"It's the pursuers."
Flamme calmly glanced at the three figures behind her.
"They seem stronger than the general Frieren just killed."
"Hmm." Shichen knew how powerful Flamme was, so he nodded lightly, unafraid.
Frieren, on the other hand, was expressionless and said nothing.
"What an interesting bunch of guys." Flamme looked at the three demons and chuckled softly.
"They were completely suppressing their magic until just now, trying to ambush us from behind… but as soon as they realized we were also mages, they immediately revealed themselves. Although demons are despicable and cunning, no matter what kind of demon, they are extremely arrogant about their utterly boring magic."
Flamme's magic barely enveloped her entire body, but the magic of each of these three demons was stronger than Frieren's, which was why they revealed themselves.
The demon in the middle, wearing a helmet that looked like ram horns, ignored Flamme's mockery and warned Shichen, "Human, put down that female elf."
"Dream on!" Shichen brazenly refused.
With Flamme present, he wasn't afraid of these three demons at all; he was, after all, her disciple.
It felt good to borrow her prestige.
"If I put her down, will you spare us?" Flamme asked.
"All elves must be killed, that is the Demon King's command; your life is irrelevant." The demon replied.
"Is that so?"
Flamme smiled and stood in front of Shichen.
"Frieren." She turned to look at Frieren: "Indeed, I know very well what powerful mages are thinking, and I naturally understand what these guys are thinking. They are full of arrogance and trust in the magic they have studied until now, in other words… they are full of trash-like arrogance and carelessness."
Boom—!
As soon as Flamme finished speaking, an explosion suddenly sounded, and before the demons could react, they were hit by her magic.
In front of Flamme, a giant pit slowly appeared after the smoke dissipated, and only remnants of the three demons who were originally in the pit remained, quickly vanishing.
This was Flamme's true strength!
A casual strike, instantly killing three general-level demons.
Frieren, who was lie on Shichen's back, widened her eyes in shock.
"Frieren." Flamme said softly, with her back to Shichen and Frieren: "I am different from you; they don't seem to perceive me as a threat."
"…" Frieren was speechless at this moment, because the magic bursting from Flamme was much greater than hers.
Flamme turned to look at the two and continued, "Although these guys were excellent mages, they lost their lives due to their own carelessness."
"…By limiting the release of magic power outside the body, so the opponent cannot correctly judge the strength of the magic?" Frieren murmured to herself, finally understanding why she had felt Flamme was much stronger than her before.
"Exactly." Flamme nodded lightly: "Making the opponent misjudge the strength of one's magic, and then using that to kill them… this is a despicable and shoddy way of fighting, playing with noble and sacred magic in the palm of one's hand."
"Do I need to learn this magic?" Frieren no longer resisted becoming Flamme's disciple.
"Yes." Flamme looked deeply at Frieren: "I want you to keep practicing this magic."
Flamme's first lesson for Frieren began, and Shichen, who was between the two, seemed to have become transparent.
At first, he mistakenly thought he had killed the demons, but now he was so focused on Frieren.
Fortunately, Shichen didn't mind… as if!
Afterward, Shichen and Frieren followed Flamme back to her residence and began their magic studies.
This should have been a perfect start, but Shichen had no magic power and couldn't cultivate.
After a few days, Flamme already suspected that she had misjudged him at first; besides his appearance and temperament, Shichen was nothing but a magic idiot.
How could he learn magic without magic power?
But she had already taken him as a disciple, and it wouldn't be good to expel him, so she might as well let him stay.
After all, his cooking skills were quite good.
Frieren, on the other hand, was very talented and quickly picked up magic, which pleased Flamme greatly.
The three of them thus began a simple life.
Half a month later.
In the forest, a dark shadow moved quickly through the branches, like an ape, agile and flexible, without needing vines.
On a thick branch, the dark shadow stopped, revealing its true form.
Shichen carefully watched the gray-furred wild rabbit under the tree, his eyes narrowed slightly, and slowly raised his right hand holding a stone.
Taking advantage of the wild rabbit's back being turned, Shichen cleanly threw the stone at it.
Thwack!
The stone accurately hit the back of the wild rabbit's head, and the rabbit died instantly, falling to the ground.
