[Spacetime That Might Exist] Passage

The Sewers were quiet, with only the faint sound of dripping water in the distance and the steady, light footsteps of the two people on the damp stone surface.

"Well..."

Kleis sighed in the darkness.

"You were clearly a hero of this country... and now nobody remembers you, really. And seriously, aren't you going to make a fire to warm yourself up? Swimming through icy water, you're incredibly tough."

Varos walked half a step ahead of him without turning his head.

"For a soldier, this is perfectly normal."

"Normal my foot, I just can't do it."

"... Is that so? Perhaps."

"This is normal, that is normal, you always say things like that."

Varos's steps remained steady.

"This is a catchphrase of an old friend of mine. Before I met him, I always thought I was the strongest warrior among humans. That guy taught me that a warrior's pride and fearlessness can sometimes be their most fatal weakness."

His voice was steady, without much inflection, as if he were recounting someone else's story.

"Thanks to him, I've survived as a soldier until now. Otherwise, I might have died at the hands of the 'Bloodstained War God,' Rivale, long ago. Ah. Whenever I'm in a life-or-death situation, the words of that cautious friend always calm me down. So, I'm saying these words to myself."

Kleis's face remained expressionless.

"Is that so? But having known you for so long, I've always felt that you're looking for a place—a place where you can die a glorious death with the pride of a warrior."

We haven't known each other for very long.

"Eight years have passed, you long-lived dwarf."

Varos remained expressionless, raising his hand to stroke the gray beard on his chin.

"Perhaps, the way I appear to you is the real me. As I said before, those words were for myself. But in some corner of my heart, I always think—if anyone could kill me, it would probably only be my friend. He is the strongest warrior, and only he could do it. I used to always think that way."

But time waits for no one. We're all getting old.

He changed the subject.

Have you seen Levi?

Kleis thought for a moment.

"Commander, I've met you once. You're quite powerful."

"Quite strong?" Varos shook his head. "He's long past that level. I felt fear when I saw him. Yet, from the mouth of that supreme warrior, I heard, 'I'm prepared to be used as a pawn.'"

He gave a short laugh.

"Hmm. Just what kind of person is our opponent this time...?"

In the shadows not far away, Falsh stood quietly, his back against the cold, damp stone wall.

He pushed up his round-framed glasses, his gaze piercing the darkness behind the lenses, firmly locking onto the two approaching figures. His breathing was suppressed to the bare minimum, his magical energy almost nonexistent, as if he had completely merged with the stone wall and the darkness beneath the earth.

He silently repeated the same sentence in his heart.

Who exactly is our opponent...?

When I first saw him, I thought he was Demons general. Just how many people has this guy killed? His behavior and mannerisms are no longer human. No wonder he can use this secret passage. Someone this strong couldn't possibly fool the Magical Special Forces if he entered the venue head-on.

This was a refuge passage during the Unified Empire period. I only found out about this place by discovering an old map in Lady Serie's collection of books, and decided to come and take a look... It really was the right decision.

The last time I saw Lutine and Iris here, I hadn't yet obtained the enemy's portraits, and I can't track them anymore. But those two were definitely there to scout. I never expected they'd send monsters like this...

Although the risk was great, important intelligence was obtained. The only enemy without a portrait was named Levi...?

Wait a minute, the governor at the northernmost tip of the empire seems to be named Levi.

Judging from the list of imperial officers provided by Linel, Levi should be a collateral lord who secretly operated and made meritorious contributions in the Southern Lands.

The Southern Lands... were they the ones who killed Minusi?

Tsk.

A bad feeling.

The footsteps of Kleis and Varos grew closer.

Unaware of their presence, they passed through the shadows where Falsh hiding and continued walking forward, their conversation gradually fading as the distance grew.

Falsh remained motionless.

In short, we need to reunite with Frieren and the others first. Then, we must deal with these two here... We absolutely cannot let these monsters enter the palace.

He held his breath, and his right hand rose extremely slowly and silently, palm facing the ground, his fingertips beginning to gather an extremely faint aura of magic.

Just before the magical ripples touched the damp ground—

Varos stopped abruptly without warning.

He maintained his forward-moving posture, without turning around, and spoke clearly in a tone so steady it was almost frightening. His voice wasn't loud, but it pierced the silence of the earth like a knife.

"I can hear breathing."

Kleis stopped when he heard this and listened intently.

"Is it Wolf? That guy always likes to sneak around..."

"That's what I thought at first too," Varos said, "But the one who was hiding, after overhearing our conversation, suddenly had a racing heart."

