The Golden Age

"I will use Purification True Magic to remove the curse from them."

Frieren pointed her staff at them, and a soft white light spread from the tip of the staff, like a thin mist covering the entire open space.

Then, one after another, the armored figures fell to the ground.

"But Lady Frieren, doesn't Purification True Magic consume a lot of Mana?"

Fern asked, somewhat puzzled.

In real battle, there is no room for leisurely choices. To protect your own life and that of your companions, whatever True Magic you use is undoubtedly the right decision as long as it kills the enemy most efficiently.

This was a principle taught to her by Lord Lorenzo, which she always regarded as her guiding principle.

Moreover, these Undead have lost their controllers and are incapable of putting up any real resistance. Ordinary attack True Magic could easily destroy them all with far less Mana.

"You're right, Fern."

Frieren walked up to a fallen suit of armor and examined it closely as she spoke.

"However, that applies when facing equally matched opponents, but these Undead clearly don't meet that requirement."

Frieren reached out and brushed the dirt off the surface of her breastplate, revealing a now very faint emblem.

"Furthermore, they were humans who fought against Demons in life, but were manipulated by Aura after death. Therefore, we should still have basic respect and pity for such people."

Fern nodded thoughtfully.

"But ultimately, we still don't know what this 'Aura' is looking for here."

Stark had already checked the places the Undead had dug, but there was nothing noteworthy inside, just soil and a pile of broken stones.

"Moreover, the map in that Demons's hand doesn't seem to be a map of this island at all."

Lorenzo then added.

He spread out several parchment sheets he had found among the Demons on a relatively flat stone, and then took out a map of the Northern Countries that they always carried with them for comparison.

The map left by the Demons was very simple. It did not mark towns and roads, but only recorded mountains, rivers and a few more conspicuous terrain features. In addition, there were many locations circled in red ink on the map.

The island in the middle of the lake where they were was just one of them.

"These locations don't seem to have any connection."

Fern bent down to examine them closely. Some were located deep in the mountains, some were hidden in the forest, and some, like this small island, were in the middle of the lake.

There is absolutely no discernible pattern.

I think I've found some clues.

After Frieren buried the Headless Knights, she found a folded note hidden in the lining of one of the suits of armor.

The paper was already yellowed, with large patches of dried blood still remaining on the edges, and the handwriting was crooked and messy, clearly written in a state of extreme weakness.

"--My path is devoid of light; my lips part like a crescent moon, my eyes like those of a bloodthirsty beast. Though my strength has not diminished, my soul has sunk into the mire, my limbs have turned into blades. My friend, if you are fortunate enough to see this note, you will surely never see my face again. But Aura's conspiracy has not yet been revealed; she is searching for the traces of the Demons known as Tropo-- "

The text ends abruptly here.

The last stroke left a long trail of ink, as if the writer wanted to leave more content, but their fingers had completely lost control.

"Tropo-- "

Frieren murmured the name to herself.

So who exactly is Tropo?

Stark scratched his head and asked.

"If I remember correctly, this seems to be a name from the First Generation Seven Sages of Destruction."

Fern said somewhat hesitantly.

"First generation?"

"The Seven Sages of Destruction were not always the same seven Demons from the very beginning of the Demon King's Army."

Fern recalled what she had read.

"During the millennia-long war with humanity, they have also experienced death and replacement. For example, the Aura the Guillotine only officially ascended to become Seven Sages of Destruction five hundred years ago."

It seems Fern has a pretty good grasp of True Magic history, remembering all of this.

"Tropo was the First Generation Seven Sages of Destruction of the Demon King's Army, and was eventually killed by Flamme."

Frieren then spoke up to add, and then she picked up the map again and compared it with the map of the Northern Countries.

"Just as I thought."

Frieren laid the two maps side by side on the ground.

"These are all areas marked on the map where Tropos were quite active in the past."

One of these locations was once a fortress built by the Demon King's Army in the north, another was the site of Tropo's massacre of villages, and several other locations were briefly mentioned in the documents left by Flamme.

As for the island in the middle of the lake beneath their feet—

Was this place a battlefield before?

"Stark asked."

"No."

Frieren shook her head.

"If I remember correctly, this is where Tropo died."

About a thousand years ago, Flamme went through a rather unusual period when, for reasons unknown, she suddenly began searching for powerful Demons and monsters throughout the continent.

Once she receives relevant information, whether the target is hidden in a desolate mountain or in an area controlled by the Demon King's Army, she will go there alone and kill them.

At that time, she still had little interest in human beings and the outside world. Apart from studying True Magic, she could be said to be completely oblivious to the world around her. Even so, she could often hear news about Flamme and her companions from merchants and adventurers passing through villages.

Even as they passed through a village, a girl told herself that this was the best summer of her life.

That year Flamme turned her attention to the Demons near her village. Her father was a merchant who earned five years' worth of wealth in a single year because all the threats on the road had been eliminated.

The day before yesterday, everyone in the village suddenly stopped what they were doing, hugged each other, and cheered. It turned out that Lady Flamme had killed another great Demons not far away, and she said she was very happy, as if it were the golden age of all mankind.

"Tropo was also killed by Flamme during that period."

Frieren snapped out of her distant memories and looked back at the ground beneath her feet.

"But don't Demons turn into black particles after they die? Logically, they shouldn't leave behind any corpses, right?"

Lorenzo raised a question: after all, monsters in this world don't necessarily disappear after they die, but Demons definitely do.

I don't know if this ability evolved specifically for this purpose, to prevent the corpse from being opened and mutilated after death.

"Who knows? Let's just keep going. If we follow the route, we should run into Aura sooner or later."

After putting the map away again, Frieren spoke to them.