When Heiter said those outrageous things, his face was filled with complete seriousness.
"No, that kind of magic doesn't exist, does it? You also know who my master was."
"Even a great mage from the Age of Myths wouldn't truly know every single spell, and this is also a grimoire that has never been fully deciphered."
"I feel like you're lying to me."
"Just trust me this once. And if possible, I'd also like to live a little longer, you know. That's a win win, isn't it?"
Ignoring the doubts, Heiter smiled and handed the grimoire to the half suspicious Ash.
Fern, who just moments ago had felt her hands and feet go cold, her eyes about to lose all color and tears on the verge of spilling over, now had a light of hope rekindle in her eyes during their exchange.
In an instant, she even broke into a radiant smile and suddenly hugged Ash's waist from the side, as if she herself were the one who would never die, and cried out excitedly,
"That's wonderful! Lord Ash! You can live for a really, really long time! Then... then we can stay together forever and ever!"
"Y-yeah..."
Facing that pure and sweet smile, feeling that small body tightly holding onto him and trembling faintly in relief, Ash really could not bring himself to deny it again and snuff out that tiny hope.
After all, even he could not bear to make this child, who had just regained hope, fall once more into a deeper hell and be tormented again and again.
'This old bastard, he planned this, didn't he? I? I actually fell into it here?', He forced a smile on his face, but in his heart all he wanted was to punch that old friend.
So as he patted the little girl's head in his arms, he glared at Heiter and ground out words that sounded cheerful through clenched teeth, "Then to celebrate, we'll drink all that liquor you've been saving up today, right? You won't refuse, will you?"
"Ahh! Of course. Let's drink ourselves silly today!"
The imagined pain did not appear. Heiter was grinning from ear to ear, and even went back to his room on his own to fetch his treasured stock.
It felt like punching cotton.
That just made him even angrier. He really could not tell what this guy was thinking anymore.
Scheming against a friend he had known for so many years just for a child he had only just met. Was this what they called choosing the wrong friends?
And no matter how you looked at it, this was at best only a short term compromise. From a long term point of view, it was not rational at all.
Reason told him to tell the truth, but emotion stopped him from hurting the child who was clinging tightly to him again. So in the end, in this tangle of worries—
"Haa!"
'Fine, fine. Let's just take it one step at a time. If it really comes down to it, I'll just raise her for the rest of her life,' Holding Fern and gazing up at the sky at a forty five degree angle, he let out a long, resigned sigh.
After being schemed against by Heiter, Ash had resigned himself to his fate.
That night, after Fern finally showed a rare smile and happily fell asleep under the covers, he drank nonstop to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.
But to his surprise, Heiter, who had been a lifelong drunk, only poured him drinks and did not seem to have any desire to drink himself at all.
"What's with you? Are you just too stingy to drink your own stuff? Trying to use all this as an apology?", He slammed his cup on the table in frustration and glared at the smiling old man.
"How could that be. I really want to drink, but...", Heiter had indeed planned at first to drink wildly with his friend one last time. No matter how you looked at it, that would have been a good deal.
But now he licked the corner of his lips, swallowed his saliva while forcing himself to endure the temptation, and shook his head hard in refusal.
"No matter what, at this age, if I keep drinking all the time, I might shorten my lifespan."
"Seriously, you're already over a hundred, and you still care about that? Even if you died right now, no one would call it a short life," Hearing that, Ash felt like he was being lied to again.
Heiter could not help but give a bitter smile, "Actually, just now, I decided to quit drinking."
"You're kidding, right? After all the times we tried to persuade you, you never even thought about quitting. You even said things like you'd rather be killed than give up drinking. You even said it was fine to be killed by dungeon monsters while drunk, as long as you'd had alcohol the day before, you'd have no regrets."
"That was before. Now... I guess I'm old," Heiter picked up his cup, took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh, "Yeah! I lied to you. I have to apologize for that."
"So? You're punishing yourself by quitting drinking? I don't believe you'd quit just for that."
"Of course not."
"So you're still just a boozy monk after all," Ash could not help but complain. A guy who was not even willing to pay that small a price, and even denied it outright.
But Heiter ignored him and just looked at the door of Fern's room not far away, and slowly said, "I guess I'm getting old, and my heart has softened. I really want to have a child, and I'm a little afraid of being lonely after retirement too. Even though you've only been here half a year, now... that Fern, who is so considerate it breaks your heart, is almost like my granddaughter in my eyes."
"So you really want to be my son?"
"Don't interrupt when we're talking seriously," Heiter shot back, then showed a guilty expression and confessed, "I know this decision isn't very kind to you... so I'll try to live as long as I can, and in the meantime I'll help you take care of this child."
"But will quitting drinking at this point really help?"
"Who knows. But if possible, I'd like to live until this child can take care of herself. That way you'll have it easier later, and even if you have to part then, Fern will take it better, right?"
"You've really gotten better at lying through your teeth after being a bishop for so long," Ash smacked his lips and shook his head, "After spending that long together, how could I ever bear to just abandon this kid completely."
"Oh right, I also have a present," Heiter dodged his question and smilingly took out a magical device from his pocket and handed it over.
"This is?"
"A magic device that records sound. I recorded that child's confession. What do you think? That's a pretty meaningful keepsake, isn't it?"
"This... yeah!"
He fell silent for a moment, but in the end still could not resist the temptation and nodded, slipping the pocket watch sized magic device into his clothes.
He did feel like he had been schemed against, because if he listened to this too much, it would probably become impossible to ever talk to Fern about parting.
But if he played it for her when she grew up, Ash could not even imagine how funny that would be.
Just thinking about that scene already made him wish time would pass faster, and he reluctantly went along with the scheme.
