Frieren 52

Title: A Sudden Truth

The desire to find Frieren again, join the hero’s party, and have some fun for a while made Ash, full of enthusiasm, move far faster on his departure than when he arrived, after setting up the Empire.

After working so hard, fighting for so long, and striving for so long, he felt it was okay to relax a little.

After all, there were still many things to look forward to. If he didn’t have some fun and only worked and trained every day, he’d worry he’d truly become a standard demon… though a standard demon shouldn’t be working alone.

With that spirit, Ash, who took three months to arrive, only needed two months to return, thanks to high-speed flight along the way.

After some inquiries, he thought it would take another month to find Frieren. However…

Ash only then realized that the hero’s party Frieren was with hadn’t left the country where she was, much to his surprise.

Thus, in just three days, he easily found a familiar figure in a village… except he didn’t know why Frieren was using magic to help farmers pull radishes.

The beautiful, petite silver-haired elf girl, who looked like a young girl, quickly noticed Ash’s presence in her surprise. She instinctively stopped what she was doing, widened her eyes in shock, and hurriedly walked toward him.

“Ash, you… why are you here?” Frieren looked at him, puzzled.

“Hmm… I heard you finally set out, so I got worried and came to check.”

Ash couldn’t exactly say he wanted to see what a storybook hero’s party was like. So he just gave a faint smile and patted Frieren’s head.

“I see? Thanks… but I’m fine. What about you? Where did you come from? Where have you been all this time?” Frieren thought, given the other’s short lifespan, she might never see Ash again in her lifetime. She didn’t expect to meet him here. This brought an unconscious smile to her face.

“Me? Ah~ Actually, I… was looking for a warm and pleasant place.”

“To retire?”

“Huh? Retire??”

“I mean… for preparing to retire in the future.”

Recalling that Ash didn’t seem to like talking about his age, Frieren quickly tried to change the subject awkwardly.

Normally, Ash wouldn’t be fooled by her, but this time he didn’t mind. Instead, he looked around curiously, eager to find her interesting teammates.

But instead of finding a team of beautiful women or a big sister, he saw a young man whose age was hard to guess approaching.

The man with neatly combed green hair, wearing thin-framed glasses and a black priest’s robe with gold trim, walked closer as Ash observed him.

After curiously studying Ash, he asked Frieren before Ash could speak: “…Strange, Frieren, you’re smiling at someone else.”

“He’s a friend… no.” Frieren paused mid-sentence, shook her head, and thought about her words. She said seriously: “Ash is a good friend I’ve known for a long time… with a lot of bad fate.”

“Huh? Why so… formal all of a sudden? Are you okay?” The overly serious statement made Ash, who was being introduced like this for the first time, feel uneasy. He instinctively placed his hand on Frieren’s forehead. Facing her displeased look, he mused: “Doesn’t seem sick…”

“He’s just an acquaintance after all.”

Frieren swatted his hand away, instantly regretting why she overthought it.

Worrying about hurting his feelings in the end, with this insensitive guy, was truly just wasting her own emotions… She couldn’t help but feel that kind of sadness.

“Haha~ Looks like you two have a great relationship!” The bespectacled priest smiled as he observed. He couldn’t resist saying: “But by the way, you really are Frieren’s friend… you’re very strong.”

“Well… I live an ordinary life.”

“…No. Though your magical power is immense, before getting close, magic detection could barely sense your presence. Normally, it’s impossible to have such control over magic.”

At the end of his sentence, the bespectacled priest looked at Ash’s face with admiration: “And you’re still so young. I really can’t imagine what level you’ll reach in the future.”

“Really? Thanks. You’re not bad yourself. Are… uh… priests in rural areas this strong now?”

“Rural priest?” The bespectacled priest looked surprised. This made Ash suddenly consider a possibility, and his expression turned very odd: “Huh? Don’t tell me…”

“Hmm?” The priest was confused but quickly thought of something and smiled, shaking his head: “You might’ve misunderstood. I’m not actually from this village… may I introduce myself? I’m Frieren’s friend, one of the heroes who will defeat the Demon King. You can call me Heiter.”

“…Really?”

“Why? Am I too weak? Don’t look like a hero?”

“No… normally—aren’t priests in a hero’s party supposed to be women? And a mature big sister?!” Ash said with an expression of betrayal, unable to stop himself from complaining.

This made Heiter show a puzzled look: “Sorry… normally, women can’t become priests, right?”

“Really??”

“You didn’t know?”

“How could I know? I’ve never been to a church or talked to a priest!”

“…Why are you even here? If you don’t have business, just leave.” Frieren, now a bit embarrassed beside Ash, couldn’t help but kick him.

But Ash felt very wronged and protested vehemently: “That’s not it, Frieren! Didn’t Flamme say that priests in a hero’s party can only be women? She also told me it’s an agreed-upon tradition? And encouraged me to try being a hero?”

“Huh…? Hmm… there was something like that?” Frieren seemed to recall a past she didn’t want to remember, sighing and holding her forehead: “But after you left, Master actually mentioned she just wanted to trick you into becoming a hero.”

“Why? I don’t get it at all, why would she lie to me like that??”

“Because back then, you were interested in the emperor’s concubine, right? You even climbed the wall on purpose. So she said you must like mothers and mature big sisters.”

“What??”

The strange misunderstanding he only learned about after a thousand years left Ash stunned… He never expected to be misunderstood for so many years?

Mature big sisters were fine, but he absolutely rejected mothers!