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

"You don't understand. With your short lifespan and my weakness, we don't know when we'll die. Leaving her all alone over there, we have to find a way to teach her to take care of herself, right?"

"...What you said makes a lot of sense, but you're probably just too lazy to do it yourself, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"......"

Ash readily agreed, leaving Frillie standing nearby speechless, while Vlame rubbed her forehead, already feeling a headache and even a pang of heartache for her mentor who had raised her.

But for now, she decided to ignore it for the time being. This guy was just as strange as her master, only strange from a different angle.

He then looked at the crowd and saw the strongest one, Frilian. He watched her move the corpses and began to talk to her.

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

The two seemed to have talked about something, but Ash wasn't quite sure what it was, and he wasn't particularly interested.

He simply dug a hole, buried everyone in it, and then sat down to drink the beverage Millie offered him.

"So, what are you going to do next, Millie?" He took a sip of his drink and turned to look at the elf beside him.

"Isn't it appropriate to live a life of doing nothing?"

"...Is this alright?"

"Alright, alright~ I don't want to end up like you."

"Let's be careful. The demons are slaughtering the elves right now. Maybe we should try to learn some magic?"

"Well... um, I'll have to be more careful from now on." Millie, whose personality was lively for an elf but still a little eccentric, smiled as she stood up and waved to Freyren without turning back as she walked towards him: "I'm off now. Hope to see you again sometime~"

"Ah... goodbye."

Despite saying that, they both knew that without making any promises, seeing each other again was probably a pipe dream, after all, the world is so big.

Neither of them mentioned it, and Millie said goodbye to Frillie with a smile.

After burying their companion, the other villagers said their goodbyes and prepared to leave, but before that...

Ash and Frilian left first, accompanied by Vlame, who for some unknown reason had taken Frilian as his apprentice.

"...Speaking of which, Frilian."

As Ash carried Frillie, who seemed exhausted after burying the person, on his back, he suddenly looked back as if he remembered something.

Hearing his inexplicably cheerful voice, Frilian, who was lying on top of him, immediately became alert: "What?"

"Now that you've become Vlame's disciple, doesn't that make you my nephew? In that case, you should call me uncle-master, right?"

"...You haven't forgotten that I taught you magic too, have you?"

"Then I'll call you my junior disciple, and you can call me by my name. How about we each address each other?"

"...No matter how I look at it, I'm the one who'll suffer a loss, so I won't do it."

Frillie turned her face away, completely ignoring the guy's proposal.

Vlamé, standing to the side, was holding his forehead with one hand, seemingly unwilling to join in this strange conversation.

But just as Ash was about to hold on a little longer, three cloaked demons suddenly appeared on the side of the road.

They had been hiding themselves, but upon seeing that the three were all mages, they revealed themselves, just like Bazart had done before, and asked them to put down the elves.

"...That's how demons are. Though they're despicable and cunning, they also hold a considerable pride in their worthless magic. They would never resort to sneak attacks on mages and always seek a fair duel..."

While speaking to the two in rather crude language, Vlame removed Frilline from Ash's body, appearing to be surrendering, yet continuing unhurriedly:

"Because when it comes to magic, they are full of confidence and trust in the magic they have studied for so many years—in other words, they have a dog-shit arrogance and a sense of righteousness!"

At the end of his words, Vlamé raised his hand without warning, releasing a golden light.

The hillside not far away was transformed into a crater more than twenty meters in diameter in the burst of light.

But after completing all this, she turned around without any expression of joy or anger and looked at the two of them:

"They are indeed first-rate, outstanding mages, but even the best can lose their lives due to a small oversight... Mages are such an extreme profession; their bodies are much weaker than warriors, and they could be stabbed to death by a child if they are not careful."

"So that's why you've been hiding your magic power all this time?" Ash asked, looking at her burgeoning aura. "But how long have you been hiding it? It can't have been like this all along, can it?"

"That's right, exploiting the opponent's misjudgment of magic, deceiving and killing him, defiling the noble magic... that's my most despicable tactic."

"...No offense, but aren't you being a little strange? You were just talking about bullshit magic, and now you're suddenly talking about noble magic?"

At the end of her words, the sadness in her lowered gaze made Ash realize that she was speaking to herself, not to the vanished demons.

"...I like magic, but I also hate magic."

"Haa..."

"In any case, let's go back first. After all, we've taken on a disciple, so we should at least tell our master."

Ignoring his dumbfounded expression, Vlame walked ahead on her own.

This left him with a sense of helplessness, but he still carried Frilian on his back again and followed behind.

The only thing they can be thankful for after being attacked repeatedly is that they are going in a different direction than Millie, and the demons are coming from a different direction, so they don't need to worry about the safety of the villagers and Millie.