———
After deciding to settle down, Ash still went north from time to time, but most of the time he stayed here.
And after the two of them talked things through, that invisible barrier between them gradually disappeared. Fern also became even closer to him than before, only—
"Lord Ash, I think drinking too much is bad. Lord Heiter has already quit drinking, so please hurry up and learn from Lord Heiter too!"
In the morning, as he drank while reading, Fern immediately looked unhappy. She even snatched the alcohol away from him and puffed up her rosy cheeks at him.
"Don't do that. This is one of the few hobbies old people have. If you take it away, what will I do? And some guy said that alcohol is the best of medicines, that drinking a little isn't so bad, didn't he?", At the end of his words, Ash glanced meaningfully at Heiter, forcing the man who had once said that to nod.
That made Fern show a surprised expression.
"Is that so? Then, just a little, okay? Lord Heiter too, I hope you can both stay healthy forever."
The little girl's honest words moved Heiter, but also made him feel awkward, while Ash was able to take back his drink.
Seeing that Heiter was not doing anything, Fern obediently poured him a cup of alcohol and handed it to him, giving Heiter the strange feeling of lifting a rock only to drop it on his own foot.
But now all he could do was grit his teeth against the temptation and stand up, walking toward the kitchen.
"I-I guess it's about time to make food. Fern, I'll teach you, okay?"
"Cooking... okay! Please teach me! But please drink this cup first."
"N-no, this..."
"What's wrong?"
"Uh! I..."
Heiter stammered, not knowing how to refuse, even constantly throwing looks of help at Ash. However... Just like what he had done earlier, Ash completely ignored him, leisurely crossing his legs and flipping through his book.
Days of such peace and tranquility passed by in the blink of an eye, and a year and a half went by.
Without even noticing, Fern was already nine years old, and she had grown quite a bit taller than before, though she was still very much a little kid.
But on one day when she was nine, Fern went out to pick mushrooms and came back earlier than expected.
And beside her, without anyone realizing when, was now a silver haired, long eared elf girl, staring blankly ahead.
———
While wandering through the Central Lands, Frieren happened to pass by the Holy City by chance, and after a bit of thought, decided to go visit an old friend.
Even though she was not sure whether that friend, who should have been over a hundred by now, was even still alive.
However, before she found her target, she unfortunately got lost in the suburban forest. Just as she was about to think of using flying magic, she ran into a child carrying a basket.
And when she said she was looking for Heiter's home, that child, who gave off a rather cold impression, unexpectedly said that she was a guest there, and even led her straight to the cabin in the woods.
But... before she saw Heiter, she first saw, on a lounge chair in the yard, a figure that she inexplicably missed, even though more than twenty years had passed.
This unexpected figure made her freeze in place, staring at him blankly for a long time without being able to react. She even began to suspect once again that she was under some kind of mental attack.
Sitting on a newly bought rocking chair, basking in the sun and reading, Ash heard footsteps approaching. He assumed it was Fern coming back.
Without making a sound, he instinctively hid his alcohol behind him, but when he looked up, he could not help being a little surprised.
"Oh, it's you, Frieren... that's rare."
"Is this person a friend of Lord Ash?", Fern, who had led the way, asked with some curiosity, but then noticed his strange behavior and frowned slightly as she quickly stepped forward.
She grabbed the alcohol from behind him in one swift motion. The usually expressionless little girl put on a serious face and said, "Lord Heiter said that no matter how good something is, you can't have too much of it. At most one cup a day. You also promised me. You have to at least try to live until that grimoire is deciphered, and until I become an adult."
"Uh, this..."
"And then? What is this person's relationship with Lord Ash?"
"Well, it's a bit complicated, hard to explain. But it's probably like you said, a friend."
Even though being lectured by a child in front of a friend made him feel awkward, he still tried to brush off the discomfort.
Ash looked at the long absent elf "girl", stood up from the chair, smiled, and raised his hand in greeting.
"It's been a long time, Frieren. You look pretty surprised to see me."
"Ah, uh?"
Frieren, whose expression was extremely strange, nodded blankly in response. Her brain was not working properly, so she could not even speak well. Her mouth hung open for a long time without closing.
As she did that, she unconsciously tilted her head far to the side, and even the suitcase in her hand slipped to the ground without her noticing.
That ridiculous look was really hard not to laugh at.
So Ash quietly walked over, reached out and touched her soft chin, lifted it to close her mouth, and used his other hand to rest on her head, stroking her familiar silver hair while straightening her head.
Even though he was kindly helping a long lost friend, Fern stared at him expressionlessly, but there was a hint of reproach in her words.
"Lord Ash, what are you doing?"
"What? Helping her close her mouth. What if a bug flies in? As for her head, I was worried she'd strain her neck."
"But why are you still touching her chin and head after that's done?"
Fern stared fixedly at his hands, which were still busy rubbing Frieren's chin and head. The expression on her childish face was rather subtle.
But Ash spoke with a straight face,."Speaking of which, Fern, you might not know this, but I used to have a furry pet that would obediently stick out its chin for me to rub."
"What does that have to do with what you're doing right now?"
"Don't you think this one, just standing there obediently, is basically giving silent consent, or even waiting for me to do it?"
"I don't think so. And treating a guest like a pet isn't very nice, is it? Please stop," Unable to watch any longer, Fern grabbed him and dragged him away from Frieren.
Because she had also noticed, Frieren's awareness was returning, and her eyes were changing from dazed to something like restrained anger.
For Ash's personal safety, Fern tried her best to pull him farther away, lecturing him while also being afraid that this unfamiliar elf might suddenly bite him.
During this, Frieren gradually sorted out her thoughts, finally coming back to her senses from the shock of seeing a friend who should have died suddenly appear at the home of another friend who should also have been close to dying.
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