Frieren 85

Title: The Golden City

Holding Aura, Ash could only feel a headache at her arrogant threats.

Her words sounded like those of a small-time thug who’d get chased down… or maybe Aura would be the one chased for saying such things?

In any case, Ash felt deeply embarrassed, wanting to pretend he didn’t know her. And Macht…

“You’ve got quite the pride.” Macht responded calmly with a mocking tone, completely ignoring Aura, who was being dragged away by her horn as Ash quickened his pace.

While dragging Aura, Ash found it surprisingly smooth. Her resistance was less than he’d imagined.

This made him suddenly realize—Aura must’ve been certain he’d hold her back, which is why she dared to threaten so boldly, acting arrogant as if she could take on Macht alone and kill him.

This made him feel a bit regretful, as if he shouldn’t have stopped her earlier. He should’ve seen how she’d handle it… He felt he’d restrained her too quickly.

“What are you thinking? Your face looks like you agree… By the way, how long are you going to hold my horn?!” Aura, dragged by her horn, swatted his hand away once out of Macht’s range. She spoke arrogantly and proudly: “If you hadn’t held me back, I’d have taught him a lesson!”

“Then I won’t… forget it, let’s deal with our important business first.”

Ash wanted to say he wouldn’t stop her and let her try again. But he knew Aura wouldn’t do it and would even argue with him, only causing trouble for himself.

So he cut his words short and wisely didn’t say more.

Linie, clueless, clapped softly and said expressionlessly: “As expected of Aura-sama, you’re amazing.”

“Hmph, of course, right? I told you he was lucky.”

Aura proudly tossed her head, deliberately flipping her ponytail over her shoulder.

This made Ash, standing nearby, hesitate. In the end, he only patted Linie’s head, giving up on commenting, and continued toward the battlefield to handle their important business.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

Far from the fortress city, on a high platform crafted with magic and hidden by illusion magic, while Aura collected dying soldiers, Ash, bored and forced to accompany her, suddenly recalled Macht’s words: “It’s almost time,” his desire to understand “guilt,” and how he addressed the old noble he “liked” with respect.

This series of events, combined with Aura’s earlier comment on the way to the battlefield that Macht had served the city for over 30 years, made Ash connect the dots and form a bold hypothesis.

“Macht… without reason, went among humans and deliberately served them. Could he be…” Ash muttered to himself, feeling he’d uncovered the fundamental reason behind Macht’s strange behavior.

But at that moment, Aura suddenly slapped his thigh, pointing at two soldiers in the distance fighting fiercely, and said excitedly: “Ash! That one’s good! I’ve had my eye on him for three years. Is he going to die? He’s definitely going to die, right?! I want to add him to my collection~! His opponent’s evenly matched; maybe they’ll die together!”

“…I’m thinking about important things. Can you be quiet and not disturb me?”

Though visibly frustrated, Ash followed her hand and looked at the two soldiers on the battlefield’s front line.

Both fought ferociously, already gravely wounded. They likely wouldn’t survive until night.

But he didn’t care about that. While dealing with Aura, his thoughts had unconsciously drifted back to the fortress city they’d passed.

As night deepened, the chaotic battlefield paused temporarily, with both armies facing off again.

After a full day, though many died or were injured, Aura only picked just over ten bloodied soldiers.

She casually ordered them to guard her below the high platform, then lay down… or rather, on Ash’s lap as he sat cross-legged on the ground.

“Ash-sama, I won’t hold back either.” Linie mimicked her, lying on his other side without hesitation.

“…You two are getting more childish.”

Stroking the girl on his left and the smaller one on his right, enjoying the slightly different yet similar touch of their pink hair, Ash, unable to move since they wouldn’t budge, closed his eyes and trained his Mana all night, waiting for time to pass.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

The next day, as dawn broke, both girls woke, stretching. Ash, using the excuse of something bothering him, parted temporarily with the confused duo… then flew back to Weise Fortress City.

