Flamme's Letter

Hearing Lin Yu's words, Daimon finally came back to his senses, a strange expression appearing on his resolute face.

Before coming here, he had heard many rumors about this Lord from the local people.

There had been no shortage of descriptions such as mysterious, imposing, and powerful, but he never could have imagined that the assessment best suited the man's personality would be the one Flamme had casually mentioned years ago: careless... no, unconstrained by trifles!

No matter what Daimon thought inwardly, he maintained the respect expected of a subject on the surface.

"My Lord, I am Daimon!"

"Then there's no problem!"

Lin Yu smiled and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the surroundings changed at incredible speed.

In the blink of an eye, the three of them had been moved from the majestic hall to the Study Room inside Stone Castle.

The room was enormous. Five-meter-tall bookshelves lined every wall, packed with all kinds of bamboo magic scrolls, as well as the new paper Magic Books invented in recent years in the Spine Peak Territory, which had gradually begun replacing scrolls.

Lin Yu casually seated himself behind the desk and smiled at the still-composed Daimon.

"Sit down and let's talk. I'm very interested in your journey!"

Only then did Daimon realize that a redwood high-backed chair had appeared behind him at some point.

After hesitating for a moment, he chose not to sit. Instead, he took out a letter from his robe and respectfully said, "My Lord, Lord Fulamei asked me to deliver this letter to you. I believe Lord Fulamei has already described our experiences in sufficient detail..."

It was actually paper!

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow, instinctively sensing something was off.

It had only been two years since he had secretly guided the old village chief to invent paper.

Even the regions around the Spine Peak Territory had yet to adopt it widely. How had Flamme gotten hold of it in the Northern Plateau?

As Lin Yu pondered this, he lightly curled a finger.

Instantly, Magic Power rippled through the air, drawing the letter into his hand.

The moment it landed in his palm, Lin Yu's face visibly darkened.

No wonder she could write a letter on paper. She had torn this thing right out of the Holy Scripture!

Then again, that really did sound like something Flamme would do...

While grumbling inwardly, Lin Yu casually asked, "Where's Flamme?"

Daimon respectfully replied, "My Lord, after crossing the Northern Plateau, Lord Fulamei left ahead of us. I heard she intended to take her newly accepted apprentice to meet her teacher, then visit you again after some time."

...A newly accepted apprentice?

The Chosen Protagonist of this world, the Elf Mage Frieren, had finally entered the scene?!

Lin Yu mused to himself, then nodded. "Going to see Seirei first? That works."

As he spoke, he unfolded the letter in his hand and carefully read its contents.

"To my friend Lin Yu: Ten years have passed since we last met. I wonder whether you and Rolycoly are well."

"Since leaving your territory, Daimon and I traveled north, passing through..."

Lin Yu carefully read the letter from his friend, written after ten long years.

The beginning was simple. Flamme and Daimon had traveled north together, slaying Monsters and exploring dungeons along the way, before meeting the other two members of their party in a northern city.

Both were orphans of the Northern War. One was a down-and-out noble knight, while the other was a young female monk.

Unlike Daimon, the vanguard with an innately monstrous physique, the noble knight excelled at swordsmanship. His role was more like that of Himmel from the Hero Party a thousand years later: the party's physical damage dealer.

As for the female monk who could use the Holy Scripture to dispel curses, there was no need to say more. She was unquestionably the support girl.

Thus, with a vanguard, support, magical damage dealer, and physical damage dealer all assembled, Flamme's four-person party had officially formed.

They set out from a frontline city north of the Unified Empire, traveled ever farther north through the Demon Race territory, defeated countless Demon Race armies, and at last reached the northernmost point of the continent after great hardship.

There, they finally encountered the Demon King.

In Flamme's own words, the moment she saw the Demon King, she knew he was not an enemy they could defeat head-on.

Even so, they still fought the Demon King and the Demon King's army—

It was a battle Flamme called a crushing defeat.

Even someone as proud as Flamme had to admit that without the Holy Scripture Lin Yu had given her, all four of them would likely have died in that battle.

In short, after a battle too miserable to describe, Flamme was forced to pull out the Holy Scripture and unleash several devastating ultimate moves in succession, reducing the entire Demon King's castle to ruins before barely escaping with her three companions.

Lin Yu did not know whether Flamme in the original story had ever fought the Demon King.

If her companions had indeed died at the Demon King's hands, then his Holy Scripture had undoubtedly saved those three.

If Flamme in the original story had never faced the Demon King directly, then this battle had very likely been possible only because Lin Yu's Holy Scripture had given her confidence she never possessed in the original story.

Whichever was true, his Holy Scripture had already changed the fate of Frieren's party.

Lin Yu continued reading. The latter part of the letter concerned Flamme's change in mindset.

Flamme admitted that she was absolutely no match for the Demon King now.

If she intended to fulfill her dream within her lifetime and promote the development of magic in human society, then she would never, even until death, grow strong enough to defeat the Demon King.

So, should she strengthen herself and gamble on the possibility of defeating the Demon King someday in the future?

Or should she hold fast to her original aspiration and spend the rest of her life fulfilling that first dream...

This was the difficult choice Flamme had faced ever since leaving the Demon King's castle.

She had pondered the question throughout the journey, and without even realizing it, her style had gradually changed.

Before fighting the Demon King, she had been an immensely proud and gifted young genius. But after her crushing defeat, she began considering forms of combat beyond direct confrontation.

In this letter, Flamme specifically mentioned the inseparable relationship between the Demon Race and Magic Power.

Just like the mindless Monsters, the Demon Race measured status by Magic Power.

To them, Magic Power symbolized dignity and status. They could never give up everything it brought them, and therefore could never conceal the Magic Power within themselves forever.

Humans, however, had no such limitation, and Flamme saw a sliver of possibility for strategic victory.

She began hiding the fluctuations of her Magic Power, maintaining that suppressed state during training, battle, and everyday life.

The results proved her strategy quite successful. After getting used to suppressing her Magic Power, she successfully ambushed many powerful Demon Race members, causing them to let down their guard and expose fatal openings.

For Flamme, who had been deeply dispirited ever since heading south, it was undoubtedly a much-needed boost.

Unfortunately, their battle with the Demon King had caused far too great a commotion.

Before long, Flamme's party became well known. Many powerful Demon Race members had become wary of her, and this method of ambushing others by suppressing Magic Power no longer worked very well.

At this point in the letter, Flamme mocked herself, saying that in Lin Yu's words, her account was already ruined.

So, she wanted to find an unparalleled genius and train him into a weapon against the Demon King, allowing him to become accustomed to suppressing his Magic Power from childhood and maintain it for life, until the day he defeated the Demon King.

Unfortunately, human mages were extremely dismissive of such methods.

They believed the practice was utterly despicable and beneath them.

Of course, that was only their one-sided claim.

Flamme believed they simply did not want to give up the status and wealth brought by Magic Power. They did not want to play the pig forever as she did, all for the sake of devouring a tiger in a single battle!

She had not been discouraged, and had continued searching for the right candidate.

Until not long ago, in an Elf Village in the north that had been massacred by the Demon Race, she encountered that fated elf girl...