Eisen

Following the Sea Wedding Festival ceremony comes a grand market that lasts for fifteen days. People from nearby villages come here to buy discounted daily necessities or to select novel items that are rarely seen on ordinary days.

Besides grains, cloth, and farm tools, the market also sells spices, medicinal herbs, jewelry, and strange goods from all over the world. Some people even bring out all the old things they've accumulated over the years and set them up by the roadside, waiting for some unlucky person willing to spend money.

Lorenzo and his group also bought quite a few interesting things. The old man who commissioned the shore cleanup work was an honest man; seeing that they had completed the task ahead of schedule, he even paid them a small extra reward.

After the fifteen-day festival market ended, the long winter in the Glanz Strait was also coming to an end.

Merchants from nearby villages gradually packed up their stalls, and residents took down the colorful flags and seashell decorations hanging on both sides of the street. The streets, which had been crowded and noisy just a few days ago, quickly returned to their former tranquility.

The weather is gradually warming up.

The snow covering the rooftops and sides of the road is slowly melting. The sea breeze still carries a chill, but it is no longer as unbearably cold as it was in the dead of winter.

So the three of them began packing their bags to continue their journey to the Brete Region, east of the Central Lands. One morning, they continued eastward along the road that led out of the town. After traveling some distance, Lorenzo looked back.

The unique reward that Flamme mentioned never appeared before she left, but since she made a point of leaving those words, it will probably come knocking on her door someday in some unexpected way.

"Lady Frieren, how far is it from here to the Brete Region?"

Fern took out the map and asked.

"If the roads aren't washed away by the melting snow, it will probably take more than a month."

Frieren answered.

"Will we be able to see Lord Eisen once we get there?"

Frieren looked at the mountains that were gradually coming into view at the end of the road and said.

"Well, if he hasn't moved yet."

Why was this crucial point only mentioned now?

But in any case, the journey to the Brete Region has finally begun again, and tender shoots that are just beginning to emerge from the ground can be faintly seen beneath the snow on both sides of the road.

Spring is coming soon.

"Lady Frieren, are we really on the right path?"

Looking around at the dense forest that seemed completely similar, Fern asked Frieren, who was walking ahead, "It's not that I don't trust her... well, to be honest, I just don't trust her."

After all, when they first met Frieren, she seemed to be lost, and the surrounding environment looked even more complicated than that situation. It seemed that Lady Frieren would lead them back to the point of being lost.

"Of course, it's the right path."

Frieren answered without turning her head.

"Don't worry, there's very little human activity around here, so nothing has changed much."

Can we really rest assured?

Out of respect for Lady Frieren, Fern ultimately refrained from voicing her questions. Besides, since Lord Lorenzo hadn't spoken, why should she worry about it?

After turning left and right and walking along a path almost completely covered by bushes for a long time, the three of them finally arrived at an open space.

The dense canopy of trees parted to both sides here, and in the center of the clearing sat two low mounds made of stones, their surroundings kept very clean, clearly indicating that someone often came to look after them.

On the other side of the open space, a low house is embedded in the rock, as if someone had hollowed out the entire rock face and carved out a habitable space inside.

"We actually arrived."

Looking at the house, Fern couldn't help but speak his mind.

"Of course, I told you it was possible."

Just as Frieren was about to knock on the door, a voice suddenly came from the side of the house.

"Long time no see, Frieren."

The three looked in the direction of the sound and saw a short but unusually strong old dwarf emerge from behind the rock house, carrying a bundle of thick firewood on his shoulder that looked enough to crush an ordinary person.

"Long time no see, Eisen."

Frieren raised her hand and greeted him casually, as if they were old friends, making it impossible to tell that the two hadn't seen each other for decades.

I never imagined you'd embark on a new journey.

Eisen glanced at Lorenzo and Fern behind Frieren.

"Since you've already come this far, it means Heiter is already dead."

"Lord Heiter passed away last year."

Fern explained to Eisen.

"Yeah."

Eisen remained silent for a moment.

His expression didn't change much, as if he had long anticipated this day, but his eyes still drooped slightly and fell to the ground.

For dwarves whose lifespan far exceeds that of humans, the death of a friend is probably not an unfamiliar event.

What happened to him in the end?

He passed away peacefully.

Fern answered softly.

"You're the child he adopted, aren't you?"

Eisen nodded and asked Fern.

You know me?

"I often write to Heiter. He said he adopted a child with great True Magic talent and Frieren and Mr. Lorenzo to continue taking care of you after his death."

As he spoke, Eisen's gaze turned to Lorenzo, and then he couldn't help but ask Frieren.

"But Frieren, is it really okay for your current team to be full of True Magic?"

A normal party should have three classes: warrior, monk, and True Magic. Eisen originally thought that the hero's party was already quite unique with two warriors, but he never expected that Frieren could form a party full of True Magic.

Isn't this a bit too "one-sided"?

"That's why we came to find you."

Frieren said to Eisen in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Come with us, our squad needs warriors like you."

Eisen remained silent for a moment.

"I refuse."

"Why?"

"I'm old."

Upon hearing this reason, both Fern and Lorenzo looked at the bundle of firewood that Eisen had casually tossed on the ground.

The thinnest of them was almost as long as an average person's waist. The whole bundle must have weighed at least several hundred kilograms. The fact that someone could carry such a thing through the mountains and forests as if nothing had happened made them seem nothing like someone who was supposed to be "old."

"Besides, I'm no longer able to undertake such long journeys."

Eisen looked down at his hands, his skin covered with thick calluses from years of wielding weapons, but only he knew that his strength was no longer as inexhaustible as it had been in his youth.

"My reflexes are slowing down, and my stamina is declining. Sooner or later, I'll become a burden when facing truly dangerous enemies."

Frieren looked at him and ultimately didn't press the matter any further.

"Okay, but won't you invite us in? It's getting a bit cold outside."