Golden Land

Spring has arrived.

The chill in the wind has faded, replaced by the moist scent of budding grass and trees. In the Northern Plateau, in the Weise Region, a forest stretches its branches in the slowly warming air, with new green shoots dotting the dark needles.

A small bird with grey-blue feathers flew through the gaps in the trees and landed on Fern's outstretched finger. Its beak held a letter sealed with sealing wax.

Fern took the letter, and the little bird fluttered its wings and flew away. She unwrapped the sealing wax and unfolded the letter.

"Lord Frieren."

"Um?"

Frieren was squatting nearby, studying a purple mushroom that had just sprouted from the soil. She didn't look up; her silver hair fell beside her cheek.

"Another commission from the Continental Magic Association? I've been making a lot of money lately, and I still get so many commissions."

"No." Fern's gaze swept over the signature at the end of the letter. "This is a request from Lairen, First-Class Mage, sent in her personal capacity."

Frieren pouted and poked the little mushroom with her finger.

"That guy... and if he's using his personal name instead of the association's, he's probably in some kind of trouble."

"Lady Frieren isn't interested?"

Frieren didn't answer immediately. She stared at the mushroom for two seconds, then pursed her lips.

"..."

Lowell, leaning against a tree trunk not far away, chuckled upon hearing this.

"Hmph, who told that guy to try and attack Frieren before? Our Frillie holds a grudge."

Fern raised his eyes, his pale purple pupils glancing at his master's profile, which was filled with reluctance.

"Really? I thought Frieren was the kind of person who didn't care about these things at all."

Frieren snorted, finally pulled the mushroom out, and twirled it in her hand.

"Hmph, I hate that person, after all..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

Fern continued reading, adding in a steady voice.

"Then I'll decline. However, the three magic books that were supposed to be my payment have already been delivered."

As she spoke, she took out three old booklets of varying thicknesses, bound together with dark brown leather cords, from her bag.

The mushroom in Frieren's hand fell to the ground.

"Whoosh."

She leaped up and snatched the magic book.

"A commission must be handled properly, Fern."

Her voice was clear and crisp, and she spoke faster than usual, even with a hint of instruction.

"Refusing a commission is absolutely unacceptable. We are First-Class Mages; we must be professional."

She held the three magic books close to her chest, her fingertips tenderly tracing the ancient elven script on the covers. A satisfied, cat-like smile crept onto her lips.

Lowell chimed in, "That's right! That's what you call professional!"

Fern watched as Frieren changed drastically and Lowell chimed in, remaining silent for two seconds.

"... All right."

Then Lowell reached out and picked up the mushroom Frieren had thrown on the ground. "Mushroom, oh mushroom, I'll say it for you: Does love disappear?"

Methode stood a little behind, her hands elegantly folded in front of her. Watching Frieren's expression change instantly, and how she clutched the book with obvious affection, her blue-violet eyes curved into a smile, a soft ripple spreading across her face.

"Ah..." she sighed softly, her voice brimming with undisguised delight, "Miss Frieren, so lovely..."

A few days later.

Several people stood on the edge of a towering cliff.

A wind swept up from the vast valley ahead, carrying a peculiar metallic scent.

Fern took half a step forward, his pale purple eyes looking down.

A vast, golden expanse... of deathly silence.

Centered around a sizable fortified city, the land, buildings, and streets within sight are all frozen in a heavy, clear golden hue. The spires of palaces, the roofs of houses, the statues in the squares, and even the roads and bridges extending beyond the city walls all gleam with a uniform and serene dark golden sheen.

Further out, there are vast forests that have also been transformed into gold. The trees remain in their outstretched or leaning postures, but their branches and leaves are now veins and flakes of gold, reflecting a monotonous and cold light in the thin spring sunlight.

At the edge of this golden realm, the landscape gradually transitions into the normal, verdant forest of early spring. A clear yet eerie boundary separates vitality from the frozen stillness of eternity.

