The Omniscient One

The festivities continued into the night.

The city's residents grew ever more enthusiastic, but Frieren and her companions did not take part in the entire celebration. They returned to their rooms early to rest.

The bright moon hung high overhead.

Rienta came to the place where Fern and Stark had fought.

The damaged city wall had yet to be repaired, and the terrifying destruction left Rienta somewhat speechless.

For the first time in all these years, Rienta felt a little lost.

In the current party, Frieren was a thousand-year-old elf whose strength was unfathomable.

As for Fern, in all his years of traveling, he had never met anyone her age who was stronger. Now she could even kill the Executioner, a subordinate of one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, on her own.

And Stark was the protagonist template through and through. In his first battle after setting out, he had speed-killed a Red Mirror Dragon in thirty seconds. Rienta couldn't even be bothered to complain.

The only things he currently had to show for himself were the rewards from the panel.

Magic That Heals Everything, Personal Space, and Telekinesis.

The only things he had truly developed himself so far were Projection Magic and Rho Aias.

"Sigh."

Rienta felt a little gloomy. During today's festivities, the residents had treated him as a hero too.

It made him very uncomfortable. Only after Frieren and the others had gone to rest did he come here alone.

Rienta sat atop an undamaged section of the city wall, questioning his life.

The bright moon shed a silvery glow, so bright it was almost unnatural.

As Rienta watched the sight curiously, he suddenly noticed the moonlight turn blood-red for an instant.

The previously quiet, gentle atmosphere abruptly turned grim and murderous.

Sensing that something was wrong, Rienta tried to leave, but his body refused to obey and froze in place.

The moonlight began to gather around Rienta's body.

Rienta was somewhat bewildered and had no idea what was happening.

With the protective barrier in place, he was not worried that the demons were behind it.

For now, all he could do was wait quietly.

After about ten minutes, the moonlight enveloping Rienta was completely absorbed into his body.

Once he could move again, Rienta first cast Magic That Heals Everything on himself before carefully checking for changes.

Strangely, Rienta was no different from before.

And despite all the commotion, not a single resident had come to see what was happening.

As he pondered, Rienta remembered his panel.

Because the panel was so rudimentary, Rienta sometimes genuinely forgot it existed.

Sure enough, the panel had received another message.

This message was titled "The Demon Chancellor, Schlacht the Omniscient."

Rienta knew very little about him, and the history of magic contained only a few brief lines about him.

The Hero of the South, a human with the power of foresight, and Schlacht the Omniscient, a demon who possessed the same power, had killed each other.

Rienta only thought for a little while before opening the letter from the past.

If the Hero of the South could foresee his arrival, then it was not hard to understand how Schlacht could do the same.

According to the Hero of the South's earlier letter, foresight did not allow one to see the future in its entirety, only a few glimpses of it.

As for the future of Rienta, a visitor from another world, he had said he could not see it clearly, but that he would trust Rienta.

Schlacht the Omniscient's letter was not very long, and Rienta read it quickly.

In the letter, he said he had seen a future in which Rienta became the King of Darkness...

A somewhat strange gift came with the letter.

On behalf of the demons, Schlacht had acknowledged Rienta.

Just then, Rienta noticed another change in the panel.

[Anchor 3: Demons]

Reward: "Longevity."

Those few simple words seemed to weigh a thousand tons, crashing heavily into Rienta's heart.

For a moment, he was in a daze.

His thoughts, which had been preoccupied with what the King of Darkness meant, became a tangled mess.

Becoming a Sword Immortal had originally been nothing more than an adolescent fantasy from his previous life.

But now that he had come to another world, couldn't he fulfill a dream from his youth?

Rienta could be said to have worked very hard to become the Sword Immortal he envisioned.

But with his ordinary talent, he had only managed to develop two spells, even with Frieren's help.

This reward, however, gave him unlimited time to fulfill that dream.

Even after the reward had fully integrated into him, Rienta still found it hard to believe.

