Frieren 29

Title: The Return of Time by the Goddess

Unlike Ash, who chased the unknown, Flamme had no interest in exploring ruins or enthusiasm for treasure chests.

To her, the knowledge gained from Serie could never be rivaled by rummaging through ruins. Instead of wasting time exploring, she’d rather pursue her dream—teaching magic to all of humanity.

To that end, Flamme even vowed not to return to her teacher until she achieved her goal… to motivate herself.

This was also because, compared to five hundred years after Ash’s birth, in the current world, humans viewed magic as demonic technology, and open research was considered taboo.

Before returning to Serie, Flamme had convinced the emperor of the empire, which controlled most of the continent, and began training court mages for the empire.

But Ash and Frieren didn’t join in. They were merely guests, sightseeing in the imperial capital. Ash occasionally attended lectures to consolidate some basic knowledge.

Such days passed quietly over a few years.

Life went on peacefully. Even in the imperial capital, there were no legendary scenes of palace intrigue, perhaps because Flamme had already dealt with them.

After all, her position was quite high. Even when Ash got lost, chose to climb a wall, and accidentally entered the emperor’s harem, he wasn’t punished. He was only banned from climbing palace walls from then on and required to memorize the palace map.

Aside from that small incident, Ash and Frieren often trained together. Additionally, Ash occasionally went outside the city to find suitable targets for real combat.

On one peaceful morning, Ash, as usual, opened Frieren’s bedroom door…

“—It’s morning, we made a promise, let’s go hunt monsters together! Frieren, get up.”

Ash mercilessly pulled off Frieren’s blanket, intending to force her to keep their promise to go hunting outside the city.

But Frieren deftly rolled over, turning her back to him. Without opening her eyes, she grabbed a new blanket from the side of the bed and wrapped herself in it.

Frieren showed no signs of getting up. She even raised one hand, waving it weakly: “I said… it’s probably noon… please… let me sleep more… five days… just five days…”

“…Sure, but, Frieren.” Her unexpected state made Ash sit on the edge of the bed, pulling her blanket again and coaxing her in frustration: “This imperial capital is huge, and the monster area is far. If we leave at noon, we’ll be back at midnight. Wouldn’t it be better to leave in the morning?”

“…Can’t… Just… kill me instead…”

“…You’re such a slacker.” Seeing Frieren grab another blanket from the nearby cabinet without opening her eyes, Ash felt like he’d unintentionally honed her odd skill.

But seeing how reluctant Frieren was, Ash felt a bit annoyed. He gave up on carrying her and leaving. Shaking his head helplessly, he turned to go: “…Fine, I’ll go alone. When you wake up, remember to tell Flamme I left.”

“Yeah, yeah… got it… thanks, be careful… see you tonight…”

Until the end, Frieren didn’t open her eyes. She only mumbled weakly, words unclear like she was sleep-talking. She wrapped herself tightly and fell back into a deep sleep.

Ash closed the door for her. Feeling a bit disappointed, he prepared to head out alone. But…

Just two minutes after leaving Frieren’s room, Ash suddenly sensed something strange in the hallway.

It was as if… the entire world was rejecting him. Even the space around him inexplicably began to distort.

“This… is it trying to expel me from this space and time? I thought time travel didn’t have time limits. But… is this the world’s essence, or an anti-time-travel restriction left by the Goddess?”

Ash had discussed the concept of time travel with Serie, so he understood that time travel in this world wasn’t impossible.

But it was a privilege exclusive to the Goddess.

However, after the chaos of the Mythic Era, the Goddess left the planet and vanished without a trace.

Only the Goddess’s Monument from the Mythic Era remained, still holding the power she sealed within it, capable of triggering time-travel effects.

…But honestly, Ash didn’t fully understand what was happening. Yet he felt this rejection was more about sending him back than destroying him.

In such a state, he knew he couldn’t stay here long. So, he drew the long sword at his waist, intending to carve a message into the ground.

But the moment his sword touched the floor, the space and time around him suddenly distorted. In the next second, Ash vanished from the hallway, leaving… not even a single scratch behind.

At noon, Frieren, who loved sleeping in, finally woke up and prepared for lunch. She noticed…

“…Did Ash go train his magic again?” She glanced at the empty spot beside her but didn’t think much of it.

Ash often went out to practice magic, even venturing outside the imperial capital to find monsters to train against. Flamme was well aware of this and wasn’t too worried. Frieren only muttered, slightly puzzled: “But usually, he always says something… why didn’t he tell anyone today?”

“Maybe he told someone, and they forgot?”

“…That makes sense.”

Flamme nodded faintly. For some reason, she felt a slight unease.

That’s when Frieren suddenly said, “Ah!” remembering that in the morning, while half-asleep, she vaguely heard his voice and him pulling her blanket.

She hadn’t been fully conscious then, so she forgot about it.

Seeing Flamme’s confusion, Frieren waved the fork in her hand and said: “I remember, he asked me to go monster hunting this morning.”

“Monster hunting again?”

“Though he’s young, his strength isn’t weak. Teacher doesn’t need to worry; he’ll come back on his own tonight.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

With this answer, Flamme felt a bit relieved. But for some reason… a strange feeling kept nagging at her mind.