Frieren: Demon of Domination

After receiving the answer from the forty-seventh generation village chief, that little girl—

Agusheed, who had come alone, had been standing in the distance for quite some time.

Originally coming here just to pay respects to Flamme's statue, he had stopped due to the clash of sword against sword.

Hundred Dragon-Slaying Strikes against Hero of the South Style Divine Speed Swordsmanship

Escald Style Secret Techniques against Hero of the South Two-Sword Style

—The confrontation between the two strongest Heroes of the current human generation was thus exposed before Agusheed.

And undoubtedly, he didn't appear abruptly at this time to spoil the mood and disturb them.

The strongest Grand Demon simply stood quietly in the snow and cold wind for a while,

Taking in the entire process of Himmel's sparring match with his stupid disciple.

First round: Himmel barely managed to receive the divine speed slash his stupid disciple used with just one hand and one sword.

The Hundred Dragon-Slaying Strikes' continuous counterattack had no effect, being broken through in just an instant.

Second round: Counterattacking with Central Lands Royal Secret Transmission also failed to work—

His stupid disciple didn't even use variations of the divine speed sword, suppressing Himmel completely with pure sword speed alone.

Third round, fourth round...

Escald Style and Northern Military Swordsmanship used defense as offense, but with equally minimal effect.

It wasn't that these sword techniques were inferior to his stupid disciple's self-created divine speed sword—

It was simply because Himmel's current level wasn't sufficient.

When he could someday surpass the original Sword Saint in Escald Style Swordsmanship...

Then he might barely be able to withstand his stupid disciple's full-power divine speed sword.

—

Even Himmel, who had undergone his own hellish training, was still far from his stupid disciple's level.

And this was still under the condition that his stupid disciple was relying purely on intuitive prediction,

Without using the unfair Future Sight for precognition.

In the eighth round of their confrontation,

Witnessing the Hero of the South deliberately overlooking Himmel's openings, Agusheed shook his head.

"Though this kind of thing is quite normal. Himmel is only seventeen now..."

"With his talent and diligence, when he reaches twenty-five and enters the peak period for human warriors, he probably won't be much weaker than the current stupid disciple—"

So then...

Why would Himmel be foolish enough to spar with his stupid disciple?

This confusion didn't last too long.

After inadvertently glancing at Flamme's statue and his gaze falling on that familiar broken iron sword...

Agusheed understood everything.

"'Probably for something as boring as who gets to try drawing the Hero's Sword first'—"

Even without being present, the strongest Grand Demon could guess the reason the two were sparring at this time.

Moreover...

Given Himmel's personality of not being enthusiastic about combat and respecting his seniors,

Proposing a sparring match definitely wouldn't come from him—

Competing over who could kill more monsters in the same time period would probably be the kind of proposal he'd choose.

Therefore, the person who proposed the sparring, or rather wanted to test the other's strength, could only be his stupid disciple.

"Because Himmel has been by my side almost constantly during this time, making it impossible to directly see his strength progress through Future Sight, so he's using this opportunity to test his level?"

"Or is it simply to leave fewer unfinished regrets before dying?"

"What a stupid disciple—"

Watching the relieved smile that appeared on his face after their sparring ended with the Hero of the South's overwhelming victory...

Agusheed snorted softly.

He advanced steadily through the fierce wind and snow, walking neither hurriedly nor slowly toward the broken iron sword.

Magic That Can Gather All Sounds Within Sight was casually activated—

While observing every move of Himmel and the Hero of the South, Agusheed simultaneously listened to their every word and action.

"Someday, I'll obtain the real Hero's Sword and defeat the Demon King—"

Himmel's casually uttered bold declaration made Agusheed's steps obviously pause.

...

...

'Teacher, someday I'll become the hero from the stories—'

'Wielding the true Hero's Sword, subjugating the Demon King, saving this world'

Himmel's fantasy, so similar to his stupid disciple from when Future Sight hadn't yet matured in his youth, who loved wandering around the Heaven Vein Dragon's back with a wooden stick, made a flash of irritation appear in Agusheed's eyes.

Though suppressed to one-tenth by the Sanctuary,

His magic power sensing, which still had a detection range of over ten kilometers, happened to notice a monster that had intruded near the Sanctuary at this moment...

Its strength wasn't weak—probably the lord of the mountains in this area.

CRACK—

Casually firing one hundred twenty ordinary slashes across fifteen kilometers to slice the foolhardy monster into bloody mist,

Agusheed, having slightly relieved his inner gloominess, continued forward silently.