But the surging vitality within him could not be faked.

"Isn't this a little too sudden?"

Still in a daze, Rienta returned to the inn.

Stark was sleeping soundly in their room, but Rienta could not fall asleep.

On the way back, he had figured out why this reward was so ridiculously generous.

Most likely, it was because the anchor had gone straight from an individual to an entire race.

But even so, his predecessors had resorted to every conceivable means to achieve this goal.

The most extreme among them had even, to improve his talent, directly wiped out his entire clan...

Yet Rienta had now achieved it so easily.

Was this what one should expect from a world governed by belief? It was full of monsters with special mechanics.

As for the future described in Schlacht's letter, Rienta did not care.

The Hero of the South, who also possessed foresight, should theoretically have been able to see that future too, but he had not said much about it. He had only told Rienta to enjoy the journey without worry.

There was perhaps another possibility: the two omniscient ones had seen different futures.

Rienta thought the latter was more likely.

Sleepiness was contagious. Although Stark was not snoring, he still made soft sounds.

In a haze, Rienta also fell asleep.

But his dream that night was not a pleasant one...

The festivities lasted three days. Rienta and the other three joined in for all three, eating plenty of local delicacies.

The Earl had also thoughtfully prepared matching new clothes for them.

As everyone knew, the protagonist's party had dozens of identical outfits in their wardrobes.

But it was mainly because the Earl had asked them to wait until the festivities ended before leaving. After all, they were the stars of the celebration.

After the festivities ended.

Count Grausam held a grand memorial ceremony for the fallen heroes.

After attending the ceremony, the group prepared to leave the city.

Once they had restocked their supplies in the city and were ready to leave, Count Grausam came to see them off and told them a crucial piece of news.

The situation on the Northern Plateau was dire, and travel restrictions were extremely strict.

A First-Class Mage had to lead the group for them to pass through the checkpoint.

But to Frieren, the Continental Magic Association was a recent creation, so she had no First-Class Mage certificate.

Fern, meanwhile, had become a Third-Class Mage long ago. Rienta was a Fifth-Class Mage.

Frieren took out a pendant and said, somewhat dejectedly, "I guess this Holy Staff Emblem isn't any use either."

Fern leaned closer and examined it carefully, but did not recognize the so-called Holy Staff Emblem.

"What kind of antique is that...?"

Stark also chimed in, "Even I've heard of the Continental Magic Association. It's been around for at least half a century."

"Isn't that just recently?" Frieren still could not quite understand the human perception of time.

To her, the standards for regulating magic changed too quickly.

Rienta, meanwhile, was wondering whether he would become as oblivious to the passage of time as Frieren.

As they talked, the group had already reached the outskirts of the city.

Fern stopped and asked Count Grausam somewhat uncertainly, "I remember there being a place in the Northern Lands where you can take the First-Class Mage exam, right?"

"There is." Count Grausam nodded. "You mean the largest Magic City in the Northern Lands, Äußerst."

"It's a long way beyond Mount Schvia. You can get there by following the main road, but it's a long walk."

Seeing that Frieren and the others did not seem troubled by this, Count Grausam said solemnly:

"Frieren, the Granat Family will not forget what you have done for us."

"I wish you a safe journey."

Frieren had encountered this sort of situation many times before. She usually just turned and left, and this time was no different.

Rienta and the others followed Frieren.

They had only taken a few steps when white specks began drifting down from the sky.

"It's snowing."

Stark held out his hand, trying to catch the snowflakes falling through the air.

"It's almost winter."

The rarely seen first snow made the group stop in their tracks.

Seeing how relaxed they were, Frieren reminded them, "Winters are cold around here, so be careful. If you let your guard down, you could die."

"Is it that dangerous?" Fern looked at Frieren, somewhat puzzled.

"Didn't you know?" The corners of Frieren's mouth lifted slightly.

"During the battles against the Demon King's Army, what killed the most people was winter in the Northern Lands."