While Ash was subduing the two people inside the tavern, Frieren happened to be dragging Fern along to return the item, but...
"He actually ran away."
Frieren stood in front of the now-empty stall, staring blankly at the bare stone street for quite a while.
Fern initially only sighed, but gradually her expression turned tense as she asked worriedly, "Lady Frieren... if it really comes down to it, I can take a little money out of our travel funds and make it up to you as personal spending money?"
"What are you saying, Fern? Do I look like the kind of person who would even take your money?"
"Aren't you?"
"A-Actually!", Although the suggestion of replenishing her secret stash was undeniably tempting enough to make Frieren swallow her saliva, she still shook her head out of pride and changed the subject, "Don't underestimate me. I actually cast tracking magic on the silver coin I gave him."
"Tracking magic? Why? At the time, you didn't think you were being scammed, did you?"
"No, Fern, you're wrong," Frieren curled her lips into a profound-looking smile, "I already saw through everything from the start."
"Why tell a lie that falls apart instantly? Are you a child? Or are you like Lord Ash, obsessed with saving face?"
Looking at the elf she had practically raised since childhood, Fern wore a deadpan expression. Not only did she not believe her, she mercilessly added, "Weren't you just crying and throwing a tantrum a moment ago? Lord Ash really did corrupt you after all. And... your lying skills are even worse than his."
"Wait! Fern, can you stop treating me like some kid who'll get led astray if I'm not careful?"
"Aren't you?"
"Putting the jokes aside, remember? That stall owner was a warrior, and he had contact with Rasen before."
"I'm not joking," Even though Frieren was trying her best to look clever, Fern once again exposed her without hesitation.
Not out of malice. She simply felt that at Frieren's age, she should really start learning her lesson.
Faced with that, Frieren could only pretend she hadn't heard anything and continue changing the subject.
"I don't think Rasen meeting that stall owner was a coincidence. That's why I used tracking magic on the silver coin."
"Let's just assume that's true. Then what?"
"Rasen was using a fake name, and that stall owner who was obviously a warrior had ties to him. If they're part of the Shadow Warriors, maybe we can find more Shadow Warriors through them."
"What if the money's already been spent?"
"What are you talking about? That was silver, you know? That's a lot of money~ How could anyone spend it that easily?", Frieren said with complete seriousness, desperately trying to sound more farsighted.
"But every time you go out, forget silver coins, even the gold coin Lord Ash secretly gave you yesterday got spent immediately on some weird potion. And the silver coin only bought junk that was made last week."
"Which is why we're going to return it now."
Even though Frieren had been trying to preserve her dignity and make herself look thoughtful and calculating rather than someone who got scammed, the moment she turned around and walked ahead... Her expression finally crumpled beyond concealment.
She had come up with all sorts of excuses for herself, but the thing she truly wanted to say was only one sentence—
"Give me back my secret savings!"
Even though it was horribly embarrassing, she still muttered it tearfully when no one was looking at her.
At this point, whether it involved Shadow Warriors or not didn't even matter anymore. With tears welling in her eyes, Frieren only wanted her stolen secret stash back.
'She looks so devastated. If she can't get it back, she'll definitely come back and make a huge scene again, won't she?'
'Though has she always been like this?', Honestly, Fern wasn't sure. But as their journey continued, Frieren's emotions had definitely become more unstable.
Even though before this, she supposedly had already traveled for over a thousand years.
Fern couldn't make sense of it either, so she simply followed behind Frieren with those doubts in mind. After turning a corner, they quickly arrived at their destination.
Wanting to appear forceful, Frieren directly pulled out her staff, slammed the door open, and shouted angrily, "Got you, you scammer! Hurry up and give me back my... Ash?"
Before she could even finish the lines she'd prepared along the way, Frieren suddenly lost her voice in shock the instant the person beside the bar counter and the silver coins turned around.
———
Ash had originally still been inside the tavern talking with the two people who had surrendered, but before the conversation was even over, the door that had only recently been shut was violently forced open again.
And the silver-haired elf at the front immediately started saying strange things the moment she barged in, leaving him utterly confused.
"Give myself to you?"
"N-No, wait, why are you here? Don't tell me...", Frieren froze as though struck by lightning, but her mind immediately started racing. Then she furiously rushed toward him, "You're the one who had someone scam my secret savings, aren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about... Besides, do I look like that kind of person?"
