Chapter 230: Flamme Gains an Apprentice
His "a little hungry" had been met with a stunned silence. Even the duke and the bishop were at a loss for words. A soldier, his own hands now white-knuckled with a new and different kind of a fear, swallowed hard. Food? he thought, his own mind still reeling from the sudden and unexpected shift from a certain and terrible death to a… dinner party.
It was an surreal feeling. One moment, they had been on the verge of a desperate and a bloody last stand. The next, a savior had descended from the heavens and had, with a single, effortless blow, wiped out the entire demon army. And the first words from his mouth had been about food. The contrast… it was too great.
In the end, it was the bishop who was the first to recover. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, a new and a profound reverence in his own eyes. "I am Cassarius, the bishop of New Moon City," he said with a deep bow. "And I thank you for saving us."
"And I, Lord Hoder, the duke of New Moon City," the other said, and also bowed. "We are eternally in your debt." His own back was now slick with a cold sweat. He was so, so glad that he had listened to the bishop's advice, that he had not mistreated the two girls.
"There is no need for such formalities," he said with a wave of his hand. "My own apprentices caused this mess, after all. It is only right that I clean it up." He said it so casually, as if it had been nothing at all.
His words made the girl's own face burn with a new and a different kind of a shame, and she buried her face in her hands. And even the other, the elf, a blush was now creeping up her own neck. The words he had used… they were a little… crude. "What a strange analogy," she said. "Could you not have chosen a more… elegant one?"
"It's a crude but an apt one, isn't it."
She just glared at him, but did not say another word. She turned her gaze to the two girls, and for a moment, a flicker of a genuine and a sincere concern was in her own eyes. But when she spoke, her voice was as cold and as sharp as ever. "To be unable to handle such a small matter… you have brought shame upon me. But at least you are not dead."
"Teacher Serie, we…" they both began, a torrent of an explanations now on their lips.
"Later," she cut him off. He was hungry, and that was the only thing that mattered now. "I am Serie," she said to the duke and the bishop. "And he," she said, and turned to him, the choice of his own introduction now in his own hands.
"I am Rhodes."
"?" She looked at him, a new and a different kind of a surprise on her own face. He had always been so secretive. Why was he revealing his own name now?
"Rhodes…" the duke said, a look of a pure and an utter confusion on his own face. "The same as the… the God-slayer? What a fateful coincidence."
Even now, even after all he had seen, he had not made the connection.
And she, in the corner, with her own, now open and a knowing eyes, a small and a strange smile was now on her own face. The two… they were the same. Of course. The power, the coincidence… it was too great. But she would keep her own suspicion to herself for now.
"Lady Serie, and Lord Rhodes," the two said, their own voices now filled with a new and a terrible reverence.
"Alright, that's enough," he said with a stretch and a yawn. "Can you find us a place to rest? And perhaps… something to eat? I think this little one is hungry as well," he said, and pointed to the other girl, who was now hiding behind the other two. At the mention of her own name, she flinched, and a new and a different kind of a panic was now in her own eyes. "I… I am not."
"Of course," the duke said with a hasty bow. "I will make the arrangements at once."
The duke and the bishop, their own faces now a picture of a pure and a reverent awe, led them into the city.
In the grand banquet hall of the duke's own palace, a feast had been laid out.
"This is not a matter that should be taken lightly," the bishop had said at their earlier meeting, when they had told him the full story. And the duke had agreed. The matter of the two girls' own transgression was now a thing of the past. To have been a guest to such a power… it was an honor, and a terrifying one.
"Lady Serie, Lord Rhodes," the bishop now said, his own voice a new and a different sound, a sound of a pure and a sincere reverence. "We are in your debt."
"There is no need for such words," he said. "The tide of monsters, its early and its powerful arrival… it was not just a coincidence. I could feel it, a dark and a guiding presence, a thing that was not of a normal monster. It was the work of a demon."
At his own words, the bishop's own face was now a mask of a pure and a terrible concern.
"The demons… they knew your own barrier was weak, and they took the opportunity to strike," he continued. "Even without my apprentices' own… transgression, you would have been in a great and a terrible danger."
The duke and the bishop exchanged a look, a new and a terrible fear in their own eyes. And the two girls, a new and a different kind of a relief was now in their own hearts. It had not been entirely their fault.
"As a gesture of a our own… compensation, and as a token of our own… gratitude, for your own… hospitality," he said, and a new and a terrible power now emanated from him, "let me… refill your own barrier."
A wave of a pure and a holy light, a torrent of a raw and an untamed magical power, now flowed from him and, in a single and an effortless gesture, the great and a terrible barrier of the city, which had been a flickering and a dying thing, was now a new and a brilliant thing, a thing that was even stronger than before.
And then, he took a sip of his own wine and said, "There. All done. Now, I am a little hungry."
Later, in the guest chambers.
"Teacher… I am so sorry," the two said once more.
"We will discuss your punishment later," she said, her own voice a cold and a level sound.
"And next time… be more careful," he said with a wave of his hand. "By the way… I forgot to ask. How are you feeling?" he said to the other girl, to Frieren.
"I… I am fine. But my village…"
"A third of your own people survived," the other girl said, her own voice a soft and a sad sound. "And we helped them to rebuild."
"And what will you do now?" he asked.
"I… I want to go back. And then… I want to go with you."
He and she exchanged a look. "Your own magical talent… it is good," she said. "But you are a little… clumsy."
The other girl's own eyes lit up. Was he… was he going to take her as his own apprentice?
"In that case," he said, and his own gaze now fell on the other, "from now on, you will learn from her."
"? "
"She will be your own apprentice now."
"But… but Teacher Rhodes… I… I have never been a teacher before," she said, a new and a different kind of a panic in her own voice. And to teach another, an elf, a mage who was already a powerful in her own right…
"What are you afraid of?" she said, her own voice now a sharp and a cold sound. "Just try. And if she is too stupid… just throw her away."
"I will do my best," the other said with a serious nod.
And so, with her own two teachers' own, and rather… strange, blessing, she had, in a single and an unexpected moment, gained an apprentice of her own.
(End of chapter)
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