"Jackson!"
Even though he felt he really was contributing to world peace, he honestly couldn't think of anyone who would believe he'd fight for world peace, so he subconsciously blurted out a random name.
It wasn't exactly lying, nor was it a matter of bad character. He simply didn't have many friends.
Frieren immediately followed up with rapid-fire questions, "What does he do? Who's in his family?"
"He sings! His family... just one person!"
"How did you meet?"
"That was.... on a dark and stormy night—"
He tried hard to come up with a scene, only for Frieren to narrow her eyes and cut him off, "Ash, you're lying, aren't you?"
"Just tell me whether I said a name or not."
"When did you start liking to lie as much as Master?"
"I think I'm probably a little better than Flamme," Even Ash's expression became somewhat subtle when he was compared to Flamme.
At first glance, Flamme looked like a fairly upright person, at most someone who liked to play the fool to catch others off guard.
But in reality, even when training with them, it really was just training, and then she'd suddenly throw all dignity aside, begging for mercy in every possible way to soften people's hearts.
Perhaps because she'd been tricked by Flamme too many times, Frieren had developed some anti-scam resistance. Of course... more importantly, from the very beginning, she hadn't really believed Ash was that upright.
And even if he were, she still didn't plan to let him join. After all, when a friend is already at the age where they should be enjoying a peaceful old age, no matter what, you can't just let them mess around.
Going on adventures? Fighting the Demon King? What if his old bones fell apart? No matter how she thought about it, it didn't seem appropriate.
———
Ash's hand hung suspended in midair, stiff like that for a long time with no one willing to take it. As the atmosphere gradually grew awkward.
Just as he dejectedly planned to switch strategies and stand off to the side to observe for a while, before he could pull his hand back, a hand suddenly reached out from behind Heiter and firmly grasped his.
"Oh, oh?", He lifted his head in surprise, only to find...
"What you said, I believe it, Mr. Ash, let's fight together!", A boy with light-blue mushroom-shaped hair, wearing a white cloak over blue clothes, smiled brightly at him.
But Ash stiffened slightly, quietly trying to pull his hand back, and couldn't help asking, "May I ask, you are?"
"I'm Himmel."
"I-is that so? Which means?"
"Frieren's companion," Himmel answered without hesitation.
"For real?"
"For real. Is there a problem?"
"No, it's not. This..." Ash was dumbfounded once again and subconsciously looked toward Frieren.
But this time, Frieren only let out a soft sigh, "If you're expecting the situation from Flamme's story version, you'd better give up. The only big sister here is me."
"Hah! Haha! you've picked up Flamme's bad habit of bragging too, haven't you," Mentally exhausted, Ash couldn't help letting out a dry laugh and muttering that remark.
This immediately made Frieren unhappy, "What do you mean by that? There aren't many big sisters as old as me, you know."
"Big sister, huh!"
Staring at the girl in front of him, who was even shorter than an average young girl, hands on her hips, chest puffed out as she tried hard to look mature, all that remained in his heart was an urge he couldn't hold back.
Forget big sister. She didn't even count as a young girl. A super-old, barren elf calling herself a big sister, even proudly standing there with hands on hips and chest out.
Honestly, Ash seriously suspected that this clueless girl was deliberately mocking his ideals in this way.
But it felt tiring to keep poking fun at Frieren, so he looked around and directly changed the topic, "Putting that aside, where's the dwarf lady? If nothing else, I think I could still accept the legendary dwarf cute shorty."
"Dwarf lady? What dwarf—no, wait, what do you mean 'putting that aside'? You really are looking down on me, aren't you?"
Frieren froze for a moment, immediately unhappy at being ignored and about to properly argue with him, when a very rough voice suddenly cut in from behind, "As for the dwarf, I'm already here?"
"That voice, I suddenly have a bad feeling," The overly rough voice made him raise a hand to his forehead.
"Even though I think it's unlikely, maybe all dwarf voices are rough. Digging mines every day means breathing in too much dust, so their vocal cords are bound to get damaged, right?"
"Why would dwarves dig mines?", Frieren asked in confusion.
"Isn't that what storybooks always say?", Ash answered without thinking, leaving Frieren speechless, "Just how old are you, or have you been living in the mountains all these years?"
"In reality, haven't I basically been training all the time? Come to think of it, I really haven't met any dwarves."
"Ah! When you put it that way, it makes sense. You really are a training fanatic. No wonder you fell for Master's tricks in such strange ways."
Thinking about his ascetic-style training, Frieren could somewhat understand him now, but...
"In fact, dwarves don't mine. We're mainly warriors," A dwarf uncle with an extremely long yellow beard, wearing a horned helmet and carrying a double-bladed axe on his back, walked up to his side from behind.
"You're kidding, right? I got tricked by that bastard Flamme again?", With just one look, he instantly understood before the cruel reality, fairy tales really were all lies.
But the massive gap between a cute shorty and an uncle made him feel dizzy.
He even couldn't help turning his back, squatting down with his hands over his head, desperately trying to sort out this reality that differed far too much from his expectations, bizarre enough to be surreal to him.
Of course, he had to admit that his desire to become a hero back then was mainly because he wanted to encounter all kinds of beautiful girls. Which was why he believed Flamme's suspicious stories.
Humans were always like this. Even knowing they might be deceived, they still couldn't help believing in beautiful dreams made by others.
Unfortunately, after expecting so much and being betrayed so many times, he finally felt that even a cute shorty dwarf could barely make up for the huge gap between reality and his imagined scene.
Not that he was a lolicon. He just thought, 'At least if there is one who isn't an ultra-aged cute shorty like Frieren, at least we can hang out a bit, right?'
Even though he wouldn't make a move, because as a decent person doing that to a cute shorty would be... but teasing one occasionally would still be fun, right?
