Frilian: The Adventure of the Hero

Chapter 163 A Different Vlamé

The autumn sun hangs high in the sky.

The forests are ablaze with color.

Xia En and his group walked through the mountains.

Head towards [Kyle].

Yubel walked backwards in front of Shane, her hands behind her back, her green ponytail swaying gently with each step.

A slight smile played on her lips, her gaze fixed on Xia En.

Shane and Frilian were walking side by side, both of them looking down and flipping through an ancient book they had retrieved from the nest.

They flipped through the pages while chatting.

Yubel's gaze swept back and forth between Shane and Frilian, finally settling on Shane, her pale purple eyes sparkling.

"So all these books are about 'sages'?"

Xia En looked up from between the pages of the book and smiled at her.

"Only a small portion are."

"Judging from the content, these ancient books were mostly written before or in the early stages of the Unified Empire, spanning a period of about 100 years. Most of them are records about the great mage Vlame, who promoted the standardization of the human magic system."

Upon hearing Shane's words, Yubel's eyes lit up with curiosity.

Everyone else looked over too.

The great magician Vlame was a legendary figure who lived more than a thousand years ago and is hailed as the progenitor of human magic.

She was the one who laid the foundation for the magic system we have today.

Every magician will recognize this name when they first come into contact with magic.

Zain exclaimed, "That's a fairytale name!"

"A fairy tale? —"

Frillie lowered her eyes. "That's true. Over a thousand years, it certainly sounds like a fairy tale."

Shutark moved closer to Shane.

The books had some wormhole marks on the edges, but were generally well preserved. The yellowed pages were neatly arranged in rows of ancient Elvish script.

Shutark couldn't understand a single word, so he had to ask Shane, "What did it say?"

Xia En pointed to one of the sections.

"It's written extensively, for example here: 'At the beginning of the promotion of magic, the Archmage Vlame strongly advocated for the "academyization of magic inheritance" to reduce the difficulty for commoners' children to obtain educational opportunities.' She believed that only in this way could magicians be trained on a large scale to cope with the long war against the demons."

"This idea was met with a lot of opposition from conservatives at the time."

"They believed that magic was a gift of nature and should not be standardized. But Vlamé persuaded the emperor, and with the emperor's support, he overcame all opposition."

Xia En continued reading.

"Volattore stated publicly on more than one occasion: 'Magic should not be the privilege of a few geniuses, but should become a force to protect all mankind,' and he personally compiled the first batch of magic textbooks for this purpose."

As Shane read aloud, Viabel exclaimed, "The magic textbooks in the school were actually written by Vlame."

He couldn't help but recall the first sentence of the magic textbook:

Demons are nothing more than talking monsters; don't harbor any illusions about any of them.

This sentence was actually written by Vlamé.

That great magician saw through the true nature of the demons at a glance.

Indeed, there's always a reason why someone can be called great.

As Viabelu was expressing his feelings, Yubel cast a doubtful glance his way.

"Oh, you actually went to school?"

Viabel's gaze turned somber as he faced Yubel's provocative question.

"What, you never went to school?"

"I'm just curious how someone who looks so dangerous could have actually gone to school."

Viaberu's eyes sharpened.

"What do you know, you pervert who enjoys killing?"

Yubel smiled, a subtle curve forming at the corners of his lips. Then, he summoned his staff and casually twirled it in his hand.

"But I can tell from your eyes that we are the same kind of people."

Faced with Yubel's provocation and probing, Viabel stared intently at her with a deep gaze.

The two people were very close.

He can activate the [Gaze Binding Magic] at any time.

The atmosphere instantly became tense and hostile.

Xia En rubbed his forehead.

Aren't we talking about history and Vlamé?

What's going on with you two?

Philon glanced at the two men, then turned to Zain, "Mr. Zain."

Zain, with a leaf dangling from his mouth and a helpless expression, asked, "What are you looking at me for?"

Philen said matter-of-factly, "The monks are responsible for mediating the fight."

Zain:

Zain sighed helplessly and walked between Yubel and Viabel. "Alright, don't argue while listening to stories. It's the least you can do to respect the storyteller."

Yubel glanced at Shane.

Surprisingly, he obediently put away his staff.

He turned back to look at the ancient book in Xia En's hand.

But a faint smile remained on her lips.

Xia En was speechless.

Silently complaining to myself about these two problem kids, one was overly guarded and the other was oblivious to their own danger; they were really hard to handle.

The conversation continued.

According to ancient records, at the very beginning of the human magic system, Vlame demonstrated the terror of his magic to His Majesty the Emperor and described a perfect vision of victory for him.

After that, magic schools sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Schools of all sizes were established from the imperial territory to the southern kingdoms.

With schools established, new teaching materials and tools were naturally needed, and so, at Vlame's suggestion, the Court Sages were formed.

Initially, the main task of the [Court Sages] was to create teaching materials and tools for the newly established magic school. Gradually, they also began to produce armor and combat magical tools for the army.

Human magic began to spread from north to south at an unimaginable speed.

The number of magicians has increased dramatically.

The war between humans and demons has reached a fever pitch.

Sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the yellowed pages of the book. Through these shadows, one can almost glimpse the grandeur of a bygone era.

But gradually, as Shane recounted the story, things began to go wrong.

The advancement of the magic system was met with resistance from the "conservatives".

"—Volameh therefore formed the [Court Magicians], began to suppress the [Conservatives], and joined forces with the [Court Sages] to use their prestige in the army to eliminate dissidents."

In response, Vlame stated: "In the face of ultimate victory, the sacrifice of any individual is worthwhile," a statement that sparked enormous controversy in the nascent magical world.

The people who had been listening to the story looked at each other, puzzled. They hadn't expected things to turn from "helping humans learn magic" into a "political game" —

Especially Philon, whose beautiful brows were furrowed.

I can't understand it at all.

The Volamete described in this text is completely different from the image of a person in folk legend who loves magic, flowers, and is gentle and loving.

Shaun looked up at Frilian.

The white-haired elf's expression was calm, as if it had known all along that it would see this.

"There's nothing strange about it. So-called 'fairytale characters' are just figments of people's imaginations."

Frillie turned a page, her tone flat.

"Folk tales often portray her as a gentle and loving figure, and even give her a passionate lover, as if she were a lovely girl who loves magic and has a heart of gold, just like a goddess who brings happiness to mankind."

"In any case, people in later generations will arbitrarily glorify heroes, and in the process of glorification, even the original form of the characters will gradually disappear."

She paused, her fingertips gently tracing the words on the pages.

"But that's not the real her."

"She often advised her juniors not to engage in personality cults, not to expect that everything she did would be a one-time solution, and that if humanity wanted peace, it had to fight to the end. Her lifelong pursuit was the victory of humanity. For this, she was willing to do anything—fight, mediate, or even—despicable scheming, it didn't matter."

"She liked people using these words to describe her; it's the best evaluation of her life's pursuit. It will also remind future generations that peace is never born in fairy tales."

Xia En remained silent for a few seconds.

He recalled the records he had seen in the "Lady of the Lake" incident, as well as the horrific experiments conducted by "Mad Sage Charles" based on Evish's theory.

These are the figures who stand at the pinnacle of magical history.

They all seem to possess a persistence and madness far beyond what ordinary people can comprehend.

"The sacrifice of any individual is worthwhile—" Xia En murmured, repeating the sentence over and over, his feelings complicated.

From any perspective, he seems to be the sacrificed individual.

From the perspective of all humanity, it makes sense, but from his own perspective, it's a truly cruel thing.

"When facing demons, one should be prepared for this."

Viabel's voice came from the side.

When he said this, his eyes were as sharp as a knife.

Upon hearing this, Yubel raised an eyebrow, a strange light flashing in his eyes, as if he wanted to say something sarcastic.

But after glancing at Xia En, who was silently contemplating, he ultimately didn't say anything.

Around noon.

The group stopped by a stream.

Because of Yubel's bizarre practice of feeding fish with human body parts, nobody wants to catch fish in the river anymore.

Philon started a fire to cook soup.

Zain and Shutark went to find wild vegetables and mushrooms. To prevent Yubel and Viabel from arguing again, the two even took Viabel away.

Frillie sat by the campfire and continued to peruse the ancient books.

Xia En sat by the stream, silently pondering what he had just seen.

Aside from the account of Volamede, only a small portion of the book mentions the "wise man."

It refers to the spiritual practice system of the "Sage".

[See], [Understand], [Deduce], [Create].

In past spiritual practice, the abilities of sages were divided into these four levels.

Xia En had already vaguely guessed the first two levels.

This time, it was confirmed directly from the records.

The path of spiritual cultivation for sages seems to be not only about accumulating power, but also about expanding one's knowledge.

When I first obtained the "Great Wisdom Appears as Foolishness" attribute, I only used it as a tool to quickly master magic and improve my strength.

But as his mental strength increased and his understanding of the sage's legacy deepened, he began to think more deeply.

I also gained a new understanding of the nature of magic.

Once his mental strength improves again, his ability to passively acquire magic and its attributes may change from passively acquiring them to being able to [deduce] and [create].

This perfectly solves the problem of excessive randomness in [entry refactoring].

I was just thinking about it.

A shadow fell on the large rock beside them.

Yubel moved closer.

The girl plopped down on a large rock next to Xia En, took off her boots, and dipped her feet into the cool stream.

"Ah~~ That feels so good~"

She squinted her eyes and let out a satisfied sigh.

The stream water was indeed very cool, and after walking along the mountain path all morning, this coolness was invigorating.

Yubel tilted his head and looked at Shane.

"Want to come along?"

Xia En reached out and tried it.

Although it was noon, the autumn river water had a cool feel to it and was still somewhat icy.

"It's autumn now, you'll catch a cold."

Yubel glanced at him with some disappointment.

"Although she still looks like she's eighteen or nineteen, she's definitely getting old; she can't even stand this little bit of cold."

Shane:

Xia En was speechless.

What a beautiful young girl, why does she have a mouth?

His words are so offensive they're almost spitting fire.

