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The wizard August von Rotfeld looks at the fight or rather, at something he can't observe. It's too fast, it's too bright. He catches glimpses of the impossible, the princess surrounded by fire magic without taking any damage. Unless she suddenly became a pyromancer, she shouldn't be able to withstand that heat, and even pyromancers are smart enough to leave some space between their skin and the flames.

He has taught the princess some basics, and she understood everything immediately, if he skipped the complicated explanation and went right to an allegory. She certainly was talented, but he didn't expect her to beat even his expertise in fire magic suddenly. While it's very rough around the edges, her power and that fluidity is unlike anything he could make on the fly. Why doesn't she need a chant!? This certainly looks like a spell that needs to be built up properly beforehand.

Though another emotion tugs at him. Inadequacy. He's just a bystander once more, and it eats him alive. This would be over, if Rotfeld just interfered, but their so-called leader just decided to take her on his own, and he's now hesitating.

The elf and the boy are still free, both of them talking about something. Is it Rotfeld, or did they move closer when he didn't look? Ah, they will take the distraction Princess Katarine offers them to free Kyou-dono.

Are they mocking him as well? What about her? Did she just use him, because she thinks that he's a weakling, a joke?

Isn't the whole world mocking him by now? Sent on a journey to retrieve the princess, as part of his exam to become an archmage, only to do almost nothing in it, be beaten by an elf in magic, and be belittled by a warrior in retirement!?

No! He's August von Rotfeld. He's the future of magic! All of this would be easy if he would just use a spell. Yes, just end this farce. The most limiting factor is the princess, and while even Sir Gottfried's sword may be unable to capture her unharmed, it's an easy feat using his magic!

A simple [Hold] will do. [Alteration] can't be affected by physical means! He starts his chant, aiming at the princess. She's agile, and fast, but the chant begins to form around these traits of her, forming chains. He will override her speed and make it zero. This way, she can't attack Sir Gottfried anymore, and he will have time to also incapacitate the other two heroes without harming them too much.

It's time to end this farce. This joy-ride of the battlemaniac, whose egoism cost them so much time and nerves. “[Hold]!” However, something didn't work as it should.

Magic itself can't be burned, only the fire-charged particles in the air. This is a basic principle of fire magic. Yet as the allegory chains are about to capture Princess Katarine, or rather, the moment they touch her, something around her begins to burn, and the flames begin to spread towards Rotfeld, burning the magic he just wove as if it was oil.

August von Rotfeld is a genius, but also a fool. He has enough knowledge to explain many things of the world, but lacks the humility to accept how little he actually knows. He has read a lot of books, but he never took time to listen to and read stories.

That's why he thought that the Flames of Freedom were simply mastery of fire magic.

―○●○―

“Fool!” A quick, harsh shout and flames wandering through the air is everything I witness, but as the flames jump onto the wizard, I realize that something has gone terribly wrong for the man, who cries in pain and agony, as he's burning alive.

I'm really glad I'm not him, as even if my whole body hurts, I may still be better off than him.

Gottfried suddenly jumps forward to the flaming line connecting Rine and the wizard. He grips his sword especially firm and then with a shattering sound, he cuts the flames. It seems to have taken him some toll, and Rine—not even waiting for a moment—unleashes another fireblast at him. This one hits for a change, but maybe because he raised his shield in time, he seems to be mostly unharmed, though he's steaming. His sweat may have evaporated, and there are several pink spots on his skin, showing where it boiled.

The flames die on the burning wizard though. He seems badly burned and therefore I decide on the most sensible course of action. “You take the priest.” Showing that she understood me, Ara-san dashes forwards to place her foot into the face of the priest, as I do my best to limp to the wizard, who is barely conscious. I fall next to him, barely avoiding plunging into the ground directly by sacrificing one of my knees. “Aaaaaaahhhh---” This pain! It feels like something broke all the way from my knee up to my shoulder!

“[Heal]!” Kyou-san immediately throws her magic at me, and I get the addictive sweetness of not living in a hell of pain for a fraction of a moment, until my body remembers how broken it is.

However, I'm here for a reason. Able to pull myself together, I draw my knife and hold it on the wizard's throat: “Hey Gottfried!”

The old fart of a knight turns his head slightly, only to see his allies in threatening positions. Ara-san has the priest from behind, her staff across his neck. I'm kneeling at the wizard’s side with a blade at his throat. The old knight hisses ever so slightly, yet it doesn't escape me.