Having nearly grasped the situation, Macht’s stay and service to humans clearly aimed to understand human emotions.

Would Macht succeed? After 30 years of effort, would he manage… Ash was genuinely curious.

This also tied to his future plans. Plus, if humans knew he was with demons, it posed a hidden danger before his plans were executed.

In the fortress city, protected by double walls and many towers, the morning was bustling with pedestrians.

Ash, breaking the height limit of barrier magic, flew at high speed, passed the city, and quickly found his target.

The conspicuous male demon—Macht—was walking with Gluck, the old noble smoking a cigarette, on a quiet street corner. This made Ash land swiftly in front of them.

The sudden guest from the sky made both pause and look up.

Gluck, the smoking noble, smiled: “Your friend, come to see you again.”

“He’s not my friend.” Macht shook his head slightly but gave Ash a playful smile: “Coming at a time like this… found something?”

“Maybe. You leaked quite a bit of info.”

“Did I? I planned to do it later. But now… it’s time anyway, since Gluck-sama’s old.” Macht smiled at the old man beside him, slowly saying farewell: “Gluck-sama, the time I spent with you, though short, was precious to me, so I decided to destroy it all with my own hands.”

“As final words, that’s overly dramatic… But I thought so too. You’re a great bad friend.” Gluck seemed to have expected this. He wasn’t scared by the sudden words, even smiling at Macht’s surprised look: “What’s surprising? Macht, we’ve interacted for thirty years. You helped me be an executioner in the dark, gaining true power, all for today, right?”

“…Because compared to killing strangers, killing a friend I’ve known for years and the prosperous city I built myself will help me understand evil and guilt better.”

Macht calmly stated his true purpose for serving the city, then looked at Ash, suggesting: “Can you wait a moment?”

“Wait for what? Haven’t you already activated your magic?”

Ash, wary from the start, spoke while stepping back two paces, as the tiles under Macht’s feet quickly turned to gold.

Even the protective magic automatically appearing beside Ash shattered upon contact.

This bizarre situation made him feel like a normal person touched by acid. Terrified, he tried to avoid the spreading gold.

But as a noble with little power, practically none for combat, Gluck had no intention of fleeing. Standing in place, he took a deep drag on his cigarette and smiled at Macht: “Macht, you’re an important friend. You’re like me, an irredeemable scoundrel. So… one day, you’ll face retribution.”

“Really?” Macht nodded slightly. Sensing Ash’s killing intent and preemptive strike, Ash interrupted their conversation without warning, swinging his hand at Macht: “Like this.”

Gravitational lightning shot from his arm.

The ground cracked under the strange gravity. But Macht threw the cloak off his shoulder, instantly turning it into a wave-shaped golden shield.

*BOOM!!!*

Macht was thrown back over ten meters. Two houses behind him collapsed from the strange gravitational shockwave, scattering smoke and dust.

But as the dust cleared, the thin golden shield was unscathed.

Even the broken ground was only the non-golden parts. Other areas, not a single tile was damaged.

This made Ash click his tongue: “Impressive. Is this gold really indestructible as rumors say, or is my level limited?”

“I heard you’re a great demon too. You’re strong.” Gluck, whose lower body had turned to gold but stopped due to the interruption, observed Ash curiously and said casually: “But you’d better run. He’s far stronger than you think.”

“I feel it. But… you seem calm.”

“Because I’ve lived long enough. I was a scoundrel who should’ve died, so what’s the difference if it’s sooner or later.” Gluck seemed indifferent, taking two more drags on his cigarette.

Meanwhile, Macht, reverting his cloak to normal and turning it into a golden spear, walked calmly toward them, stepping on ground rapidly turning gold: “Honestly, I don’t get why you came back… Want to die?”

“No. Just wanted to verify my guess, and if humans know I’m with demons, it’s bad if not handled… But from this situation, seems no need to act.”

