The Missing Time

The night was bright, with a clear moon and few stars.

Frieren, Fern, Methode suppressed their Mana and headed towards the abandoned fortress.

Frieren walked at the front, estimating the distance based on the information provided to her by Genau. Then she looked at the sky and vaguely realized that the moon seemed to have risen earlier today.

"From this point on, stop using [Long-range Detection Magic]. It will only reveal our location if we encounter a skilled opponent."

Fern nodded and replied softly, "Okay."

"However," Frieren changed her tone, continuing, "We're still quite a distance from that abandoned fortress, so let's chat as we go."

"Is it really okay to do this?" Fern muttered softly.

(=ω=)

"Appropriate relaxation is also important."

"Furthermore, you probably didn't know that communication can improve teamwork skills."

"This..." Fern hesitated, watching Frieren's retreating figure.

At that moment, Methode suddenly spoke up, "In that case, may I pat Miss Frieren's head?"

Fern looked at Methode in disbelief. What was this guy saying with such a serious expression?!

Methode crossed her arms in front of her, as if recalling something, and continued in a tone tinged with reminiscence and regret:

"When I see a small, adorable child, I can't help but want to pat her head."

"However, Lady Serie doesn't really give me a chance to touch her head, and she always looks disgusted when I do."

The three stopped. Fern stood behind Frieren, looking at Methode warily.

"I'll give you a disgusted look too," Frieren added. "Besides, I'm a much, much older sister than Methode, I won't allow you to touch me."

Fern added with a serious expression, "That's right, Frieren is the older sister; you can't just touch her like that."

"Miss Frieren," Methode said softly, simply extending her hand to reveal a Grimoire.

"This Grimoire contains [a spell to prevent the eggshell from falling in when cracking an egg]."

The moment the Grimoire, Frieren's gaze was involuntarily drawn to it.

After listening to Methode's introduction, he took the Grimoire from Methode hand without hesitation and said happily:

"Feel free to touch me."

"Lord Frieren?!"

The three continued their journey toward their destination: the abandoned fortress.

Frieren walked at the front, looking happily at the Grimoire in her hand, while Methode happily placed her hand on Frieren's head and rubbed it repeatedly.

Only Fern, trailing behind the two, watched this scene with some displeasure.

As she stroked it, Methode couldn't help but exclaim, "I never imagined I could touch it so freely."

Back at the Continental Magic Association, Mr. Genau only allowed her to touch Lady Serie for ten minutes each day.

How can one possibly have enough time to fully enjoy oneself?!

Thinking of this, Methode couldn't help but squint her eyes in satisfaction.

Having witnessed everything, Fern pouted, pondering how to rescue Frieren from Methode's clutches.

After traveling a little further, Methode looked at Frieren was engrossed in reading beside her, and said softly:

"Um... Miss Frieren, may I hug you for a moment? Lady Serie has never let me hug her before."

Frieren's Divine Capital focused on the Grimoire in her hands, and she said nonchalantly:

Do whatever you want.

"Is it really okay to do whatever I want?!"

Methode gasped, then without hesitation pulled Frieren into her arms, nuzzling her cheek against Frieren from time to time.

Seeing this, Fern rushed forward, grabbed Frieren's clothes, and tried to rescue Frieren from Methode's embrace, but Methode held on tightly, and Fern's attempt was unsuccessful.

"What's wrong?"

Frieren felt a pull from behind, but Methode held her tightly.

Just as Frieren was about to ask what had happened, she suddenly found herself being grabbed around the waist, and then her entire lower body was lifted into the air.

Methode held onto Frieren's upper body tightly, refusing to let go.

Fern grabbed Frieren's waist and dragged her out.

For a moment, the two were evenly matched, but it was Frieren suffered from being pulled and tugged by the two.

"Wait... don't do this... it's going to... it's going to break..."

Suddenly.

Two [Detection Magic] spells swept past Frieren and her two companions simultaneously.

Just as Frieren had previously forbade the group from using [Long-range Detection Magic], the three of them were now detected by [Long-range Detection Magic].

However, Frieren and her two companions also discovered the locations of the two users of [Long-range Detection Magic].

The three immediately stopped playing around, Fern murmured softly, "Is this... Rienta?"

Methode spoke up, "We've been Mana Detection, but our location has also been revealed."

Frieren nodded and said softly, "The Mana on the left is indeed from Rienta, and it should be heading this way now."

"As for the other Mana, it's the Demons."

After saying that, Frieren paused, a slight smile curving her lips.

"And they are very warlike Demons. They are not afraid even knowing that the three of us are Independent Mages."

"Rienta should have been discovered as well."

"We've been discovered."

"Okay, let's begin."

Two Demons, a man and a woman, with two horns on their heads, stood in the void. After a brief conversation, the male Demons held his Staff and pointed it in the direction of Frieren and her two companions.

"[Mist-Summoning Magic]."

A massive cloud of fog instantly enveloped a large area of forest.

The forest was now shrouded in mist, and visibility was reduced to only a few meters around one's body.

"It's a fog formed by Mana; it blocks both sight and Mana Detection."

As soon as Frieren finished speaking, a beam of Mana energy shot towards the three of them from the sky.

Sensing the attack, Frieren reacted quickly, reaching out to pick up Fern beside her and dodge the attack.

But the attacks from the sky continued to rain down on the two of them, Frieren could only use [Flight Magic] to carry Fern to evade them.

After finding a spot where they could block the view from the sky, Frieren and Fern stopped.

"They separated us from Methode? Not bad."

Frieren sighed, then looked at Fern and cautioned, "Be careful of attacks from the air."

Fern had already reacted after the first wave of attacks.

Previously, it was only because of a minor incident on the road and the sudden appearance of Rienta, who had been missing for a long time, that they did not notice the attack from the sky.

The Mana beams from the sky continued to bombard the forest, attempting to locate Frieren and her companion.

Fern summoned her Staff, and said with some confusion, "Lady Frieren, something's strange."

"What's wrong?" Frieren turned her head to look at Fern beside her, whose brows were slightly furrowed.

Fern, watching the two Demons continuously unleashing attacks in the air, said softly, "Both Demons are flying; they're using [Flight Magic]."

Frieren turned her gaze to the sky and said softly, "I've said it before, until forty years ago, the skies were dominated by Demons, so it's not surprising that they know [Flight Magic]."

This answer did not resolve Fern's doubts.

"... Isn't it said that Demons dedicate their entire lives to mastering only one type of magic?"

Upon hearing this, Frieren explained, "Fern, do you think walking is a very special technique?"

Seeing that Fern looked thoughtful, Frieren continued:

"Like walking, [Flight Magic] isn't even considered magic by Demons."

"Therefore, encounters with Demons in the wild often turn into the scene we see now."

Night sky.

The male Demons hadn't expected this level of attack to defeat the enemy before him, but his objective had already been achieved.

He stopped attacking and said calmly, "Which side do you choose?"

The female Demons had long green hair, and her eyes were covered by a semi-transparent ribbon with black patterns.

"That tall woman over there, she has a strange aura about her, like she'll let me enjoy myself a little longer."

The male Demons glanced at Rienta, which was also shrouded in mist in the distance.

"As for this guy... I have a bad feeling about him. Let's deal with these three first, then we'll take care of him together."

Upon hearing this, the female Demons nodded and then flew towards Methode's direction.

The lone man also gave him a bad feeling.

Seeing this, the male Demons used [Mist-Summoning Magic] to fly towards Frieren and Fern, who were hiding in the forest.