Time to make it or break it: “We got your allies. I'm sure you can kill me even at that range, maybe even before I can seal the deal, but that's when Rine gets you from behind.”

“... … What are your terms?” Ah, I'm finally getting under his skin. It's just a scrap of comfort, but after all I've experienced, I'll gladly take it.

“Let us go. You return to Feuerberg. Report whatever makes them stop chasing us. In return, all of your allies will live through this day.”

“Unacceptable,” he says and I feel how he's aiming his killing intent first at me, but then at Rine- shit!

“Ah-ah-ah! If you attack her, we'll kill them.” Then he will kill Ara-san and me, maybe Kyou-san for good riddance and then he has won. I really haven't thought this through.

“Sir Gottfried-san,” Kyou-san picks up the ball: “You said, you need to get in contact with Feuerberg anyway! Just leave us alone until you have done so, and Wizard von Rotfeld has recovered. Maybe Rine-chan doesn't have to die.”

This makes Gottfried hesitate for a second. Then he sighs and sheaths his sword. “I accept.” This is the power of [Persuasion] and insider-knowledge!

“YES!” This comes from Rine, whose facial expressions shift from 'I'll burn down everything in my way' to pure euphoria in a heartbeat. She runs towards us, but I see a big problem...

She's still on fire: “Rine, you're still burning!”

“Oh, I am?”

“Kyou-san, just grab your stuff and we're leaving immediately.” While I have no idea how long it takes for them to send a message to Feuerberg, I know for a fact that I want to get away from Gottfried as fast as possible.

“Yes.”

“What about the relic, Kenta-kun?” Ara-san asks while pillaging the priest’s pockets.

While I’m tempted, I’m already relying on luck too much, especially seeing how pissed Gottfried is. “If you want to stay here to look for it, do it on your own!”

“I can never keep what I want!” she cries out, but ultimately complies.

With this, we're on our way, Kyou-san supports my left side, while Ara-san is on my right. Rine, still on fire, turns to her instructor: “I'm not kidnapped, I'm just going on a trip with my friends, and after we take care of the curse, we're going back to Feuerberg anyway, as there is a demon king to slay. So I want you to stop chasing us, explain what I said to Father, and just wait until we're done.”

“Kch... just go.”

“Thank you for the recent lessons, Instructor. Next time, I hope there is more I can appreciate. Wizard von Rotfeld, if you can hear me, thank you for your lessons as well. Pontiff, please take care of him.”

Then she runs after us, smoke and the smell of burned grass accompanies her. “Katarine-san, you're still on fire,” Ara-san thankfully reminds her, as I have the feeling that she almost hugged us.

“Oh? How do I turn it off?” She asks while she taps her arms, as if she wants to quench it that way.

“I don't know, but my guess would be that it will stop with time. Ah, there is our ride.”

She's right, the geezer leads the donkey and cart by hand, and I'm so thankful for it, as it means I can lie down again. I'm dead tired.

Meldorn is by his side, but now distances himself. He gives me a nod and then heads towards his companions. Kyou-san and Ara-san put me on the load space, where still the bedding is, and then sit down by my side, both of them groaning. I guess it was hard for everyone.

“Let's go,” Geezer said.

“Wait, I also want to ride the cart.”

“You are still on fire!”

“Au... Can you give me a change of undergarments then?”

I check her equipment, and in fact, while her armor may have covered it up, basically everything that's not armor has vanished, probably being burned to ashes by her flame aura. The fact that she has this highly fire resistant protective gear in the first place shows that this is something her family had to know would happen sooner or later.

Good thing Kyou-san has her backpack, as I'm not sure whether it will withstand it or not. Yet there is some obvious truth here, and Ara-san is the one who puts it into words: “Even if we get you new undergarment, it'll burn up when you touch it anyway.”

“Mou!!!“

―○●○―

“Will he survive?” Gottfried inquires of the priest, as he looks down on the young fool, who couldn't listen to him to just not do anything. Trying to capture someone literally surrounded by flames that fight against subjugation is beyond stupid.

Not that Gottfried can blame him, as he has also fed these flames by oppressing his disciple time and time again, and now it blew in his face. However, he can't help but be glad that he could avoid the difficult decision he had to make. Now he can pass it to the king, who may be as much of a fool as his daughter, but is also surrounded by people who know better.

“Thankfully, you were quick enough, Sir Gottfried. To treat him fully, it will take time though, as these are severe burns. Months maybe, depending on his self-healing powers. There will be scars though.”

