"Don't worry about me," She turned her head away unwillingly. Her trembling hands unconsciously clenched the hem of her dress, yet she felt that familiar touch on her head again. She could not help forcing out a complaining voice through her choking sobs, "Ash too! Don't pat my head!"
"Stop complaining. I'd like someone to pat my head too, you know. Think about it. That guy was saying at the very end that I'm heartless. I'm actually pretty sad myself."
Ash and Heiter exchanged smiles, just like always, teasing their old friend of many years.
Even at the very end, Heiter laughed as usual, "And you have the nerve to say that. Frieren is crying, yet you won't even let me see your tears."
"No, no, no. At your age, no matter how you look at it, this counts as a joyous funeral. Why would I cry? Or do you still have some regrets?"
"Of course I do. I still want to attend your wedding with Fern."
"That would be a bit difficult. How about I just marry them tomorrow?"
"Ah! That sounds great. Three wishes fulfilled at once."
The two chatted with jokes just like always, unknowingly diluting the sorrowful atmosphere.
This made Frieren unconsciously stop trembling as she cried, staring blankly at Heiter's face, already etched with the marks of time.
The vitality and radiance he had in his youth had long since softened and become restrained without her noticing. Or perhaps it would not matter even if it had lost its shine and dimmed.
But at this moment, she suddenly gained a brand-new understanding of the concept of "aging". It did not seem as heavy or terrifying as she had imagined.
Because during her daily life with Heiter, she realized that aging was actually a natural transition of life, like the changing of the seasons. Each stage had its own uniqueness.
Not that she envied it, but at this moment, she gained a new understanding of a concept she might never truly comprehend herself.
While receiving this new understanding from Heiter, Frieren of course felt that she and Fern could properly complain about the strange jokes those two were making, but...
'Forget it. For now, let them joke around as they please.'
Watching the two chatting happily, even though she felt they were just as rude as ever, she now only observed the banter between men with tolerance, a bit of helplessness, and a faint smile.
After finishing their talk with Heiter, Ash and Frieren left the room. After that, Fern entered with a smile, sat on the stool by the bed, and chatted and laughed with Heiter, chatting and laughing.
The time that followed seemed to be filled with happy days.
But just as Heiter himself had thought, in less than half a month... his life ultimately reached its end.
On a clear, sunny morning, he passed away peacefully in his sleep. Frieren, who discovered it first, quickly informed the other two of the bad news.
Fern naturally threw herself into Ash's arms, crying uncontrollably as he comforted her.
As a retired bishop, Heiter's funeral, according to his wishes while he was alive, was unexpectedly plain.
Apart from the three of them, only a few people and priests from nearby villages attended. He was simply buried in the public cemetery of the grand cathedral within the city.
As a former bishop who had even saved the world, someone who should be considered quite a famous figure, Heiter's grave was nothing more than an ordinary stone tombstone, without the slightest trace of extravagance.
After attending the funeral, the three of them did not leave immediately like the others. Frieren silently stepped forward and poured the liquor she had brought six years ago over the gravestone, fulfilling the promise she had made with Heiter when Himmel died.
After that, the three packed their luggage and set off on their journey together. But about two months after Heiter's death, once Fern's emotions had completely stabilized, Ash cited some important matters as his reason. After confirming their travel route, he temporarily parted ways with them, planning to return to celebrate Fern's birthday with her.
After all, with how excessively time-wasting Frieren's travels were, there was no way he could honestly follow along the entire time.
But the result of this was—
Fern was very angry.
"This feels really bad. That guy ran off so fast and left me here. Isn't that just asking for trouble?", Frieren cautiously looked at the purple-haired girl not far away, puffing out her cheeks and sulking because Ash would not let her follow him.
Frieren herself felt depressed too, unable to stop complaining inwardly about Ash's irresponsibility.
Fern, however, did not notice Frieren's gloomy expression at all. She was staring intently at Ash's figure as it gradually grew distant in the sky, eventually disappearing.
And she silently swore to herself, 'Next time we meet, I will definitely be properly angry.'
Though in truth, over the years, he often went out anyway. The reasons were many and often casual, but they had more or less gotten used to it.
———
Whenever Ash left, it was either to the magic city or to look for demonkind. Naturally, if it was the latter, there was no way he could tell them, nor tell them exactly what he was doing.
