"...Is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me?"
"No, it's just — I find myself feeling a little nostalgic. After all, that seat has been empty for ten years now."
"Has it?"
The sofa was just as soft as she remembered. Nanoda had buried her entire face against the tabletop, cheek pressed to the faintly cool surface, eyes half-shut, a few threads of sunlight falling gently across her body — warm enough to make her want to sleep the afternoon away.
Even so, she could sense Aaron's gaze on her with perfect clarity.
"Heh heh. Truly, not a thing has changed."
Aaron returned his eyes to the documents in his hand, writing as he spoke.
"I've re-established contact with Lord Glück. The situation over in Weise — can we consider that fully resolved?"
"Well… more or less."
"More or less?"
"Getting all those citizens of Weise to believe us was honestly more exhausting than fighting a Hero…"
"Even so, you turned the situation around. That's quite remarkable."
"What's with the sudden praise." Nanoda raised an eyebrow.
"I mean it sincerely."
"..."
A short silence passed. Then Nanoda's voice rose again.
"Speaking of which — where's Yuna? Has she still not come back from the Continental Magic Association?"
She hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of her little apprentice, and Nanoda found she was missing her quite a bit.
As for that ingrate Aura, Nanoda had already put her entirely out of mind.
At that, Aaron rubbed his smooth, bare head and said,
"Hmm… if I work out the timing, she ought to be back before the first frost. She's probably still on the road right now."
"Achoo!"
Out on the forest road, Yuna sneezed for no particular reason.
Leaning on her staff with one hand, she rummaged through her pocket with the other — and came up empty. Not a single copper coin to her name.
"I really wasn't thinking. Haah… I suppose I'll just have to find a nearby village or town and earn some travel money with magic."
Built upon the foundation Nanoda had laid from the very beginning, and further tempered by the trials of war, Yuna's physical constitution had long since surpassed that of an ordinary human — she was somewhere in the range of a first- or second-rate warrior.
A journey on foot like this was no hardship for her whatsoever.
As for why she hadn't taken commissions in the magic city of Vasastre to earn travelling money — that was purely because she hadn't wanted to give Serie the satisfaction of laughing at her.
"..."
While Yuna was turning all of this over in her mind, an unfamiliar Mana signature entered the range of her Mana Perception. Her footsteps fell silent, and she stopped where she stood.
Rustle, rustle.
In the thicket ahead, within the reach of her gaze, something was moving strangely among the undergrowth.
A magical beast?
No — this Mana was far too strong for an ordinary magical beast.
A member of the Demon Race?
And yet the fluctuation of the Mana was far too gentle for that.
Lifting her crimson, spear-shaped staff, Yuna crept forward in small, quiet steps toward the thicket ahead, carefully using the staff to part the branches and leaves that blocked her path.
"?"
Before her eyes, quite suddenly, appeared a round and generously proportioned… bottom?
A white skirt of firm, substantial fabric; below the yellow hem, a pair of blue-black tights encasing a taut, well-shaped backside and even, slender thighs; a pair of brown boots up on tiptoe, the soles caked in a fair amount of mud.
"Ugh, ngh…"
A few strands of white hair that had fallen across a back swayed back and forth with the body's movements, along with half a torso that kept twisting and squirming — the person appeared to be struggling ceaselessly.
Beside the thicket lay an old brown travel case, abandoned on the ground.
This person… was stuck in the thicket? A question mark floated above Yuna's head.
"Excuse me — do you need help?"
Having confirmed there was no danger, and having concluded the other party was a Mage who had simply been a little careless, Yuna called out softly.
"...Just a little more… just a tiny bit more… — ah!"
A branch snapped, a few leaves drifted out from the thicket — and the Mage still hadn't managed to pull free.
"Wuu, that hurts, please help me~"
The voice was bright, with a soft edge to it. It was a woman.
"Please hold still for a moment."
After a sweep of her Mana Perception, Yuna raised both hands, levelling the staff she held at the half-body protruding from the thicket.
"? Are you gathering Mana behind me?"
The voice of the Mage caught in the thicket wavered slightly.
"Please don't worry — there won't be any friendly fire." Yuna sounded perfectly confident.
With a sharp crack of displaced air, three bursts of Severance Magic sliced through the thicket — and in an instant, branches and leaves collapsed and fell away.
Thump. The Mage who had been wedged in the thicket tumbled to the ground.
"Thank you so much…"
Face wearing an expression of utter defeat — <(□□)> — the white-haired, twin-tailed Mage lay flat on her stomach, face pressed into the earth, pinned beneath a scattering of broken twigs and fallen leaves, along with a plain, unpretentious staff. Her two hands still gripped, for dear life, a small white creature that continued to squirm.
"An elf?"
With the branches above cleared away by Severance Magic, a pair of unmistakably long, pointed ears came into view. Yuna recognised them instantly — this was one of Serie's kindred.
The Mana radiating from this elven Mage carried the weight of a seasoned practitioner.
What gave Yuna pause, however, was that the diffuse Mana felt somehow unusual — there was a faint, subtle tremor running through it.
Seeing the other person flounder a moment more against the ground, Yuna quickly moved to help her up.
"Are you all right?"
"That's a relief — thank you so much, truly."
The elven Mage's eyes shimmered and blinked, as though she were on the very verge of tears.
"My name is Yuna. You're a Mage as well, aren't you — why were you stuck in the thicket?"
Mindful that an elf's true age was unknown, Yuna kept a note of deference in her words.
"Ah — I'm Frieren. I'm an elf who travels around. I found a rare magical material, and while I was chasing after it, I rather carelessly got myself caught in the thicket."
"Frieren… -sama?"
Yuna had a strong feeling she'd heard that name somewhere before, yet for the moment she couldn't quite place it.
"The size, the colour, the lustre — this is a premium magical material!"
Only when Frieren spoke up with evident excitement did Yuna notice: clutched in Frieren's hands was a white lizard. Its glossy scales caught the light in shifting, iridescent flickers — giving the uncanny impression that it blended seamlessly into its surroundings. Yuna had never seen a lizard of that species before.
As she spoke, Frieren retrieved the travel case that had been left behind on the ground. With one hand still holding the white lizard, she reached into the case with the other, produced a transparent glass vial, and stuffed the lizard straight inside, sealing it shut.
Almost the instant it entered the vial, the white lizard vanished from sight entirely.
"Yuna — well, look, how about this: as thanks, you can take your pick of anything in my case — apart from this vial."
In truth, Frieren had not been entirely without a way to free herself from the thicket — it was simply that doing so would have had certain consequences, such as her hair going into a spectacular wave.
"It was nothing at all — I don't need a reward…"
The moment she said it, Yuna felt a mild twinge of regret. Now that she thought about it, she was in fact rather short on funds at the moment.
"Go ahead and pick one."
Frieren held up the open travel case.
"…....." Yuna looked at the case — crammed full of all manner of miscellaneous things — and gave a small nod.
"Then I won't be shy about it."
Yuna settled on a small bottle of purple potion. In her estimation it appeared to be some kind of magical elixir — just the thing to sell for travel money once she was on her way.
"Oh, you've got a good eye!"
"Frieren-sama — could you tell me what sort of potion this is?"
"That one? That's a potion that dissolves clothes!"
"Hold on, I don't think I quite caught that…"
"It's a potion that dissolves clothes!"
Frieren pointed at the purple vial and broke into a smile — just a touch on the uncanny side.
"?"
Yuna's mind ground to a complete halt.
____
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