"Hey, Himmel, how much further do we have to walk?"
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Himmel's temple. The dreaded moment had arrived. Ever since they left the magic city, Frieren seemed to have started testing him, whether intentionally or not.
He ignored her, only acting as if he had just heard her when Frieren called out for the third time. "Were you calling me, Frieren? My name is Melsin. Himmel is the name of the Hero, isn't it?"
"That's true. Maybe it's because your name sounds so similar to Himmel's that I got a little confused."
*What do you mean 'a little confused'? I've been going by Melsin for at least a year now!*
If his identity was exposed before Zenith's big prank, he felt things would definitely spiral out of his control. An angry Zenith was far more terrifying than a Frieren who had been crying for three days straight.
Obviously, Zenith had noticed the issue too. He pretended that nothing was wrong, but his brain was actually spinning like a top. *Come on, stupid brain, think! Why am I drawing a blank right now?!*
Fern walked briskly ahead, falling into step beside Stark and Sein. "Lord Stark, the atmosphere around Lady Frieren seems a bit tense."
Using honorifics was a habit of Fern's. Though she appeared to be asking Stark, her gaze actually drifted toward Sein.
If you had to ask who in the party was best at handling this kind of situation, it was absolutely Sein, without a doubt.
"Just keep walking. Be careful not to get caught in the crossfire."
After traveling together for over a year, even someone as emotionally dense as Frieren could vaguely sense that something was off. It became especially obvious after they set out on their journey.
He was just too similar. The way he treated people, handled situations, and his compulsion to help anyone in need—he was practically a carbon copy of Himmel.
All these years had passed, and she had never heard of Himmel having any children. If this guy wasn't his illegitimate son, then there was only one other possibility.
Thus, while passing through the next small village, Frieren spent her own money for the first time to buy a small pet, naming it Himmel.
To be honest, this line of thinking shocked Zenith. *Just what kind of mindset drove you to do this, lady? An elf's brain shouldn't be wired like this!*
Holding up the soft, squishy little puppy with both hands, Frieren stared at Himmel's profile. "You need to grow up fast, Himmel. Even if you can't become a proper hero, being a reliable vanguard would be nice too."
"Ah, Himmel seems hungry. His stomach is rumbling."
"Puppies these days are so smart. Himmel actually knows to run a bit further away to go to the bathroom."
"Himmel, here boy! *Tsk tsk tsk.*"
It was too much; the scene was just too surreal. Zenith tried his best to keep his facial expression neutral, while the real Himmel beside him was steadily turning red with embarrassment and rage.
Zenith stealthily leaned over, keeping his voice as low as possible. "You really have a high tolerance, huh? Keep it up, hahahaha!!"
Himmel forcefully threw an arm around Zenith's shoulders, pulling their heads together. "This isn't what we agreed on! Why is the spearhead pointed at me?!"
What a thing to say. Since they were all in this together, Zenith just raised an eyebrow. "That's out of my hands. You two can sort out your couple's quarrel under the covers later. Either way, I'm having a blast watching this."
The puppy grew more obedient by the day, and Himmel grew more mentally broken by the day. After all, he had gone by that name for nearly a century. Every time Frieren called the dog, he had to fight the subconscious urge to look back.
"Melsin."
Suddenly being called by his fake name normally, Himmel didn't even react at first. He froze for a solid two seconds before snapping back to reality, turning to look at Frieren, who had been trailing at the back of the group walking the dog.
"Mwah."
It was a finishing move, Frieren's ultimate Noble Phantasm against Himmel. Once unleashed, this technique dealt ten thousand points of damage to any unit named Himmel, inflicting the debuffs of surging blood pressure and severe nosebleeds.
It was Frieren blowing a kiss.
Himmel flew backward and hit the ground, unable to get back up. The familiar movement, the familiar reaction, the familiar sound. In that moment, Frieren finally confirmed it—this guy named Melsin was Himmel in disguise!
Frieren's first reaction wasn't joy; it was anger. *Did I shed all those tears in private for nothing? Was my bow at the funeral a joke? And what about the flowers I left at the gravestone?*
If he admitted it right now, he was absolutely dead meat. Himmel planned to deny it to the bitter end and look for a better opportunity, but Zenith wasn't about to give him that chance.
Without any special effects, Himmel's disguise simply vanished into thin air, revealing his original sky-blue hair and handsome face.
"Lord Himmel is a dead man," Sein concluded with finality. No man could survive a situation like this. Not even the great Hero who saved the world and defeated the Demon King.
The domestic violence was exceptionally brutal. After watching for a while, little Fern stared straight at Stark. "Lord Stark wouldn't do something like this, right?"
Murderous intent. That was definitely murderous intent. Stark waved his hands frantically. "No, no, no, of course not!"
"That's wonderful to hear. Because if Lord Stark ever did something like this, you'd only be allowed to eat with little Himmel from now on."
Little Himmel... she was probably talking about Frieren's dog... probably.
The journey to Ende—or rather, the quest—came to an unexpected halt just like that. Zenith was the one who had issued the quest in the first place. Now that Himmel and Frieren had reunited—even if they were currently at each other's throats—the journey itself had lost its purpose.
As for Ende, even though it was said to be a place where one could see the souls of the dead, Zenith had already met the Creation Goddess multiple times. He truly had zero curiosity about such a place.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. For an elf, eighty years really only counted as a brief separation. After venting her frustrations for three whole days, the two of them finally held hands.
Frieren properly wore the Mirrored Lotus ring, the symbol of eternal love. Even though they were old friends, if they were really going to take the step toward marriage, they still had to start with dating.
But that was a story for another time. Future matters could be considered in the future. Right now, Zenith couldn't wait to head to a new world.
Gilgamesh and Saber were too busy settling their citizens to have any free time, and that battle maniac Jotaro was actually studying for his graduate entrance exams right now.
Zenith locked his sights on Serie. "Let's go, let's go. You've been slacking off for long enough; it's time for you to do some work. The two of us are heading to a new world."
Serie waved the amulet in her hand. "Find me something new to study in this new world. I've pretty much figured out the power contained within the Nether Star."
"We'll talk about it when we get to the next world. I've got plenty of random junk—enough for you to study for a thousand, no, ten thousand years."
Opening a portal, he brought Serie back to the main world and pondered over his world list for quite a while. He wanted to visit every single one of them, but deciding which one to go to first was a bit of a headache.
Where to go? Zenith's finger swiped past the newly appeared world options one by one, eventually stopping on a flashing selection.
[Attack on Titan].
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