“If so, why stay? I have more important business now, no time to waste with you.”

“Alright, see you later. By the way—Gluck, right? Enjoy your journey~”

To avoid touching the ground and accidentally turning to gold, Ash, always floating, had no intention of staying long. He waved without looking back and vanished into the sky instantly.

“Interesting guy. Not chasing him?” Gluck smiled, looking up.

“He flies too fast. If he really wants to escape, it’s hard to catch. Maybe recoil from gravity control? Normal flight magic isn’t that fast.” Macht glanced at the sky. The gold under his feet spread again.

“Then, truly goodbye, Macht. These years were a wonderful journey.”

“I think so too, Gluck-sama.” Macht smiled and nodded, watching the gold on Gluck’s body slowly spread past his head.

As Gluck fully turned to gold, the gold on the surrounding streets accelerated, almost like a golden tsunami.

In a few breaths, the entire fortress city turned to gold.

Pedestrians, unaware of what happened, remained in their daily life expressions from moments before, turned into shimmering golden statues by the magic.

The once-bustling fortress city became deathly silent.

Every blade of grass, tree, brick, and tile, including humans, turned into gleaming gold.

The only one still moving was the perpetrator—Macht.

He walked the familiar streets, frowning, deep in thought.

But before finding his answer, Ash, who’d left, returned. Observing from the air, he asked curiously: “So, how’s the result?”

“…You really dared come back.”

“Don’t be stingy.”

“…Hard to say.” Macht closed his eyes, as if feeling something: “When I turned this place to gold, I felt something. An emotion hard to express, but… it was fleeting.”

“As expected.” Ash was slightly intrigued by the fleeting emotion but understood Macht didn’t know what he felt, so he didn’t ask further.

His ‘as expected’ expression made Macht curious: “What do you mean?”

“In your 600 years, you never engaged with emotions. You lived entirely in violence and killing. Now, after only 30 years with emotions… Even for a normal human, they couldn’t understand emotions like that.”

“Can’t? Shouldn’t it be possible?” Macht frowned, seemingly unable to accept this.

“No. Think about it… It’s not just about time. Your worldview and values were shaped before. Like humans raised by environment and external factors into cold-blooded killers, there’s basically no hope of change afterward.”

“Basically? So there’s still hope?”

“A little, maybe. Nothing’s absolute. But from the current situation, you failed.”

“…”

After learning Macht’s 30 years of effort were essentially a failure, Ash, keeping his distance, quickly left after the brief talk to avoid unnecessary trouble.

He left Macht alone, wandering the streets, pondering his words…

As for what would happen to Macht, Ash didn’t care much. After all, he had no way to avoid turning to gold, so he couldn’t do anything to Macht now.

And if Macht kept acting recklessly, Serie would naturally stop him. He didn’t need to worry.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

Over forty years since his last visit, the golden city remained golden.

But around it was a massive bowl-like barrier tightly enclosing it… As a Great Demon, Macht could survive on Mana alone. Eating was just a hobby. He wouldn’t die even trapped inside with nothing.

“I remember it’s a barrier made by top-class mages. Macht’s really pitiful.”

Looking at the golden fortress city from afar, Ash couldn’t help recalling the events from forty years ago.

Deep down, he still wanted to see it. But with the Continental Magic Association guarding it, he only looked from a distance and gave up approaching.

Aura, leaning against the carriage window, looked at the golden city excitedly: “Take that!~ This is punishment for defying Aura-sama.”

“But it seems unrelated to Aura-sama, right?” In the flying carriage, Linie, still on Ash’s lap, bit an apple and casually stated the truth.

This froze Aura’s face, then she glared sharply: “Is this what I taught you, Linie?!”

“Uh… sorry, Aura-sama.”

Though she didn’t understand her mistake, Linie sadly lowered her head to apologize.

Feeling their conversation seemed familiar from around here before, Ash only patted Linie’s head, silently comforting the innocent girl.