Kraft's prayer lasted a very long time.
It wasn't until the afternoon when the light rain gradually stopped that he slowly closed the Spell book in his hands.
After reaching out to grasp the Goddess statue hanging on his chest and performing the closing ritual, he straightened up with a smile.
"Alright."
Just like the previous six times—
After finishing his prayer, Kraft gave his final blessing in a gentle voice.
"If Miss Flamme far away in Aureole can hear these..."
"Then she would surely be happy about your caring, Agusheed."
The same old words that never changed—
But he had to admit, Agusheed really did love hearing such blessings.
So as always, the strongest Grand Demon proactively invited the owner of the Hero's Sword to stay.
"Would you like to stay for lunch?"
Although not surprised by Agusheed's invitation,
Out of politeness, the elf monk still confirmed once more.
"Would that be appropriate?"
Appropriate... ?
Still the same as always, that unchanged honest personality for a thousand years.
"It's just lunch. What's inappropriate about that?"
Agusheed turned around while speaking casually.
"I mean, since your disciple is now by your side, wouldn't my staying cause you trouble?"
After Kraft finished speaking, he looked toward the Hero of the South, who had been kneeling silently behind them.
Cause trouble...
Hehe...
Hearing these overly polite words, Agusheed gave his old friend a strange look.
While waving for the Hero of the South to stand up, he walked casually toward the direction they came from.
"It's just a matter of one more set of tableware."
At the last moment before stepping into the Spatial Severance to return to the Heaven Vein Dragon—
The lonely old widower said coldly with his back to his disciple and old friend.
Looking at Agusheed's back, Kraft shook his head and slowly followed his steps.
"Then I'll trouble you, as I do genuinely miss your cooking."
—
In the castle on the Heaven Vein Dragon's back—
Because there was an old friend at today's dinner table,
The meal Agusheed personally cooked was obviously much more lavish than usual.
Cream mushroom soup, Red Mirror Dragon steak, ancient imperial-style beef stew...
Eiseberg casserole, Schwer roasted suckling pig, and many other regional delicacies were brought to the table.
Undoubtedly delicious.
You must know that Agusheed's cooking skills were praised even by the royal chefs of the unified empire period.
And Kraft didn't hide his satisfaction and praise.
"As lavish and delicious as always..."
"And I can clearly tell that several dishes have become even more delicious compared to recently—"
"To make improvements in such a short time, truly worthy of you, Agusheed."
The 'recently' in the elf monk's words referred to a hundred years ago.
In fact, just as he said—
For long-lived species like him and Agusheed, a hundred years was indeed quite a short time.
Agusheed neither agreed nor disagreed with Kraft's sense of time.
But before putting meat in his mouth, he corrected a misunderstanding in the elf monk's words.
"Kraft, these dishes weren't improved by me."
"Those new methods and techniques, I merely copied from humans."
So the dishes were originally improved by humans?
In that case, the time for improvement suddenly seemed much longer...
After all, a human life spans at most only a hundred years.
Just like his former companion—
Kraft's thoughts abruptly stopped when they touched upon his former monk teammate.
He didn't say much more, nor did he think much more.
Just silently raised his knife and fork again, methodically enjoying the delicious food before him.
But only halfway through eating—
Looking at the Hero of the South before him who completely disregarded his image and was wolfing down food,
The elf monk became quite interested in this strongest human he had ever seen.
"Speaking of which... Agusheed, does your disciple know about my affairs?"
Kraft proactively brought up the topic with Agusheed.
"He doesn't. Before today, he didn't even know your name clearly."
"That makes sense. In this current era, one really shouldn't expect anyone to still remember my deeds."
The Hero of the South, hearing the two old immortals' conversation mention him—
Didn't choose to blindly insert himself into the old folks' conversation.
He didn't make a sound, but also didn't restrain himself at all,
Instead continuing to devour everything before him during their conversation.
Under Agusheed's disgusted gaze, the Hero of the South continued immersing himself in the joy of eating.
The conversation between Agusheed and Kraft at the dinner table didn't last long.