"You are! And now we've caught you red-handed, so what else do you have to say?", Frieren puffed out her cheeks angrily and pointed straight at the four silver coins sitting beside him on the bar counter.
"I know getting cheated out of your savings upset you, but you can't just see four silver coins and assume they're—Hm?", Halfway through speaking, Ash finally looked at the coins and suddenly noticed something. Frowning, he casually picked one up, "Tracking magic? And you even used silver as a medium to conceal the traces of magical power?"
"That's right! I already anticipated this situation, so I cast magic on them!"
"You're kidding, right? If that were true, why were you crying and throwing a fit yesterday?"
"A-Anyway! Hurry up and give me back my money!"
Even though she failed to fool him, Frieren still stiffened her little face, avoided the topic, and directly reached for the silver coins.
But before she could touch them, Ash slapped her hand away with a sharp smack.
"These aren't mine. You can't ask me for them."
"They're mine," The tavern owner silently stretched out his hand and collected the inheritance his companion had used to repay his debt.
That scene immediately made Frieren frown.
"Yours?"
"A customer used them to pay back what he owed me."
"A customer? What customer? You're not trying to trick me too, are you?", Frieren clearly didn't believe it and looked around suspiciously while clutching her hand.
Aside from Ash, only Sense and the female mercenary were present. But Sense was someone who only drank tea. If Ash hadn't brought her here, she never would have entered this kind of tavern.
That immediately made Frieren fix her gaze on the mercenary.
"Yours?"
"No. They belonged to Gazelle, but Gazelle, he...", The mercenary couldn't help sighing softly at the mention of her comrade, her eyes unconsciously drifting toward the place where the stall owner had died.
Frieren instinctively looked over, but all she saw was an intact wall. Still, the mercenary's expression didn't look fake.
That instantly made her realize the money really had been spent, and her lips uncontrollably trembled into a miserable pout, revealing indescribable anguish.
"So it really got spent after all. My condolences, Lady Frieren," Fern gave a helpless smile and gently patted her head to comfort her.
Ash also patted her shoulder, silently conveying everything without words, but...
Frieren almost naturally flung both their hands away with tears in her eyes, then dashed out the door, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to run away crying.
Fern hurried after her, trying to comfort the girl who would never get her secret savings back.
"It was only four silver coins. She's really overreacting," Sense sighed helplessly.
As for this rich young lady, Ash really had nothing to say. He could only silently rub Sense's head and advise her not to say things like that in front of Frieren anymore.
Though most of Frieren's poverty was indeed caused by her own reckless spending... constantly buying all sorts of weird junk.
Terrible judgment and compulsive shopping. There really wasn't much room for sympathy.
———
Ash continued drinking in the tavern and didn't wait long.
The Imperial Capital Guard seemed to have received word that some disturbance had occurred here and came to investigate, but after finding nothing, they quickly left again.
Not long afterward... a nun appeared at the scene as well.
The nun, who usually kept her eyes closed, immediately opened them warily the moment she noticed Sense's presence.
Ash naturally understood what surprised her, because in Rasen's memories, the latest orders received by this assassination squad included Sense's portrait and basic information.
The first phase of their mission, before the official operation to assassinate Serie began, was to lure away and eliminate her guards.
Among those identified as guards was Sense, a first-class mage. Besides her, Frieren and Fern were also targets.
Worth mentioning was that Ash himself... was also scheduled to be eliminated before the operation began.
However, his information had likely been taken from the Magic Association, because the portrait they had of Ash was completely inaccurate. The wrong image supplied by the Association.
Even so, Sense's appearance still startled the nun slightly. But after that brief shock, she subtly signaled the tavern owner and the mercenary with her eyes, indicating they should cooperate with her to deal with this troublesome mage.
However... The tavern owner only let out a long sigh after noticing her gaze and shook his head.
"Lore, give it up. Right now..."
"They've already joined me. You should consider joining me too."
Before the tavern owner could figure out how to continue, Ash interrupted him with a smile and extended his hand toward the nun.
"Trust me. Only with me can you welcome a truly bright future... though you'll need to take a tiny little test first."