Chapter Twenty-Five: What a Proper Disciple Should Be Like

As dawn breaks, a gentle, pale white light appears on the horizon, and a thin mist, like a veil, swirls above the winding river.

The three of them strolled leisurely through the area.

Although Vula said he was going to report to his master, he seemed quite leisurely on the way, as if he were sightseeing, without any sense of being in a hurry.

Along the way, they would stop at a meadow full of flowers to enjoy a moment of peace and beauty, or climb up a boulder to gaze into the distance and take in the surrounding green hills and clear waters.

Sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting dappled shadows. The three's journey felt more like a simple trip than a hurried one.

But during this process, Vlamé was also teaching Frilian, and Ash was also learning from her, which made Vlamé seem a little troubled and had some strange concerns.

In the end, however, she put aside her concerns and the two of them started teaching together.

It took the three of them half a year to slowly cross the border and reach the neighboring country... There was no other way, since they barely walked any steps each day.

However, as they approached the ruins where Seria lived, they came to a flower field next to the ruins and decided to rest for the night before going inside... After all, the inside was definitely not ready, so staying outside was more or less the best option.

This flower field is vast and boundless, like a meticulously woven tapestry spread across the land under the blue sky and white clouds.

Sunlight filtered through the sparse clouds, illuminating the flower field and making it seem like a fairytale world. But... Frillian clearly had no interest in it, stepping squarely onto a flower.

"Speaking of which, why is there such a large flower field here?" Ash casually picked a bunch of flowers and looked at Vlame with a puzzled expression.

"This?" Vlame glanced at the sea of ​​flowers and smiled. "This is a gift I gave to my master before."

"Is Celia really that girly?"

"No, Master doesn't seem to like it."

"...What's the point then?"

"I quite like it."

"You two are really not a good match."

“I know that, but it was the first magic my parents taught me when I was little, and it was also the reason I fell in love with magic.” Vlamé looked at the sea of ​​flowers, revealing a sense of nostalgia for the past: “This sea of ​​flowers is big enough that perhaps in the future, when I am no longer here, they can accompany my master… That’s what I think.”

"..."

Frillie, who had never interrupted their conversation, listened with her eyes widening slightly, yet she seemed somewhat confused.

Therefore, she turned to Ash and asked, puzzled, "I think I understand Master's motives. Ash, why do you like magic so much?"

“It’s out of necessity to survive, and…” He fiddled with the flower in his hand, a hint of helplessness in his eyes: “My sister… she has deep and urgent expectations of me.”

"Then you mustn't let your sister down."

"...No, I think it's better to let them down."

"Huh??" Frillie was completely dumbfounded.

Whether it was what her master wanted to express or Ash's words, they all made her doubt... that she really didn't understand human emotions very well.

But... Vlamed saw through her mood and patted her shoulder with a sigh: "Don't worry about it. It's not just you; I don't understand what he means either."

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

The next day.

The group left the sea of ​​flowers and ventured deep into the ruins, eventually arriving at the familiar hall.

The blonde elf, Celia, sat as usual on her throne in the deepest part of the palace, looking utterly bored.

However, when she came in, Frilian followed suit and knelt on one knee, just like Vlamé.

It was at this moment that Celia revealed an enthusiastic smile, but her gaze was fixed on Ash, who was sitting cross-legged beside her, flipping through a book:

"Hey kid over there, did you see that? This is what a proper disciple should look like."

"...Don't suddenly pick a fight, okay? You clearly don't like these tedious formalities either, do you?" Ash retorted without thinking, not even looking up, his eyes still fixed on the book in his hands.

"Who said that? I value etiquette the most!"

"...Then why don't you put your feet on the chair and sit properly?" Ash glanced at Celia, who had no manners at sitting, standing, or even squatting, and was too lazy to complain about her anymore.

"Tsk, so perceptive at a time like this." Being looked down upon by her own disciple made Celia click her tongue in amazement. "Who do you think has been supporting you all this time here?"

"...Instead of this, would you rather have Vlame and Frilian keep kneeling there?"

"I have no problem with this, I'm the elder! And you're the one who caused this situation, what? Feeling guilty now?"

"Absolutely not. After all, I wasn't the one kneeling, and I wasn't the one being knelt to. It has nothing to do with me."

Where have your morals gone?

"Please don't suddenly have such high expectations of me when I'm still young, okay?"

“…Never mind, I’ll kick you out later. Now…” Celia paused halfway through her sentence, then looked at the two still kneeling on the ground, revealing a smile completely different from the one she had shown to Ash:

"Time flies! The apprentice I took on out of interest has already brought his grand-apprentice here so soon?"

“She is Frilian.” Vlamour nodded with a smile.

"An elf? That's powerful. I like it. Tell me the magic you want, and I'll teach you one."

"Is it what Ash mentioned before... the transfer of magic?"

"Yes, I possess almost all magic. As long as you speak it, I can grant you it in an instant."