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

He seemed to do whatever he wanted, but unexpectedly he was still diligently practicing every day. This self-discipline made Zanyin feel ashamed of himself.

Just being with the three of them gave him a strange feeling—they were not on the same wavelength. The difference in their atmosphere was too great, and each of them gave off a different feeling.

However, to everyone's surprise, the two trusted Ash more than anyone else... which made him curious about their past.

But the days went by, and he still didn't get an answer.

Similarly, Zain's firm refusal left Frillie with no suitable solution.

Finally, in his distress, one evening, he couldn't help but look at Ash, who was practicing his magic day after day by the river near the church.

Frillie plopped down next to him and gave him a little push.

"You and Zain seem to get along surprisingly well, so you should have a general idea of ​​how to get him to join, right?"

"He likes older sisters."

"I already knew that, but he seems to be like you, not really accepting that I'm the older sister, even though I'm older than all of you... It's so strange."

Frillie crossed her arms and tilted her head, looking utterly bewildered by the two of them.

Is there really anything hard to understand about this? I don't understand why you can be so lacking in self-awareness! Ash glanced at her flat, unassuming chest and overly petite figure, but when Philon looked at her, he tried hard to suppress the urge to speak out.

But Frillie truly noticed nothing. After racking her brains for a solution, she simply stood up, revealing an inexplicably resolute expression, as if preparing to unleash her ultimate weapon, and sighed:

"There's no other way. Although I don't really want to do this, it's the only option I have now."

"...Based on my understanding of you, that's definitely not a good choice."

"Trust me! And... leave it to me, I'll show you my charm as an older sister~!" Frilian looked down at him, a confident smile on her face.

But he didn't flatter him at all, only covering his face, shaking his head and sighing softly: "I can already imagine the scene of you ruining your reputation in your later years."

"Lord Ash, what are you talking about?"

You'll find out soon enough....

"Hmm~" Philon was a little unhappy, but he just followed the two without saying a word.

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

After staking out the river near the church for a while, Frillie spotted her target.

She quickly emerged from the bushes and suddenly called out to the monks who were walking into the church: "—Zan!"

"Huh?" Zain mistakenly thought she had some other trick up her sleeve, and turned around warily, then...

Frillie extended her right hand from her lips, pursed her lips and made a kissing motion, deliberately making a "chu~" sound at the end of the gesture.

The air suddenly became still at that moment.

After a while, Zain finally snapped out of his daze, looked at Ash blankly, and asked in confusion, "What is this guy doing?"

"...As you can see, it was probably a flying kiss." Ash covered his forehead with one hand, avoiding her gaze, while Frilline stood with her hands on her hips, oblivious to her own smug expression: "Hmph~"

"I can see that, but why the sudden flying kiss?" Zain looked like he'd swallowed a fly.

"...Simply put, it's about using this method to showcase your charm and get you to join us." Ash was so embarrassed that he couldn't help but dig a three-bedroom apartment out of the ground and run away from this incredibly awkward scene.

Zain, with an expression as if he had just swallowed a fly, waved his hand and said, "I'm begging you, please take this child away quickly."

"...I was thinking the same thing." He sighed softly, grabbed Frilian by the back of her collar, and turned to leave the scene to prevent her from continuing to embarrass herself.

However... as soon as he turned around, he saw that Philon was covering his mouth with a flushed face, seemingly greatly shocked by Frilian's behavior.

"...What are you doing?"

"Lady Frillian... is too mature! Too sexy~!"

"Ha, ha?"

Ash was also shocked.

The child he raised was so... How could he call him naive or what? Ash couldn't figure it out either, and all he felt was a headache coming on.

Could it be that he was the only normal one among all these people? — He couldn't help but ponder this question.

While being pulled backward by him, Frillie stroked her chin and muttered to herself, "How strange... It worked so well before, and Simmel even fainted, but Haita, Aize, and Ash didn't react at all..."

"...Don't you really consider the possibility that you might be being scammed?"

"Master said that those who are too young are useless, which means..."

"I'm not young, to be honest! You look like a little girl, so you have no right to call others young, right? It would be strange if anyone could fall for your tricks under normal circumstances!"

"Wait a minute...!" Frilian broke free from his hand, pouted her lips and made a kissing motion again, then kissed his left hand, giving him a super close flying kiss, and even adding a "chu~" sound at the end.

