"So—"
"What are you all doing?"
Waking up in the soft bed of her own room, roughly rubbing her somewhat messy white hair,
Frieren stretched and looked around,
Finally asking the three people gathered around Agusheed at the small tea table not far away with confusion.
Himmel, who was standing behind Agusheed massaging his shoulders, smiled slightly upon hearing this.
He turned his head, looking gently at the white-haired elf who had just woken up.
"Frieren..."
"We're currently showing our gratitude to Mr. Agusheed for his help."
Heiter, who had just finished brewing a new pot of black tea, pushed up his glasses.
While gently filling the teacup, he supplemented in a very relaxed tone:
"That's right."
Eisen, who being a dwarf could only help the strongest Grand Demon pound his legs, also nodded.
He organized his words, speaking with gratitude:
"It's a kindness we don't know how to repay..."
"It's overwhelming."
Help...
Kindness?
The magic little elf touched her chin, somewhat confused by the three's words.
And if she remembered correctly...
Last night she had clearly sent Himmel and the others to another guest room—
How did they all end up gathered in her room when she opened her eyes?
"Hmm..."
Rubbing her still somewhat sleepy eyes, Frieren became slightly more awake,
While moving her shoulders, she clearly felt an inexplicable lightness.
As if all the various aftereffects from years of training her magic power had completely disappeared—
"Aftereffects..."
"I see."
Looking at Agusheed casually reading a magic tome while sitting at the tea table,
Then carefully observing the current state of the other three,
Noticing that a small scar on Eisen's arm had disappeared, Frieren quickly understood the cause and effect.
—
It should be that Agusheed used Severance Magic to help everyone sever the injuries and illnesses in their bodies.
But he probably thought it was too troublesome to touch them one by one, so he gathered everyone together
And finished it all at once.
And from the looks of it...
Himmel, Heiter, and Eisen were probably all lectured by him when they woke up.
It's just that they should have quickly discovered the changes in their bodies.
So now they're being so respectful to Agusheed—
But...
To accept the fact that Agusheed is a demon in such a short time,
Should I say they're thick-skinned?
Thinking this, Frieren leaning against the bed supported her head with her arm,
Then watched her three teammates with interest.
"Himmel, Heiter, Eisen—"
"I never told you that Agusheed was a demon..."
"And Agusheed knocked you all out the moment he met you yesterday. Aren't you angry?"
The three with helpless light smiles looked at each other, then gave identical answers.
"Frieren..."
"That kind of thing doesn't matter at all, after all Mr. Agusheed is your father."
"Not to mention Mr. Agusheed's true intention was for our benefit."
The teammates' almost unanimous answer made the white-haired elf very satisfied.
Frieren turned her gaze to Agusheed, who had kept his head down without speaking, showing a proud smile on her face.
"How about it, Agusheed? My teammates trust me—"
"Because of me, even seeing that you're a demon, they don't mind at all."
Agusheed gently lifted the still-steaming teacup and took a sip.
Under Frieren's 'praise me quickly' gaze, he shook his head.
Regarding his little daughter's words, he only scoffed once and said nothing more.
"Hmph—"
"Agusheed, you must be jealous that I have such good teammates..."
"They trust me just like Flamme trusted you back then."
Thinking her old father was rendered speechless, Frieren snorted lightly.
But her victorious smile was interrupted by the trio's merciless triple counter-attack.
"Actually, Frieren, what you said isn't entirely correct—"
Although somewhat conflicted,
To prevent the white-haired elf from getting too carried away, Himmel responded gently:
"While there is indeed trust in you..."
"But what truly made us completely eliminate all worries was someone else."
Refilling Agusheed's empty teacup, Heiter took over Himmel's words:
"That's right."
Finally, the one who gave her the answer amid the white-haired elf's confusion—
Was the honest Eisen.
"Frieren..."
Eisen turned his head, slowly revealing the true reason:
"The reason we now completely let our guard down around Mr. Agusheed—"
"Is because we just met that strongest human, the Hero of the South, here."
The Hero of the South...
That mustachioed uncle who inexplicably visited me a few years ago...
I remember Agusheed did mention in his letter that this was a disciple he had taken in recent decades.
So...
