
This was the answer Serie obtained from Diego's eyes after her brief observation.
"Tell me, what magic do you like the most?" Serie stood in front of Diego, her eyes calm yet carrying a hint of a smile.
Diego was slightly stunned. He knew his concealment couldn't fool Serie.
So after glancing around to confirm no one was paying attention, the childish innocence vanished from his face. He lowered his voice: "No.1. I like being first. So I will only ever like the strongest magic—one that can reach heights no mage has ever reached before, even one that overturns the entire history of magic."
Hearing this answer, the satisfaction on Serie's face nearly overflowed. The corners of her mouth uncontrollably stretched outward.
Passed. If only you had magic power.
A rare junior who suited her taste, yet afflicted with Heavenly Restriction.
...
During the five years Diego was subjugating the Demon King, they did meet more than once. But on this occasion, when Serie asked the question again, the answer had changed.
"…I like magic that can create fields of flowers."
The sky fell.
My favorite junior…
Got corrupted by that Frieren, who only knows how to mess around with little life hacks…
…Frieren, you bastard!!!
"Serie, what's wrong?"
"…I'm hungry." Serie glanced at Diego and slowly spoke.
?
No, is she sick?
"You asked this idiotic question… just to make me your cook?" Diego rolled his eyes helplessly. "Super-sized berry sundae, want it?"
"…Yes."
Serie took on a dead-fish-eyed expression, numbly accepted the sundae Diego made, and ate while inwardly cursing Frieren.
It's delicious, but I still can't forgive Frieren.
In the end, Serie blamed everything on Frieren, making the already disliked Frieren even more unwelcome…
Innocent Frieren caught in the crossfire: Feed me peanuts, feed me peanuts!!!