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

The group frolicked their way through the canyon and passed smoothly through the final checkpoint connecting the two sides of the central kingdom, arriving at the northern kingdom closest to the center.

On a morning when Ash was still practicing his magic on a fallen, withered tree trunk after successfully leaving the Central Kingdoms, Philon, who was cooking breakfast nearby, suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

"—Lord Ash! Lady Frillie is awake!!"

Ash opened his eyes in annoyance at the rare outburst of his voice.

Before he could say anything, Philon rushed over and forcibly dragged him away, saying seriously, "Lord Ash! We must praise her properly at this moment!"

"...Why do I have to do that kind of thing too? That old woman...bye, just ignore her~"

He had only reflexively started to complain halfway through when he remembered Frilian's taboo, so he suddenly stopped talking and looked warily at the sleepy-eyed Frilian.

She seemed not to have heard him clearly, still blinking, which relieved Ash slightly. He immediately put on a smile and walked over, changing the subject:

"Philan is right, we should reward those who get up early for such a rare occasion!"

As he spoke, he unusually and very gently rubbed Frillie's shoulder.

Seeing his expression, Philon hesitated for a moment, but still didn't want to expose his guilty behavior. Instead, she picked up a soup made of various vegetables and, as if feeding a toddler, blew on the soup on the spoon while tenderly feeding it to Frilian's lips.

However.....

Frillie comfortably enjoyed the service, chewing on the vegetables and swallowing the soup before looking up at Ash above her, her face expressionless:

"You said it again... add half a time."

"...Haven't I been massaging your shoulders? And you even want to add another half session?? Aren't you being a little too vindictive? It's been a thousand years! Shouldn't we reset things by now?"

"No way... because of you, I haven't had a proper night's sleep in half a century."

Even though Ash had already apologized before, just thinking about this incident made Frillie's eyes look strange, as if she was going to hold a grudge against him for the rest of her life.

However, when people said she was old, it had indeed been a thousand years, yet she was still counting for him... Now Ash was genuinely wondering if this guy would still be counting a thousand years from now.

But he was very troubled, while Philon couldn't help but be curious:

"Half a century without a good night's sleep? Lady Frillien, what are you talking about?"

"Ah, that was a thousand years ago." Frilian asked back, enjoying the experience of being able to eat food as soon as she opened her mouth.

"If this guy suddenly disappeared one day... and he asked you to go out together, but you wanted to sleep and let him go out alone, and he just vanished into thin air for a thousand years, what would you do, Philon?"

"...Is it about what happened when Lord Ash was sealed away? If so, you must feel incredibly guilty, right?" Just thinking about it made her feel depressed, so Philon replied, then stared at Ash with a serious expression and said in a lecturing tone, "—Lord Ash, please reflect on your actions! And then apologize properly to Lady Frillian!"

"No... that was beyond our control, wasn't it? Besides, I've apologized so many times before..."

The two women's sudden shared hatred made him want to hide behind Frillie to avoid their accusing gaze.

Seeing that he seemed genuinely remorseful, Philon didn't press him further. Instead, recalling the keyword "millennium" in the conversation, she couldn't help but mutter to herself:

"I really didn't expect this. The Great Magician Vlame is practically a figure from a fairy tale. I used to doubt whether he was even a real person. Yet, the two people around me know him, and they seem to have a close relationship..."

"A fairy tale...?" This very ordinary comment, however, brought a hint of sadness to Frillie's face.

"That's true. After all, so much time has passed. Ash and I are probably the only people who still remember what she looks like."

"No, Celia should remember too."

"...Seria? That capricious girl?"

“Willful?...Indeed, but it can be quite amusing at times.”

.......

Before they knew it, the two were talking about something that no one else could understand. This caused Philon to gradually stop feeding them and just stare at them silently, as if she was a little unhappy because she couldn't join in the conversation.

Despite being incredibly slow-witted, Frillie had learned over the years to read Philon's expressions and silently stopped talking, changing the subject:

"Speaking of which, the weather is nice today."

"Huh? Ah... Indeed, it shouldn't rain tomorrow, right?" Ash paused for a moment, but under Frillian's subtle gaze, he noticed the strange expression on the face of the child who always took care of them, and subconsciously nodded silently in agreement.

But their strange explanations left Philon both annoyed and amused:

"Lady Frilian and Lady Ash... did you learn this way of changing the subject from a teacher?"

"...Speaking of which..."

"what?"

She stared intently at Ash, trying to see what else he had up his sleeve to change the subject.

But Frillie rubbed her sleepy eyes, glanced around, and then picked up on Ash's topic, saying:

"Speaking of which, we've already reached the north, near the stronghold of demons and demons, but there are basically no demons around here, and we haven't encountered any demons either... Don't you find that a bit strange?"

“I know that,” Philon said subconsciously. “I remember the Kingdom of Esther was raising monsters in captivity, and even set aside a fairly large monster breeding base. They captured a lot of monsters and offered high prices to buy live monsters, which indirectly made this area much safer, right?”

"Really?... But even the demons don't raise demons as pets, and they don't believe demons can be tamed. Where do they get their confidence from?"

"But isn't this a good thing?" Philon said subconsciously, "After all, everyone is safer now."

"It's not just monsters, even the demon race itself has strangely decreased..."

Once again, Frillie unconsciously connected the matter to the mastermind behind the demons, and with a furrowed brow, she was about to say something.

