Frieren: Reincarnated As a Demon

Chapter 159: Serie's most greedy and foolish disciple

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It wasn't until Fren was persuaded to leave by Ash, leaving only the two of them in the ruined courtyard, that Ash suddenly spoke up:

"Serie, do you remember what I said in the beginning?"

"About Fern? I'm not interested anymore," Serie replied dismissively.

"No, I mean when I said you'd definitely let me pass."

"Dream on," Serie said, her tone firm and unyielding.

"Well, now that you've let Lawine and Fren pass, if you don't let me through... I'll go out and spread rumors that you're secretly plotting revenge."

"How dare you say that to my face?" Serie glared at him.

"Sometimes you've got to fight back," Ash replied with a sly smile. "After all, I've helped you over the years and done so much to fulfill Flamme's last wish. Even if I don't have any great achievements, I've definitely worked hard, haven't I?"

Though his tone was playful, Ash was clearly trying to reason with her.

Serie, however, simply glared at him with growing irritation. "...You were mocking me earlier, weren't you?"

"One thing has nothing to do with the other. I'm just asking for a fair reward for my efforts."

"And you think now is the time to demand that? Besides, you don't even intend to manage this branch properly."

"One thing at a time," Ash said, shrugging.

Serie sighed in frustration, realizing that Ash wouldn't stop pestering her until she gave in. Though she found his words both sensible and infuriating, she ultimately waved her hand in exasperation and reluctantly agreed just to get rid of him.

The exam continued after that. However, all the subsequent candidates were not only startled by Ash's presence but also by Serie's overwhelming magic and the heavily damaged sky garden.

Despite their shock, the exam process was completed quickly. Ash, having received special privileges in advance, was granted the magic of decomposition and reconstruction through Serie's transfer magic.

Technically, these were two separate magics, but Ash kept insisting they were interconnected. His persistence annoyed Serie so much that, after much cursing and grumbling, she gave him both just to end the discussion.

"You're like a spoiled brat inheriting magic from a parent," Serie muttered irritably.

Ash, unbothered by her complaints, couldn't hide his grin. The two magics were deceptively simple in principle: decomposition allowed him to break down an object from the inside out upon contact, while reconstruction allowed him to reassemble objects, either restoring them to their original state or creating something entirely new.

Eager to test his new abilities, Ash pressed his hand against the ground. The shattered glass fragments from the tower roof floated upward, seamlessly returning to their original positions. The garden, the brick paths, and even the surrounding structures were fully restored, as though time itself had rewound.

"...But the flower is still dead," Ash murmured, crouching beside one of the flowers. He stretched out his hand, trying to sense some trace of life, but there was none.

The flower appeared unchanged, but something was off—it was as if it had been frozen completely and then rapidly thawed without damaging its exterior.

"It's just a facade," Serie said bluntly, her gaze flicking over the flower with disinterest. "It won't absorb any more moisture, and its stem will dry out completely in two days. If you tried to use this to heal wounds, the same thing would happen. The flesh and blood in the recovered area wouldn't survive and would eventually rot."

Ash frowned, staring at the flower. "...But this is clearly a life created through magic. Why can't magic revive it?"

Although it was a very simple magic, the spell that created a flower field out of nothing could, in a sense, be considered magic capable of creating life. Ash couldn't help but feel puzzled by this idea.

"Creating life is simple," Serie said, "but have you ever seen anyone revive the dead? If resurrection were possible, would there still be dead nobles in this world?"

Life could be created and twisted into the form of undead creatures, but true resurrection was impossible—or at least, there was no precedent for it in this world. Even Serie had never heard of such a thing.

Still, Ash couldn't shake the thought. "Shouldn't normal magic skills have been enough to achieve that by now?" he asked.

"...A technological blockade," Serie replied.

"In some ways, that's probably good for humanity," she continued. "If resurrection magic existed, it would be too widely used, and humans would have dominated the world long ago."

"That… actually makes some sense," Ash admitted, picking a flower and holding it up to examine it thoughtfully.

Serie didn't look at him, instead speaking to herself. "Flamme became the ancestor of human magic in just a hundred years, which is practically nothing to me. And you… you've completed your groundwork in only eighty years. You'll destroy the empire soon, won't you?"

"What's wrong with that?" Ash asked, his expression turning serious.

Serie's gaze shifted to the restored pool. She stared at the goldfish at the bottom, its body repaired but lifeless, and said, "I'll give you two pieces of advice, my most greedy and foolish disciple."

Ash raised an eyebrow but didn't interrupt.

"First," Serie began, "you live too quickly. You rush to solve problems that wouldn't matter for hundreds or even a thousand years."

"And what's wrong with that?" Ash asked, clearly unconvinced.

"How is the distance between you and others different from the distance between me and them?" Serie asked abruptly.

Ash didn't hesitate. "You're too cold and harsh. Even your own disciples feel distant from you, and they struggle with how to interact with you."

"The proper distance from humans is the right distance," Serie replied matter-of-factly. "Why can't you learn this? You're not that foolish."

"What you say makes sense," Ash admitted, "but sometimes, when someone dies, it's too late to regret not treating them better while they were alive."

"...Forget it," Serie sighed, giving up on the argument. Instead, she continued with her second piece of advice. "Why do you think the Emperor Kingdom has survived for a thousand years? Even eighty years ago, it wasn't destroyed by the Demon King."

"Because the Empire has a lot of hidden cards to play," Ash replied.

"Then be careful," Serie warned. "If you don't have a way to destroy the Empire quickly, the world will fall into chaos—chaos that will go against your expectations. But… well, it's none of my concern."

After giving her advice, the two talked for a while longer before Ash left.

Serie glanced at the door as it closed behind him. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the wood, watching him as he ruffled Sense's hair just beyond the threshold. She quickly shifted her attention back to the lifeless goldfish at the bottom of the pond, muttering to herself:

"...You don't regret anything now, and they won't feel hurt either. But in the future, when all those humans are dead, won't you regret it even more? You don't understand your own situation, pretending to be human, pretending to be a good person. In the end, none of my foolish disciples have been truly wise—you're all so hopelessly stupid."

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Mission: "The Power Stones Ascent"

Objective: Climb as high as possible in the power ranking system and maintain the spot for a week.

Rewards:

Rank 1-5: 3 chapters a day

Rank 6-12: 2 chapters a day

Rank 13-20: 4 extra chapters

Punishment: If we fail to reach at least the top 20, you'll only get 1 chapter a day.

Current Ranking: 1-5