The group continued their journey throughout the afternoon.
The terrain gradually leveled out, and the mountain paths transitioned into dirt roads where the occasional wagon wheel rut could be seen.
This was a clear sign that human settlements were nearby.
Sure enough, as the sun began its westward descent, they spotted plumes of cooking smoke.
“This place has become quite prosperous; it used to be just a tiny village,” Frieren remarked with a hint of nostalgia.
It was a modest town, with dozens of wooden houses lined up along both sides of the road and farmland bordering the outskirts.
At the town entrance stood a simple wooden sign inscribed with characters Luo Han didn’t recognize—likely the common tongue of this world.
Frieren walked straight in.
When the townsfolk saw her pointed ears, they showed curiosity but weren’t particularly shocked.
It seemed that while elves were rare in this world, they were not the stuff of mere legends.
Fern followed behind her master, looking left and right with eyes bright with wonder.
She was still a child, after all, and full of curiosity about the new things she encountered on the road.
Luo Han walked at the back, trying his best to remain inconspicuous.
His mimicry was perfect; he looked like an ordinary black-haired youth, and no one spared him a second glance.
After asking for directions, Frieren headed toward an inn in the center of town.
A wooden sign hung outside, painted with the symbols of a chalice and a bed.
The door was half-open, and the noisy chatter of patrons drifted out from within.
Upon entering, they found seven or eight guests sitting in the lobby, most dressed as traveling merchants.
The proprietor, a stout middle-aged man, was wiping a glass.
He froze for a moment when he saw Frieren.
“Oh, an elf?” He set the glass down.
“The last time I saw one was when I was a kid!
How can I help you?”
“Lodging,” Frieren said with her usual cool poise.
“Two rooms.”
“Right away!” The owner pulled two keys from under the counter.
“If you want meals included, it’ll be one silver coin for two rooms for one night.
Go up the stairs, turn left, and it’s the two at the very end.”
Fern stepped forward to pay.
As she handed over a gold coin and received a handful of silver in change, Luo Han realized that the purchasing power of his gold coins was quite high.
His initial identity’s family background was apparently quite solid.
Luo Han grabbed his luggage and followed Frieren and Fern upstairs.
Just as he assumed he would be left to choose a room for himself, Frieren stopped.
“You, come inside with me,” Frieren said, turning to look at Luo Han.
Luo Han blinked, stunned.
*What’s going on?
This isn’t how the script is supposed to go.
This feels very wrong.*
“Hurry up.
I need to re-establish the contract with you.” As Frieren set her things down, Luo Han let out a sigh of relief.
He understood now.
He realized Frieren was still concerned, given that he was fundamentally a monster.
Just as he expected, once the door was closed, Frieren raised her staff.
A contract spell manifested instantly, listing clauses that forbade him from attacking humans or committing evil acts, and the penalties for violation were even more severe this time.
Luo Han didn’t mind.
Though his freedom was restricted—essentially dancing in chains—traveling with the world’s protagonist offered far higher returns than wandering aimlessly on his own.
Afterward, Frieren sent Luo Han to the adjacent room.
The interior was simple: a bunk bed, a table, and a wooden wardrobe, but it was clean.
Luo Han placed his bag on the table and sat on the bed to think.
So far, the start was excellent.
Not only was he by Frieren’s side, but he had also learned Defensive Magic.
Although his mana could only sustain it for a few seconds, it was enough for self-preservation.
He just needed to play it safe.
Luo Han lay down, staring at the ceiling.
There were signs of woodworm in the beams, and cobwebs hung in the corners.
According to the plot, Frieren should be heading to subjugate the Elder Sage of Corruption soon.
How should he involve himself then?
Since he was following Frieren, he couldn’t go around looting everything like a typical “Fourth Calamity” player.
However, partying up with the world’s natives to hunt bosses would still yield plenty of drops, and his final evaluation upon leaving this world would likely be higher.
A sound of footsteps outside interrupted his thoughts, followed by a rhythmic knocking.
Luo Han got up to open the door.
It was Fern.
She had changed into a clean robe and re-tied her hair.
“Master says it’s time to eat downstairs,” she said.
“Hurry, or the soup will get cold.”
Three servings of dinner were already set out in the lobby: hot soup garnished with chopped herbs, buttered toast, and some meat stew.
Frieren was already seated at the table, taking small sips of her soup.
“Lady Frieren is so sneaky, you said you’d wait for me,” Fern grumbled, her cheeks puffing out like a pouting mushroom as she sat beside Frieren and picked up her spoon.
Luo Han sat down as well.
