Chapter 353: Kurtz, I'm Here to Negotiate with You
"I understand." Frieren finally nodded, her voice returning to its usual calm. "So, are you still going to use the solidification magic?"
"Yes, that's the path I chose for myself." Flamme smiled gently, trying to dispel the slightly oppressive atmosphere. "Besides, that's not going to happen anytime soon, right? We have plenty of time to explore many interesting forms of magic together and visit many places. For me, that's wonderful enough."
"Is it long?" Frieren murmured to herself, her voice very soft. "It's not that long at all."
Time slipped away quietly in a slightly delicate atmosphere.
Flamme tried to recount some interesting things that had happened to her recently, while Frieren mostly listened quietly, occasionally responding with a word, but Flamme could sense that she seemed somewhat absent-minded.
On the way back to the association, Flamme was still talking about the arrangements for tomorrow's assessment when Frieren suddenly stopped.
"Master, I have something I'd like to ask Kurtz privately."
Flamme was taken aback. "Now? Is it about—runes?"
"Yes." Frieren did not deny it. "There are some questions I want to ask him directly."
Flamme looked at Frieren's face, which was particularly clear under the streetlights. She could guess what Frieren wanted to ask.
After hesitating for a moment, she ultimately decided not to stop her. She had some doubts, and perhaps it would be better for the teacher to answer them personally.
She simply raised her hand and gently patted Frieren's head again.
"Go ahead. Teacher is usually in the research lab at night," Flamme instructed. "Once you've found out, come back and rest early."
"Hmm," Frieren responded, nodded slightly to Flamme, and then turned and left.
...
Outside Kurtz's study room, a knock sounded, neither hurried nor slow.
Kurtz did not respond immediately, but waited until he finished the last paper before speaking. "Come in."
The door opened, and Frieren appeared in the doorway.
She walked in and stopped a few steps away from Kurtz, a boundary she wouldn't normally approach.
"Kurtz."
Kurtz then shifted his gaze from the magic circle in front of him to Frieren.
He frowned. It was unusual for Frieren to come to see him alone so late at night.
But considering her recent interactions with Flamme and the information Flamme might have revealed to her, Kurtz had a general idea in mind.
"What's up?"
Frieren cut straight to the point. "Regarding the life magic runes you released, Flamme said only you can use them. Is that true?"
Of course.
Kurtz understood immediately. "It's true." He gave his confirmation without offering any further explanation.
"Is there any other way to learn it? Or, in other ways, to achieve a similar effect?" Frieren pressed on. "For example, not necessarily immortality, but extending lifespan, is that possible? For Master Flamme."
Kurtz looked at her.
The elves' appearance hardly changed over the long years. Their eyes held a natural aloofness towards others, yet here was one strangely fixated on prolonging the life of a particular human being.
This combination gave him a strange sense of absurdity.
To delve into the existence of the natural cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death with a spirit that was nearly immortal and emotionally detached—in his view, this was meaningless and an unnecessary interference with Flamme's personal will.
Moreover, he didn't want others to know his true thoughts.
"Frieren," Kurtz's tone carried a clear sense of closure, "Flamme has her own path and decisions. This is not something you or I should force upon her. This topic ends here."
He thought Frieren would keep arguing. After all, from a certain perspective, the elf was somewhat stubborn.
However, that didn't happen.
Frieren's expression remained unchanged after hearing his words. She looked at Kurtz quietly, her eyes calm, and then nodded.
"Oh," she responded, her tone devoid of any real meaning.
Then, without saying anything more, she turned around decisively, walked out of the research room, and closed the door behind her.
Kurtz stood there, his brow furrowing again.
That's it—it's over?
Given how much she seemed to care about Flamme, how could she accept his rejection so easily? No questions asked, no insistence, not even a lingering emotional reaction?
This, however, left him somewhat puzzled.
Meanwhile, Flamme was in her room, racking her brains over a list of applications that needed to be reviewed the next day, when she heard a noise and looked up to see Frieren push open the door and come in.
"So fast?" Flamme was somewhat surprised. "You saw the teacher? Did you get everything sorted out?"
She had expected it to be a relatively long conversation, and had even prepared herself for the possibility that Frieren might come back in a low mood.
"Yes, I asked. He wouldn't tell me," Frieren replied truthfully.