“Scars are good for your personality. As some shameful defeats.” Gottfried looks at the scorched battlefield, imagining how it would have looked if he didn't put the extra effort in keeping the damage at a minimum. This is always the problem with high-tier fights: They have large environmental effects.

Then he looks to his stupid disciple, who runs next to a cart, led by—who is this? Gottfried sees an old man, but his silhouette is overshadowed by a much younger man from back when Gottfried was young and invincible, at least in his narrow mind. The old man turns his head slightly to laugh at the princess, and it's the same face.

Gottfried has the firm belief that great power comes with the same amount of arrogance, and the only medicine to it is a crushing defeat. This stems from a crushing defeat he had in his mid-twenties, when he effortlessly became the strongest warrior of the entire kingdom. After he was old enough to learn skills, his improvement was as steep as a vertical wall.

Then the barbarians came, led by Grekk, the undefeated legend. Being younger and being so talented, Gottfried thought he could bring this legend down. After a split sky and a change of landscape, Gottfried found himself inside a big crater, broken and defeated. While it was enough to fight the barbarians off, who were only there for plunder, he himself couldn't land a single injury on the one person he set out to defeat.

After recovering from that sorry state, Gottfried did things he never did before. He put actual effort in his training. He challenged himself every day. He put some humility in his act.

When did he lose it?

Ah, he knows. After years of preparations, years of waiting for Grekk to return, he didn't. Of course he ravaged the lands left and right, but he never set a foot across the border of Feuerberg. Meanwhile, Gottfried made a name for himself, making entire countries shudder with fear. Then Grekk stopped appearing altogether...

Now, much older, Gottfried knows exactly why. It becomes so hard to stay strong. Even cutting the Flames of Freedom put his arm into so much stress that it's half numb, half singeing. But back then, he grew frustrated.

He's old now, past his prime, and it'll take a long time to get back to any acceptable form. Yet seeing Grekk after all these years gives him back something he felt he had lost.

It may take months for the youngster to recover? This will be plenty of time to get back in shape.

―○●○―

“Hold still!”

“Ouch! Then sta—argh!!”

“Don't be such a baby!”

“It's fucking broken! How mu—aaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

“[Heal]! Alright, much better,” Kyou-san approves of her work on my newly bandaged, splintered, and treated arm. “Not that I complain, as any halfway decent treatment is better than none, but I really wished you had an expert for this. Well, we're done now. In a few days, we can try the spell.”

She's been adamant about a spell she learned and how it may even fix up my missing tongue tip, which I'm really keen about. This [Rejuvenate]-spell is so welcome, considering how often I get wrecked, yet it seems to be very taxing, so the best way to do it seems to be to fix up my body as much as possible and then use the spell to do the rest.

“You're very rough, Momo,” Ara-san says seemingly shocked, though she's definitely having fun: “Are you that happy to violate him? Will he be crying when you're done with him? Poor Kenta-kun, but at least you'll be conscious. Unlike me, who was thrusted into so brutally that I started to bleed excessively, then I was smacked until I lost consciousness, and finally, they did whatever they liked with me and just left me in the dirt.”

“Arako!”

“Kahahahaha!” Comes from the front of the cart, the geezer is laughing so hard about the exchange, that he's shedding tears.

“Oh, be quiet! Why are you here anyway!? What happened!”

“I’d also like to know,” says Rine with a cocking head, as she walks some meters away from us, as she's still burning.

“Ah right, you don't know,” Ara-san recalls as she flicks her ears. “I woke up, found Kenta-kun at a farmstead, where he was treated horribly. In a medical sense, that is. We borrowed a cart, went to the next inn to get some help, and Grekkun decided to join. Then we headed towards you, Grekkun distracted Meldorn-kun, and the rest you know.”

“Oh?” Rine is visibly impressed by it: “You have to be plenty strong... Grekkun?”

“It's actually Grekk.”

Rine cocks her head once again: “I can swear I know that name from somewhere. Named after a hero, maybe?”

“Maybe, never thought about it. I'm certainly none, and I'm sure most people don't like me.”

OK, something is foul, Ara-san is basically lau—how do I know!? I mean, her face is as unmoving as ever, and only her left ear gyrates a bit, so why can I keep track of her mood!? “Phew...” That's a topic for another time. “You saved our hide there, Gure... Gura... Jii-san.” This is one of these horrid westerner names, that just don't want to roll down the tongue properly, I just call him Jii-san (old man) and that has to be enough. “About your reward--”

He interrupts me before I can offer him anything: “Keep your riches, I want your services, lad. Remember when I asked you if you wanted to travel to Zethtrin together? That's what I want.”