The soup was fragrant, with a hint of smoked meat, and had a thick consistency.
He took a sip.
The warm, savory liquid slid down his throat, washing away the day’s fatigue.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to settle a long-standing grudge,” Frieren said suddenly.
“Do you want to come along?
I can’t guarantee your safety, though.”
Luo Han looked up.
*Is the Elder Sage of Corruption arc happening this quickly?
I was just thinking about it.*
Fern also looked at Frieren with some surprise but didn’t say anything, seemingly waiting for an explanation.
“A grudge from eighty years ago.
He was sealed back then, but the seal is likely becoming unstable now.
I need to resolve the problem we left behind,” Frieren said, setting down her bread.
“I want to go see.
Don’t worry, you taught me Defensive Magic today; I should be able to protect myself,” Luo Han said, showing off by manifesting a hexagonal crystalline mana barrier.
After some thought, Luo Han decided to take a gamble.
Frieren, having signed a contract and begun to lower her guard, shouldn’t be looking for a reason to kill him.
By building a “prodigy” persona, he might be able to secure more opportunities to learn magic.
*Clang.* Fern’s spoon dropped onto the table.
If the previous contract had forbidden him from lying, and if he truly hadn’t known any magic other than the contract spell before, then Luo Han had mastered Defensive Magic in a single afternoon.
Back when she started…
A flash of surprise also crossed Frieren’s eyes.
Learning it in one afternoon was impressive.
Another genius?
Among the geniuses she had seen in her thousand years of life, he was certainly respectable.
“You…
did you really just learn that?” Fern asked in shock.
She sensed Luo Han’s mana again; it was indeed only at the level of a low-tier monster.
“Yeah.
Maybe I’m just suited for Defensive Magic,” Luo Han said, choosing to quit while he was ahead to avoid causing unnecessary suspicion.
“Hmm…
After dinner, come with me outside the village.
I’ll try teaching you Ordinary Offensive Magic as well.
If you can learn it, you can help out tomorrow,” Frieren mused, a flicker of emotion passing through her eyes.
After that, Fern seemed to go through a bit of an existential crisis.
She asked for another spoon and finished her meal in silence before heading upstairs.
…
Outside the village, after Frieren performed another demonstration of the offensive spell and explained the principles of Ordinary Offensive Magic, Luo Han finally heard the sound he had been waiting for.
[Ding!
Detected that Frieren has taught you Ordinary Offensive Magic.
Learn it?]
*Of course.* Luo Han confirmed in his mind.
A new line of data surfaced in his consciousness.
[Ordinary Offensive Magic Lv.1]
Frieren looked at the dazed Luo Han, assuming he was contemplating the key points of the spell, and turned to walk slowly back toward the village.
Watching Frieren’s retreating figure, Luo Han recalled her instructions and the scene from the anime where she taught a young Fern to break a giant boulder.
Gaining a sudden insight, he began practicing his offensive magic.
He used up almost all of his mana, leaving only a tiny amount to maintain his human form, before returning to the inn.
Standing by the window, he looked out at the town’s night view.
It was pitch black, with only a few scattered lights flickering in the darkness and the distant sound of a dog barking.
This world was exactly the same as the *Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End* in his memories.
But standing here in person, feeling the night breeze on his cheeks and smelling the scent of firewood and food in the air…
it felt so much more real.
He raised his hand and looked at his palm, replaying the sensation of casting Ordinary Offensive Magic.
*Tomorrow, I might be able to make a move,* Luo Han thought as he lay back on the bed.
The exhaustion from mana depletion forced his eyes shut.
Outside the window, the moon rose.
A day had passed, but the journey had only just begun.
Central Kingdoms, Grozzen Forest.
Twenty-seven years after the death of Himmel the Hero.
After making inquiries, a stooped elderly man who recognized Frieren led the three of them deep into the forest.
The old man pointed ahead, his voice full of nostalgia.
“This is the place…”
“Thirty years ago, Lord Himmel came to check the seal.
That demon who committed every evil imaginable around here eighty years ago—the Elder Sage of Corruption, Qual—is sealed right here!”
Following the direction of his finger, Luo Han saw a strange “gate.”
It was a structure similar to a torii gate, formed from weathered natural boulders.
Time had carved deep marks of wind and frost into its surface.
Frieren began reminiscing about Himmel with the old man, while Fern listened with rapt attention.
Luo Han looked toward the center of the torii, where a massive, hideous, and completely petrified demon statue stood out prominently.
It was frozen in a defiant, kneeling posture.
The violence in its eyes seemed eternally solidified in stone, yet there seemed to be something peering out from the slits of its stitched eyelids.
