Qual

Before heading to the Brete Region, Frieren specifically requested to take a detour, so they had no carriage to ride in and had to continue on foot.

"This place is the Graysay Forest, isn't it? Why did Lady Frieren make a special trip all the way here?"

Fern held the map in his hand, carefully examining it.

"To fulfill a promise I made before, the Qual is sealed here."

"Qual?"

Fern quickly recalled records he had read in the history of True Magic.

"Is Lady Frieren referring to the 'Corrupt Sage' Qual?"

"Yes, we couldn't kill him back then, so we had to seal him here temporarily."

Fern's hand, which was holding the map, suddenly stopped.

"Even Frieren, Himmel, Lady Heiter, and Eisen, working together, couldn't defeat him?"

"Qual was very strong back then; we had no means to withstand his True Magic."

"Frieren said."

Qual was once one of the most powerful True Magic in the Demon King's Army. The True Magic he created could penetrate almost all defensive spells at the time, thus easily destroying the human body.

In that era, it was an undefendable and unanalyzable form of True Magic, and countless people died under its True Magic, hence it was called "Killing True Magic."

"What is its True Magic?"

"In today's terms, it should be called Ordinary Attack True Magic."

Frieren turned to look at Fern.

"Huh?"

Fern didn't react for a moment. She had been practicing this kind of True Magic since she was very young. It was simple in structure, fast in activation, and consumed very little Mana. Almost all modern True Magic knew how to use it, which was why it was given such an unremarkable name as "Ordinary Attack True Magic".

But it's hard to associate it with the once-feared Killing True Magic.

"Before humans deciphered that True Magic, it was indeed an irresistible spell."

Frieren continued to explain.

"But ever since Qual was sealed away, True Magic from all over the world have spent decades studying his True Magic, analyzing the spells, improving the structure, and even creating modern defensive True Magic based on it."

Meanwhile, after decades of improvements, the Killing True Magic that once belonged to Qual became faster, more stable, and more suitable for human use, eventually becoming the most basic attack spell in the modern True Magic system.

"So, Qual's True Magic is already outdated?"

Lorenzo asked.

"That's right, but I don't understand why some people would specifically go to learn this True Magic, and the speed at which they learn it isn't very promising."

Frieren glanced at Lorenzo, clearly reminiscing about the days when he taught her Ordinary Attack True Magic and flight True Magic.

"Lord Lorenzo didn't use Ordinary Attack True Magic at first either?"

Fern looked at Lorenzo with some doubt. Over the years, Lorenzo had always been an extremely powerful True Magic in her mind. Perhaps he couldn't compare to Frieren, but he was undoubtedly the number one mage after Lady Frieren.

But it turned out that he couldn't even use the most basic Ordinary Attack True Magic and defense True Magic, and Lady Frieren had to teach him.

"Not only did he not know how, but the first time he used defensive True Magic, the defensive barrier actually exploded."

Frieren still couldn't understand why the defensive True Magic exploded. After all, the True Magic was designed with stability as its primary goal, and even if the construction failed, it would usually just dissipate on its own.

The explosion was truly unprecedented.

Don't say you don't know how! I've already mastered it.

Lorenzo replied to Frieren with a straight face.

"Alright, let's get back to Qual."

Seeing that the conversation was starting to veer towards revealing past secrets, Frieren quickly steered it back on track.

"Even so, we still cannot let our guard down when facing Qual. After all, he is a true genius. Even if he has never seen modern defensive True Magic before, he should be able to find its weaknesses in a very short time."

In other words, they must kill Qual before he understands the True Magic of this era.

"If he's so dangerous, why did he voluntarily break the seal?"

"Fern asked."

"The seal is about to break. In a few years, even if I do nothing, Qual will break free of the seal on his own."

Frieren looked up into the depths of the forest.

"Moreover, I promised the people here that I would return to destroy it myself before the seal completely breaks down."

The three continued along the forest path.

Before long, a small village appeared on the edge of the forest. At the entrance of the village stood a stone statue of the hero Himmel. The surface of the statue had obvious signs of weathering, but the ground at its feet was covered with freshly picked flowers.

An elderly man with gray hair was standing next to the stone statue, leaning on his cane.

Upon seeing Frieren, he paused for a moment, then a smile spread across his face.

"Lord Frieren."

The old man took off his hat, bowed his head, and greeted her.

"I didn't expect anyone would still remember me."

Frieren glanced at the old man, then looked up at the statue of Himmel beside her.

"Of course, after all, Lady Himmel comes here every year to check on the seal, and she told us not to worry, that Lady Frieren will definitely come to handle it before the seal is broken."

"That certainly sounds like something Himmel would do."

The old man gazed at the stone statue of the hero, his eyes filled with longing.

"After each visit to a village and inspection of the seal, Lord Himmel would always wipe the statue clean. According to him, the hero's statue must always remain handsome so that those who see it later can feel his confidence in defeating the Demon King."

At this point, the old man sighed helplessly.

"It's a pity that there are fewer and fewer people in the village now, and the stone statue has been weathered beyond recognition."

It's understandable, given the unstable presence of Qual next to the village. Even though the seal hasn't had any serious problems in the past eighty years, no one would want their family and children to live near a Demons that could awaken at any moment.

"At first, it was just caravans passing through here, but they gradually changed their routes. Later, the young people in the village also began to move to nearby towns. Shops closed one after another, and large tracts of uncultivated fields were swallowed up by the forest again. Now, most of those who remain here are old people like me who are unwilling to leave their hometown."

"In that case, why not just have everyone move out? The nearby lords should be able to arrange new accommodations for you."

Fern asked the old man in front of him.

"Indeed, someone has suggested that."

The old man nodded.

"But the seal needs someone to guard it. If even we leave, Qual awakens prematurely, the outside world won't receive any warning. Besides, this is our homeland."

The old man turned around and looked at the somewhat dilapidated houses in the village.

"This place contains the house left by my parents, the graves of my relatives, and memories of a lifetime spent here. It's not something I can just leave behind."