But...
"Are you okay?", The dwarf uncle stood in front of him, looking at him curiously. Even though he was usually taciturn, he couldn't help asking, "By the way, are you a warrior? Or a mage?"
Looking closely, below the eyes, almost the entire face of this dwarf uncle was covered in an excessively thick beard that reached his chest. The helmet blocked everything above the forehead, leaving only the eyes visible.
"So much beard... so this really is reality? Cruel and merciless, with not a trace of beauty."
He completely ignored the other's question and unconsciously reached out and tugged on the dense beard in front of him.
That strange texture convinced him that this guy really was an uncle, definitely not a cute shorty.
Although the beard was so thick and long that only the eyes could be seen, making it impossible to identify any other features.
But even taking ten thousand steps back, even if such a cute shorty existed, he absolutely would not acknowledge a cute shorty like this.
The gap between ideals and reality sent Ash into a withdrawn state, unconsciously tugging at the overlong beard in front of him again and again.
This made the dwarf warrior look troubled, and he instinctively turned his head toward Frieren.
"This is your friend, right? What's wrong with him? Can you get him to let go of my beard?"
"Sorry, Eisen, this guy is a bit strange. But I'll talk to him properly."
Even though she kind of wanted to pretend she didn't know him, she obviously couldn't just abandon him here. Frieren slapped his hand that was still playing with the beard, then grabbed his hand and dragged him away.
Only after they were far enough did Frieren turn back with a sigh and look at him again.
"Ash, what exactly did you come here for?"
"Well...", He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, I was worried about your safety. After all, things like the Demon King are pretty dangerous, right?"
"Stop lying. You're obviously here to look for girls, aren't you? But you've seen it now. There aren't any pretty girls here besides me, so hurry back, go on," Frieren waved her hands nonstop, like she was shooing away a small animal.
"I won't comment on how you define yourself, but you can't stop me from yearning for stories."
"Stories about encounters with beautiful girls?"
"That's something I yearn for, but I'm also genuinely interested in proper adventures."
He expressed his thoughts solemnly, only for the dwarf uncle Eisen's curious voice to come from behind, "What? You're joining too?"
"Maybe I should think about it some more."
Just glancing back at that dwarf uncle, then looking again at the other two boys who were so far from his expectations, he fell silent and resumed worrying.
Because he felt like this script was kind of off. Compared to a classic heroic adventure, didn't this party look more like, 'Cannon fodder that could die at any moment?'
Two people who could foresee the future had never told him which hero party would defeat the Demon King, which genuinely made him worry whether Frieren would die halfway through.
From the feel of it, Frank saying he would carve a path sounded more like the one who would ultimately win.
In other words, would this party fail midway? Or would the Demon King be dealt with halfway through? He couldn't help worrying.
"What's wrong? Ash? Why..."
Noticing that the way he looked at her really did carry worry, Frieren was slightly surprised. But then she thought of something, and warmth rose in her chest. A faint smile appeared on her face.
"I didn't expect it, you really are worried about me."
Frieren's smile seemed filled with unspoken trust.
But being believed only now made Ash, who really was worried about her, feel quite complicated.
"I said it from the start, didn't I? You only believe me now? What about our friendship?"
"It's fine. I do have some ability to protect myself."
"Avoiding the friendship part, huh? But no one can guarantee they won't run into accidents, right?"
"You didn't used to worry so much."
His old-man-like concern made Frieren laugh softly.
Of course, she didn't voice her thoughts. Instead, she hesitantly looked up and asked, "I'm happy about your concern, but... is your body okay?"
"My body? I think I'm pretty healthy?"
"Then if it's just for a while, it's not impossible, but you really won't run into the good things Flamme talked about," Thinking about it, she felt that Ash saying he wanted to see the 'luxurious' party Flamme described was probably just an excuse.
At his age, he shouldn't have strange youthful thoughts anymore, but while compromising, Frieren still teased him with a reminder.
"What are you even saying? I really did think about becoming a hero before. Don't lump me together with someone like Flamme, okay?"
Honestly, it wasn't just Frieren who misunderstood him. He also had quite a misunderstanding about this party.
This slow-moving group didn't look like a world-saving team at all. Instead, they looked more like a sightseeing party scamming money from the king.
If they really waited for this group to defeat the Demon King, who knew how long the northern war would drag on.
By the time he arrived, the kingdom on the left side of the empire had already been destroyed. If they waited for these people to save the world, aside from the empire, everything else in the north would probably be finished.
What's more, judging by the strength of the people here, they really didn't look like they could defeat the Demon King. So just wandering around and having some fun for now didn't seem like much of a loss.
After all, time was excessively abundant. If he didn't find something to do and just cultivated every day, who knew how many thousands of years he'd be doing that. That would be far too dull... at least, he felt he'd go crazy.
———
While Ash and Frieren were settling things, the other three were curiously observing them from the side.
"I really didn't expect Frieren to have an old friend," Himmel nodded with a smile, "And she even looks happy? I thought she'd be colder."
"But that acquaintance they mentioned, that name Flamme, is the same as the legendary progenitor of human magic. She must be an incredible person too, to teach someone this strong," Eisen stroked his beard thoughtfully.
But like everyone else, none of them believed that the Flamme they were talking about was the legendary Flamme.
Heiter, however, was staring at Ash's back, a hint of worry on his face, "His strength is unquestionable, but... there's the smell of blood."
"Probably a battlefield mage."
"If that's all it is, then that's fine."
"Frieren's friend is definitely a good person," Himmel believed this for no particular reason.
And when the two returned, Himmel, to dispel his companions' concerns, asked bluntly, "Ash, this might be a bit sudden, but could we ask what you used to do?"
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