Although he had promised to protect Fern, even a real father could not follow someone around for an entire lifetime, right? With Frieren around, being slightly negligent did not seem like too much of a problem.
And within the Oisast Kingdom, which he secretly controlled, inside the royal castle at the core of the capital, those two demon girls, one big and one small, were now completely unrestrained, not caring at all about exposure.
As for why, it was naturally because everyone in the royal city had, over more than eighty years, been educated by Ash through scientific teaching, systematic training, and information control, trained in loyalty to him from childhood.
And to be safe, they had voluntarily accepted obedience magic. So even if they saw demonkind, it did not really matter.
Just as he arrived at the audience hall, Ash saw, a pink-haired girl with two horns, sitting arrogantly on the throne.
She was holding a set of scales, applying obedience magic to a man pinned to the ground by knights below, unable to move.
Even after all these years, her height had not changed, nor had her appearance. Judging by her looks alone, she was more than qualified as a beautiful, mature woman, and her bust was quite impressive as well.
She was just a bit short, which could be tolerated, but her personality—
"Ara~ isn't that my Onii-chan? You're here again today? There's still a lot of work to do, you know?", Aura on the throne finished her manipulation and instantly noticed Ash's presence, a brilliant smile appearing on her face.
Although there were already plenty of people loyal to him, the most critical parts still had to be handled by him personally. Faced with her teasing, he stepped up the stairs with a suppressed, headache-inducing expression.
"Have you ever thought about sharing the workload or anything?"
"Nope. Isn't that your responsibility? When you think about it," Seeing his suppressed headache, Aura spread her arms wide, "Even if everyone in the royal city has been educated to be loyal to you and voluntarily accept obedience magic, you still need me to cast it so you can feel at ease. That means... no matter how you look at it, I'm the greatest contributor, right?"
"Even so, you still...", He sighed, "Forget it."
He had wanted to urge her to put in some effort, but just thinking about Aura's personality made him give up.
However, his look of disdain and his quick decision to give up hurt Aura's pride. She dismissed her subordinates, frowned, and hurried down.
Stopping right in front of him, she stood on tiptoe and glared up at him, "A long, long time ago, I started thinking that your attitude toward me is a bit too disrespectful, isn't it?"
"So?"
"You, do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Yes. But that's not the point," Ignoring Aura's increasingly dangerous gaze, he grabbed her horn and pushed her aside.
"It's been so many years. Have a bit of self-awareness, will you? In the end, even demonkind should improve a little."
"You bastard, you actually look down on me like this!"
"That's not quite it."
"Really?"
"Because I just think you're stupid. In reality, you're still very useful, so I can't really say I look down on you."
"Die!"
He answered without a second thought. A chilling atmosphere instantly spread, and Aura raised her hand, releasing killing magic.
A black-purple pillar of light surged forth, but the pale blue diamond-shaped barrier in front of Ash easily blocked it. Looking at the decorations around them being blown away by the shockwave, he gathered gravity lightning in his right hand and swung it forcefully.
The pillar of killing magic instantly collapsed on its own, turning into flashes of light and disappearing.
This scene made Aura, who had not expected the attack to work anyway, but also had not expected it to be this ineffective, stomp her feet in anger.
"What is this? You said you were kindly teaching me this magic, but you've got something even better yourself?"
"It's just ordinary gravity magic."
"No! That's definitely not ordinary, right? How could it just directly shatter like that?"
"You can tell even that? You've improved, Aura," Ash walked over with a satisfied look and patted Aura on the head, smiling without concealment.
"Isn't that normal? If I didn't keep a guard up against you, who knows what would happen?"
"What about our so-called sibling bond?"
"You yourself said 'so-called'. What's wrong with keeping a little in reserve?"
"I never thought, you would be such a heartless person!"
"You're not really in a position to say that about me, are you?"
He casually pushed the approaching Aura aside and headed toward what used to be the king's study, now his own private office.
Aura, who had been full of anger, quickly calmed down as soon as he turned away. While wiping the spot on her horn he had grabbed with a handkerchief, she muttered in annoyance.
"So using sibling bonds doesn't work very well after all. Even accusing him is useless?"
"Obviously. How long do you think I've known you? And you're still trying that trick on me now, what are you even thinking?"
