Frieren 60

Title: A Sincere Conversation Between Master and Disciple

In the office of the Continental Magic Association, in Serie’s private reception room, a routine meeting was underway.

But the meeting was only halfway through when the door to the reception room was kicked open.

As everyone turned to look, the intruder wore an expression as if ready to challenge someone. But… he suddenly froze before finishing his sentence.

Because the moment the door was kicked open, the challenger—Ash—saw a petite figure sitting casually in a large wooden chair at the far end of the room— unmistakably Serie herself.

“Hmm?” Serie, startled by the sound of the door being smashed open, saw Ash’s increasingly stiff expression. The corners of her mouth unconsciously curled upward, and she flashed a wide smile: “…Ooh~?”

“—Sorry, wrong room!”

After a brief moment of shock, Ash quickly stepped forward, lifted the broken door handle, and swiftly pulled it back, straightening it.

After smoothly handling everything, he looked at the people inside with an awkward yet polite smile and nodded slightly: “Please continue. Don’t mind me.”

As he spoke, while the people inside were still confused and hadn’t fully processed what happened, he closed the broken door again.

But as Ash turned around, letting out a sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, and preparing to leave quickly…

“Where do you think you’re going, my dear disciple?” A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder. From very close behind, a familiar voice sounded.

“…Teleportation? A bit terrifying…” Ash let out a small sigh, then patted his face, trying to calm his emotions.

Then he slowly turned around. With a smile as if seeing her for the first time, he looked at the petite figure floating in the air and pretended to be surprised: “—Goodness! Isn’t this my esteemed master, Serie? How long has it been since we last met? A thousand years, right? I never expected to meet you here. It’s a miracle!”

“Tch, acting all high and mighty.” Serie clicked her tongue in disdain: “Do you think by pretending you saw nothing, acting like we’re meeting for the first time, I’ll just let you off?”

“Let me off? What kind of relationship do we have?” Ash tried to bring up their past, playing the emotional card.

But this only made Serie give him a cold stare: “What relationship? A relationship where we haven’t met for a thousand years. What else?”

“Hahaha… your words, they hurt, you know? I missed you so much, every single day I—”

“But no word for a thousand years?”

“…Uh, do you actually care about that? That’s not like you…”

“True.” Serie nodded slightly, as if pondering. This made Ash smile too: “In that case! To celebrate our master-disciple reunion, why don’t we—”

“Don’t get excited yet. Since you’ve come here, you’re ready, right?”

“…Ready for what?”

“First, let me see how much you’ve improved in these thousand years, then we’ll talk about compensation.”

“Compensation? For the door? I… No—Wait a second!”

With a stiff smile, Ash wanted to say something more, but he saw magical energy gathering between Serie’s hands, making him almost break out in a cold sweat.

And a terrifying smile now spread across the old elf’s face. Then…

*BOOM—!!!!*

A loud explosion erupted inside the Magic Association building.

Ash’s figure darted out from the flying flames… He had no intention of fighting, only wanting to escape immediately. After all, as long as the green hills remain, there’s no need to worry about running out of firewood.

But the explosions kept coming one after another, showing no signs of stopping.

“Don’t let anyone get hurt, or… we’ll keep going.”

Accompanied by the warning ringing in his ears, the entire building was nearly destroyed in an instant, even its outer walls collapsing.

The magical barriers set up around it offered no resistance, easily submitting to this terrifying energy.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

However, when everything settled, the situation at the scene was bizarre and shocking.

Even without counting the dust, the towering flames reached nearly a hundred meters high. The energy’s impact should have turned an area of several hundred meters into rubble, creating a horrific tragedy.

But in reality, only the interior of the Magic Association was destroyed. There was no impact outside.

As an authoritative organization renowned across the continent in a short time, such a terrifying attack shouldn’t have been possible within the Continental Magic Association.

Yet… the impossible happened. And no one dared to stand up to stop this chaos.

No, anyone who truly dared to stand would likely have turned into chunks of flesh flying in the air in an instant.

However, despite usually having many staff members here, the actual death toll was—zero.

And the injured—just one.

