Gifts and a new journey

Rienta was engrossed in his dessert and didn't notice anything amiss with Frieren.

Fern set down her knife and fork and shot Rienta a glare before turning to Frieren.

"Why are you apologizing, Lady Frieren?"

Frieren silently took out two boxes and handed one to Rienta and the other to Fern.

"I don't know either of you at all."

"So I don't know what kinds of things you like."

Rienta and Fern stood up and accepted the boxes. Realization dawned on Fern. "Come to think of it, today's my birthday."

Rienta hadn't remembered his birthday when he was adopted, so he had always celebrated it with Fern.

Rienta himself didn't really care about birthdays, but Heiter had insisted.

Fern opened her box to find an exquisite silver butterfly hair ornament.

Gazing softly at the ornament in her hands, Fern said:

"It's a beautiful hair ornament, Lady Frieren."

"Thank you. I'm very happy."

Rienta opened his box to find a pair of silver bracers.

He put them on at once, tried them out, and said to Frieren:

"Thank you, Lady Frieren. These bracers fit perfectly."

Seeing their reactions, Frieren asked, "Really?"

Fern tucked the hair ornament safely away, then sat down with Frieren. "You're very oblivious, Lady Frieren, so I'll be direct."

"We're already overjoyed that you want to get to know us."

After saying that, Fern kicked the equally oblivious Rienta under the table.

Rienta quickly said, "That's right, Lady Frieren. I feel the same way."

"Even though I only want to get to know you?" Frieren asked, somewhat puzzled.

Fern looked at the oblivious elf and said gently, "You really don't understand human emotions at all, do you, Lady Frieren?"

Rienta finished the last bite of his tiramisu and took a sip of tea. "Lady Frieren is an elf, so of course she wouldn't understand that sort of thing..."

Fern kicked Rienta under the table again, the message in her eyes unmistakable.

Rienta, don't ruin this lovely atmosphere.

Rienta indicated that he understood and focused on drinking his tea.

After Fern's reassurance, Frieren was no longer downcast, and the two of them ate the desserts before them.

Frieren glanced at Rienta's plate and asked curiously, "Rienta, is the Mimic tiramisu that good?"

Rienta thought for a moment. "It's much the same as ordinary tiramisu, but the design is interesting."

Hearing that, Frieren took a bite of pudding and said happily, "Then I'll try the taste of a Mimic next time too."

Rienta and Fern exchanged glances, both picturing Frieren being eaten by Mimics on their journey.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

After finishing their desserts, the three returned to the inn to rest.

They had finished restocking their supplies in Baalum.

Early the next morning, the three checked out and left the city.

Frieren and Fern walked in front.

Rienta, meanwhile, had borrowed grimoires on analysis and creation from Frieren.

He studied them as they traveled, occasionally looking as though he had just made a discovery.

Fern asked Frieren curiously, "Lady Frieren, what kind of magic is Rienta studying this time?"

Frieren thought over the lengthy explanation Rienta had given her that morning and summed it up:

"Rienta wants to create a spell called Projection Magic."

"It copies or creates weapons."

"?"

Fern looked back at Rienta, who was studying so intently, and said in disbelief:

"Lady Frieren, Rienta is studying such a serious spell?"

Frieren patted the case she carried and smiled. "Rienta has already borrowed several grimoires on the subject."

"There shouldn't be a problem this time."

Fern knew Frieren's case had the properties of spatial magic. It looked small, but it could hold a great deal.

It contained grimoires on many different subjects.

Fern stopped paying attention to Rienta behind them and asked Frieren:

"Come to think of it, Lady Frieren."

"Does this journey have a purpose?"

"No particular purpose. I'm just collecting magic because it interests me."

"But," Frieren paused, then continued:

"I want to visit as many traces as I can of the adventures I had with Himmel and the others."

"Before they weather away."

Fern paused in surprise. "That must be very important to you, Lady Frieren."

Frieren stopped walking and said slowly:

"I don't know."

"That's why I want to find out."

Fern didn't ask any more questions. She understood what Frieren had in mind.

Frieren started walking again.

Fern took a few quick steps to walk beside her.

Frieren reached out and patted Fern's head. "You're already taller than me, Fern," she said in surprise.

"Well, I'm sixteen now. I'm a big sister," Fern replied.

Frieren looked at Fern's impressive figure and murmured:

"A big sister?"

Then she looked down at herself and could see her toes at a glance. She said:

"We eat pretty much the same things."

"How strange."

Fern heard Frieren muttering to herself, but she could only pretend she hadn't.

Trailing behind them, Rienta suddenly realized he could no longer hear Frieren and Fern talking.

He looked up and saw only their backs. After tossing the grimoire into his personal storage space, he hurried after them.

"Lady Frieren, Fern."

"Why didn't you call out to me?"

"That's so mean."

Fern coughed softly without saying anything, relieved.

Good thing Rienta didn't keep up.

Frieren looked at Rienta, who was even taller than Fern, and rose on tiptoe to pat his head too.

"You're this tall too now, Rienta."

"Back then, you weren't even as tall as Fern."

Rienta grinned.

The three continued on their way. Seeing that Rienta had stopped reading the grimoire, Frieren asked curiously:

"Rienta, have you hit a bottleneck in your research on Projection Magic?"

"No." Rienta shook his head. "I've got a general idea of how to go about it."

"I'll study it more closely when we take a break."

"I see." Frieren nodded and turned to Fern beside her.

"Fern, you should practice defensive magic more."

"Defensive magic is linked to your chances of survival."

Fern nodded. "That's true. Defensive magic alone can block the vast majority of offensive spells."

"It's almost unbelievably powerful."

Hearing Fern's words, Rienta immediately sensed trouble and hurriedly looked at Frieren.

Sure enough, Frieren stopped and looked at Fern with a serious expression.

"Fern, you haven't read that book on the history of magic I gave you yet, have you?"

Before Fern could answer, Frieren continued:

"Practice isn't the only important part of magic."

"I really do need to read it to you before bed."

With that, Frieren resumed walking on her own.

Fern glanced back at Rienta, then followed Frieren.

She knew her brother Rienta had finished the book on the history of magic several years ago.

Fern said to Frieren with a serious expression:

"I'll read it myself."

"I'm not a child anymore."

Rienta followed them, pretending he hadn't heard that Frieren was going to tell Fern a bedtime story.

Even if the story was about the history of magic.