Epilogue

The battle ended close to dawn.

The two encountered Fern and the others looking for them on the way back to the city.

Seeing this, Frieren grabbed Fern's hand and wanted to leave.

But Count Grausam stopped Frieren, who wanted to run away.

"Wait, there is no need for you to run away."

Stark also said from the side, "The earl says he does not intend to pursue what happened before."

After some conversation among everyone, Frieren sat on a carriage to rest.

Rienta, meanwhile, led everyone rushing to the recent battlefield.

After arriving.

Looking at the devastated battlefield covered in headless corpses everywhere.

Count Grausam discovered with some pleasant surprise that the headless corpses had not suffered too much damage.

"Frieren, thank you for your respect toward the heroes of the Northern Lands."

With that, he searched for something among the numerous headless corpses.

After Rienta healed Fern and Stark, everyone gathered together to chat.

Looking at the somewhat anxious Count Grausam, Rienta asked, "What is the earl doing?"

Fern leaned close to Rienta and said in a low voice, "The earl's son was also controlled by Aura."

The power of nobles in this world was terrifyingly large, and Rienta was somewhat glad the earl was busy searching and had not heard his question.

"I used to just blow these puppets straight up." Frieren looked at the busy Count Grausam and said softly:

"It was only after Himmel lectured me that I became like this."

"Of course." Stark sat on the side and said without hesitation, "If it were me, I would lecture you too."

Rienta shrank away silently to the side; just now, he had been prepared to clear out the small fry first before fighting Aura.

This was the order of normally clearing a boss in his understanding.

No, that was the correct order in games, and this was the real world.

Fern said with some astonishment, "Lord Himmel is really good at disciplining Lady Frieren."

"You are not allowed to say disciplining!"

Frieren first solemnly corrected Fern's choice of words.

Flashes of her reaction back then crossed her mind after Aura said Himmel was already dead. She muttered:

"Well, though..."

"This is the reaction of a normal person."

Fern did not understand the meaning of this sentence and looked at Frieren with some puzzlement.

"I am just talking to myself."

With that, Frieren cast a covert glance at Rienta.

Rienta hurriedly made a zipping motion across his mouth, and Frieren then nodded with satisfaction.

She then looked at Fern and Stark, who had already been healed, and said with gratification:

"Fern, Stark."

"You successfully defeated Lügner and the others, well done!"

Both smiled knowingly and accepted Frieren's praise with poise.

Rienta very consciously did not ask about his own performance.

Although Stark's injuries had already been healed by Rienta, the bloodstains covering his entire body still made Frieren unable to help saying:

"It would be even better if you weren't in such a battered state."

Stark looked at his recovered body and replied uncertainly, "This level of injury should be quite normal for a warrior, right."

"Just what standard is your normal..." Fern looked at the thick-skinned Stark with speechlessness.

"Speaking of which, how did Brother Rienta do this time?"

Rienta: "...Don't cue me!"

Rienta, who was trying hard to lower his presence, had not expected Fern to bring up this question at this critical moment.

"The healing magic is very good, and he is getting better at talking too."

"However, he needs to be severely trained in the aspect of suppressing mana, and from now on Fern will be responsible for this matter."

Fern: "I will supervise diligently!"

Rienta: "..."

While everyone was chatting, Count Grausam found his son.

The crest passed down in the Granat Family shone brilliantly in the morning sunlight.

Count Grausam bent down and grasped the headless corpse's cold hand.

After many years, although separated by armor, he once again grasped a hand he had thought he would never have the chance to hold.

"Frieren..."

After arranging the heroes' remains, everyone returned to the city.

The city's residents did not know what had happened over the past two days, knowing only that the Demon King's Army outside the city had disappeared.

As for the so-called peace talks, it was just a delaying tactic by the earl.

Upon learning this news, the residents prepared to hold a grand festival to reward the heroes.

Inside the Earl's Estate.

Hearing that seeing a noble required making a grand bow, Rienta had not come with them.

Count Grausam looked at Frieren and the three others with some incomprehension.

He had promised before to give Frieren's party the best rewards possible.

Yet Frieren chose the grimoire concerning defense barriers authored by the great mage Flamme.

Moreover, the contents recorded in the grimoire had nothing much to do with the defense barrier that had blocked the Demon King's Army for decades in this city.

"Is it really okay with just this kind of grimoire?"

"Collecting different magic is my hobby." Frieren replied very seriously.

"Is that so?"

Count Grausam nodded and stopped trying to persuade Frieren. Looking at the somewhat restrained group, he said to Frieren:

"You don't need to be so restrained talking to me. In your eyes, I must be just like an infant, right?"

Hearing this, Frieren relaxed slightly and explained:

"Because I suffered losses when we set out to defeat the Demon King. Himmel and Eisen spoke disrespectfully to the king and were almost executed."

"How nostalgic, the sight of Himmel crying and begging for mercy."

"Ha... ha ha... isn't it a bit exaggerated for that to be a capital offense?"

Stark recalled what the earl had said when he saved the earl earlier.

He looked with a guilty conscience at the upright Count Grausam and said, "The Central Countries are truly barbaric, Your Lordship."

Count Grausam was just about to explain, but right at that moment, the door was pushed open.

Frieren and the two others looked toward the doorway together.

They saw a tall attendant carrying a huge axe, standing at the door with a murderous look on his face.

"Are you serious?!"

Seeing this situation, Stark's heart turned half cold.

The attendant gave a bow and said, "My lord, the trees in the backyard have all been chopped down."

"Good work, you may withdraw first."

Count Grausam looked with speechlessness at Stark, who had already turned into a black-and-white comic style.

He had not expected such a coincidence; basically all the attendants inside the Earl's Estate had been killed by Lügner and the others.

This attendant had just been transferred over from the military earlier.

"The thing is, earlier in order to make this kid run away quickly, I deliberately exaggerated a bit..."

Fern understood why Stark's reaction had been so strange and just prepared to say something, only to find that Stark had already fainted.

Frieren had come this time for that grimoire, and since the reward was already obtained, she prepared to leave.

As for Stark, who had been frightened into fainting, he was carried by Fern using Flight Magic.

Count Grausam said to the group, "There will be a festival in the city these few days, please relax and enjoy yourselves for a few days."

Two people brought a kite back to the inn.

After reuniting with Rienta, the celebration began.