The next day, after leaving at the agreed time, Fíliya bumped right into Frieren's party.
At this moment, Frieren still wore a sleepy expression. It wasn't until she clearly saw the appearance of the person in front of her that her eyes opened slightly wider.
"What the, so you didn't leave after all."
Frieren's tone carried a trace of drowsiness. When her gaze locked onto the three demons behind Fíliya, she unconsciously revealed a look of disgust, but when her eyes met Fíliya's, the arc of her mouth clearly turned upward.
"Cut the crap. I heard you accepted an interesting request? So I, the beautiful and kind-hearted Fíliya, decided to lend you a hand."
Fíliya slowly raised her hands and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Heard?"
Frieren blinked, then immediately turned her head to look at Fern.
If Fíliya could have 'heard' about it from somewhere, the only possibility was that Fern had leaked the secret.
"Ms. Frieren, three months is too long. We need to speed up our itinerary a bit."
Fern did not dodge Frieren's gaze and admitted quite frankly that it was she who had requested Fíliya's help.
"Is that so... Well, fine. I'm happy to relax anyway."
Thus, Frieren said no more and directly led everyone toward their destination.
Soon, the group entered an underground mine tunnel. At the end of this tunnel, which extended for several kilometers, a dwarf dressed in merchant attire and wearing a bowler hat had already been waiting for a long time.
"Mn? Frieren, why are there new faces again?"
The dwarf was the first to ask Frieren. Judging by this point alone, this dwarf uncle seemed to be an impatient person.
"We're here to help. By the way, who are you, old man?"
Before Frieren could speak, Fíliya stepped directly forward.
"Is that so?... I am the dwarf Fass, and also Frieren's client. Since there are new faces... do I need to explain the content of the request again?"
As Fass spoke, he met Frieren's gaze again.
"No need. She has no interest in that sort of thing."
Frieren smiled and shook her head.
"Correct. No need to tell me the request details. Let me first see just what kind of damn barrier this is."
With a face full of excitement, Fíliya held Solitär's hand, took several steps forward, and then stared intently at the sealing magic circle emitting a red glow.
"Umu..."
Fíliya stood in front of the barrier, then reached out her hand to sense it.
"I see... This is also my first time seeing such a complex composition. No wonder even Frieren has to spend so much time on it... Solitär, why don't you try too?"
As Fíliya spoke, she pouted her lips toward Solitär, signaling her, and then turned to wave at Aura.
"Aura, you come over and take a look too."
"Hah? What am I doing this for? I'm not good at Analysis Magic..."
Aura's tone sounded very impatient, but she still shifted her feet and slowly leaned in.
The three in Fíliya's group acted as if nothing was wrong, but when she called out the great name of 'Aura', the dwarf client, Fass, suddenly widened his eyes and hurriedly looked at Frieren.
"Frieren! This... wait... Aura... that name, and that purple hair..."
Although a dwarf's lifespan is not as long as an elf's, for a dwarf like Fass who was two or three hundred years old, the name 'Aura' truly left a deep impression on him.
"What are you talking about?"
Responding to Fass's panicked reaction, Frieren immediately used a look that suggested she was looking at a fool.
"Fass, do you have alcohol poisoning? Spouting nonsense the moment we meet. That is clearly a human little girl."
"Eh? I'm mistaken?"
Fass was stunned for a moment, then patted his head.
"Right... Demon horns, and that non-human aura, there's no way to hide them... I might really have drunk too much."
Fass convinced himself in an instant, leaving Frieren frowning and sulking in unhappiness.
What she didn't understand was that she actually committed the act of covering for demons... This was simply a stain on her title of 'The Slayer'.
Thus, in her internal conflict, she could only heap all the blame onto Fíliya's head.
Fíliya, you bastard/scoundrel, you've made me so... unlike myself. You'd better really be able to control your demons.
"Aura, how about it? Did you get any inspiration?"
Fíliya looked at Aura with expectant eyes.
"No, I didn't feel anything."
Aura turned back nonchalantly to meet her gaze.
"Tsk, sure enough, you're an embarrassing thing. Forget it, you should just continue playing with your Magic of Obedience (Auserlese)... Shoo, shoo, go play aside."
Seeing this, Fíliya chased Aura away with a look of disgust, then looked toward Solitär. She believed Solitär should be able to provide some nutritious analysis.
"This barrier is very strange."
Solitär tilted her head slightly, also puzzled by the barrier before her which emitted a faint red light.
"The difficulty of analyzing the barrier itself isn't high, but... its composition is extremely tedious. Its purpose doesn't seem to be preventing people from breaking it, but rather looks like it's deliberately consuming one's energy."
"Mn, I discovered that too."
Fíliya nodded at this.
"The goal of this barrier isn't to stump people, but rather to deliberately use this extremely tedious analysis process and massive calculation volume to stall for time, or rather... to be obnoxious."
"It really is strange... The person who would do such a thing would have to be a bit too bored... Wait... Bored?"
Fíliya seemed to realize something, then turned and went to the other side.
About a dozen meters away from the seal, a stone tablet nearly the height of two people stood erect.
The text on the tablet was written in the Ancient Elven Language, and the content throughout was very simple.
It stated that sealed within this barrier was a supreme wine—'Emperor Alcohol'. Then, using extremely flowery, yet complex and nutritionally void adjectives, it lavishly praised the taste of this Emperor Alcohol, describing it as a treasure hard to find in this world.
As for the signature at the end of the inscription, it bore a name that nearly made Fíliya unable to keep a straight face—'Milliarde'.
"Pfft~!"
Fíliya immediately covered her mouth with her hand; otherwise, she really would have laughed out loud.
"Emperor Alcohol... Milliarde... No way..."
Fíliya slowly squatted down in front of the stone tablet. This wasn't because she felt a stomachache or any discomfort, but because if she didn't squat down like this, she really wouldn't be able to hold back her laughter.
"Fíliya, is there something wrong with this inscription? When Ms. Frieren saw it yesterday, she also revealed an expression similar to yours, but when I asked her, she refused to tell me anything."
Fern also stood behind Fíliya at this moment; after all, the commotion Fíliya made just now was hard not to notice.
____
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