"What do you mean 'old'? I'm clearly following the teachings of the monks and focusing on health preservation. You're young now, so you don't understand. You'll understand when you get old and develop rheumatism."

*Pfft*

Yubel burst out laughing.

"You still say you're not old."

"You smell like an old man, you'd better wash up."

As he spoke, Yubel actually used his foot to splash water, splashing it all over Shane.

Caught off guard, Xia En was instantly splashed in the face.

He was startled by the cool stream water and immediately stood up.

"Hey, stop! No, stop!"

Not far away, Philon heard the commotion and looked over.

Seeing that Xia En's head and face were covered in water, and his body was also soaked, he frowned slightly.

The weather right now is definitely not the time to play in the water.

The little girl brandished her staff and cast a spell on Xia En that dried his clothes. She also pulled a towel from her backpack and handed it to him.

Xia En quickly took it.

At the same time, he gave Philon a pitiful look, as if he had been bullied.

really.

The protective Philon immediately looked at Yubel with a serious expression.

"Miss Yubel, please don't do this."

Seeing Philon's serious expression, Yubel silently stopped her playful antics. Her pale purple eyes darted around as she said to Philon, "Tch, I know. You're younger than me, so why do you talk like my older sister?"

"Then you'd better behave."

Hi hi.

Yubel took his feet out of the stream.

Philon took another towel out of his backpack and handed it to Yubel.

Shane laughed.

It's true that everything has its counter.

After lunch, the group continued their journey.

The afternoon sun was even more intense, the mist in the forest completely dissipated, and the view became more open.

The outline of [Kel City] can already be seen in the distance.

This trading city, nestled among the hills, shimmered with colorful lights in the sunlight, as if decorated with ribbons and colorful balls.

Shutark was very happy.

They successfully returned the day before the Autumn Harvest Festival.

He couldn't wait to try the delicious ice cream at the celebration.

Everyone else was happy too.

Everyone quickened their pace.

During this time, Zain suddenly remembered something and moved closer to Shane.

"By the way, Shane, does Vlame really not have a lover?"

"ha?"

Xia En almost choked on his own saliva.

"Why is your focus so strange!"

Zain was quite composed.

"What? I just wanted to know about the legendary mage's emotional state. After all, there are tons of pamphlets about her in folk tales."

Xia En: "————"

All eyes were on Frillie.

The white-haired elf was looking down at an ancient book when he heard this, so he looked up and blinked.

"Emotional life —"

She thought for a moment, then nodded firmly.

"The teacher lived alone until her death, but she must have been in relationships, yes, many times."

"ah?"

Everyone was stunned.

There really is one!

Xia En frowned: "What do you mean by 'many times'?"

"She often goes out on dates with different men and doesn't come back all day," Frillie answered matter-of-factly. "So she must have had many relationships."

Xia En's lips twitched.

Based on his understanding of Frillie's brain circuits, this claim is probably problematic.

"What kind of men are you referring to as 'different men'?" he asked tentatively.

Frillie started counting on her fingers.

"Hmm—there are city hall officials, court magicians, imperial generals, the emperor—oh, and the librarian of the Great Library."

A moment of silence.

Zain's expression became very subtle.

Viabel opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Yubel couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Xia En rubbed his temples. "What kind of date is this?!"

"The teacher said that when a girl goes out alone with a man she knows, it counts as a date," Frilian added.

There was a hint of pride in his tone, as if he were sharing some important knowledge.

Xia En rubbed his forehead.

"Does your teacher know that her reputation will be ruined a thousand years later?"

"What do you mean?"

"never mind----"

Xia En gave up on explaining.

"You really don't understand anything—"

Frillie looked bewildered.

Everyone shook their heads, completely losing their interest in gossip.

It was evening.

The team finally returned to [Kel City].

The city gates remained bustling, with caravans, travelers, and adventurers coming and going.

Tomorrow is the Autumn Harvest Festival.

The street decorations are complete, and the huge bonfire in the center of the city has been erected.

The group went directly to the reception area of ​​the Continental Magic Association.

The reception area is right next to the city hall.

It was a very clean and sleek marble building. The lobby was empty and quiet, with only a receptionist behind the counter writing something with her head down.

On the side of the hall, not only was there a reward notice for clues to lost items posted, but a new reward notice was also posted next to it.

This time, it's not about finding lost items, but about clearing out newly appeared bird-shaped monster nests in the mountains surrounding [Kel City]. The reward is substantial, but the danger level is specifically noted.

It seems that the southward migration of monsters is becoming increasingly obvious.

Shane briefly explained the findings of the investigation into the disappearance of the ancient books and returned all of them.

After carefully inspecting the items and confirming they were intact, the receptionist breathed a long sigh of relief.

"That's wonderful—the recovery of these ancient books is extremely important to the Continental Magic Association."

"According to the bounty, the reward for retrieving the ancient book is 30 gold coins, plus one magic book of your choice from the Continental Magic Association's library. I can pay the gold coins now—"

As she spoke, the receptionist took a heavy money bag from under the counter and pushed it in front of Shane.

"As for the grimoire—you will need to go to [Oissus] in person and obtain it from [Lady Celie]."

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