As he spoke, he slowly turned around. His gaze, as if it were a tangible object, fell upon the shadow where Falsh Concealment. Those eyes held too much that had accumulated over the years; they were calm, yet chilling to the bone.

"They're the enemy, don't move."

Falsh's movements were without the slightest hesitation. Before the word "enemy" had even left his lips, his hand, which had been pressing down on the ground, suddenly exerted force and pressed down—the previously faint ripples of magical energy suddenly erupted Swirl!

Almost at the same moment.

Varos vanished from his spot, disappearing into the shadows in the next instant.

He raised his right hand and swung it downwards.

Falsh's vision failed to capture the trajectory of the axe blade.

He felt a chill on his right shoulder, followed by a sudden, sharp pain. In his vision, his right hand, along with half of his forearm, was severed from his body, tracing an arc in the air before falling to the damp stone ground with a "thud." Blood spurted from the severed area, leaving a thin, dark red line in the dim light.

His face paled for a moment, but his expression remained unchanged, though a fine layer of cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. At the same time, the spell collapsed due to the excruciating pain and the interruption of the magic circuit.

Varos did not retract his axe after severing the arm. After cutting off the arm, the axe moved horizontally, the cold blade precisely pressed against Falsh's neck. Just a fraction more and he could easily slit the throat.

"I told you, don't move." Varos's voice was close at hand, eerily calm, "Next time, it'll be your head falling off."

Falsh lowered his head slightly, glanced at his bleeding severed arm, then looked up at Varos, who was standing close at hand. His face was expressionless, and he even twitched the corner of his mouth very slightly, as if he wanted to laugh.

"Next time..." His voice trembled slightly from the pain, but his tone was strangely relaxed. "So you can communicate after all. That puts my mind at ease."

(The manuscript is finished, so I'll be updating ten chapters a day. I'm nearing the end. The new book is still about Frieren; I'm currently brainstorming ideas.)

(The original story ends here. Levi has already written it, so he won't continue. Frieren's original work hasn't been updated in a long time. I speculate that the subsequent plot will be that Serie won't die, and then there will be separate battles in various places, such as Red Hair and Varos, Lairen Duncan's side against Wolf or Clematis, etc. Also, the sentence, ' The Continental Magic Association, the Shadow Warriors, the Magical Special Forces. Regardless of who wins or loses, tonight's grand performance must come to a perfect end,' seems absurd to me. If we follow Serie's original prediction of the future, Serie's head is chopped off in the banquet hall at midnight, is that considered a perfect end? Nonsense.)

(To create pressure, a lot of setup was laid out, showing warriors instantly killing mages in melee combat, making the originally cautious red-haired girl arrogant and overconfident. There were also a bunch of Empire arc plot points that were hard to criticize, and frankly, I felt they were inconsistent. In the early stages, "the only ones who could kill you besides the Demon King were human mages"; later, "An old man appeared, and even after his warrior identity was exposed and he was given a stronger warrior to act as lookout, he was still able to kill the red-haired girl one against three (since he had already killed her if he wanted to) and then kill Frieren.")

(The closer I look, the more I feel that Frieren's artwork, especially the battle scenes, is really not very good. Many other anime are inferior to the manga in terms of animation, but in this case, the anime really elevates the manga. I will comment on this paragraph, but I don't know if the image will be deleted.)

(Also, the road trip story was originally quite good. If it had ended abruptly like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, it would have been a near-perfect anime. But the way it's been extended like this, I feel there might be issues with the editorial department. After all, it's been a long time since we've seen an anime this good. Dragon Ball tried to end several times but failed due to financial constraints. So I feel the author originally wanted to write a small, beautiful anime, with each episode a flashback. But they were forced to lengthen the plot, putting it on a track they weren't good at, which led to criticism. However, this also extended the anime's popularity, making Frieren a longer-lasting cash cow and a king of crossovers.)

(Right now, I feel that, on the one hand, I'm experiencing writer's block and the plot is difficult to write; on the other hand, I could definitely force myself to continue writing, but I'm lacking inspiration. Also, due to capital operations, I've tactically taken a break from publishing. As long as it's not finished, it will maintain its popularity. The longer it settles down, the more money I can make.)

(There are pros and cons. I originally planned to finish it in a little over a million words, but I ended up writing a bit more. It's almost over, and I'll try to give it a good ending. The tone of this book has gone a bit off track. I originally intended to write a sweet story, but it started getting self-indulgent and had a lot of unnecessary and inexplicable plot points. But what's done is done, and it's hard to change it now. In the next book, I'll try to remove all the unnecessary parts so that every chapter has something to offer. Thank you to everyone who has supported me until now.)