Frieren in Danmachi

"I'm really not planning anything at the moment. But for the future... Yes, I am thinking about a few things."

Was Ares the one who caused this? Was he the one who poisoned or cursed me?

I searched my memories to see if Frieren had ever had any conflict with Ares, but I couldn't find anything.

Frieren had only met him once.

That happened when she visited Rakia. Back then, it was still the early days of Rakia's founding, and she had helped the god Ares with a few things. They couldn't be considered enemies.

Even so, I need to investigate.

First, I need to get stronger.

I can't start investigating with my current strength. I don't have anyone who can do this for me, and I don't want to risk Serie's or Ryuu's life. I want to do all of this on my own. I'm not a coward.

I won't sit back and hide while pushing the elves to the frontlines.

Serie will be against this, but who cares?

I ate something while thinking about the future.

After finishing my meal, I went back to the tree to resume my training. Serie followed me into the tree's interior, carrying a basket of fruit.

"I'll leave this here for you to eat."

"Can you bring me food at least once a day? I'm going to spend the next two months training."

"Two months?!"

"Yes. I want to increase my strength as much as possible. I think two months will be enough for me to reach a level where I can protect myself."

"But… will you really be able to stay inside the tree for that long?"

"When I'm here training, I don't feel trapped or bored. I feel good. I can feel myself evolving in real-time. It's a pleasant feeling."

"... Alright, if that's what you want. If Ryuu shows up, what should I tell her?"

"Tell her not to bother me. Only call me if something serious happens. I'm afraid more humans will show up now that that man is dead. They'll notice he's missing."

"Alright."

"Thank you, Serie. This isn't exactly what you expected, is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You probably thought that when I woke up, I would immediately regain all my strength and everything would go back to the way it was before."

"No, of course not. Even before you collapsed, your strength had already diminished a lot. Your magic, your life force… everything was slowly fading away. I didn't expect you to recover quickly if you ever woke up. Actually, your recovery is being faster than I expected. When I saw that dead bear, I got excited."

"Really? That's good to hear."

"Take all the time you need. Even though that human appeared so suddenly, we won't be disturbed often. No one besides me and Ryuu knows you've awakened. Everything's fine."

"Good. Then, keep track of the time for me. Let me know when two months have passed."

"I'll do that." Serie placed the basket of fruit in my hand with a smile. I took one of the fruits and bit into it.

"Ah, before you go... prepare my clothes for me. I'm tired of wearing this white robe."

"Alright, your clothes will be waiting for you."

Serie left the tree, and I approached the trunk.

"Let's level up the tree one more time."

I placed my hand on the trunk and started pouring my mana into it.

I gave 700 mana points to the tree, and it leveled up.

The tree's status received the following changes:

[World Tree]

Level: 3

Class: Source of Primordial Element

Maximum Primordial Element: 400

Regeneration: 2 units per minute

Current Primordial Element: 202/400

Elves Created: 0/15

Current Exp: 0/4000

Special Skill: Elven Creation (Consumes mana to create a new elf)

Mana Generation: Generates a total of 4 mana points per minute for all elves within a 200-meter radius.

"Mana generation improved, the maximum storage of primordial elements increased, and now it produces 2 primordial elements per minute. This is great."

Since I was about to begin my training, I decided to empty my mana completely. I gave all my 764 mana points to the tree. Leveling up the tree is very important. Just as important as my magic circles.

The more I level up the tree, the more I'll evolve.

"Alright. Now it's time to train. Two months, huh?"

With the fruit basket in hand, I climbed the stairs and placed it next to my coffin. After that, I sat down and crossed my legs. Letting out a long sigh, I closed my eyes.

'Alright… this will be fun.'

####

Pov: Serie

"It's been over ten days already… I'm getting worried…" Every day I would go inside the tree, and the Queen would still be sitting in the same place, completely motionless. I felt incredibly anxious every time I approached her.

But luckily, the food I brought her was disappearing. Which meant she was eating.

Not just the food, but the water too.

Even so… it's distressing not being able to talk to her.

"This training is so strange…" I muttered as I walked toward the door in the tree trunk. Carrying a bowl full of meat, I slowly opened the door. As soon as I did, I looked up the stairs.

The goddess was still sitting in the same spot, legs crossed.

She was so still that she didn't even seem to be breathing.

I slowly climbed the stairs and approached her. As I placed the pot next to the wooden coffin and picked up the now empty fruit basket, the Queen's eyes suddenly opened.

"Serie?"

"Ah, I'm sorry… did I disturb you?"

"No, of course not. I just finished the conversion."

"Conversion?"

"That's right." The Queen smiled, grabbed the pot of meat, and began eating. She didn't care about getting her clothes dirty.

"Queen… you smell terrible."

"Hm? Ah, I hadn't noticed. My clothes are pretty dirty too, aren't they?"

"Why don't you take a bath before continuing?"

"How long has it been already?"

"Thirteen days."

"Thirteen days? Hm… not that long."

"Not that long?!"

"Yeah. After all, I plan to stay here for two months." The Queen paused her eating and started descending the stairs. I picked up the food and followed her. She approached the tree trunk and asked:

"Do you feel anything different, Serie?"

"Something different? No… I don't feel anything."

"You haven't noticed any changes?"

I thought for a moment and then remembered something.

"Ah… the tree's leaves are growing. That's true."

"Just that? How disappointing."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing." The Queen sighed and walked over to me. She picked up the pot of meat and said:

"You can leave now. I'll continue my training after I finish eating. Nothing happened while I was in here, right?"

"No, nothing at all."

"Great."

Looking excited, the Queen quickly climbed the stairs again and sat down to continue eating.