11 Chapter 11: Cooldown

Looking inside the house, Frieren was able to see four humans currently looking at her suspiciously.

"Excuse me for my intrusion, but may ask did you take in a demon child just three days ago?" Frieren asked Tuli, Eisen, and Throd with interest on her face.

Ishida who was still in the embrace of Tuli, immediately saw the person who visited them and panicked internationally.

'Frieren?!'

'How did she find me?!'

'This doesn't make sense, I barely did anything to get Frieren to take notice of me-'

'Wait, the mana wave... Throd said that there was a mana wave in the forest and they were able to pinpoint my location.'

After thinking for a moment Ishida's heart quickened in suspense.

'I caused a mana wave! And when I tried to suppress my mana they were able to have a much more accurate way to pinpoint my location in the forest!'

'How could I not notice it sooner?!'

'Shit'

'What do I do?'

'Run? Escape? Fight back? Plead?'

Ishida then looked around the room to check at Eisen's, Tuli's, and Throd's expressions.

'They aren't doing good either...'

Tuli tightened her embrace over Lacht before answering the elf mage's question

"We haven't met any demon for the past three days."

Frieren feeling her lying spell trigger a negative response quickly looked at Tuli and then the black haired human child she was embracing.

Seeing Frieren eyeing him, Ishida couldn't help but also tightly embrace Tuli in fear.

"I see"

Frieren immediately put her hands on her staff and it glowed a faint gold color before spreading out to Eisen, Throd, and Tuli.

"Support magic: Dispell'

After casting a spell to remove the effects of any mind control or hypnotizing spells, Frieren became confused about why the green-haired woman was still trying to protect the demon child behind her.

"Why are you trying to protect a demon who has caused, thousands upon thousands of human deaths?"

Tuli bit her lips until it bled, before looking at Frieren in the eyes.

"I'm only keeping him alive so that we can understand him!"

Frieren raised her eyebrow to the absurdity of the answer.

"Demons can't be reasoned with, they are naturally evil in nature, what makes you think this demon won't turn on you the moment when the time is right?" Frieren then pointed her staff at Ishida who was currently hiding behind Tuli's figure

Eisen who was still at the door quickly answered Frieren's question while holding his scriptures cautiously.

"It's because he didn't!"

Not even daring to move her head to look at the priest at the door, Frieren made a counterargument.

"I've met a demon child who ate a human child on my adventures with my party, the chief of villagers pleaded with us to spare the demon child and since one of my friends didn't know any better, I took it upon myself to watch and stay in the village for three months to observe the demon child who was now in the care of village chief..."

Frieren then looked Tuli in the eyes with regret before continuing.

"Do you know what happened after those three months?"

"The demon child killed the village chief and took his daughter as a replacement for the one she ate...."

Tuli lowered her head in shame before answering Frieren with hope in her eyes

"But Lacht is different! If he wanted me dead, he wouldn't have blocked his spell to only injure me!"

"He is only using you three to get what he wants"

"Right?"

Frieren then coldly eyed Ishida who was being embraced by Tuli.

'Crap...'

Seeing that their secret was already exposed Throd kindly stood from his chair and then questioned Frieren about her true reason for coming here

"Miss Elf, even though we only met Lacht for only yesterday, we were able to gauge some of his character."

Frieren then looked at the caramel color haired middle age man with disparity in her eyes.

"Character? A demon with character? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

Sighing to himself, Throd kindly answered Frieren

"Yes, we both know how ridiculous it sounds but if you just observed him closely, then you would understand."

Listening to Throd's suggestion, Frieren then carefully looked at Ishida's facial expressions

'He is scared?'

'His eyes are watering?'

'...'

Frieren then looked at Throd again with confusion written on her face.

"Do you understand now?"

Frieren then silently looked at Tuli, Throd and lastly Ishida.

"I will give you one year to reconsider your choice and also do you have an inn near here?"

"We have an Inn called Fergus just south of the village."

Eisen answered her question while still holding the door open.

Desummoning her staff, Frieren then quietly left their home and took her briefcase before finally vanishing into the forest.

'Is it over?!'

Ishida who was still in shock that Tuli and Throd were able to reason with Frieren the slayer, couldn't help but be grateful for their kindness and help.

"Lacht are you okay?"

Throd then kindly asked Ishida if he was alright.

Lacht quietly nodded, with his horned head before gratefully answering.

"Thank you Throd..."

Making a small smile, Throd then patted Ishida's horned head softly.

"You just need to trust us Lacht, we won't let anything bad happen to you..."

*Sob*

In the forest, Frieren is currently walking towards the village of Igelwide when suddenly she sees a young green-haired girl holding a basket of fruits walking opposite her direction.

Greta who saw the elf immediately stopped herself and cautiously looked at her.

'Was Lacht exposed?! She doesn't look like Uncle Apprentices...'

Seeing the girl suddenly stop her movements when seeing her, Frieren made a small smile towards her, before asking her question.

"Do you know that there's a demon living in your home?"

Hearing their mother's and uncle's secret was already exposed, Greta honestly answered the white-haired elf.

"You mean Lacht? He is nice! He even showed me a spell that makes rainbows in the skies!"

Greta made an ear-to-ear smile while telling some of the stories he and she were doing yesterday.