Glancing sideways at Aura, Ash felt a wave of frustration. He could not understand why this girl, who looked good and had a good figure, had such a strange personality. Even normal demonkind should be better than this.
Was it his fault? Did he lead her astray when she was little? Even now, deep regret still lingered in his heart.
As soon as he sat at the desk and opened the important matters awaiting review within the kingdom, Aura climbed up and sat on the desk, freely swinging her legs, complaining willfully.
"Ash, I'm so bored~ Stop doing this stuff already."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Find something for me to do."
"If you're bored, give me a massage."
"No. That's even more boring."
"Then train your mana."
"I already finished today's."
"Do some more."
"No. I-I'm so bored! Hurry up and talk to me!"
The pink-haired demon girl, just as Ash remembered, was willful. She slapped her hand down on his documents, leaned over on the desk, and stared straight at him while throwing a tantrum.
Faced with this strange girl, he let out a deep sigh for who knew how many times.
"I'm not saying this for nothing, Aura. You just—"
"You are saying it!", Before he could finish, Aura interrupted him irritably. Finding this willful and arrogant girl troublesome, he nevertheless nodded without hesitation.
"Alright. I am saying it."
Although Ash had originally intended to be a little polite with Aura, his foolish little sister, she was simply too troublesome, so he gave up on pleasantries altogether.
Looking at this willful woman who clearly dressed with a strong SM queen vibe, wearing a midriff-baring outfit and extra-long black gloves, good-looking yet with an utterly regrettable personality, he could not help but wonder, 'Why is she still as willful as a child at such an age? This is especially obvious when she is around me.'
Before he could figure it out, he spoke bluntly, making Aura so angry she was about to fight him again. He raised his hand to signal her to stop and continued.
"Even though I'm criticizing you, I really am thinking about you. Can't you be like a normal demon and find a corner to research magic on your own when you have nothing to do?"
Normal demonkind rarely complained about boredom. They could research their magic alone in some strange place for decades or even centuries, but...
For Aura, that was absolutely impossible. She rejected it without even thinking.
"Nope. I'm special. After all, obedience magic is already quite complete, and you even added physical methods to destroy the frontal lobe. Now you can completely control someone without even cutting off their head. Mm~ I really have to thank you properly, Ash~ You really are a natural villain."
When talking about the physical methods that assisted obedience magic, Aura looked unexpectedly delighted. She rolled over and sat sideways on his lap, excitedly looking up at him, repeatedly poking his cheek with her fingertip.
A lively beautiful girl in his arms, but the girl was someone he had watched grow up, a willful and strange girl he had raised with his own hands. Was this something to be happy about or not?
Ash tried to think about it. Ignoring her interference, he felt a bit gloomy because of this praise.
Especially that strange way of praising him, which almost gave him the illusion that he really was a villain... though he admittedly could not easily deny that.
In reality, those subjected to the procedure were carefully selected, and it was not used on a large scale.
The surgery to destroy the frontal lobe sounded like a high-risk neurosurgical procedure even in the twenty-first century.
In fact, as early as 1935, a Portuguese neurologist had already completed it. The entire process was extremely simple and crude, and after recovery, there would not even be any external wounds left.
After sterilization, an ice pick and hammer were used to enter through the eye socket into the gap in the skull and damage the frontal lobe. There was no need to remove anything.
This process did not require sophisticated surgical skills or specialized equipment. It could be done anywhere, took about ten minutes, and could be said to achieve outstanding results at a very low cost.
This prefrontal lobotomy could make the subject extremely docile and obedient. It even worked very well on extremely violent gorillas. In the past, it was often used on psychiatric patients, turning even those with severe mania into obedient children, but it was banned in the new century.
The cost was, if something went wrong and too much damage was done, the subject would become a walking corpse. Freeman, the "ice-pick godfather" known as the "one-hammer man", once had a shocking mortality rate of ten percent, along with high risks of hemiplegia and cognitive decline.
However, with Ash's twenty-first-century knowledge, a more rigorous approach, better operators and rescuers, and the kingdom's high priest who was forced to collude with them providing healing magic afterward, the mortality rate was ensured to be zero. The surgery basically only stripped away most of a person's individual will, while their thinking and intelligence remained intact.
Ash simply did not like killing innocents indiscriminately, so this procedure was only applied to enemies... such as the opposing empire, and kingdom nobles whose actions disgusted him.
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