Chapter 355: Rhodes, I've Come to Bargain
"I understand." Frieren finally nodded, her voice returning to its usual flatness. "So, you are still going to use Stasis Magic?"
"Mn. That is the path I chose for myself." Flamme smiled gently, trying to dispel the slightly oppressive atmosphere.
"Besides, that is not something happening immediately, right? We still have a long time to research many interesting spells and visit many places. For me, that is already wonderful enough."
"Is it long?" Frieren murmured softly. "Actually, it is not long at all."
Time passed quietly in the somewhat subtle atmosphere.
Flamme tried hard to talk about some interesting things she encountered recently. Frieren mostly listened quietly, occasionally responding, but Flamme could feel she seemed a bit distracted.
On the way back to the Association, while Flamme was still talking about tomorrow's assessment arrangements, Frieren suddenly stopped.
"Master Flamme, I have something I want to ask Lord Rhodes privately."
Flamme was stunned. "Now? Is it about... the runes?"
"Mn." Frieren didn't deny it. "I have some questions I want to ask him directly."
Flamme looked at Frieren's face, which appeared exceptionally clear under the streetlights.
She could roughly guess what Frieren wanted to ask.
After hesitating, she ultimately didn't stop her. With some doubts, perhaps it was better for Master Rhodes to answer personally.
She just raised her hand and gently ruffled Frieren's hair again.
"Go ahead. Master is usually in the laboratory at night." Flamme instructed, "Come back early to rest once you've asked."
"Mn." Frieren responded, nodded slightly to Flamme, then turned and left first.
Outside the laboratory, a knock sounded on the door, unhurried.
Rhodes didn't respond immediately. Only after finishing the research at hand did he speak: "Enter."
The door opened, and Frieren appeared at the entrance.
She walked in and stopped a few steps away from Rhodes—the boundary she usually wouldn't cross.
"Lord Rhodes."
Only then did Rhodes move his gaze from the magic circle before him to Frieren.
He frowned. It wasn't common for Frieren to come find him alone so late.
But connecting it to her recent interactions with Flamme and the information Flamme might have revealed, Rhodes had a rough guess.
"Something the matter?"
Frieren cut straight to the chase. "Regarding the Life Magic runes you published, Flamme said only you can use them. Is that true?"
As expected.
Rhodes understood. "It is true." He affirmed it without further explanation.
"Is there any other way to learn it? Or use other methods to achieve a similar effect?" Frieren pressed on. "For example, not necessarily exact immortality, but extending lifespan? For Master Flamme."
Rhodes looked at her.
An elf whose face barely changed over long ages, with eyes naturally detached from others, yet strangely obsessed with extending the life of a specific human.
This combination gave him a strange sense of absurdity.
Discussing in depth with a near-immortal, emotionally detached elf that human birth, aging, sickness, and death were natural laws?
In his view, it was meaningless and an unnecessary interference with Flamme's personal will.
Moreover, he didn't want others to know his true thoughts.
"Frieren," Rhodes's tone carried a clear note of finality, "Flamme has her own path and decision. This is not something you, or I, should forcibly intervene in. This topic ends here."
He thought Frieren would argue. After all, from a certain perspective, this elf was somewhat stubborn.
However, she didn't.
After hearing his words, Frieren's expression didn't change at all.
She just looked at Rhodes quietly, her eyes calm, and then nodded.
"Oh." She responded, her tone unreadable.
Then, she said nothing more, turned around crisply, walked out of the laboratory, and closed the door behind her.
Rhodes stood there, frowning again.
Just... ended like that?
Given the degree of concern she showed for Flamme, she accepted his refusal so easily? No questioning, no persistence, not even a ripple of emotion left behind?
This actually puzzled him a bit.
Meanwhile, Flamme was in her room, having a headache over an application list that needed review tomorrow. Hearing movement, she looked up to see Frieren push the door open.
"So fast?" Flamme was surprised. "Did you see Master? Did you ask clearly?"
She thought it would be a relatively long conversation and was even prepared for Frieren to return in low spirits.
"Mn. I asked. He won't tell me," Frieren informed her truthfully.
Flamme froze. "Won't tell you? That shouldn't be!"
