What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

The Demon King's affairs, and—the wife's affairs.

"...Ash."

"What happened again?"

"Although you don't seem like a good person, it's so good to meet you all again at the end of my life."

"You said the same thing to Frilian eighty years ago, didn't you?"

"I will tell Frilian again when you leave."

"......"

No? Why not? — He looked at the old man who had closed his eyes again, and really couldn't understand what the other person was thinking.

But after much hesitation, he chose to remain silent and temporarily stopped exercising, sighing softly as he looked up at the sky.

Gazing at the night sky that had remained unchanged for thousands of years, he himself was not quite sure... if more than three hundred years had passed, would he still be able to remember Philon?

To be honest, even he wasn't very confident.

He no longer wants to regret his decision to take in Philon.

Even after so many years, he had long since forgotten what his original friend looked like.

Moreover, this idea is not because Philon is a descendant of a friend.

.............................

.............................

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

Frillie and Froe seemed to have a very pleasant conversation these past few days. When Froe left, he even seemed to have a long-lost dream about his wife because they were talking about the past.

...Whether he could recall everything about his wife through that dream is unknown.

Even so, this still made Frillie feel exceptionally good when she left.

But as they drove away from the village, she suddenly looked at Ash and said dejectedly:

"Ash... Lord Fru, it seems his days are truly numbered."

"Is that right?"

"He has forgotten everything about his wife."

"The average lifespan of a dwarf is only 300 years, so he has lived a very long life. There's no need to be sad."

"...Won't Ash be sad?"

"Birth, aging, sickness, and death are just the unchanging natural order of things. It's something we'll have to face sooner or later, and there's no point in being sad about it. But you... do you still remember what Vlamé looked like?"

"...To be honest, it's a bit blurry." Frillian, who was walking and reading a book, unconsciously twirled the pages, a sad expression on her face. "Perhaps in the future, I will also forget what you and Philon look like."

"Then you can make new friends later." Ash smiled and shook his head, patting her head as he did so. "It's good to forget the past sometimes so you can live a better life."

"...It's easy to say."

His casual answer made Frilian unusually angry. She forcefully slapped his hand away and quickly walked ahead.

This surprised him a bit, and he unconsciously looked at Philonise: "What's wrong with her? This isn't a very ordinary explanation?"

"...This is Ash's fault, please apologize properly later."

"Huh? My fault?" Ash pointed to his face in surprise, then instinctively looked at Zain: "You're a monk, you often comfort others, you should understand, this is absolutely the most appropriate way to put it..."

"...Sometimes I just don't understand what's wrong with you. Aren't you normally very smart? Why are you saying things like this now?"

“I understand this may be unpleasant, but instead of avoiding the issue, we should offer solutions.”

"...Is there really a good solution to that kind of thing?"

Zain didn't intend to refute this overly rational answer; he simply scratched his head and smiled wryly.

This topic was also brought to a halt at this point because it could not be sustained.

On the way forward, Frilian continued to sulk, while Zain kept going to the village to inquire about the whereabouts of his best friend, the gorilla warrior, who had passed away ten years ago.

His real name is unknown, but he refers to himself as such. Because of this highly personalized self-designation, some villagers actually know where he is.

However, during their journey north, they unexpectedly found a pile of dismembered corpses and some scattered weapons on the main road.

"Is this... a bandit? How tragic." Frilian examined the corpse and quickly made a judgment: "It looks like the work of a mage, and a rather sophisticated one at that."

"Isn't this country supposed to be safe? Why are there still bandits?" Zain muttered to himself as he gathered the corpses, frowning. He felt a sense of returning to his hometown.

"...What are you saying? No matter what era it is, or how good the public security is in a country, it is impossible to completely eliminate criminals. Besides, this is a business route, it is normal for there to be robberies."

Upon hearing his words, Ash couldn't help but defend himself, and—when he discovered the body, he instinctively covered Philon's eyes.

The Burial of Frilian: The Officially Beginning Journey: Chapter Eighteen - Problem Girl Yubel - I Don't Think You Can Cut Her

Ash's rapid movements initially prevented Philon from seeing anything, but from their conversation nearby, he could basically understand what they had discovered.

She wasn't happy at all about Ash's treatment, and couldn't help but pout.

"...Lord Ash, I understand the bias towards one's own country, but I'm not a child anymore. Can you please stop covering my eyes like this? Even I've seen murder scenes before."

"But this is not good for children's education."

"So you're saying I'm not a child anymore!" Philon said angrily, and then pulled his hand away.

However, when she saw the dismembered body scene in front of her, her face turned slightly pale.

But it was just a matter of not quite getting used to it; nothing else changed.

This relieved Ash somewhat, as he felt that the child had indeed grown up a bit, but he couldn't help but think... Not to mention the journey, Philon had experienced war when he was a child, and must have seen quite a few corpses of all kinds.

"I feel a little sad..." he muttered to himself unconsciously.

This surprised Philon slightly: "W-what? I'm not a child, am I?"

For some reason, when Philon retorted, his expression had a bit of a childish look, like he had done something wrong.

Zain, however, was truly baffled as to what Ash was grieving over... was it because the children had grown up? Or was it mourning the dead bandits?

But just as he considered the possibility that he might sympathize with the bandits, Zain couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly: "No, it's impossible no matter how you look at it..."

"Why do I have this feeling that you suddenly thought of something very rude about me?"

"...Was that really rude?"

"I don't know what you're thinking, but... never mind."

He wasn't so fragile as to care about things others didn't say, so to avoid trouble, Ash didn't bother to care much.

However, during their conversation, he noticed that Zain was squatting on the ground cleaning up the body, and he couldn't help but shake his head: "What are you doing? You'll get your hands dirty."

"...I've had a feeling for a while now that there's something wrong with how you focus your observations."

"But aren't they bandits?"

“They are also the dead.” Zain said without turning his head, “When a person dies, everything disappears. At least as monks, we should show them final mercy.”

"But they may have done a lot of bad things in the past."

"It's just a possibility, isn't it?"

"...But the probability of them having committed murder and arson is very high, and judging from the extent to which their weapons were scattered at the scene, they were probably killed in self-defense after committing a crime, so from this point of view, they deserved to die."

Ash carefully observed the scene and then casually gave his answer.

"Perhaps that's true, but I'm a monk. You can't expect monks to ignore the dead, can you?"

"...He's clearly a monk who drinks alcohol, eats meat, and gambles?"

Even so, I am still a monk.

........

Although he is a drunken monk who likes older women and gambling, Zain also has his own principles.

Even after Ash said those things, she still stubbornly wanted to bury the remains.

Ash was slightly surprised by this unexpected "love" for his job. He shook his head and followed along, using magic to help transport the wreckage to a small grove by the roadside, then casually blasted a hole to bury it.

Even though they were already buried, Zain still did a proper job of making a small pile of stones as a grave for them.

Frillie, who had been quiet until now, suddenly appeared beside Ash and whispered, "...I thought you would just stand by and watch."

“I was quite surprised that Zain actually fulfilled the duties of a monk.”

"No, I'm not surprised it's you, Zain. I thought you would just stand by and do nothing."

"Really? Hmm... Your impression of me is really bad. Remember to apologize to me later."

“What are you apologizing for? In fact… I still don’t understand you.” Frilian turned to look at him with a mixed expression, then looked at the purple-haired girl imitating the tombstone of Zainlei: “Philan probably does too.”

"You understand Philon?" Ash's tone rose slightly in surprise, causing Frilian to narrow her eyes slightly. "Are you underestimating me?"