Frieren 09

Title: Heading to the Demon Stronghold

The morning sunlight didn’t pierce the clouds to illuminate the ground. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere enveloped the village. Compared to its more prosperous past, the village was now littered with tragedy.

The air was thick with the stench of blood. Villagers lay dead by the roadside, most with eyes wide open in shock.

Their expressions showed no lingering signs of pain. They must have died in a single strike. The ground was covered with civilian corpses and dried blood. Judging by the method…

“It must have been demons,” Aura concluded after observing the scene.

Both children and adults—none had survived. This was a typical demon act: cruel, brutal, and total—trampling and destroying lives.

Ash remained silent, looking at the two familiar statues in the village center. An indescribable mix of emotions flickered in the depths of his dark pupils.

This village, protected by demons, wasn’t destroyed by humans. Though more than half its people died, they should have been rebuilding, but soon after, it was completely annihilated by passing demons… Was this the village’s fate?

“…How pitiful,” Ash muttered, crouching down, his fingertips brushing the cold cheek of a small child. “If only the goddess you worshipped actually existed.”

Aura found it odd. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just thinking… I won’t die like this.”

“We need to train harder.”

“…I need to figure out some solutions.”

“Solutions?”

“The biggest difference between demons and humans in magic is inheritance. We have no teachers and can only figure things out ourselves, which is why we’re this old but still low-level… So, why not find a teacher?”

Ash slowly stood and turned to the girl who always followed him everywhere.

His words made Aura burst into laughter. “Find a teacher? Hahaha! Hahahaha! Ash! You’re hilarious! We’re demons! Who would ever teach us?? Are you serious??”

“…Of course. Demons won’t teach, so we’ll just target someone else.” Ignoring Aura’s mocking laughter, Ash walked forward without looking back. “But for now… we’d better leave this place.”

“Yeah, yeah~” Aura, uninterested, wiped tears from the corner of her eyes and followed behind him.

Before leaving, Ash set fire to the houses, letting the village burn, then turned and left the place they had once called home.

But… not long after they left, Aura elbowed him in the stomach with an annoyed expression:

“By the way, where are we going next? I heard there’s a Demon King in the north. How about we head there?”

“…I’m thinking about that too.”

“And? What’s the plan?”

“I told you, I’m thinking about it.”

“Like what?”

“You’re so annoying. Control yourself a bit.”

“No way, I’m fine as is… Ugh???”

Aura rejected him without thinking, puffing out her chest, but before she could finish, a slap covered her mouth.

Then, Ash pushed Aura, who was blocking his path, and walked quickly ahead, frowning and pondering where to go next.

If possible, he didn’t want to wander anymore. Perhaps joining the Demon King would be better?

After leaving the village, Ash didn’t know if the villagers had spread word that demons once lived there. But with the village’s massacre by demons, this area would become more dangerous for them.

This made him think hard. Ash glanced at Aura, pouting not far away, now sitting on the back of a demonic bull.

Though he didn’t want to talk to her, when Aura noticed his gaze, she couldn’t help but ask, “What? Figured it out?”

“…Let’s head back first. We’ll talk while we walk.”

Ash also climbed onto a wolf’s back, sitting a bit away from Aura, and continued thinking about their next steps.

When they returned to their simple wooden hut, Ash sat on a rough wooden sofa, looking at the still-indifferent girl across from him, and sighed:

“When you think about it, we really do need to leave. If we stay here, sooner or later, we might get surrounded.”

“You better protect me well. If I’m in danger, it’ll be a hassle.”

“That’s what I want to say… But is this the time to talk about that?” Letting out a heavy sigh, Ash shook his head. “Still, our bond is really tight. You’re definitely my sister.”

“Instead of that, where are we going?”

“North, probably. That’s the demons’ stronghold.”

“So, north after all~ Well, I don’t mind.”

Since Ash had decided, Aura didn’t want to waste time thinking further. She stood up and started packing.

It’s not that demons didn’t procrastinate, but when it came to survival, they were more diligent than anyone… This was especially evident in Aura’s attitude.

Thus, after making the decision, the two packed together, and on the same day, they prepared to journey across the continent to the north, toward the demon stronghold.

Not because they liked other demons or felt loyalty to the Demon King. After all, demons were only loyal to themselves. They just wanted to avoid being hunted.

Though demons often killed each other, and the weak were frequently trampled… sometimes they were ignored too. That was better than having to fight every time they encountered humans.

Of course, humans weren’t much different. They often killed and trampled the weak too. But demons were more about the strong preying on the weak, while humans had a more social nature… though their ways of oppressing the weak were more varied.

Perhaps both saw each other as abnormal, but—for now, they had no time to discuss philosophical or sociological issues like that.