"What a magnificent golden city," Fern said softly.

Frieren stood beside her, her silver hair fluttering in the wind. Her emerald eyes calmly swept over the golden dead zone, her face expressionless, as if she were looking at a mural that was too large and lacked detail.

"The Fortress City Weise," she began, her voice clear in the wind, "One of the Seven Sages of Destruction Golden Land of Macht, fifty years ago transformed this tragic city into gold."

She paused, then turned her gaze to the other side of the cliff, to a protruding rock.

Someone had appeared there sometime earlier.

Brown hair, straight back. It's Duncan.

"I didn't expect," Frieren continued, her tone flat, "That this request is related to you, Duncan."

Duncan turned around. His face showed a slight weariness from the long journey and his thoughts, but his eyes remained calm. He nodded slightly to the group.

"I only recently took over as the barrier manager here. I've been asking Serie for help for quite some time now."

His gaze fell upon the boundless golden expanse below, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, a faint smile tinged with self-mockery.

"After all, my hometown is right here in this Golden Land."

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice.

Ironically, from here, this Golden Land... possesses a breathtaking beauty.

Fern looked at him.

"Your hometown, in Weise?"

"Strictly speaking, no." Duncan shook his head, pointing to a relatively dense cluster of buildings in the golden city. "The Fortress City Weise belongs to the Gluck Family, the city ruled by my father-in-law. My hometown is further north, in the village north of the barrier."

He raised his hand and pointed to a settlement beyond the edge of the golden realm, where rooftops could be vaguely seen.

"A long time ago, my wife and I lived in a house there. That village... was swallowed up by the Golden Land a few years ago."

Fern's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"... A few years ago? But Mr. Lairen's intelligence says that Macht was sealed away fifty years ago."

"The barrier can only restrict Macht," Duncan explained calmly, "But the Golden Land itself is still expanding. One of the barrier managers' tasks is to adjust the barrier's boundaries in real time according to the extent of the Golden Land's expansion, confining it to a fixed area."

Frieren blinked.

"I see. That's how the Continental Magic Association has maintained the barrier until now."

As if she had thought of something, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly.

"... That's not like Serie at all."

Duncan didn't respond. He remained silent for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the golden city below, as if he could see through the solidified metal to the streets and the past beneath.

"Barrier administrators can..." he began slowly, his voice carrying a different tone.

Frieren looked at him. "Really? I remember you said you wanted to see your wife, right? Did you see her?"

Duncan did not answer immediately.

Frieren continued, "You want us to help you defeat Macht?"

"Frieren," Lowell suddenly interrupted him.

Frieren turned her head to look at him.

Lowell reached out and gently placed his palm on the top of her silver hair, ruffled it, and then shook his head at her.

It means, stop asking.

A hint of confusion appeared on Frieren's face. She glanced at Lowell, then at the silently standing Duncan, her emerald eyes blinking as if she didn't quite understand.

But she didn't ask any further questions. Instead, she took two steps to the side, holding the magic book in her arms, and leaned against a sheltered rock on the edge of the cliff. She lowered her head and began to flip through one of the books.

The cliff fell silent for a moment, with only the howling of the wind.

Duncan gazed at that golden expanse for a long time.

So long that Fern thought he wouldn't say anything more.

He spoke again, his voice deeper and more steady than before, as if stating a fact he had pondered countless times before finally confirming it.

"... I've already seen my wife."

Lowell looked at him.

How are you feeling?

"Hehe... How do you feel?"

He took a long breath in and then slowly exhaled.

"Actually, after I learned that my wife and Weise had been turned into gold by Macht, I never came back."

"I don't consider myself a sentimental person. In the Empire, I desperately climbed the ranks to become Court Mage. I always thought, 'I'll go back after a while, I'll go back after a while...' But without realizing it, I really became Court Mage, and the responsibilities on my shoulders no longer allow me to leave the Empire easily."

His gaze swept across the golden rooftops in the distance.