Because most of what they chatted about were topics that would quickly fizzle out.
Even though they had reached the point of meeting once every hundred years—
These two lonely old men really couldn't find any topics that would keep them talking all night.
So predictably, just like every previous time—
After lunch, Kraft proposed his farewell to Agusheed.
And Agusheed, as always, chose not to continue persuading him to stay.
He only left the Hero of the South to clean up the aftermath and chose to personally see off his old friend.
Walking on the path to the edge of the Heaven Vein Dragon—
Kraft looked at Agusheed beside him and chuckled helplessly.
"Still the same as before, we two are completely unsuited to staying together..."
Regarding this statement, Agusheed had a completely different opinion from Kraft.
"Rather than being unsuited to staying together, it's more like we have no reason to stay together at all."
"Just like me and Serie—"
"She's been deliberately avoiding me for a thousand years, probably also because she has no idea how to get along with me..."
Kraft didn't refute, and even after thinking about it, somewhat agreed.
"That makes a lot of sense..."
"We who bear curses and don't belong to this era indeed have no reason to stay together..."
With a gentle smile on his face, he gripped the Spell book tightly while contemplating a certain possibility.
"Hmm... if I had to imagine—"
"Then, Agusheed, aside from you becoming the Demon King in the future, I'd probably have trouble finding other reasons to stay with you."
Becoming the Demon King...
Becoming... the Demon King?
The possibility Kraft mentioned made Agusheed rarely show a serious expression.
Rotating the ring on his ring finger, the strongest Grand Demon asked puzzledly:
"Why do you say that?"
"Could my becoming the Demon King actually influence your choices?"
Kraft nodded and slowly closed his eyes,
Describing to Agusheed the possibility he imagined.
"If one day you choose to become the Demon King, it would definitely be because of Flamme."
"So your purpose in becoming the Demon King would definitely be to achieve human-demon coexistence."
"And only then could I probably convince myself—"
"'To prevent the world from ultimately heading down an irreversible path of destruction, I must replace the Goddess in supervising your every move—to prevent you from making wrong choices or developing bad ideas during this process.'"
Interesting...
Kraft's somewhat presumptuous words didn't anger Agusheed.
Quite the opposite, this actually raised his interest considerably.
Agusheed turned his head and asked the elf monk with interest:
"That is to say..."
"If I really made some bad decision, you're confident you could correct my mistakes?"
No answer.
But the gentle, peaceful smile on Kraft's face proved everything—
For a period of time...
Agusheed had wondered—
Whether Kraft himself could draw the Hero's Sword from the Village of Swords again.
But now...
The answer seemed very obvious.
Agusheed's pace gradually slowed down,
Until Kraft had completely left him behind before stopping.
Farewells between these long-lived species needed no words.
Because in the future, they would always have a day of reunion.
"Agusheed—"
With his back to Agusheed, Kraft waved his hand and softly spoke his blessing.
"I hope our next meeting won't be a hundred years from now."
Not meeting on the next day of mourning for Flamme—
Hehe...
Must you speak so indirectly?
Staying in place, watching Kraft's gradually departing figure,
Agusheed also said softly:
"I hope our next meeting—"
—
"Won't be a hundred years from now..."
"Frieren."
In the capital of the Human-Demon Republic Freesia—
Standing atop the Demon King's Palace, Agusheed watched from afar the departing figures of his daughter's party of three.
He smiled faintly at Frieren's limping gait,
Then turned around—
Once again shouldering the responsibilities of being the Demon King.
—
Fifty-ninth year before the Sinseki Era, the first year of the Hero party's departure.
The fourth day of the journey to find Serie—
The Heaven Vein Dragon arrived in the airspace of Count Granat's Territory where the hero party was staying.
—
Sinseki Era year 28, northern nations, Tick region—
Frieren's party left the Human-Demon Republic Freesia,
Then set off with happy and joyful steps toward the Schwer Mountains where the Village of Swords was located—
----------
Powerstones?
For 20 advance chapters: patreon.com/michaeltranslates