Frieren: Demon of Domination

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

The forty-third day of searching for Serie—

The Heaven Vein Dragon arrived at the Northern Plateau—Kino Mountains, where the Goddess Monument was located.

—

"My magic power sensing detected your kin in the nearby airspace."

"They seem even older than you—"

"Should be a Heaven Vein Dragon that has survived since the age of myths..."

"Want to go meet them?"

Just having crossed into the Kino Mountains, gazing at the yellow clouds on the horizon—

Agusheed's exaggerated magic sensing clearly felt another massive creature's presence in the distance.

So although the Heaven Vein Dragon couldn't understand his words,

He still pointed toward the distance while pointing at it.

The Heaven Vein Dragon had been with Agusheed for over a thousand years.

Although they couldn't communicate verbally due to species differences,

They likewise had their own understanding and communication methods—

So the Heaven Vein Dragon easily grasped Agusheed's meaning.

It didn't have magic sensing,

But the incomparable physical capabilities granted by its massive body allowed it to see landscapes thousands of miles away at a glance.

So following Agusheed's fingertip, it instantly spotted that similar silhouette.

"How about it, want to go meet them?"

"It won't take much time anyway."

Agusheed's tone was flat, his right hand making an OK gesture.

In his memory, the Heaven Vein Dragon had seen fewer than three of its kind from childhood to now,

So encountering such an unexpected situation, he rarely sought its opinion.

Agusheed cared greatly about his companions' feelings.

Otherwise, the Heaven Vein Dragon wouldn't have followed him from childhood until now.

"Meeting them would be fine."

"The Goddess Monument won't grow legs and run away."

This was the strongest Grand Demon's thinking.

At this point, his mood wasn't so urgent anymore.

In fact,

He was somewhat inexplicably nervous, so he wanted to ease it slightly through this method.

...

Unexpectedly, under Agusheed's gaze—

The Heaven Vein Dragon slowly shook its head.

Its dragon head, larger than mountains, swayed slightly, and the clouds split accordingly.

This made Agusheed, who had prepared to meet another Heaven Vein Dragon, raise his eyebrows.

"You actually want to meet them, don't you?"

"No need to worry about wasting my time—"

"For long-lived species like us, the one thing we don't lack is endless time."

Agusheed's fingers constantly changed, their meaning fully entering the Heaven Vein Dragon's sight.

But it still refused.

Having accompanied Agusheed for a thousand years,

Personally witnessing its master and friend's sorrow that even time couldn't bury, the Heaven Vein Dragon chose to let Agusheed and Flamme meet sooner.

It had witnessed Agusheed and Flamme's sixty-year imperial capital love story.

It had also listened to the strongest Grand Demon's soliloquies after his wife's death.

So it also hoped from the bottom of its heart that the two could meet again.

As for its own chance to meet its kin...

That wasn't important.

After all, as Agusheed said, what these long-lived species lacked least was time.

"Don't regret it—"

"I'm not someone who would accommodate your wishes if you change your mind."

This was Agusheed's final inquiry.

And the Heaven Vein Dragon's gaze remained the same, unchanged from beginning to end.

"Whatever."

"I asked anyway."

Agusheed lowered his cold gaze and spoke softly.

The Heaven Vein Dragon's body slowly stopped in the center of the Kino Mountains.

Making the completely opposite choice from its departing kin, it expressed its thoughts through this action.

Agusheed didn't say more.

So, after confirming the Goddess Monument's location—

He fell.

And the Heaven Vein Dragon also let out a high-pitched roar that shook the sky.

This roar echoing ten thousand meters above—

Was both rejoicing for the imminent reunion of the two,

And bidding farewell to its kin in the distant sea of clouds.

So it naturally received responses.

From falling Agusheed's imperceptible head shake—

And from the distance, an even more shocking roar that resounded through the heavens.

But Heaven Vein Dragons almost never stopped.

Unlike Agusheed's Heaven Vein Dragon raised from childhood...

Normally, the only chance in a Heaven Vein Dragon's life to approach the ground was just before death.

So that Heaven Vein Dragon wouldn't turn back.

But this was enough.

Watching Agusheed's figure about to land—

The Heaven Vein Dragon slowly closed its eyes.

—

"How interesting..."

"The Kino Mountains here haven't changed much from when I last came three hundred years ago..."

Agusheed, having landed, looked around at the environment that had changed little due to being rarely visited, murmuring softly.

He could roughly guess the reason.

The Kino Mountains were currently the Demon King's army's heartland.

Also the defensive line where several Grand Demons cut off the Second Empire's communication with other nations—

So humans who would affect the terrain here naturally wouldn't appear much...

As for demons—

In places with Goddess Monuments, even Grand Demons wouldn't approach easily.

Unable to determine which type of Goddess Magic was contained in the Goddess Monument,

Unless it was the Demon King's order,

Demons always avoided relics left by the Goddess who created the world.

After all, there had been precedents of Grand Demons being burned to ash by one of the Goddess Monuments.

"I once saw those two Goddess Monuments near Aureole and the Old Demon King Castle—"

"The magic contained within, while incomprehensible, certainly couldn't achieve the level of letting me meet Flamme again..."

"So this one in the Kino Mountains—what kind of magic and possibilities does it contain?"

Agusheed, getting closer to the Goddess Monument, thought silently.

Walking the forest path, he suddenly recalled his fainting when initially trying to decode this Goddess Monument in the Kino Mountains—

At that time, because the Goddess had left ten Goddess Monuments on earth,

And the legend that each Goddess Monument contained magic she had left...

So Agusheed would analyze each Goddess Monument he passed.

What left the deepest impression was when he fainted in the Kino Mountains.

"From that time, it seemed to have no effect..."

"Was it due to insufficient conditions or what?"

"Surely it's not magic that would trap me in sweet dreams?"

"Because I had no dreams then, so it had no effect on me..."

"Just made me unconscious for about a week—"

"If that's the extent of this reunion, I'll personally crack open that stupid disciple and Schlacht's skulls."

Frowning deeply, Agusheed crossed the clear stream, the bridge from the Unified Empire period—

And the dense forests and thickets blocking his way.

Finally, before nightfall, he reached the clearing before the Goddess Monument.

This place maintained a spring-like appearance year-round.

Agusheed could even see flowers blooming out of season beside the Goddess Monument.

But he paid no attention, just slowly crossing the grassland—

Approaching bit by bit.

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Powerstones?

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