It doesn't seem impossible for him to appear at the old man's place—
Having figured out the Hero of the South's identity and confirmed that the group probably wasn't lying to her,
The magic little elf listening to her teammates' answer silently puffed up her cheeks.
She looked somewhat angrily at her teammates who had undermined her at the crucial moment—
Her eyes were teary, looking ready to cry for three days and nights at the slightest disagreement.
However...
With Agusheed's tacit permission, no one cared.
Seeing that her old father, whom she hadn't seen for hundreds of years, was ignoring her as she was about to cry,
Frieren jumped out of bed, put on her slippers, and walked all the way to Agusheed.
She casually grabbed the small stool and comb from her bedroom.
While Agusheed was quietly reading his magic tome, she threw a tantrum demanding he comb her hair.
—
"We haven't seen each other for hundreds of years, at least praise me more in front of my teammates..."
Feeling the familiar force touching her hair from behind, Frieren grumbled with dissatisfaction.
"In front of three teammates who are obviously much stronger than you, how do you expect me to praise you?"
Just like a thousand years ago, Agusheed's evaluation of Frieren was always so cold and ruthless.
Of course—
It couldn't be ruled out that the lonely old widower was angry because his daughter hadn't come to see him voluntarily in all these years.
"That's such an unfair assessment. How can warriors and mages be compared to each other?"
"Moreover, isn't it normal for humans to grow faster than elves?"
The magic little elf who refused to admit she was the weakest in the team forcibly defended her dignity.
"Then how do you explain why the monk beside you, who's only in his twenties, has nearly half your magic power?"
Agusheed gently tapped Frieren's head with the comb,
Delivering a blow on both mental and physical levels:
"Having a thousand years of training caught up to in twenty years..."
"How do you have the nerve to stay in this party?"
Frieren fell silent.
She should have known long ago that wanting praise from Agusheed was pure wishful thinking.
But Agusheed didn't stop after seeing his little daughter fall silent.
Only this time, his target wasn't Frieren, but Heiter who was serving beside him.
"As I just said, you're indeed quite good—"
"But with your talent for magic training, you've chosen the wrong path."
Looking at his daughter's monk teammate whose magic power was even more massive than the waste Grand Demon Aura,
Agusheed first gave affirmation, then expressed regret about his choice to become a monk.
"If you hadn't chosen to serve that Goddess, but had chosen to become a mage instead..."
"I think with your magic power, you would surely be remembered by history."
This was almost the highest praise one could get from Agusheed—
Damn it... why did he have to say it about the alcoholic monk and not me.
Frieren, swaying her ears, turned her head with such thoughts,
Looking somewhat jealously at Heiter, whose face remained calm as if he didn't care at all.
"Thank you for your praise."
Although somewhat surprised by this sudden praise—
Heiter still calmly adjusted his glasses and responded very politely to Agusheed:
"But compared to being remembered in history, I still prefer to receive the Goddess's attention..."
Agusheed wasn't surprised by this answer.
Because that's just how monks are.
When he had advised the old monk at the Imperial Cathedral to switch to the human magic system that Flamme had constructed,
That old stubborn fool had answered him the same way.
However...
Setting aside the two crude warriors beside him who were as rough as that stupid disciple,
For Heiter, such a rare promising talent, Agusheed still offered one final piece of advice:
"Even so—"
"I still suggest you specialize in Goddess Magic while also studying a type of attack magic."
"The first Holy Staff of the unified empire's Holy Staff Court a thousand years ago is a good example."
"Although you may not reach his level, you could at least achieve half his accomplishments."
Study attack magic concurrently...
The first Holy Staff?
Heiter nodded with seeming understanding.
Although he only had a vague understanding of much of the information in these words,
This didn't prevent him from understanding the goodwill contained in Frieren's father's words.
He was about to ask Agusheed for advice on selecting 'attack magic,'
But Frieren's surprised exclamation made him swallow his words.
"Hey... Agusheed, you're obviously targeting me—"
Under Himmel and Eisen's helpless gazes,
The unwilling magic little elf gritted her teeth, jealousy and sourness overflowing in her expression.
"Why is your evaluation of this alcoholic monk so much higher than mine?!"
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Powerstones?
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