"........."

"So it really is a matter of distance? This unprecedented distance even hurts Ash?!"

Seeing his petrified silence, Frillie couldn't help but break into an overly bright smile; however, her smugness lasted less than three seconds before Ash punched her on the head, causing her to clutch her head in pain and squat on the ground, complaining, "...What are you doing!?"

"I'm sorry... I felt looked down upon, and I couldn't help myself for a moment."

"...You don't have the slightest bit of sincerity in your apology!"

"Because I really didn't have any sincerity, and I felt justified in doing so."

"You bastard...!"

His honest statement infuriated Frillie so much that she wanted to jump up and give him a good whack on the head.

But Ash shook his head as if giving up, then left her and strode towards the uncle who was still having a headache... about how to get rid of them.

The Burial of Frilian: The Officially Beginning Journey: Chapter Fifteen - The Reopening Journey - The Curse of Sleep - The Unexpected Awakener (9K)

Despite being suddenly hit on the head, Ash's actions made Frillie place high hopes on him.

...After all, she had been the one putting in the effort all this time, and even if she didn't want to admit it, she knew that Ash was at least a little better than her in terms of emotional intelligence.

She was full of hope, but Zain's feelings were quite the opposite.

The playful, almost comical kiss made him almost certain... that these guys were just messing around with him for no reason.

Seeing Ash approaching him for the first time, a rare occurrence for him, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and chuckled:

"Are you finally tired of playing house and planning to give up on their behalf?"

"...That's not it."

"What? You're still not planning to give up? You seem... at least to me, like you don't care whether I join you or not? You're just playing house with them, aren't you?"

"It doesn't matter, but Frilian can't stand you being like her, holding back for some reason. So I can only lend a hand, can I?"

Ash didn't deny playing house, but what he said made Zain smile wryly: "What? You really spoil her? Even though you two are always arguing?"

"After all, we've known each other for a long time, so it's normal to have a little argument, right?" He shrugged helplessly. "We're all men, so I'll cut to the chase without further ado."

"What do you want to say?"

"Stop hiding it. Just tell me the real reason why you don't want to leave the town. Of course, 'it's too late' won't do, since that's not the real reason. At least I don't think so at the moment."

"...You really are more troublesome than Frilian."

Seeing his determined expression, Zain couldn't help but sigh and scratch his head vigorously. However, in order to get rid of them and stop being harassed, he was forced to tell them the truth.

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

In reality, the reason Zain was unwilling to leave wasn't that complicated, but the cause of the matter was somewhat distant.

When he was a child, Haita came here and invited his brother to the Holy City.

For the rural priests of the northern kingdoms, this was an opportunity to leap over the dragon gate, a once-in-a-lifetime and extremely rare chance. They even promised to let Zain live with them in the holy city.

This would lead to a qualitative leap in salary, living conditions, and social status. However, Zain's brother refused this opportunity that no normal person could refuse.

"...I happened to be by the door at that time and heard it. My elder brother chose to stay here and be a village priest for the rest of his life so that I wouldn't lose my parents and then this hometown."

Zain looked at the drifting white smoke in front of him, and at the end of his words, a bitter expression appeared on his face: "How can you expect me to leave my brother and the village just to chase some dream?"

"...I see, I understand."

"If you understand, hurry up and leave. I can't..."

"I personally understand, but your older brother certainly won't agree with your thinking; also, I understand that you might doubt how an outsider like me could come to this conclusion, but think about it yourself, he also actively encouraged you to join us, right?"

Ash calmly interrupted Zain, and while Zain was still in shock, Ash stared expressionlessly into his eyes and spoke accusingly in a low voice:

"Your older brother is so considerate of you, yet you have a different understanding of his ideas. To some extent, it could be described as an arbitrary and one-sided 'I'm doing this for your own good,' right?"

"I'm the one..."

Why don't you ever ask what kind of person he actually hopes you will become? And does he really want to see you constantly regretting your actions?

Ash's words left Zain speechless, and the cigarette in his hand slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.

Just as his lips twitched slightly, as if he wanted to do something, the priest who had appeared beside him at some point strode over and, with a furious expression, raised his hand and slapped him across the face.

"—Zain! You've been worried about this all along!"

"I just..."