“That’s him…” The old man finished his story about Himmel and began narrating on his own while pointing at the sealed statue.
“Back then, forty percent of the adventurers in this region and a staggering seventy percent of the mages died to his ‘Killing Magic’!
In the end, we have Lady Frieren and the others to thank.”
Frieren walked calmly to the front of the stone statue and looked up at her former formidable foe.
She reached out her hand as if confirming something.
“It has become quite unstable.
Fall back, everyone.
Get ready,” Frieren said, lowering her hand and turning back to the group.
Once the old man had wisely retreated to a distance, Frieren raised her staff and injected mana into the seal.
*Sizzle.*
Countless holes suddenly appeared on the surface of the stone statue, and violent, purple-black mana erupted from them like a bursting dam!
The stone shell slowly peeled away, and a face resembling a grotesque tribal mask lifted.
As the seal vanished, a powerful body with visible stitches stood up once more.
By this time, Luo Han had already quietly slipped away from behind Frieren and Fern, moving toward the flank.
*Watch me work!*
Frieren felt something and glanced his way, but she quickly refocused her gaze on the massive demon before her.
“Heh…
heh heh…” The head of Qual, the Elder Sage of Corruption, rotated.
Two crimson beams of light locked onto Frieren.
“Long time no see, Frieren.
How many years has it been?”
“Eighty years,” Frieren’s voice was calm.
“Only eighty years?” Qual’s voice sounded like grinding gravel, carry an inhuman cadence.
“For us, that’s indeed the case,” Frieren replied, remaining composed.
Behind her, Fern tightened her grip on her staff, her body tense.
Qual paused, his gaze seeming to pierce through the clouds toward the distance.
“And the Demon King?” he asked, his tone carrying an obscure, difficult-to-decipher expectation.
“Killed,” Frieren answered with absolute brevity.
“…Is that so.” Qual’s mana-composed body seemed to freeze for a split second.
There was no roar, no madness; he almost seemed ironically amused.
Then, the crimson gaze refocused, and killing intent surged like an icy spring.
“In that case, I shall avenge him.”
His massive mana-infused arm whipped upward, aiming at Frieren and Fern behind her!
Purple-black light converged frenziedly in his palm, emitting a destructive aura that made the soul tremble.
“Fern,” Frieren’s voice remained level.
“Cast Defensive Magic in front.”
“Yes!” Fern had already stepped forward.
Her eyes were sharp as she swiftly raised her staff.
A hexagonal crystalline barrier, shimmering with arcane light, rapidly unfurled before her.
“Die!
Killing Magic!!”
Qual roared as a pillar of dark purple destruction—thicker than a water vat and so dense it looked liquid—blasted forth!
Wherever the beam passed, the air distorted, and the ground was plowed into charred furrows by the radiating energy.
*BOOM!!!*
The pillar of light slammed violently into the defensive barrier Fern had deployed!
In a deafening explosion, torrents of mana splashed wildly, blasting craters into the surrounding ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Luo Han slowly circled around the side, glancing back at the battlefield with a sense of awe.
*Sure enough, “where there’s smoke, there’s no damage.”*
However, that seemingly thin barrier stood like the sturdiest of dams, firmly holding back the violent, purple-black flood.
Light flowed rapidly across the barrier’s surface, constantly deflecting and neutralizing the destructive energy.
Fern’s body jolted slightly, and her face went a bit pale, but the hand holding her staff remained steady as a rock.
The pillar of light lasted for several seconds before finally exhausting its energy and dissipating.
The barrier still stood, though its glow had dimmed slightly.
“Oh?
I’m surprised.” Qual looked on in shock, seeing his full-power strike blocked by a human girl.
“To think you blocked the Killing Magic.
That is a truly high-intensity defensive formula.”
“Qual, your magic was too powerful,” Frieren’s voice rang out.
She hadn’t even participated in the defense; she simply stood there, stating a fact.
“That is why your ‘Killing Magic’ was completely analyzed shortly after you were sealed.
Through a brand-new defensive formula, a powerful defensive spell was developed…”
“Hmph.” Qual stroked his beard with pride.
He watched Frieren explain the nature of the spell to the girl beside her, but he didn’t attack, his thoughts unknown.
“So now, in the standard textbooks of the Continental Magic Association, it is known as ‘Ordinary Offensive Magic.’ It is one of the fundamental courses that every apprentice mage must master.”
“Eighty years is quite a long time for humans,” Frieren continued coldly, watching the demon rub his chin.
“If you behave yourself, I’ll give you a quick death.”