"So... what happened after you went inside?"
At the dinner table in the small house, hearing Agusheed's eloquent recounting of past events suddenly come to an abrupt halt,
Frieren poked out her little head and curiously inquired about what happened next.
What happened next...
Although demons don't have emotions like embarrassment or shame,
Regarding that blindly confident past self—
Agusheed's brow furrowed slightly, really not wanting to elaborate on it.
"Isn't it quite obvious? I naturally lost to the Demon King."
He calmly gave a vague answer, trying to gloss over this topic.
However...
"Of course I know the result, so what I want to hear is the process—"
The white-haired elf's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she continued pressing.
She heard the concealment in Agusheed's words.
And her intuition told her there must be a very interesting secret hidden behind this.
—Frieren's persistence was giving Agusheed an inexplicable headache.
Confident declarations.
Missed slashes.
Humiliating defeats...
—There was absolutely no need to tell Frieren about such dark history.
After once again recalling that unbearable past,
Agusheed silently made a decision in his heart.
He chose to turn a deaf ear.
Taking a small bite of Red Mirror Dragon spine meat, chewing slowly and swallowing it,
Agusheed focused his attention on the dinner he had prepared.
Directly ignoring the little magic sprout's extremely impertinent question.
But just because he wouldn't say it didn't mean Frieren had no other way to get an answer.
Besides Agusheed, there was one person who definitely knew and would definitely tell her!
"Flamme—"
The white-haired elf got down from her chair and slowly approached her teacher, who was propping her head up and watching the show nearby.
After successfully hugging her teacher's thigh while Flamme chuckled—
Frieren tentatively asked:
"Um, Flamme..."
"Do you know what exactly happened after Agusheed broke into the Demon King's castle?"
Agusheed didn't look up, nor did he speak to hint or stop her.
He understood Flamme—
Flamme would definitely tell, because she could definitely predict that he wouldn't stop her.
"Hehe..."
Just as Agusheed expected,
Flamme smiled faintly at Frieren, who was looking up while hugging her thigh.
"Frieren—"
"Without Agusheed's permission, I can't tell you what happened..."
"But Agusheed didn't say it wasn't okay either, did he?"
Turning to look at Agusheed, who was still looking down silently,
Frieren rubbed against her teacher's thigh while acting coquettish.
Flamme didn't refute Frieren's words, but turned to look at her husband.
Agusheed just put another piece of spine meat in his mouth under her gaze.
From beginning to end, he never said any words of prevention.
Flamme quietly watched Agusheed for a while like this.
Then couldn't help but hum softly at her husband's consistent accommodation.
In a very good mood, Flamme held the white-haired elf in her arms.
While taking out the notebook she always carried with her,
She began describing to Frieren Agusheed's experience after breaking into the Demon King's castle—
Slowly stepping into the spacious hall inside the Demon King's castle,
Agusheed, who could tell from experience that the surrounding buildings were products of the Age of Gods, slowed his pace.
From the historical traces...
The era of these things should be even more ancient than when he was born.
And unlike those transported from other divine ruins—
This Demon King's castle could probably truly trace its history back to the Mythical Age.
In other words...
That Demon King, whom Agusheed had only heard of in rumors, should truly be older than him.
—Thinking of this, Agusheed didn't stop walking.
Instead, he walked even faster.
Because from beginning to end, Agusheed had no fear whatsoever of the so-called "King" of demonkind.
Being ancient didn't necessarily represent being powerful.
Much less did it mean being absolutely undefeatable.
The 'Demon King' was merely a stronger Grand Demon above those other Grand Demons.
This was Agusheed's thinking.
He didn't believe the Demon King's magical prowess would surpass his.
Because Severance Magic was the strongest magic.
And Agusheed himself was undoubtedly the Grand Mage who mastered the strongest magic.
Even if that so-called 'Demon King' really was like the legends—
Defeating all Grand Demons with his own power,
Making them willingly bow in submission while
Forcing them to accept the concept of 'race'—so what?
Agusheed could do the same thing.
Thinking of the four worthless Grand Demons he had just instantly defeated like roadside dogs—
Agusheed didn't hold much expectation for the so-called 'Demon King's' level.
In fact, if it weren't for the Demon King's orders being the reason for his kinsmen's wanton behavior,
Agusheed wouldn't have been interested in coming here at all.
As for defeating the Demon King and becoming the strongest among demonkind on the surface—
Agusheed had never taken such a trivial matter to heart in the previous two hundred years.
Tap, tap...
Tap... tap...
In Agusheed's ears—
Another set of regular footsteps came from not far away, besides his own.
Quite rarely...
Agusheed actually heard the footsteps before sensing the magical reaction of the approaching person.
There were only two possibilities for this situation—
Either this person had been waiting here early, allowing their magical power to achieve an amazing similarity with the surrounding environment over time,
Which was why Agusheed couldn't detect them instantly for a moment.
Or this person's magical concealment skills were extremely sophisticated—
Given that the approaching person was definitely his kinsman,
Agusheed himself leaned toward the first possibility.
When that figure draped in a dark purple robe,
With the lower half of his face covered by a black mask, appeared before Agusheed,
He murmured in a speculative tone:
"Future prediction type magic?"
Just as in the future he had seen... indeed incredibly sharp perception.
Because he already had partial understanding of the kinsman before him through magic,
Schlacht didn't deny Agusheed's guess.
He just stood by a stone pillar less than twenty meters from Agusheed.
After seeing Agusheed's expression that was exactly the same as in every future he had witnessed, he said softly—
"Anger..."
"Full of anger."
"You're exactly the same as in every future I've seen..."
"Because you despise death and killing, you've taken the path of single-handedly invading the Demon King's castle."
As expected, he was indeed the possessor of the legendary Magic to Predict the Future.
After knowing this, Agusheed wasn't surprised that his mood had been guessed.
He simply raised his hand without any hesitation, making the same gesture he had made at the door.
Just as Agusheed was about to unleash Spatial Severance again,
Schlacht, like a riddle-speaker, calmly spoke—
"Since you know I possess Magic to Predict the Future, why would you fight me?"
"Your every move is within my expectations..."
Schlacht said while raising his emotionless eyes.
Looking at Agusheed, who made no attempt to hide his rage, he continued calmly—
"Moreover, the most taboo emotion in battle is 'anger'..."
"Do you think, in your current irrational state, you have much chance of victory against me?"
Raising his hand.
Two fingers together.
Spatial Severance ready to strike—
Facing Schlacht before him,
Disgust and contempt appeared simultaneously in Agusheed's eyes.
"What worthless Grand Demon are you supposed to be?"
"How dare you play riddle-games in front of me, the world's strongest mage?"
Why would he say such things...
Shouldn't he be?!
—The future he had never observed made Schlacht's pupils contract.
Silence—
Looking down—
A stiff expression appeared on Schlacht's cold face.
Disbelief was written all over it.
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Powerstones?
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