The Meaning of a Reward

It was already close to evening.

On the edge of the village.

The village chief, holding the book [The Magic of Twisters Without Biting Your Tongue], stood still, quietly gazing into the depths of the forest.

He had been standing there for quite some time.

It was as if simply standing here would lessen the guilt in his heart.

Until, Rienta other three appeared at the edge of the forest, bathed in the warm yellow sunset.

'Four people, it's them.'

The Longevity his old eyesight was failing, quickly counted again.

'One, two, three, four.'

All four of them are back; not one is missing.

The village chief took off his glasses, rubbed his sore eyes, put them back on, and strode towards Rienta and the others.

The village is small and impoverished.

There weren't many people in the village, but there were quite a few dangerous Magical Beast in the vicinity.

When he was very young, there were very few Magical Beast around the village.

As he grew older, the number of Magical Beast around the village increased.

He didn't understand why either.

As time went by, he became the village chief, and the number of Magical Beast around the village actually began to decrease.

Similarly, he didn't know why.

It wasn't until that day, when the overwhelming horde of dragons appeared, that he understood that it was because a group of dragons had built a nest nearby.

He thought he had gotten used to the dragons that would attack the village from time to time.

But when he saw the adventurer team, he couldn't resist asking them to go and fight the dragons.

Now, the Magical Beast around the village have disappeared, and the dragons have been defeated.

He didn't know how long these peaceful days would last.

But at least there's some hope, isn't there?

The village was small and impoverished.

But it's still the place where he grew up.

It was the place where he lived his entire life.

Yes, it was his hometown.

"Thank you all. This is Grimoire as payment."

The village chief turned the Grimoire around and handed it to Frieren with both hands.

Frieren also extended her hands and accepted the Grimoire.

Seeing this, Fern nodded with satisfaction.

As the sun set, Rienta and the other three embarked on their journey once again.

On the road.

Fern glanced helplessly at Rienta in thought beside him.

Rienta has been in this state ever since she left the canyon.

He would occasionally mutter a few unusually childish and cheesy phrases.

She didn't know what was wrong with Rienta, so she asked, and the answer she received was:

'We must come up with a brilliant opening line.'

To put it simply, it's outrageous.

Fern sighed, looked at Frieren was intently flipping through Grimoire, and asked:

"Speaking of which, Lady Frieren almost always takes a reward when she helps others."

Without turning her head, Frieren said, "Because that's just how Himmel is."

"That's a bit unexpected," Stark said with surprise.

Fern continued, "I thought Himmel was definitely the type who would help others without expecting anything in return."

"That's right, that's what I thought too."

Frieren stopped what she was doing. She suddenly remembered that she had asked Himmel the same question not long ago.

It was a very ordinary request.

The client is poor and cannot offer good compensation.

The only payment for the commission can be freshly picked wild vegetables.

Himmel refused the offer and instead accepted a useless notebook left behind by a merchant in the client's home as payment.

Afterwards, while resting at night, Himmel was writing something in that notebook.

It was around that time that she asked Himmel the same question as Fern.

She still remembers Himmel's answer very clearly.

Frieren mimicked Himmel's tone and said softly:

"Once the payment is made, neither party owes the other anything."

"We are a group of heroes; what we seek is not gratitude from others, but the act of helping others itself."

"If you make the other person owe you a favor, then you can't really say you've helped them."

After saying that, Frieren paused for a moment, then continued:

"So, even a silly magic trick like [not biting your tongue when reciting tongue twisters] will be accepted as payment."

Fern and Stark exchanged a glance, both seeing relief in each other's eyes.

Only Rienta heard the whole story, felt that things were definitely not that simple.

Stark instinctively wanted to offer some praise, and murmured softly, "Frieren..."

Just as Stark began to speak, Frieren interrupted.

"Let's try reciting tongue twisters again to see if we really won't bite our tongues."

Rienta: "... I knew it."

Fern: "... In the end, Lady Frieren still only wants this magic, doesn't she?"

Stark: "In comparison, wouldn't it be better to give me a [magic that prevents me from being bitten by dragons]?"

Upon hearing this, Rienta put her arm around Stark's shoulder and said in a somewhat unfriendly tone:

"Isn't my [Rho Aias] good enough?"

"[The Rho Aias] is quite good, but it was still broken by that Heiterge, wasn't it?"

"That's different! Heiterge isn't an ordinary dragon!"

Northern Plateau.

Codoria Lake.

The Hero Party, who had been trapped by the heavy rain for many days, gathered in a house.

And Eisen, bored to the point of doing a handstand on one finger, looked at Frieren by the window and asked a question.

"How's the situation outside, Frieren?"

Looking at the relentless rain outside the window, Frieren replied softly:

We can't leave yet.

Frieren turned back to the fire, took out a Grimoire, and began to read it.

Eisen grumbled helplessly, "What bad luck, getting trapped in a place like this."

Beside him, lying on the ground surrounded by empty bottles, Heiter chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, it's so boring!"

Frieren glanced at the empty bottles next to Heiter and said dismissively, "He's probably dead drunk."

Meanwhile, Himmel, who was wiping his longsword, heard his teammate's complaints and first admired his handsome face in front of the sword.

Then, smiling, he said, "Everyone, cheer up!"

"We're currently on an adventure to defeat the Demon King."

While standing upside down, Eisen continued to complain, "This adventure hasn't made any progress for days now."

Himmel sheathed the cleaned sword and placed it beside her.

"Adventure isn't just about constantly being on the road."

"Adventure is made up of one bad day after another."

As she spoke, Himmel reached into her robes, intending to retrieve the notebook.

"But nobody said it was bad," Eisen retorted as always.

Himmel, unable to find the notebook, began searching her person.

He didn't understand; he clearly had his notebook on him, so how could he not find it?

While upside down, Eisen noticed Himmel's unusual behavior and asked:

"What are you looking for, Himmel?"

Frieren was flipping through the Grimoire, also looked at Himmel, who looked depressed.

Even Heiter, who was lying on the ground, raised his head and looked at Himmel, asking, "What's wrong, Himmel?"

"Nothing..."