"When I first met him, I ran to warn the chief, but my mother quickly stopped me, after I got to know him better, he even gave me his slice of strawberry shortcake as an apology! But he is still a meanie! He sometimes tickles me when I'm not looking!"

Hearing the heartfelt story coming from the mouth of the human girl, Frieren couldn't help but wonder.

'Lacht... A demon with a human heart?'

'I need to know how he made that rainbow spell...'

No longer asking any more questions, Frieren then quietly nodded at Greta before continuing towards the village.

Greta on the other hand cheerfully walked towards her home before planning her devious revenge plan towards Lacht.

'Just you wait Lacht, I will find your weakness!'

Holed up into his room, Ishida is currently hyperventilating.

'I met face to face with death!'

'If it wasn't for Throd and Tuli reasoning with her I would have been nothing more than ashes in the floor!!'

'Fuck!'

'I wish I was human! Then Frieren wouldn't try to kill me!!'

(You ran out of wishes 0/5) (Cooldown: 9 years, 364 days and 12 hours)

"Huh?"

Looking at the weird holographic panel in front of him, Ishida then became heavily confused before all of a sudden his body started to hurt all over.

"!"

"Aghh!"

"Agh!!"

"IT HURTS!"

"AGHH!"

His body felt like it was being burned alive and all of his skin was being ripped apart one by one, Ishida couldn't help but fall to the ground and got into a fetal position to ease the pain.

Hearing Lacht screaming in his room, Tuli, Throd and Eisen quickly ran to his room and busted open the door.

"LACHT!"

The party was able to see Lacht's curved horns suddenly fade away in the air while his body started to make whitish smoke around his body.

Finally, he stopped screaming and lay there on the ground motionlessly.

Tuli immediately ran towards Lacht and quickly checked his pulse.

"He is alive! But barely breathing!"

"On it!" Eisen quickly put out his grimoire and summoned a recovery spell at Ishida's body.

"Goddess magic: Restore!"

A bright green light emanated from his right hand and quickly covered Ishida's entire body.

"His breathing returned to normal."

Tuli worriedly shouted, while sitting closely beside him.

"What he needs now, is rest..."

Eisen then patted Tuli's shoulder before looking at Throd who was blankly staring at Ishida's changed body.

"What do you think happened Throd?"

Breaking out of his thought, Throd then looked at Eisen worriedly before answering his question

"Lacht seem to have used shape-shifting magic..."

"Shape-shifting magic?"

"It's a long-forgotten spell that was considered a legend in the past millennia, it could make a human, elf, or even a dwarf into any creature imaginable... I only read about this magic in ancient records but to think that Lacht was able to cast it makes me terrified of his potential..."

Throd looked at Lacht who was sleeping soundly on the floor, with fear in his eyes before whispering something in Eisen's ear.

"The elf mage is powerful, I can tell that she is suppressing her mana... We should be wary of her."

"Is she stronger than you Throd?"

"It wouldn't even be considered a fight... I would lose before I even cast a spell, that's just how strong she is."

"I see..."

Looking at Ishida who was now being carried to the bed by Tuli, Eisen then asked an important question to Throd.

"How do we explain the mana wave to the central capital and the south capital?"

"We tell them that a demon mage was starting a magical ritual to revive the demon lord and that we were able to stop it and kill the demon mage."

Eisen looked at Throd with a frown on his face.

"No one would believe that Throd..."

"Buahaha, it doesn't matter if they will believe it or not as long as the mana wave is gone they will believe whatever they want."

Laughing to himself, Throd then patted Eisen's weak shoulders before finally leaving Ishida's room and going downstairs to finish his coffee.

Sighing to himself, Eisen then looked at Tuli who was tucking Lacht on the bed before finally following Throd downstairs.

Three days later, after the news of the human party, they were able to impede the resurrection of the demon lord and stop the vile demon mage who was starting the ritual.

Throd, Tuli, and Eisen were given badges of the imperial holy capital and a reward of 5000 Strahl gold each for their contributions to humanity and were revered as heroes throughout the southern lands

Opening his eyes tiredly, Ishida was again met with the familiar wooden ceiling.

Sitting up from his bed, Ishida then clenched his head in pain.

'Agh my head...'

'how long was I out?'

(You ran out of wishes 0/5) (Cooldown: 9 years, 361 days and 19 hours)

"Huh?"

Ishida looked at the weird holographic panel in front of him before finally remembering what happened after he felt an excruciating amount of pain.

'I wished to be human...'

'And after that, I just blacked out in pain...'

Looking at the holographic panel in interest, Ishida then slapped his face for being forgetful for the past days he has been living in Frienen's world.

'So all this time I could have wished to go back home?!'

'The old man said some weird questions to me before and after I got the bracelet I was suddenly transmigrated here...'

'and I wished to live here...'

'IDIOT!'

Ishida mocked himself before continuing his self-thought.

'The old man should have at least explained it to me first, before suddenly vanishing out of nowhere?!'

*Sigh*

'At least I have a way back home... But I have to wait for nine more years...'

Ishida then looked at the panel curiously before raising his eyebrow.

'Should it be one wish every two years?'

'Gah, I won't know until I wait for exactly two years...'

"Oh, you're awake."

Hearing a voice right beside him, Ishida involuntarily looked to his left and saw a pony-tailed white-haired elf, unknowingly observing him from the corner of his room.

"..."

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