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

Ash, who had come to visit Celia and hopefully change his mood, couldn't help but remind her as he watched the ancient paper scraps drifting through the air like snowflakes:

"...Those were supposedly Vlamé's original manuscripts, priceless treasures, you just tore them to pieces like that?"

"So what? Boring books written by boring people are not worth mentioning at all." Celia sat on the throne made of books, resting her chin on her hand, and retorted with a sneer.

"Of course you don't care! It's all my money!"

"You stole it, didn't you?"

"Those were hard-earned!" Ash retorted indignantly. Seeing that she didn't respond, he could only shake his head, reach out to touch the scattered leaves, and sigh helplessly, "I'm not trying to be mean, Master, but your personality is just too arrogant..."

"...I almost wanted to ask you before, you damned disciple, what do you mean by 'tsundere'?"

"If I remember correctly, you also tore up Vlame's will with magic in front of Frillien before." Ash casually tossed the leaf aside, glanced up at his displeased master, and said to himself, half-answering the question:

"But when I looked for you before, I found a complete suicide note deep inside your ruins. Do you have any clues about it? Could it be... that you secretly glued the suicide note back on while Frilian was away?"

"What...do you take me for? Do you think I care about such trivial things? Do you want to die?" Celia's expression turned dangerous in an instant.

"Yes, yes~ I don't care, I don't care. You are the most cold-blooded, arrogant, and heartless person in this world."

"Speaking of which..."

"what?"

"...Thinking about it carefully, it's really unbelievable." Celia didn't care about his evaluation, crossed her legs and leaned back, while looking down at Ash who was silently turning back time to repair the books, and sighed: "People with talent often fall into two extremes."

"Two extremes?"

"Those who ask me for power and those who ask me for magic that has nothing to do with power."

"Am I the former?"

"The former will become the magician I envision, but the latter will become a magician beyond my imagination."

"Is the latter... Zanze and Philon?"

Ash inexplicably thought of a girl who wanted to get a good night's sleep and wanted to do laundry.

“That’s right.” Celia nodded, casting a look of keen interest at him.

"You are a complete exception. You meet my expectations, yet you are too greedy, ultimately exceeding all expectations."

"Well, because I'm greedy. No matter what I do, power is power to me. Even if I take a shortcut, it doesn't matter. I don't mind at all."

"Ha, only you can make shamelessness sound so elegant and refined."

"..."

What to do? Another person I want to punch? But... after all, she's a proud and arrogant person, so it's probably better not to take her too seriously, right? Otherwise, wouldn't I become someone on the same level as her? — Ash shook his head, rubbing his forehead, trying hard not to argue with this proud and arrogant person, and unconsciously glanced back.

At first glance, he saw Frilian peeking out to observe the situation.

When their eyes met, she immediately had a look of utter dismay on her face and instinctively wanted to slip away. But she had only shrank back slightly when Ash rushed over and grabbed her by the back of her collar.

"What? Frilian, you've become interested in eavesdropping too?" Celia's face was full of mockery.

"...Ash, I don't like her. Why are you holding me? Put me down right now!" Frilian writhed in mid-air like a wildcat being dragged along.

Ash smiled and said, "What are you talking about? It's because you don't like it that I grabbed it."

“No, I don’t like Frilian either.” Celia also looked dissatisfied.

"It's okay, I know that too, that's why I brought you two together so you could torture each other."

"You little brat...!" Celia narrowed her eyes, a dangerous magical light emanating from her fingertips.

Ash simply raised Frilian in his hand silently, using her as a shield.

Seeing this, Celia was surprisingly hesitant and put her hand down again.

It was obvious that even if they disliked each other, she wouldn't harm her own kind, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she became: "Your character is truly despicable. Even most demons aren't as shameless as you... If I had known, I shouldn't have helped you back then."

"Thank you for the compliment~ But it's too late to regret it now. In the end, your personalities aren't really that great, are they?"

“No, I’m at least better than Seria,” Frillie instinctively corrected him immediately.

Celia's expression was frighteningly gloomy: "Frilian... have you forgotten that we should be targeting Ash right now?"

"Of course I remember, but this is also very important." Frillie's words were inexplicably serious, which made Ash feel a little amused, and also made Celie sigh deeply, completely losing her temper.

Ash found the bewildered old master particularly amusing. Without realizing it, after placing Frillie on the ground, he silently pulled out a bottle of liquor and smiled:

"Anyway...the group from a thousand years ago, all of whom are still alive, have reunited. Shouldn't we celebrate first?"

"You're not planning to do something to Celia while she's drunk, are you?" Frilian stared at him with inexplicable wariness.

Ash, who just wanted to drink and celebrate, couldn't help himself and slapped her on the head when he heard this.

Just watching Frillie squatting on the ground, staring at him innocently in pain, he could only shake his head repeatedly: "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I possibly do anything to Celie? I've always said that I like pretty older sisters."

"...You used to say the same thing to me, yet you looked at my underwear...my naked body, slept with me? Used me as a pillow?"

