Frieren 30

Title: News of Death

Initially, after getting confirmation from Frieren, Flamme felt a bit uneasy but wasn’t overly worried that something had happened.

However, for some reason, by the second day, Ash still hadn’t returned.

Of course, situations like this could happen sometimes. Afterward, even if Ash returned with a few injuries, he’d come back unscathed.

After all, with Ash’s usual strength, there was no need to worry. But on the third day, the fourth, even a month later, two months…

They thought Ash had left without saying goodbye, but upon returning to Serie, they found he hadn’t gone back there at all.

At Flamme’s request, the emperor helped send people to search, but it yielded no results.

The empire even investigated everyone named Ash in the country, but no one matched his description. There was no news of him at any of the empire’s borders either.

Ash had seemingly evaporated, vanishing without a trace.

Fifty years passed just like that.

Flamme had fulfilled her dream… and passed away from old age.

Following her will, Frieren returned to the unchanged underground ruins after so long, carrying Flamme’s testament.

The world around them kept changing, but this hall full of books and the elf girl on the throne seemed forgotten by time. They stood there quietly, witnessing the shifts of history and eras. They themselves hadn’t changed at all since their first meeting.

Even Frieren, who arrived… was the same as before.

“…Frieren, I thought it was Ash.” Serie, still half-squatting on her throne, looked at the familiar girl below and said with a slightly mocking tone: “If I’m not mistaken, you must really hate me. Why did you come here alone? Honestly, I thought we’d never meet again.”

“Ash might be dead… Even if he’s alive, he’s probably passed away from old age like Teacher.”

“…Dead? Is that so.” Frieren’s news of the death of two disciples at once surprised Serie slightly, then she smiled: “It’s been half a century since you last came… and no news of him? So, he’s dead?”

“…Aren’t you sad?” Frieren asked with a blank expression from below the steps.

“He was just a disciple I taught on a whim.” Serie waved her hand, making the testament in Frieren’s hand float up to her. Without turning, she asked back: “What about you? Those two were the closest to you, right? Both are gone—aren’t you sad?”

“Sad? I… don’t know.” Frieren spoke with an empty feeling. She lowered her head and muttered softly: “Now that I think about it… whether it’s Teacher or Ash, there’s still so much I don’t know… Just, just… if I had agreed to go with him back then, maybe… he wouldn’t have vanished so suddenly, right?”

“What? Are you crying?”

“I don’t know… my heart feels a bit empty… For these fifty years, I’ve kept… kept thinking about this…”

Though she didn’t shed a tear when burying Flamme… Frieren didn’t understand why those around her cried. But now, Serie’s words stirred a strange feeling in her heart, and her eyes began to feel hot.

But as the first tear rolled down her cheek… Serie, who was holding her chin and reading the testament on her throne, suddenly said: “Even though, normally, Ash should be dead, my intuition tells me he’s still alive?”

“Still… alive?”

“You know, right? My intuition.”

“…Then do you know where he is?”

“No idea. Intuition isn’t prophecy.”

“Don’t you know all magic? Why can’t you prophesy?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Useful magic like that is monopolized by that Goddess. Even if I could, it wouldn’t work.” When talking about this, Serie looked very displeased.

But Frieren listened in confusion: “…Something like that can be monopolized?”

“Think of it like a super huge shield enveloping the entire planet. That’s easier to understand.”

“Think of it… like that? What is it actually?”

“How would I know? If I knew, I’d be a god.”

At some point, Serie had been called the mage closest to a god.

But… in the true realm of gods, she hadn’t progressed in a thousand years.

Precisely because her power didn’t advance, she spent much time studying all sorts of magic and techniques.

Including the aura-hiding technique she deemed utterly useless, and the strange, legendary magic that was highly practical but useless in combat, only able to clean clothes or, at best, produce a floral scent…

Whether Serie’s words were true or not… though there was no proof, her intuitive answer was enough for Frieren.

Because Serie’s intuition was almost like magic, highly reliable. Knowing Ash wasn’t dead eased much of the regret and frustration in her heart.

The heavy burden in her heart finally lifted, allowing her—half a century later—to finally sleep soundly upon leaving the ruins.

However, Frieren didn’t know whether Ash had died of old age or what had happened.

After that, no matter how many centuries passed—a hundred years, two hundred, even three hundred—she never again met that figure from the past.

Perhaps, after her teacher, Ash had quietly returned to his distant, unknown hometown, peacefully ending his life’s journey amid the joyful laughter of his descendants.

…It must be like that.

With a bit of hope in her heart, along with sadness and longing she couldn’t hide—Frieren couldn’t help but pray it was so.