…

“…why!? I mean, you want company?” I mean, he's obviously strong enough to block Meldorn, so that's the only reason I can think of.

“Listen, lad. I used to be good at fighting, but old age is an asshole, and I can't fight as much anymore. I'm pretty sturdy, but after dishing out three or four attacks, my whole body hurts, and I need days to recover... never thought about why I was hanging around in Goldbrunn? Or the inn? I mean, I welcome the company as well, I genuinely like you guys, but in all honesty: I need someone to take the brunt of combat!” He scratches his beard, as he looks away, apparently embarrassed by this confession.

Well, after seeing Gottfried in action, it may be hard to imagine that other people just get weaker with age and have trouble keeping up for long. I want to discuss it with the girls, but somehow I feel like there is nothing to discuss: Without him, we wouldn't have been able to get past Meldorn at all. He saved our asses, he gets his reward...

I turn to each girl, all of them nodding. Ara-san is expressionless, yet I feel strong agreement with her. Kyou-san doubting, but well-knowing that we have to do it. Rine friendly, eager and on fire.

Seriously, when will it stop!?

However, “Phew... welcome to the party, I guess?”

Rine moves closer, opening her arms, clearly intending to give the old man a hug: “Welco-”

“Woah! Stop!” Jii-san warns her, as this hug would incinerate him: “Lass, you may want to wait with that.”

“Gosh!” Small fireballs jump from her flames, as she grows frustrated. “When does it stop anyway?”

“As it's very impractical to refer to this ability by pronouns,” Ara-san thinks aloud, “we should give it an interim name. Like Flame Shroud!”

“Ah, it's called [Korona],” Rine answers immediately.

“How do you know?” I ask her.

“...I think someone told me earlier, but I can't remember... huh?”

“Kenta-kun, this will be an intense evening. I won't let you sleep tonight.” Even though Ara-san talks like this, she means that we're going to discuss and theorize all night long.

“That's enough,” Kyou-san says while pinching Ara-san's ear lightly to quiet her. “This derailed quicky.” She then taps Jii-san's shoulder: “Welcome, Grekk-san,” OK, why can she pronounce the name!? “The first task is to fix your hair. It looks horrible. We also need to see whether you can get some proper clothes. You look like a tramp.” What is it with Kyou-san and wanting to 'fix' everyone's hair!? Or is she just offended by men having longish hair!?

“I usually wear less clothes,” Jii-san answers, a bit hurt. “I mean, maybe we can fix the pants somewhat, maybe wash the poncho, but I like it.”

“Well, we'll figure it out when we make a stop. But let me get my tools, and I will take care of the mess on your head.”

Some minutes later, Jii-san is wearing a top-knot. He touches it and smiles: “I like it! Somehow it doesn't feel like me at all!”

Kyou-san says, satisfied: “That's the whole point.”

“Looks great, Grekk!” Rine commends it, but then starts to stumble. “Oh...” The flames around her finally die, and she falls to the ground: “Tired...” In fact, she suddenly loses almost all of her SP in one go.

“[Stamina]! Are you alright, Rine-chan?” Kyou-san says, as I try to straighten myself a bit more to be able to look at Rine, who is sweating like crazy.

“Yeah... just really exhausted.” She has exactly that [Condition] as well. Strange, there was no incremental SP-reduction and until that exact moment, she and her status seemed fine. This [Korona]-thing is really something different.

Ara-san, who took over the reins from Jii-san before, stops the cart and Kyou-san helps Rine on it, next to me. The blonde girl smiles at me shyly, and I can tell that she doesn’t exactly know what to say, now that she is facing me directly again. She's even blushing a bit, touching her lips and suddenly, she squirms and makes strange noises, as if she's trying to suppress a surge of joy.

Well, no good reason to delay it, I guess. I made up my mind before, and while I may not have been thinking straight there, it doesn't mean that I can ignore it.

I don't want to deceive Rine, but I was manipulating her. That's the last thing I wanted to do, but this was the only way I saw to help her to make up her mind. That's why I'm scum.

“Pheeeeeew...” Trying to get rid of all these emotions inside me, or at least vent everything that's overflowing, I exhale deeply, and then take a deep breath. The feeling of guilt and a whole lot of other reasons form a sentence that will change everything: “Rine. Go out with me.”