"It's different! In the end, I haven't done any of the things you're talking about with Celie, and... well, anyway, it's different."

"Hey~ I thought you were a guy with absolutely no principles?"

"gab."

It's hard to say about others, but he never did anything ambiguous with Celie. Recently, Celie's new disciple has been touching her head all the time, while Ash... he has no interest in his master's head and has never even touched it.

After all, he prefers older women... or cute little girls.

Seeing Celia's face full of black lines, he felt an unbelievable calmness, which made him certain that he truly had a bottom line.

"...Is it just my imagination? You seem to be looking down on me?" Celia's expression wasn't very pleasant; Ash's cheerful smile inexplicably made her unhappy.

"That's not true. I was just showing respect to my master."

"Ha, to hear such words from you..." Celia found the words amusing, but surprisingly refrained from resorting to violence.

Perhaps it's because he's getting old, or maybe he knows he can't fight anymore? — Ash couldn't help but think that.

The night was unexpectedly peaceful.

Although the drinking wasn't very enjoyable, Celie was quite talkative, while Frillie seemed uninterested. Midway through, Millie appeared with two boxes of alcohol floating beside her.

In the end, the bizarre banquet only managed to knock out Frillie.

To prevent her from vomiting in the library, Ash quickly carried her away, leaving behind a mess and Celia still muttering as Millie drank with Ratchet.

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

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

The moonlight that night was like water, gently spilling over the earth.

Frilian clung to Ash's back like a parasite, holding him tightly with one hand while patting his head intermittently with the other, and drunkenly rambled on about all sorts of trivial matters from the past.

Those words came out like a machine gun, giving Ash a headache and making him wonder if the guy was faking being drunk and deliberately messing with him.

Ultimately, however, this suspicion came to nothing because...

As he sat down on the edge of the bed, Philon quickly followed him into the room, bent down, placed one hand on his shoulder, and used the other to wipe Frillie's face with a handkerchief, beginning to berate her mercilessly:

"...I won't blame you for bringing Lady Frillien for drinking this time, but please be a little more tolerant of her; and every time I praise Lady Frillien, you're always criticizing her. This isn't good for Lady Frillien's upbringing. How many times have I told you this?"

"No...it's not good to spoil her like this, is it? Frilian hasn't grown up all these years, you should take the main responsibility, Philon, and reflect on your actions!"

Normally, he was the one being lectured, so when he finally had the chance, Ash naturally didn't hold back and reprimanded him, trying to take charge.

But Philon puffed out his cheeks and retorted indignantly:

"Lord Ash, do you mean that you've known Lady Frilian for a thousand years and she hasn't changed, while I've only known her for ten years, yet the responsibility rests entirely on my shoulders?"

The overly reasonable question left Ash speechless for a moment.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't find any words to refute it, so he could only turn his face away dejectedly: "...You child, when did you become so sharp-tongued?"

"I learned it all from Lord Ash." Philen gave a soft hum, but his hands continued to gently and carefully wipe Frillie's flushed cheeks.

The drunken elf was still clinging to Ash's back like a koala, muttering incoherently, "...It's all Ash's fault...he always bullies me, Philon, say a few more words to him..."

"Lady Frillien, are you really drunk? You're still thinking about... Ah! Lady Frillien! Please don't bite Lord Ash's ear!"

Frillie, who had somehow become delirious, bit Ash's ear, prompting Philon to frantically try to stop her.

Ash sighed helplessly and reached out to pull her away, but Philon grabbed him first.

"Honestly...both of them are such a worry..." Philen skillfully pulled Frilian into his arms, patting her back gently like he was soothing a child: "Lady Frilian, shall we go back to our room and rest?"

"No... This is the perfect opportunity, I want to get revenge on Ash..." Frilian, her eyes glazed with drunkenness, reached out to grab Ash's clothes, but was cleverly blocked by Philon.

Ash, watching this scene, suddenly had a strange sense of déjà vu: "Philan, the way you're looking right now is just like..."

"What does it look like?" Philon looked up warily.

"A mother worried that her daughter will be kidnapped by a bad man." Ash said with a wicked smile, nimbly dodging Philon's angry kick.

"Lord Ash!" Philon's face flushed red. "How could you say such a thing! I was clearly...!"

"Okay, okay~ I apologize~ Is it okay to apologize?"

"no!"

"Hey, hey... is that not allowed?"

Ash was quite surprised that the well-behaved Philen would say such things.

Seeing his surprised expression, Philon couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth: "Of course, you keep demanding that an apology can't just be an apology. Doesn't that apply to you?"

"That's not true..."

"Then I hope you will hold me, just like you do with Miyu-sama."

"No... you're still holding Frillie in your arms?"

"I just wanted you to hold me too. What were you thinking?" Philon asked, leaning down with a stern face and displeased.

With this movement, the massive, surging waves of his chest became clearly visible from his line of sight, causing him to instinctively look away.

"No, no, there's nothing there..."

"So, is there a problem with a hug?"

"Of course not... it's just that you still have..."

"It's fine to be together."