"In a nest of such a large monster, the fact that Lady Frieren can sleep so soundly by your side is definitely a sign of trust, so Fri—"
"Then you not being able to sleep means you don't trust me?", Before she could finish, he reflexively shot back, immediately making Fern unhappy.
"How could that be? I just…"
"Huh? So I really can't be trusted?"
"No! It's just… ever since I was born, this is the first time I've been like this, unable to even use magic detection. It feels like I've been thrown into endless darkness."
Fern put away her handkerchief and curled up beside him, leaning close. She quietly glanced at him from the side and muttered softly, "If I wasn't next to Lord Ash, I would have already run away without thinking."
"So that's how it is? Though the environment here really is..."
Boom!
Before Ash could finish, from above the massive cavern, a huge monster suddenly leapt down. With a thunderous crash, it swung a massive palm toward them.
But in that sudden moment, he sprang to his feet and raised his hand, forcibly stopping the giant palm that seemed ready to smash them all into paste.
With a heavy thud, a violent gust scattered dust everywhere. The ground beneath his feet trembled, yet not even a crack appeared.
After the ground shook violently for a moment, the surroundings fell into silence.
Ash and the monster stared at each other, entering a brief standoff. Neither made the first move.
Inside the shaken cave, Fern, who had been thrown off balance, instinctively raised her hand to shield her face from the blowing dust.
Frieren, who had been sleeping so deeply that even drooling wouldn't normally wake her, opened her eyes instantly this time. The monster that had suddenly appeared, along with dust and falling debris, reflected clearly in her eyes.
The creature looked like a mutated giant salamander.
Its gaping mouth was filled with fangs. It had five eyes on its forehead. Where ears should be, there were fleshy fins. And from its mouth extended two whisker-like tendrils like those of a fish.
"A Venomous Apex Dragon… If you fight it like a warrior, it's very disadvantageous. Ash will be fine, but…", Frieren recognized it at a glance. Although called a dragon, it was closer to some kind of aberration. She quickly warned Ash, who stood in front, "Its breath is highly toxic, and even its blood is corrosive poison. Let's retreat first… You might be fine, but if even a drop touches us, we'll die."
"I know."
"Then…"
"Withdraw for now!"
After the brief standoff, completely unexpected to the Venomous Apex Dragon, he suddenly turned around, grabbed both girls around the waist, and dashed toward the cave entrance at full speed.
The Venomous Apex Dragon froze for a moment before chasing after them. However, amid the rumbling tremors, the distance between them kept widening.
In just moments, a considerable gap had opened. But Ash didn't leave. As soon as he reached the cave entrance, he set the two girls down and suddenly turned back, charging in again.
Before they could stop this now-meaningless battle, they saw the Venomous Apex Dragon already catching up.
At the moment the two sides met again, Ash drew his blade and slashed.
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, his blade cut through the air, stirring up a gust of wind.
The range of the slash far exceeded the length of the blade itself, reaching the Venomous Apex Dragon nearly twenty meters away before it could react.
In that crossing instant, one of the dragon's arms was severed.
"ROOOOAAARRRR!"
As the severed limb fell under gravity and toxic blood sprayed wildly everywhere, the Venomous Apex Dragon let out a piercing scream.
Along with that thunder-like roar, green mist spewed from its mouth. Just a slight touch would leave no option but immediate amputation.
Yet Ash didn't retreat, he advanced instead. With astonishing reaction speed, he pushed off the ground and vanished instantly, disappearing from the sight of both girls and the dragon with a violent sonic boom.
By the time the two blinked, a line of blood had already appeared across the Venomous Apex Dragon's body.
Before the roaring wind from his movement even arrived, the dragon, already cut into two, had not yet fully separated. In its final moments, it seemed to sense its life slipping away.
As if voicing its unwillingness, the completely powerless creature let out its final roar.
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The terrifying howl echoed through the cave and even out across the moonlit plains beyond.
In the forest outside, flocks of birds were startled into the sky. Then everything fell silent.
The two had originally intended to scold him for killing such a dangerous monster for no reason, but then they saw him leap over the poisoned area, arrive outside the cave, and write a letter. He even created a small stone golem with magic and handed the letter to it.
"Still… he's unexpectedly strong. To reach that level with just martial skill, he's basically a monster himself," Even Frieren, who knew him well, couldn't help but be impressed as she watched the Venomous Apex Dragon's corpse in the distance dissipate after being instantly killed.