Sensing that she wanted to bring up the topic again, Ash timely changed the subject:

"When I was in the northern kingdoms, I heard that in recent years, the number of monsters and demons that each country has faced has decreased, but the north has not become more peaceful. On the contrary, human conflicts have increased, and there are many more deserters and bandits."

"...The wars among the northern kingdoms have never stopped. Now that the pressure from the demons is gone, are they gradually becoming just like the southern kingdoms?"

His words unconsciously reminded Philon of his war-torn homeland, and his eyes gradually dimmed.

This made Frillie's face immediately turn bitter. She didn't know what to say to comfort him, so she turned her head and stared at Ash silently, urging him to change the subject since he had caused the problem himself.

"Speaking of which, today..."

"Change it!" Before he could finish speaking, Frilian gave him a light kick, but he innocently shrugged and said, "I meant to say that the weather is nice today, so why don't we hurry up and get going?"

"...You might as well talk about the weather."

"Uh..." He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, Frilian, are you a first-level mage?"

"A first-level mage? What's that?"

"...Let Philon say it."

He silently reached out and pushed the still grieving Philonise towards the stunned Frillie.

Seeing her bewildered expression, Philon couldn't help but show a look of shock:

"Lady Frillien, don't you know? Because monsters, bandits, and demons could appear at any time on the northern plateau, many places are restricting the movement of people, and then..."

Among them, the mutinous soldiers, although they were once soldiers, actually committed murder, arson, and robbery as if it were commonplace for them, and in many ways they were even more dangerous than the demons.

Because demons and monsters only kill people, if you can't beat them, you'll either be eaten or killed. As for the chaotic soldiers and bandits... women might not even be able to die.

It is precisely because that place is so chaotic that many places in various countries require that even adventurers must have the rank of Level 1 Mage to pass through, which can be considered as a consideration for the safety of travelers.

Having just finished recounting what she had overheard in the city, Philon stared at Florian suspiciously and asked, "Lady Florian...you didn't even know these things?"

"Absolutely not, and what is a Level 1 Mage?" Frilian was completely bewildered.

"That's the qualification of a mage recognized by the Continental Magic Association... You don't even know that? Could you be an unqualified, unregistered mage?"

"Don't make it sound like I'm an unregistered doctor, because... the team managing the mages keeps changing, and I can't keep up with all of them."

“But that existed half a century ago.” Facing Frilian, who would argue even if she turned the tables, Philon pulled out a piece of paper from her bag and showed it to her directly: “Look, this is my certification as a Level 3 Mage when I was in the Holy Capital.”

"...Half a century? That must have been not long ago, right? Was it when I set off with Haita and the others, or something like that? And..." Feeling that she was the only one out of touch with the times, Frilian turned to Ash and pointed at him, saying, "Ash definitely doesn't know either."

"Don't point at people with your finger, it's rude." He waved his hand and slapped the finger away.

"Look! He's feeling guilty, and sure enough..."

"No, I actually do know."

Rather than knowing or not knowing, Ash was basically considered by everyone to be the head of the Northern Division when Celie was not around, which made his expression quite subtle when facing this elf girl seeking companionship.

This immediately made Frillie feel betrayed: "Why? How did you know?"

"Because I used to live in the largest magic city in the northern kingdoms, and the only branch of the Magic Association is located there..."

"So you're a Level 1 Mage?"

"...No, I didn't participate in the certification process."

His instinctive answer brought a smile to Frillie's face, and she looked at Philon with delight: "—See! Philon! This guy is useless too!"

"...Why are you so smug at a time like this? Isn't this just making things more complicated?" Philon couldn't empathize at all, and instead sighed helplessly, "There's no other way, I'll just have to go to the Magic City to take the exam first."

“Actually, you can hire someone by spending money…” Ash didn’t really want to go, and raised his hand to give a different answer.

But Philon didn't even wait for him to finish before saying without thinking, "No way! That's a complete waste of money."

"Then I'll ask someone I know..."

"Asking others for help will leave us indebted! It's better to take the exam ourselves! Hmm, that's the decision, Ash-sama! Is that alright?"

"Uh, okay... alright..."

Philen's past life made her almost consider the Magic City her second home, and she was inexplicably stubborn about going there.

Even Frilian noticed this, and couldn't help but pat Ash on the shoulder with a smile, making him hesitate before finally giving in.

After all, it was he who practically forced Philon to leave the magical city back then, so he should at least make up for it with a return visit.

So the three of them changed their course and headed towards the magical city.

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

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

Led by an enthusiastic Philen, the three maintained their high spirits and happily stepped into the northern plateau, and then...

As expected, Frilian and Philon's initial enthusiasm was quickly and completely dampened by the sudden blizzard.

"It's not even winter yet, and it's snowing heavily... and I'm lost." Florian, already wrapped in a scarf, was completely bewildered by the snow-covered landscape and murmured to herself, staring at the white expanse of snow, "...That's why I hate the North."

"Instead of complaining... what should we do now?" Fellen, who was huddled up, couldn't help but look at Ash, who seemed completely at ease and didn't even need a scarf, and asked worriedly, "Lord Ash, aren't you cold?"

"I'm a soldier, and a fairly good one at that. You guys can withstand this level of cold in your coats, so it would be bad if I couldn't, right?"

"...Looks like you really are just like Aize."

"However, I have never tried a poisoned arrow that can put a dragon to sleep."