Peace Talks?

Northern Lands.

Graf Granat's Domain.

Rienta and his companions strolled leisurely through the town. They planned to rest in the city for a day.

There were an unusual number of guards in the streets.

Fern looked around curiously. "There are a lot of guards out."

"Perhaps the lord recognized Lady Frieren again," Rienta said with a smile.

Frieren said nothing. Instead, she summoned her staff and pointed it ahead.

"Demons."

Rienta immediately summoned his own staff and warily watched the crowd ahead.

The guards in the street rushed forward and restrained Rienta and Frieren.

Fern and Stark were left alone.

Neither of them struck the guards. The consequences of attacking guards in the city were too severe.

But Rienta used Telekinesis to stop the guards from forcing the two of them down.

Frieren fixed her calm gaze on one of the newcomers, a demon with two horns atop his head.

"Count Grausam, what is the meaning of this?" The demon at the front looked at the count accompanying him with a faint, amused smile.

Grausam frowned and explained, "They're merely adventurers who don't understand the situation, Lord Lügner."

Lügner chuckled and walked up to Frieren and Rienta. Ignoring Rienta, he met Frieren's gaze.

"Although the people of this city hate and fear demons, at least they see me as a person when they look at me."

"But you're different. It's as though you're looking at a wild beast."

Frieren looked at the demon before her. "Isn't that exactly what you are? You demons are nothing more than wild beasts who can mimic human voices."

Seeing the tension between them mounting, Grausam said to the guards beside them, "Throw these two adventurers in the dungeon."

Rienta gave Frieren a questioning look.

Seeing that Frieren made no move, he sighed inwardly.

It seemed he had been indulging in wishful thinking, hoping to communicate with Frieren through a glance.

With a thought, he released the guards from his Telekinesis.

The guards exchanged horrified looks, but when Rienta and Frieren made no further moves, they silently led them to the dungeon, though their movements were much more restrained.

Lügner watched Frieren walk away, that calm gaze flashing through his mind over and over. He had disguised himself so well as a human.

Even Grausam, who had fought him for so long, treated him as a person after he came to the city in the name of peace talks.

Still, an elf with such a faint amount of mana shouldn't be able to cause much trouble.

Lügner gathered his thoughts and smiled at Count Grausam. "I believe in your sincerity regarding the peace talks, Count Grausam. Shall we?"

Grausam had also recognized the first person to summon a staff as an elf, but he hadn't sensed any powerful mana from Frieren.

For now, keeping the demons placated was the most important thing. Grausam gave it no further thought and led Lügner to his mansion.

In the dungeon.

After Rienta had demonstrated his Telekinesis earlier, he had asked to be placed in the same cell as Frieren.

The guards had agreed.

"It feels like we suddenly have nothing to do."

Sitting in the cell, Frieren even seemed a little happy, as though she wasn't worried about what lay ahead.

Just then, Fern and Stark appeared outside the cell. They had spent the intervening time gathering information before coming to visit.

"Lady Frieren, the guards said they're going to make you reflect on your actions for two or three years."

Fern gripped the bars with both hands and looked at Frieren helplessly.

"That's quite a bit shorter than I expected. Rienta, get me a grimoire."

Rienta was also happy to have a few days to rest. He took a grimoire from his Personal Space and handed it to Frieren.

"Rienta!!"

Fern puffed out her cheeks and glared at Rienta.

"What's the situation with those demons?" Frieren asked Fern as she leafed through the grimoire.

She knew how reliable Fern was, so she must have already gathered quite a bit of information.

Fern sighed and said gravely, "They're subordinates of Aura the Guillotine, one of the Seven Sages of Destruction. I heard Aura grew tired of meaningless slaughter, so she took the initiative to propose peace talks."

Frieren stopped turning the pages. Sitting in her chair, she swung her legs absentmindedly and murmured:

"The lord of a city like this actually agreed to such an absurd proposal."

The warrior village where Stark had lived as a child had also been destroyed by demons, and he was the only one who had escaped.

Afterward, he had trained under Eisen until they had a quarrel and he ran away from home. He then encountered the Red Mirror Dragon attacking a village, where he also met Rienta and the others.

So he didn't know much about demons and asked curiously, "Wouldn't it be a good thing to end the war through peace talks?"

Stark's somewhat naive words left Rienta silent.

According to the records of magical history, the war between humans and demons had lasted thousands of years. From Flamme, the founder of human magic, to the heroes who came after her, countless people had fought and fallen before the Demon King was finally slain.

As a long-lived race, the demons could only watch as humans occupied the most fertile land on the continent. More importantly, most demons fed on humans.

If peace talks could resolve it, there wouldn't have been thousands of years of war.

Dignity existed only at the edge of a sword. Without equal strength, what was there to negotiate with? Would they become a food supply for demons to raise?

Frieren chuckled as well. "Stark, demons eat humans. If you were to learn the language of your food and communicate with it, what reason would you have for doing so?"

She didn't tell Stark to study magical history, because Eisen was his teacher.

Stark's brain stalled a little. Frieren's question was rather profound.

Just then, the guard on duty nearby came over and said carefully, "You two, hasn't your visit gone on a little too long? It'll be hard for us to explain."

The soldiers who had escorted them had already told him that these were all powerful adventurers. As someone who had chosen a guard's job with a fixed salary, there was no need for him to offend powerful adventurers, was there?

Fern had read the history of magic, but she didn't know how to answer Frieren's question either.

Looking at the two troubled youngsters, Rienta said, "Don't worry, Fern. You and Stark can have fun in town for a couple of days. If anything happens, Lady Frieren and I won't be that inflexible."

Fern and Stark left, their minds full of questions.

Rienta turned to Frieren. "Lady Frieren, isn't that question a little too profound for the two of them?"

"Oh?" Frieren's eyes lit up as she looked at her disciple. "Does that mean you know the answer, Rienta?"

Rienta was silent for a moment, then cast Special Effects Magic on himself.

With a solemn expression, he gave his answer:

"Those who are not of our kind must have different intentions!"

Frieren tilted her head and looked at the chuunibyou Rienta before her, gradually making sense of the somewhat awkward phrase.

Satisfied, she walked over to Rienta and patted his head.

"I wouldn't have guessed, Rienta."

"To think you could say something so impressive. You really are my disciple."

Rienta apologized in his heart before saying, "Right? I have even more impressive things to say."

"But it would be better if you could be less chuunibyou about it."

Frieren pointed at the special effects still going on around Rienta.

"Don't you think it makes me look more imposing, Lady Frieren?"

"Not at all."