Setting Off for Grandmaster's Castle

"Junior Sister, time to get up. Can't you go to bed early and get up early like Little Fool?"

"Were you up late reading Magic Tomes again last night?"

Looking at Frieren sprawled untidily in bed and sleeping soundly, Li Yan couldn't help slipping into his usual alarm-clock routine.

"Mmm... half an hour more, Senior Brother."

Frieren buried her head under the covers, her drowsy, lazy voice drifting out from beneath them.

"Junior Sister, it's not that I won't let you sleep, but it's already breakfast time. Skipping breakfast is bad for your health. You're already flat and short, so you need to drink more milk. You don't want to be as short as Grandmaster, do you? That's what happens when you don't drink milk or eat breakfast."

Still lecturing, Li Yan pulled Frieren out of her warm bed. With her eyes narrowed and her mind still foggy, Frieren nodded sleepily, looking as though her soul had left her body.

"A Yan, I thought I heard you talking about your Grandmaster just now."

Flamme poked her head out of the bathroom, mumbling indistinctly as she brushed her teeth.

"I was just giving an example, Godmother."

Li Yan spoke with a perfectly natural expression. Since they had decided to visit Grandmaster, he had to get all his badmouthing out of the way beforehand. Once they reached her place, she would sense it even if he cursed her in secret.

"Master, Senior Brother just said Grandmaster doesn't like eating breakfast."

Frieren raised her hand and answered with a dazed, innocent look.

"Is that so? Your Grandmaster really doesn't have the habit of eating breakfast. She has plenty of faults, but she has a sharp tongue and a soft heart. She's actually very easy to get along with."

"Frieren, remember to speak less when we get to Grandmaster's. Perhaps because you and Grandmaster are both elves, she might nag you a little."

Flamme thought for a moment and told them some of the things she had considered and felt they should be mindful of. After all, plenty of awkward things had happened when they first met.

"Okay~"

Frieren responded weakly, while Li Yan instructed Little Fool to fetch water, a toothbrush, and a cup. He was going to get his lazy Junior Sister ready.

"Junior Sister, today is a new beginning. I'll give you twin tails to represent liveliness and celebration."

In a good mood, Li Yan began combing Frieren's hair. Perhaps because she slept so wildly, her tangled hair was especially prickly.

"Oh~"

Frieren responded indifferently, her soul already beyond the three realms, traveling freely through the wonderful land of dreams.

He rested a hand gently on Frieren's white hair, which he had combed smooth. Though Li Yan had somewhat forgotten the proper way to tie twin tails, he couldn't go wrong as long as he worked on the left and right sides. Twin tails at the front and back would have looked far too outrageous, and Li Yan was terrified that Frieren would kill him for it.

Tying twin tails was simple. In just a few dozen seconds, Li Yan had successfully put together the new-era hairstyle. Frieren slowly opened her eyes and returned to reality from her dreams. Looking at herself in the mirror, she found herself thinking it looked rather nice.

"Well? Do the twin tails I tied for you look good?"

Li Yan spoke proudly. Looking at how well-behaved Frieren appeared in the mirror, he couldn't help feeling a rush of satisfaction.

"They're average. It looks like I have two horse tails on my head," Frieren said calmly. She wasn't going to praise her Senior Brother; "average" was already the highest praise she could give.

"I think it looks quite nice. You look like a lively, cheerful little girl."

Flamme came out of the bathroom, having finished getting herself ready. Her long orange hair and pure white dress fully displayed her voluptuous, full figure.

"You need to change your clothes more often, Junior Sister. Why don't you wear the floral dress I bought you? You wear that thin white dress every day."

Li Yan patted Frieren on the head reproachfully. Dressed like that, she looked like a novice mage in pure white, even though her mana was already close to level sixty-something.

From a high, god's-eye view, he could occasionally catch glimpses of things he shouldn't see. That was the only thing Li Yan disliked about the thin white dress.

He clearly wasn't a lolicon and clearly didn't like seeing it, yet by chance he kept accidentally glimpsing the truth of the world.

After leaving the inn and eating local snacks for breakfast in Sicily Small Town, Li Yan took the Black Lightning Motorcycle out of storage in the Alternate Space. This time, he wouldn't stop to rest in any other towns, but would head straight to Grandmaster Serie's home. There were things he still needed the knowledge in Grandmaster's magic library to resolve.

Wearing her floral dress, Frieren sat behind Li Yan with a dazed, innocent expression, her small hands wrapped around his waist. The morning sun was warm, its rays cozy against their bodies.

Little Fool nestled against Li Yan's chest, wearing a little hat and a scarf. It was a little cold sitting in front, and Li Yan was worried she might catch a cold, so he had given her extra layers.

After they left through the town gate, the captain of the guards bowed solemnly in the direction Li Yan had gone, his legs trembling slightly. That day's newspaper contained some shocking news about the Lionheart Earl's son. Apparently, because the Lionheart Earl's eldest son kept a Demon, commoners had thrown rotten eggs at it, and some had accidentally hit the eldest son. The next day, the entire town suffered his revenge. Every resident received rotten eggs in a grand feast, as tens of thousands of them rained down from the sky.

Black Lightning sped along the road like a phantom, drawing curious looks from passing adventurers. Such an epoch-making vehicle was enough to attract the attention of men and women of any age.

"What's that?"

"It looks like they're sitting on something like a black carriage."

The adventurers by the roadside stared curiously after the incredibly fast black phantom, which had already vanished from sight.

It was two days later when they reached Grandmaster Serie's castle. Paired with Spatial Movement, the Black Lightning Motorcycle had surpassed one hundred percent of the vehicles in this world. Only then did Flamme realize the truly terrifying impact of Li Yan's invention.

Although the Black Lightning Motorcycle required an enormous amount of mana, what in this world could catch a team consisting of a warrior and a mage riding one, and who could defeat them? The warrior could block attacks at close range, while the mage fought at a distance. The Black Lightning Motorcycle was fast and had strong support capabilities; it could easily be used as military equipment and a war resource.

"Flamme, it's barely been any time, and you've brought your disciples here again. Just as I thought, you realized you no longer have the talent to teach them, didn't you?"

Serie sat proudly on the Throne, her pale lower leg raised high, looking like a child who didn't have a care.