Chapter 79
"Identity scan complete... Device lock unlocked."
Accompanied by a strange mechanical sound, the "stone" suddenly began to "deform" and eventually turned into a thin sheet.
These are the things Xiu Er left behind in every city or village he visited—devices that can record "history," and only Xiu Er has the means to read them.
"Reading complete".
In just a few seconds, Xiu Er had completely read the contents and immediately learned about the thousand-year history of this place.
The reason this city disappeared was that it was destroyed a thousand years ago by a group of fleeing Demon, and the direction the Demon came from was the Demon King's Castle.
As Doppelganger, Xiu Er immediately understood the reason behind this.
"I see."
He retrieved the device, intending to continue his exploration, but suddenly stopped.
"Ah, it's you."
A familiar female voice appeared in front of him.
A pair of silver-white ponytails fluttered in the air, and an all-too-familiar white elf appeared before him, her calm eyes revealing the surprise of "encountering an old friend".
Unlike before, there were now two different figures, one red and one purple, beside the other.
"..."
Xiu Er did not respond, but the other party seemed to be used to it and did not care, and began to introduce him to the two people next to him.
"Lady Frieren, who is this?"
The one who asked that question was the purple-haired woman who resembled a giant mushroom.
Tomato, standing to the side, remained silent, but her bewildered gaze revealed the same question as the purple-haired woman.
Because they noticed Frieren's "surprise".
"Then let me introduce it."
As if to show off, Frieren cleared her throat.
"That's Xiu Er!"
Upon hearing this, Xiu Er began to doubt Frieren's ability to provide information.
But strangely, why did those two people's expressions suddenly become so exaggerated?
"Huh??!"
The first one to break down was the tomato-shaped young man, who let out a very loud scream.
The giant mushroom, however, had a look on its face that said, "Am I dreaming?"
"?"
Even Xiu Er couldn't figure out the reason for this scene.
But the next second, he immediately understood, because the giant mushroom had already explained the reason on its own.
"She... she is the one who wiped out half of the Demon, destroyed a third of the Demon King's Castle, and is said to have been sent to earth a thousand years ago by the will of Angel Goddess — Xiu Er?!"
What a strange title!
While recording the words, Xiu Er was also analyzing the information he was receiving.
Unlike the relatively stable Big Mushroom, the Tomato Youth was already having trouble speaking.
I checked on Frieren's condition.
Her proud demeanor seemed to say, "I know people like that, aren't they amazing?"
Xiu Er declined to comment on this.
And just like that, the originally quiet environment suddenly became noisy because of a certain tomato-loving young man.
Episode 55: A Different Story
"[Question] Has so much time passed already?"
"Um."
The only answer Xiu Er came from Frieren.
Xiu Er organized the information he had obtained from Frieren and created a timeline in the database for easy analysis.
It seems that the "future" I have arrived in is the future of the timeline that has "myself" as a variable.
According to Frieren, the Demon King's Castle suffered a devastating blow, with a large number of Demon dying in the incident. Only the disabled Demon King, a small number of Great Demon, and Demon that were originally located tens of thousands of miles away from the Demon King's Castle survived.
Xiu Er was initially puzzled by the Demon King's survival, as he didn't know how the Demon King had managed to survive "himself."
However, he didn't take it to heart. He only needed to pass the information to the Commander Unit and leave the rest to the other party to consider.
After that incident, the Demon disappeared from the world's sight for a rare time. During that period, there were only sporadic incidents in which the Demon appeared, but those were all eliminated by powerful adventurers later on.
After that, no more Demon were ever seen.
Originally, people thought that the Demon had disappeared, but in recent years, the Demon race has made a comeback and reappeared in people's eyes.
After that, it was Xiu Er familiar but not entirely familiar story of Hero fighting a demon Demon King.
The difference is that the current Demon does not have the "Seven Sages" from the original work, and the Hero team faces only "minor monsters" along the way.
The Demon no longer has any powerful beings. It is speculated that such beings were eliminated in the Demon King's Castle incident years ago.
Xiu Er agreed with this speculation, and based on his own understanding, he would definitely not let these powerful (and valuable) Demon go.
However, Frieren's mention of "in recent years" gave Xiu Er a new understanding of the elves' concept of time.
It was only through Frieren's introduction that he learned the names of her two companions.
The purple-haired, mushroom-like woman Frieren.
The tomato-shaped man who looks a bit simple-minded is Hutalk.
Now that the plot has changed drastically compared to the original story, Xiu Er that these three can still get together.