Ash, covered in ash and blood, looking utterly disheveled, was the sole casualty of this incident.

“…What sin did I commit to come to this cursed place?” Ash muttered, brushing aside the wall behind him. He felt that this level of violence could definitely be called torture.

This made him unable to hold back from turning around, looking at the elf strolling leisurely as if on a walk, and complaining: “What are you doing?! There’s a limit to everything! If it weren’t me, someone would’ve died, right?!”

“But no one died, did they? And I held back; this could also be considered a test for you.”

“…Your Magic Association is in ruins, isn’t it?”

“No big deal. Now it’s time for you to pay compensation, right?”

“Wait a minute? I only broke one door, didn’t I?” Ash looked at the Magic Association reduced to rubble, a bad premonition rising in his heart. He warily stared at the “girl” who stopped in front of him: “Don’t tell me you want…”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Serie’s smile was radiant, making him barely hold back from cursing: “…No, you, I…?!”

“Besides, it was going to be demolished and expanded anyway. Since you came, there’s someone to foot the bill, right?”

“But…”

“How about I give you my position?” Without waiting for Ash to refuse, Serie immediately offered a huge temptation: “Though this organization is newly founded, it’s pretty good among human organizations. What do you say? Consider it compensation for accidentally hurting you. I wouldn’t easily give my life’s work to just anyone.”

“No, wait, let me think…”

After being beaten again, Ash was suddenly offered a strange sweetener. This left him bewildered, holding his forehead with one hand. After a long silence, he said suspiciously: “You suddenly got violent, and now you’re giving me so many benefits…”

“Think about it. If I just handed it to you, the people under me wouldn’t accept you, right?” Serie spread her hands with a bright smile, as if she did it for his own good. She persuaded him: “And under normal circumstances, would I ever attack you? If not for that, how could you show your abilities and save those people? I did this to pave the way for you. Isn’t this the master-disciple bond you always talk about?—The organization I built will be inherited by you!”

“That’s not true… You just found it troublesome. You beat me up to vent your anger and dumped all the heavy work on me? Now you’re even calling it an inheritance?”

Ash sorted out his thoughts, wiping the blood and ash from his face. His face was filled with sorrow. He even asked in confusion: “You clearly hate troublesome things like this, so why did you come out? To fulfill your disciple’s wish after a thousand years? Since when were you so soft-hearted??”

“Haha, that’s just like you, Ash.” Serie laughed, shaking her head: “Only you would dare to speak so recklessly to me.”

“Nonsense? Is it really nonsense? Actually…”

“Want another round?” Serie smiled, but her eyes glinted with an indescribable ferocity.

This forced Ash to swallow the words he hadn’t finished.

“—Sorry, I suddenly remembered I have business at home. I’ll head off for today?” He, who had been sitting on the ground pretending to be gravely injured, stood up immediately. He brushed the dust off his clothes and turned to leave without saying more.

This time, unexpectedly, he wasn’t stopped. But as he passed the broken wall, he saw Serie, who should’ve been behind him, already standing in front, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, staring at him. This made him instinctively step back twice: “—Are you a ghost?! Appearing without a sound??”

“Why the rush? By the way, you haven’t seen me all this time, and now you’re just leaving? That doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“Uh… I was actually going to the city to buy a gift. Since it’s been so long… There should be some etiquette like that.”

“I don’t care.”

“I care!”

“Nonsense.”

“…Actually, I lost a lot of blood, and I’m a bit dizzy now. Ah, I can’t even stand properly.” As he spoke, Ash staggered and fell to the ground. He pretended to be gravely injured again, covering his head and saying regretfully: “Sorry, Serie… My body really can’t hold up. Can you let me go rest first, and we’ll talk about the earlier stuff later?”

“Can’t hold up?”

“Yeah. Since you injured me like this… Of course, I don’t blame you. After all, you’re my master, right? So…”

“Don’t play the emotional card here!” Serie coldly interrupted, mercilessly exposing his lie: “Isn’t most of that on your body chicken blood? Or did you smear it on yourself when I wasn’t looking… Are you afraid of blood?”