Flamme was taken aback. "Not telling you? That shouldn't be the case!"
She was puzzled as to why the teacher was unwilling to tell Frieren the reason. Theoretically, all the teacher had to do was explain the unreplicable and uninterpretable nature of this immortality magic to Frieren, right?
"Yes," Frieren replied affirmatively once again.
Flamme sighed inwardly. It seemed that the teacher simply didn't want to tell Frieren.
She was about to say a few words of comfort to Frieren, telling her not to take it to heart and to accept the reality—
"But," Frieren's voice rang out again, interrupting Flamme's attempt to speak, "I will not give up."
Flamme: "...?"
Frieren didn't explain further, but simply picked up a magic book and began to read it intently. As Flamme watched her, a bad feeling suddenly rose in her heart.
Her premonition soon came true.
The following night, at almost the same time, there was another knock on the door of Kurtz's research lab.
Kurtz paused at the sound. At this moment—
"Come in."
Frieren walked in and stood in the same spot as last night, even in almost the same posture.
She looked at Kurtz and asked, "Do you have any new ideas about extending Master Flamme's lifespan?"
Kurtz: "...No. You can leave. I am quite busy right now."
Frieren nodded. "Oh." Then she turned and left without hesitation.
On the third night, the knocking sounded on the door right on time.
"Enter."
Frieren entered. "Do you have any new ideas about how to prolong Professor Flamme's life?"
Kurtz rubbed his temples. "No. The answer won't change. Don't come again."
Frieren: "Oh."
She left.
The fourth night...
The fifth night...
Whether Kurtz sternly refused or ignored her, that petite figure would always appear in his study at the same time, asking the same question word for word, with no change even in tone. "Do you have any new ideas about methods to extend Master Flamme's lifespan?"
After receiving a negative answer, she simply said "Oh" and left without lingering, but she didn't stop there either.
Kurtz gradually realized that Frieren's questioning was not a spur-of-the-moment thing, nor was it an emotional entanglement, but rather a very serious consideration.
For an elf with almost infinite time, repeating the same question day after day, year after year, until the desired answer was obtained was logically feasible, and may even be an efficient strategy.
After all, all she was contributing was a fixed amount of time each day, and her goal was to change the fate of a human being who was important to her.
This was a protracted, troublesome battle, based on the concept of time among elves.
Serie soon discovered this strange event as well.
One day, she came to talk to Kurtz and happened to see Frieren leaving after completing her daily check-in.
"She's here again?" Serie said, watching Frieren's figure disappear at the end of the corridor. "How many days has it been? I've heard Flamme sigh several times, saying that she can't persuade her. Frieren just ignores her and leaves on time."
"The seventeenth day," Kurtz stated the number accurately.
"You're still counting?" Serie wanted to laugh, but also felt a little sorry for Kurtz.
She hadn't expected him to be harassed by an elf in this way.
Although Ayla had done something similar before, she would sneak up to the vicinity of the cabin where the two of them lived every day to observe them. However, this didn't last long, and later Serie took her on as an apprentice, giving her a legitimate excuse to observe.
But Frieren was a different story.
"What are you planning to do? Continue like this?" Serie asked.
Kurtz remained silent. The real reason he had been avoiding the topic was actually quite complex.
On the one hand, Flamme's path was her own choice, and he respected that choice. But on the other hand, he also harbored some selfish motives.
Just as he had asked Norn if he would be willing to use his magic to extend his lifespan, he knew perfectly well what this magic would ultimately turn people into, but he still spoke out because he didn't want to see the people he cherished leave like that.
Norn was like that, and so was Flamme.
But Kurtz had no better way to prolong Flamme's life...at least, he had none right now.
Therefore, he was unwilling to tell others about this matter, nor did he want others to know about his inner turmoil and complexity.
Clearly, Frieren wasn't going to let him continue avoiding the topic.
She used this clumsy yet effective method to wear down Kurtz's meaningless persistence slowly.
"Let's see who can outlast whom," Kurtz finally said calmly, but Serie detected a rare hint of helplessness in his voice.
"I think," Serie said, suppressing a laugh, "you really might not be a match for Frieren when it comes to holding out. Her patience is on a completely different level than what you understand."
Kurtz did not refute it.
He looked at the door to the research lab, as if he could foresee that punctual figure and that unchanging question tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and even in the future.
[End of Chapter]