But none of that matters; he doesn't care about any of that.
[Question] Where is your destination?
"Currently, it's Oisast."
"[Question] Oisast?"
"Hmm, I need to pass a Magic User exam."
Xiu Er's expression remained unchanged, but Frieren had already sensed the doubt in his unchanging tone and provided an answer.
Yes, it was amazing. Just like facing an old friend, Frieren easily read Xiu Er's "thoughts".
If the other party hadn't admitted that he hadn't used "Mind Reading Magic" and hadn't been confirmed by Xiu Er, he would have really thought that the other party's Magic strength had reached a level that he couldn't detect.
However, even without Frieren's explanation, Xiu Er understood the purpose of their trip.
Having read the original work, he naturally had information about this plot in his database. Frieren and her group had to go to the Continental Magic Association to take the exam to become Level 1 Magic User in order to pass through this place.
Frieren and Hutalk followed quietly behind, listening to the conversation between the two "old guys".
Yes, because Xiu Er was that legendary figure, they naturally categorized each other as "old things".
However, because Xiu Er looks too young, they can't really treat each other as elders. Just like Frieren, who is actually a thousand years old, her appearance makes it impossible for anyone to look at her as an old person.
Even Frieren thought that Frieren sometimes acted like a child, especially when she lingered in bed in the morning.
"Do you want to come with us?"
"..."
Although he really wanted to go find Sariel right now to update his "Magic inventory," Xiu Er was more concerned about his apprentice, Takuson.
As far as he knew, Takuson's strength was no less than that of Volumen in the realm of Magic.
Logically speaking, they should have left behind some kind of legacy.
So, in response to Frieren's "team-up request," our Xiu Er gave the following reply.
"[Proposal rejected]"
"Yeah."
Although she was rejected, Frieren wasn't surprised.
The reason was simple: she realized that the "Xiu Er" in front of her was not the real Xiu Er. The individual in front of her was just a Doppelganger of the other party. The request to team up earlier was just a casual remark. Whether the individual in front of her would agree or not was irrelevant.
Back then, she had experienced similar situations no less than ten times.
"So where are you going next?"
"[Answer] Looking for records of the individual 'Takuson'."
"Takuson ..."
These long years were not a long time for elves, and that person had left quite a mark on history. Frieren quickly remembered the person Xiu Er had mentioned.
"Oh, you mean him?"
"Takuson?"
Suddenly speaking up, the giant mushroom—no, it was Frieren— drew their attention, while her companion Hutalk, looked at her suddenly excited partner with a puzzled expression.
"Xiu Er Shul, are you referring to 'Takuson the Berserker,' who single-handedly fought against numerous Great Demons and returned victorious during the siege of the Demon King's Castle?"
Hmm? A battle maniac?
That's quite a unique title.
Also, do people in this world all use this "xx's xx" format for their titles?
After silently complaining to himself, Xiu Er still confirmed that the person was indeed his apprentice Takuson, based on the characteristics described by Frieren.
So, in the time that followed, Xiu Er learned most of the deeds left behind by Takuson through Frieren's one-sided account.
One such story is that, due to the missionary work of Takuson, Xiu Er portrayed Taksen as Angel of the Goddess, a fact that was later widely circulated within the Papacy.
After hearing everything Frieren knew, Xiu Er remained unmoved. Well, that's normal; as a Doppelganger, he didn't have much control over his expressions.
He simply and silently transmitted all the information he received to the Commander Unit, namely Xiu Er himself.
The perspective shifts to Xiu Er himself.
At this moment, he was wearing the Divine Might Astral Dress, the first layer, and he was flying in the air, with a ground beneath his feet that had been plowed up by artillery bombardment.
The remaining ruins on the ground allow those in the know to recognize that this was originally the site of the Demon King's Castle.
Now, the ground is riddled with holes and the castle is crumbling, a far cry from its former "prosperity".
And the "Demon King" in the story is also in a "miserable state" at this moment.
"..."
"..."
They looked at each other in silence...
The Demon King, kneeling on the ground, looked up at the god-like figure in the sky.
A dazzling white light shone in all directions; those were the "wings" of the Angel Xiu Er, each capable of unleashing "divine punishment" upon the earth beneath their feet.
And what about the Demon King's minions?
Of course, most of them were killed or wounded the moment they were "ambushed" by Xiu Er.
The weaker Demon did not survive. With the carpet bombing that Xiu Er launched from the beginning, the weaker Demon were all eliminated, leaving only a few powerful Great Demon with special Magic.
Is this Xiu Er's "benevolence"?