"You should both know very well, shouldn't you?", The nun didn't look at him. Instead, she stared at her two companions in disbelief, "What kind of end... this sort of behavior will bring us?"
"But if you refuse, you'll die right now."
"Lord Lowe, our commander, won't let you off," The nun frowned and ignored him, subtly moving backward as she tried to find a chance to escape.
Yet nobody present made the slightest move, to the point she almost wondered if she truly had a chance to flee.
After lowering her gaze slightly, she pulled out a holy scripture with one hand while suddenly turning to run.
But before she could even take two steps, a strand of hair abruptly shot after her from behind and silently pierced through her chest before she even noticed it.
"Guh—wah?"
Pshhk!
The strand of hair pierced through and withdrew, instantly robbing the fleeing nun of all strength. Clutching her chest, she staggered forward two more steps before collapsing weakly to the ground.
But before she could touch the holy scripture, another strand of hair directly snatched it away just as her fingers were about to reach it.
"Lore!", The tavern owner immediately rushed out the door and supported his fallen companion.
The mercenary revealed a pained expression and suppressed her anger as she demanded, "Didn't you say you'd give us a chance to persuade our companions? Then why..."
"It's fine. I properly avoided the vital spots. Just hurry her to the temple... or is it called a church here?", Sense tilted her head with an innocent, harmless smile and reminded them, "If you go now, there's still time."
"Tch!", Though dissatisfied, the mercenary understood the situation.
She could only quickly rush out, lift the nun into her arms, and leave together with the tavern owner toward the church where their companions were gathered.
Even though this behavior made it look as though they were deliberately betraying their comrades.
Though technically, they had already surrendered.
Now, however, their path back had been sealed over with another layer of cement.
———
Within the lower residential district of the Imperial Capital stood a grand and magnificent church. Each floor was nearly twice the height of an ordinary house, and the entire structure rose three stories high with a considerable footprint.
Because there were few believers in this district, the church felt especially empty and silent, devoid of any people.
When the group quietly entered, Ash, following behind them, didn't need to worry about clearing the area. He casually shut the heavy church doors tightly behind him and firmly locked them.
By the time they reached the depths of the church, the priest who had been speaking with someone immediately hurried over upon seeing the injured nun, his eyes filled with concern.
As he anxiously asked about her condition, he began treating her wounds.
At the same time, Ash's sharp eyes also caught sight of the others inside the church.
Two young girls stood quietly nearby, as well as a robust man dressed in black carrying a giant sword on his back.
And this man with the greatsword was the female mercenary's older brother, whose legitimate profession was actually that of a blacksmith. The sight made Ash unconsciously smile.
Seeing this scene, the corners of Ash's lips lifted slightly.
"Looks like all the members of the assassination squad have gathered here. Choosing to come to the church was definitely the right decision."
""?""
The four people who knew nothing of the situation were already suspicious of the two sudden arrivals. The moment they heard Ash's words, killing intent flashed through their eyes, and they instinctively prepared to attack, however...
"Want to fight? Sure. I'm getting tired of persuading people anyway. You can all come at once. Conveniently enough, there's a priest and a nun here, so I probably won't have to worry about accidentally killing you...", Ash casually tossed his coat to Sense and slowly walked toward them step by step while bluntly suggesting, "Of course, Miss Mercenary and Mister Tavern Owner, if you want, you can join in too. After all, if I don't let you see the difference firsthand, you'll just think about betraying me again later, and then I'll have to deal with each of you one by one. Though I'm not particularly interested in bullying weaklings."
His words were overflowing with confidence, and the smile on his face never faded, as though everything was entirely under his control.
He spoke casually about teaching them a lesson.
Naturally, that made people suspect he was merely bluffing, but...
As he drew closer step by step, a horrifying sense of oppression gradually spread outward. Even the air itself began to fill with an indescribable terror that made their hearts tremble.
The librarian girl, who had originally planned to silently eliminate Ash, was the first to break under the fear rising within her heart. Instinctively, she raised her hand and unleashed a beam of attack magic.
At the same time, the tavern owner swiftly drew the shortbow hidden beneath his clothes, pulled the string taut, and fired a poisoned arrow without hesitation.
Yet Ash didn't even move.
He simply allowed the beam of attack magic to crash directly into his body head-on.
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