Shichen jumped down from the tree, picked up the rabbit, examined it, and smiled.
"It's quite plump. We have lunch now; let's make a stewed rabbit soup."
Shichen carried the rabbit and returned in the direction of their home.
For the past half month, besides watching Frieren practice magic, Shichen had been out hunting.
Since he couldn't practice magic, he could only take care of his master and junior sister's daily lives.
It just so happened that he had mission privileges, and it would be a shame not to experience it properly, and he suspected that the privilege was given to him precisely for this kind of thing.
Although acquiring the Divine Spark Shard required gaining Frieren's trust, as long as people stayed together, trust would naturally arise, and Frieren was so innocent that he didn't need to do much at all.
But because she was so innocent, taking care of her was quite good.
Upon returning to the residence, Shichen found only Frieren sitting cross-legged outside, eyes closed, practicing. His master, Flamme, had disappeared again.
It wasn't the first time.
Their residence should be a small, simple, and rustic bungalow, surrounded by flower fields that filled the air with fragrance every day.
The small bungalow had a total of three rooms, one of which was the kitchen.
Frieren and Flamme slept together.
Originally there was only one room, but with Shichen being a male, there definitely needed to be an extra room. And he later asked Flamme to make a kitchen, which she finished in a few minutes.
Magic was truly convenient.
Shichen didn't rush to the kitchen to cook, but instead went to Frieren's side, lowering his head and staring at her delicate face.
After a while, Frieren couldn't stand it anymore and opened her eyes. She remained expressionless, but her eyes darted down to the rabbit in his hand.
"Are we eating rabbit again today?" Frieren's tone was flat, but it seemed to carry a hint of disdain.
This was the tenth day of eating rabbit.
"No choice, I only found rabbits. Look how plump and delicious it is." Shichen held the rabbit out to Frieren.
She closed her eyes, not looking at all: "I am an elf, why do I always eat this?"
"Weren't you happy eating it at first?"
Frieren: "…"
"No roasted rabbit today, we're making stewed soup."
"Stewed soup?" Frieren opened her eyes again.
"It's very delicious." Shichen said confidently.
"Then I'll look forward to it."
"Trust my cooking." Shichen reached out his other hand and ruffled her small head.
Frieren now had twin ponytails, which Shichen had helped her tie; she looked even cuter this way.
Frieren didn't mind his mischievous hand; she noticed that Shichen seemed to really like touching her head. After the first time he ruffled her hair for no reason, he became unrestrained.
Is this interesting?
"By the way, Frieren, isn't this boring for you?" Shichen suddenly asked.
"It is a bit boring." Frieren nodded lightly.
"Then why do you practice every day? Elves have very long lifespans."
"Perhaps… I like magic." Frieren said calmly.
"You like magic, huh? I like magic too, it's so convenient." Shichen chuckled.
"Shichen…" Frieren looked at him, pursing her lips.
"You should call me Senior Brother!" Shichen rubbed her head vigorously before heading to the kitchen to cook.
Frieren watched his back disappear, then slowly closed her eyes and continued her practice.
Flamme didn't return immediately, so Shichen and Frieren enjoyed a meal of rabbit soup by themselves.
It was Shichen's first time making it, and Frieren ate with great satisfaction, as it finally wasn't that greasy roasted rabbit.
But in the following days, Shichen made rabbit soup a few more times, and Frieren grew tired of it again.
Although the dishes were different, it was still rabbit in the end. Eating rabbit every day, she was about to reach her limit.
Shichen didn't like cooking vegetables because he didn't like eating them.
Frieren herself couldn't cook and had to rely on Shichen. She decided to sacrifice her head a bit and let him ruffle it more often.
She was going to throw up if she ate any more rabbit.
Flamme was gone for quite a while this time, not returning even after half a month.
During this half month, Shichen and Frieren had been living in their own world, and he had been taking care of her every day, so trust naturally formed.
One morning, when the mechanical voice sounded, Shichen realized he had already spent a month there.
[Mission completed, please retrieve the Divine Spark Shard from the target in time.]
[Retrieval method: Skin contact for one minute.]
[Forced departure in one week, proceed to a new world to search for Divine Spark Shards.]