At the same time, they understood. Ash had probably wanted someone to develop this cave, which was why he deliberately dealt with the Venomous Apex Dragon.
Although magic nullifying crystal couldn't be mined by humans, there were plenty of fragments that had fallen off the main vein and could be taken. Just gathering all the scattered sealing stones in the cave would already be an enormous fortune.
Unfortunately, as mages, they couldn't carry such things while traveling. Otherwise, Frieren would have at least taken one. After all, a fist-sized piece of sealing stone was enough to buy a mansion.
After that, the three continued their unfinished journey, but…
"Lady Frieren looks very regretful," Noticing the elf girl's profile, Fern leaned close and whispered to him, "When we get to the next town, let's buy her something tasty?"
"That's what I was thinking too," Ash smiled lightly and nodded.
———
Because of their strength, and since they were still within the kingdom's territory, it didn't take long for them to leave the relatively safe lands of the kingdom.
At what should have been the border with the Empire, both sides were expected to have heavy defenses. But in reality, only the kingdom's soldiers were guarding it unilaterally.
Not long after entering imperial territory—
"Am-amazing…"
Standing at the edge of a cliff, Fern looked into the distance. A vast expanse of brilliant gold filled her vision, leaving her momentarily speechless.
Below the cliff stretched a vast forest. At the end of the forest road stood a fortress city, isolated among mountains. Behind it were more mountains and forests. Everything in sight was covered in dazzling gold.
Under the sunlight, the immense "gold" shone so brightly it was almost blinding.
Within that endless golden expanse, aside from the forest and the fortress city, nearby villages and towns were also included. A massive barrier enveloped everything completely.
"If we could take even a part of that gold, wouldn't we get rich?", Fern blurted out the thought she couldn't suppress.
However, Ash and Frieren exchanged a glance and simply shook their heads with a faint smile.
This made Fern blush slightly. She puffed her cheeks and looked at them, "What's wrong? Don't you want to be rich?"
"It's not about money. That stuff only looks like gold. In reality, it's even harder than sealing ore. It can't be mined and has no value. At most, you can take a piece as a souvenir," Frieren shook her head helplessly and explained.
That familiar description made Fern suddenly recall something, "Ah… could it be… this is the thing you mentioned before, created by Macht of the Golden Land?"
"Yeah. This is definitely Macht's work," Frieren stated without hesitation. Looking at the massive golden barrier, she muttered softly, "I'd heard rumors before, but I didn't expect it to be this exaggerated. Still, the fact it's contained is probably the best outcome."
If possible, she wanted to completely avoid this place. The opponent was an extremely dangerous monster. Provoking something of that level wasn't her style. At least, she had no intention of dealing with that kind of trouble.
At least for now, that was what Frieren thought.
Looking at the golden land in the distance, Frieren only wanted to leave quickly to avoid any trouble.
But as Fern gazed at the golden expanse, she unconsciously showed a strange, indescribable expression, "Lady Frieren, you said this is something created by magic, but… magic detection only identifies it as a huge mass of gold, with no magical fluctuations at all. Why is that?"
"That's what makes Macht impressive," Even Frieren, who understood Macht well, gave her judgment immediately. Her tone carried clear wariness, "His magic has already surpassed human understanding. Naturally, magic detection can't properly identify it."
"Something like that actually exists?", The explanation was so abstract that Fern found it hard to believe.
Before she could ask more, a blue bird flew over from the sky and dropped a letter directly to Ash.
At the same time, a small animal resembling a marmot, standing upright with a little bag on its back, took out a thicker envelope and handed it to Fern with both hands.
Frieren only glanced at them before casually looking away again, "A request from the Magic Association, right? Becoming a first-class mage really is troublesome."
"No, Lady Frieren, this is… a personal request from Lord Lernen."
"Lernen?", Frieren cast a cold glance at the letter in Fern's hand and said bluntly, "I don't like that guy. If he suddenly sent a request, it's probably trouble. Just reject it."
"But he even sent a grimoire as payment?", As soon as Frieren finished speaking, Fern took out a book from the envelope.
At once, the displeasure on Frieren's face vanished. She silently took the magic book, completely changing her attitude, and said seriously, "I don't know what it is yet, but let's get to work right away. It's not our style to let others down."