And when he entered the cave without anyone noticing,

The blue-haired hero's hand also happened to fall upon the Hero's Sword's hilt.

For a thousand years—

The Hero's Sword, slumbering in dreams, showed signs of awakening for the first time.

Although that imperceptible tremor lasted only an instant...

Even though Himmel, gripping the hilt, had no awareness of it whatsoever,

Both the Hero of the South and Agusheed clearly saw this scene.

Patting awake his stupid disciple who was blocking Flamme's statue while pondering why the Hero's Sword had stirred—

After just briefly glancing at that piece of scrap metal and losing interest, Agusheed began examining Flamme's statue at the Village of Swords.

He knew the Hero's Sword's stirring was definitely related to him.

He also knew...

Though unclear about the specific principle, judging from Kraft's tone back then—

The current him had the possibility of drawing the Hero's Sword even bypassing Kraft himself.

But Agusheed didn't care.

So he simply pulled his astonished and obstructive disciple aside—

And began examining up and down the features preserved by the statue on his own.

This is Flamme's image from when we first began our journey, when she was still a young girl...

This statue at the Village of Swords was almost the most complete and highest-resemblance statue Agusheed had ever seen.

At least hundreds of times better than that giant male-Flamme statue in the Second Empire's imperial capital center—

Thinking of this, Agusheed rarely felt that being isolated from the world was a good thing.

Regarding his teacher who had completely set him aside, the Hero of the South helplessly shrugged.

Although he had many questions about the relationship between Agusheed and the Hero's Sword,

He also didn't tactlessly disturb Agusheed at this time.

However...

Another blue-haired hero who knew nothing about this was different.

"Not budging at all..."

The right hand that had been gripping the Hero's Sword's hilt tightly, trying to draw it out, slowly loosened.

Disappointed and helpless, Himmel chuckled softly.

But the self-mockery lasted only an instant,

Because even if he couldn't draw the Hero's Sword, he wouldn't give up subjugating the Demon King.

It was just that his odds of subjugating the Demon King had dropped from one in ten thousand to one in one hundred thousand.

If he couldn't even accept this kind of thing, he wouldn't have chosen this path from the beginning.

Moreover...

Although he couldn't do it, if humanity's strongest Hero of the South drew the world's strongest sword—

That would equally be cause for celebration, wouldn't it?

"Old man..."

"I—"

After his internal struggle, Himmel turned around with a gentle tone,

As he was calling out to the Hero of the South, his gaze met with Agusheed, who had appeared at some unknown time.

The strongest Grand Demon, whose reminiscence of the past with his wife had been suddenly interrupted, looked at him coldly.

His gaze nearly froze the stammering Himmel into an ice block.

"You're too noisy."

This was the last sentence Himmel heard before his vision went dark and he collapsed unconscious on the ground.

The Hero of the South looked at him with considerable sympathy, offering a moment of silence before quietly attending to Agusheed's side.

Brief yet lengthy ten minutes slowly passed—

Until Agusheed finished reminiscing about those memories of traveling through the Village of Swords with Flamme during their journey...

Only when the Hero of the South saw his teacher glance in his direction did he step forward.

But before he could speak, Agusheed interrupted his action.

"I know what you want to ask."

"I don't know the answer right now, so I'll answer you after I try."

Using Gravity Magic to levitate the sleeping Himmel from the ground,

With no obstruction, Agusheed walked without hesitation before that broken iron sword.

Under the Hero of the South's thoughtful and confused gaze,

The first hero to challenge the Demon King at Demon King Castle for the sake of life—

Grasped the world's strongest sword.

—

[Agusheed, fundamentally speaking, you cannot be considered a complete demon]

[At least in my eyes, you are an anomaly that absolutely should not exist]

[Demon body, human soul—]

[Sometimes I'm truly curious...]

[Is this half-human, half-demon characteristic a curse or a blessing from her?]

In the Hero's Sword's trembling,

The teasing he had heard while attending His Majesty's side echoed in Agusheed's ears.

Curse?

Or blessing?

Fifty-ninth year before the Sinseki Era, the first year of the hero party's departure.

The second day after the hero party's training ended.

The first day of arriving at the Village of Swords:

The strongest Grand Demon finally understood the answer to the question the Demon King had posed.

----------

Powerstones?

For 20 or 10 advance chapters: patreon.com/michaeltranslates