Standing in front of the office door, Ethan knocked.
“Knock, knock.” “Come in,” a hoary voice replied from inside.
Ethan pushed the door open and was greeted by an incredibly simple office, barely decorated.
Almost all the books visible were magic books.
Ethan glanced at them, recognizing several attack spells among them.
“Interested?
I can give them to you.
Anyway, I’ve already memorized all the magic in those books.” Lernen smiled.
Unlike during the exam, he now looked like a kindly old man, his eyes full of affection for his junior as he looked at Ethan.
“Sit down.” Ethan didn’t stand on ceremony and sat down immediately.
“There’s no need to trouble you, Lord Lernen.
My master has already taught me those spells.” Lernen showed no surprise.
“I figured.
They are legendary mages, so you must have learned more combat spells than I thought.” And indeed, Ethan had studied for a year, but it was impossible to master Frieren’s thousand years of accumulated magical principles and knowledge.
He didn’t learn magic by Frieren lecturing while he scribbled notes; he had to “understand” it to properly engrave the spells, which heavily tested his comprehension.
Therefore, his progress was only so-so.
Combat spells were relatively simple, as they mainly involved output and elemental property conversion, requiring more control over magic power.
Understanding them wasn’t difficult.
The truly troublesome ones were the various practical civilian spells; those were the real hell of learning.
He had to admit, he had spoken a bit too loudly earlier.
Frieren seemed to understand this as well, which was why the progress on civilian magic was slow.
She mainly taught Ethan combat-related spells, which also deviated somewhat from Ethan’s understanding of Frieren.
Frieren should have been more of a proponent of civilian magic.
In her eyes, magic shouldn’t just be a tool for killing, but a tool for creating miracles, and its most important use was to make people’s lives easier.
As for why Frieren spent more time teaching him combat spells, he didn’t know, and he dared not ask.
It couldn’t be because his comprehension wasn’t strong enough…
Lernen opened a drawer beside him and took out a letter.
The seal was secured with magical wax, imbued with the Pope’s magic.
Without this authentication, Heiter would have had no way to receive the letter.
“This is an official commission from the Continental Magic Association, forwarded through them.” Lernen solemnly placed the letter into Ethan’s hand.
“Please be sure to deliver it to Lord Heiter.
I’m counting on you.” It was clear that Lernen attached great importance to this matter.
“If I hadn’t participated in this exam, who would you have intended to deliver this letter?” Ethan took the letter and tucked it into his tunic, asking.
“We would have visited Master Frieren directly.” Well, that’s them, knowing how to leverage Frieren’s sense of obligation.
Frieren was well aware of the Continental Magic Association in the capital’s favor towards her.
As long as Serie wasn’t around, both sides could get along harmoniously.
Frieren wouldn’t possibly refuse a commission like this, to help an old friend.
“In any case, I’ve received it.
As for when we’ll depart, it will depend on my master’s arrangements.” Ethan turned around.
“Thank you for your time, I’ll be going now.” Watching Ethan’s back disappear through the doorway, Lernen’s eyes showed a trace of envy.
But soon, the envy turned to regret, and he let out a deep sigh.
“Child, you will eventually understand how powerless human lifespans are against long-lived races.
I hope that when that time comes, you will still be able to…” …
Returning to the doorstep of the cabin, Frieren was lounging in her rocking chair, a look of comfort on her face.
Combined with the sense of relaxation from the sunlight bathing her, she truly looked like an old woman.
Beside her was a simple suitcase and a magic staff taller than she was.
The suitcase looked small, but it could actually hold a lot of things, as magical as Doraemon’s pocket.
In Ethan’s opinion, this was her most precious magic item.
The same model she had given Ethan had already been modified into a backpack by him, as it was more convenient for movement.
Unfortunately, Frieren wasn’t interested in such modifications.
However, for this departure, she didn’t take all her stock with her.
Instead, she left a considerable portion of her collection-only magic items in the cabin’s magic item storage, merely using sealing magic to prevent any aura leakage.
This action relieved Ethan, who had been somewhat worried.
It meant that Frieren truly regarded this cabin as a home.
Considering an elf’s perception of time, this was almost a miracle.
“Yo, you’re back.” Frieren jumped up from her rocking chair and, with a flick of her wrist, opened the suitcase and stuffed the rocking chair inside.
“…” You plan to drag that thing around with you?
Ethan started to speak but stopped.
The rocking chair was something he made for her casually during his warrior training, and Frieren doted on it.
If it weren’t for the fact that rocking wasn’t suitable for reading, she might have read lying down all the time.
What a decadent and relaxed life, he envied it to death.
“Alright, let’s go.
We’re heading to the Southern Kingdoms.” Frieren’s gaze was already fixed on the distant horizon, in the direction of the Southern Kingdoms.
After casting a barrier spell on the cabin, which could only be immediately dispelled by her touch, and confirming its safety, the two set off down the road.
Ethan was filled with excitement.
After all, this was a true journey across various countries, and what could be better than experiencing more interesting things?
Frieren’s thoughts were different.
The main objective this time was to deliver the letter to Heiter.
“Speaking of which, does Master know Minus?” Ethan suddenly asked.
Minus, one of the three great mages, and the supposed culprit behind the current unrest in the Southern Kingdoms…
at least, that’s what the rumors said.
“You know, don’t assume we elves all know each other just because we are elves.
You and Heiter are both humans, yet you don’t know him?” Frieren glanced at Ethan.
“The only great mage I know is Serie.” Well, that made sense.
It was just that, being mages of the highest caliber, Ethan had simply jumped to conclusions.
“If we have to fight Minus later…” Ethan had barely gotten the words out when Frieren interrupted him.
“Then we’ll run as far as we can,” Frieren said, sounding a bit helpless.
“Mages of that caliber…
I have no intention of facing them.
Our mission is simply to find Heiter and bring him back from the Southern Kingdoms.
I don’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble.” That’s what she said, of course.
This wasn’t the first time Ethan had seen Frieren show a lack of confidence.
At their level, bravado was useless.
“The number of mages who can defeat me is far greater than you imagine,” Frieren had said.