"Don't make it sound so noble… you just want his grimoire, don't you?"
Thinking of what had happened earlier in the magic city, Ash couldn't help but complain. At the same time, he felt a faint sense of unease.
And after carefully reading the letter in his hand, he confirmed it, it really wasn't anything good.
———
Since the letter didn't clearly explain things, the three followed the instructions and attached map, circling around the barrier's range.
Before long, they arrived at a small cabin in the forest.
As expected, standing at the door was a bearded old man in a black robe. He looked similar to Himmel in his later years,.aged to the point he resembled a dwarf, though with more hair, Denken.
"I didn't expect the one managing the barrier to be the Continental Magic Association," Recalling the contents of the letter, Frieren expressionlessly observed Denken and confirmed, "If nothing's wrong, you're the barrier manager, right? Instead of being an imperial court mage, you're here watching a barrier?"
"I only recently took over as the barrier manager. For that, I had to ask Serie for quite a while."
"If I remember correctly, you said before that you wanted to return to your hometown to visit graves?"
"You remember correctly," The stern old noble, Denken, stroked his chin and gazed into the distance, letting out a soft sigh, "And my hometown is inside this golden land."
"What… that… I suddenly have a bad feeling."
Denken's words immediately set off alarm bells in Frieren's mind. Her expression collapsed, her long ears drooping as she instinctively stepped back, wary, "Let me make this clear first. If you're planning to fight Macht, we won't get involved."
"I just…"
"This is definitely trouble," Before Denken could explain, Frieren abruptly pulled out the grimoire she had just accepted and shoved it back into Fern's hands, "We're rejecting this request. Fern, send the grimoire back."
"What's wrong… Lady Frieren?"
"Even though I don't like that guy and don't want to boost a demon's prestige, I'll say this as many times as needed. In terms of magic alone, Macht has already surpassed a peak humans can never reach. You absolutely must not think about fighting him. That would be no different from seeking death."
Seeing that Fern seemed inclined to help Denken, Frieren emphasized Macht's danger again.
Every time she recalled her encounter over six hundred years ago, when she had been easily defeated and then spared by Macht, her expression became complicated.
Even though her magic power was greater now, six hundred years later, she still couldn't imagine defeating Macht from back then.
"This isn't like you. Usually, as long as there's a grimoire, you'd rush over happily to take the job. This time, he hasn't even explained the mission yet," Ash couldn't help but laugh, reaching out to ruffle her hair.
Annoyed, Frieren slapped his hand away and shot him a sideways glance, correcting him seriously, "What do you mean not like me? I've always valued everyone's lives the most… except yours."
"If you didn't add that last part, I'd actually be happy. But…", Ash shook his head, "In this party, aside from you and me, there's only Fern. If you exclude me, then 'everyone' just means Fern, right?"
"Then Fern is the most important."
"Sure," Ash waved it off indifferently, then looked at Denken, "What about you?"
"I already told you before. I'm more cold-hearted than you think. After my wife passed away, I never returned. It wasn't until my true hometown and my wife's grave, in the northernmost village of that fortress city, were swallowed by the Golden Land that I decided to come back," Denken gave a helpless smile, then looked into the distance again, the place where his wife likely rested, and said calmly, "Just like I told you before, I became the barrier manager only to see my hometown and visit my wife's grave. Not to defeat Macht or save my hometown."
"Visit graves? Hometown? What's the point of risking your life for something like that?"
Even as she said that, the apparent difficulty of the situation dropping made Frieren quietly withdraw her hand that had been about to send the grimoire back.
Denken didn't mock her pragmatism. He just smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Because right now, I can't let go of my hometown. But once I see it completely changed beyond recognition by time, I'll be able to let go. I have a clear understanding of myself. But Lernen seems to think I'd try to save my hometown and the people in the city, so he did a lot of unnecessary things."
"Not unnecessary. At least I got a grimoire out of it."
Frieren stated her gain seriously. But as soon as she finished, Ash smacked her on the head and lectured, "Frieren, you shouldn't be so calculating. It doesn't look good."
"You're not qualified to say that."
"Then let Fern do it," He stepped back and lightly pushed Fern forward.
Fern cooperated immediately, putting on a stern face as she said unhappily, "Lady Frieren, you're acting poorly. Please reflect on this properly!"
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