Phantom Demon

Frieren looked at Rienta beside her.

"What about you, Rienta?"

"A mere ghost, of course I'll be fine," Rienta replied confidently.

Frieren continued walking deeper into the forest, saying without looking back:

"I once attacked the phantom of a teacher who begged me for mercy."

"However, I was already used to hearing my teacher beg, so I didn't feel any guilt. Even so, it wasn't a pleasant memory."

Rienta and Fern kept pace with Frieren.

As the three of them went deeper into the forest, mist began to rise.

Fern looked at the surrounding mist and said, "It's starting to get foggy."

Frieren was unfazed by this, having already experienced it long ago, and said to the two behind her:

"We're very close."

"Attack the moment you see a phantom, don't hesitate."

At these words, Rienta and Fern both summoned their staves and kept walking forward.

"Fern."

A familiar voice interrupted their advance.

Fern and Rienta stiffened, turning their heads toward the direction of the voice.

Looking at the familiar figure before her, Fern pointed the staff in her hand at the phantom, but did not launch an attack immediately.

Rienta did not make a move; this Phantom Demon was calling Fern, not him.

The Heiter phantom chuckled softly and said, "It looks like you've already become a proper mage."

The psychological preparation Fern had just completed was somewhat shaken at this moment.

The phantom before her was so similar to the Heiter of her memories, down to the exact same tone of voice.

Seeing that Fern did not move immediately, the Phantom Demon continued:

"You're a good child, so I became a ghost to come find you."

"The path of a mage really was the right choice..."

The Phantom Demon's words made Fern understand why the phantom was so realistic.

How cruel, and these are my most precious memories.

Fern gripped the staff in her hand, but hesitated somewhat.

"Rienta."

A humanoid phantom with an indistinct face appeared behind Rienta.

The voice was so familiar yet so strange.

Rienta turned around to look at the phantom that had called his name.

Its features were not clear, and the clothes on its body kept shifting back and forth—at times they were the attire of this world, and at times the attire from those long-blurred memories of his past life.

Soon, the phantom's flickering stopped; its face was still unclear, but its attire was now from this world.

"You've grown so big." The Phantom Demon continued.

Rienta had also guessed who the most important person in his memories would be.

Yet he hadn't expected the phantom to be a combination of the original body's memories and his own.

The attire of this world indicated that the phantom should be the original body's parents.

Then what about the past life?

Rienta found that he could no longer remember who that belonged to.

After a moment of silence, he dismissed his staff, waved his hand to project the Candle-Clasping Blade, gripped the hilt tightly, and slashed at the phantom's neck.

Rienta poured all of his inner irritation into that single strike.

The Phantom Demon vanished, but Rienta's inner irritation did not lessen; instead, it grew even more intense.

Seeing that Rienta had already eliminated the Phantom Demon, Frieren nodded.

She looked over at Fern, who was still hesitating, sighed, put down the case in her hand, and summoned her own staff.

"Still can't do it, Fern?"

Frieren, who was just about to step in and help Fern, sensed magic power fluctuating behind her and whipped her head around.

The young hero stood right there, the smile on his face so familiar.

"Himmel, of all people?"

"I thought the one popping out would be my teacher again."

"It seems I've changed at least a little bit."

Frieren looked at the phantom before her with some emotion.

"Frieren."

"Do it!!"

The Phantom Demon spoke.

A natural expression appeared on Frieren's face, and without a shred of hesitation, offensive magic surged straight toward the Phantom Demon.

"That's right, this is what Himmel would say."

Frieren's offensive magic dispersed all the mist shrouding the vicinity of the three of them.

Fern saw Ainzam floating above the Heiter phantom, and her gaze turned resolute.

Hesitating no longer, the staff in her hand unleashed offensive magic, obliterating the phantom before her.

The mist nearby vanished completely.

Rienta forcefully suppressed the turmoil in his heart and came to the side of Frieren and Fern.

Frieren looked at the gradually disappearing Phantom Demon and said softly:

"With this, the mountain path is safe."

Fern watched the gradually dissipating Phantom Demon, her voice somewhat low.

"Lord Frieren, that was a phantom of Lord Heiter."

"It was a fake."

Frieren put away her staff and continued toward their destination, Wille.

Looking back at Fern, whose mood was somewhat down, she said with a faint smile:

"That's right, next time we'll get to see the real one."

Rienta also patted Fern's shoulder and said:

"Lord Frieren is right, our destination is heaven—Aurevole."

Fern put away the staff in her hand, no longer dwelling on the matter of the fake.

"That's true."

"Let's keep moving, Brother Rienta."

Rienta and Fern hurried to catch up with Frieren, who was walking ahead.

"Speaking of which, whose Phantom Demon was it for Rienta?"

"I thought it would be Heiter too."

Frieren hadn't seen the identity of the Phantom Demon clearly, and asked.

Fern also looked curiously at Rienta; her mind had been entirely focused on Heiter's phantom earlier, so she hadn't paid attention to Rienta's side.

"I didn't see clearly either, haha."

"After all, I strictly remembered Lord Frieren's warning and rushed forward the very moment I heard the voice."

Rienta let out a haha, preparing to gloss it over.

Fern: "..."

Frieren glanced at Rienta with a meaningful look, but did not press further.

She had seen the action of Rienta projecting a long blade instead of releasing standard offensive magic with a staff just now.

Since Rienta was unwilling to say much, she ought to respect his decision.

Fern gave a light huff, caught up to Frieren, who had walked ahead a bit, and spoke softly about something.

Frieren and Fern walked in front, while Rienta followed behind them as usual.

He knew Frieren had noticed his blade-wielding action, which was why she had asked.

Yet he didn't know how to answer either; if he said it was because of parents who died in the war, what would Fern think? Besides, his phantom wasn't Heiter.

As for his past life, that was even less speakable of, so he could only muddle through it; fortunately, Frieren hadn't pursued the matter.

When the Phantom Demon appeared, those blurred features had filled Rienta's heart with a strange irritation.

However, what irritated him was that he had actually forgotten that person's facial features.

Even the voice had become somewhat unfamiliar.

Perhaps because it was mixed with the original body's memories, it caused the facial features to be blurred.

Yes, that's right. It must be this.

Rienta came up with a somewhat reasonable explanation for the phantom from just now.

Yet the memories of that person in his mind grew increasingly hazy.

What was her name again?

What was her relationship to him?

Rienta felt as though he had forgotten something very important.

After racking his brain in thought for a long time without gaining anything, Rienta could only quicken his pace to catch up with Frieren and Fern ahead.