"Perhaps, for me, recalling those happy times spent with my wife... is more like something I dare not touch. I am afraid, I am running away."

"And a few years ago, after learning that my hometown had also been completely swallowed up by the Golden Land... I made up my mind to become First-Class Mage, and then pass through the checkpoints to return here."

He shook his head.

"I'm such a heartless person."

"I took over as the barrier manager here not because I wanted to defeat Macht or save my hometown... I just wanted to see it with my own eyes and then give up on that idea."

His fingers unconsciously clenched and unclenched.

"I think that once I see my hometown, so different with the passage of time, and everything is different... I will be able to let go of these thoughts... let them go completely. I will believe that every little thing I shared with my wife is no longer in this place. I will know that my wife can never be brought back. I will believe that every bit of warmth we shared was forever left in the past half a century ago, just like this... eternal gold."

His voice was flat, without any inflection.

"I actually just plan to spend the rest of my life alone in this place."

The wind swept across the cliff, lifting the ends of his brown hair.

"But..."

He stopped.

His gaze fell upon the golden, frozen city below.

He had returned to his hometown. The layout of the streets, the base of the fountain in the center of the square, the spire of the clock tower... even further away, that area belonging to his hometown, recently swallowed by gold. The familiar outlines of the houses, the bench in the garden where he and his wife had sat side by side, the small rooftop behind the house overlooking the mountains, and the town's small library, surprisingly well-stocked with books...

Everything was exactly as he remembered it.

It was simply covered with a layer of cold gold.

He saw his younger self, wearing an ill-fitting white suit, and Lektüre in a pure white wedding dress, in the town's small church, listening to the priest's sermon.

He saw that in the afternoon, he and Lektüre walked hand in hand slowly down a not-so-bustling street and stopped in front of a small shop selling honey cakes. She picked up a piece, turned to him and smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.

He saw that evening, and on the terrace of the house, he stood silently, gazing at the distant mountains. Lektüre came over with a cup of hot tea, gently placed it on the railing beside him, then lowered her head and smelled the nameless little white flower that had just Bloom in the flowerpot next to her. The wind ruffled the hair on her cheek.

Every place holds memories.

So clear, it feels like it happened just yesterday.

Duncan closed his eyes.

The last thing he saw Lektüre on her sickbed, saying goodbye to him. He had hoped to return to see his wife soon, but instead, he was met with the devastating news that she had been turned into gold by Macht.

He stood there for a long time, his shoulders appearing somewhat stiff in the wind. Then, he reopened his eyes. The complex, turbulent emotions in his eyes subsided, replaced by an unusual calm, even a sense of emptiness, like a barren wasteland exposed after a strong wind.

Nothing has changed.

He spoke, his voice soft, yet each word clear.

"The Golden Land swallowed this place up only a few years ago. But... everything is exactly the same as it was half a century ago. The place where my wife and I left our memories remains unchanged."

The image he recalled finally settled on that sun-drenched church. Lektüre, wearing a white veil, turned around and gave him that faint, yet incredibly sincere, happy smile.

He stood still for a moment, then shook his head very lightly and slowly. The self-deprecating smile returned to his lips, but it seemed to have gained something else, something more solid.

"... What am I doing?"

He spoke softly, as if asking himself.

"No matter how much time has passed, no matter how bumpy and tortuous my life has been, for me, there was not a single lie in that happy time."

He turned to Lowell and Frieren and nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry, Lowell, Frieren, and all of you. This request was also something Lairen did without my consent... I was planning to fight alone anyway."

His tone regained its composure and certainty, carrying a resolve that had finally settled after a long period of time.

"Furthermore, I plan to gather enough intelligence to defeat Macht before taking action. I have no intention of dying."

He took one last look at the vast, solidified gold below, his gaze sweeping over the gray-roofed village, over the church steeple, and over the house's terrace.

"Even if I have to die... I will make sure with my own eyes that beneath that golden expanse, the scenery of my hometown is still beautiful."