Invitation

Fortunately, the seawater-soaked planks could still be lit with magic.

They piled the planks they had cleared on the shore, and just like that, they had a huge bonfire.

It could keep the three of them warm, and once the wood had burned out, the ashes could be buried on the spot.

The cleanup continued until nightfall.

Frieren looked at the sky, stopped what she was doing, and said to the other two:

"Let's call it a day, Rienta, Fern."

After lighting the pile of planks, Frieren and the others returned to the house their client had arranged for them to rest.

Fern prepared a simple stew to have for dinner with the bread they had bought that morning.

While they were eating, the client came to ask about their progress.

"Is the cleanup going well?"

Frieren took a bite of her bread and said indistinctly, "There's about a fifth left."

The client thought for a moment and asked, "Will it be done in time for the New Year's celebration?"

After a long day's work, Frieren was indeed starving.

Before she had swallowed the bread in her mouth, she spooned in some stew. Only then did she say, "It'll be fine."

Hearing Frieren's assurance, the client breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Then please, Lady Frieren, do come and watch the sunrise this time."

Frieren ate her food in silence, without answering.

Seeing this, the client did not press her. After thanking them again, the client left.

Rienta asked curiously, "Lady Frieren."

"What does cleaning up the coast have to do with the New Year's celebration?"

Frieren swallowed her food and said, "The people in this village have a custom of watching the sunrise on New Year's Day."

"They say the sunlight on the clear sea is beautiful."

Fern understood why Frieren had not accepted the client's invitation.

Asking an elf who found it extraordinarily difficult just to get up early to watch the sunrise was surely a bit far-fetched.

The days passed quickly.

They completed the cleanup commission half a month before the New Year.

Looking at the coast, which looked as good as new, the client said to Frieren, "Thank you so much, Lady Frieren."

With that, the client hesitated briefly, but asked anyway:

"Will you come to the New Year's celebration, Lady Frieren?"

"Yes," Frieren replied, accepting this time.

Rienta and Fern looked at Frieren in shock.

The client left happily after hearing Frieren's answer.

Rienta and the other two walked leisurely on their way back.

Fern couldn't help asking, "Are you serious, Lady Frieren?"

"I don't think you'll be able to get up early."

Frieren said seriously, "I'll stay up all night. It'll be fine."

Rienta: "..."

He had tried that way of getting up early countless times, but it had rarely worked.

"Do you really want to see the sunrise that much?" Fern was somewhat incredulous when she heard Frieren's plan.

She didn't think watching the sunrise held that much appeal for Frieren.

Besides, Frieren had not accepted the client's previous invitation.

Frieren kept walking, recalling an invitation Himmel had once made during their journey.

It had also been a New Year's celebration, and he had also invited her to watch the sunrise.

But she had overslept and hadn't gone to see it.

Himmel hadn't blamed her afterward. He had only said that she would surely have liked the view at sunrise.

Frieren fell silent for a while, then said, "I just want to see it with my own eyes once."

"I don't understand..." Fern was somewhat puzzled.

Rienta, on the other hand, understood a little.

After all, Frieren had told them the goal of their journey long ago.

And although the commission and the reward this time were clearly disproportionate, Frieren had still insisted on accepting it.

Just like the commission to clean the statues before.

Though she could have finished that commission by casting Flower field magic, she had still spent months on it, just to look for Blue-Moon Weed.

Rienta shook his head and chuckled, then said to the two of them:

"I'll go watch the sunrise with you too, then."

Fern nodded gently, but when she thought of how Rienta had repeatedly slept in since the start of winter, she said hesitantly:

"Will you be able to get up, Rienta?"

Rienta was taken aback. Sounding a little unsure of himself, he said:

"Maybe I should stay up all night too?"

Fern: "..."

Hearing Rienta's answer, Frieren couldn't help laughing. She said to Fern, "See, Fern?"

"Rienta had the same idea as me."

The cleanup commission hadn't been difficult, but carrying things back and forth over and over had been tedious.

Back in his room, Rienta lay on his bed and considered his plans for the future.

There had been no activity on the panel for a long time, and he had no idea yet how to trigger the next anchor point.

He could no longer improve his swordsmanship by figuring things out on his own. He needed to find a teacher.

That left him with researching Projection Magic. After all, he had no money to have the swords he wanted made.

Rienta had been researching this magic for a long time.

He had built the framework long ago, but every time he tried to cast it, something was always missing.

Yet he hadn't run into this problem while researching Rho Aias.

Rienta couldn't make sense of it.

"Knock, knock."

The knocking interrupted Rienta's thoughts.

He got up and opened the door to find Frieren and Fern, both of whom had changed clothes.

"Rienta, would you like to go shopping with us?" Fern asked happily.

Rienta considered it for a moment, then declined Fern's invitation.

"You two go ahead. I want to get some sleep."

Fern nodded and left with Frieren.

After returning to his room and lying down again, Rienta suddenly thought of Frieren, an elf who had lived for over a thousand years.

"Why don't I ask Lady Frieren what she thinks?"

Rienta slapped his forehead, realizing that he had fallen into a trap.

With Frieren, an elf who had lived for a thousand years, right beside him, why was he getting stuck on this by himself?

With his thoughts in order, Rienta fell into a deep sleep.

That evening, Fern made a lavish dinner, and its aroma woke the sleeping Rienta.

Rienta put the last piece of fried steak in his mouth.

He looked at Frieren, who was unusually happy because they had finished the commission ahead of schedule, and said, "Lady Frieren."

"I've run into some problems with my Projection Magic. Could you help me with them after dinner?"

"You mean that Projection Magic?" Fern asked.

"That's right." Rienta nodded and continued, "I've already completed the general framework for the flow of mana."

"But I still can't cast it successfully."

Frieren took a sip of black tea and held out her hand to Rienta. "Do you have your research notes? Let me see them."

Rienta hurriedly took a set of notes from his personal storage space and handed them to Frieren.

Rienta had written these notes on his approach to researching Projection Magic in the course of his research.

Frieren took the notes and began reading through them carefully.

Seeing this, Rienta left her undisturbed and took the dishes to the kitchen to wash them.

After finishing the cleanup.

Rienta drank the black tea Fern had poured for him and enjoyed this rare moment of leisure.

Frieren read quickly, skimming through the notes in about half an hour.

After thinking for a while, she spoke to Rienta, who was sitting lazily in a chair nearby, reading a book:

"I think I understand why it failed."