Chapter 36

Chapter 36: A Touching Reunion That Can't Move You

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No matter how Ash looked at it, the person picking wild vegetables in the bushes across from him was unmistakably his old friend and niece— Frieren, the silver-haired elf he thought he'd never see again.

The reunion after a thousand years, along with the utterly bewildered expression on Frieren's face when she saw him, made him smile knowingly.

As the elder uncle, Ash felt it was his duty to be understanding, especially since Frieren might burst into tears any second. He spread his arms wide, ready for an emotional reunion with the silver-haired elf girl. However... the reality turned out to be slightly different from what he had imagined.

"It's been a long time, Frieren. You're still as small and cute as ever. I'm so—" His arms were wide open, but before he could finish, Frieren, who had been crouching on the ground, stood up and slowly raised her hands. "—Hellfire."

A red lotus of flame bloomed in her palm and surged toward him like a tidal wave.

The surrounding grass and trees were scorched by the intense heat even before the flames touched them. In the next moment, the blazing fire engulfed Ash, still standing with his arms outstretched.

Only...

BANG!

An invisible repulsive force erupted with tremendous impact, instantly dispersing the approaching flames.

"...What are you doing?" Ash, unharmed, remained standing as he had been, but the smile on his face stiffened a little.

Frieren, however, became more serious, her expression hardening.

"Can the current illusion ghost block Hellfire? Can it even mimic the abilities of an imaginary person?"

"Illusion ghost?" Ash was bewildered by her strange words. "Are you serious? A phantom that can only create illusions has no combat power at all! Normally, you'd have destroyed it in one strike—why do you think..."

"It should've been like that... unless... it's a mental attack?"

"It's really me!"

"Shut up. How could a human live this long?"

Frieren simply couldn't believe that the person standing in front of her was her old friend from a thousand years ago. After all, it defied all logic.

"Could it be that I stumbled into some strange trap and woke up to find myself here?"

"...You think you were frozen or in stasis?"

"—That must be it!"

"Are you lying to me?"

Without thinking, Ash slapped his palm in agreement, nodding vigorously, but Frieren only narrowed her eyes. The magic power in her hands gathered again.

This was far from the touching reunion he had envisioned, and it was driving Ash a little crazy. "Why? Can't you trust me for just a moment?"

"...Prove it."

"Prove it? Uh... how about this? Emperor's wine tastes awful, right? Only a few of us should know that."

"The illusions from mental attacks could use my own memories to tell you things I don't know."

"No... seriously? Do you even hear yourself? What's the point of telling you something you don't know? Want me to say that I was the one who spanked you when you were bitten by that treasure chest monster? Would you believe that?"

"—Go to hell."

Her voice turned colder than ever.

In an instant, the peaceful forest exploded with a brilliant light.

BOOM!

The entire forest seemed to tremble with the force of the blast.

In the blink of an eye, huge smoke covered half of the forest under the overly powerful saturation magic bombardment.

...…

Suddenly, a magical bombardment like a war broke out in the forest, causing the fortress at the foot of the mountain to enter a state of emergency at the first moment.

However, as the smoke gradually dissipated with the breeze, the land was ravaged beyond recognition right in front of the two people. Ash was still standing there, not even his clothes were wet, but his expression was just like that of Frieren when she first saw him—so weird that it was hard to describe.

"…What are you doing, Frieren? If it weren't for me, you'd be dead!"

"You are still alive?" Frieren seemed unusually cold, and the look in her eyes when she glanced at him seemed to ask: Why are you okay like this?

This gave Ash an inexplicable stomachache. "Maybe I could've been hurt!"

"There's a church at the foot of the mountain. The priest will be able to treat you right away." Frieren pointed casually at the fortress at the foot of the mountain, which had evolved from a village over thousands of years. She still looked like she was sneering at it. "After all, I was attacking the surroundings more. Normally, you should be able to defend yourself, and at most you'll be covered in dirt… It would be better if you couldn't defend yourself."

"No… wait a minute? You already understand that I am me, right?!"

"Yeah."

"And you attacked me anyway?"

"Is there any problem?" The girl asked calmly, tilting her head as if this was perfectly reasonable. "You, I…"

He opened his mouth, wanting to scold her, but he couldn't find the words. He put one hand on his forehead and started worrying about himself instead.

But it was at this time that Frieren finally smiled.

"But, I'm still very happy to see you again… To be honest."

"Ah… um…"

"What's wrong? Shouldn't you say something now?"

"No, my mind is a little confused. Let me sort it out first…"

His well-conceived plan was completely disrupted. Frieren's erratic mood swings and actions had left him squatting on the ground, trying to make sense of everything from just now to the present.

But Frieren obviously didn't think about it that much. She just smiled and opened her arms like he had before. "Don't think too much, come here."

"Huh, what?"

"A touching reunion hug. If I remember correctly, you said something similar before, right? You seemed to be looking forward to it, just now?"

"Although that's true, although it is like that, but…"

"What else are you dissatisfied with? Come here and finish this quickly. My arms are getting sore from holding them up."

"Oh, okay, I'll be right there…"

Under Frieren's sudden and somewhat impatient urging, Ash, remembering his original plan, walked forward. While wondering how she had such a good memory, he squatted down and hugged the girl with outstretched arms.

He didn't even have time to express his feelings as he felt the softness and delicate touch that hadn't changed at all after thousands of years before Frieren began to pat his head.

"Huh?? What??"

"I don't know, but humans seem to like doing this, so I tried it. Are you happy?"

"To be honest… I can't be happy at all. This is totally different from what I expected."

"What? It's been a thousand years, and you're still so willful?" Compared to the dumbfounded Ash, it was Frieren who became dissatisfied first.

But just like Ash, she also had too many things she wanted to complain about.

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T/N: Give me power stones so this can move up the ranking.