Chapter 358: You Wouldn't Want...
"Do you understand now?" Rhodes asked.
Frieren's gaze shifted rapidly between Rhodes and the magic circle in the center of the chamber. Then, she nodded vigorously.
"I see... I understand. So, first, use your Stasis Magic, Lord Rhodes, to pause Master Flamme's life. Then, wait for you to fully decipher the mysteries of life and master the power to rewrite life composition."
"And then, one day in the future, dispel the stasis, rewrite her, and grant her a brand new life. Correct?"
For Frieren, this was no longer a hopeless dead end, but a goal that, while distant, still held hope.
As for the time required? That was the thing she lacked least.
"Do not say it so directly. This is only my preliminary concept. Who can say what will happen in the future?"
Rhodes felt a bit helpless at Frieren's accurate and blunt interpretation.
His willingness to spend so much time and patience revealing his hidden plan to Frieren was certainly partly to escape her recent pestering.
But the deeper reason was perhaps something even he hadn't analyzed carefully.
Looking at Frieren's face, which seemed slightly more vivid than usual, Rhodes vaguely touched upon that motivation.
It was Frieren's clumsy yet incredibly sincere affection for Flamme that had moved him.
It was a pure bond transcending race and time. Even he, a thousand-year-old existence who had witnessed too much, couldn't help but be moved, willing to take a small risk to offer a sliver of hope.
Naturally, this also included his own complex feelings for Flamme.
Not romantic love, but a heavier cherishing.
Flamme was his student, one of the few existences he had treated with genuine care in his long life, and the person who best understood why he wanted to teach magic to humanity in the Mythical Era.
He also "didn't want her to die."
He didn't want Flamme to just die like that, becoming a grain of sand sinking into the long river of history.
He couldn't do it when Norne died. He couldn't do it when Eirik died. He couldn't do it when Somme died.
Now, he didn't want to be unable to do anything again.
But this sentiment had been buried deep in his heart, unspoken to anyone, rarely even admitted clearly to himself.
Especially... in front of Serie.
Thinking of his wife, Rhodes felt a slight headache.
Given his relationship with Serie, if she knew he was going to such lengths for Flamme, her jealousy would probably fly off the charts.
"Frieren," Rhodes gathered his thoughts, his expression becoming serious. "Everything you saw here today, everything I said to you—especially the part about the plan for Flamme—do not tell anyone."
"Not even Lord Serie?" Frieren asked.
"Especially her. You absolutely cannot tell her."
A look of serious contemplation appeared on Frieren's face. After a moment, she nodded and responded crisply:
"Okay."
However, just as Rhodes thought the instructions were complete and everything was over, Frieren suddenly looked up, staring at him with extreme seriousness.
Rhodes felt a bit creeped out by her stare. "What is it?"
"According to a scene I read recently in a popular human novel, in this situation, my standard line should be..." She paused. "You wouldn't want... Lord Serie to know about these things between you and Master Flamme, would you?"
The secret chamber fell into dead silence instantly.
"You—" Rhodes opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. After a long while, he squeezed a voice through his teeth. "Where did you hear... that from?!"
Frieren completely missed the gnashing of teeth in Rhodes's tone and answered honestly, "It is a novel very popular in the capital recently. I found it in a corner of the Association library bookshelf. Many people read it; the pages are severely worn."
Frieren then stated the title of the novel. Hearing the title, thick with the scent of gossip and melodrama, Rhodes felt it sounded familiar.
He frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered. It seemed that a long time ago, his elf lady had read this novel. At the time, he thought she had thrown it away. Now it seemed she had thrown it directly into the library, mixing it with the grimoires.
But "many people read it"... Aren't you all mages? Coming to the library not to read grimoires, but to read trashy romance novels?!
Rhodes felt a dull ache in his head.
He took a deep breath, trying to make his tone sound normal. "Frieren, read less of those books in the future. They are not good for you."
"Oh." Frieren responded with a nod, indicating she heard him. But her eyes still stared straight at Rhodes, clearly saying: According to novel logic, isn't it time to negotiate conditions?
Rhodes read her eyes.
Silence.
Suffocating silence spread through the room.
Rhodes slowly raised his right hand, fingers curling slightly. Although he didn't gather mana, the meaning of the action was self-evident.
His previous flick on the forehead had clearly left a deep impression on Frieren.
Sure enough, Frieren shrank her neck reflexively and raised her arms quickly to protect her head.
That hit just now really hurt!
However, perhaps the desire for benefits overcame the fear of the flick, or perhaps elven stubbornness was at work in strange places.
Although Frieren assumed a defensive posture holding her head, she still spoke up. "But... the novel says in this situation, one can usually obtain quite a few benefits."
Rhodes held his fist up, almost laughing in anger.
"What benefits do you want?"
Seeing signs that Rhodes might relent, Frieren relaxed her defensive posture slightly, but kept her hands vigilantly by her ears.
Blinking, she stated the goal she had long thought of. "Lord Serie has a few magic books from the Mythical Era in her room. I have always wanted to read them, but Lord Serie says they are her private collection and forbids others from reading them."
Rhodes realized immediately.
Serie indeed had some treasures at the bottom of her chest. Many were collected or recorded during their travels together back then.
Those things might be a bit too profound for Frieren's current research stage, but her thirst for knowledge was worth encouraging.
"I understand." Rhodes sighed and compromised. "I will find a suitable time to bring them to you."
"But you must keep them carefully, return them immediately after reading, and leave no traces." He emphasized, "And you absolutely cannot use this as leverage to ask Serie for other things, understand?"
He was terrified Frieren would go find Serie and replicate this operation. If that happened, Flamme would have to experience the plot of a white-haired person sending off a black-haired person.
Although Flamme had red hair.
"Understood!" Frieren nodded hurriedly.
She lowered her hands protecting her head, stood up straight, and promised solemnly, "I guarantee I will not tell Lord Serie about the relationship between you and Master Flamme."
"—It is a plan." Rhodes corrected weakly, feeling that coming from her mouth, the sentence sounded incredibly awkward. "It is a plan to help Flamme survive."
"Oh, a plan." Frieren corrected herself smoothly. As for what she really thought in her heart, only she knew.
Rhodes felt mentally exhausted and didn't want to tangle further in this dangerous context.
He waved his hand, like shooing away a troublesome small animal. "Alright, everything that needs to be said has been said. I agreed to the item. Go back."
This time, Frieren didn't propose any new novel lines. She nodded obediently, cast one last glance at the hope-filled magic circle in the center of the chamber, turned, and left with noticeably lighter steps.
Only when her figure disappeared completely at the end of the passage did Rhodes raise a hand to press his temple, a wry expression appearing on his face.
Asking Frieren to keep a secret... was that really a correct decision?
He was a bit unsure now.
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