Frieren 58

Title: Five Hundred Years Later, Wishing on a Falling Star Again

Frieren and the others’ adventure continued. When they met Ash again, everyone in the team wore more serious expressions compared to him, who was steeped in sorrow over the deaths of his friends and people from the past.

“What’s wrong?” Frieren noticed Ash’s unusual mood and grew a bit concerned: “Have you heard too? About the Southern Hero’s death?”

“Yeah.” Ash gazed into the distance, sighing for no reason: “Life is really… unpredictable.”

“Indeed.”

Frieren looked at his slightly melancholic back. She suddenly felt the need to talk to him more, as she remembered their relationship was quite good.

With a hesitant expression, after thinking it over several times, she lightly patted his shoulder: “Um… my condolences?”

“…It’s weird that you’d say something like that.”

“Seriously, what kind of person do you think I am?” Frieren immediately felt a bit displeased.

“Haha~ Sorry, sorry~ Just kidding.” Ash chuckled, then turned and patted Frieren’s head.

As expected, his hand was promptly swatted away. Frieren fixed her hair and said irritably: “How many times have I told you, don’t touch my head.”

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

“…Completely unbelievable.”

“Because I’ll only be more careful.”

“Never learning, no wonder you’re called the wall-climbing villain.”

“Don’t give me random nicknames. That’s not nice. Besides, I didn’t do anything bad.”

Without thinking, Ash bopped Frieren’s head with one hand, then, before she could get angry, he quickly walked off and sat by the campfire with the others.

Eisen had a far more serious expression than usual: “Ash, have you heard?”

“About the Southern Hero?”

“Do you think, if even the strongest has died, do we really have any hope?”

“Don’t say that, Eisen.” As the team’s acknowledged (wine-and-meat-loving) priest, Heiter’s hands trembled slightly as he poured himself wine. But as the one who always lifted the team’s spirits, he raised his voice with a somewhat forced smile: “Though his sacrifice is unfortunate, he took down four great demons and left behind an incredible legacy. He also created an opportunity for us, the successors, to defeat the Demon King, right?”

“…Is there anyone else who could do that besides him?”

The Southern Hero’s death was a massive shock to the entire human world. Eisen even felt like he’d lost his backbone. His hands under his cloak trembled slightly like Heiter’s… He truly lacked confidence in defeating the enemy.

But at that moment, Heiter looked at Ash. To dispel the gloomy atmosphere, he changed the topic: “Looks like it’s time you officially joined us, right? If you’re there in critical moments, we’d feel much more at ease.”

“Saving the world or something like that, it’s not for me.” Ash waved his hand with a smile. Eisen wasn’t surprised and sighed: “Give it up, Heiter. If he really wanted to seriously save the world, he wouldn’t be here mingling with us.”

“Though Eisen’s a bit impatient, in a situation like this, maybe we need to pick up the pace a little?” Frieren, who usually didn’t care about time, now felt slightly bothered by their progress due to the Southern Hero’s death.

However… despite thinking that, nothing changed.

In the first year of their adventure, despite the major bad news, their pace didn’t speed up much.

Because not only did Himmel want to move slowly, Frieren also started her journey only because she thought she wouldn’t see Ash again, so she wanted to try understanding humans.

But compared to their unreliability, Ash himself, who always disappeared for months at critical moments, had no right to say they lacked urgency.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. The Demon King was unexpectedly defeated by this leisurely team.

But how the Demon King was defeated, Ash had no idea.

Because about two months prior, he was summoned by Solitär, a nameless great demon arranged by Schlacht. She took him and Aura to unseal Qual.

By the time he succeeded in having Aura control Qual and wanted to return, everything was already over. Thus…

In the capital of the kingdom where they first set out, on streets filled with people celebrating the hero’s party’s victory over the Demon King.

As the capital’s residents welcomed them with flowers and unending cheers, Ash, as expected, blended into the crowd, enjoying free drinks.

However…

“Hey!” Before Ash could offer congratulations, the silver-haired elf who hadn’t changed a bit—Frieren—approached. She slammed both hands on the table, nearly making his wine glass jump.

“W-what?” Ash was startled and looked up oddly: “What’s wrong? On a rare celebratory day like this, why the sour face??”

“…You ran off during the battle, and now you’re here enjoying free food and drinks?”

“I’m old, my body’s a bit unwell. I really had no choice.” Ash gave a random excuse, which immediately halted Frieren’s momentum. Her expression grew a bit awkward: “Is that so…?”

“Huh? You… never mind.” Ash didn’t want to discuss the sensitive topic of age, so he changed the subject with a smile: “By the way, I have to congratulate you all. You defeated the Demon King and became heroes. Everyone’s cheering for you. I heard they’re making statues too?”

“…Humans are so opportunistic. When we set out, they wouldn’t even give us 10 copper coins. Now they’re all generous.”

“Well, well~ Isn’t it nice to drink for free~!” Heiter, his face already flushed from drinking, grabbed a beer and sat across from him.

“Exactly! The result’s good, isn’t it~?” Himmel, also holding a beer, sat beside him.

However, Ash keenly noticed that Eisen was only eating bread and not touching the wine at all. This made him ask instinctively: “I’ve been meaning to ask, why don’t you drink when you’re a dwarf?”

“…How many prejudices do you have about us dwarves?” Eisen, who had been quiet, raised his head and looked at him. He bit into his bread, then glanced at his near-drunk teammate: “Heiter’s a priest but loves drinking, that’s what should be weirder, right?”

“That’s true… indeed, the longer you live, the more strange things you encounter.”

“That’s an old man’s complaint, isn’t it?” Heiter laughed and slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Right, better to think about happy things.” Ash nodded nonchalantly. But at that moment, Frieren poked the back of his head. When he looked at her, she pointed to the sky: “Ash, look. There’s a once-in-fifty-years meteor shower tonight.”

“Hmm?”

Following the elf girl’s hand, in the endless night sky, countless points of light from deep blue to faint purple streaked across the increasingly quiet sky as the festival wound down.

“Oh, oh~ So beautiful! But this… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere?” Ash widened his eyes in surprise. But he quickly rubbed his chin, recalling something, and showed a nostalgic smile: “Ah, I remember. I saw it when I was a kid.”

Even now, he clearly remembered that night, he and Aura huddled at the cave’s entrance, admiring the stunning meteor shower.

Ash recalled making a wish back then—when I grow up, I’ll never watch falling stars with Aura again!

Now, that wish had come true, and yet it hadn’t? After all…

The people watching the falling stars with him now were quite odd. The drunk priest’s hand was still on his shoulder… it felt like standing side by side with good friends at a romantic fireworks festival. The night sky was beautiful, but his heart felt cold.

“I no longer wish to meet beautiful girls… Please, at least next time, let me watch falling stars with a normal girl.”

Gazing at the increasingly dense meteor shower, Ash brushed Heiter’s hand off his shoulder and suddenly recalled the rumor that wishes made on falling stars come true. After five hundred years, he couldn’t help himself… and made a wish on a falling star again.