She was puzzled. Why wasn't Master willing to tell Frieren the reason? Theoretically, as long as Master explained the non-replicable and indecipherable nature of this immortality magic to Frieren completely, it would be fine.
"Mn." Frieren gave an affirmative answer again.
Flamme sighed inwardly. It seemed Master Rhodes simply didn't want to tell Frieren.
Just as she was about to comfort Frieren, telling her not to take it to heart and accept reality—
"However," Frieren spoke again, interrupting Flamme, "I will not give up."
Flamme: "—?"
Frieren didn't explain further. She just picked up a magic book and began reading intently. Watching her profile, an ominous premonition suddenly rose in Flamme's heart.
Her premonition soon became reality.
The second night, at almost the exact same time, a knock sounded again outside Rhodes's laboratory door.
Rhodes paused his hand movement. This time...
"Enter."
Frieren walked in, stood in the exact same spot as last night, with almost the same posture.
She looked at Rhodes and spoke: "Regarding methods to extend Master Flamme's lifespan, do you have any new considerations?"
Rhodes: "—No. Get out."
Frieren nodded: "Oh." Then turned and left briskly.
The third night, the knock sounded punctually.
"Enter."
Frieren walked in: "Regarding methods to extend Master Flamme's lifespan, do you have any new considerations?"
Rhodes rubbed his brow: "No. The same answer will not change. Do not come again."
Frieren: "Oh."
Left.
The fourth night—
The fifth night—
Whether Rhodes sternly refused or ignored her, that petite figure would appear in his laboratory at the fixed time, asking the question verbatim, with not even a change in intonation: "Regarding methods to extend Master Flamme's lifespan, do you have any new considerations?"
After receiving a negative answer, it was an "Oh," then a brisk departure. No entanglement, but no stopping either.
Rhodes gradually realized this wasn't Frieren asking on a whim or emotional pestering, but a serious consideration.
For an elf with nearly infinite time, repeating the same question day after day, year after year, until getting the desired answer was logically feasible, perhaps even an efficient strategy.
After all, she only paid a small, fixed amount of time each day, and the goal was changing the fate of a human important to her.
This was an incredibly headache-inducing war of attrition based on the elven concept of time.
Serie soon discovered this strange phenomenon as well.
One day, she came to discuss something with Rhodes and happened to bump into Frieren leaving after clocking in her daily question.
"She came again?" Serie watched Frieren's retreating back disappear at the end of the corridor, unable to help asking, "What day is this? I've heard Flamme sigh several times, saying she can't dissuade her either. Frieren ignores her completely and goes out on the dot."
"Seventeenth day," Rhodes reported the number accurately.
"You're counting?" Serie wanted to laugh but also felt a bit of sympathy for Rhodes.
Being harassed by an elf in this manner was something even she hadn't expected.
Although Ela had done similar things in the past—sneaking near their secluded hut every day to observe secretly—that hadn't lasted too long. Moreover, Serie later took her as an apprentice, giving her a legitimate excuse to observe.
But Frieren's case was different.
"What do you plan to do? Keep going like this?" Serie asked.
Rhodes remained silent. The real reason he had been avoiding the topic was actually quite complex.
On one hand, Flamme's path was her own choice, and he respected that choice. But on the other hand, he harbored some selfishness.
Just like when he asked Norne if he wanted to use his magic to extend his life.
He knew clearly what that magic would eventually turn a person into, but he still offered it because he didn't want to watch someone he cherished leave just like that.
Norne was like this, and so was Flamme.
But Rhodes had no better way to extend Flamme's life. At least, the current him had absolutely none.
Therefore, he was unwilling to tell anyone about this, nor did he want anyone to know the conflict and complexity in his heart.
Clearly, Frieren didn't intend to let him continue avoiding the topic.
Using this clumsiest yet most effective method, she was slowly grinding away Rhodes's meaningless persistence.
"Let's see who can outlast whom." Rhodes finally spoke flatly, but Serie heard a rare trace of helplessness.
"I think," Serie suppressed a laugh, analyzing objectively, "in terms of wasting time, you might really not be Frieren's match. Her patience is not in the same dimension as our understanding."
Rhodes didn't refute.
He looked at the laboratory door, as if foreseeing the figure appearing punctually and asking the unchanging question tomorrow, the day after, and even further into the future.
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